Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The soft beeping of a heart monitor was the first thing Dabi was aware of. The next was that he was in pain. Well, he was always in pain, but this pain was less than what he was used to. Which was weird.

Slowly Dabi opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He recognized the sterile white room of a hospital, with several machines hooked up to him to his left. There was a door on the wall farthest away from him, and another bed to his right that held a familiar winged hero, eyes shut. Except he looked younger than Dabi remembered.

His heart monitor beeping increased for a moment. Dabi tried to recall the events of earlier. He had been walking back from roasting a group of people who had been trying to join the league. They had only wanted the name recognition that came with being associated with the League of Villains; they had no real desire to cleanse society of the heroes that were infecting it. So Dabi roasted them. He could recall running into Hawks in a back alley, hearing a girl scream, running towards it, a bright light, then nothing.

Dabi took a quick look at himself. His scars were significantly better than before. He no longer had purple skin stapled to his living skin, but there were still extensive burning scars. Kind of like the ones he used to get during training with his father. There were also some scars on the inside of his wrist that he would rather not show Hawks, if that birdbrain ever woke up.

Dabi slowly started to pat down his face, feeling for the familiar staples and wrinkly skin, and couldn’t find it. It was like his entire body had rewound itself back to before Endeavor had killed him.

Back before Endeavor had killed him, Dabi thought, and it sent a chill down his spine.

Dabi quickly grabbed at his hair, desperately pulling it down to his face. He had always kept it the same style, even after he had left home. But he had dyed it about a year after the incident. If this was before that would mean-

“Red.” A soft voice came from his right. He looked over to see a young Hawks watching him, looking like he was barely awake. “I always wondered what color it naturally was, red looks nice on you.”

“Hawks, what happened?” Dabi asked him. Before Hawks could answer the door to their hospital room opened and in walked a doctor with a clipbaord, a man with long black hair, and a man in a trench coat.

“Oh good, you woke up!” The doctor said cheerfully. “We were getting worried for a bit Mr. Todoroki. Hawks had been in and out of for a couple hours, but you’ve barely moved since you’ve been brought in.”

“What did you just call me?” Dabi asked him. He could hear his own heart rate monitor speed up, and Hawk’s. The bird was suddenly a lot more alert, and Dabi didn’t like it.

“Mr. Todoroki. We ran your DNA while you were out to try to contact any family.” The doctor said.

“So imagine our surprise when it matched Endeavors dead son.” The man with the dark hair said. Dabi recognized him from the training camp incident but couldn’t remember his name.

“Not dead enough apparently.” Dabi muttered and looked down at his hands.

An awkward silence filled the room for a moment. Heart monitor sounds filled the room, and they were still high.

“Well, I can assure you that you are very much alive, as well as Hawks. Can you tell me what you remember?” The doctor asked.

“The last thing I remember was a scream and bright white light. Then I woke up here.” Dabi told them. The doctor wrote it down on the clipboard and nodded. “So can you tell me what happened or am I supposed to ask the bird who is barely staying awake?”

“You were hit by a quirk that rewinds things to a previous state.” The dark haired man said. “The person with the quirk set it off by accident due to stress and it seemed to effect everyone within a few feet. You two and one other were hit, and from what we can guess you guys were on the outer parts of the area. The man in the center has been reverted back to being a baby. If you had to guess, how old are you now?”

Dabi looked down at his body. He couldn’t remember exactly when he got these scars, but he did have a general idea based on his lack of staples and the marks on his arm.

“I’d guess anywhere from fourteen to fifteen. So about ten years for me.” Hawks answered. Dabi nodded, it seemed to be about the same for him.

The doctor continued to take notes. “Alright, well Mr. Todoroki we have contacted your family and they are on their way. Hawks, I’m a little confused on who to contact for you as we have no files on you in this hospital.”

“You did what?” Dabi shouted. His heart monitor spiked.

“We contacted your family, your sister picked up. She said she would contact your father and then be right over.” The doctor said, looking a little worried. “Is that alright?”

Dabi couldn’t breathe for a moment. He hadn’t seen his father as Touya Todoroki since his father grabbed him by the neck and burned half his face off. His chest started to hurt and his hands were shaking. He could hear his heart pounding and everything else seemed to fade. His breathing was coming in shallow and quick.
Vaguely he could feel hands on his arms and a voice speaking to him, but he couldn’t focus on that. All he could think about was that he was small again and Endeavor was on his way. Probably to finish the job he started so many years ago. Except this time Dabi didn’t think he would be able to get away again.

There were still someone’s hands on him, and all he could do was remember Endeavor’s hands on him. His body naturally reacted. Suddenly all he could see was blue, and just as quickly as it appeared it was gone. Dabi could tell there were still people standing around him, but his vision was starting to get blurry.

The hands were at least off of him when his vision went black.

Chapter Text

Hawks had been in and out of it since he had been hit with the bright light. But suddenly finding out Dabi was a Todoroki had driven his grogginess from his body.

And when he recognized the younger version of Dabi starting to have a panic attack, the hero in him took over and leaped out of the hospital bed to rush to Dabi’s side. He had to help.

Hawks tried to call out to Dabi, although he didn’t say his name out loud. He hadn’t told anyone here that he was undercover, and he had no idea how much Eraserhead knew about his mission.

Then Dabi erupted into blue flames and Hawks jumped back. As quickly as they disappeared, Eraser neutralized the fire. Dabi passed out right away, leaving a mostly stunned room of people.

The doctor quickly jumped into action to check on Dabi, and once he confirmed that Dabi was okay, looked at Hawks hands. Hawks hadn’t realized it but his hands had sustained minor burns from the flames. The doctor led him back to the hospital bed and applied some ointment to his palms.

“Well I’ll be back in a bit to check on you both. Please, no more fire or leaving your beds until you have a basic physical exam. We don’t know how extensively the quirk effected you.” And with that the doctor left.

The man in the trench coat stepped towards Hawks bed and extended his hand.

“Hello Hawks, I’m Detective Tsukauchi. I’m hoping you can answer some questions for me.” The detective introduced him. Hawk shook the extended hand.

“I’ll answer what I can, but you should know that I might not be able to answer all your questions.” Hawks told him. The detective nodded and pulled out his notepad. Eraserhead was still standing by the doorway, no doubt listening to what Hawks and Tsukauchi were saying, but his eyes were transfixed on Dabi.

“Can you tell me what you were doing in the alleyway when the incident happened?” the detective asked.

“I was meeting someone, we heard the scream and rushed over to see what was happening. I could see an older bald man grabbing a young girl with white hair, and then the bright light appeared. Next thing I know I’m here.” Hawks answered. He was starting to feel tired again.

“And who were you meeting with?”

Hawks pointed at the bed that held a passed out Dabi. The detective nodded and wrote something down.

“Did you know this young man was Endeavors son?”

Hawks shook his head.

“Why were you meeting Mr. Todoroki?”

“That I can’t disclose. Sorry, high level hero stuff.”

The detective nodded again. “Well I think that does it for the most part. Is there someone we need to contact in order to inform them of your current condition?”
Hawks thought for a moment. His first thought was his handler, who probably already knew his situation anyways. The Commission someone always knew his every move. His next thought was Miruko, but honestly, he didn’t feel like dealing with her right now. He loved her to death, but she could be a little much and he was starting to get really tired again.

“Can I just have my phone? I know who I need to talk to.” Hawks finally said. The detective gestured to the other side of Hawks bed. On a chair next to it was his hero uniform neatly folded up, and his phone sitting right on top.

“Alright, thank you for your time Hawks. I will let you rest, but Eraserhead is going to remain here to keep an eye on things. Especially if Mr. Todoroki’s quirk goes off like that again. Have a nice day.” With one final nod to Hawks, the detective left the room.

“You should rest.” Eraserheads voice came from somewhere near Dabi’s bed.

“I’m fine.” Hawks muttered. He wasn’t, it was getting harder keep his eyes open.

“Children need sleep.”

“’M not a child.” And with those words, Hawks let his body rest.

Chapter Text

Dabi came to slowly to the sounds of familiar voices. Voices he didn’t think he would hear again this close.

“Natsuo the doctors know what they are doing, stop fiddling with the machines. What if you mess something up?” Fuyumi’s voice broke through his head.

“I know what I’m doing, I’m in medical school. Besides they only have him hooked up to an IV with saline in it.” Natsuo’s voice came through shockingly close to him.
Dabi figured he should enter the conversation before Fuyumi strangled Natsuo or Natsuo broke something.

“I swear if the first thing you do after finding out I’m alive is kill me, I’ll be pissed.” Dabi said softly. He opened his eyes slowly to take in the room.

Natsuo was right next to him, hands on one of the machines. Fuyumi was sitting standing a little ways behind their brother, arms crossed. And Shoto was sitting in one of the chairs that were farthest away from the bed, with the dark haired teacher from before next to him.

“Touya!” Natuso yelled, and suddenly his little brother’s arms were crushing him. Dabi felt his heart speed up again.

“Again, if you kill me this quickly, I’ll be pissed.” Dabi muttered, hoping that would get Natsuo off him. It seemed to work as his brother let go and stood up. Dabi could see him wiping tears from his eyes.

“Sorry, I’m just so happy you’re alive.” Natsuo sniffled. Dabi almost felt bad about his first words to his family in so long, but honestly right now he didn’t know how much touching he could handle. Not with the looming thought that if his siblings were here, Endeavor was probably nearby.

“Touya, is that really you?” Fuyumi asked quietly behind Natsuo. Dabi sat up a bit to see her better.

“Yeah, its me.”

Fuyumi’s eyes were glistening, looking almost exactly like Natsuo’s. Both of them looked more like their mother, with her grey eyes and white hair, while Dabi always resembled their father.

Dabi didn’t know where to go from here. Two of his siblings were crying, Shoto was staring at him in confusion, the homeless looking teacher was just staring, and it seemed Hawks had fallen asleep.

“So, uh, when do I get out of here?” Dabi asked. It was nice to see his family again, but he also had responsibilities to the League. Mostly keeping them from killing each other, but bringing down hero society was also a responsibility.

“Doctors need to keep you over night to see if there are any other negative effects.” The dark haired teacher said. “Based on Hawks inability to stay awake and you having a panic attack to the point of passing out earlier, we want to see if anything else changed when you were rewound.”

“You passed out because of a panic attack! Is this what was happening when you would zone out for long periods of time?” Fuyumi said worriedly. Dark haired teachers eyes snapped to her.

“It’s fine, nothing is out of the ordinary, besides the fact that I seem to be Shoto’s age.” Dabi told her.

“That means I’m the oldest brother now!” Natsuo said with a smirk. Dabi smacked his arm.

“Not a chance. Besides, mentally you are like five.” Dabi said with a smirk. Natsuo laughed at that, and reached to the side of Dabi’s bed to press a button.

“The doctor told us to call him when you woke up.” Natsuo said as an explanation.

Silence fell on the room again, not as awkward as before, but a question hung in the air that two of the Todoroki siblings were too afraid to ask. Luckily the youngest was not.

“So, where have you been for the past ten years?” Shoto asked suddenly. Dabi sighed. It was nice to see his siblings again, to see how much they had grown. He had never stopped loving them, but his goal was to free them of their father. It was the only way they would be safe, so of course he kept his distance.

“Around.” Dabi said after a moment of thought. He couldn’t exactly tell Shoto that he was responsible for his classmates kidnapping or the several attacks the LoV had made on his class.

“Why didn’t you come home?” Fuyumi asked quietly. Dabi looked at her. She still had tears running down her face, fogging up her glasses. Fuyumi had been the closest to him in age, and she had helped him a lot around the house after Mom had been sent away.

“I couldn’t.” Dabi said quietly. If it had been any other person, Dabi would have scoffed and ignored the question. But it was his only sister, she had once been his only friend in the world.

Before anyone could ask a follow up question the doctor entered the room with two nurses, one of them was pushing a cart with some medical supplies.

“Hello Mr. Todoroki. Glad to see you are doing okay, you had us worried for a bit there.” The doctor said cheerfully. “We are going to draw some blood so we can run a few final tests on you, just to do a basic check. Tomorrow we will have a physical therapist come in and evaluate your condition to see if you can be released. Based on Hawks reaction so far, we are concerned something might have gone wrong in the accident, so we want to be sure.”

Dabi had nothing against needles. Hell, sometimes he would even consider them his friends when things got too rough. But reuniting with his family was getting a little much, and Dabi really just wanted to be alone for a moment to get himself together. He no longer had the luxury of melted tear ducts and a mutilated face to hide his emotions.

“Look doc, I feel fine.” Dabi tried to get out of the bed, but Natsuo grabbed him by the shoulders and held him down.

“Touya, let the doctors do their job.” Natsuo said sternly. “Besides, if you get up too quickly you could have torn your IV out.”

Dabi grumbled and settled back into the bed, but he was still on edge. One of the nurses approached him and began to draw blood while the doctor checked the charts and fiddled with the machines. The other nurse went over to Hawks bed to draw his blood.

“So why do I have an IV while the bird brain who can barely stay awake doesn’t?” Dabi asked the doctor.

Hawks groaned from the bed next to him, signaling that he was waking up. The groan sounded a little bit like a fuck you, but Dabi would ignore that for now.

“You are pretty undernourished for your age.” The doctor told him. “We checked your medical records from when you were this age, and even then you were underweight. Hawks is healthy for his supposed age and height; his only problem is staying awake, which we are hoping is just a temporary side effect.”

“Touya was always smaller for his age.” Fuyumi said softly. “Natsuo was taller than him when he was 10.”

Dabi heard Hawks start to laugh, so he grabbed his pillow and threw it at the winged hero, which ripped out his IV. It hurt when it pulled out, but it was worth it to hear the pillow make contact with Hawk’s face.

“Shit.” Dabi swore, and gripped his elbow, holding his arm close to his chest. He didn’t want his siblings to see his arms. They were used seeing his other scars, but the ones he inflicted on himself were different.

“Dammit Touya, you can’t do that.” Natsuo reached to the cart to grab a piece of gauze to help. “Give me your arm.”

“It’s fine.” Dabi told him.

“Touya give me your arm. I am in training to be a doctor; I know what I’m doing. I just want to check your arm, you could get an infection if its not cleaned.” Natsuo insisted, making a grab for Dabi’s arm.

Dabi resisted, but Natsuo had always been naturally physicually stronger than him. It didn’t help that his brother was several years older than himself in this state. Natsuo was able to pull his arm away and take a look.

“See that wasn’t so hard, was…” Natsuo trailed off, taking in the marks on his arm. He didn’t need to be a doctor to know where they were from.

“Touya what’s this?” He asked quietly. Dabi looked away from his brother. He had always tried to be strong for his siblings, even after spending a few hours in the training room with dad. But now his siblings were going to see how weak he really was.

“Natsuo what’s wrong?” Fuyumi asked, trying to peak over their brothers shoulder. Dabi could tell when she finally got a look because he heard a soft “oh.” He saw Shoto try to get up to see what they were looking at, but the black haired teacher kept him in his seat, for which Dabi was thankful for.

“Mr. Todoroki, I know this might be hard on you, but I need to clean the IV area and put it back in.” The doctor said softly. Dabi felt his arm get gently passed from his brother’s hands to the doctors. He briefly felt a familiar sting of the needle entering his arm again.

In Dabi’s attempt to look away from his siblings, he caught Hawks looking at him. Hawks was giving him a look between shock and pity, and he hated it. He knew what the birdbrain probably thought, that he was weak for doing this to himself.

“Well we need to get this blood to the lab. Visiting hours are almost over, so if you would say your goodbyes to your brother, he will still be here tomorrow.” The doctor told them, and then left with the nurses.

“Touya…” Natsuo said softly. Dabi couldn’t look at him right now. He didn’t want to see his brother’s disappointed face. He heard Fuyumi clear her throat.

“Touya, we know this has been a long day for you, and we really need to talk.” She said softly. “But I think it’s best if we let you rest. We’ll be by tomorrow to see you and maybe we can take you home.”

Dabi looked at his siblings now.

“No.” He told them. “I’m not going back there.”

“Where else would you go?” Fuyumi asked.

“I have my own life away from that house, I’m not going back.” Dabi told her.

Before Fuyumi could protest Natsuo held up a hand for her to stop.

“We can talk about this more tomorrow. Until then,” Natsuo leaned over the bed and gave Dabi another hug, this one less crushing than the first “Love you Touya. We missed you.”

Natsuo stepped back and let Fuyumi have a turn hugging him. When his sister let go, Dabi was surprised to see Shoto right behind her.

“Is it okay if I hug you too?” Shoto asked quietly. Dabi nodded, and felt Shoto’s arms wrap around him.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Touya.” Fuyumi said, and ushered her siblings out. The dark haired teacher stayed back for a moment.

“Just so you know, there will be a hero or several police officers keeping an eye on the room, and nurses checking in periodically.” He told them.

“Thanks Eraser, but I think we will be alright.” Hawks spoke up. “We don’t want to take up too many resources.”

‘Ah, Eraserhead that was his hero name.’ Dabi thought to himself.

“Sorry Hawks, but we are afraid that people might try to take advantage of your weakened state, or that Touya over there will try to escape.” Eraser told them, with a pointed look at Dabi. “I will be back tomorrow to discuss what your options are moving forward.”

With that, Eraserhead left their room.

“So, Touya Todoroki is your real name then?” Hawks asked.

Dabi didn’t answer.

“You know I wouldn’t have told anyone if you had told me.” Hawks continued.

“Would you have believed me?” Dabi asked him.

Hawks was quiet for a moment too long.

“Didn’t think so.” Dabi muttered. He shifted a little bit in his hospital bed.

“Dabi, who gave you your scars?” Hawks asked quietly, like he was afraid of the answer.

“Which ones?”

“The ones you have on your older body. The scars that have killed your skin so much that you have to have it stapled to your body.”

Dabi looked over at Hawks. It was weird seeing him like this. Hawks had never really been open with him, even after they had started seeing each other in a more personal way. Now that he was in a younger body, Hawks looked so much more vulnerable. His face looked a little scared.

“I think you know the answer to that.” Dabi told him, and turned his entire body so it was facing away from the birdbrain.

“And the others?”

“I think you know the answer to that one too.”

Chapter Text

            The next day the doctor woke them both up with results, with Eraserhead behind him.

            “It seems you both have the physical make-up of teenagers.” The doctor explained. “From what Eraserhead has explained about the nature of the quirk, you both have retained your memories, but are now in the same bodies you were when you were about 15. You might find your quirks harder to control, or your emotional state being a little more fragile than you are used to. We still want to do a physical test to make sure your bodies are alright, but after that you should be good to go.”

            “So what happens now?” Hawks asked.

            “Well that depends.” Eraserhead spoke up. “We have a couple options for you that we are working on, but we are going to wait for the results of the physical tests first. There is no cure for this. The little girl who accidentally used her quirk on you can’t control it. On top of that, we don’t know if she would ever be able to push you guys back to your original bodies. So we want all the facts before we give you your options.”

            Dabi and Hawks let the news sink in for a moment. They were stuck like this for the foreseeable future, which provided a lot of complications for each of their individual lives.

            “Well the physical therapist should be in shortly. Let me just remove Mr. Todoroki’s IV, then we will leave you to get changed.” The doctor came over and removed the needle, put a band-aid on, and left. He took Eraserhead with him so Hawks and Dabi would have privacy to change. 

            “So do you want to change in the bathroom first or do you want me to?” Hawks asked Dabi, getting out of bed.

            “Hawks, we have seen each other naked several times. I could not care less if you watch me change.” Dabi told him, getting out of his own bed and finding a set of scrubs on a chair near him. And now that

             Dabi kept his back to Hawks as he changed, at least giving the bird a little bit of privacy. He looked around at the room for a moment, and noticed that none of his personal belongings were there. Mainly, he was missing his phone.

            “Hawks do you have your phone on you?” Dabi asked.

            “Uhh yeah, they left it for me along with my clothes. Why?” Hawks replied.

            “Cause none of my stuff is here.” Dabi turned towards the other man who was done changing.

            “They probably kept it to identify you.” Hawks tried to reassure him. “They knew who I was right away, but with you they had to DNA test and even then apparently you were dead, so it’s also probably evidence in the investigation.”

            “Yeah but what if the league calls my phone. I don’t want Eraserhead to pick it up.” Dabi told him.

            “Oh shit, yeah.” Hawks pulled out his phone. “I’ll text Toga and Twice really quick and tell them to not contact you. At least until you get your phone back. Please tell me its password protected.”

            Hawks did not want anyone to find out he was undercover with the League of Villains yet. Not when he had just gotten some of the members to trust him.

            Dabi nodded. “Password protected and will automatically wiped itself completely if someone tries to hack into it. Had someone install that program recently.”

            Hawks nodded. He finished typing a messaging to Toga and Twice, then put his phone down with the rest of his stuff.

            “So are we going to talk about this?” Hawks asked.

            “We can talk more once we deal with this physical therapist. I want to know what options we have so I can escape and get back to everyone else.” Dabi told him.

            “I meant about everything else.” Hawks clarified. Dabi looked at Hawks sharply.

            “No.”

            “Dabi we should really-“

            “I’m going to stop you right there.” Dabi interrupted Hawks. “I have been bottling this up for well over twenty years. What has happened already happened. There is nothing you can do to change it, and it’s not like people ever helped or cared in the first place. And while we are stuck here, call me Touya. If they don’t already know who I really am, then I don’t want them to find out.”

            A knock came at the door before Hawks could reply. A moment later a female doctor walked in with a clipboard.

            “Hello Mr. Todoroki, Hawks. I’m your physical therapist for today. If you wouldn’t mind following me, we are going to go through some basic physical exercises to see how your bodies are doing.  Please follow me.” The doctor motioned for the two to follow.

            They were put through the basic physical assessments. Seeing how far they could stretch, if they could lift weights, and how their quirks were working. Hawks seemed to outdo Dabi in all of these. It didn’t bother Dabi much; he knew that Hawks had been raised to be a hero from a very young age. Meanwhile Dabi had spent most of his time dodging fireballs and trying to take care of his siblings.

            “Man were you always this out of shape or is it just the younger version of you?” Hawks tried to tease Dabi after they did a push up test.

            “Not all of us were trained to be child soldiers birdie.” Dabi told him while breathing heavily.

            “Alright I’ll give you both a moment to catch your breath, then we judge your endurance and speed. It will just be a couple laps around the track, without using your quirks.” The doctor told them. Dabi gave her thumbs up as he regained his breath.

            “Bet you I can beat you in this one.” Dabi told Hawks with a smirk. He might not be physically gifted, but he knew that at this age he could spend hours dodging Endeavors fireballs.

            “I’m the fastest hero alive, and you think you can beat me in a race?” Hawks looked at him like he was insane.

            “You were the fastest hero alive. Now you are just a teenager with red wings and acne to match. Besides, you can’t use your quirk, so yeah, I think I have a shot.” Dabi told him with a smirk.

            “Want to make it interesting?” Hawks asked.

            “Sure. Loser buys the next three rounds of coffee?” Dabi suggested.

            “You’re on.”

            Hawks had confidence in his running skills even at this age. The commission had made him train more than just his quirk, so he could run.

            But that just made his overwhelming loss to Dabi sting pretty badly.

            When Hawks caught up to Dabi at the finish line at least thirty seconds after the red haired boy had finished, Dabi was on the ground laughing at him.

            “How the hell are you so fast?” Hawks asked him.

            Dabi just winked at him between laughs.

            “Alright then, I’ll talk to your other doctor about the results. If you would make your way back to your room to wait for the results that would be wonderful.” The doctor told them. She paused for a moment before leaving. “Also, Eraserhead told me to mention that there is a hero watching you at all times, so no funny business.”

            Hawks helped Dabi up from the ground, where at least he had stopped laughing.

            “So how come you are so quick?” Hawks asked as they made their way back to the hospital room.

            “It was either be quick or get hit. I learned that pretty fast.” Dabi told him quietly. There was a moment of silence, then Dabi’s voice changed quickly to a more upbeat tone. “But you now owe me three coffees, and I’m getting all the works with them.”

            “You drink your coffee straight black.” Hawks reminded him, ignoring the sudden change in Dabi’s mood.

            “Yeah but at this age I loved the sugar. If my body really is fifteen again, that means my taste buds are too. And that means so many add-ins that I don’t have to pay for.” Dabi said with a smirk.

            They had reached their hospital room now and Hawks opened the door. “Am I going to go bankrupt from buying you coffee? Warn me now so that way I can at least be prepared.”

            Instead of a response, Hawks got silence. He turned around to see if Dabi was all right, and saw him frozen, staring into the room. And Dabi almost looked scared.

            Hawks looked into the room to see the Todoroki siblings, Eraserhead, and a large man in civilian clothes.

            Endeavor was here.

Chapter Text

           When Dabi saw his father again, his chest tightened in hatred. This was the man that had robbed him of any hope for a normal future. He was the reason Shouto was isolated, and why now matter how old his body is, it will always be covered in scars.

           Hawks looked between Dabi and his family. Dabi was standing as still as a statue, his eyes locked onto Endeavor. His expression was one of fury and hatred, but his eyes were wide with fear.

            “Touya!” Endeavor said softly, with obvious relief. Hawks looked at the number one hero. He looked like he was about to cry tears of joy. That made Hawks pause, and a seed of doubt about the origin of Dabi’s scars formed in his mind. Hawks didn’t know a lot about caring families, his own having sold him to the Commission when he was little, and he hadn’t had much contact with them since. And neither of his parents had ever looked at him like Endeavor was looking at Dabi now. Hawks hoped that his hero wasn’t the monster Dabi had made him out to be.

            “Why don’t you step in, we have a lot to talk about.” Eraserhead said. Hawks stepped into the room, but Dabi stayed put.

            “No. I’m not going to be in the same room as him.” Dabi announced loudly.

            Eraserhead looked between Dabi and Endeavor, his expression betraying nothing, leaving Hawks to try to fix this.

            “Touya, come on. Nothing is going to happen.” Hawks said. Dabi’s eyes glanced at Hawks for a moment, but he shook his head.

            “No, I refuse to be in the same room with him.” Dabi said loudly. Hawks saw some blue fire dance across his arms.

            “Touya, calm down.” Endeavor said sternly.

            “No!” Dabi shouted. “You can’t make me! Not anymore!”

            They had begun to catch the attention of the hospital staff. Hawks saw a nurse prep a syringe as they watched the interaction.

            “Touya you are being childish, come in this room so we can talk in private.” Endeavor raised his voice.

            Blue fire was now burning on Dabi’s arms, and Hawks could see marks forming on them. This was bad. Dabi didn’t have the same level of control that he did in his twenties, and that meant that he could accidentally hurt people. Or hurt himself more.

            “Touya, calm down.” Hawks tried to towards Dabi, hoping to at least get him to stop the fire. The heat was getting intense. Dabi glanced at Hawks, and Hawks saw desperation in his eyes. Dabi wasn’t making the fire on purpose, he was loosing control.

            “I can’t-“ Dabi gasped out desperately, grasping his arms. “It hurts.”

            “Touya you need to get control of yourself!” Endeavor shouted gruffly, and he started to make his way towards Dabi.

            Wrong move.

            Dabi saw him approached, and flames lit up his whole body in panic. Hawks rushed to stop Endeavor, while Eraserhead jumped out and activated his quirk, making the flames go away. The nurse that Hawks had seen prepping the syringe ealier stepped forward and injected a distracted Dabi with it.

            Dabi winced in shock, then stumbled slighted, blinking rapidly. Eraserhead lunged forward to catch him as he fell down, knocked out cold.

            Eraser adjusted the young boy in his arms and carried him into the hospital room. Hawks stepped out of the way, forcing Endeavor to do the same. The hospital seemed to be starting up again outside of the room, but inside it was silent.

            Eraser laid Dabi on the bed gently, and then turned to face Endeavor.

            “So do you want to tell me what that was about?” He asked the number one hero, eyes flashing.

            Endeavor puffed up his chest, glaring down at the other hero. “Touya and I have never had a good relationship, but what happens in my house is my business Eraser. I’d appreciate it if you would stay out of it.”

            “We will be talking about this later.” Eraser said sternly eyes flashing dangerously. Even Hawks was a little wary of him. “But right now you should stay as far away from your son as you can. We don’t want him to react like that again.”

            Endeavor was about to protest when Hawks gently put his hand on the large hero’s shoulder. Endeavor looked down at him.

            “It’s cool big guy, you can hang out with me on my side of the room. It’s a little empty compare to Touya’s over there so I would appreciate the company.” Hawks said with a smile.

            Endeavor glared at him for a moment, then nodded, making his way to the furthest point from Dabi. Hawks hopped onto his bed with a smile pointed at the number one hero.

            “I’m going to find the doctor. Try not to break anything while I’m away.” Eraser said, and stepped out.

            “So has Touya’s quirk always been like this?” Hawks asked the Todoroki’s, gesturing to the new burn marks on Dabi’s arms. Shouto was sitting in a corner of the room, watching everyone in it, with Natsuo next to him. His eyes flickered back to Endeavour frequently.

            “It does if he uses it for too long.” Fuyumi said softly. She was sitting by her brother’s hospital bed. “His quirk is the hottest form of fire, and his body can’t handle it. I used to help ice him down after…”

            She seemed to trail off, and Hawks had no idea why she used to ice down Dabi. Children didn’t use their quirks too often, and especially if their quirks hurt them, so he couldn’t think of a reason why Dabi would have used his fire so much as to get the scars he had. It’s not like he had been getting trained every day to be a hero like the Commission did with Hawks.

            Before Hawks could ask a follow up question, the door opened and the doctor walked in.

            “I heard there was an incident. Is everyone okay?” The doctor asked the room. After seeing every nod, he walked over to Dabi’s bed and began checking him over.

            “Well besides the new burns on his skin, he should be fine. I’ll have a nurse come in and put some burn cream on.” The doctor told them. “He will probably be waking up soon, the nurse didn’t give him that strong of a dose.

            “Will Mr. Aizawa be back before he wakes up?” Shouto asked.

            “Eraser had to make a quick phone call to check something, but he should be back any moment now. Now I have the results of our tests, but I would like to wait for Mr. Todoroki to wake up and for Mr. Aizawa to get back before sharing them.”

            “No need to wait for me.” Eraserhead said as he walked in. “I just had to check in with the principal.”

            The doctor nodded. “Now all that’s left is-“

            A groan from the hospital bed interrupted him. Dabi was slowly starting to open his eyes and move.

            “Touya!” Fuyumi shouted, and flung her arms around her brother.

            “Hey Yumi.” Dabi said softly. He blinked a couple times then glanced around the room, spotting Endeavour.

            Dabi’s eyes shot open and he shoved his sister off.

            “Get him out!” He shouted. Eraser stepped between Endeavour and Dabi, blocking the view.

            “Endeavour has to remain here as you are currently a child, and not dead like the records say. He is legally your guardian, but I promise you he will not lay a hand on you while I am here. You just need to calm down.” Eraser told Dabi. Dabi glanced at him, holding a glare, then nodded. Eraser stepped back, and Dabi turned his eyes on his father.

            “Well now that we are all here, I have the results.” The doctor cut in. “Both Mr. Todoroki and Hawks are fine, relatively speaking. Mr. Todoroki has the same physical make-up as he did when he was 15. And Hawks seems perfectly healthy as well, although we don’t have a chart to compare it to. They passed their physical exams just fine, and the blood work came back normal. Besides Mr. Todoroki’s under nourishment, I’d almost say they were perfectly healthy 15 year-olds.”

            “So what happens now?” Fuyumi asked.

            “Well this has never happened before, so there is no precedent on what should happen. My suggestion would be to send you both home to your families and keep in contact with Eraserhead here in case they find a way to turn you back to normal. But right now there is no way to turn you back to your former ages, so I’m afraid you might have to grow up again.”

            Dabi and Hawks took the news in silence.

            “Hold on, you’re saying we have to deal with puberty again?” Dabi asked him. The doctor nodded.

            “Do we have any other options?” Hawks asked. He didn’t know what he would do. Dabi at least had a family to go to, but the Commission had basically raised Hawks. He didn’t know if he had anywhere to go right now, if the Commission would even take him back.

            “I have an option you might want to hear.” Eraserhead spoke up. Dabi and Hawks attention snapped to him. “I’ve been talking with Principal Nezu, and he has offered you both a place at UA, in my class.”

            “Why?”

            “Because the person who had the quirk accident is my adoptive daughter, and she lives under protection at UA. If a way to restore your bodies does come up, you would have access to it right away by staying at UA. Also Nezu feels it’s our responsibility to help out those effected as best we can. We can also help train you to relearn your quirks, so they don’t go off when emotions run hot.”

            Eraser said the last sentence directly at Dabi.

            “With all due respect Eraser, but I think Touya would do best if he were to come home.” Fuyumi said quietly.

            “No, I’m not going back to that house ever again.” Dabi told her. “Can’t I just get back to my own life, away from all of this? I can deal with puberty on my own again, at least this time I know what’s coming.”

            “You were recently found alive after many years and were involved in a quirk accident with a girl who was involved in several investigations. Your options right now are going to UA, or be placed in protective custody.” Eraser told him.

            “I can take care of him in my own home.” Endeavour said loudly. “I’ve trained his quirk before, and I can do it again.”

            Eraser glared at Endeavour. “Based on his reaction to you, you already failed at that chance. I would sooner let him off on the streets than send him home with you.”

            Hawk’s jaw dropped. He’d never seen anyone talk like that to Endeavour. Eraserhead was gutsy.

            “Cool, then drop me off on a street corner and I will disappear out of everyone’s lives again.” Dabi said.

            “What? Touya no!” Natuso said loudly, jumping up. “We just got you back, and we’ve all missed you so much. Why are you trying to get rid of us?”

            “I’m not, I’m just trying to get back to my life, that I live separately from this family. You guys have lived without me for almost a decade. I’m sure Shouto barely remembers me.” Dabi pointed at the youngest Todoroki sibling.

            “I don’t have a lot of memories of you, but I remember you positively.” Shouto said.

            “Touya you can’t just walk out of our lives again.” Fuyumi said, tears starting to form in her eyes. Hawks say Dabi look at her, and soften a little bit.

            “I’m not going back there.” He told her.

            “Well I wouldn’t mind checking out UA!” Hawks said brightly, causing the attention in the room to shift. “I’ve always been curious why it’s the number one hero school.”

            Eraser nodded. "This would also give both of you the opportunity to earn your high school diplomas, as it seems to be something you both lack."

            Dabi sighed. “Alright fine, I guess I can go to high school again.”

Chapter Text

“Hawks you will be on the fourth floor next to Bakugou, Todoroki you will be on the fifth floor next to Satou.” Aizawa told them when they entered the dorms. The rest of the class of 1-A was sitting in the common room. Some were pretending to study, but others had abandoned trying to look like they were doing anything besides look at their two new classmates.

