Something's off about Rei Todoroki. She comes home from the hospital with a case of amnesia, but at times, comes across as a completely different woman altogether. What follows is Endeavor tries to become a better person, the Todoroki children become more optimistic, and Rei struggles to figure out if she's really an amnesiac or someone who's now living another woman's life.
Picking up Steam
is a My Hero Academia Fix Fic that centers around a Self-Insert Rei Todoroki as she tries to clean up the Dysfunction Junction that is her family.
Picking up Steam provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Thanks to Rei's influence, Endeavor actively tries to be a good parent to his children much earlier than canon.
- Thanks to the above, Touya is unlikely to become Dabi in this world.
- Ambition Is Evil: Endeavor acknowledges that his ambitions to usurp All Might's title are what led to his family's many problems. He's actively trying to avert this to be the hero his family deserves.
- The Atoner: Enji becomes this much earlier than he did in canon, wanting to be both the father and husband his children and wife deserve.
- Broken Pedestal: Thanks to his experiences with his father, Touya is very disillusioned with Hero Society with the exception of All Might. He derides current heroes as just seeking adoration and treating heroism as a popularity contest rather than the mission of saving and protecting the innocent that it's supposed to be.
- Easily Forgiven: Rei and the children are very quick to forgive Endeavor for his past actions, though it's somewhat downplayed in that Rei is mainly giving him a chance to change for the better and is on the lookout for signs of him going back to his old self to be safe. This is thoroughly averted with Touya, as he wants nothing to do with his father after all he's done and refuses to forgive him.
- Fix Fic: The SI is actively trying to ensure that the Todoroki family is happy and functional unlike their Big, Screwed-Up Family canon selves.
- Hero Worship: Shoto has this towards his father this time around, as he likes to dress up as him and pretend to catch villains with his other siblings.
- Kidfic: The main focus of the story is Rei trying to raise her children alongside her husband making up for his actions.
- Lethal Chef: Downplayed. Enji isn't a terrible cook, just not a good one since he overdoes and slightly burns the food.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Touya tends to have a lot of cursing in his dialogue, particularly when his father is a topic of discussion. His siblings try to get him to tone it down when Shoto is around.