            Hawks at least looked fine. They had been able to stop by his apartment to gather some basic clothes for him, as his adult body wasn’t much bigger than his teenager body. Dabi on the other hand was wearing the clothes he had been wearing when the accident happened. Luckily he hadn’t been wearing his signature jacket and loose shirt combination, but that meant he was in a hoodie that was two sizes too big on him, and his pants were constantly sliding down. It took all of Dabi’s effort to keep them up, and he ended up stealing a belt from Hawk’s closet that barely helped. At least his oversized clothes covered the bandages the doctor had put over all of his scars.

            “Ohhh Todoroki your brother is cute!” A pink girl said loudly.

            “Hawks was still cute even when he was our age!” Another girl said loudly. At least Hawks thought it was a girl, he couldn't see the head.

            Dabi and Hawks ignored the excited chatter from the class and focused on Aizawa handing them their keys.

            “Just call me Touya.” Dabi told the teacher. Aizawa nodded and looked at his class.

            “Alright, I’m going to be showing these two to their rooms.” He announced to them. “Respect their privacy, they will be joining class 2-A in the morning, you can bother them then. Remember you have an English test in Mic’s class tomorrow.”

            Aizawa motioned for the two to follow him, as the class devolved into chatters, no one attempting to even study for the test tomorrow. They were led to a pair of elevators; one of them had a hand scan on it.

            “Down this hallway is my apartment. Present Mic also lives there, along with Eri. If you need anything you can just knock.” Aizawa explained. “These are the elevators. The right one leads to the boys side, the left to the girls.”

            “Why is there a security measure on the girls elevator?” Hawks asked.

            “We used to have a student who didn’t respect women. He would try to get into their dorm rooms often. He has since been expelled, and a new student will be joining the class once we finish bleaching his room. But now the girls dorm has extra security.” Aizawa explained, pressing a button on the right elevator.

            They stopped at Hawks room first.

            “Hawks this is where you will be staying.” Aizawa told him. It was a basic looking dorm room with a bed, desk, and a door to a washroom. It almost reminded Hawks of his room at the Commission.

            “Well no place like home.” Hawks said with a laugh. He dropped the duffle full of clothes on his bed.

            They made their way to the next floor to see Dabi’s room, which looked exactly like Hawk’s. Dabi didn’t have anything besides the clothes he was wearing, so he couldn't drop anything off. 

            “You both are free to decorate your rooms however you want.” Aizawa told them. “Class begins at 8 a.m. You both are responsible for waking yourselves up and getting to breakfast. Breakfast is served in the cafeteria, but a lot of the students keep some food in the kitchen downstairs. It’s up to you what you want to do. There will be several uniforms delivered to your dorms tomorrow morning, we rush ordered them. You unique quirks have been taken into consideration. Any questions?”

            The two shook their heads.

            “Alright, I’ll leave you guys to get settled.” Aizawa left them alone in Dabi’s room. Hawks waited until he heard the elevator doors shut before talking to Dabi.

            “So this is actually happening.” Hawks said quietly. He jumped onto the bed, ignoring Dabi’s protesting. “This feels like a poorly written manga.”

            “Yeah well, we’re stuck here for now. Give me your phone, I have to text the League.” Dabi held his hand out.

            “What are you going to tell them?” Hawks asked as he pulled it out. He didn’t give it to Dabi yet, unsure if he should.

            “I’m saying there was a quirk accident and that for now we will be out of commission and contact for a while.” Dabi explained, making a swipe for the phone that Hawks easily dodged.

            “Are you going to tell them we are at UA?” Hawks asked.

            “No, cause then they might try to come after us. And right now, I really don’t want them finding out who my dad is. Toga already dances around me singing about daddy issues, she can’t know how right she is.” Dabi told him.

            After extracting a promise that Dabi lets Hawks read the message before he sent it, Hawks handed over the phone.

            “While we are here, lets get our stories straight. We already have the quirk incident down, but people are going to have questions on why the number two hero was found with the dead son of the number one hero.” Dabi said as he typed out the message.

            “We could always tell them the truth?” Hawks suggested.

            Dabi paused in his typing and looked at the bird on his bed.

            “What?”

            “Yeah, you and I were meeting up for a coffee date. That’s the truth.” Hawks said.

            “But not the whole truth.” Dabi pointed out with a smirk. “I like it, keep it nice and simple. Are you really going to call meeting up for intel a date?”

            “Do you want to call it a date or me betraying hero society? Cause if we go with the full truth I won’t be able to get you any more information.” Hawks pointed out. Dabi hummed for a moment.

            “Date it is then.”

            Dabi finished typing out the message to Toga and showed it to Hawks. It was simple, explaining that they were involved in a quirk accident and are currently being heavily watched by heroes, and will be out of contact with the league until further notice. With a nod from Hawks, Dabi hit send.

            “It’s going to be weird to be in school tomorrow.” Hawks mentioned.

            Dabi sighed and made his way over to the bed. Hawks shifted over so they could both fit. It was a good thing Dabi was small for his age, cause it was a little tight with both of them lying on the bed with Hawk's wings.

            “Yeah, I never graduated high school, so this should be at least a little new. What high school did you go to?” Dabi asked him.

            “The Commission brought in private tutors to teach me. So I probably have a better high school education in some areas, but there were a couple subjects that were deemed unimportant in being a hero, so they weren’t covered.” Hawks explained. “Why didn’t you graduate high school?”

            Dabi was silent for a moment.

            “I died Hawks.”

            Before Hawks could ask another question, there was a knock on the door. With a groan, Dabi got up and went to open it. Hawks sat up to see who it was there, and was pleasantly surprised to see the other Todoroki brother, Shouto, holding a small bundle.

            “Hey kid, what’s up?” Dabi asked his little brother.

            “I think right now I’m older than you, so you can’t call me kid anymore. Also I am taller than you.” Shouto said. Dabi laughed.

            “You could be forty years old and ten feet tall, I will always call you kid. You age doesn’t change the fact that I helped Mom change your diapers.” Dabi told him. “So what do you want?”

            “I brought some pajamas for you.” Shouto held out the bundle. “Along with a couple of sweat pants. I noticed you didn’t have anything when you walked in and your clothes were pretty loose. These might be about the right size for you, they are a little small for me.”

            Hawks barked out a laugh at that. Dabi turned to glare at him, letting Shouto see where Hawks was. The kids’ eyes widened. 

            “Sorry I didn’t realize you had company. I can go.” Shouto made a move to leave.

            “It’s not like that. Don’t worry about feathers over there, he was just annoying me. And he was just about to leave so I could get some sleep. I haven’t been up before noon in a long time.” Dabi told him.

            “It’s true. I once tried to wake him up at ten a.m. and he sent a fireball at me.” Hawks told Shouto as he got up from Dabi’s bed.

            Shouto looked between Hawks and Dabi for a moment, and in that moment Dabi wished that Endeavor had actually killed him all those years ago. It seemed better than trying to explain to his baby brother what the relationship was.

            “So are you guys…” Shouto trailed off.

            “No.” Dabi said firmly, ignoring the squawk from Hawks at his answer. “He’s just a friend who refused to leave me alone.”

            Shouto nodded, but his eyes seemed to show that he didn't quite believe Dabi.

            “Aw Touya you consider me a friend!” Hawks said excitedly, putting his arm around Dabi.

            “I’m starting to reconsider it.” Dabi told him with a smirk.

            “Then who else would you talk to?” Hawks pointed out.

            “Well right now I don’t want to talk to anybody, I just want some sleep. So if you were my friend, you would get out.” Dabi shrugged Hawk’s arm off him.

            “Well with those loving words, I think it’s time we turn in for the night little Todoroki.” Hawks stepped out of the room.

            “But Touya is smaller than me.” Shouto pointed out again.

            “Yeah, but if I called him that, I would become fried chicken.” Hawks threw Dabi a pointed look.

            “And I like my chicken extra crispy.” Dabi said with a smirk. At least now without the scars he looked like less of an asshole when he smiled. “Goodnight.”

            Dabi shut the door as Hawks and Shouto walked down the hall. Shouto kept glancing at Hawks with a weird expression.

            “Are you and my brother just friends?” Shouto asked.

            Hawks looked at the youngest Todoroki.

            “The truth is kid I don’t know. I’d like to say we were more than friends, but we never had a label on it.” Hawks told Shouto. “Adult relationships are complicated, but I do care about your brother. I just don’t know if he is in a place to care about someone else in a way that deserved a label.”

            Shouto nodded. “Thank you for telling me about him. Could you tell me about what he’s like? Fuyumi and Natsuo described someone very different than what he is now, and I was too young to remember a lot. But I do know that he cared about us a lot.”

            The elevator dinged, showing that it had arrived. Hawks glanced at it, then back at Shouto. Dabi might have been lying before about where he got his scars from, he was a villain with a very dark view of heroes. And Shouto here would give him the insider information he needed about that situation.

            “I’d be happy to kid, but you need to share some stories from Touya’s childhood too. I need some juicy details to blackmail him with.” Hawks told him as they stepped into the elevator.

            Shouto smiled at him.

            “Deal.”

Chapter Text

Even though Dabi was asleep before midnight, he still overslept. He forgot that he didn’t have his phone or an actual alarm clock to help him wake up on time. So, Hawks took it upon himself to be that alarm clock.

            “Touya!” A loud bang of the door being flung open and his name being startled Dabi out of his sleep in a panic. The first thing he recognized was Hawks overly cheerful voice was the thing ripping him from sleep. The next thing he realized was that the birdbrain was already in the air, about to land on his bed.

            “Oof!” Dabi let out when Hawks landed on him. “Hawks what the fuck!”

            “Language dude, there are children around.” Hawks said with a laugh. Dabi looked at the maniac lying on top of him. Hawks was already in his school uniform, and was smiling even though it was probably still early.

            “You know you guys are the same age as us.” Shouto’s voice came from the doorway. Dabi looked over to see his brother smiling at them, holding several hangers that seemed to be the uniform.

            “Only physically.” Dabi pointed out. “Now get off me bird brain.”

            “But Touyaaaa” Hawks whined, “I missed you last night.”

            “Now who is saying inappropriate things in front of children?” Dabi said with a laugh, and shoved Hawks off of him onto the floor. He landed with a groan of pain, which Dabi ignored. He was too busy trying to wake up.

            “Come on dude, we’re going to be late for our first day.” Hawks said from the floor.

            “What time is it?” Dabi asked, rubbing his hands over his face.

            “7:45.” Shouto answered him. Dabi’s head shot up.

            “Fuck, give me that. I’ll be downstairs in five minutes.” Dabi quickly got out of bed and grabbed the clothes from his brother.

            It took Dabi more time than he thought it would to get dressed. Eventually he gave up on tying the tie, figuring he was going to be really late if he didn’t hurry up. When he made it downstairs, only Hawks was waiting for him.

            “How much time do we have before class?” Dabi asked hurriedly.

            “About three minutes. Your brother said it takes a little over five just to get to the school.” Hawks told him with a smirk, eying Dabi's neckline. Hawks looked like the perfect high school student, jacket nicely put on, tie perfectly straight, and his bag slung over his arm. Meanwhile Dabi’s entire uniform seemed to be slightly rumpled, and without the tie his shirt was flared open at the top. At least the uniform covered the bandages for the most part.

            “Well shit, looks like we are going to be fashionably late then.” Dabi said with a smirk. Hawks gave him a look.

            “Do you really want to piss Eraserhead off on the first day? He’s actually being really chill about letting us stay here.” Hawks point out as they began to walk out of the dorm room.

            “Well it’s not like we can make it on time, and I don’t feel like running.” Dabi told him. “If there was another way, I’d take it.”

            “Well in that case, I have an idea.” Hawks said with a smirk. Dabi glanced at him suspiciously.

            “What did you-“ The next moment Dabi was being princess carried as Hawks fly them to school.

            “You dumbass bird I’m going to roast you!” Dabi screamed, clinging to Hawks. He could feel his stomach starting to churn and prayed that Hawks remembered he got motion sickness.

            “Don’t worry, we’ll be on time this way.” Hawks shouted with a laugh. “I had your brother go ahead and open a window for us.”

            Hawks circled the school building for a moment before spotting the younger Todoroki standing next to a green haired kid and an open window.

            “Hang on!” Hawks shouted. He felt Dabi tighten his grip, then dove towards the window, swopping into the classroom with a gust of wind and excited screams.

            Before Hawks could even enjoy the flashy entrance, Dabi tore himself from his arms and ran towards the nearest trashcan, where he proceeded to empty his stomach of the hospital food from the previous day.

            “You damn bird!” He yelled after a moment. “You know I get motion sickness! This is why I stopped letting you fly us to your place.”

            Hawks was too busy laughing at Dabi to care what that insinuated as the rest of the class was torn between gossiping and laughing at the redhead trying to catch his breath.

            “Why aren’t you all in your seats yet?” Aizawa’s voice came from the doorway. Immediately, the class raced to their seats and quieted down, leaving Dabi to finish heaving in the trashcan and Hawks still laughing at him.

            Aizawa glanced between them, then locked onto Hawks. “In the future, using your quirk without permission can result in disciplinary action. Just be late for class next time, or better yet, wake up earlier so you are on time.”

            Hawks gave him a cheeky thumbs up. “You got it Eraser, now where do I sit?”

          Eraser glared at him for a moment. “In class you will address me as Mr. Aizawa. First I want to introduce the new students to everyone, come up here and help Todoroki.”

            Hawks walked over to Dabi and put a hand on his shoulder.

            “You alright there?” Hawks asked him quietly.

            Dabi nodded but shot him a glare. “Never drop like that again, or we will all be having fried chicken.”

            Hawks laughed, helped Dabi up and handed him some mint gum. He had started keeping some one hand whenever he knew he would fly with Dabi. Dabi took it and popped it in his mouth before looking out at the class.

            “Alright we have three new students joining us today.” Mr. Aizawa announced. “Please wel-“

            “Wait Touya and I only make two.” Hawks interrupted loudly. Aizawa’s eyes flashed and several students gasped. Hawks took that as a hint to shut up.

            “As I was saying, there will be three students joining us today. Shinso, you can come in now.” Aizawa said. The door opened and in walked a young man with crazy purple hair and eye bags that gave Dabi’s under eye scars a run for their money.

            “Now introduce yourself you three.” Aizawa said. Hawks saw him pulled out a large yellow sleeping bag and step into it.

            “Well I guess I’ll go first.” Hawks said cheerfully. “I’m Hawks, and right now I’ll be joining your class until they figure out a way to return me to my normal body. I’m super excited to attend an actual school this time around! My quirk is called Fierce Wings, and I can basically fly and control my feathers.”

            Hawks waved at the class and Dabi snorted. Hawks was acting like he was in front of the cameras, which always felt very artificial to Dabi. It seemed to work on the class thought because most of them were smiling at Hawks. The pink girl even raised her hand to ask a question.

            “Mr. Hawks” The girl said excitedly “what do you mean by attending an actual school this time around? Didn’t you go to high school? Also what’s your actual name?”

            Hawks laughed for a moment. “I was raised with private tutors so I didn’t get the normal high school experience. So while I think I have a general high school education, I never attended one. As for my name, that is classified. Sorry kid, maybe one day.”

            Dabi didn’t feel like going next after Hawk’s cheerful introduction, so he gestured for the purple kid to go.

            “I’m Shinso Hitoshi, some of you remember me from the sports festival and the training exercise earlier this year.” The purple kid said. “As you know I’m here to work, not here to make friends. My quirk is Mind Control.”

            Dabi could have sworn he heard Aizawa snort and say something about being a fool, but it was muffled by the yellow sleeping bag. Before Dabi could ask him though, he realized the class was now staring at him. He groaned for a moment before introducing himself.

            “My name is Touya, I am Shouto’s brother.” Dabi said. “Please never called me by my last name, Touya is just fine. I have a fire quirk, and I think that’s all you need to know.”

            The pink haired girl raised her hand again but didn’t wait for Dabi to call on her. “Is you’re quirk like Todoroki’s? And are you younger than him? Also what did you mean earlier when you said you don’t let Hawks fly you to his apartment anymore?”

            “My quirk is just fire, but it burns hotter than his.” Dabi explained. He held up one of his hands and let blue fire engulf it. The class oohed for a moment. “As for ages, I am the oldest Todoroki sibling, Shouto is the youngest.”

            “And what about the apartment?”

            “Enough.” Aizawa said loudly. “You can ask them questions later. For now I want Idia to start morning announcements. You three can have a seat wherever, I don’t care.”

            A kid with glasses stood up with a stack of papers and made his way to the front of the room. Shinso made his way to a desk behind a green haired boy, while Dabi and Hawks went to the back of the classroom where two extra desks had been placed. Dabi took the one behind his brother, while Hawks sat to his right.

            The morning passed with different classes. Hawks seemed to know most of the basics, although he was completely lost when it came to history and science. Dabi on the other hand seemed to keep up with it though. But both were relieved when the lunch bell rang.

            “I forgot how horrible it was sitting at desk for several hours as they droned on about this stuff.” Dabi said to Hawks as students were getting up.

            “Same. I’m getting a little anxious staying still for so long.” Hawks told him.

            “You get used to it.” Shouto said, he had approached their desks with a few of the other students standing behind him. “We usually do hero training in the afternoon, so it balances out. Do you want me to show you were the cafeteria is?”

            Hawks could see Dabi was about to refuse, so Hawks nodded eagerly and pulled Dabi up from his seat. Dabi shot him a glare but followed his brother and his friends out of the classroom.

            “This looks delicious!” Hawks exclaimed when he finally sat down at a real high school cafeteria. Dabi sat next to him at the end of the table; he hadn’t said a word since they left the classroom. 

            “I love the food here! Lunch Rush always seems to know exactly what each student wants!” A girl with brown hair exclaimed.

            “Oh, is that his quirk?” Hawks asked as he shoveled the chicken dish in his mouth. He almost let out a moan that would have made Dabi blush the food was so good.

            “His quirk involves food prep, but that’s all I know.” Brown haired girl said. “But if you ever need to know anything about someone else’s quirk, you should ask Midoriya! He could probably tell you more about your quirk than you already know!”

            “Ochako!” A green haired boy sitting between the girl and Shouto turned bright red. Hawks recognized him.

            “Hey, aren’t you the bone breaking kid from the sports festival?” Hawks asked, pointing a fork at him. If it was possible, the green haired boy turned even redder.

            “Ye-yeah that’s me.” Midoriya said nervously.

            “And you’re the girl who basically created a meteor shower on the explosions kid!” Hawks said pointing at the brown haired girl. She looked startled for a moment, then laughed.

            “Yeah, that’s me.” She said with a sad smile, probably thinking about how she lost.

            “Hey that was pretty kick ass.” Dabi said softly from Hawk’s side. “Plus you should be proud that bird brain here remembers, he is the most forgetful person on the planet.”

            “Name one thing I have forgotten!” Hawks protested.

            “Coffee, last week. You went to the bar instead, at the wrong time, and somehow even forgot where the bar was and you had to call me to give you directions. To the wrong location.” Dabi said with a smirk. A couple of the students they were sitting with started laughing.

            “Look we hang out at two places, the bar or the coffee shop. It’s totally reasonable to get them mixed up.”

            “You were asking for directions to a bar at 9 in the morning. It's not even open that early, and I've certainly never drank that early.”

            “You don’t get up that early.”

            “Not all of us are roosters who rise at the crack of dawn.”

            “I have a job to get up for, what’s your excuse for sleeping in?”

            “Well I have a demanding little bird keeping me up late, it’s a real pain in the ass. Well not literally for me anyways.”

            Dabi’s smirk looked downright villainous as Hawks jaw dropped and his face was about as red as Midoriya's. The other kids at the table were roaring with laughter, even Shouto had chuckled a couple times.

            “There are children present.” Hawks stammered out.

            “What, do you not want the future heroes to know that you like-“ Before Dabi could complete the sentence Hawk put his arm around Dabi’s head and his hand over his mouth.

            “We are not having this conversation at a school in front of a group of children, one of which is your little brother.” Hawks said with a tense smile. He didn’t mind people knowing he was gay; he had been pretty open about it for a while. He did mind people knowing that he had been intimate with Endeavor’s oldest son. Mostly because if that got back to Endeavor, he was pretty sure the number one hero would end him.

            “So are you dating Touya?” Ochako asked excitedly.

            “Ahhh no. We're just very good friends.” Hawks said with a shrug. He could feel Dabi’s breath against his hand; it was hot and coming in quick.

            “But you guys go on coffee and bar dates!” A green haired girl with a large tongue that was poking out of her mouth said. “Isn’t that the definition of a date?”

            “I do that with Miruko too, and I can guarantee she and I have never, and will never date.” Hawks said. Dabi was now scratching his hand in an annoying attempt to pull it off, but Hawks did not want more details of their relationship to be let out.

            “But what about what Touya said about your apartment earlier?” Ochako asked. Hawks was about to answer when he caught sight of Shouto’s eyes going wide.

            “Let go of him!” Shouto shouted.

            Hawk looked at Dabi who was still in his grasp. His pupils were wide and he looked scared. He was still clawing at Hawk’s hand, but now that Hawk’s could see it, he recognized it as desperation.

            Hawks let go and immediately Dabi wrenched himself away, slipping out of the chair and onto the floor. He was breathing heavily, and there were blue flames flickering over his body, causing the uniform to singe a little bit.

            “Shit Touya are you okay?” Hawks asked worriedly, getting closer to Dabi but still with enough space.

            “Just stay away from me!” Dabi shouted and stormed out of the cafeteria.

            The table was stunned for a moment.

            “I should probably go after him.” Hawks said quietly.

            “No, I would like to.” Shouto got up from the table and followed Dabi out.

Chapter Text

The moment Hawks wrapped his arm around Dabi, it was all he could do not to burst into flames right there. He knew he was safe at UA, that it was Hawks whose arm that was around him, covering his mouth. But ever since he had been back in this younger version of his body it had been difficult to control his emotions and reactions to everything. So with the pressure on his shoulder and mouth, he kept seeing Endeavor instead of the goofy blonde idiot who didn’t seem to realize that Dabi was about to explode.  

            Once Hawks released him, Dabi’s first thought was just to get out of the building. He didn’t want to destroy UA, at least not with his brother inside.

            Dabi ran out of the cafeteria and towards the exit. He remembered there was a wooded area around here, that seemed as good as any place to have a breakdown. Dabi didn’t know how he made it there, but next thing he knew he was stumbling through some trees.

            He dropped to his knees and grasped his chest, letting the tears fall as he gasped for air. Dabi still wasn’t used to being able to cry, but it kind of felt nice. It was an outlet for his emotions, one he hadn’t been able to use in years. It helped calm him down a little bit, but it didn't stop the panic he was feeling.

            “Touya?” Shouto said softly.

            Dabi took a large breath and looked up to see his little brother looking down at him concerned.

            “Hey kid.” Dabi rasped out between deep breaths. He couldn’t hide the panic attack, but he would be damned if he let his little brother truly know how bad the old man had effected him.

            Shouto sat on the ground next to him as Dabi kept breathing deeply, the tears not stopping.

            “I can’t stand someone touching my head without warning.” Shouto said softly. “And I don’t really like kettles. Like I can be in the same room as them, but they need to stay at least five feet away at all times.”

            Dabi was quiet for a moment. “I don’t like being touched, even when I’m not in this shitty, younger body. I really only let people I know well touch me without getting burned, but it seems that now I just can’t be touched without loosing control.”

            Shouto nodded.

            They sat in silence for a couple minutes; Dabi vaguely heard the bell ring somewhere behind them. They were going to be late.

            “Mr. Aizawa said that we could meet them in the gym when we are ready.” Shouto said quietly as if reading his mind. “I let him know that I was coming out here to find you, he worries when we disappear.”

            Dabi chuckled. “He sounds like the class dad.”

            “Kaminari once called him that when he was tired. Even since his phone name for most of us was Dadzawa.” Shouto said with a straight face.

            Dabi let out a full laugh this time. “Well I’m glad you have one good father figure in your life.”

            “I’d like to think I have two.”

            Dabi glanced at Shouto confused. “Did Endeavor knock you around more than I thought during a training session?”

            “I was talking about you.”

            Dabi was quiet for a moment. “I thought you didn’t remember me.”

            “I said that I didn’t have many memories of you, but I did remember you positively. It’s just whenever I try to think of you, the first thoughts are those of comfort and protection. I’ve learned here that those emotions are what fathers are supposed to make children feel.” Shouto explained, his expression never changing.

            Dabi could remember the countless nights he would sneak into Shouto’s room to comfort his little brother after a training session. Or when he would stand between their father and Shouto, even if Touya were still sore from the day before. Dabi had just wanted to protect his little brother, but considering how Shouto was talking about learning emotions, he failed.

            “I’m not a good role model.” Dabi said quietly.

            “You’re better than some alternatives.”

            “You don’t even know what I’ve been doing for ten years.”

            “Doesn’t change how I feel about you right now.”

            ‘It should.’ Dabi thought to himself. He wondered how everyone would react if they knew that he was Dabi. He was already pretty sure Eraser had suspicions, but he was worried what his brother would do if he found out.

            “Thanks Shouto.” Dabi lifted his arm so Shouto could see it first, then wrapped it around his brother’s shoulders. Shouto leaned into his arm.

            They stayed like that for a few minutes before Dabi realized something.

            The tears had stopped.

Chapter Text

Hawks completed the obstacle course again and landed in front of Aizawa with a smirk. The Eraser hero just raised an eyebrow at him. The rest of the class was standing at the wall behind them observing. Dabi had arrived at some point with Shouto, Dabi’s eyes looking puffy.

            “Alright Hawks you’re done for now, take a rest.” Aizawa told him.

            “It’s cool I can go again.” Hawks called out and tensed his muscles preparing to fly again. His stamina wasn’t what he remembered it being at this age, and it wasn’t anywhere near what it was as an adult.  But it was defiantly better than everyone else in the class, as long as he hid the huffing and puffing like what he used to do with his handlers.

            Hawks spread his wings ready to take off, and then the next second he was wrapped in Aizawa’s scarf and crashing on the ground.

            “I said rest.” Eraser said, not removing the scarf. Hawks wiggled around to look at the hero, ignoring Dabi cackling like a lunatic near the wall. Eraser was glaring down at him, his quirk not activated but his stare was still a little terrifying.

            “Dude I said I’m fine.” Hawks tried to argue, but now it was a little harder to hide his breathing. Aizawa continue to glare down at him.

            “You aren’t used to having a limit like this on your body. If you push too much it might damage your body to a point of permanent damage. Just ask Midoriya.”

            The green haired boy squeaked, then looked down at his arm. Hawks could see deep scars on them, almost carving into his flesh.

            “You should listen to Mr. Aizawa.” Midoriya said softly. Hawks stopped wiggling and looked at the green child. “I’ve pushed myself too much and now I won’t ever have full control of my hand again.”

            After a moment, Hawks nodded. The bindings loosened and Hawks was able to get free of them. At least now Dabi had stopped laughing at him, and was just giving him a sly smirk. Hawks was just happy he was responsible for one smile on Dabi’s face today instead of the constant misery he seemed to be causing.

            “Sorry, pushing myself is a force of habit.” Hawks said quietly. Aizawa nodded.

            “I figured, but right now I’m training you. While the school does want to push the students, it also doesn’t want them to get hurt. Which means knowing your limits, and stopping you before you go too far. Take a seat for a bit, there will be more time later to work.” Aizawa told him. “If you want to be a hero today, don’t get hurt, it will save me some paperwork.

            Hawks gave him a thumbs up and walked over to the wall where the students were standing, and most importantly, Dabi was sitting.

            Hawks waved cheerfully to the students and wished Tokoyami luck as he stepped forward to train on the obstacle course. He tried to be nice to everyone, but really Hawks wanted to see how Dabi was doing.

            At Hawks core he was a hero who just wanted to help people. He wanted to be the reason people felt safe, and he had caused Dabi to feel scared. That was not the hero he wanted to be.

            “Hey dude, how’s it going?” Hawks asked Dabi, squatting down to look him in the eye while balancing on the balls of his feet.

            “I’m fine Hawks, you can go back to your adoring fans.” Dabi told him, his face looking very similar to Shouto’s.

            “Eh there will be time later to talk to them. I want to make sure my friend is okay.”

            “Since when are we friends?”

            “You’re the one who called me a friend first, I’m just keeping everything straight.”

            “Nothing about this is straight.”

            Hawks laughed and Dabi smirk a bit. It was nice seeing Dabi without his scars, he looked so much younger and carefree. His smiling no longer made it seem like his jaw was about to unhinge and eat the person who made him show any other emotion besides hatred.

            “So how are you doing, really?” Hawks asked him.

            “I told you I’m fine Hawks.” Dabi said, his eyes moving away from the young hero. “Don’t worry about it, it’s happened before and it will probably happen again until I get my emotions under control. Which is going to be hard, considering I’m a teenager again.”

            “Just listen to emo music and tell your dad you hate him. Isn’t that how most teenagers deal with emotions?”

            “I do that in my twenties too.”

            “Perfect, so you don’t need to change your lifestyle. Glad to know I was basically seeing a teenager in a twenty-something body.”

            Dabi shoved his shoulder causing Hawks to fall back and land on his ass. “Dude that’s a really weird thing to say.”

            Hawks laughed when he landed, then did what he really came over here to do.

            “Hey, Touya, I’m sorry about earlier. I should have realized you weren’t reacting well to me grabbing you like that, and after this morning I should have made sure you were okay. I’m really sorry.” Hawks said solemnly. Dabi sighed at him, running a hand through his fire red hair. It was weird seeing Dabi without black hair.

            “Thanks birdie. It means more than you know that you cared enough to apologize.” Dabi told him.

            The rest of the class went by smoothly, with Dabi and Hawks sitting on the side watching them. Aizawa had told Hawks to just rest for the remainder of the day, and Dabi was excused. No one questioned why.

            Eventually, they were all back at the dorms doing their homework. The class had broken up into little cliques to work on it, but it seemed they still helped each other out. Well except the explosion kid and Midoriya. It seemed their classmates kept those two as far away as physically possible.

            Hawks and Dabi ended up sitting with Shouto’s group. They had met Ochako, Midoriya, and the bug-eyed girl Tsu at lunch earlier, and the glasses class president was apparently named Iida.

            “I will say this right now for the kids here, you will not need to know this type of math in the real world.” Dabi shouted after trying to do the homework for thirty minutes. “This is bullshit, when have I ever needed to do this! And if I did, I have a calculator in my pocket most of the time, it can do it for me!”

            “Mr. Ectoplasm says that the best way to learn is to do it long hand, so you understand how you get to your answer.” Iida said, making a chopping motion with his arm. Dabi flinched at that, but it seemed only Shouto and Hawks noticed. “Plus my brother said that math is very important while running a hero agency.”

            “Well I can say as someone who does run a hero agency, I leave all the math to the accountants I hire. I’ve never needed to figure out how to multiply matrices long handed.” Hawks said, groaning as he glanced at his homework. His tutors hadn’t even made him do homework, so this was a first.

            “This is still good practice for training the mind.” Shouto said softly. “Everyday we work on improving our bodies so they can preform better in our hero work. We create foundations and build up skills. This homework is like that, we were given a foundation of math, and we need to continue to build up our skill level in it in order to remain sharp.”

            “Great theory kid, this still sucks and I’m not using it later in life.” Dabi said glaring at the paper. Hawks wondered if he was considering setting it on fire.

            They did eventually finish their homework, though there was a lot of complaining from Dabi. Students seemed to go to their own areas afterwards, some played video games, Hawks saw the earphone girl teaching the electric kid the guitar, and some just realaxed with a cup on tea.

            Dabi just retreated from everyone and went right up to his room, with Hawks close on his tail. Once he got there, Dabi dropping onto the bed. Hawks laughed, then shoved Dabi over and lied down on his stomach next to him, wings acting almost like a blanket.

            “You know I thought after I died I wouldn’t have to do any more math beyond basic addition and subtraction. And I definitely didn’t think I would have to study for a test in hero morals.” Dabi said after a moment.

            “Well I think you definitely needed a remedial course on at least one of those subjects, and I’m not talking about math.” Hawks joked. Dabi shoved him lightly. Hawks looked over at the boy next to him.

            Dabi’s was facing Hawks but his eyes were closed. They weren’t resting; Hawks could see the tension on his face as his mind was probably trying to come up with a way to escape. The rest of his face seemed so young and small. There were little burn marks on it, but nothing compared to what it would be someday. His bright red hair had less volume, so it seemed to droop in Dabi’s face more, but even now it still had its spikey wildness. Dabi seemed to hate this version of his hair; Hawks noticed that he had held it away from his face as often as he could during the day.

            “Why are you staring at me?” Dabi asked, his eyes remaining shut.

            “Why do you keep saying when you died?” Hawks blurted out. He had been wanting the full story since the hospital, and now seemed as good as a time as any.

            Dabi’s eyes opened slowly, and the beautiful turquoise met Hawk’s gold. There wasn’t a deep-seated anger in them that the older Dabi always seemed to have. These eyes looked tired, and a little sad.

            “Cause I died Hawks. Legally I burned to death in a house fire.” Dabi told him.

            “But you’re here, why didn’t you just tell anyone you survived? You could have had a normal life.” Hawks pushed. Dabi grit his teeth and hissed.

            “Hawks I don’t feel like getting into the gritty details of why I could never have a normal life, whether I had gone back to that house or not. It’s been a long day, and it’s going to be a longer week. Try asking again when we are allowed to drink, or better yet, just don’t ask again” Dabi shut his eyes again, tension more prominent on his face than it had been before.

            “Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you, see if I could help.”

            “Stop playing the hero for one goddamn minute. If I could rely on heroes, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve had enough emotional turmoil for the day. Just wake me up tomorrow around 7, I don’t have an alarm and they never gave me back my phone.” Dabi told him. He turned away from Hawks, so all the bird could see was the back of the still bright red hair, and the crumpled uniform.

            Hawks got up and left without another word, going downstairs to get to know his classmates. Maybe one of them could help lift the dower mood he was now in.

            Meanwhile Dabi felt the bird leave the bed, and heard the door shut behind him. He was a little relieved to finally be alone; the day had been draining in every conceivable way. He needed an outlet so he could just relax, and right now he couldn’t go and burn some street thugs.

            So Dabi did what he used to do when he was this age.

            He found a loose screw on the side of his desk and took off his shirt, exposing his arm.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week went by similarly. Hawks would wake up Dabi, they would walk with the rest of the class to the school building, classes, lunch, hero training, homework, dinner, and then relaxing time. Dabi would usually sit near the video game players, quietly mocking their skills until they let him play. Then he destroyed them at every single game. It payed off to play with Shigariki apparently, because now Dabi was better than the average gamer.

            Hawks meanwhile would flit around to different groups. He spent some time with the music kids, joined the girls tea time, even went for an evening run with the green haired boy.

            By the time the weekend had rolled around, Hawks had gotten to know a little bit about every single person in class. Dabi meanwhile hadn’t connected with that many students, but had been seen having friendly conversations with Kaminari and Sero.

            Dabi had been avoiding Hawks as much as possible. Sure they walked to the classroom everyday together, but they didn’t really talk much. Dabi seemed pretty drawn into himself after the first night, and as much as Hawks wanted to break open the shell and force himself in, he figured Dabi needed space.

            And while he was letting Dabi get some space, Hawks figured he would take some time for himself. He had gotten up and went for a leisurely jog, something he’s never been able to do before. Mostly he did conditioning work at the Commission’s office, under the critical eye of his handler. But now he had time to do what he wanted.

            It was kind of freeing.

            Hawks got back to the dorms a little after ten, ready to relax for the rest of the day, but others did not have that same idea. Hawks walked into the main area with his mind in a peaceful state, but behind the door was pure chaos.

            “Shouto I swear to god if you don’t give me your phone right now I’m going to tell Fuyumi what really happened to her favorite stuff teddy bear!” Dabi shouted as he chased his little brother around the common area. Shouto was smiling as he ran, grasping his phone tight

            “She already blames you for it, ten years later isn’t going to do anything for me. Besides, Natsuo and Fuyumi thought it was adorable.” Shouto shouted back, leaping over a couch to get away from his brother.

            Dabi was right behind him. “If you send that to Hawks I will make sure every here sees your baby photos.”        

            Shouto let out a genuine laugh and dodged a leap from Dabi who was still yelling threats. Hawks stayed against the wall to avoid the chaos, and made his way to a group of students who were watching the scene.

            “So what did I miss?” Hawks asked them.

            “Touya fell asleep on the couch after Shouto dragged him down for breakfast.” The pink girl, Ashido, said with a smile, moving slightly to dodge a pillow Dabi had attempted to hit Shouto with. “And he was drooling slightly, it was kind of cute. Todoroki took a picture and Touya woke up when the camera went off. He’s been chasing him for almost ten minutes now.”

            Hawk nodded and turned his attention back to the brothers. Both seemed to be breathing heavily now, but showed no signs of slowing down. Dabi was still threatening Shouto with baby photos.

            “I will show that green haired boy the picture the of you throwing a fit over broccoli!” Dabi shouted, making another lunge. Shouto barely avoided it, and Hawks could tell that he was starting to get a little tired.

            “You don’t have a copy of that, I got rid of it!” Shouto shouted back, making a sprint for the group of tables.

            “I have the digital copies of every single photo, and I kept them. I even have your first bath on a flash drive!”

            Hawks saw the flash of fear on Shouto’s face, but it was replaced with an uneasy smirk.

            “You wouldn’t dare hurt you’re favorite brother's reputation before he even has a chance to be a hero.”

            “After making me chase you this early in the morning, Natsuo is my favorite. Right now, I want to start another house fire!”

            Shouto looked almost scared for a moment, freezing in shock at his brother's words, which Dabi took advantage of. Dabi leapt over the table and tackled Shouto, wrestling the phone away from his hand. As soon as Dabi got the phone he leapt up and held it over his head.

            “Stay down or I will fry your phone.” Dabi said, putting his foot on Shouto’s chest. Both were breathing heavily, Dabi had a smirk on his face and Hawks could see the small curve of Shouto’s mouth into a smile.

            “But Touyaaaaaa I just wanted to have some family bonding.” Shouto whined.

            “You can get that by not embarrassing me to people.” Dabi said, starting to go through Shouto’s phone.

            “But everyone already saw you, and you fell asleep in a public area. It’s not really on me that you’re embarrassed.” Shouto tried to struggle haft-heartedly to get out from under Dabi’s foot. Hawks was pretty sure that if Shouto actually put any effort into escaping from Dabi he could, so this was just for fun.

            “Ah ah ahhh,” Dabi tutted mockingly, igniting the hand that wasn’t hold the phone “I wouldn’t do that if were you, twerp.”

            Hawks was distracted from the scene by a buzzing on his phone. He checked it to see a message from an unknown number, containing the photo of Dabi that had caused the chaos. He fired back quick thanks and asked who it was, before looking back to the brothers.

            “Victory! The photo is deleted before the bird brain could get it.” Dabi shouted, holding his hands up and taking his foot off of Shouto. Shouto got up and pretended to pout when he got his phone back.

            “I just wanted to have one picture of you, cause we didn’t have any new ones for over ten years. The only one I ever saw was your picture on the alter.” Shouto said softly, looking at Dabi with doe eyes. Hawks heard the group awe over how cute it was, and he saw Dabi look guilty for a moment, then shove his brother.

            “Don’t try to pull that bullshit with me. I’m the oldest, I’m immune to any of you kids trying to guilt trip me.” Dabi told him with a laugh, making his way towards the couches and collapsing on one. His chest was moving rapidly, but it didn’t look like he was out of breath. He looked a little warm, his face flushed, but he was still wearing his sweatshirt that Shouto had lent him. Even Shouto had even taken off his sweatshirt, and that kid could regulate his body temperature.

            Shouto sighed and plopped on the couch next to his brother. “It was worth a shot. It usually works on Fuyumi.”

            “That’s cause Fuyumi feels guilt, I think I lost that emotion sometime around the time Natsuo tried to wake me up early for Christmas.”

            “You almost set me on fire!” A new voice entered the room. Hawks turned to see Natsuo and Fuyumi standing by the dorms, smiles on their faces. He could swear he heard Ashido muttering about how every Todoroki was attractive.

            “I set my bed on fire, you just made the mistake of being on it.” Touya retorted. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”

            “Family bonding.” Shouto said next to Dabi.

            “We’re here to take you shopping. Shouto said you’ve been wearing his clothes from middle school.” Fuyumi mentioned.

            Hawks barked out a laugh as Dabi whipped his head around to glare at his brother. “You told me they were a little small, not from two years ago!”

            “Yeah sure, just two years ago.”

            After Dabi tried to tackle Shouto again and was pulled away by Fuyumi, both brothers were sent upstairs to shower and change to go shopping. Meanwhile Hawks made tea for all of them and sat with them to wait. The other people in the class seemed to come and go from the kitchen, leaving the group to talk in relative privacy. 

            “So which one of you stole my number from Endeavor’s phone?” Hawks asked as he set the cups down in front of the remaining Todoroki siblings. Based on Fuyumi’s shocked look, Hawks looked at Natsuo, whose smirk looked eerily similar to Dabi’s.

            “I took it at the hospital, figured it would be a good idea to have an extra way to contact Touya if he ever ran again.” Natsuo said, taking a sip of tea.

            “Well thanks for that picture, I know a few friends of his that will use that as blackmail to the fullest.” Hawks told him. Natsuo laughed and gave him a thumbs up.

            “So how was your first week in a high school?” Fuyumi asked sweetly.

            “It’s a little weird. It’s nice to experience an actual classroom for once, but they make us do homework. I’m in my twenties, I shouldn’t have to.” Hawks complained.

            “If you actually knew the material you wouldn’t be failing the homework.” Aizawa’s voice came from behind them. Hawks flinch a bit, almost afraid to look at the teacher, but he turned to see the man looking bored by the wall.

            “You’re failing second year high school? You’re the number two hero!” Natsuo exclaimed.

            “My education was super focused on being a hero, regular school subjects came after that.” Hawks protested.

            He heard Aizawa sighed. “Between you never receiving an actual education and Touya having about a middle school level, I’m almost wondering if Eri has more knowledge than the two of you combined.”

            Hawks and Touya hadn’t met Eri in person yet. They had heard about her a lot throughout the week, but apparently she felt bad about using her quirk on them and was avoiding the two. All Hawks knew about Aizawa’s adopted daughter was that she had a rough past, had white hair, and a rewind quirk.

            “Eraserhead I have my own agency, and I am the youngest top ten hero in history. I think I did alright for not knowing why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Hawks defended himself.

            “Focusing solely on hero work can make people loose sight of what’s important. They can get so wrapped up in rankings and the glamour of it all; they forget being a hero is at its core.” Aizawa looked down at him with a sad look, kind of like he was thinking of something else. “Hero work is about making the world a better place for the little people. It’s making a group of kids laugh on your patrol by letting them go for a ride with your quirk, even though it would be easier to just wave. By teaching heroes that there is more than just fighting bad guys and waving to crowds, it means that by doing little things we prevent the next villain from thinking that all heroes care about is the fame. Heroes are supposed to be the people protecting the innocents, they protect people's mockingbirds.”

            Hawks was silent for a moment, thinking of the League of Villains. He didn’t know all their stories, but he had been around Toga and Twice enough to know theirs. And now he was learning Dabi’s. “Do you think that people can get their mockingbirds back after they are dead?”

            “No, that’s the point. Once you take a life, or innocence, it can never be repaired.”

            “What the actual hell? I leave for twenty minutes and you get into deep conversations about homework!” Dabi shouted from across the room. He was wearing a different sweatshirt of Shouto’s and his uniform pants.

            “I’m merely educating one of my students on the logic of homework.” Aizawa told him.

            “Dude, it’s Saturday morning. Even Endeavor didn’t make me deal with his shit this early on a Saturday.” Dabi groaned, taking a seat next to his siblings.

            “And what exactly did Endevour make you deal with when it wasn’t Saturday morning?” Aizawa had the same look in his eye that he did at the hospital, like he was looking for something from Dabi.

            Dabi adjusted pulled his sleeves down a little bit, and Hawks saw Aizawa focus in on the movement. But the heroes weren’t the only ones who noticed.

            “Touya it’s a warm day out, you’re going to be boiling in a sweatshirt. You should really put something lighter on.” Natsuo said carefully, his tone quiet.

            “The only other piece of clothing I have is the uniform top and apparently Shouto’s middle school sweatpants. I don’t have anything else.” Dabi told him, trying to brush past the comment.

            “If you want, you can borrow a shirt of mine. I have a spare clean t-shirt in the car, but it will be a bit big on you.” Natuso said.

            Dabi glared at his white haired brother. “I’m fine dude, I’ll survive in this.”

            “Touya you overheated all the time growing up, you must be miserable now. You should really wear the shirt.” Fuyumi said cheerily. She was probably the only one who hadn’t noticed Dabi’s movement.

            “It’s been years Yumi, I think I learned how to deal with the heat.” Dabi tried to defend himself, but there was a slight bit of sweat near his forhead that Hawks noticed. He was pretty sure Aizawa knew too.

            “Touya is there a reason you don’t want to take off your shirt?” Aizawa asked him.

            “I know you are my teacher right now, but it’s the weekend, I don’t have to answer any of your questions right now.” Dabi said angrily at Eraser, pointing a finger at him. “Plus I’m not a child, no matter what my body appears to be, so you can honestly fuck off right now.”

            “Touya!” Fuyumi shouted, but Dabi didn’t break his glare from Aizawa.

            “It’s okay Ms. Todoroki, I’m used to dealing with situations like this. And I can help, if people let me.” Aizawa said calmly. “Heroes help those in need.”

            Dabi scoffed. “Heroes have never helped me a day in my life, and I don’t expect them to start helping out now.”

            Hawks wanted to protest that, he had helped Dabi plenty of times, but he couldn’t bring that up here. Aizawa looked like he wanted to say something, but was cut off by someone new entering the room.

            “What’s all the noise about?” Shouto’s voice came from the doorway.

            “Nothing, Mr. Aizawa here was trying to teach on a Saturday. You guys ready to go? I would like to wear something other than Shouto’s clothes.” Dabi didn’t even wait for an answer before getting up and leaving. Shouto followed him, looking confused.

            “I’m sorry about him Mr. Aizawa.” Fuyumi said as she and Natsuo stood up. “He’s been like that for a long time. Part of me finds comfort to know he’s still the same after so many years, but another part of me wishes he could let go of some of that anger.”

            “Well I understand it.” Natsuo declared. “I still can’t forgive the old man, and Touya had it the worst until…”

            He didn’t need to finish the sentence. Natsuo could have said died or left, either way, the Todoroki’s were missing their brother for over ten years. Everyone in the room knew what he was talking about.

            “Well thank you for the tea Hawks.” Fuyumi bowed slightly at him. “And thank you Mr. Aizawa for allowing Touya and Shouto out today. I think it will be good for them both to have some leasure time with their family.”

            “Just have them back by nine, and call me immediately if there is any trouble at all.” Aizawa said.

            Fuyumi and Natsuo waved and then followed their brothers out the door, leaving Hawks with Aizawa in a common room that was strangely empty for a Saturday.

            “Well if you don’t mind, I should take a shower. My jog really built up a sweat.” Hawks said, gathering the cups and trying to get up. A hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Uhh, do you need something sir?"

            Mr. Aizawa took the seat next to Hawks.

            “You and I need to have a conversation about Touya Todoroki, or should I say Dabi?”

Chapter Text

“Why can’t I just pick up a couple t-shirts and be fine?” Dabi asked as Fuyumi loaded up Natsuo’s arms with clothes. Shouto was also holding a few items to make Dabi try on, but Fuyumi was pulling what felt like half the store.

            “Because no one can live on a couple of shirts and one pair of pants.” Fuyumi said as she pulled another pair of jeans.

            “I think I had about two shirts and two pants before this, and I considered that good.” Dabi told her. Fuyumi turned and looked appalled.

            “If you want, we can swing by your place to pick them up.” Natsuo suggested.

            “Nice try, I’m not showing you were I was staying.” Dabi told him. He grimaced as his sister pulled another collared shirt and sweater combo. “Fuyumi could you actually pick something besides that preppy boy stuff? I’m not trying on anything I don’t like.”

            Fuyumi pouted. “Well I’m just trying to get you a wardrobe, and you aren’t helping by grumping around and complaining!”

            “What do you like to wear?” Shouto asked.

            “Just casual clothes, like band t-shirts, skinny jeans, stuff like that.” Dabi told him. “Maybe a leather jacket.”

            “So your style hasn’t changed since you disappeared. That’s strangely comforting.” Natsuo said with a laugh.

            “Alright I can work with that!” Fuyumi jumped excitedly. She took several things away from Natsuo to put back, and a few minutes later had several things that Dabi actually liked. Shouto had even picked out a couple things. Soon enough Dabi was forced into a dressing room with a dark pile of clothes.

            When he stepped out, he expected his siblings to be laughing at his taste, or telling him to try something else on. What he got was Fuyumi starting to cry and Natsuo looking shocked. They both looks like they saw a ghost.

            “What?” He asked. “Did something happen while I was in there? Is Shouto okay?”

            Shouto peered around Natsuo, where apparently he had been standing. “I’m right here, and I’m fine. Why?”

            “They’re crying twerp. Did I miss something?” Dabi asked his siblings.

            Fuyumi let out a sob and ran forward to give him a hug, Natsuo close behind. Dabi didn’t know how to react; he just stood there as his siblings hugged him, still a little confused. Shouto also looked baffled, so that was a dead end.

            “You looked exactly like that the day before you died.” Fuyumi said softly.

            Dabi didn’t know what to say. He had always been good at comforting his siblings when he was younger, but that was years ago and he wasn’t usually the reason for their tears. Comforting them had been easier when he could just say a few choice words about his father and hold his siblings while they cried.

            “I’m sorry, guys.” Dabi croaked out.

            Fuyumi and Natsuo pulled back after a minute, Fuyumi whipped her face rather hard.

            “Go ahead and grad a few things you like, I’m going to find a restroom to clean my face.” She told them, then left the dressing room.

            “Sorry guys.” Dabi said again.

            “I’d like to say its okay, but we’ve spent several years thinking you were dead.” Natsuo said softly. “In that time, I graduated high school, got my license, had my first kiss, got into medical school, and those are just the highlights. You’ve missed so many things, like we’ve missed so many things of yours. I wanted you there.”

            Dabi looked down. He had always felt a horrible about leaving his siblings. A lot in the beginning, but less as time went on. He had observed his siblings as much as he could throughout the years, but it didn’t make up for the fact that he wasn’t physically there.

            “I wanted to be there.” Dabi went back inside the dressing room and put Shouto’s clothes back on. He emerged with a stack of clothes to buy, and it seemed like Natsuo was okay again.

            “Great! I’m sure Shouto would like to have his sweatshirt back.” Natsuo exclaimed.

            “He can keep it, it hasn’t fit me in a while.” Shouto told them. Dabi glared at his brother while Natsuo laughed.

            “Touya has always been a little smaller than average. Hey so did you actually grow past this height?” Natsuo asked jokingly.

            “Yep.” Dabi answered, hoping Natsuo would drop it.

            “So did it happen?”

            “Did what happen?”

            “Did you finally achieve your dream of being taller than your little brother?”

            “I am taller than you when I am my actual age.” Dabi lied. He was pretty sure Natsuo was a few inches taller than his older body, but he wasn’t going to tell him that.

            “Damn, and here I was hoping that I would have had something to tease you about.”

            “He’s lying.” Shouto said quietly. They were waiting in line to pay and the other brothers turned to their youngest.

            “What do you mean Shouto?” Dabi asked.

            “Your ears went slightly red when you answered him, and you used more words than normal to tell him. You’re lying, Natsuo is taller.” Shouto said simply.

            Natsuo started cackling beside them, and didn’t even stop when Dabi sent him a glare that would have set a forest on fire.

            “Do they teach lie detection at that school or something?” Dabi asked Shouto, annoyed that he had been found out.

            “No,” Shouto told him “but I struggled with understanding how other people are feeling through their body language, so I’ve been educating myself on it. I think it’s made me a better friend, and hero.”

            They made it to the front of the line and Dabi set the clothes on the counter, probably with a little more force than necessary. He remembered how isolated Shouto had grown up, he didn’t have the normal education others did when it came to understanding people. Dabi understood that, but he had been able to escape and learn. Shouto hadn't.

            Fuyumi met up with them just as Shouto put the entire purchase on Endeavor’s credit card, and they made their way out of the store.

            “There’s a soba place nearby, why don’t we grab lunch there!” Fuyumi suggested. Her brothers nodded, and Shouto led the way to the shop.

*******

            Hawks wished in this moment that any of the kids would show up. Any one of them at all, even the explosions kid. Because then Aizawa couldn’t interrogate him about classified information or his personal relationship with Dabi.

            “Did Mic finally shout loud enough to mess with your brain?” Hawks laughed, trying to play it off.

            Aizawa just glared at him. “Cut the crap Hawks.”

            Hawks let the smile fall from his face. It was serious hero business time. “If you knew who he was, why the hell did you let him into UA? He’s constantly trying to hurt your class.”

            “By keeping him here we have leverage on the league, and we have one of their powerhouses.” Eraser explained. “It’s only logical to keep an eye on him, and maybe we can convince him to give up information on the league.”

            “What makes you think he would ever betray the league?” Hawks asked incredulously.

            “That’s for me and Nezu to know, as we currently don’t know where your loyalties are.” Eraser leveled a glare at Hawks.

            The commission had spent long hours training him at keeping his calm and show no emotions, no matter how the situation. But right now his body was a teenager, and it didn’t have all that training.

            Hawks leaned back in shock and hurt. He had been trained to be a hero for years; his only loyalty was to heroism and the public.

            “Excuse me!” Hawks exclaimed. “What makes you think I would have possibly shifted my loyalties?”

            “You seem to have an intimate relationship with one of the most wanted villains in Japan. You were also found near him at the time of the incident. Can you explain any of that?” Eraser's glare seemed to intensify, but his quirk still hadn’t flashed.

            “It’s classified, by people much higher on the totem pole than you will ever be.” Hawks tried to meet Eraser's glare. His hand was shaking a bit, like it used to when he was nervous. He shifted his hand under the table.

            “Hawks there is currently a dangerous villain around my students almost everyday. I don’t care about classified; I care about the wellbeing of my students. I want answers.”

            “Or what?” Hawk’s heart was beating fast when he said this. He had watched Eraser throughout the week, and he had seen the respect and care he had inspired in his students. Hawks did not doubt for a second that Eraser would do anything to keep them safe, and Hawks wanted to see his cards.

            “Or Nezu will stop holding back to Commission.” Eraser told him simply.

            “What?” Hawks was shocked. He hadn’t heard from the commission since the incident, and figured they trusted him to know what he was doing for once. Or they abandon him like his parents did. 

            “Ever since the accident, the Commission has been trying to get a hold of you. We know they raised you to be a hero, and they will probably want to do that again.”

            “What’s so bad about that, why didn’t you just let them take me?”

            “Because, like Dabi, they already had one chance to raise you, and they screwed it up.”

            “Are you saying I’m a bad hero?”

            Eraser sighed. “As much as it pains me to admit it, you are a great hero. Don’t let that get to your head; you are probably the worst in every other area of your life. You don’t have great social skills outside of greeting fans, you work without breaks which will only lead to burn out and injuries, you don’t know when to stop, and you don’t understand why you are a hero.”

            Hawks was quiet as Eraser told him this. He looked down for a moment. He had never really thought about it like that, and here was this teacher putting everything into perspective. And the worst part was that Aizawa had a point.

            “Look, Hawks” Aizawa’s eyes softened and he was no longer glaring “You have done so much good for people. You have earned your spot on the Hero Billboard, but look at your life. From what I can tell you work and sleep. You will hang out with other heroes when you work with them but you don’t seem to have actual friends besides Miruko. Even then, it seems to not be that close. At the rate you are going, you will likely burn yourself out by the time you are thirty, or sustain an injury, not let it heal properly, and injure yourself in a way that is irreversible.”

            “So what, you’re keeping me here to teach me to take care of myself? What do you get out of it?” Hawks asked him.

            “I’m keeping you here to help you experience a life you never had. I’ve noticed how you seemed to make friends with almost everyone in class, but only at the surface level. You seem to not want to get to know people past the basics, and I don’t have the training to get into that today. I want for you what I want for all my other students, to be a great hero.”

            “But I’m not really your student, I’m in my twenties, just trapped in a teenage body.” Hawks pointed out.

            “You also have acted a lot like a teenager in this past week.” Aizawa reached under the table and pulled Hawk’s hand onto the table. “As a pro, you can mask your emotions well, and you don’t seem to let anything bother you. But most of my students have some kind of anxiety reaction, like you probably used to before the Commission probably taught you that it was bad. Incorrectly, just so you know. I think that even though you have lived over twenty years on this earth, you are more similar to my students than you think.”

            “You never answered my question of what you get out of this?” Hawks pressed.

            “It’s my job Hawks, and my duty as a hero, as a teacher. I want to help future heroes also be good people who want to protect people because they care about them, not because it’s a good way to make money.”

            “But I’m not a hero because I just want to make money.” Hawks pointed out.

            “So why are you a hero?” Aizawa asked him.

            “To help people, of course.” Hawks told him easily.

            “That’s what you do. Why do you want to help people?” Aizawa pressed.

            Hawks didn’t have an answer for him. He didn’t even have an immediate thought. If he put time into it, he wanted to say because it was the right thing to do. But Hawks didn’t think Aizawa would like that answer. It also didn’t seem like it was the right reason to Hawks.

            “You don’t have to answer me right now, but while you are here, you should really think about it.” Aizawa told him, getting up from the table. “Most of the students don’t know exactly why they want to be a hero, but they are figuring it out as they go.”

            “So what are you going to do about Dabi and I?” Hawks asked before Aizawa could leave.

            “Right now I’m keeping an eye on you both. A lot of villains were failed by someone in their lives, I want to show him that not everyone will fail him.” Aizawa told him.

            “You make it sound like you are trying to save him.” Hawks said.

            “Saving people is what heroes do.”

Chapter Text

            “Alright bitch this has gone on long enough!” Hawks shouted as he kicked open Dabi’s door. The Todoroki’s had returned from their shopping trip a while ago, and Dabi had gone straight to his room. Hawks had had enough of being avoided, and honestly, he missed Dabi’s warm cuddles. He stomped into Dabi’s room, startling the red haired boy, and shut the door behind his wings.

            Dabi jumped and his new phone flew out of his hand. “Hawks what the fuck!”

            Hawks jumped over to Dabi’s bed, wrapping his arms around the teenage villain. He was warm, a nice comfortable warm. “I missed this, and you have been avoiding me all week. You are the only other person who knows the shit we are dealing with, being trapped in a teenage body even though our minds are older. I need to be cuddled and to vent.”

            Dabi let out a long sigh and shifted over on the bed so Hawks could have more room to rest his wings. Hawks happily scooted farther onto the bed and rested his head on Dabi’s chest. Dabi draped his arm over Hawk’s shoulder, pulling him a little closer. They laid like that for a couple minutes before Dabi broke the peace.

            “Alright birdy what did you want and why did you have to kick down my door for it?” Dabi asked him.

            “I just wanted to spend time with you. You’ve been avoiding me, and I miss hanging out with someone I don’t have to be careful around.” Hawks told him.

            “I haven’t been avoiding you, I’m just trying to settle into this shitty situation.” Dabi said. “I don’t like being cooped up here, I don’t like feeling like I’m being watched all the time, and I especially don’t like the happy go lucky heroes in training. All of them are blinded to how corrupt hero society is, and seem to be eager to contribute to that.”

            “Your brother is one of those heroes in training, and he’s working on being apart of the corruption.”

            “So?”

            “So how does that make you feel about it all?”

            Hawks looked up at Dabi to see if he got a reaction. What he got was a steely glare with a hint of annoyance.

            “What are you, a therapist now?” Dabi asked him. “If you came here to ask how I feel it’s pointless. I’ve been bottling up my feelings since I was 4, you won’t be able to get them out now unless you have more liquor than the Kurogiri has.”

            “We’re underage right now, your tolerance should be crap.” Hawks pointed out.

            “Yeah, that’s the issue with my sentence.” Dabi said with a laugh.

            “Hey have you noticed anything strange about your body?” Hawks asked him, nuzzling his head back into Dabi’s chest. Dabi’s hand moved slightly and he started to run his fingers through Hawk’s hair.

            “Different how?” Dabi asked him softly.

            “Well I know I used to be faster and have more endurance than I do now. Even the week of training we just went through hasn’t helped much.” Hawks told him. “Like I know about what age I am physically from looking at my body, but something is a little off about my capabilities.”

            “I haven’t noticed much. I mean, Aizawa has me doing very little training.” Dabi told Hawks. “He’s just having me produce little amounts of fire from my hands, so I don’t burn myself. I don’t know how I didn’t realize it before, but my hands are the only parts of my body that are fire proof.”

            “Didn’t your dad help you training? Shouldn’t he have noticed it or something?” Hawks asked softly. Dabi’s hand had a relaxing pace going; it was soothing. But then it stopped.

            “I wouldn’t call what he did training.” Dabi said bitterly. Hawks looked up and saw Dabi’s face scrunched in anger.

            “Touya…” Hawks said softly. Hawks reached up to run his hand through Dabi’s hair. Sometimes when Dabi was having a bad day and was in pain, he would rest his head on Hawk’s lap and let him run his hand through his hair. It was one of the few times Dabi would let himself relax.

            Except this time when Hawks reached up, Dabi violently flinched away. His arm unwrapped from Hawk’s body and was pulled up quickly to block his face. Hawks heard his breathing speed up, and carefully pulled away from Dabi.

            Dabi breathed heavily for a moment, then it evened out. “Sorry birdy, I don’t know what happened.” He said.

            “You’ve never reacted like that before. Is everything okay?” Hawks asked him. Dabi sighed, and gestured for Hawks to come closer again. Hawks leaned back into Dabi, this time wrapping both his arms around the skinny fire user. He hoped it brought him comfort.

            “I don’t know.” Dabi told him, he seemed to relax a bit in Hawk’s embrace. “My body has been reacting in ways it hasn’t in years. I haven’t flinched like that since I was nine, and for some reason I can cry again.”

            “What do you mean for some reason?” Hawks asked. “Humans have the ability to cry, it’s a natural part of our biology, even after quirks started appearing.”

            “I haven’t been able to cry in ten years, my tear ducts have been melted shut since I was about this age.” Dabi told him, his voice sounding causal. “Occasionally if I’m in enough pain blood will leak out of my eyes, but they don’t work the same as tears.”

            And if that wasn’t one of the most horrible things Hawks had heard yet. He gripped Dabi a little tighter.

            “Calm down little bird, I’m used to it, or at least I was.” Dabi told Hawks, hand starting to run through Hawk’s blonde hair again. Hawks let the silence take over for a moment.

            “Is it wrong that I kind of like this?” Hawks asked quietly.

            “You’ve always liked it when I run my hand through your hair, of course it’s not wrong. Besides, we've talked about this, its okay to like to be comforted.”

            “No, not that. I like this whole situation.” Hawks explained. “I like going to high school, meeting people. There weren’t that many other kids my age at the commission, even then making friends was actively discouraged. Also, I’ve never really had someone tell me to rest or stop training. The commission used to have me train until they were satisfied, and if I didn’t they would punish me. It’s weird to be a normal kid.”

            “Hawks, you know you are still in your twenties right?” Dabi asked him.

            Hawks sighed. “Yeah, but I’m enjoying this experience. How about you, you never experience high school, is this what you imagined?”

            “I went to part of my first year of high school, so besides the dorms it’s pretty similar to then.” Dabi told him. “I will say I’m more social this time around. Last time I went people were obsessed with the fact that Endeavor was my dad. I didn’t really know who wanted to be my friend for me, and who wanted to be my friend because of him.”

            “That sucks.”

            “Yeah, well it didn’t last long. After the incident with Mom, it went downhill at home. I was gone before second year classes were even decided.”

            “What happened to your Mom?”

            Dabi was quiet after that, but continued to stroke Hawk’s hair. Hawks figured that they didn’t have to talk about it yet.

Chapter Text

            Hawks had spent the night in Dabi’s room. It wasn’t intentional, but they had fallen asleep together after talking. It was one of the few times Dabi felt at peace since the accident. Hawks had held Dabi gently, not too tight that he got nervous, but not too soft that there wasn’t any comfort. Dabi hadn’t been held like that in a long time, not since his mother had started flinching at the sight of him.

            The morning was ruined when half of class 2-A burst into Dabi’s dorm, with Shouto leading the pack. It startled both of them awake. Dabi shouted, burst into flames, and set the mattress on fire, while Hawks squawked loudly as he scrambled off the bed in an offensive position. There were more shouts of alarm from the intruders and the two who had been sleeping. Shouto sent out a blast of ice in an attempt to douse the flames but it was too late. The fire alarm went off drenching everyone in the room.

            Thirty minutes later Aizawa was glaring at Hawks and Dabi’s dripping wet forms in the common room as Dabi sat on Shouto. Present Mic, still wearing pajama pants and his hair in a bun, was doing his best not to laugh in the background as he held a little girl with white hair.

            “Explain.” Aizawa growled, rubbing his head with one hand.

            “They woke me up by breaking into my room.” Dabi told him. “This isn’t on me, this is on the twerp who I’m sitting on.”

            Aizawa sighed. “Todoroki, why did you wake your brother up like that?”

            “Hawks was missing and they both skipped dinner last night. We were worried that something had happened to them.” Shouto explained calmly, seemingly not at all bothered by Dabi sitting on him.

            “That doesn’t mean you can break into my room. Why do people keep insisting on knocking down the door?” Dabi asked, throwing his hands up. “Hawks spent all week doing it, you did it yesterday morning too to make me eat breakfast, Hawks did it again last night, and you obviously didn’t learn your lesson from yesterday, which is why I’m currently sitting on you.”

            “Enough.” Aizawa’s eyes flashed. “I’m not in the mood to deal with sibling squabbles, I deal with you kids enough during the week. Touya, you will have a new mattress by tonight, this time it will be fire proof. Any questions?”

            “Can I get a metal door with a deadbolt to keep the annoying ones out?” Dabi asked.

            “No.” Aizawa answered without hesitation.

            “Why not? I feel like after a week of dealing with the bird brain and my little brother I’ve earned it.” Dabi continued to argue. Hawks laughed at that and Dabi glared at him.

            “I don’t get a door like that, you don’t get a door like that.” Aizawa was now using both of his hands to rub his head. “And unless you want to start wearing short sleeves all the time, you’re door will remain the same as everyone else’s.”

            Dabi’s glare went back to Aizawa who matched it. Hawks really didn’t want to get into heavy stuff this early in the morning, but they had also all been ignoring the scars on Dabi’s arm for a week. After last night, Hawks felt like he and Dabi were a little closer, but were they close enough to talk about that?

            “Alright listeners it’s still early, we have to get our little miss here breakfast. It’s pancake day!” Mic said loudly, trying to break the tension. Aizawa broke away from Dabi’s glare to look at the loud blonde.

            “Go ahead Hazashi, I’ll be there in a minute.” He told them. Mic nodded and scooped up the white haired girl who buried her head in his shoulder. Hawks wondered if that was the girl whose quirk had changed him and Dabi.

            “Touya can you get up now?” Shouto asked quietly.

            “Am I causing you pain or unpleasant feelings?” Dabi looked down at his unwilling chair.

            “No.”

            “Then you can suffer.” Dabi looked back up to glare at the teacher.

            Aizawa returned it. “Try not to set anything else on fire today.”

            Hawks and Dabi watched the grumpy hero leave.

            “At least he didn’t yell at us.” Hawks muttered.

            “He wouldn’t yell, but he gets this dad voice sometimes that makes you regret everything you’ve ever done wrong in your life.” Shouto told them. “Seriously, last time Mr. Aizawa told Kaminari ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed’ he, Ashido, and Sero cried for an hour. Ashido and Sero weren’t even the ones in trouble!”

            “I think Hawks and I are immune to the dad voice.” Dabi said.

            “I thought I would be too, but Mr. Aizawa told me he was proud of my progress a while ago and I stood in shock for an hour.” Shouto told him. “Midoriya was worried until I explained what happened.”

            “So is he like everyone’s pseudo dad or what?” Hawks asked, looking down at Shouto, who just shrugged, jostling Dabi slightly.

            “Well all this is great, but it’s still the morning on a weekend. I would like to take a nap, but due to annoying little brothers that is no longer an option.” Dabi said. “Shouto, any suggestions on what I should do now that I have not slept properly in a week?”

            “You could become a morning person.” Shouto replied. Dabi smacked his brotherly lightly on the shoulder, making the duel colored Todoroki chuckle.

            “Try again.”

            “Don’t look at me, Midoriya and I are doing homework together when he gets back from his run. You could always do that, or train your body.”

            “All you hero kids do is train and homework, where is your sense of fun?” Hawks asked. “I thought high schoolers were supposed hang out at cafes or fall in love, not this.”

            “Is all you know about high school from shojo manga?” Dabi asked Hawks, who nodded.

            “I think I heard that Tokoyami needed to go shopping for something today, and few others were going.” Shouto mentioned. Hawk’s face had lit up when he heard the name of his former intern. But he glanced at Dabi and looked a bit unsure.

            “Go get your flock birdie, I’ll be fine. It might be nice to not have to deal with children all day for once.” Dabi told him. Hawks nodded and left to find Tokoyami.

            “As nice as this sibling bonding time is, Midoriya should be getting back soon.” Shouto said, shifting his weight to prepare to get up.

            “Midoirya…” Dabi said thoughtfully “is that the green haired kid who breaks his bones a lot?”

            “Yep.” Shouto answered, and Dabi noticed a slight tinge of red on his face.

            This would be fun.

            “So is your face red because you are struggling to get me off of you or because you like broccoli boy?” Dabi asked his little brother. Immediately, Shouto’s face got more red, and he moved his hands to cover it.

            Dabi laughed at Shouto’s fluster. He finally had something to tease him about.

            “It’s not like that.” Shouto defended weakly, causing Dabi to laugh more.

            “Kid, I think I have a better bullshit detector than your teacher.” Dabi told him. Shouto blushed a little harder, and wouldn’t meet Dabi’s eyes.

            “Is it wrong to like someone like that?” Shouto asked quietly. Dabi stopped laughing and looked at the back of his brother’s head.

            As a villain nobody gave him crap for liking men. The league gave him crap for being with Hawks, but that was a completely different thing. But Dabi remembered how much Endeavor had pushed the fact that they were to marry and reproduce one day in order to make stronger heroes. Of course Shouto would have grown up scared. Even with the past week of seeing Dabi and Hawks together, he would still be insecure.

            “No, its not.” Dabi told him. “I’m about to touch your head, is that okay?”

            Shouto nodded, and Dabi moved his hand to the top of his brother’s head. He ran his fingers through the middle of Shouto’s hair, mixing the red and white.

            “It doesn’t matter who you love, doesn’t matter what gender or race or quirk. Fuck whatever Endeavor has told you. As long as you are both happy, and it’s legal, that is all that matters.” Dabi told him. “At the end of the day, no matter who you love, I’ll support you.”

            “Thanks Touya.” Shouto whispered, relaxing as Dabi continued to stroke his hair. Dabi smiled a bit, happy to be a source of comfort for his brother for one. They stayed like that for a few minutes until the green haired cause for the discussion intrupted.

            “Todoroki are you ready?” Midoriya’s shouted.

            “Just a moment.” Shouto shouted back. Dabi removed his hand from his brother’s head and prepared to get up, but Shouto had other plans.

            Shouto shifted to a push up position and pushed himself up, easily lifting Dabi up.

            “Christ!” Dabi shouted, loosing his balance and falling off his brother onto the floor. “Was that a struggle? Like did I weigh anything to you?”

            “No, Fuyumi is tougher to get off than you were.” Shouto told him with a smirk, standing up.

            “If you ever tell Natsuo that I swear Midoriya will see all of your baby photos.” Dabi threatened. It felt a little hallow considering he was still on the ground and Shouto was standing over him.

            Shouto chuckled. “We’ll see. Thanks Touya, and if you need to talk about anything, you know you can talk to me. You know that, right?”

            Dabi noticed Shouto’s gaze shift away from his face to his arms, but he was going to ignore that for now. He did need one thing, information.

            “Before you go have your study date, I need a little info about some of the skills your classmates possess.” Dabi said with a smile.

****

            Hawks was bursting with energy when they got back to the dorms. Tokoyami had allowed him to tag along with his friends, and they had even stopped at a coffee shop on the way back. He had even gotten a to go cup for Dabi hopping that is would put the de-aged villain in a better mood, and get rid of one of the coffees he owed him.

            And now they were back on campus, Tokoyami, Ojiro, Koda, had arms full of supplies for maintaining their various quirks. Well, Koda was really just carrying lots of animal food, but it still related to his quirk. Hawks himself hadn’t bought anything, happy to just be included. But the supplies had promoted a question about quirks.

            “So you are telling me you have never bitch slapped someone with your tail?” Hawks asked Ojiro, completely surprised. Ojiro laughed.

            “I guess not, at least not outside of hero training. It’s a little low hanging so it would be more of a conscious effort to do it. It did get stepped on a lot growing up.” He said sheepishly.

            “Damn. I’d say you are lucky but one of the greatest moments of my life was when Touya annoyed me, and my wing slapped him off the roof. One moment he’s giving me that annoyingly cocky smile, the next he’s screaming for me to save him. It was hilarious.” Hawks told them. The group laughed at his story.

            They walked into the dorms and waved at the groups of students doing their weekend homework. Most of the students were there, including Shouto and Midoriya, who were sitting closer than usual.

            Hawks made his way over to the pair and sat down.

            “What’s up little Todoroki, Midoriya?” Hawks asked them cheerfully.

            “Just studying. We have a test this week.” Shouto told him.

            “Well in that case I should probably join you, as should Touya. Do you know where he is?” Hawks asked.

            “He asked me about some skills our classmates had then disappeared to his dorm room. Haven’t seen him since.” Shouto answered.

            Hawk’s was immediately on edge. Was Dabi seriously collecting information on these students who had welcomed them and giving it to the league already.

            “Well I better check on him and get him down here to study.” Hawks said as casually as he could. He got up and made his way towards the elevators.

            “Wait Hawks you forgot your coffee!” Midoriya shouted after him. Hawks ignored him and continued to rush away.

            “He’ll get it when he comes back down with my brother.” Shouto told Midoriya.

            “Okay. Hey Todoroki, have you ever noticed how similar Touya’s fire is to Dabi’s?” Midoriya asked.

            Shouto looked up in shock. “What do you mean?”

            “Well Dabi has all those scars, and Touya’s fire hurts every part of his body besides his hands. Plus they both have blue fire, which isn’t a common fire quirk.” Midoriya explained.

            Shouto thought for a moment. “But why would the number two hero be in a relationship with one of the top villains? I see the logic by comparing quirks, but the other facts don’t line up as much. Plus it’s not impossible for them to be different people.”

            “Yeah, plus you’re brother is pretty cool. I’m sure Dabi would have already escaped or tried to attack the school.” Midoriya said, brushing it off. “Hey what did you get for problem four?”

            Shouto shifted his paper so Midoriya could see it, and thought about what he said. He didn’t know much about the night that Touya had supposedly died. But the house had been on fire, and Dabi has extensive burn scars. Along with Dabi’s hatred of Endeavor, it lined up with Touya’s own.

            But it just had to be a coincidence, right?

Chapter Text

            Dabi held still as the pink one finished applying the bleach to his head. When his siblings weren’t watching the other day, he had stopped by a drug store and picked up some hair dye. He wanted to shock them a bit when it was done. He had asked Shouto who knew the most about hair and styling, and Ashido had been the first person his brother had suggested. That was how he ended up in one of the girls bathroom with Ashido, Jiro, and Momo.

            “Alright so we have to let that sit for about 30-45 minutes, then rinse it out.” Ashido explained.

            “Thanks Pinky. Don’t forget to set that timer, I don’t want to fry my hair.” Dabi told her. She laughed and he heard tapping on a phone.

            “So why the sudden desire to dye your hair?” Jiro asked. She and Momo were sitting on the edge of the sink, each with a book in front of them. Dabi was pretty sure that Momo was the only one actually studying.

            “Yeah, it’s so soft, and it’s such a gorgeous color!” Ashido exclaimed.

            Dabi sighed. “I hate the color, always have. I dyed it the second I got out of my house the first time around.”

            “Oooh was it this color or something else?” Ashido asked holding up the box. She had begun pouring the dye into a bowl so she could mix it with the developer. “Cause I think it will still look gorgeous on you, but black would look downright hot.”

            “I tried black for a bit, it didn’t stick.” Dabi told her. That was technically the truth, if looked at the right way.

            “Shame, it would look really cool. Kind of like a rock star!” Jiro mentioned.

            “Yeah you could join the band!” Ashido exclaimed, jumping slightly.

            “You have a band?” Dabi asked, raising an eyebrow. It was still a little weird to do that without feeling his skin pulling on his staples.

            “Yeah we did one last year for the school festival.” Jiro explained. “We performed for the school, and we still try to practice once a week.”

            “They were so good, and Jiro is so talented!” Ashido gushed. “She’s always just softly singing to herself, it’s so pretty!”

            “Mina!” Jiro’s face was red. She kind of reminded Dabi of Toga. Toga liked to hum and sing absentmindedly when she was cleaning her knives, or doodling on one of the sketchbooks Twice and Dabi stole for her. Twice always pointed out how lovely she sounded.

            “Jiro, you are like crazy talented! You need to flaunt that!” Ashido insisted.

            “Mina is right, embrace your talents.” Momo said. “During one of my internships, the hero showed me that there are other ways to connect to the public besides fighting. It’s important to be a well rounded hero, and you are already well on your way to being one.”

            “Thanks guys.” Jiro said, a light blush covering her cheeks.

            The timer distracted them from any further conversation on the topic. Ashido busied herself with washing out the bleach and checking to make sure they had gotten all the red out.

            “Alright well it looks good. We can begin coloring it now.” She told him. Dabi nodded in understanding. He felt her start to paint the dye on his head, it felt a lot better than the shitty dye jobs he used to do in the League of Villains bathroom.

             Ashido methodically brushed the dye over his hair, he watched as she stuck out her tongue in concentration. Jiro and Momo started talking about the material they were supposed to be studying, and Dabi tuned them out. He wasn’t going to use that information once he finally escaped from this place and went back to the league, if he was ever able to. But right now with Ashido softly brushing the dye through his hair, Dabi closed his eyes and it was like it was his mom running her fingers through his hair. Just like she used to before she flinched at the mere site of it. If he didn’t think too hard it was like Natsuo and Fuyumi were squabbling in the background.

            The moment of peace Dabi felt was ruined when he heard thudding footsteps and slamming doors. He opened his eyes just as Hawks burst into the bathroom, starting Ashido, making her throw the bowl holding the dye at Hawks, covering part of his forehead and hair in it.

            “Hawks, what the fuck?” Dabi asked him, not even raising his voice. At this point he should be used to people bursting into rooms he was in.

            “Uhhhh what’s going on here?” Hawks asked, avoiding Dabi’s question.

            “We were coloring Touya’s hair, which I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish now that it’s all over your face.” Ashido complained, walking over to the bowl on the ground. She picked up the bowl and looked at it. “I might be able to finish if I can scrape some from Hawk’s face.”

            “Hawks why were you running around looking for me?” Dabi asked him.

            Hawks look down sheepishly. Ashido approached him and started slowly moving some of the dye back into the bowl.

            “I was worried.” Hawks said quietly. Ashido took a break from trying to salvage the dye to coo with Jiro and Momo. Dabi just rolled his eyes. Hawks really meant he was worried that Dabi was doing something villainous.

            “Pinky here was just helping me get rid of this horrible hair color, nothing worry worthy going on here.” Dabi told him.

            Hawks stayed still as Ashido continued to scrap globs of dye off him. “Sorry for panicking, its just I couldn’t find you.”

            “You and Shouto need to realize I’m not going to suddenly disappear just because I’m not in your eye sight.” Dabi told him. Hawk’s eyes locked onto his.

            “Do you mean that?” He asked.

            “Wait Mr. Hawks, how did you get over here?” Momo asked suddenly. “The security system should have prevented you from getting up the elevator or stairs without one of the girls permission, and normally whoever lets people up stays with them.”

            “I, uhhh, flew in through a window.” Hawks told them sheepishly.

            “Dude, not cool.” Dabi told him. “I at least asked permission to be up here. Aren’t you supposed to be a hero?”

            “I panicked, plus I sent my feathers out to make sure there was no one in the room I flew to!” Hawks tried to defend himself. Ashido had finished removing as much dye as she could, and was now leaning back and staring at the young winged hero. Jiro and Momo were giving Hawks looks of distrust.

            “Why didn’t you just use your feathers to make sure Touya was in the building?” Momo asked.

            “That’s not how they work. I can sense a presence, but I can’t tell who the person is or any physical description about them.” Hawks explained. “I sensed four presences in here, so I checked in here first.”

            “And what if it had just been four girls hanging out in the bathroom.” Dabi asked, smirking. He was enjoying Hawks being viewed as the villain for once.

            “I didn’t think of that.” Hawks said, looking ashamed. “Ladies, I am very sorry for violating a safe space and not thinking through what my actions will do to others. I was worried that my friend here had left me, and that clouded my judgment. I promise to never do something like this again. If it is all right with you, may I stay? If not, I promise to leave right away.”

            Hawks actually looked really sorry, and Dabi almost pitied him. Almost. The girls continued to glare, before Jiro sighed.

            “What you did is not okay, but you can stay because I believe you don’t have any bad intentions. At least not like that grape fucker.” Jiro said with a shudder.

            “Yeah if he had broken in again, I think I would have covered him in acid.” Mina mentioned. “Although he probably would have liked that.”

            “Ugh, I’m just glad he was finally expelled.” Momo said. “I know his quirk was useful in some situations, but the person attached to that quirk was scum of the earth.”

            “What happened with him? Aizawa mentioned something when we first arrived about having to scrub down a room for the other new guy.” Dabi asked. Mina had picked up her brush and started trying to dye the rest of the hair.

            “He was caught spying on the girls locker room, as well as trying to climb through the vents to peak into our rooms.” Ashido explained.

            “Ew, they actually let someone like that into the school?” Dabi asked, disgusted. UA was supposed to be elite, but it was obviously falling downhill if they were letting people like that in. People like that didn’t even have a place in the LOV.

            “I don’t know how, I swear that pervert has cried more than Midoriya.” Jiro said with a laugh.

            “At least Midoriya is good in stressful situations and saves the crying for after. Mineta just cried through everything, even his costume made him look like a baby.” Ashido said. Dabi saw her trying to get every last bit of dye out of the bowl. It hadn’t helped that when it flew onto Hawks, it had gotten over his face and hair, likely giving him a streak.

            Momo and Jiro laughed at Ashido’s comment, even Hawks let out a chuckled.

            “Alright well that’s the best I can do for now, so we need to let it set for a while.” Ashido said after a minute. “Your tips are probably going to remain white, but at least it might fade so it won’t look like frosted tips. You can thank Hawks for that.”

            Dabi didn’t move his head, but his eyes looked at Hawks and glared.

            “I’m sorry!” Hawks whined. “I didn’t mean to, plus I think I’m already punished enough as it is. I’m going to have a streak on my face and hair for a while.”

            “Serves you right.” Dabi said with a smirk.

            “Hey at least I only have a streak, your dad will probably set a building on fire when he finds out you dyed your hair. He’s going to be pissed off.” Hawks told him, sticking his tongue out playfully.

            “That is part of the goal here.” Dabi told him. Hawks, Jiro and Ashido chuckled, while Momo looked a little shocked.

            “If you really wanted to piss him off you could get a pericing.” Jiro suggested. Ashido squealed excitedly.

            “That would be so cool! It would totally add to the rock star look we suggested earlier.” She exclaimed.

            “I used to have piercings,” Dabi told them “a lot of them too. I kind of miss some of them.”

            “Well if Momo is willing to make me another gun I can do that too.” Ashido told him.

            “What happened to the one I made you before?” Momo asked.

            “Aizawa confiscated it because he found out I was offering my services to other students.” Ashido told them.

            “Well if you are up for it, I wouldn’t mind having a few back. Just a couple on my ears and maybe an eyebrow bar.” Dabi told her.

            “Yeah I can do that.” Ashido said thoughtfully. “Anything else? I can do noses and lips.”

            “Maybe another time on the nose. The lip one I’m going to have to pass, I used to have several lip piercings and it made it hard to move my mouth sometimes.” Dabi told her with a smile.

            Ashido nodded in understanding. “Alright but before I do this, I need you to promise me two things.”

            “What?” Dabi asked her.

            “The first is that I won’t get burned to crisp by Endeavor for accessorizing his son.” Ashido said.

            “I promise you he will be way more pissed that I did it. Plus I would never rat out my new hair stylist.” Dabi promised her.

            “Yay! The second is that I need a video of Endeavors reaction to this.” Ashido told him with a smile.

            Dabi thought for a moment. “I can’t make a full promise, I don’t like to visit the house. But my sister is trying to get us all over for dinner at some point, so if I ever do, I’ll be sure to have Shouto take a video.”

            “That works, alright I think it’s been long enough, we can wash out your hair.” Ashido jumped over to him and started rinsing his head in the sink. She gently ran the water through his hair, removing the excess dye. She made sure that Dabi never got to see his reflection until she was done.

            Soon enough she was blow drying it and adding a few finishing touches with some gel. Ashido stepped back when she was done to admire her work, and Hawks let out a soft whistle.

            “Alight I think it looks pretty good. You can turn around now.” The pink girl told him.

            Dabi turned around and was in shock. He had picked a light blue for his hair, a few shades lighter than his eyes. The blue was soft, and it faded into the white tips that Ashido hadn’t been able to color. It still looked good; defiantly like a professional stylist had done it.

            “This looks great Ashido, thank you.” Dabi turned to look at the girl. She beamed at his compliment.

            “Thanks Touya, now lets go down and show everyone!” Ashido grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the bathroom. Dabi grabbed Hawk’s arm to follow, and the other two girls were close behind.

            “You look cute.” Hawks whispered to him while they waited by the elevator.

            “Thanks.” Touya said softly, a blush creeping up on his face. Hawks had always complimented his appearance before, but that comment felt different.

            “Hey did you really mean what you said earlier?” Hawks asked him.

            “About what?” Touya asked him, trying to recall anything.

            “That you aren’t going to disappear suddenly if Shouto and I turn our backs.” Hawks said. The elevator door opened and Mina pulled him inside. Her excitement reminded him of when Fuyumi was young. She would drag him someplace to see someplace to take his mind off of the training his father put him through. Maybe that’s why he was okay with her touching him like this.

            “Yeah, I meant it.” Touya told him. He did mean it, for now.

Chapter Text

Dabi blamed Shouto and Hawks for his current situation. If those assholes hadn’t insisted he be on time for class every day and hadn’t woken him up early the entire weekend, Dabi wouldn’t have fallen asleep in Present Mic’s class.

            In fairness to Present Mic and the other two future barbeque victims, English was a really easy subject for him. Endeavor had made sure that he was basically fluent in the language, claiming it was essential to being a top hero. Even in the years since he escaped his father, Dabi kept up his fluency in the language. Turned out to be pretty useful on the streets, especially in the league.

            So due to the lack of sleep, the repeat lesson, and that the sun seemed to shine into the classroom at the right angle to make it just comfortable enough to relax, Dabi fell asleep at his desk.

            Present Mic hadn’t taken too kindly to him falling asleep in class, so Dabi was awoken with a loud “WAAAAKE UPPPPP!” shouted in his year.

            Dabi shot up with a yelp and scrambled away from the noise, falling off his chair. The sudden impact on the floor woke him up the rest of the way to see Present Mic smirking over him and the class laughing.

            “Jesus Christ why would you do that?” Dabi asked loudly, running his hands over his face.

            “Mr. Todoroki I would appreciate it if you would stay awake during my class. I realize it might not be as exciting as some others but this is still important.” Mic said with a laugh.

            “And I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me by my last name, but it seems we are both shit out of luck.” Dabi snapped back, annoyed.

            “No need for language like that.” Present Mic said with a smile, but it was less bright than before. “But you can improve your language today, after school, in detention with me. We can go over the lesson you just slept through.”

            So that was how he ended up back in the classroom after school, tuning out Present Mic as he droned on about different English phrases. He fiddled with the new bar above his eye absentmindedly. Momo had made Ashido a new piercing gun after they had showed off his hair, and she had given him several new holes in his face. He had four in each ear and an eyebrow bar now.

            Dabi couldn’t wait to show Fuyumi his new look; he knew she would freak out. But right now he was stuck in detention, ignoring the loud blonde hero trying to explain something about prepositions.

            A knock on the door interrupted Present Mic’s lecture and Dabi ignoring him. It slid open to show another blonde who looked like he never stopped smiling, holding a girl with silver hair. There was also a man with dark hair behind the blonde, but he looked like he was hiding.

            “Hey Present Mic! Are we interrupting something?” The blonde haired boy asked.

            “Hey Mirio, Tamaki, and of course my favorite little listener!” Present Mic’s ever-present smile seemed to grow. He walked over to the group by the door and took the silver haired girl into his arms. “You guys aren’t interrupting anything, I’m just trying to give a make up lesson to Touya over here, even though he is more interested in playing with the metal in his face than listening.”

            The blonde guy, Mirio Dabi guessed, laughed. “You know first years, they can barely pay attention.”

            “I would say I agree with you, but Touya here was one of the people involved in the accident the other weak. So mentally, he is older, and I expect more from him.” Present Mic said with a pointed glare.

            “If he’s mentally older, why is he taking a high school class?” The dark haired guy, Tamaki Dabi guessed, asked quietly.

            “Cause Eraserhead doesn’t trust me for some reason.” Dabi said loudly, making the group look at him. The silver haired girl buried her head into Present Mic’s shoulder.

            “Not true,” Present Mic’s smile shifted and Dabi could tell he was lying now, “Aizawa wants you to achieve a high school education, and we want to keep an eye on you guys because we don’t know all the side effects of the accident.”

            Dabi groaned and slammed his head. Just more excuses.

            “I’m sorry.” A soft voice said. Dabi raised his head to see the silver haired girl looking at the floor, lip stuck out. She reminded him a lot of when his siblings were younger.

            “Eri, you are still learning to control your quirk, accidents happen. I’m sure Touya here understands that.” Present Mic told her softly. Dabi sighed, brother instincts were kicking in and he felt like he had to act.

            “Yeah, Eri,” Dabi got up and approached her. She hid her face back in Present Mic’s shoulder. “Eri, I don’t know how much you remember about my body before you was always in pain. I had a really bad accident and nothing healed right, but now look at me” Eri had popped her head out of Mic’s shoulder and was looking at Dabi now. Dabi himself was showing her his hands and gestured to his face.  “All healed up, I haven’t felt this good in years.”

            Eri’s head was now fully out of her father’s shoulder and was looking at him. Her red eyes carefully looked over the visible parts of his body.

            “Really?” She asked carefully.

            “Really really.” Dabi confirmed with a nod. “For the first time in many years, I can move everyday without pain. And for that, I want to thank you Eri.”

            “See Eri, look how good your quirk can be!” Mirio said excitedly, gesturing to Dabi. Dabi took a small step back that he hoped no one noticed.

            “But my quirk still hurts people…” Eri’s eyes filled with tears.

            “Hey Eri,” Dabi got her attention by igniting a small blue flame in his hands. “My quirk can hurt people, it used to hurt me. But right now I’m learning how to use it better, and my fire can do a lot of good. It can keep people warm, or roast marshmallows, or many other things. It all depends on how you use it.”

            Eri’s eyes were captivated by the blue flames. Dabi didn’t want to point out all the bad his quirk is also capable of, this little girl didn’t need that.

            “You have the same quirk as Todo.” Eri said quietly.

            “Yeah, he’s my little brother.” Dabi put his fire out. Eri suddenly looked at him, confused this time.

            “But he’s taller than you, aren’t you the little brother?” She asked, shifting her head to the side.

            Dabi felt his face heat up. He had heard that a lot growing up with Natsuo, with the white haired brother inheriting their father’s frame and Dabi himself getting their mothers. But it was a little worse to be compared to his baby brother like that.

            Present Mic seemed to sense that the next thing coming out of Dabi’s mouth would ruin all the comfort it just gave, and interrupted.

            “How about we head back to the dorms. Touya here isn’t paying attention and we’ve completed his detention time. I’m sure Midoriya would like to see you!” The voice hero said, shifting attention to himself.

            “Yay! Mido!” Eri said with a smile.

            “Alright little listeners, lets go!” Present Mic made his way out of the classroom, the rest of them following behind.

            The walk was a little awkward because Dabi had no idea who the other two kids walking with them were, and Mic and Eri were focused on their own conversation. Luckily, the blonde student didn’t seem to realize how awkward Dabi felt and tried to talk to him.

            “I didn’t know Todoroki had a brother, that’s so cool!” Mirio said enthusiastically as they walked. Dabi was a little taken aback at his enthusiasm, Dabi felt more like the kid who was trying to hide behind Mirio.

            “Yeah he has two of them, and a sister.” Dabi told him.

            “Wow, I followed Endeavors career a little bit, and it’s kind of weird that it doesn’t bring up his kids outside of Todo- I mean your brother.” Mirio scratched his head for a moment. “Man it’s kind of hard having two brothers in the same class, I don’t know what to call you to make it different.”

            “Call me Touya, I don’t go by my family name.” Dabi told him. “And you wouldn’t hear about the rest of us, we’re all failures in our fathers eyes. Shouto is the only one of us who isn’t.”

            “Come on, I’m sure you’re dad is proud of each of you for different reasons!” Mirio tried to place his hand on Dabi’s shoulder in a comforting gesture, but the moment his hand touched Dabi’s shoulder, Dabi flinched away.

            “My dad thought I was dead for over a decade. He wasn’t proud of me before that, he certainly wouldn’t be proud of what I did after.” Dabi told him.

            “Wait how-“ Mirio tried to say but Dabi cut him off.

            “No.”

            They walked in silence for the rest of the way back. Dabi ignored the awkwardness of it in favor of not having to deal with tragic backstory. That was a job for a bartender.

            When they walked into the dorms, they were greeted with the site of the students sitting at various tables doing their homework. Dabi made eye contact with Hawks briefly then decided doing homework was too much for right now, and made his way to the elevators.

            Mirio had brought up some of the emotions Dabi had spent years trying to forget. The feelings of abandonment, disappointment, and self-loathing he had felt for many years. Those feelings never really went away, Dabi was just able to bury it better as he got older.

            Right now he was using his past coping methods. The screw had been working for the past week. Whenever he started to remember how worthless he could be, the screw helped him take his mind off of things.

            He had to be careful though. The uniforms were long sleeve and they had hid the damage he had done to his arms so far. But it was starting to get warmer out, and Hawks knew that his body was already warm all the time. He couldn’t wear long sleeves forever.

***

            Shigariki growled into his phone. He hadn’t heard from Dabi in almost a week and he was getting annoyed.

            “Ooooo, boss is angry.” Toga said with a giggle.

            “I’m pissed at that burnt asshole.” Shigariki grunted out. “He says he was hit by a quirk accident then goes completely off the grid. We should have heard something from him by now.”

            “I’m sure he’s fine! He’s probably betraying the League at this very moment!” Twice argued with himself.

            “Dabi would never do something like that, it’s not like him!” Toga shouted.

            “Is it?” Spinner muttered. “We barely know anything about the guy, let alone his true reasons for wanting to bring down hero society.”

            “We need to find out where Dabi is and see exactly what kind of trouble that dick has gotten into now.” Shigariki growled out, scratching at his neck. “Someone contact the doctor, I think he was working on a new type of Nomu.”

Chapter Text

             “Hawks, I need to speak with you.” Aizawa said loudly after training. Hawks had been about to leave with the rest of the class, but stopped when he heard the older hero’s voice.

            “Do you need me to wait for you?” Dabi asked him quietly.

            “Nah, go ahead. You can get started on that homework for Midnights class.” Hawks told him, waving Dabi on and making his way back over to Aizawa.

            “What can I do for you Eraser?” Hawks asked brightly, flashing his smile.

            Aizawa looked down at him, almost in sympathy. “Someone from the Commission is here to meet with you, and they won’t take no for an answer this time.”

            Hawk’s smile dropped. “What?”

            “We’ve been holding them off as long as we could, but right now they are threatening to physically take you away by force.” Aizawa explained. He started to make his way out of the gym and motioned for Hawks to follow. “All they’ve asked for is a conversation, what happens after is up to you.”

            “What do you mean it’s up to me?” Hawks asked, confused. He hadn’t really been offered a choice in the past, he likely won’t get one now no matter what Aizawa says.

            “They will likely demand you return to them, for what exactly I can’t be sure.” Aizawa told him as they walked across the campus. “My guess is that they either fake that you were never involved in the quirk accident, or take you back to train you again.”

            “So what, my choice is to lie to the public, or more training?” Hawks asked.

            “No, your choice is whether or not to go with them.”

            Hawks stopped. Aizawa continued a few more feet before he noticed Hawks wasn’t with him. He turned back to look at the young hero, who was looking down.

            “But I don’t have a choice, if they want to take me they will.” Hawks told him quietly. “They’ve controlled every part of my life for as long as I can remember. If they want to take me back, they will.”

            “Not if you don’t want to.” Aizawa approached him. “If you don’t want to leave UA, Nezu and I are willing to do everything we can to keep you here. You can choose to stay.”

            Hawks looked up at Aizawa and nodded.

            “Alright then, I’ll talk to Nezu.” Aizawa said simply. “But you still need to talk to the Commission. I’ll be right outside the room if you need anything, or if they try to force you to go with them.”

            Hawks nodded, and Aizawa led him to a conference room. Inside was his handler, the woman who had basically been in charge of him for years. She was sitting at the far end of the large conference.

            “Ma’am.” Hawks greeted stiffly.

            “Hawks.” His handler said with a nod. Hawks took a seat at the farthest possible seat away from her and closest to the door.

            They stared at each other for a moment.

            “Is there something you needed, or can I go back to my dorm. I have homework due tomorrow and it’s a lot easier to do it in a group.” Hawks told her.

            “Just what do you think you are doing?” She asked sternly.

            “Time management? Mr. Aizawa said that it’s important to balance your time properly.” Hawks responded.

            “I mean what are you doing here?” She snapped. “You should have reported back to the Commission the moment you were released from the hospital.”

            “With all do respect ma’am, why would I have done that?”

            “So we could figure out next steps. We could have saved your image; the public is currently worried, wondering where you are. Even if we didn’t go that way, we have lost over a week of retraining.” His handler yelled angrily.

            “I was just following your orders.” Hawks told her. “My mission was to get closer to the League of Villains, and I am.”

            “How is this completing your mission? This just looks like you are playing make believe high school instead of what we trained you for. We have invested a lot in you, all for you to achieve your dreams. People don’t just become the number 2 hero at your age, but we helped make you into that. Now you are throwing it all away.”

            Hawks looked away from her, trying to keep his emotions in checked. He had learned from a young age that it was never okay to show her anything but his professional mask.

            “And now we hear you are fraternizing with the Todoroki boy?” His handler continued. “That is unacceptable. What will people think? You have an image to maintain, and dating the oldest child of Endeavor will just make people think you have been sleeping your way to the top.”

            “He’s just a friend.” Hawks mumbled.

            “Well there is something going on, and the Commission does not approve. Now explained to me how exactly you running around playing high school is you completing your mission?” His handler demanded.

            “This class seems to be the number one target for the league. If I am part of the class, that will get me in closer contact with the League of Villians, and it could help me figure out why this class is targeted so often.” Hawks told her. He didn’t want to reveal what he knew about Dabi, not yet at least. Not when the two were getting closer, and it seemed Dabi was softening up.

            His handler glared at him for a moment. “It’s not the route we would have chosen, but we will follow your lead for now because we have no other choice. But we need results Hawks, if this doesn’t pan out, you will be pulled.”

            “I understand ma’am.” Hawks replied with a nod.

            “Good. Now Eraserhead will escort both of us back to the dorms, I need to also talk to this Todoroki boy.” His handler stood up and made her way to the door. Hawks followed after her, staying a few feet behind.

            Aizawa was waiting for them in the hall, a dark look on his face directed at his handler.

            “Eraser, if you don’t mind showing me where Hawks is staying, I just want to ensure that he is being taken care of properly and to meet some of his friends.” His handler said sweetly. If Hawks didn’t know her true nature, he could have been fooled into thinking she actually cared about that stuff.

            “We don’t allow outsiders into the dorms.” Aizawa told her grumpily.

            “Well that is just a shame.” His handler reached behind and pulled Hawks next to her, putting her hands on his shoulders in a tight grip. “Then I guess Hawks here will leave with me now, considering I am his legal guardian and you currently have no real power over me, even here.”

            Hawks looked at Aizawa desperately. He really didn’t want to go with her, and even though Aizawa had said that he would do anything he could to keep Hawks here, he didn’t have that power.

            Aizawa seemed to pick up on his desperation, and sighed.

            “I can allow you to see the common area of the dorms, but that’s it. Upstairs is the students private area and we cannot allow anyone up there without prior consent from them.” Aizawa told her.

            “I’m sure you can make an exception so I can see Hawk’s room.” His handler’s grip tightened a bit.

            “No, that is something outside my powers. If you have an issue with it, we can get the lawyers involved.” Aizawa told her with a glare.

            “I guess this is fine for now.” His handler released Hawk’s shoulders. “Lead the way.”

            Aizawa walked them to the dorms, glaring at his handler out of the corner of his eyes.

            “Ma’am with all due respect, the Hero Commission knows how the dorms are laid out. Why do you need to see them?” Aizawa asked as they made their way. Aizawa and his handler were walking next to each other, with Hawks trailing respectfully behind like he had been trained to.

            “I just want to see them in person, make sure that it’s a proper place for Hawks to learn.” His handler replied.

            “Considering the students are currently working on a group project for class, I believe you will see that in action.” Aizawa told her.

            “Oh, are they training for a group combat? I didn’t know there was a gym area in the dorms.”

            “No, they are working on a project for Midnight’s history class. There are no gyms in the dorms because UA has an already extensive set of gyms for the students to train on during school hours.”

            His handler tilted her head. “I don’t understand, what benefit does a history project bring to the training of future heroes?”

            “We need them to learn about the mistakes of the past so they don’t repeat it.”

            “Well I just don’t see the benefit, shouldn’t their time be better spent training their bodies for hero work?” Hawks winced as his handler started on her tirade. “And why the group project? Their time would be better spent learning how to exceed expectations on their own instead of relying on others.”

            “Heroes need to work together, no one hero is going to be perfect in all situations.” Aizawa told her.

            “I don’t know about that, Hawks here has done just fine as a hero in multiple situations.” His handler huffed.

            “Maybe so far, but that won’t always be the case.” Aizawa looked back at Hawk briefly. “Hawk’s major weakness is fire, and while he has successfully been able to work with fire users in the past, it also hasn’t been the strongest match up. Right now we can train him to work better with his weaknesses, or know when he isn’t the perfect hero for everything.”           

            “I’ve heard he has been spending time with the Tororoki boy who is suddenly back from the grave, and I must say I’m disappointed you Eraser.” Aizawa’s eyes were back on his handler, leaving Hawks to wish he could just be swallowed into the ground.

            “And why is that?”

            “Well for one I don’t see how Hawks fraternizing with your class brings any benefit to him. And this could ruin his image! That boy likely ran off and became a street rat, and Hawks being near him could tarnish his reputation. What would the public say if they found out he was friends with a gutter punk?” His handler stormed.

            “They probably would care more about the fact that the number one hero’s oldest son faked his death to get away from his father.” Aizawa retorted.

            His handler huffed again and crossed her arms. Hawks had to bite back a smile at that. Aizawa got her there.

            They had reached the dorms by now, and Aizawa opened the door and walked in, not bothering to hold is for her. It really took a lot of effort for Hawks not to react to Eraserhead’s boldness.

            Insider the common area various students were sat at the desks in groups. There were a couple sitting on the couches, and Bakugo was in the kitchen cooking. Hawks spotted Dabi on the couches with Kaminari and Sero, actively ignoring the homework in front of them. The sight of Dabi gave Hawks an idea.

            “Here is the common area. As you can see, students are working on their school work for the most part.” Aizawa told his handler. “This is their free time after training, so some do use it to unwind. There is plenty of space for students to work, cook, or have recreation time without distracting others.”

            “Yes well, I still don’t see how-wait Hawks where are you going?” His handler asked as Hawks stepped away from the two and made his way to the couch group.

            Dabi had looked up at the sound of his handler’s voice. He spotted Hawks making his way over to them and smiled. “Hey Hawks, glad you can join us. Do you know anything about-”

            Hawk cut Dabi off by leaning down and kissing him.

Chapter Text

            Hawks was kissing him.

            Dabi had been talking with Kaminari and Sero about the latest video game, completely ignoring the project they were supposed to be working on, when Hawks had entered with Aizawa and an older woman dressed in a suit. Dabi had noticed them enter, but he didn’t want to alert the suit lady how aware he was. She seemed like someone from the Commission, and if Hawks hadn’t betrayed his identity yet, Dabi didn’t want to seem like anything but a normal high school kid. Well, as much as he could seem like one. 

            Of course all that went out the window the moment Hawks had stormed over, tilted Dabi’s head up, and placed his lips on the fire user's.

            For a moment Dabi couldn’t think straight.

            The he thought what could arguably be the best or worst motivational words in the world.

            Fuck it.

            And Dabi shifted slightly, opened his mouth and deepened the kiss.

            He vaguely heard someone behind him wolf-whistle, and snickers erupted in the room. But he really didn’t care, all he really cared about right now was Hawks.

            “Hey assholes, some of us are trying to eat here. Take it to your room.” Bakugo shouted at them.

            Hawks started chuckling and broke away from Dabi, much to his disappointment. But they still kept their heads close.

            “What was that for?” Dabi asked, breathlessly.

            “Cause.” Hawks said. Dabi chuckled and was about to go in for another one when the woman in the suit cleared her throat rather loudly.

            Hawks sighed and turned around, forcing Dabi to actually sit up and look around his wings to see Aizawa and suit lady.

            “And just what was that?” Suit lady asked sternly. The tone of her voice reminded Dabi of when Endeavor found him trying to do something he wasn’t supposed to. 

            “Just saying hi to Touya here.” Hawks told her in a forced causal voice. Dabi looked up at him sharply, the tone of voice Hawks was using was his pro hero fake voice. The one he usually used when in interviews or when he was on the phone with the Commission.

            Which meant that this was probably his handler.

            Judging by the scowl on the woman’s face, she didn’t exactly approve of Hawk’s actions, which sparked a wicked idea.

            He wrapped one of his arms around Hawks waist and tugged the winged hero closer, causing him to stumble a bit and get even closer to Dabi. The handler’s scowl depended.

            “Babe, who is this?” Dabi asked calmly, smirking wickedly.

            “I am Hawk’s guardian.” The woman answered stiffly crossing her arms. He felt Hawks stiffen in his arms.

            “Cool, nice to meet you.” Dabi drawled, bringing his other arm up to hug Hawk’s hip. He hoped that the action provided Hawks a little comfort. “I’m Touya. Babe, do you need to talk to her much longer? You promised that we could finally spend some time together.”

            Dabi leaned his head into Hawks side and flashed the handler another smirk. He heard another wolf whistle behind them.

            “I was just showing her where I was staying while Aizawa is so kindly letting us attend UA.” Hawks told him.

            “I’ve seen enough,” Suit lady huffed “and I don’t think this is a proper learning environment for Hawks. Especially with the added distraction of Mr. Todoroki there.”

            Dabi tightened his arms around his bird. “Ma’am are you saying that you don’t trust UA, the hero school that produced top heroes like All Might and Endeavor, to provide a proper learning environment for Hawks?” He asked with fake astonishment. 

            “That is not what I am saying. All I meant was that-”

            “No, that is exactly what you meant.” Dabi cut her off. “You obviously have no faith in this institution. What would the public say if the press ran a story about how the Hero Commission didn’t have faith in its training institutions? I don’t know about you, but that would shake my faith in the heroes more than Stain and the League of Villains already have. If the people who regulate heroes don't faith in them, why should anyone else?”

            The room had gone completely silent. Even Bakugo was watching the interaction in silence. The tension in the room had become thick.

            “It takes a lot of work to train heroes.” The handler was glaring at Dabi. “And as the son of the number one hero, I’m sure you have a first hand knowledge of how much work goes into becoming such a high ranked hero. Endeavor has put in the work, and Hawks needs to put in that effort again if he wants to keep his place. We can provide that for him once again.”

            “Oh I know how much work goes into becoming the number one hero.” Dabi shot back, now pissed. He could feel himself start to heat up, like his fire was about to burst from his skin. Dabi vaguely felt Hawk’s hand move to his own, then under his sleeve and up his arm in a comforting gesture. It grounded him just enough to keep his fire in check. “The burn scars that will never heal on my body are proof. The massive scar on my brother’s face is proof. The fact that I faked my own death to get away from Endeavor is proof that I know what it takes to make someone the number one hero. And it’s all that proof is publicly documented, and there are enough witnesses and evidence to bring that flaming pile of shit’s career spiraling down if I wanted to. Now that would certainly destroy how people look at heroes, wouldn’t it?”

            If anyone thought it was tense and silent before, it had just increased tenfold. Dabi was pretty sure he could hear everyone’s heart beat if he focused enough. But right now he wanted to prove a point to the haughty woman who was daring to take Hawks away.

            “You wouldn’t throw the future of this entire class and the world in jeopardy like that.” The handler.

            “Endeavor choked me while his hand was on fire and called it training. I’d burn my house down again with both of us in it if it meant my father would be dead.” Dabi told her. “And that’s just for what he’s done to me. Now I think it’s in your best interest to let Hawks stay here, and leave, before you see what I’m willing to do for someone I actually care about.”

            The handler glared at both of them for a moment, then stormed out. Aizawa cast a curious glace at Dabi before following her, probably to make sure she left without trying to cause any more chaos. The moment the door closed behind him, Hawks let out a huge breath of relief. It looked like he was staying here.

            “Alright what the hell was that?” Dabi asked, finally released Hawks.

            “My handler wanted to remove me from UA, and she said she didn’t approve of you.” Hawks told him, turning to face the blue haired boy. “Said that it looked like I was sleeping my way to the top if we were together.”

            Dabi laughed at that. “Wow, glad to know they think Endeavor likes me enough to do favors for my friends. I might be able to use that one-day. Now hop over here birdy, we still have a project to do.”

            Hawks hopped over the couch and landed next to him to see the textbook, but something felt off. Hawks looked up to see the entire room staring at the two of them, their eyes widened in shock. He was pretty sure a couple of them had tears in them. Dabi must have felt it to because he looked up and sighed.

            “What?” He asked the class.

            “Dude, was that all true?” Kirishima asked him from his place next to Bakugo,

            “What I told the handler? Yeah. She has too many connections not to check my story, if I lied they would have pulled Hawks out.” Dabi told them.

            “Did your father really try to kill you?” Urarka asked.

            “If all you guys are going to do is ask me questions about my dad I’m going to my room to do my part of this project.” Dabi said with a sigh. He picked up his textbook at made his way to the elevators, completely ignoring the shocked silence that followed him.

            Hawks watched him go, unsure of what to do. If Dabi had wanted him to come with he would have asked. Dabi had always been blunt like that. But something was bugging Hawks as he watched Dabi’s blue hair disappear in the elevator.

            The skin on Dabi’s under arm was rough. He had felt it when he had tried to comfort him while his handler was here. And it wasn’t the normal roughness that Dabi had in his older body, with his arms covered in wrinkled purple scars.

            They had felt like neat and orderly lined, and they had felt fresh.

Chapter Text

            Hawks was trying to concentrate on the textbook, but he couldn’t shake what he had felt under Dabi’s sleeves. The Commission hadn’t trained him how to deal with this situation. They had trained him how to interact with fans, the press, and other heroes, but they hadn’t trained him how to interact with others on a human level. There hadn’t been many other kids in the training program, and they were certainly never allowed to interact.

            The most human interaction he had had was with Miruko when they would hang out sometimes after work, and the time he spent with the League of Villains. Although he did have enough common sense that Toga’s greeting of asking if she could taste peoples blood was not normal.

            “Hawks, are you okay?” A soft voice brought him back to the room. Hawks looked up and saw Shouto looking at him with a concerned look. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

            “You know Touya makes that same exact face when he’s worried about someone.” Hawks told him. Shouto’s mouth quirked up a bit, but the concerned look didn’t leave his eyes.

            “It’s good to know that Touya had people he cares enough about to be concerned.” Shouto said. “Now, stop avoiding the question, are you okay?”

            Hawks let out a sigh. Another way Shouto was like Dabi, they both wouldn’t let him avoid things.

            “I just figured something out about Touya, and I don’t know what to do.” Hawks said carefully. He didn’t know how to tell someone about this.

            “What is it?” Shouto leaned in closer. They weren’t near any of the other students, who were still working in groups for the most part. Most of the class had figured it was a good idea not to bother Shouto and Hawks after the confrontation with his handler.

            Hawks was torn, he wanted to confide in someone, but this was Dabi’s brother. His kid brother. Shouto seemed to have a positive opinion of his older brother, and Hawks didn’t want to ruin that. But as his brother, it meant that he might be able to help better than Hawks could.

            “Is it about those marks on his arms?” Shouto asked when Hawks remained quiet. Hawks looked at the white and red boy in alarm. “I saw them at the hospital, and asked Mr. Aizawa about it. He had a lot of insight and advice on it.”

            “I might just talk to Aizawa about it then, if you don’t mind kid.” Hawks told him.

            “Is my brother okay Hawks?” Shouto stared intensely at the winged hero.

            Hawks looked Shouto in the eyes. “I don’t know, I just noticed something that had me concerned, and I want to talk to another adult about this. I don’t want to worry you kids.”

            “I don’t know if you can tell, but you’re a kid right now too.” Shouto told him with a smirk.

            “Body of a kid only, I still have the mind of an adult.” Hawks corrected.

            “Yeah, but you act more like a high school student than you realize. Maybe Eri’s quirk rewound more than you thought.” With that, Shouto got up and went back to join Midoriya for the project.

            Hawks looked back down at his textbook, quickly realizing there was no way he was going to be able to concentrate on it while Dabi was on his mind. He shut it, and made his way to the back area of the dorm, where Aizawa lived.

            Letting out a sigh, he raised his hand and knocked loudly. He heard a shuffling of food steps, and a moment later, Present Mic opened the door in casual clothes and his hair down. It was a little weird to see the voice hero like that, but Hawks supposed it was weird for Mic to see him as a teenager.

            “Hawks! What can I do for you?” Mic asked nicely.

            “I was hoping to talk to Aizawa about something for a minute, is he here?” Hawks asked nervously.

            “Sorry listener, he is still dealing with that commission lady. But he should be back any moment, you are welcome to come in and have a seat to wait for him.” Mic said with a smile, opening the door a little further. Hawks could see a pleasant living room area, with various books, papers, and toys scattered around.

            “I don’t want to disturb you guys, I can just talk to him later.” Hawks said, starting to back away. Maybe he should just talk directly to Dabi about what he felt on his arms.

            “Hawks” Mic said softly, and it made Hawks stop walking away “how about you come in anyways. You really look like you need to talk to someone. I’m not Shouta, but even though I have a voice quirk, I like to think I’m a good listener.”

            Hawks could barely keep it together in that moment. Mic looked very caring, like he wanted to listen to what Hawks had to say. Dabi had been the only other person in his life to show that interest.

            He nodded, and stepped inside the apartment. The living room didn’t extend much past what he had seen from outside, but now he could see a hallway leading farther into the apartment. It was likely where the kitchen and bedrooms were.

            Mic guided him over to the sitting area, letting Hawks sit on the sofa and stretch his wings out a big. Mic himself sat on an armchair, then fixed his gaze back to Hawks.

            “So, what’s going on?” Mic inquired.

            “I don’t know how much to tell you and how much is classified right now.” Hawks admitted. Present Mic could at least understand why Hawks was hesitant to share.

            “Is this about Touya being Dabi?” Mic asked.

            Hawks stared at the blonde hero for a moment, unsure how to answer. Mic laughed at his expression.

            “Shouta and I are married, we keep very few secrets from each other. He told me about Dabi the first night you were here.” Mic explained. Hawks nodded in understanding.

            “Well now that you at least know that, how much else do you know about Dabi’s life as Touya?” Hawks asked.

            “Just some basics.” Present Mic Said with a sigh. “Shouta told me about the scars that they found on him at the hospital, the self inflicted ones and the burns. According to the doctor’s report, some of the burns were not from Touya’s quirk; another fire user caused them. And considering Dabi’s hatred for his father, and the extensive scarring he has as a villain, it’s not to hard to guess what happened to him.”

            “So you knew about his dad choking him with his quirk?”

            Mic looked shocked at that. “Endeavor choked his own son while using his quirk? When did you find that out?”

            “Just a bit ago, Touya announced it to the entire common room to get my handler to go away.” Hawks told him.

            “At least it worked.” A new voice said. Hawks looked over to the door to see Aizawa entering, looking even more tired than usual. “She won’t be bothering you for now Hawks, now why are you in my home?”

            “He came here looking for you, he’s apparently worried about Touya.” Mic told him. Aizawa nodded and made his way over to where the two were sitting, leaning on the back of the chair Mic was on.

            “What’s going on with him now?” Aizawa asked.

            “When he was hugging me earlier with , I felt his body heat up when he started to get emotional.” Hawks said, anxiety building in his stomach. He felt like he was betraying Dabi by telling these two about what he felt, but Hawks didn’t know what else to do. “So I put my hand on his arm to ground him, because that works sometimes, and I felt these lines on his arms. And they felt fresh, not like the scars we saw at the hospital. I think he’s been harming himself again, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

            Aizawa sighed. “Unfortunately, Touya isn’t the first kid whose using pain as a coping mechanism. As teachers, we get trained on what we are supposed to do, but it’s still tough. The commission didn’t cover this?”

            Hawks shook his head. Aizawa nodded.

            “Well we need to handle this situation delicately.” Aizawa told him. “Normally, we would send the student to therapy, possibly inform their parents if we think it’s the right move, and show them that they have a support system here. But we can’t really do that in this case. I don’t know if we can find a therapist that we could trust with Touya’s real identity, and talking to his parents is out of the question.”

            “So, support system? Should I talk to his siblings and let them handle it?” Hawks asked.

            Aizawa shrugged. “It might work, but I also don’t know if that’s the best solution. Touya is going through a lot right now, and he needs someone who understands a bit what he is going through.”

            “So Shouto? I don’t know if I want to out Touya like that to him.” Hawks said.

            “Defiantly not Todoroki.” Aizawa said quickly. “He’s finally in a good place himself, and I don’t want to jeopardize it. I was thinking you.”

            “Me? I don’t even know what to do? How could I relate to what he’s going through?” Hawks asked, a little shocked.

            “I think Shouta is right.” Mic said. “Think about it. Both of you had rough childhoods, both of you found ways to distract from the pain of that, and you are both currently trapped in your teenage bodies. I think out of everyone you can understand him the most.”

            “But I never hurt myself to cope.” Hawks pointed out.

            “Self-injury isn’t just hurting yourself.” Aizawa said. “It’s also pushing yourself past your limit consistently, to the point of almost hurting yourself because you train too hard.”

            Hawks looked down at that. The commission had trained him to push himself until he could no longer stand. He carried on that practice as an adult, because he didn’t want to fail.

            “I think that having someone who really cares about Touya, and someone who Touya really cares about will help a lot.” Aizawa told him.

            “Dabi doesn’t really care about me. I’m just a means to an end and occasionally a stress reliever.” Hawks said with a sigh.

            “Then what was that scene in the common room?” Aizawa asked with a smirk.

            “What scene?” Mic asked, looking up at his husband.

            “Hawks walked in, kissed Touya, then Touya proceeded to threaten to ruin Endeavors entire career and the whole of hero society if Hawk’s handler dared to take him away.” Aizawa told him, still smirking. Mic looked back at Hawks, joining in smirking.

            “That was just him trying to piss off my handler. He’s been waiting to do that for months.” Hawks said with a laugh.

            “To quote Touya just a few minutes ago ‘Now I think it’s in your best interest to leave Hawks here, and leave, before you see what I’m willing to do for someone I actually care about.’ He cares about you, more than you think.” Aizawa told him, seriously. 

            “I just wouldn’t know where to begin, how do you even talk to someone about this?” Hawks asked.

            “In my experience, its better to be direct, but gentle. Let him know you care too.” Mic said earnestly.

            “I don’t know…”

            “You know, if it wasn’t for the overwhelming evidence, I would never have guessed that Touya is Dabi.” Aizawa said. Hawks looked up, a little confused at the subject change. “While he’s been here, he hasn’t been the model student, but he’s been a good person. Touya has been spending time with his brother; I haven’t seen Todoroki laugh like he has with him, ever. Touya get’s along with everyone in the class, and he makes sure he doesn’t cross anyone’s boundaries. And he’s just been generally kind to everyone. Anyone who didn’t know who Touya really was probably wouldn’t be able to tell.”

            “What’s this got to do with anything?” Hawks asked.

            “I’m saying that Touya hasn’t acted like a villain at all since he’s been here” Aizawa explained. “One thing of the most important things you learn as a hero that villains aren’t born, they’re made. Dabi became a villain because of his childhood; a toxic environment surrounded him. Now he is surrounded by people who care, who won’t push him to do something he doesn’t want to, and it’s an overall positive environment. Which means, at his core, Dabi isn’t a villain, he was just using villainy to accomplish his goals. One of those was to protect his family. Now, Touya is here, surrounded by people he cares about and who care about him. He doesn’t have a reason to hurt others now.

            “But he’s hurting himself.” Hawks pointed out.

            “And he needs help. From someone he cares about, and someone who cares about him.” Aizawa told him. “Talk to him, show him you care, and listen to him. One of the best things you can do is tell him you will be there for him, then show him. We might just make sure he doesn’t have to grow up to be a villain again.”

            Hawks nodded.

            “Well on that upbeat note, I need to get dinner started.” Mic said, standing up. “Good luck Hawks, and if you need anything, feel free to stop by again. Our door is always open, no matter how grumpy Shouta gets.”

            “Thanks guys, I think I’ll go talk to him.” Hawks told them with a smile.

***

            “I’ll just need something of Dabi’s so it can track him.” Dr. Ujiko said.

            Shigaraki growled and turned to the rest of the League. “Toga, give him the coat.”

            Toga stepped forward with a giggle, holding Dabi’s signature coat that they had found in his room. Dr. Ujiko took it from her and held it out to the Nomu. It was smaller than the other ones, leaner, but quicker. While the other Nomu’s were mostly built for strength, this one was built more for speed.

            The Nomu sniffed it, then growled. With a roar, his wings stretched out and he started to crawl towards the door.

            “The Nomu should find out where Dabi is, and with a little luck, he might bring our fire user back, no matter what.” Dr. Ujiko said with a cackle.

Chapter Text

            Dabi sighed into his textbook. He wished he were back at the League; at least they don’t cause major drama on a daily basis. Usually.

            And at least at the League he could have a drink and not do homework. He still didn’t get why he had to do homework. Dabi wasn’t going to become a hero; his quirk was too volatile for that. Plus he didn’t want to contribute to the very society that put Endeavor on top.

            A knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts. He sighed; it was probably Shouto coming to talk to him about what he said about their father and the thing with Hawks.

            When Dabi opened the door he was a little surprised to see Hawks, but not completely. What did actually surprise him was how nervous Hawks looked.

            “Hey, what’s up?” Dabi asked, leaning against his doorframe, a confident smile on his face. “Come back for round two?”

            Hawks smiled tentatively at him. “Haha, no. I actually wanted to talk to you about something serious. Can I come in?”

            Dabi frowned, and nodded, moving to the side to let him in. Hawks walked in quietly, making his way to the desk chair that Dabi had just occupied. He shut the door and sat on the bed, facing Hawks.

            “Is everything okay?” Dabi asked quietly. It felt like Hawks was about to deliver bad news.

            “No…” Hawks trailed off. Dabi noticed his hand was shaking a bit. “I just don’t know how to start this.”

            “Look I get it, what happened downstairs was just for show. You don’t have to say anything.” Dabi told him. Dabi would understand, he was used to people using him to achieve their own ends. Turns out Hawks was no different that anyone else, but it would hurt Dabi if Hawks ever admitted it.

            “No it’s not that” Hawks said quickly “we actually should talk about that but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

            “Alright, what’s up?”

            “I know Touya.” Hawks said quietly, looking down.

            “You know what exactly?” Dabi asked with a laugh. Right now, Dabi didn’t really have any secrets he hid from Hawks, at least not since Hawks learned who he really was.

            “I know about you hurting yourself.” Hawks said. Dabi felt like something was gripping his heart.

            Dammit. He didn’t want anyone to know about that. Now Hawks was going to tell someone, and he would likely have to be sent home to his father. His father knew about his habit the first time around, and that had just caused more injures. Who knew what would happen if Endeavor found out he had kept the habit after all these years.

            “Okay.” Dabi said.

            “What kind of response is that?” Hawks asked.

            “Well what do you want me to say?” Dabi asked, fiddling with his sleeves. Hawks followed the movement.

            “I don’t know, maybe tell me why? Or what I can do to help.” Hawks said.

            “Why would I talk to you about that?” Dabi asked.

            “Because I’m your friend Touya, I care about you, and I want to help.” Hawks said, looking like he was about to cry.

            “Hawks, it’s fine. I’ve got it under control, I don’t need help.” Dabi told him.

            “If you were fine you wouldn’t be dragging a knife across your wrists!” Hawks exclaimed. Dabi didn’t bother telling him that it was actually a modified screw. “And how could you have anything under control? You are literally hurting yourself, that doesn’t sound like control to me.”

            “Hawks it’s not like I'm about to kill myself. I’m seriously fine.” Dabi told him, trying to calm him down by holding out his hands.

            Hawks shot out one of his hands and grabbed Dabi’s. Before Dabi could register that Hawks had grabbed him, his sleeve was pulled down for both of them to see the damage.

            “Hawks what the fuck!” Dabi shouted, trying to pull his arm away. He felt his flames start to rise up because of his emotions, and it was all he could do to keep them in check.

            “Touya,” Hawks said softly “does this look okay to you?”

            Dabi glanced at it. It looked normal for his arm at this age. There were white scars covered by crisscrossing red and pink lines, and they ran all along his forearm. Dabi hoped that Hawks didn’t try to see how far the damage extended.

            “I’ve had worse.” Dabi said with a shrug, still trying to pull his arm back.

            “You’re worse is when your body is older and your entire arm is so mutilated that you have to staple it together.” Hawk told him. “And now I’m wondering if you did that to yourself too!”

            “Hold on, what?” Dabi looked up at him, forgetting about his arm. “Do you think I burned my skin so badly that I have to staple it onto my living skin?”

            “I’m starting to wonder, considering this is what you were doing before!” Hawks exclaimed.

            Dabi felt two very strong emotions at the same time. The first was pure fury that Hawks didn’t believe him about Endeavor, after everything Hawks still held that man on a pedestal. The second was his heart breaking a little that someone he had actually opened up would think this about him.

            Dabi let a little of his rage out as his arm ignited, causing Hawks to squawk and pull his hand away.

            “Get out.” Dabi said darkly.

            “Not until we talk about this.” Hawks told him, a determined look in his eyes. “Touya this isn’t okay. I’m trying to support you here, I’m trying to be your hero.”

            Dabi let out a bitter laugh. “I thought you would have learned by now, heroes don’t help me, they only hurt me. And aren’t you supposed to be trying to bring down the heroes? What happened to that?”

            “I’m not talking about society,” Hawks said softly, looking away. “I’m talking about being your hero. I want to be someone that you can rely on, that you can open up to.”

            “Well you are doing a poor job of it.” Dabi told him. “Now get out.”

            “Why, so you can hurt yourself again?” Hawks asked. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

            Dabi sighed. He had one more move to get Hawks out of his room, and as much as he didn't want to use it, he need Hawks out of the room. He had just wanted someone to care about him without an ulterior motive, and right now Dabi didn't have the desire to keep someone so fake so close. He was done, and desperate to break down in peace.

            “I know you aren’t really a villain, you know.” Dabi told him bitterly. Hawks looked back at him sharply. “I know you are just working with us to get intel. You’re a really bad spy.”

            “How long have you known?” Hawks asked.

            “I was suspicious from the moment you first approached me, but it was confirmed the first night I spent at your place.” Dabi said with a sad smirk. “If you really hated hero society so much, you would have gotten rid of that Endeavor plushy long ago.”

            “So why keep up the charade?” Hawks asked.

            “Your information was good, it was advantageous to keep you around for the League.” Dabi explained.

            “But what about everything else?” Hawks stood up and glared at Dabi.

            “What about everything else? You were using me for information on the League, I needed to keep an eye on you.” Dabi glared back.

            “So everything else, that meant nothing to you?” Hawks asked.

            “Did it mean something to you?” Dabi shot back. He kind of wished Hawks would say yes.

            Hawks was quiet for a moment, then looked away. Dabi huffed; it figured their entire relationship was built on Hawks using him. Just like everyone else in his life.

            “I didn’t think so.” Dabi said darkly. “Now get out, I still have a project to finish because we are still stuck in high school.”

            “Fine.” Hawks stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

            Dabi sank back down on his bed and ran his hands through his hair. He held back the tears as best he could, but a few spilled out. Dabi hated the fact that he still didn’t have his emotions under control after the past few weeks. But Hawks always seemed to make him feel emotions more strongly than anyone else besides his family. And he hated it, he hated everything right now.

            Screw it; he couldn’t be here any longer. He just needed fresh air, maybe he would come back after, but right now Dabi just wanted to be someplace where no one was going to knock on his door and make him deal with things.

            He got up and walked over to him balcony. No doubt Aizawa had him monitored, but right now he didn’t care. Slowly, Dabi climbed over his balcony railing and started making his way down. Soon enough he dropped to the ground and made his way to the front entrance.

            Dabi only hesitated a moment before walking across the threshold. Right now he just wanted a break from this place and everyone in it.

            Hawk arrived back in the common room, wings puffed up in anger. He stormed over to the couch and collapsed. The rest of the class had dispersed for the most part, leaving just Todoroki and his friends playing a card game at the tables. They had looked up when Hawks had entered, but most of them seemed to understand that he didn’t want to talk.

            The only one who didn’t seem to understand was the duel haired boy with limited social skills.

            “Is everything okay?” Shouto asked him, approached carefully. Hawks looked sharply up at him.

            “No, and your brother is the source of all of it.” Hawks said with a growl.

            “What did Touya do now?” Shouto asked, sitting down.

            “He’s just! I-, I just want to-ugh!” Hawks tossed his hands up in frustration. “I was trying to talk to him about something, we had a fight, and he asked me something, and I had to think about it for a moment. But he took it as the wrong answer and wouldn’t hear me out, and told me to leave. So I left.”

            “What was the fight about?” Shouto asked.

            Hawks sighed. “Just some personal issues between us. You don’t have to worry about it.”

            “Are you okay?” Shouto asked.

            “Not really, but I will be.” Hawks told him. “It’s just a fight, I’m sure once we cool off we might be able to work it out.”

            “Alright.” Shouto looked a little nervous for a moment.

            “What is it?” Hawks asked.

            “Would Touya be mad it if I check on him? Or should I just leave him alone.” Shouto asked. “I never really got to interact with my brothers growing up, so I don’t know if I should give him space or if its better to check on him.”

            “I think Touya wouldn’t mind you checking in, just be sure to back off if he wants his space.” Hawks advised. Shouto nodded, got up and mad his way to the elevators.

            Hawks leaned his head back on the couch.

            Well his mission was a bust. Dabi knew he was a double agent for a while now, which means the information he had been getting from the League of Villains wasn’t as reliable as he originally thought. And it meant that he likely wasn’t going to be getting any information from them in the future.

            All that work was for nothing. Hawks was probably no closer to bringing down the League of Villains than he was when he first made contact with Dabi. The commission was not going to be happy when he told them.

            And he also had to deal with the fact that the relationship he and Dabi had was probably over, no matter what he told Shouto. Even though Hawks had been using Dabi for information, he thought they had built something together. Hawks had comforted Dabi when he would wake up screaming, and Dabi was there to help him calm down after stressful workdays. Hawks kind of missed when Dabi would come over with fried chicken and they would watch crappy television together, making fun of it the entire time.

            Well whether or not they ever returned to their normal bodies, those days were probably over. That made Hawks a little sad.

            He was pulled out of his thoughts by hurried footsteps coming towards him. Hawks turned around to see Shouto looking a little panicked.

            “What’s wrong little Todoroki?” Hawks asked.

            “Touya’s gone!” He shouted.

Chapter Text

            Dabi was glad he had a fire quirk, because it was chilly and he forgot his jacket. He never really got cold anyways, but at least if he wore a coat people stopped looking at him funny. Now he was getting strange looks by people on the street. At least they were just staring at his lack of coat, not his scars. But he wasn’t paying too much attention to others; he just wanted to put as much distance between him and Hawks as possible.

            He just couldn’t believe the nerve of Hawks. Dabi thought that they had actually become closer since the hospital, when Hawks learned the origin of his scars. That he might actually be able to trust Hawks with something real, Dabi thought he could trust Hawks with Touya.

            Even when he figured out Hawks was just a double agent, Dabi still felt like he could trust the hero in some way. He would never rely on the hero to save him; no, no hero could ever be relied on to save Dabi. But Dabi had felt safe when he would sleep at Hawk’s apartment, like he didn’t need to continuously be a villain. He could just relax and watch crappy TV while stealing the bird’s food. Hanging out at his apartment had been the first time Dabi had truly felt safe in a long time. He wished they could go back to those days.

            Now that was gone.

            Any sense of home was gone again.

            And Dabi had blown up their only good source of information out of spite. Just to get Hawks out of his room. Shigaraki was not going to be happy.

            Dabi stopped and looked around. He was in a downtown part of the city, but it wasn’t too clear where he was. He did spot a small alley between two buildings that seemed private enough to deal with his crisis. He made his way there, glanced around to make sure there was nobody paying attention to him, and crouched down.

            Maybe he should just make his way back to the league. At least there he would only have to field a few questions until he could threaten them into shutting up. At least they listened to him there for the most part.

            But then he’d have to give up his family again, his family who were finally in a good place and he didn’t want to do anything to ruin that, again. Shouto was making friends and learning to use his fire as his own, he wasn’t trapped by Endeavor’s ambition anymore. Natsuo was studying to be a doctor and had a girlfriend. Dabi was shocked anyone in their family could believe in love after the dumpster fire that was their parents marriage.

            And Fuyumi…

            Dabi sighed. Fuyumi was still trying to cling to the idea of a perfect family, and she worked so hard to achieve that. She was still trying to get him over to the house for dinner with the rest of his family, mom excluded of course. Dabi loved his only sister, he really did, but she didn’t seem to understand how much Endeavor had messed all of them up.

            Endeavor had fucked him up so much Dabi had the literal scars to prove it.

            A vibration in his pocket distracted him from his thoughts. He pulled it out to see Shouto’s contact popping up, but he didn’t answer it. Dabi really didn’t feel like dealing with anyone right now. Shouto’s call went to voicemail, and Dabi could already see he had missed several calls from his brother, the bird, and an unknown number. Probably one of the other students or teachers had been roped into finding him.

            Dabi sank fully to the ground. He felt like he was torching all of the important relationships in one night, all that’s left were his other siblings. He’d done it before, of course it had helped that they thought he was dead. Maybe he could fake his death again, although they might not believe it a second time.

            He could always go back to the League, but his family would probably plaster his face all over the news. And Dabi didn’t want the league to know his tragic backstory yet. He still couldn’t’ let Toga know that she was right about his daddy issues.

            His phone went off again, this time it was Hawks. Dabi didn’t even let it ring, he just sent him to voicemail. Immediately Hawk’s name flashed on the screen again, and Dabi sent it right back to voicemail. If he was going to pick up for anyone it certainly wouldn’t be for the bird.

             Dabi ran his hands through his hair. Right now he wanted to go home and curl up in his bed until he could have a better grasp of his emotions. But he didn’t have a home. He couldn’t go back to UA, he couldn’t go back to the league yet, and he couldn’t step foot in Endeavor’s house. Dabi had no home.

            Maybe it would just be better if he disappeared permanently, for real this time.

            His phone went off again. It was Shouto. With another sigh, Dabi accepted the call, figured he owed his brother that.

            “Hey kid.” Dabi said softly.

            “Touya!” Shouto’s voice sounded relieved and slightly out of breath. Dabi didn’t really know why, it would just be so much easier for Shouto if he just disappeared. “Where are you? Why did you run off? Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine kiddo.” Dabi told him.

            “Where are you? We’ve been looking for you.” Shouto asked.

            “I’m just around, no need to worry.”

            “But we are worried. Mr. Aizawa, Hawks and I are looking for you, we need your location to make sure you’re alright.” Shouto pressed.

            Dabi sighed again. “Look, Shouto, I just want to be alone for a bit. It will be okay.”

            “Last time you said that, you went into the training room and didn’t come out.” Shouto said softly.

            At that moment Dabi wished he had never come back into his siblings lives, because only they could guilt trip him successfully. It didn’t matter what he told Shouto earlier in his stay, his siblings were his one weakness, and every time they reminded him of the fact that he had abandoned them for over a decade he felt that guilt.

            He was also a little shocked that Shouto even remembered his last words from all those years ago. Touya had been comforting Shouto about their mother being in the hospital when their father had come home. Dabi remembers hearing those loud, booming footsteps as they made their way into the house. He remembers how their father called for Shouto to hurry to the training room, and how Shouto curled into Touya’s arms, trembling. ‘It will be okay.’ Touya had told Shouto, before leaving his little brother and walking into the training room himself, ready to burn Endeavor to the ground or die trying.

            Of course, the outcome hadn't been in Touya’s favor.

            “Touya, are you okay?” He heard Shouto ask when he didn’t answered.

            Dabi desperately wanted to say no, but this was his kid brother. “Shouto, I’m fine. I just needed some air.”

            Shouts came from the main street, distracting Dabi momentarily. It looked like people were pointing up at something, but he couldn’t see what from his position in the alleyway.

            “Please tell us were you are, we can send Hawks there in a flash.” Shouto said.

            “Tell that damn bird to leave me alone.” Dabi spat out anger returning.

            “What happened with him? You guys were happy just a couple hours ago.” Shouto asked.

            “Look, kid, I don’t want to get into it okay. Its not something you should be worried about.” Dabi told him. A scream brought his attention back to the street for a moment.

            “But I am worried, you’re my brother and don’t want you to disappear again.” Shouto said in his ear, bringing his attention back to the conversation.

            “Oh my god what is that!” Dabi heard Hawk’s voice shout in the background behind his brother. Another scream came from the street and this time Dabi got up to peer out of the alley.

            People were running away from a large object that looked like it was flying right towards the city. It looked kind of like a Nomu, but a little smaller. Except for its claws, those looked bigger than the other Nomu’s Dabi had seen. And it was headed straight for him.

            The league wanted him back.

            “Oh shit.” Dabi muttered.

            “Touya, get somewhere safe, there is something approaching the middle of the city and we aren’t sure what it is.” Shouto’s voice came from his ear. Dabi had actually forgotten he was still on the phone with his brother because of the Nomu.

            “That’s probably not going to be possible.” Dabi told him. The Nomu was getting closer.

            “Why, what’s wrong?” Shouto asked franticly.

            “Because I think that thing is headed for me.”

            “Touya we are on our way, but you need to hide, or run, or something.” Shouto instructed.

            “I’ll see you soon kiddo. Don’t worry, it will be okay.” Touya told his brother, than ended the call.

            Dabi stepped onto the main road and began running. Not in the direction that others were running, but towards the Nomu. He might be part of the League of Villains, but he still didn’t want any innocent civilians getting hurt.

            Somehow the Nomu flew over him, just as Dabi passed the main crowd of fleeing people. Dabi wanted to let out a laugh, but he knew that the creature would be on him in another moment. Sure enough, he heard a ear screeching roar and glanced behind him to see the Nomu turning around and heading towards Dabi again.

            Dabi glanced where he was running. He didn’t want to get taken by the Nomu, not right now when it meant his brother would probably blame himself. So that meant he had to either fight it or ditch it somehow. And fighting meant that he might burn his skin, and he didn’t want Hawks to think that his scars are his fault again, so running it was.

            He saw a really narrow alleyway ahead. Dabi could probably squeeze though, especially in his rail thin teenage body, and that creature would slam directly into the wall. Dabi angled his body slightly and sprinted towards the opening, hoping to get there before the Nomu caught him.

            When he was just a few feet away from safety, he felt a large gust of wind push his back.

            The Nomu had caught him.

            Dabi couldn’t stop the scream he let out as he felt claws encircle his body and lift him from the ground. He flailed a moment then wrapped his hands around the claws as he watched the ground get farther away.

            “Touya!” He heard his brother’s voice shout. Dabi looked frantically below before seeing a large ice wall form right in front of him, causing the Nomu to slam into it.

            Dabi could see the logic, get the Nomu knocked out or at least startled enough by the sudden impact to drop him. But it didn’t work. Instead, Dabi felt the creatures claws tighten around him, and they were so sharp he felt two of them stab deep into his stomach.

            He couldn’t stop his cry of pain, and he felt his body heat up as his flames tried to break free to defend himself. But Dabi had to control it, he was too high up, no way he would survive the fall.

            The Nomu flapped its wings for a moment, a little disoriented, then Dabi felt his stomach churn as his suddenly dove towards two people who were standing on a nearby street. Shouto and Mr. Aizawa.

            The creature roared again, and shifted his grip, making the wounds it has caused on Dabi’s abdomen open a little wider.

            The monster suddenly shot up and Dabi almost lost his lunch. He actually missed Hawk’s flights right now; at least the bird would listen to him when he screamed.

            Thinking of Hawks must have summoned him, because the next thing Dabi knew, Hawks was diving from above using one of his longer feathers as a sword. He landed on top of the back of the monster and drove it down, causing the Nomu to let out a terrifying scream.

            That caused it to finally drop Dabi.

            The ground was rushing towards him and Dabi had no idea what to do. He heard Hawks shout from above him but couldn’t make it out. If Shouto made another ice wall it still wouldn’t be enough to catch him without possibly killing him.

            As the ground got closer Dabi felt a beat of air on his back.

            Hawks had caught up and was going to catch him.

            Then familiar claws closed around his leg, added another stab wound to his body, and yanked him out of the air.

            This time when the Nomu hurt him, Dabi couldn’t control his flames. They burst from his body in an angry wave. Not just from his hands, but his entire body felt like it was on fire. Dabi could feel his arms and legs burning away, but it caused the monster to let go of him again, or it had just lost its claws to his flames. Dabi couldn’t tell, all he knew was that he was in free fall again.

            Dabi shut his eyes and forced his fire to extinguish as the ground approached again. Just as he was about to accept his death for the second time that night, a large weight slammed into him, and he felt thin arms wrap around his body.

            Dabi opened his eyes to see Hawk’s chest. He was still wearing the same shirt from earlier when they fought.

            He felt them go lower until Hawks landed and laid him down on the pavement. Dabi was a little grateful for that because he didn’t know if he could stand right now.

            “Touya!” Shouto appeared next to him, tears welling up in his eyes.

            “Hey kid, nice job.” Dabi told him.

            “You’re going to be okay, paramedics are on their way.” Shouto said. Dabi felt pressure where the Nomu’s claws had punctured his body. He looked down to see Shouto and Hawks putting pressure on his wounds. He also noticed that parts of his clothing had burned away, leaving him with not much more than charred pieces of fabric. He could already see shiny parts of his skin where the burns were forming.

            Dabi also felt a couple wet things hit his skin, and Shouto sniffled. Black spots were starting to form in his vision, but he needed to do something before he passed out.

            He raised his hand and put it on top of where his brother’s were. Shouto glanced over to his face.

            “Don’t worry Shouto, it will be okay.” Dabi told him in what he hoped was a comforting voice.

            Then he let the darkness take him.

Chapter Text

They were back in the hospital, except this time it was just Dabi in a bed. Hawks was standing in a corner watching the slow rise and fall of Dabi’s chest. He was attached to a ventilator and his entire torso and leg were tightly wrapped in bandages. The Nomu’s claws had punctured three large holes in Dabi, one of which had damaged the fire users lungs. It hadn’t helped that when Dabi had burst into flames, it had caused parts of the wounds to cauterize and severe burns to appear over most of his body. The only part that hadn’t sustained any new injures were his arms, and those were on full display right now.

            It had been a couple days since the Nomu attack and Dabi hadn’t woken up. He had been put in a medically induced coma due to his injuries, and now they were just waiting, hoping he could regain consciousness again. Hawks and the Todoroki siblings were taking shifts watching over him and going home to sleep and shower.

            The last couple days hadn’t been pretty. Aizawa had sat down with Dabi’s siblings to explain what had happened and his injures. Hawks had sat in the corner of Dabi’s room while Fuyumi had broken down crying. It had taken a lot of convincing for the siblings to eventually leave their brother’s side, but Hawks wished one of them were here. He had no idea what would happen if Dabi woke up with just the winged hero in the room.

            A knock on the door pulled Hawk’s attention away from Dabi. Aizawa stood in the doorway; Present Mic was behind him holding Eri’s hand.

            “Hey.” Hawks said softly. His voice cracked a little from disuse, he hadn’t really talked since Dabi had been brought in.

            “How you doing Hawks?” Aizawa asked.

            “I’m fine, just waiting for Natsuo to stop by to sit with him.” Hawks told him, standing and stretching out.

            “Do you mind stepping out here for a minute so we can talk?” Aizawa asked. Hawks looked nervously at Dabi’s sleeping form. “Eri wanted to stop by and see Touya, she and Mic can watch him for a bit.”

            Hawks nodded and stepped out of the room with the dark haired man. They hadn’t really talked much since figuring out Dabi escaped, and with the Nomu attack and dealing with Dabi’s family, they hadn’t had time.

            “So what’s up?” Hawks asked.

            “I need to know what happened that made Dabi leave.” Aizawa told him. “When I talked to you earlier that night, it seemed like you had a good plan. Then I heard from Shouto that you guys fought, and when Shouto went upstairs to check on his brother, he was gone.”    

            “With all due respect sir, the fight was pretty personal. Why do you need to know?”

            Aizawa sighed, he looked more tired than usual. “The doctor who is treating Dabi had to report the injuries on his arm. When he was first found with them, I used that to keep him away from Endeavor, arguing that his home environment could have caused him to do that. But now, if Endeavor finds out about the fact that his son is still hurting himself, and we let him just walk off school property and a Nomu attacked him, I don’t have much leverage to keeping Touya at UA.”

            “So he would have to go home?” Hawks asked.

            “Yes, he would go back to Endeavor.” Aizawa told him.

            “But would that be a bad thing?” Hawks asked. Aizawa tilted his head slightly and furrowed his brows.

            “Hawks, what is your opinion of Endeavor?” Aizawa asked quietly.

            “He’s my hero.” Hawks said automatically. It had become habit over the years, with how much the commission had told him about Endeavor saving him and reporters asking him, it was just automatic.

            “Hawks, have you ever considered that even though Endeavor is your hero, he might be a not be one in the eyes of others?” Aizawa asked.

            “You mean like villains would view Endeavor as a villain instead of a hero?” Hawks tried to clarify.

            “I don’t mean like that. I mean did you ever think that even though Endeavor is your hero, he wasn’t very heroic towards his own family?”

            “But he’s a hero, he wanted to push his children to do the same.” Hawks said, desperation leaking into his voice.

            Aizawa sighed. “Hawks, I don’t want to take your childhood hero away from you, but you need to consider this from Dabi’s prospective. Dabi, a villain covered in scars and hell bent on destroying Endeavor had to come from somewhere. He came from Touya, who was covered in scars when we found him. Villains are not born, they are made, that is one of the first things you learn as a hero.”

            Hawks looked at the ground. Dabi had basically told him Endeavor wasn’t the hero Hawks thought he was when the accident first happened, but he didn’t want to believe it. He still didn’t but he couldn’t ignore it if he still wanted to be a good hero.

            “Its hard, when people you’re supposed to look up to let you down.” A soft voice came from beside the two heroes. Hawks look down to see Eri standing shyly, her face half hidden by the doorframe. Mic stood behind her, his crazy eyes soft and a hand on her shoulder.

            “Eri, are you done talking to Touya?” Aizawa asked her.

            Her eyes flicked to him and she nodded, then focused back on Hawks. They looked much older and sadder than they should have. “It feels kind of like you are drowning, and you need a life line that’s no longer there.”

            Hawks squatted down so he was eye level with Eri. “You basically nailed exactly how I’m feeling, and I’m sorry that you know that so young.”

            Eri nodded. “Yeah, and I’m lucky. I found new lifelines that support me, no matter what. The ones before weren’t real; I just thought they were because they were all I knew. But once I met new people, and learned I could rely on them, everything was better.”

            “You sound like a tiny therapist.” Hawks said with a small chuckle, running his hand through his hair. It was a little uncomfortable that this child had a better understanding of what he was going through than he did.

            “I understand what you’re going through.” Eri said, she reached out and took his hand in her tiny ones. “I’m sorry you lost your lifelines, but if you find real ones, that will be better than any of the ones you had before.”

            “Thank you Eri, I appreciate it. I just need a little time though, I’m sure you know how hard it is.” Hawks told her.

            “I wonder how hard it was for Touya.” Eri said. She patted his hand softly. “And I hope it gets better for you.”

            Eri removed her hands and reached out for Mic’s and started to walk down the hall. Hawks stayed in the squatting position where she had left him.

            “That girl understands more about tough situations in her few years than most people do in their entire lives.” Aizawa said from behind them.

            “She’s the kid from the Overhaul incident, right?” Hawks asked.

            “Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.” Aizawa told him with a sigh. “But she’s doing well, she’s come a long way since then. Of course now she probably understands more about dealing with difficult emotions in a healthy way than all of my students combined.”

            “In fairness to her, that bar is already very low.” Hawks chuckled.

            “True, and we are working on that. But right now I need to go make sure Mic doesn’t buy out the gift shop for her, are you going to be okay here?” Aizawa asked him.

            Hawks stood up and looked at Dabi’s sleeping form, keeping his back to Aizawa. “Yeah, I’ll be fine until Natsuo gets here soon. Eri gave me some stuff to think about.”

            “You know, Dabi’s mental health isn’t the only thing to worry about, yours is important too.” Hawks felt Aizawa’s hand on his shoulder.

            “Thanks Mr. Aizawa.”

            “Anytime, and if you ever need to talk to somebody, our door is always open.”

            Hawks heard Aizawa’s soft footsteps walk away, and with a sigh he entered the hospital room again.

            Eri had been right about the lifelines. Hawks had clung to the idea that Endeavor was a great hero because he saved him as a child. He had never really considered that anyone could view him differently, even when the truth about Dabi’s past came up. Now, it really felt like he didn’t have anything to hold onto.

            And it was probably worse for Dabi. He had said several times that heroes had never helped him a day in his life. Touya probably never had a lifeline, yet had desperately tried to find one. And yet he found nothing. Now even Hawks couldn’t be something Dabi tried to find comfort in. Dabi knew that Hawks was a spy, so Hawks had been another person to let him down.

            Eri was right. It really did feel like drowning.

Chapter Text

Dabi had drifted in and out of consciousness more times than he could remember. He was vaguely aware that his family was there, along with a red blob in the corner, and he had a dream that Eri that was DJing a party. He still wasn’t sure where that came from.

            He didn’t know how much time had passed, but when he finally woke up long enough to get orientated, it was dark out and Aizawa was in the corner with his eyes closed. Dabi was a little surprised at that, he didn’t think Aizawa slept anywhere besides the classroom.

             Dabi glanced down at his body. Based on how sore he was, he wasn’t too shocked to see it wrapped in bandages. The only place that didn’t have bandages wrapped around him was his arms, so he could see all the damage that Dabi had done to himself over the past month. But they looked more healed than he remembered, so that meant he had been out for at least a couple days.

            Hesitantly, Dabi lifted his arms. They felt a little heavy but still moveable. He had an IV in his arm, but that could be removed. Slowly he eased it out of his arm, immediately putting pressure on it once it was out. If he ever saw Natsuo again Dabi didn’t want to deal with the lecture of not taking care of it.

            Once it was out, Dabi did a quick pat down of his body. It was sore, but it seemed like the pain medication would work for a just enough time for him to get out of here. With a little luck it would last until he could get to somewhere safe. Nothing else seemed to be attached to his body, so slowly Dabi drew the blankets off his legs and sat up.

            Pain shot through his body, it almost made him want to lie back down. But he couldn’t, Dabi wanted to get out of here before he caused any more pain to his family.

            His feet hit the cold tile of the hospital floor. Dabi slowly stood up, trying not to make a noise. Only a few creaks of the weight being removed from the bed gave him away. Dabi waited a moment to see if Aizawa woke up, but no noise came from the corner of the room.

            Dabi eased the rest of his body off the bed. His legs didn’t like that. They started shaking so he kept his arms on the bed to stabilize himself. Slowly he inched his way to the door, still holding onto the bed.

            Of course, the problem appeared when he reached the end of the bed. There was a three-foot gap between him and the door, and nothing to hold on to. Dabi sighed. He could climb back in the bed and return to UA, and deal with his siblings and the fall out of the Nomu attack. Or he could try to stumble out of the hospital, away from the complicated mess that was Touya’s life.

            “You won’t get very far.” A gruff voice came from the corner. Dabi glared over at Aizawa. The hero hadn’t moved, even his face looked as blank as it had when he was sleeping.

            “I’m just trying to get to the restroom.” Dabi lied.

            “I would really appreciate it if the excuse I have to give your siblings was better than that.” Aizawa told him dryly.

            “I don’t care what you tell them, make something up.” Dabi told him.

            “Are you really going to abandon your family again?” Aizawa asked.

            Dabi huffed; it was getting a little hard to hold himself up. “Their lives are better without me.”

            “Probably. It would at least be less complicated.” Aizawa said with a shrug.

            “Aren’t you supposed to be one of the people telling me ‘no, you family is worth it’ and ‘we care about you, please stay?’”

            “My students like that I’m honest with them, and I don’t like lying.”

            “So why are you trying to stop me?” Dabi glared at him again, although it was getting hard.

            “I’m not, incase you haven’t noticed I haven’t moved. The only thing I’ve told you is that you won’t get very far.”

            “Then why are you here?”

            “To give everyone a break. Your siblings and Hawks have been taking shifts watching you. I couldn’t even get your sister to leave tonight without promising to keep an eye on you. They didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

            “They’ve always been kind like that.”

            “Yes they are. So why are you leaving all that behind?” Aizawa asked him.

            “I told you, their lives would be better without me.” Dabi’s legs were shaking a bit more now. It felt like the pain medication was wearing off sooner than he anticipated. Dabi looked down at his legs. “Besides, I’m not a good person like they are. They don’t need my crap in their lives.”

            “That’s true, but they want you in their lives.”

            “Look it would just be easier for them if they never found out I was alive. They would all be better off if I just went back to being dead.”

            “I speak from experience when I say this, you’re wrong.” Aizawa’s voice sounded soft all of a sudden, making Dabi look back at him. “You don’t know the relief you feel when someone you thought you lost forever comes back.”

            “They’ll get over it, they did it once they can do it again. I don’t want to cause them more pain than I already have. I’m not a good person, and they can’t know that. I want to leave them with the memory of a brother they wanted, not the person I turned out to be.” Dabi told him. He felt tears prickling in his eyes, but he wasn’t sure if that was from the emotions he was being forced to feel or the dull ache that was slowly turning into sharp pain.

            “Dabi get back in the hospital bed before you collapse and tear your stiches.” Aizawa told him sternly.

            Dabi wanted to argue, but right now it seemed like it was lie on the bed or on the floor. And the bed at least provided him with a little more dignity than glaring at the hero from the floor. He crawled back onto the bed and was about to lean back when he paused.

            “What did you call me?” Dabi asked him.

            “I told you that my students prefer it when I’m honest with them, and right now you are still my student.” Aizawa’s face hadn’t changed during the whole conversation.

            “So you know, did Hawks blab?” Dabi asked with a sigh.

            “No, I figured it out all by myself. Hawks even tried to deny it when I confronted him about it. I don’t know how you convinced the number two hero to lie for you, but he’s even covering you ass for the Commission.” Aizawa told him.

            Dabi tried to keep his face as blank as he could, but he couldn’t help but feel something positive about Hawks. He knew that the bird would betray the League and everything Dabi was working for, but the fact that Hawks didn’t betray Dabi on a personal level confused him a bit. He was still furious at Hawks about everything else.

            “So what now, you throw the cuffs on me and send me to Tartarus?” Dabi asked.

            “I could have done that weeks ago.” Aizawa responded.

            “Why didn’t you?”

            Aizawa sighed, and Dabi took in his look for a moment. His signature black jumpsuit was more rumpled than usual, his hair was a bit more unruly and his eye bags were darker than normal.

            “Probably because I think you deserve a second chance.” Aizawa said simply.  

            That shocked Dabi. He couldn't stop his jaw from dropping. “What?”

            “You died before you even had a chance decide what to do with your life. You felt your hopes, dreams, and everything you cared about ripped away from you, and you probably didn’t even know how to drive.” The Eraser hero explained. “Something all heroes need to figure out is that villains aren’t born, they’re made. I’m hoping you will take this chance with a new body, and a new opportunity away from whatever happened in your past to do something with your life.”

            “But I’ve still killed people, hell I’ve attacked you and your class multiple times! How could you possibly think I deserve another chance?”

            “What was you motivation to join the League of Villains?” Aizawa asked.

            Dabi paused for a moment. “To bring down the corrupted hero society, so people like Endeavor never get away with what he’s done. I wanted to free my siblings from that monster.”

            “That sounds more like a hero’s motivation that a villain’s one.”

            “But I’ve done horrible things, it would be better for my family if I just disappeared again.”

            “Your ways the accomplish your goals were wrong, for sure. But I also think you tried every other way to bring Endeavor to justice, and they all failed. Am I correct?”

            Dabi nodded.

            Aizawa sighed. “I think you need help to accomplish you goals, but you need the right kind of help. No one ever gave you that, and it led you down the wrong path. I want to guide you down a different path. If you choose to take it, I think you deserve a second chance. It would prove to me that you want to do some good in this world. But if you still want to go about bringing down Endeavor your way, then I know you are truly a villain at heart.”

            “And what will you do if I prove that I am a villain?” Dabi asked.

            “Everything I need to in order to bring you down.” Aizawa told him, looking him directly in the eyes. Dabi stared back for a moment.

            “Alright, what exactly is your method?” Dabi asked him.

            “First, I need to know what happened in your home.” Aizawa told him. “Right now Endeavor is pushing for you to return to his care due to the attack and your continued self-harm. I need every possible argument to throw against him about why you need to stay at UA. From there, we can work on a plan.”

            Dabi sighed. This was going to be a long night, and the painkillers were wearing off. He reached over the bed to hit the button to call the nurse. If he was going to recount his childhood, the least that could happen is for him to be a numb as possible during it.

            “What do you know about quirk marriages?”

***

Hawks landed with a huff. He had no idea what time it was, all he knew was that he was still standing. That meant he hadn’t trained hard enough yet. Hawks crouched down and prepared to take off again.

            He had been using UA’s training facilities every day after his shift of watching Dabi at the hospital. Right now he was on one of the areal obstacle courses that were supposed to help improve his speed and agility. Hawks needed to get faster.

            “Unauthorized use of the gym is a big no-no here.” A voice came from behind him. Hawks spun around, still in his crouch to take off in case it was a villain. He relaxed after seeing it was Present Mic in his pajamas.

            “Sorry, I thought I could use the extra training.” Hawks told him.

            “Out of all the kids here, you probably need the least amount of training.” Mic said with a small smile. The voice hero started walking over to Hawks, and he almost looked sad. “But I get why you think you need it.”

            Hawks sighed. Seemed like Mic had drawn the same conclusion Hawks had. “So you think I failed in the Nomu attack too?”

            Mic had reached the young winged hero. Hawks looked up at the blonde, he looked a lot different in his sleep clothes. His hair was in a bun and he could see shadows underneath his eyes. The casual look made Mic look more human than Hawks had seen him.

            “No, I don’t.” Mic said softly. Hawks tilted his head in confusion. Mic put a hand on Hawks shoulder. “I think you were one of the best heroes out there during the attack, and that includes my husband. You showed that you could adapt to a completely new kind of Nomu that none of us had seen before. You reacted well, knowing when to attack and when to save the person in danger. Hawks, if it wasn’t for you, Shouto probably would have lost his brother again. This time for good.”

            “But Touya still got hurt, he’s in a coma.” Hawks protested, he could feel white-hot tears start to form. He hated being so young and not in control of his emotions. “If I had just been faster, he would have been okay. He wouldn’t have three large wounds in his body that will eventually be more scars that are my fault.”

            “How are any of his scars your fault?” Mic asked.

            “I wasn’t fast enough or good enough to save him from the Nomu, and I never noticed that he was hurting himself.” Hawks sniffed, and the tears threatened to spill. He looked down to avoid breaking down in front of the older hero. “If I was just better, Touya would be in the common room with the others. Instead he’s in a hospital bed.”

            “Hawks, none of that is your fault.” Mic told him softly. “The Nomu is the League of Villains fault, and the other scars are from a desperate kid who didn’t know how else to cope with what was going on. None of this is your fault. If it weren’t for you, Shouto would have lost his brother. Touya could have died from the Nomu attack or from his own demons. But it’s your skills that saved him from the Nomu. And it’s your kindness and willingness to stick by Touya through everything that has kept him around.”

            Hawks kept his eyes on the ground.

            “Hawks, do you mind looking at me?” Mic asked. Hawks sniffed, took a large breath and looked up. Mic looked down at him kindly, it was a look Hawks had never experienced before. “I want you to know, you are good enough.”

            Something inside Hawks broke, and he began sobbing. He felt Mics arms wrap around his small body and pull him close. Hawks was being given a hug be an adult who cared about him. This just made him sob harder.

            He didn’t know how long he stayed like that, crying in Present Mic’s arms. But he did know that when he finally started to calm down, Mic’s shirt was soaked and Hawks felt better.

            “Thanks.” Hawks said quietly, face still in Mic’s shirt.

            “Anytime kiddo.” Mic told him. He ran a hand through Hawk’s hair, and it helped calm the young hero down a bit more. “Remember you can talk to me anytime, or Aizawa if you want. We are here for you; just no more late night training like this. I speak from experience when I say pushing yourself like this isn’t helping anybody. All it does is make you avoid your emotions. It’s not healthy. I know what its like to feel like this is all your fault. The best thing you can do is talking to somebody you trust. Don’t bottle it up; otherwise you might end up a grumpy old man like your teacher. I swear half of the reason he has such big eye bags is because he bottles everything up. No skin care routine can help that! ”

            Hawks let out a small laugh.

            “Yes! I got a laugh, I call that a success for the night.” Mic said brightly. “Are you okay to return to the dorms now? I think it is well past your bedtime.”

            “Yeah I’m okay to go back.” Hawks said, and slowly pulled away from Mic. “Thanks again Mic, I appreciate it.”

            “Anytime Hawks, its what I’m here for.” Mic told him with a smile.

            They started making their way to the doors.

            “But just so you know, when Aizawa hears that you snuck out of the dorms so late to train, there is a solid chance you will be grounded.” Mic said with a laugh.

Chapter Text

Dabi was awake when Natsuo came in that morning. Aizawa had left over an hour ago to talk to Shouto in order to verify his story. Dabi didn’t blame him; he wouldn’t believe his own word either without proof.  

            “Touya!” Natsuo shouted and rushed towards him before stopping.

            “What, no bone crushing hug this time?” Dabi asked with a laugh.

            Natsuo had a weak smile on his face. He sat down softly on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t want to cause you any more injure than you already have. Doctors said that it was pretty bad Touya.”

            “Yeah it sure doesn’t feel good.” Dabi said.

            “It wasn’t, you’ve been in a coma for over a week. You look like crap.” Natsuo said with an uneasy grin.

            “How bad was it? No one has told me yet.” Dabi questioned.

            Natsuo sighed deeply. “Well besides the burn marks that happened when you apparently set your entire body on fire, that creature’s claws puncture three holes in your body. One on your leg and then the two in your stomach, one of those punctured your liver. It was pretty bad, they weren’t sure you were going to make it.”

            “So despites everyone’s best efforts, unfortunately I’m still alive.” Dabi said with a laugh. “I guess hell doesn’t want me either.”

            “How could you say something like that?” Natsuo shouted suddenly. His eyes were watering up, he took a deep breath, then continued in a softer voice. “We lost you once, got you back, and almost lost you again. Now you are saying that it’s unfortunate that you survived! How am I supposed to respond to that? Do you know how that makes the rest of us feel?”

            Dabi leaned back in shock. His brother’s voice sounded so broken at the end, Dabi felt horrible. He had completely ignored his family’s feelings this entire time; he was only reminded of them in emotionally charged situations. 

            “On top of you almost dying, I have to find out from Hawks of all people that you are still hurting yourself! And Shouto called me the night you disappeared from UA in a panic looking for you.” Natsuo’s voice was starting to get louder. “I didn’t even know until after you were in surgery because I was in the middle of a shift at the hospital across town. What have we done to make you think that no one cares about you?”

            With that last sentence Natsuo started sobbing. Dabi reached over and pulled his big little brother close to him. Every part of his body protested as he wrapped his arms around Natsuo in as comforting of a hug as he could manage. Dabi held his brother close to him in the hospital bed.

            After a few minutes, the sobbing calmed down a bit, but Dabi didn’t let go. When they were growing up and Natsuo would cry, Touya never left his room until he was laughing again. Even if it took all night.

            “You know we cried for days.” Natsuo said softly, still leaning on Dabi. “I don’t really remember ever stopping. Fuyumi wouldn’t cry in front of me, but I could hear her at night. Shouto didn’t for the first few days, but after the funeral he would sneak into your old room on our side of the house. Sometimes he cried, other times I heard him talking to you as if you were still there.”

            Dabi stayed quiet, not moving.

            “Why didn’t you come back? Or at least let us know you were alive?” Natsuo whispered.

            Dabi didn’t answer. He didn’t remember much after the fight. He remembered crawling away from the burning house to the alley way in the back. He remembered being in pain, the smell of smoke, and then nothing. The next thing he was aware of was a crappy hospital room and his skin feeling like it was tight and hit. And the realization that he could never go back.

            “I'm sorry.” He said finally.

            “Then why didn’t you at least tell me you were alive?” Natsuo asked.

            Before Dabi could answer, a knock on the door distracted them. Natsuo pulled away from Dabi’s arms and turned to look.

            “Come in.” Dabi called out.

            Aizawa walked in, and he looked mad, but it didn’t look like the anger was directed at Dabi. The doctor followed behind him, glancing nervously at the hero as he approached the hospital bed. It was the same doctor from Dabi’s first hospital visit with the accident.

            “Mr. Todoroki, I’m glad you’ve woken up!” The doctor said with a cheeriness that seemed forced. His eyes kept flicking between Dabi and Aizawa.

            Dabi opened his mouth to make a joke, then closed it when he remembered his brother right next to him. He also didn’t want to do anything to aggravate the hero who was standing by the door.

            “Well we still need to keep you for a couple days, but so far it looks like everything is healing nicely.” The doctor looked over his clipboard briefly. “Now to discuss what happens after you heal.”

            “I assume I have to go back to UA?” Dabi asked.

            “Not exactly.” Aizawa growled out, making the doctor look more nervous than before.

            “First we need you to talk to a psychiatrist, who will do an evaluation on your mental health. Then, depending on their decision, you will be enrolled in either our inpatient or outpatient therapy programs.” The doctor explained.

            “No thanks.” Dabi told him.

            “Touya, this is required for them. Ignoring the fact that you were targeted by one of the League of Villains monsters, you’ve been hurting yourself.” Natsuo’s voice was horse.

            Dabi looked at his little brother. Natsuo’s eyes were still red from crying, and he looked so heart broken.

            “I’ll think about.” Dabi growled out. He looked back up at the doctor. “Then what, after that I go back to UA?”

            “Well, it’s complicated.” The doctor said with a sigh. He glanced over at Aizawa again, then cleared his throat. “You need to understand that I only have so much power and can only do so much.”

            “What exactly are you trying to say?” Dabi asked, annoyed.

****

            “What happened to the Nomu?” Shigarki growled, scratching his neck.

            “It got burned up by some UA kid it tried to grab.” Spinner said, tail flicking behind him.

            “Oooo which one?” Toga giggled out. “Was it my precious Deku?”

            “Deku doesn’t have a fire quirk.” Shigraki said. “Now who was it?”

            “We don’t know.” Spinner told him. “It’s a new kid, he’s never appeared in a sports festival. The Nomu grabbed him off the street, then that Eraser guy, Endeavor’s kid, and I think it was Hawks tried to get him back. They were able to free the kid briefly, but the Nomu caught him again. Then the kid burst into flames and burned the creature to ash.

            “What do you mean Hawks was there? Damn traitor I knew we couldn’t trust him!” Twice spat out.

            “Well it looked like Hawks, but it was a little off. His eye marks weren’t as big and he looked smaller.” Spinner explained.

            “What did the kid look like? Did you get any blood?” Toga asked with a grin.

            “He was thin, with blue hair.” Spinner told her, stepping away. “And no, we didn’t get any blood.”

            “Enough!” Shigarki shouted. “Why did the Nomu go after this kid? I thought it was supposed to go after Dabi only!”

            “I don’t know boss! The Nomu even doubled back to grab the kid.”

            Shigraki scratched his neck aggressively. “Do we know who the new kid is?”

            “Nope.”

            Shigarki was quiet for a moment. “Wait, Endeavor can’t even turn a Nomu to ash unless he burns hot enough to hurt himself, how did this child get the best of it?”

            “His flames were blue.”

****

            It had been a week since Dabi had woken up, and Hawks hadn’t visited him. Instead he went to class, went to afternoon training, did his homework, and got to know some of the class better. According to the very long lecture from Aizawa, Hawks wasn’t allowed to do any extra training, and was to spend his nights socializing with his classmates.

            It probably wasn’t a usual grounding based on what he’s heard about normal families, but it did feel a little like torture for Hawks. He hated that he wasn’t working to improve himself in his spare time. It felt like a waste, and Hawks hated feeling like a waste of space.

            The one upside to being locked in the dorms was that Eri was now interacting with him more. She was a sweet girl who really seemed to light up the whole room.

             Of course that meant Present Mic was also usually hanging out nearby. Hawks appreciated all the voice hero had done for him, but he also felt embarrassed. Hawks was the number two hero; and he had cried like a child in front of him. It was already hard enough to gain respect from his fellow heroes at such a young age, but now he felt like he had set his progress back.

            Hawks was watching Deku chase Eri around the common room as he thought about this. So he was distracted when Present Mic’s hand rested on his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly.

            “Sorry about that little listener!” Mic said with a smile. “Didn’t mean to startle you, you just seemed pretty deep in a dark place.”

            “I’m fine, thanks though!” Hawks said brightly, putting on his hero mask. He hoped it would drive Mic away.

            It didn’t, the blonde hero sat down next to him.

            “You know Aizawa only grounded you because he cares, right?” Mic asked.

            “I told you I’m fine, it’s actually been kind of nice to relax like this.” Hawks lied, smiling.

            Mic laughed softly, which Hawks didn’t know he could do. “Hawks I’ve been a teacher for a long time. I know when something is bothering a student, and I especially know when one of them is lying to me.”

            Hawks didn’t let his smile drop. “Mic, I appreciate all you guys are doing for me, but I’m fine.”

            Mic looked at him for a moment, then sighed. “Shouta is bringing in a therapist for his class.”

            Hawks was quiet, a question in his eyes that Mic seemed to pick up.

            “Don’t worry, the one he is bringing in is specially for heroes in training.” Mic said. “In reality, we should have brought one in long ago, but it took time to find one with the right qualifications and to get them security clearance.”

            “I get that, these kids have been through a lot.” Hawks said, looking back at the students. Eri had gathered more of the other students around her and organized them into playing tag with her.

            “Yeah, they’ve seen more than some professional heroes have.” Mic said softly. “But just so you know, Aizawa is also bringing in a special therapist for you too.”

            Hawks whipped his head back around to look at the voice hero. “Why? I don’t need it!”

            “Hawks, I’m not going to force you to go to therapy, but I am going to ask that you give it a try.” Mic looked at Hawks with such care that Hawks almost wanted to do it. “I’m saying this as a teacher, fellow hero, and fellow human being, therapy can be incredibly helpful. I go, Eri goes to one, and as much as Shouta will try to ignore his problems, he goes as well.”

            “But I’m fine, I don’t need to see someone.” Hawks protested.

            “If the therapist agrees with you after one session, you never have to go again.” Mic said. “Shouta might want to make you, but if you agree to go in there for one session with an open mind, I will do my best to respect your wishes of not going back. I’ll even stand up to my husband for you on this matter, all I’m asking is for you to give it chance.”

            “Why would you guys even think I need it?” Hawks asked.

            “Based on the Commission visit alone, it’s not hard to guess what your life has been like up until the accident.” Mic told him. Hawks glared, but Mic still looked at him gently.

            “Fine, but Touya better be going as well. I think he needs it more than I do.” Hawks said with a forced laugh.

            Mic griminced. “Actually, about that-”

            “Todoroki!” Urarka’s voice shouted out, cutting off Mic.

            Hawks turned to see Shouto walking into the dorms with Mr. Aizawa behind him. Shouto looked nervous, and Aizawa looked pissed off.

            “Todoroki, how’s you brother doing?” Deku asked.

            “He’s out of the hospital today.” Shouto answered, his voice tense.

            “Then where is he?” Urarka asked, tilting her head to look behind the two, as if Dabi was just hiding.

            “Home.” Shouto said.

            Hawks heart felt cold all of a sudden.

            “But I thought he wasn’t allowed to go back to his home.” Deku questioned. “Mr. Aizawa said that we needed to keep an eye on him because of the accident.”

            “He didn’t go back to his home, he went home.” Shouto told him. “He’s with Endeavor.”

Chapter Text

"How the hell did they get Touya to Endeavors house?” Hawks shouted. After Todoroki had announced where Dabi was, Aizawa and Mic had ushered the two of them to their apartment, leaving Eri with Deku. Probably to shield her from the amount of swearing that was about to happen.

            “Apparently Fuyumi told her father what was going on with him. He argued with the hospital and everyone else that we hadn’t done anything to help with Touya’s mental health, and that we had proved that we couldn’t protect him from the Nomu attack.” Aizawa’s hair was floating slightly, he was furious.

            “So how is Shouto still here?” Hawks looked at the duel colored boy who seemed to be sitting calmly on the couch.

            “I don’t have a history of hurting myself.” Shouto answered. “Plus the League has a history of targeting the entire class, it looked like that Nomu was just targeting my brother. So there is no reason to send me home.”

            “And based on what Touya told me, along with Shouto’s confirmation, I’m building a case so that you would never have to go home again.” Aizawa growled out. Mic placed a hand on his husbands shoulder. That seemed to calm the Eraser hero down a bit, his hair stopped floating.

            “This still doesn’t answer my question, how did they get Touya in Endeavors house?” Hawks asked. “Also, Touya has made it clear that the moment he’s left alone at that place, he’s going to escape and leave again. How does Endeavor plan on keeping him safe?

            Hawks was looking straight at Aizawa now. The unasked question hung between them, how would Endeavor prevent Dabi from going back to the League of Villians? Especially considering Endeavor does know that Touya is Dabi.

            “Due to the direct threat on Touya’s life as well as the power that Endeavor holds as the number one hero, heroes are stationed all around the property.” Aizawa said.

            “It also helps that they drugged him, that should help keep him there.” Shouto said calmly. Aizawa, Hawks and Mics eyes snapped to the young boy. Shouto was staring at his phone, but looked up when he felt eyes on him.

            “What do you mean they drugged him?” Hawks asked.

            “Apparently the hospital placed Touya on a medication. Today, when they took him home, they gave him a pill to knock him out and he’s still asleep. Fuyumi said that Endeavor carried him into the house.” Shouto told them, brow furrowed.

            “That feels like it should be illegal.” Mic said. “If not illegal, it’s highly unethical.”

            “Unfortunately, it’s a gray area, but it was probably the only way to get him back to that house without injury to himself and others.” Aizawa sighed.

            “He’s going to explode when he wakes up.” Hawks said. “You heard what he told my handler. He’d be willing to burn down his house again just to have a chance at killing Endeavor. The fact that he was forced into the house defiantly won’t help anything.”

            “He wouldn’t do anything with Fuyumi there.” Shouto injected. “Also part of his medications side effects is that it suppresses his quirk a bit. He can still use it, but not to the extent of when he set himself on fire during the Nomu attack.”

            “Touya is still going to be pissed off when he wakes up.” Hawks pointed out. “Quirk suppressed or not, its not going to be pretty.”

            “What do you think we should do?” Aizawa asked, looking at the winged hero.

            “It might help if someone he knows is there when he wakes up,” Hawks suggested, “although probably not your sister. I'm sure he cares about her, but considering the fact that she told your father about Touya’s condition, he might not trust her at the moment.”

            “What about your other brother, Todoroki?” Mic asked. Shouto nodded and looked down at his phone again.

            “Natsuo will probably head over right away once he finds out where Touya is. I’ll send him a message just to make sure.” Shouto said.

            “Good.” Aizawa sat down next to Shouto. “I wish there was a way to actually check on Touya. It can’t be easy being back in that house.”

            “Why don’t you just stop by to hand him his homework? I’m sure the concerned teacher bit would work to get you in the door.” Mic suggested.

            “Endeavor applied for an academic leave for Touya, and Nezu had no choice bit to accept it. We don’t have enough evidence together to keep anyone out of that house yet, and Endeavor still has a lot of influence.” Aizawa responded.

            “What if I go?” Shouto asked.

            Everyone’s attention was back on him.

            “Todoroki, if I can help it, you are not going back there.” Aizawa said firmly.

            “It’s not that bad anymore, it’s gotten a lot better.” Shouto told him.

            “Kid, it shouldn’t have been bad in the first place.” Aizawa looked so soft when he told the youngest Todoroki that.

            “What if it’s my own choice to go back there?” Shouto asked.

            Aizawa sighed. “I technically can’t stop you, but I would feel better it if you took someone else with you.”

            Shouto looked at Hawks. “What about him?”

            Hawks sputtered for a moment. “Wait, why me?”

            “You seem to get along with my family for the most part, you feel like the least objectionable choice for all parties.” Shouto explained.

            “So what, we just pop over and say ‘Hi Todoroki’s! We’re here to make sure nobody has died yet.’ I can’t see Endeavor letting us in like that.” Hawks said with a sigh. “Plus, I don’t know how obvious it’s been, but Touya does not want to see me right now. And I don’t blame him.”

            “This could be your chance to apologize to him.” Shouto suggested. 

            “I don’t know…” Hawks trailed off.

            “Right now Touya is going through a very difficult time. He needs to know that he has people in his corner.” Mic injected. “Even just apologizing could help. But I agree with Hawks, I don’t know how you are going to get him into the house.”

            “Fuyumi asked if I could come home for dinner tomorrow night, and she extended in the invite to Hawks.” Shouto showed his teachers his phone. “She also thinks it might help Touya, plus it will be our first family dinner in over a decade.”

            Aizawa and Mic read the message, and then glanced at Hawks.

            “If Hawks agrees to go, and you promise me that you will call the moment Endeavor does anything that is not okay, you can go.” Aizawa said grudgingly. “Mic and I will also drive you there and pick you up. We will wait nearby in case something happens.”

            “Deal.” Shouto said, then looked back at his phone.

            “So Hawks, what do you say?” Mic asked. “Up for dinner with the Todoroki family?”

            Hawks sighed again, already feeling exhausting thinking about how badly the dinner was likely to go.

            “Fine, but I might need to borrow a tie.”

***

            “Since when does Endeavor have more than one kid?” Toga asked.

            The entire League was gathered around Spinner’s laptop. He had pulled up articles about Endeavor’s family over the years. One image was at the front; it was the flame hero with a white haired woman, and four children. Two white haired kids with red streaks, a small boy with duel colored hair clutching his mother’s skirt, and a skinny red head that looked tired.

            “Probably since over 20 years ago.” Compress said. “In this picture is says that his oldest child is ten years old, and this was taken almost 15 years ago.”

            “Do we know each kid’s quirk?” Shigaraki asked, scratching his neck.

            “I hacked into the quirk date base to look for them. We know the youngest kid has his duel quirks, but the white haired ones each have ice powers.” Spinner said.

            “What about the red haired child?” Asked Compress.

            “He used to have a fire quirk, and according to the records, it was more powerful than Endeavor’s, even at a young age.” Spinner said.

            “Wait, what do you mean he used to have a fire quirk?” Shigarki asked.

            “He died, about ten years ago. House fire.” Spinner tapped the laptop for a moment and pulled up an article with a picture of a house partially burned down.

            “So why does this matter then?” Shigarki asked impatiently.

            “Well I took a different picture of the kid and aged him up to be a teenager, then added blue hair because I think the from the fight kid dyed it.” Spinner tapped his computer again and a clearer picture of the red haired child popped up, but with the hair tinted blue. “This looks almost exactly like the student the Nomu grabbed. And he has a powerful fire quirk, just like Endeavor’s oldest kid.”

            “But that kid would have to be in his twenties by now.” Compress pointed out.

            “I thought so too, so I aged it up to be in his twenties.” Spinner pulled up another picture. “But I thought he looked familiar. Then Toga showed me this app where you can edit faces. She had changed Dabi’s face to remove his scars and was dying his hair different colors.”

            “Ohhh I remember that!” Toga clapped excitedly. “He looked so handsome without all the burns!”

            Ignoring her, Spinner pulled up the edited photo.

            “Holy shit, Dabi looked exactly like the oldest Todoroki kid!” Toga shouted.

            “But then how the hell is he a teenager now? Endeavor probably cloned his own kid!” Twice asked.

            “Dabi said that he and Hawks were hit by a quirk accident, right?” Compress asked. Shiagraki nodded, he had stopped scratching in order to focus on this issue.

            “Do you think someone hit them with a quirk that causes them to get younger? It would make sense based on Spinner’s observations on Hawks, and why Dabi hasn't returned for help.” Compress pointed out.  

            “Does that mean Dabi is Endeavor’s son?” Toga asked.

            “It doesn’t mean anything yet!” Shigaraki snapped. “We need to find out more information. Toga, get your blood supply; its time to find our lost arsonist.”

Chapter Text

The fact that Dabi was now used to waking up in places he doesn’t remember falling asleep in was sad. And annoying. And frankly, pissed him the fuck off.

            So when he woke up in his childhood bedroom, he wasn’t too surprised. The doctor had warned him that UA had lost custody and that he was returning to Endeavor after the psych evaluation. That hadn’t gone over well for anyone.

            After he had been sedated, again, he woke up in the mental ward. They made him stay there for a week before they let him know that he could be released. He took the medication the nurse gave him that morning, then the next thing he knew, Dabi was waking up in the bedroom at Endeavors house.

            Dabi decided not to explode that moment. The medication the hospital was making him take suppressed his quirk. If he was going to go toe to toe with his father again, he was going to need all the strength he could get.

            Sitting up slowly, Dabi glanced around his room. Not much had changed since he had left it all those years ago. His band posters were still up, a collection of CDs was still in the corner, and a few pictures of his family, minus Endeavor, were on a dresser. Besides the fact that it was actually clean, it was almost like he had never left.

            A soft knock at the door distracted him from his surroundings. After a grunt from Dabi, the door opened to reveal Fuyumi, looking like she just got home from work.

            “Hey Touya, glad to see that you’re up!” She said brightly, smiling at him. “I don’t know how long you’ve been awake, but I tried to clean a little earlier. We hadn’t touched this place since you… so it needed a bit of a dusting.”

            Dabi did not return the smile. That didn’t seem to phase her though.

            “I’m starting dinner soon, do you want me to make anything special for your first day home?” She asked, still smiling.

            “Why the hell am I here Fuyumi?” Dabi growled out.

            Fuyumi’s smile dropped. “Do you not remember the Nomu attack, or being in the hospital for a while?”

            “No, I remember that perfectly.” Dabi said with a bitter laugh. “What I want to know is why the hell am I here, in this house? It is the one place that I never wanted to go again.”

            “Touya,” Fuyumi opened the door a little further and stepped inside his room “this is your home. You are here to heal.”

            Dabi let out another laugh. “You’re kidding, right? I feel like this is the one place where healing doesn’t happen.”

            “No Touya, I’m not kidding. This is the best place for you to be.” Fuyumi crossed her arms. 

            “This has never been the best place for me!” Dabi stood up. “Fuyumi, why the hell did you tell Endeavor what happened? You know I don’t want to see that flaming asshole ever again! Why would you think dragging me back here against my will was a good idea?”

            “Touya, UA has proven that they were not a good environment for you, the best place for you to be right now is home. I am trying to help by providing a stable, loving home for you.” Fuyumi retorted.

            “Since when has this been any of those things for me?” Dabi shouted. He was breathing heavily now. If it hadn’t been for the medication he was on, he was pretty sure he would have burst into flames by now.

            “Touya this is your home.” Fuyumi said firmly.

            “No.” Dabi wasn’t shouting anymore. He closed the gap between himself and his sister. She was taller than him right now, although not by a lot. It didn’t stop him from leveling his best glare at her. “This is your home. This is where you grew up learning family recipes with Mom, playing soccer with Natsuo, and can relax at the end of the day. To me, this is where Endeavor pounded me into the floor day after day. It is where I tried to help mom as much as I could out of sight because every time she looked at me, all she’d see is him. This is where I walked into the training room, and I never walked out again because of him. This is no home to me.”

            Fuyumi’s eyes had started to water as Dabi spoke.

            “But Touya, this is where our family is.” Fuyumi insisted.

            “No, its not. Mom’s been in the hospital for years, Natsuo moved out as soon as he could, and Shouto only comes back when you guilt trip him into it. I haven’t lived here since the fire. You’re the only one left.” Dabi whispered the last part, not kindly like he might have when they were younger, but with a bite to it.

            The tears were now pouring out of Fuyumi’s eyes but Dabi couldn’t bring himself to care right now, he was so furious.

            “Well you’re here now. And Natsuo and Shouto are coming over for dinner tomorrow, try to be nice for a little bit then.” Fuyumi turned away and opened the bedroom door. She paused for a moment. “All I wanted was to have a normal family, just like everyone else.”

            “We haven’t been normal since Dad bought Mom.” Dabi said.

            Fuyumi left without another word.

            Dabi sank back on the bed. He did feel a little bad about making Fuyumi cry, but he felt pretty betrayed. All of his siblings know he never wanted to be back here again, and she had gone against all of that just to have her perfect family image.

            Of course though, he had ruined it in the first place. If Dabi had just been what Endeavor had wanted, and hadn’t been so weak in the first place, maybe his family wouldn’t be as broken as it was.

            Maybe it was his fault.

            A voice from the hospital came back to him. They had said in one of the forced therapy sessions at the hospital that one of the solutions for whenever the dark thoughts came back he was supposed to distract himself.

            Dabi stood up again. Fuyumi had said that they hadn’t really touched his room since he’d died. He walked over to one of his dressers and opened the top drawer. In it were bandages, burn cream, and everything else he needed to patch himself up after a day. Most of that was probably expired now but he wasn’t focused on that. He reached into the back of the drawer and felt for the false back he had installed. Pulling it slightly, Dabi grabbed the small box hidden back there.

            He opened the box to reveal several single razors he had stashed back there. Somehow they hadn’t rusted over the years, still looked almost perfect.

            They had said when his negative thoughts invaded he needed to distract himself.

***

            “I’m so glad to hear that school is going well.” Rei Todoroki said to Shouto. “And I’m so happy you have wonderful friends there.”

            “Yeah, its nice.” Shouto said, trailing off a bit. He felt a cold touch on his hand, and looked to see his mom resting her hand on his.

            “Shouto, is there something you want to tell me?” Rei asked, a soft smile on her face.

            Shouto sighed. “Yeah, I just don’t know how to.”

            Rei giggled slightly. “I think I already know.”

            Shouto raised his eyebrows. “You do? Did Fuyumi or Natsuo tell you?”

            “No, you did.”

            Shouto was now more confused. His face must have betrayed his confusion.

            “The way you talk about that Midoriya boy, I’m so happy you found someone you care about and who cares about you!” Rei said excitedly.

            Shouto’s eyebrows went further up his head. “What? I.. I don’t…, I mean I do but it’s not like-”

            Rei cut him off with a laugh. It was so nice to see her laughing.

            “Shouto, I love you. Who you love doesn’t matter, just as long as you are happy.” Rei said. “I hear how you talk about him, it’s obvious to me sweetie.”

            Shouto looked down at their hands. “Thanks mom, that means a lot.”

            “Of course, and I look forward to meeting him once I’m out of here.” Rei squeezed his hand slightly. “Just as I’m looking forward to meeting all your friends, even the new classmates you told me about.”

            Shouto suddenly remembered what he really wanted to tell his mom.

            “Mom, while I appreciate the support, there is something else I need to tell you.” Shouto said.

            “What is it sweetie?” Rei asked.

            “It’s about Touya.”

Chapter Text

            Dabi glared out his window as the sun set on his second day back at his childhood home. He had already been caught trying to escape twice, once last night and earlier this afternoon. Now he was stuck inside, not even allowed to go to the garden because of his attempts.

            His father certainly hadn’t been happy, but he hadn’t exploded like Dabi expected him to. Just sent him to his room until the big family dinner that Fuyumi was planning.

            Dabi sighed. He didn’t even want to go but with both of his brothers taking time out of their schedules to see him, Dabi felt like he had to.  

            Movement caught the corner of his eye. His room faced the front entrance, something Dabi had been grateful of growing up. It let him know when Endeavor would return.

            Now it looked like Natsuo was pulling into the driveway, Shouto sitting in the front seat. Even though Dabi knew it was his siblings, it didn’t stop the cold fear that went down his back. His body was reacting exactly how it did when he first lived here, and he hated it. He hated this house.

            Dabi turned away from the window and went to his closet, finding his old sweatshirt. It was something to cover up the damage he had been doing, and he knew it would piss Endeavor off. Even growing up, they were expected to dress nicely for dinner.

            He heard the door open and Natsuo call out. Dabi adjusted his sweatshirt and took a quick look in the mirror. His hair was still blue but he could start to see a little pink at the roots. It was only noticeable if he ruffled his hair, but Dabi figured he could live with it until he could either get back to Mina or escape entirely. His face was pale, but for the most part healed. His skin had a couple of new burn marks, but it was nowhere near the need to be stapled onto his living skin yet. Other than that, his dark sweatshirt and sweatpants made him look like a moody teenager who only emerged from their room to disappoint his family and eat junk food.

            It perfectly summed up Touya.

            “Perfect.” Muttered Dabi, and he made his was downstairs. He followed the sound of voices to the kitchen.

            “Touya!” Natsuo said loudly, walking over and engulfing Dabi in a hug. Natsuo felt bigger than usual, but his hug was gentle. Just like their mom’s used to be. After a moment, Natsuo pulled back and looked down at his brother. “Hey did you get smaller somehow?”

            “Fuck off Nat.” Dabi shoved his brother away with a smirk.

            “He lost a little weight because of his injuries,” Fuyumi said from the stove. Dabi peaked around Natsuo to see her stirring something, facing away from them. “Tonight is actually the first night he is allowed to eat soft solid foods.”

            “Good, he needs a little meat on his bones. Even Shouto is bigger than you and he’s the youngest!” Natsuo said with a laugh.

            “Stop reminding me.” Dabi groaned.

            “Dinner is almost ready, Shouto is setting the table.” Fuyumi interrupted. “Touya you can have a seat, Natsuo I need a little help with this.”

            Natsuo rushed over to help their sister while Dabi quietly walked over to the dining room. He and Fuyumi hadn’t talked much besides when she would leave bowls of food outside his door. And right now, Dabi liked it that way.

            Peaking into the dining room, Dabi saw Shouto setting out six place settings with a small smile on his face. Dabi knocked quietly and stepped into the room. Shouto looked up at the sound.

            “Why are there six?” Dabi asked, moving closer. “Did you finally ask out bone breaker?”

            Shouto sputtered for a moment, almost dropping the plates he was holding. “What? No! Why would you think that?”

            “Well who else would it be? Mom is still locked up, Nat told me that he would never bring his significant other here if he could help it, and I’m pretty sure Fuyumi is single.” Dabi reasoned. “None of us have a reason to bring someone home except you.”

            “What about you?” Shouto asked, finishing setting the table.

            “I’ve just been locked up in a mental hospital for a week, and none of my other friends know I’m here. I don’t have anyone to bring.”

            Shouto scratched his neck a bit, like Shigaraki does when he’s nervous or anxious. Dabi’s eyes focused on that and then looked at his brother in the heterochromatic eyes.

            “Shouto… what did you do?” Dabi asked.

            “Coming through!” Natsuo shouted before Shouto could answer. Dabi stepped away from the table to the side of the room as Natsuo brought in a large pot of ramen.

            “Right behind you!” A familiar voice called out. Dabi looked at the doorway to see Hawks, dressed in a collared shirt and tie bringing in a plate of toppings. As Hawks set the plate on the table, Touya noticed that there were two large holes in the back of the shirt for the wings, looking crudely cut with scissors.

            “Thank you guys!” Fuyumi said cheerfully as she entered the room.

            “Why is he here?” Dabi asked darkly, pointing at Hawks, who at least had the decency to look nervous.

            “I invited him Touya!” Fuyumi said with a smile. “I wanted to meet your boyfriend! Well, at least outside of a hospital.”

            “Who has a boyfriend?” A deep voice stopped any protest Dabi was going to make. Dabi looked over to see Endeavor standing in the doorway with a tray of drinks. It was the first time Dabi had seen his father since he was released from the hospital.

            “Shouto messaged us a few weeks ago that Touya and Hawks kissed in their common room.” Fuyumi said brightly, completely ignoring the glare from Dabi. “Shouto has been keeping Natsuo and I updated on their relationship. Apparently they’ve been together for a while now, even before the accident, so I figured it was time for us to properly get to know Hawks.”

            Endeavor glared at Hawks, who seemed to want to be anywhere but in this house.

            “Stand down Endeavor, Hawks isn’t my boyfriend.” Dabi said loudly. That seemed to snap his father’s attention to him.

            “But what about everything Shouto messaged us?” Fuyumi asked, smile starting to drop.

            “Shouto was wrong, and he had no right to tell you guys anything.” Dabi said, taking over glaring at Hawks.

            “Touya what on earth are you wearing?” Endeavor asked gruffly.

            Dabi’s eyes snapped back to his father, glare not lessening. “Clothes.”

            “Why are you dressed so disrespectfully?” Endeavor gritted out through clenched teeth. Some part of Dabi was happy that he could still piss his father off so easily. Another, deeper part of him that he had locked away, was terrified of what would happen next.

            “I wore what I wanted. I’m not some child anymore.” Dabi shot back.

            “You are in my house, and in this house we dress nicely for dinner to show respect.” Endeavor said sternly. “Now go up and change, it is rude to Fuyumi and your guest.”

            “In case you weren’t listening, Hawks isn’t my guest. I don't want him here. And I don’t want to change. My clothes is one of the last decisions I’m allowed to make, or do you want to take that away from me too?” Dabi shot back. His heart was pounding, expecting to receive a blow at any moment. But just like when he was trying to help Shouto avoid a training session, he wouldn’t back down until his father made him.

            “Touya, you are making a scene. And you know very well why you are restricted here.” Endeavor’s voice was getting louder. Shouto flinched slightly, and it took all of Dabi’s willpower to not do the same.

            “I’m here because you can’t stand the fact everyone keeps trying to escape from you! And you can’t stand the fact that I would rather be dead than spend time with you!” Dabi shouted, blue flames flickering on his arms.

            Endeavors own fire starting appearing, but not near as out of control as Dabi’s. “Touya that is uncalled for! You are here to heal!”

            “We both know that is bullshit!” Dabi shouted. “I’m here so nobody figures out how much you fucked up your children.”

            Endeavor’s flame beard appeared, and his eyes looked like they were on fire. “That is enough, go to your room! We will talk more when you are no longer trying to make a scene for attention.”

            Dabi didn’t even bother with a response before storming out of the room. Hawks wasn’t sure if anybody else saw how badly Dabi’s hands were shaking.

            “I’m sorry you had to see that Hawks.” Endeavor said, beard beginning to extinguish. He was a lot softer now, and he almost looked sad.

            “I’m sorry too,” Fuyumi said softly. “I thought it would be a good idea to bring you because you guys were together before the accident, so he might have felt more at ease if you were here too.”

            Hawks cleared his throat, not used to people apologizing to him. “Would you mind if I tried talking to him?”

            Fuyumi sighed. “There’s burn cream in the bathroom. Up the stairs, second door on the left. Touya’s room is right across the hall.”

            Hawks nodded and left. Just before he got out of earshot he heard Fuyumi.

            “I just wanted a normal family dinner.”

            That almost made Hawk pause, but he was on a mission. He went up the stairs and walked quietly until he stopped in front of a charred looking door that had a light peaking out underneath.

            He knocked lightly on the door.

            “Go away Hawks.” Dabi shouted.

            "How did you know it was me?" Hawks questioned.

            "Your footsteps. Now leave." Dabi responded.

            “Can I just talk to you for a minute?” Hawks asked.

            “No, I don’t want to talk to any of you!”

            “Touya, please, just a minute.”

            He heard footsteps approach the door and it was thrown open to reveal an angry Dabi, his blue eyes burning as bright as his flames. “The last time you tried to talk to me is the reason I’m stuck in this mess.”

            “Just give me a chance to talk.” Hawks begged. “If you don’t like what I have to say just tell me to get out and I will, immediately. Just please, talk to me for a minute.”

            Dabi seemed to consider it for a moment. Then backed away from the door and opened it a little more so Hawks could slip in.

            “So what do you want?” Dabi asked.

            “I wanted to apologize.” Hawks said. Dabi just stared at him, face unchanging. Hawks took that as an indication to keep going. “I shouldn’t have accused you of what I did. I defiantly shouldn’t have said that your scars were your fault.”

            Dabi’s expression didn’t change.

            “Aren’t you going to say anything?” Hawks asked.

            Dabi’s eyebrow quirked up slightly. “What should I say?”

            “I don’t know,” Hawks exclaimed, “say anything! I’m trying to mend our relationship.”

            “Where did you get a bullshit idea like that?” Dabi asked.

            Hawks sighed. “They are making me go to therapy now and I promised I would try.”

            “Well good for you.” Dabi said shortly.

            “We’ll see. But it has helped a bit already.” Hawks told him.

            “And how is that?” Dabi’s tone was starting to get tense.

            “It helped me see what an ass I was to you.” Hawks looked down. “I feel horrible for what I said. I don’t really believe any of it, I was confused, nervous, and had no idea what to do to help my friend. And everything just came out wrong.”

            The room was starting to heat up, but Dabi’s face didn’t move again.

            “Dabi, can you please just say something? Let me know how you are doing?” Hawks begged.

            “All you’ve told me so far are excuses. “ Dabi spat out. Now anger was starting to show on his face. “You said you were here to apologize but I haven’t heard the words ‘I’m sorry’ once in this conversation. What exactly are you trying to accomplish here?”

            “I’m trying to reach out and tell you I understand what you’re feeling and what you went though!” Hawks cried.

            Wrong words. Dabi exploded.

            “You don’t know anything about my life or what I’m feeling!” Dabi shouted at him, blue flames dancing up his arms. “So just stop trying to help, you’ve done nothing but make things worse. Shockingly, I was better off with my skin stapled together than with you.”

            “But I understand what you are feeling!” Hawks insisted.

            “How? How the fuck could you understand?” Dabi hissed. He got close to Hawks face, and the winged hero could feel the heat radiating off of the others body. “My father bred my mother to create me and my siblings. Imagine being labeled a failure from the moment you are born for something I can’t control. I tried my best to not be the disappointment I was already assumed to be, but it didn’t matter. No matter how many times your hero beat me into the ground, I got back up. Because I knew the second I stayed down he would go after one of my siblings. Even when Shouto, his perfect little creation was born, he wouldn’t stop. Every day was hell and the only way out was to burn it all to the ground. And now, I’m back in that hell. So tell me, how you could possibly understand?”

            Hawks stood his ground, not backing away from Dabi’s heat. “I was a mistake from the moment I was conceived! My dad sure as hell didn’t want me, and the only reason my mom wanted me was so my dad didn’t leave her. That didn’t stop him from beating his own lessons into me. I was punished for even turning my back to that bastard! You had your hell, I had mine.”

            Dabi glared down at him. Even thought they were teenagers again, Dabi was still taller than Hawks. But Hawks was always sturdier compared to Dabi’s undernourished figure.

            “You might have had your hell, but at least Endeavor freed you and you were able to find a new life. He was my hell, and I’m right back in it thanks to you.” Dabi whispered. “And the fact that you defended him, to my face, and blamed me for everything he put my family through, makes you just as bad as him in my book.”

            Dabi stepped away and turned his back to Hawks.

            “I’m sorry Dabi.” Hawks said quietly.

            “Too late. Get out, I’d rather stay here with that monster than do anything with you ever again.” Dabi said, back still turned.

            Hawks backed out of the room, left without another word and headed downstairs, completely missing the pair of heterochromatic eyes that were standing off to the side.

Chapter Text

Dabi was curled on top of his bed, glaring at the wall. He hated being cooped up here. Ignoring the fact that he was back in his childhood home, he couldn’t do anything. Endeavor had kept his phone when he was forcibly brought home from the hospital, and after Dabi’s second escape attempt, had one of his sidekicks removed anything fun from his room.

            He didn’t count his hidden razors as fun.

            Now he was stuck in here doing nothing. Fuyumi had dropped off some of some leftovers earlier, which Dabi picked at a bit, but let most of it go cold out of spite. Dabi really wanted to burn the entire house to the ground again, but he couldn’t. Not with Fuyumi in the house. Even as pissed as he was at her, she was still one of the people who would ice his body after one of Endeavors training sessions.

            A light tapping on the window distracted Dabi from his thoughts, and he looked over to his window. One of the sidekicks from his dad’s agency was tapping and waving at him. With a groan, Dabi got up and went over to his window.

            “What?” He growled out.

            The sidekick’s hand shot out and grabbed Dabi’s neck. Before Dabi could even gasp in shock, the sidekick was in his room and pushing him against one of the walls.

            “What the fuck?” Dabi gasped out, struggling to get a breath. As much as he wanted to erupt into flames, the pills he was taking were still suppressing his quirk. He didn’t know how they were still in his system, considering he hadn’t actually taken a pill since he had gotten there. But right now his flames only seemed to be responding to strong emotions, and apparently being pinning to a wall by one of his father’s minions didn’t create as strong emotions as the unbridled anger that Hawks caused.

            “Who are you?” The sidekick’s face was close to his; he could smell their breath. It was rust and candy.

            “Touya!” Dabi gasped out. “Now let go of me before I tell my father!”

            Dabi almost wished the sidekick would make up their mind about letting him breath. He had never used Endeavor as leverage over people, and after trying it once it left a bad taste in his mouth.

            “No!” The sidekick almost growled. “Who are you really?”

            “Touya Todoroki!” Dabi gasped out again. Panic was starting to set in a bit and Dabi could almost feel his flames. Almost.
            The sidekick leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “You sure about that, Daaaabi?”

            The way that the sidekick drawled out the ‘a’ in his villain name would have made Dabi pause if he wasn’t still struggling to get air to breath. Only one person did that, just to annoy him.

            “Toga?” Dabi asked.

            The sidekick smiled, in a way that looked so sinister it couldn’t be anyone else. Toga loosened the grip on Dabi’s neck and took a step back.

            “So you are Dabi!” Toga exclaimed. It was weird seeing her teenage girl mannerisms in a grown body.

            “Toga what the fuck? Why did you do that?” Dabi asked her, trying to calm down as much as he could without alerting her to the panic he was still feeling.

            “We had a theory and wanted to test it.” Toga told him with a small clap. “And I just won the bet!”

            “Did you guys bet on if I was Dabi or not? What would have happened if I wasn’t Dabi and had called for my dad? You would have been killed over a bet!” Dabi whisper shouted. Endeavor and Fuyumi’s rooms weren’t near his, but there were still real sidekicks patrolling the house.

            Toga giggled. “No silly, that you had daddy issues! Spinner thought you were just an asshole from the day you were born.”

            Dabi glared at her. “So why are you here?”

            “Shiggy was getting worried.”

            Dabi scoffed. “Tell hand-man I will come back when I can. I’m a little trapped here at the moment.”

            “Why can’t you just sneak out, or blast your way out?” Toga asked.

            “Because I’m currently under supervision because of you assholes and your Nomu, and for other reasons.” Dabi told her with a sigh. “I also have to take this medication, one of the side effects is that my quirk is suppressed.”

            “Why don’t you just stop taking the medicine? Then you can burn everything down again!”

            “I haven’t taken the medication since I got out of the hospital a couple days ago. I don’t know how it’s being administered.” Dabi paused for a moment, then glared at Toga. “What did you mean by ‘burn everything down again?’”

            Toga looked down for a moment. “We found an article from a couple years ago, about how you apparently died in a quirk accident that caused part of your house to light on fire.”

            Toga almost looked sad, and Dabi almost felt a little sorry for causing that, but then she bounded over to Dabi’s bed and bounced down on it.

            “But it’s okay now! I can take you back with me and you can tell us all the story!” Toga told him excitedly.

            “How are you going to get me out of here?” Dabi asked her, getting up to sit next to her. “Also, you do realize it’s because of you that I’m stuck in this house under armed guard?”

            “Yeah, the Nomu was only supposed to grab you. It wasn’t supposed to hurt you!” Toga told him. “But according to the doctor once it encountered resistance, it reacted to bring you back by any means necessary, even if there was a lot of blood.”

            “There was a lot, apparently I was in a coma for a week! I had almost every doctor with a healing quirk in the area help stich me up!” Dabi exclaimed. “Did any of you idiots think to make sure the Nomu was going to bring me back unharmed?”

            Toga’s head had tilted to the side. “The Nomu attack was several weeks ago, and we were watching the house, you’ve only been here for about two days. Why were you released so late after you woke up?”

            Dabi looked away from her and gripped the ends of his sweatshirt sleeves. The League now knew about his family, and how Touya died. They already knew more than he ever wanted them to. But he couldn’t have them know about this.

            “Dabi, what happened?” The voice almost sounded like Toga’s, which meant that she needed to either consume more blood of her victim to remain in this form, or get out quickly before she changed back. But her voice sounded soft and gentle. It was weird to hear it from Toga.

            “Don’t worry about it.” Dabi looked back at her. “But you are going to loose your form soon. You need to leave.”

            Toga looked at his eyes searchingly for a moment, then nodded slowly. She reached her hand in her pocket and drew out a piece of paper.

            “Here is a list of our numbers. We figured the heroes might have taken your phone, which is why you haven’t contacted us without Hawks.” Toga told him. “Message us and we can help you plan an escape.”

            Dabi nodded and took the paper. “It might be a bit, Endeavor took away my phone.”

            Toga got up and stretched. “Well if there is an emergency, I can always sneak back through your window.”

            “Except next time, try not to kill me!” Dabi said.

            Toga giggled, more of her real voice coming through. “See you soon Dabs!”

            With a final wave Toga jumped out the window and walked casually to the front gate, her disguise letting her pass with ease.

***

“We need to talk.” Shouto said gruffly the moment they got back to the dorms. Natsuo had dropped them off at the front gate where Aizawa had picked them up. They filled Aizawa in on what had happened at the Todoroki household, the fighting, Hawks trying to talk to Touya, and the follow up awkward dinner. After Aizawa was satisfied that Todoroki was okay he escorted them back to the dorms.

            Hawks didn’t even have time to wave hello to the other students before Todoroki dragged him to the elevators. It was a silent ride up to the top floor. Hawks was used to traveling up there to visit Dabi, but instead of stopping at the first door to Dabi’s room, Shouto dragged him a couple down to his own.

            “Is everything alright kid?” Hawks asked as he let himself be dragged into Shouto’s room.

            Shouto took a deep breath; it seemed to shudder throughout his body. “That depends on your answer to my question.”

            “Alright, what’s the question?” Hawks watched as Shouto paced the room back and fourth, shaking his hands slightly.

            Finally he stopped in front of Hawks.

            “Is my brother Dabi?”

***

            Toga skipped into the bar with a large smile on her face.

            “I was riiight!” She sang as she entered, calling all attention to her.

            “So Touya Todoroki is Dabi?” Compress asked.

            Toga nodded eagerly. “But more importantly, he does have major daddy issues! Which means Spinner needs to pay up!”

            “I’m still not ruling out that he was an asshole from the day he was born! I need more evidence before I let you color my scales pink!” Spinner shouted at her from his position at the bar, laptop in front of him.

            “So where is that asshole?” Shigaraki asked, scratching his neck. “Weren’t you supposed to bring him back if he was Dabi?”

            “Oh he can’t! He’s on some medication that suppresses his quirk, so he can’t escape right now.” Toga skipped over to the couch where Twice was sitting.

            “Why is he taking a medication that suppresses his quirk?” Compress asked.

            “No idea, but I think it has something to do with his extended hospital stay! He was very quiet about that.” Toga told them.

            “Spinner.” Shigarki growled out.

            “Yep.” Spinner was already typing away at his laptop to hack into the hospital.

            “Did Dabi say anything else?” Shigaraki asked.

            Toga shook her head. “Nope, not really. Just called us idiots about the Nomu thing.”

            “Is he going to finally contact us again?” Compress asked.

            “I gave his the paper with the numbers, he said he will try when he gets his phone back. Endeavor took it because he tried to escape.” Toga told them.

            “Is he on house arrested because of the Nomu attack? Endeavor is locking down his kids!” Twice shouted.

            “Uhh I don’t think that’s the only reason.” Spinner said, looking nervously at his laptop.

            “What did you find?” Shigarki asked, getting up to look at the laptop screen.

            “I think Dabi has more than just daddy issues.”

Chapter Text

            “Is my brother Dabi?” Shouto asked.

            Hawks felt a pit of fear in his stomach, but he tried to use his years of training the commission gave him in hiding his emotions behind a façade.

            Hawks let out a small chuckle. “I’m sorry, what?”

            Shouto took a step closer and looked Hawks directly in the eye. Shouto’s eyes looked afraid but the rest of his face didn’t betray any other emotion.

            “Is my brother Dabi?” Shouto asked again.

            Hawks put what he hoped to be a confused look on his face. “Where the heck did you get that idea from? Do you really think Aizawa, who is basically the class dad, would ever let Dabi this close to your class? The class he has personally attacked multiple times!”

            Hawks saw a sliver of doubt appear on Shouto’s face for a moment, before it was replaced with determination.

            “Then what did I hear in my brother’s room earlier?” Shouto asked, taking another step closer.

            “I don’t know, what did you hear?” Hawks asked carefully.  

            “I heard you call my brother Dabi.” Shouto told him.

            Hawk’s mind raced back to his conversation with Dabi from earlier. He ran through it line by line, trying to avoid thinking about how much of an idiot he had been, when he reached it. Hawk had said Dabi.

            “You sure you didn’t just mishear that?” Hawks asked Shouto carefully. “I’m pretty sure I said dude.”

            “Dude and Dabi sound very different.” Shouto pointed out. He took another step closer and leaned in; he was almost in Hawk’s face. “Now answer me, honestly.”

            Hawks paused for a moment, trying to come up with an answer to throw Shouto off, but that pause was all the kid needed.

            Shouto gasped. “Oh my god.”

            “Kid it’s not what you think!” Hawks said quickly. “All it is-”

            Shouto held up a hand to make Hawks stop talking. His eyes were darting around the room, Hawks could see the student’s mind racing.

            “What is going on? Why shouldn’t I turn you into Aizawa right now?” Shouto asked him, strangely calm.

            “Its complicated kid.” Hawks tried to say soothingly.

            “Uncomplicate it.” Shouto demanded. “My brother, who we all thought was dead for years, is a famous villain with injuries so horrifying that he has to staple his skin together. I need to know.”

            “Its not just complicated Todoroki, its also highly classified.” Hawks looked down. He wanted to share with the kid, he really did. But his mission was secret even from Endeavor.

            “I don’t care.” Shouto said firmly. Hawks looked back at the kid, who almost looked like he was about to cry.  “This is my family we are talking about. It is broken, and we can’t even have a dinner together because of my father. But I need to know what is going on.”

            Hawks sighed. “Todoroki, you will understand better when you are a pro hero, but I can’t just tell you my mission. The more people who know secrets, the harder they are to keep.”

            “Then don’t tell me about your mission,” Shouto said “tell me about my brother. You already told me you would, and heroes don’t break promises.”

            Hawks stared at the kid. “That is some A plus guilt tripping kid, and a fantastic loophole. Alright, what do you want to know?”

            “When did you meet Touya?” Shouto asked immediately.

            “Well I met Dabi in an alleyway a little before the Nomu attack with Endeavor.” Hawks answered.

            “Did you know who he was then?”

            Hawks shook his head. “I didn’t know until we were both in the hospital. The doctor called him Mr. Todoroki, and that was a complete surprise to me.”

            “What is your relationship with my brother?” Shouto asked. “And don’t say it’s complicated. I just want to know how well you know him.”

            “Well Dabi and I first started meeting up over a year ago, in alleyways and run down buildings. But then we started to actually get to know each other.” Hawks smiled a bit. “Like your brother is the worst morning person I have ever met. If you think it’s bad here, you should have seen his reaction when Toga jumped on us in bed early one morning. I think he actually breathed fire.”

            Hawks couldn’t help but chuckle, and Shouto had a small smile. “Yeah, he was super pissed off, until he learned that it was her birthday of course. I had to leave for a bit after for work but when I went back to the bar that night, Dabi was putting up these pink and red streamers everywhere and was wearing one of those party hats. It looked like it bugged his scars a bit, but he never told anyone because it made Toga laugh.”

            “So were you guys dating?” Shouto asked.

            “I don’t know kid.” Hawks told him, sighing. “We were together, we weren’t seeing anybody else, but we never put a label on it. It was tough, he is one of the most wanted villains in the world, and I am the number two hero. But we would hang out all the time. Sometimes we would hang out at my place, watch crappy television, and eat ice cream. Other times we would hang out at the League’s base and play video games with Shigaraki and Spinner, or Toga would force us to try her latest cooking attempts. Whenever we were together, it was some of the happiest moments of my life.”

            “Are you a member of the League of Villians?” Shouto sounded a bit scared.

            Hawks shook his head frantically. “No, I’m just doing my job. I can’t say exactly what that is, but I would never turn my back on the heroes and everything we protect.”

            Shouto nodded, but he still seemed nervous.

            “Shouto, I have talked with Aizawa a little bit about this at the beginning, he had doubts as well.” Hawks told him. “But Aizawa trusts me to know what I’m doing. If you don’t have trust in me, have trust in the man who has risked his life for you and your class time and time again.”

            Shouto looked a little calmer. “Do you know how Touya got his scars?”

            “It’s sad that I have to ask this, but which scars are you talking about?” Hawks asked.

            “The ones on his older body, Natsuo already talked to me about the other ones.” Shouto clarified.

            “Well, Dabi never told me how exactly, but when I first found out what his real name was in the hospital I asked him.” It was Hawk’s turn to be nervous. “He said that I knew the answer to that. And that answer was your father.”

            Shouto nodded, but didn’t look surprised.

            “When we were younger, Father would train Touya and I until we couldn’t stand.” Shouto said quietly. “Touya always lasted longer than I could, mostly because he knew that if he could keep Endeavor occupied all night, then I wouldn’t have to train to. When he was able to leave the training room, Fuyumi would ice down his burns. Before he died, some of his skin seemed to be turning purple and pealing pretty bad.”

            “How did he die?” Hawks asked.

            “There was one night, Touya was in my room trying to calm me down. It was a few months after the incident with Mom, and Endeavor came home.” Shouto said. “I was terrified, I couldn’t move. He was calling for me to come downstairs to the training room. Touya told me not to worry, that it would be okay, then went downstairs. There was shouting, loud bangs, and then the house was going up in flames. Fuyumi, Natsuo and I were able to get out, as did our father, but we couldn’t find Touya. We couldn’t even find his bones, but his fire burned so hot it wasn’t too surprising.”

            “Do you know what actually happened in the training room?” Hawks pressed.

            Shouto shook his head. “Only Father and Touya. And neither of them have told me.”

            Hawks nodded.

            “I know it’s stupid to ask, but I have to know, did Touya ever talk about us?” Shouto asked.

            “He mentioned he had siblings once,” Hawks said with a small smile, “we were hanging out at my place, and we were watching some terrible movie that was on television. Dabi of course had turned it into a drinking game because it was so bad, so like halfway through we were hammered, and we weren’t even watching the movie anymore. But we were talking about stuff, like our lives, and Dabi was complaining about Toga always begging him to do her hair because he did it best. I asked how he knew how to do hair. He mentioned that he had a couple of siblings, and his sister would ask him to help her because his mom couldn’t.”

            Shouto smiled. “I remember that. Sometimes at night Touya and I would sneak over to the other side of the house to see the others. After Mom was sent away, Touya learned how to braid Fuyumi’s hair.” Shouto’s smile dropped. “Fuyumi wore her hair down ever since the fire.”

            Hawks reached out a hand to the kid. “I’m sorry about all of this.”

            Shouto sniffled for a moment. “You know it’s nice that to know that I didn’t kill Touya when he went in that training room.”

            “Shouto you didn’t kill him.” Hawk said firmly. “He chose to go in there, and based on what I know about Touya, or Dabi, he will always protect the people he cares about, no matter what. At whatever cost to himself, he will protect his family and friends. And that is his choice. When you become a hero, there might be times where your friends will have to sacrifice themselves to save people. You wouldn’t have killed them, just like you didn’t kill your brother.”

            “Thanks Hawks.” Shouto said softly. “Do you mind telling me more stories about what Touya is like today?”

            “Sure kid.” Hawks said with a smile. “Alright so I don’t know how much you know about Twice, but he has a split personality. And this one time Twice was trying to mess with Dabi and…

Chapter Text

Dabi’s eyes shot open when he heard the loud thuds of his father’s footsteps. It had been ten years, Dabi had spent several of them on the street barely sleeping to survive, and now he is part of the most wanted group in the country. Despite all of this, nothing woke him up quicker nor filling him with more fear than hearing his father’s footsteps thudding down the hall to his room.

            Immediately Dabi bolted out of bed, looking around his room quickly to see what he needed to do to make sure it was clean enough for his father. Then he stopped. Dabi wasn’t really a teenager; Endeavor couldn’t threaten him with training. He could say no.

            Right?

            A series of loud thuds on his door distracted him from his thoughts.

            Dabi took a deep breath and opened the door to reveal his father standing there with a tray of food.

            Dabi just raised an eyebrow at the site. Endeavor always expected to be served, he never served himself or others, so this was a sight.

            “Fuyumi had to go to work and asked me to drop off your food.” Endeavor said gruffly, frown on his face. “She also said you had to finish it all because you didn’t eat last night.”

            “I’m not hungry.” Dabi folded his arms and leaned against his doorframe.

            “Touya this is ridiculous!” Endeavor’s voice got louder. “You have been on a light diet since the incident, you haven’t had solid food in over a week. You need to build up your strength.”

            “No.” Dabi said firmly. His heart was pounding and all he wanted to do was run.

            Endeavor’s fire beard briefly flickered on his face. “Touya, you can’t starve yourself in here. Do you want to end up back in the hospital?”

            “If it means I get to leave this house, than yeah, I do.” Dabi glared at his father.

            “You can’t leave this house, the League of Villains targeted you specifically.” Endeavor growled. “If I have to bring in a medical team to make you get healthy, I will.”

            “Since when do you even care about my wellbeing?” Dabi asked.

            “Touya, I am your father, I have always-“

            “No, you haven’t.” Dabi cut Endeavor off angrily. “You didn’t care when you were beating me into the training room floor, you didn’t care when you walked in on me slicing my skin open, and you certainly didn’t give a damn about my wellbeing when you chocked me within an inch of my life while your hand was on fire, and then left me in a burning house. So you don’t get to pretend to care about me now.”

            “Touya that was in the past, I’m sorry for the way I treated you but I am trying to do better.” Endeavor said slowly, like he was holding back anger.

            “You don’t get to try to do better,” Dabi said angrily, having no problem letting his own out. “you already ruined everyone’s life. Shouto has to learn how to interact with people because of your isolation and abuse; he never knew anything but violence. Natsuo refuses to be here any more unless Fuyumi begs, and he will never introduce you to anybody important to him because he knows that you threw him away, so why should he bring you anyone important to him if he’s not important to you? Fuyumi stays here because she had this idea that we could be a perfect family, but all it does is hold her back from moving on with her own life because she can’t. Mom is still locked away in a mental hospital because of you. Normally they don’t keep people locked up for over a decade unless they go through hell, but considering everything you put her through, it’s not too surprising.”

            “You cannot blame me for everything wrong with everyone’s life!” Endeavor’s flame beard flickered on again as he raised his voice.

            “Yet the only similarity between it all is you.”

            “I am not the one who abandoned their family for over a decade, running off on the streets to do God knows what!” Endeavor shouted, and Dabi couldn’t hold back the violent flinch. “I actually stuck around while you left!”

            “I couldn’t ever come back thanks to you!” Dabi told him, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise his voice to his father. This body was too used to the consequences of that. “You literally murdered me, do you even realize that? You’ve spent the last ten years being okay with the fact that you left me in a burning room and told me that if I were a real hero I would survive.”

            Endeavor glared down at him. He shoved the tray in Dabi’s arms and turned away.

            “Fuyumi would like you to eat.” Endeavor growled out, and stomped away down the stairs.

            Dabi shut his door and set his food on the dresser and went back to his bed. He pulled back his covers and curled up underneath them. Then he let go all the emotions he held back when his father was there. The tears fell, Dabi’s body shook as all the fear he had held in let out.

            He hated it here.

Chapter Text

Dabi was scrolling through his phone as he waited for Endeavor’s driver to pick him up from the hospital. One of the conditions of his release from the psych ward was a weekly visit with a hospital assigned psychiatrist, which was about as much fun as one of Shigaraki’s meetings.

            So far his meetings weren’t going great. It was difficult for Dabi to talk to the shrinks for two reasons. The first was that he had to keep his league ties a secret, and it was a little difficult to talk about his life away from his family without bringing them up. The second was that he really didn’t want to. Half of his sessions so far was just Dabi staring at the doctor.

            He also didn’t trust the doctors here. They had let him go back to Endeavor despite his protests, and ignored him flat out telling the psychiatrists about the “training” Endeavor had put him through. Endeavor had influence everywhere, and like hell Dabi was going to trust anything right now.

            “Touya!” A shout distracted him from his phone and Dabi looked to see Shouto walking into the hospital.

            “Hey kid, why are you here?” Dabi asked him.

            “I’m visiting someone, do you want to come with me?” Shouto stood in front of him, looking down slightly. Dabi tried not to let that annoy him. He hated being the shortest sibling.

            “I’m waiting for the Endeavor’s driver to pick me up to take me that house, so yes.” Dabi cracked a smile. He shoved his phone in his pocket and followed his little brother back into the hospital.

            “So how’s life back at UA? Did you finally ask out Midoriya?” Dabi asked.

            Shouto’s face turned red enough to match his scar. “We’re actually meeting up to see a movie after this.” Shouto muttered.

            Dabi clapped Shouto on the shoulder. “Way to go Shouto! I’m happy for you!”

            Shouto smiled softly, and Dabi couldn’t help but smile back. After the disaster of a relationship that their parents called a marriage, Dabi’s own fights with Hawks, and Natsuo’s refusal to bring his girlfriend to any family function, it was a shock that Shouto would even try a relationship. But now he looked happy, and that’s all Dabi wanted at the end of the day.

            “Thanks.” Shouto said softly. “Just don’t tell anyone yet, I don’t want them to make a big deal out of it.”

            “Don’t worry Shouto, I won’t say a word.” Dabi promised. “Now who are you visiting anyways?”

            They had made their way to the long-term care ward, and Dabi was looking around, wondering whom his brother would visit here.

            Shouto stopped in front of a room, looking nervous. “I thought you could come in too, they might like to see you.”

            Dabi leveled a glare at his brother. “Shouto, what did you do?”

            “She just wanted to see you Touya.” Shouto said softly. Dabi looked at the nameplate next to the door his brother was standing at.

            Rei Todoroki

            Mom.

            “No.” Dabi said firmly. He wasn’t angry with his brother; he understood where Shouto was coming from for this. But this was something he couldn’t do.

            “Touya, I told her what happened, and she asked to see you.” Shouto told him, looking directly in his eyes.

            “Shouto, I can’t see her. I can’t do that.” Dabi sighed and looked at the room.

            “She’s made so much progress, she wants to see you.” Shouto argued. “It will be okay."

            Dabi looked at the door. “Shouto, you don’t get it. She might be able to see me but I don’t know if I can see her.”

            Dabi remembered the first time his mother flinched at the sight of him. He had been six years old, and had walked into the kitchen to get a drink. His mom was feeding Natsuo and Touya had surprised her, but his mom had flinched so hard that the spoon had flown out of her hand. She apologized and tried to play it off, but Touya noticed that every time he accidently set a cup down too hard, or moved too quickly around her, she would try to shield herself or one of his siblings if they were there too. Eventually, he just learned to avoid her in general, because every time Touya saw his own mother react to his mere presence in fear, it hurt. Eventually, the emotional pain because too much and he had turned to another way to cope with loosing his mother.

            Shouto look at Dabi with sad eyes that seemed to beg, but Dabi couldn’t. He hadn’t actually seen his mother since he was twelve. After that he had done everything in his power to stay away. Even when Mom had poured the kettle on Shouto, Dabi hadn’t seen her. It had been almost twelve years since he’d laid eyes on his mother; Dabi had lived over half of his life avoiding her.

            “Why not?” Shouto asked. He didn’t sound mad, or disappointed, or any of the emotions Dabi expected. He just sounded curious.

            Dabi pulled his sleeves down just a bit and looked at his little brother. “If she looks at me with fear in her eyes again, I just don’t know what I’d do.” Touya said softly.

            “Okay, I understand.” Shouto nodded. “You don’t have to go in there, I won’t make you. I know its hard, it took me years to be able to visit too. You shouldn’t have to see her before your ready.”

            Dabi let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and he felt like he might actually cry. He didn’t know why.

            “Thank you.” Dabi shuttered out. Relief was washing over him. “I’m fine waiting outside for you, and maybe one day I will be able to walk in that room, but not today.”

            “Okay, there’s a waiting area around the corner, but do you need to get back downstairs to meet with Father’s driver?” Shouto asked.

            Dabi shrugged. “He can wait. I’d rather put off his lecturing me about how great Endeavor is. There’s only so much I can take, and I left my headphones at UA.”

            Shouto nodded and knocked on the door. A soft voice called out, and Dabi was almost tempted to follow his brother in, but fear kept him back. Instead, once his brother went in, he walked over to the waiting area.

            He took out his phone again and went through the messages. Endeavor gave him the phone whenever he left the house, so this was Dabi’s only chance to check his messages. He had a couple from Kaminari and Sero, them checking in on him and asking if he wanted to visit for a game night. He even had a reminder from Mina that she needed to do his hair sometime soon if he didn’t want the red to come back.

       Dabi was busy replying when a commotion distracted him. The nurses were gathered around a computer and talking in hushed tones, glancing in the direction of his mother’s room.

            A news alert popped up on his phone, but Dabi ignored that in favor of approaching the desk.

            “Excuse me, is everything alright? You keep looking at my mothers room, is something wrong?” Dabi asked the group of nurses. They looked up at him, nervously.

            “Are you one of Endeavor’s children?” One of the nurses asked.

            “Yes, I’m Touya. What’s going on?” Now Dabi was getting worried.

            “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry!” A different nurse said suddenly. She looked like she was about to cry. “It’s all over the news, Endeavor used to be one of my favorites but after seeing the reports, I can’t believe the Hero Commission would ever allow that!”

            “What are you talking about?” Dabi asked, confused. “What reports?”

            The nurses seemed to look at each other. “Have you not seen the news?”

            Dabi shook his head.

            The first nurse picked up the computer screen they had been looking at and turned it for Dabi to see. It was a news site showing breaking news.

            The breaking news was Touya’s medical records.

            Everyone knew. The whole world knew about what he went through as a child.

            Dabi felt his stomach drop. His phone went off, distracting him for a moment. It was Endeavor’s driver, asking where he was.

            He still had to go back to Endeavors house.

Chapter Text

           Hawks was trying not to fidget on the couch as he watched the class scream at some video game tournament they were doing. He was still grounded from his late night training session from a couple weeks ago. It would have been over sooner but Cementos had caught him sneaking out one night to train, and Aizawa hadn’t been happy.

            So Hawks was still stuck spending his nights with his classmates, although he was starting not to mind it. They were actually a pretty fun group of people. They had absolutely no self-preservation instincts and so much trauma that Hawks wondered how Aizawa had kept them alive this long, but it was still entertaining.

            Hawks laughed when Denki was about to complete the race but got hit by an obstacle at the last second, letting Mina pass him. The scream of anguish from Denki clashed with the scream of victory from Mina, causing the rest of the group to break down laughing.

            They were so busy laughing, the class didn’t notice when Shouto rushed in and raced down the hall towards Aizawa’s room.

            The class didn’t, but Hawks sure did. And Shouto looked scared.

            Hawks waited for Denki to start shouting at the television and draw all the attention to him, then slipped away after Shouto.

            He knocked on Aizawa’s door, then opened it when he heard the terse “Come in.”

            Shouto was sitting on the couch, looking nervous. That immediately set off alarm bells in Hawks head, Shouto only showed emotions if it was extreme enough. Hawks glanced over to Aizawa, who seemed to be having a very intense phone call at his dining table. He was leaning over Present Mic as they both scrolled through something on the computer.

            “What’s going on?” Hawks asked Shouto, making his way over to the couch.

            “Someone published my brothers medical records.” Shouto told him.

            Hawks raised his eyebrows. “Oh? Does everyone know about the accident now?”

            Shouto shook his head. “As far as I can tell, it wasn’t part of the file. But everything before Touya faked his death is public record now. Every burn, broken arm, or anything else my brother went through that couldn’t be fixed at home, is now public record.”

            “So what does that mean exactly?” Hawks asked.

            “It means that everyone knows that the Number 1 hero abused his son to the point that Touya had to fake his death to escape.” Aizawa said as he came over. “Luckily we’ve kept any files about the incident with him and Hawks separately and under much tighter security than Touya’s old hospital records.”

            “Mr. Aizawa, what happens now?” Shouto whispered. He looked afraid.

            “Right now Mic and I need to rush over to Endeavor’s home.” Aizawa was grabbing his scarf as he pulled on his shoes. Mic was already by the door. “We don’t know what Endeavor’s reaction to this will be, and we don’t want him to take it out on Touya.”

            “I’m coming with you!” Shouto said, getting up to follow. Hawks was right behind him.

            “Absolutely not.” Aizawa held up a hand to stop the two. “Based on the evidence right now, we cannot allow you into that place. And if we can bring Touya back with us, he will need something comforting here. Based on his interactions with Hawks right now that needs to be you Todoroki. I need you to get his room ready and make sure the others don’t notice anything.”

            Shouto looked like he wanted to argue, but after another stern glare from Aizawa, he nodded.

            “What can I do?” Hawks asked.

            “Keep Todoroki calm. He needs friends right now, this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. And keep him here, we don't need him to rush off into a fight like last time.” With that, Aizawa rushed out the door with Mic.

            Hawks looked back at the dual-haired boy. His face was scrunched up, eyes darting around.

            “Kid, what’s going through your head right now?” Hawks asked.

            Shouto sighed deeply, his knee started bouncing. Nerves.

           “They’re all going to know.” Shouto said quietly.

           “But you’re brother will probably get to stay here again! Isn’t this a good thing?” Hawks asked.

            Shouto shook his head. “It isn’t that. Everyone is going to know what kind of a person Endeavor really is.”

            “He’s going to be exposed for everything he’s done, shouldn’t you be a little happier?” Hawks was really confused.

            “I don’t want them to look at me differently.” Todoroki sounded like a small child. “If they all know what they did to my brother, how long until they know he did the same things to me? How long until they realize why I have this scar?”

            Hawks and Todoroki had gotten closer since they had talked about Touya being Dabi. But it had mostly been Hawks doing the talking; Todoroki had wanted to know more about what Dabi had been up to. Not as a villain, but as a person, dealing with the League on a personal level. They had hadn't talked a lot about what exactly happened before or after Touya had left Endeavor’s house. Hawks knew now, even before the medical report had been published, that it wasn’t good. And he kicked himself every day for every doubting Dabi.

            But now that he knew what the Todoroki boys had gone through, Hawks knew to ask permission to hug Shouto. And when Shouto nodded, Hawks held him as the duel haired boy shook out of fear.

***

            The first thing Dabi did when he got back to Endeavors house was retrieve the bag he stored underneath his floorboards. It contained a spare change of clothes, some cash he had stolen from Endeavor’s wallet, and some granola bars. It would be enough to get him by for a few days.

            Right now he needed to get out of here before-

            The front door slammed shut and the sounds of his fathers footsteps boomed, echoing into the house, bring more and more dread with every step.

            “Touya!” Endeavor barked. Dabi groaned, but quickly went downstairs. As much as he wanted to ignore his dad and just hide in his room, it would be worse for him if he did that.

            It took a lot of his strength, but Dabi followed the sounds of smashing to the training room. As he got closer, it got warmer. The heat slapped him in the face when he reached the doorway.

            Already there were small fires burning in various places around the room. Two of the training dummies looked more charred than usual, and one was shattered in the corner. In the middle, Endeavor stood, heaving, his fire beard burning intensely. He was pissed.

            “Father.” Dabi couldn’t look his dad in the eyes. Not in this room. Not when he was this mad. Not again.

            “Touya, why would you do this?” Endeavor growled. A wave of heat hit Dabi’s body.

            “I haven’t done anything.” Dabi gritted out.

            “Then who else would have published your childhood medical records?” Endeavor shouted, sending a blast of fire towards the wall. It missed Dabi by a couple feet, but he still couldn’t stop the flinch. Stupid teenage body.

            “It wasn’t-”

            “Of course it was you!” Endeavor sent out another fire blast, at least this time it was to a wall away from Dabi. “It’s always you! It’s always been you! You were my first failure, and you’ve been working ever since to bring me down to your level. Who else would work this hard to destroy everything I’ve worked for?”

            “Maybe literally every you’ve every met?” Dabi couldn’t stop those words from coming out of his mouth.

            The heat increased again, and Dabi took a step back, ready to dash up to his room to grab his bag.

            But Endeavor was faster, he charged at Dabi and grabbed his shirt, yanking him into the training room, and throwing him to the ground. Dabi couldn’t stop the yelp of pain as he landed on one of his shoulders and skidded across the floor.

            “How dare you!” Endeavor shouted at him. “I raised you, I trained you to be a hero! I took you back in after you ran away and were attacked, all at risk to myself! I sacrificed for you, and all I get is your disrespect!”

              “You didn’t do shit for me!” Dabi shouted, sitting up. “Mom raised us, you beat us! You almost killed me, covered it up, and then had to drug me to get me back here! I didn’t leak my medical records, but I would like to thank the person who did, because they ruined your legacy better than I ever could.”

            Endeavor growled and stomped towards Dabi. As quick as he could, Dabi rolled to the side, trying not to wince at the sharp pain that blossomed in his shoulder, and scrambled up to his feet.

            “How does it feel to be beaten by someone you don’t even know?” Dabi gritted out, small smirk on his face. He never knew when to draw a line with Endeavor while growing up; Dabi wasn’t going to start now.

            Endeavor shouted and spread his arms out, sending a wall of flames across the room. Dabi reacted on instinct and summoned his own flames, forming a wall of blue to block his father’s attack.

            When the flames cleared for a moment, Endeavor looked surprised. Dabi himself was surprised; he thought the quirk suppressers were still in his system.

            But Dabi didn’t have time to enjoy his victory over his father, if he stayed here much longer, it would be the second time he almost died in this room. Dabi reached down in his power and sent a wave of blue flames shooting out at his father. He held it for a moment, then released it as he scrambled from the room.

            Dabi raced up the stairs towards his room, dread filling his stomach as he heard Endeavor storm down the hall after him. He reached his room and slammed his door shut, knowing it wouldn’t do much to slow down his father, but it might just provide the extra second he needed to grab his bag and go.

            Endeavors footsteps got closer, and Dabi picked up the backpack from where he had left it on the floor. Before he could even make it to the window to escape, a loud snap came from his door, and it went flying across the room. Dabi turned to see his father seething in his doorway.

            “Touya I’ve had enough of this.” The flame beard seemed to grow each time Endeavor breathed. He was glaring down at Dabi, and Dabi couldn’t move. He felt like a deer in the headlights. “I’ve been soft with you since you’ve been home from the hospital, but now I see that was a mistake. Starting now, you are back to training with me everyday. Obviously it didn’t stick the first time around, so we will have to work harder until you learn to respect me again.”

            “You can’t make me!” Dabi told him, trying to break away from the intense glare. “I won’t go through that again!”

            Endeavor took one massive step towards Dabi and grabbed his shirt again. “I will make a respectful, hero out of you yet.”

            Flames flared up on Endeavors hand, causing Dabi’s shirt to catch on fire.

            “Stop!” Dabi cried out in panic. “You’re hurting me!”

            “Pain seems to be the only way you learn.” Endeavor snarled.

            Dabi screamed as the flames started searing his skin. With his father holding him like this and the heat directly on his body burning him, he wasn’t in his room anymore. Suddenly, Dabi felt like he was back in the training room, ten years ago, as his father held him by his neck and burned him alive.

            A shattering sound briefly registered with Dabi, but all he could focus on was his fear as the training room was burning down around him. The pressure on his neck abruptly disappeared, and Dabi feel to the floor, landing on his bad shoulder.

            And he couldn’t stop screaming.

            It was all happening again. His father way leaving him as Dabi’s world was burning down around him. He was going to die again.

            Dabi felt hands on his body, but couldn’t see anyone. He pushed them away, tried to summon his quirk to get them off faster, but his familiar blue wouldn’t appear. The smoke was getting denser, clouding his vision, then he registered the cool feeling of the floor.

            And then nothing.

Chapter Text

            Dabi woke up to a pressure on his hand. He slowly opened his eyes to see Shouto holding his hand and using his other to scroll on his phone.

            Dabi almost smiled.

            “Hey kid.” Dabi rasped out, surprising himself. He sounded a lot like he did when he was older.

            Immediately, Shouto’s phone was down and his younger brother had his arms around Dabi’s neck. A sharp pain sparked where Shouto was touching, but it felt more like someone touching sunburn. Dabi held in the groan of pain, he figured he could spare his brother that.

            After a moment, Shouto released, and took his seat again, a ghost of a smile on his lips. His hand was back resting on Dabi’s own.

            “Happy to see you too kiddo.” Dabi croaked out. “Now tell me where I am, I’m sick of waking up in new places.”

            He was lying in a cot that felt a lot like a hospital bed; the room didn’t look like any of the hospitals he had been in. There was a desk, a couple other beds, and what looked like many file cases around.

            Shouto’s smile grew a bit. “You’re in Recovery Girl’s office. She helped heal you, you’ve been out for over a day because of it.” Shouto’s smile fell. “Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic burst into the house when Father was chocking you. Aizawa and Mic were able to subdue him because of the surprise. Recovery Girl said that you had some major burns around you’re neck, as well as a broken shoulder. She patched you up for the most part.”

            “What do you mean for the most part?” Dabi asked.

            Shouto looked nervous, but reached for his phone. “She was able to heal you shoulder completely, broken bones are easy. But the burns were more serious, because the fire was so close to your skin for an extended amount of time, and because you take after mom’s body.”

            Shouto had opened the camera app on his phone and flipped it so Dabi could see his face.

            It wasn’t purple, but there were several patches of skin that looked like it had melted and warped. It was tight and shinny, but looked like someone melted chocolate and it didn’t set right. It almost made him look like-

            “You look more like Dabi now.” Shouto said quietly.

            Dabi stopped looking at his image in the phone to look at his little brother. Shouto was looking at him with a blank expression, but there was something in his eyes that told Dabi that the kid was on edge.

            Dabi sighed and but down the phone. “How long have you known?”

            “Since Hawks came over for dinner. He called you Dabi and you mentioned having your skin stapled together. It wasn’t too hard after that.” Shouto’s voice was almost emotionless. He used to sound just like that when he was trying to keep his emotions in check after interacting with Endeavor.

            “How are you so calm about this?” Dabi asked him.

            “I talked to Hawks and Aizawa about it after the dinner a couple weeks ago. You missed the majority of my freak out, but I’m still not over it. I want to talk about it, but I think it can wait until you are back in your dorm room.” Shouto said, a strained smile on his face.

            Dabi tried to smile back. “Sounds good Shouto. Wait, what do you mean back in my dorm room?”

            “Because of the leaked medical records, you are no longer under Endeavor’s care. He was deemed unfit and as of right now you are back in UA’s custody, so you get to come back to school.” Shouto explained.

            Dabi relaxed a bit on the bed. Besides the burns on his neck, this was the best he had felt after getting knocked out, ever.

            Then he shot up. “Wait you talked to Hawks about this?”

            Shouto nodded. “He’s been really great actually. He helped me during a panic attack yesterday.”  

            “That’s great, but don’t let him get too close.” Dabi warned, trying not to sound too bitter. “Hawks might seem great, but you never know when he will sell you out. He will do anything for the commission.”

            “I don’t think that’s true anymore.” Shouto said. “He could have turned you into the commission at any time, but he still hasn’t. He wanted to come with Aizawa and Mic to get you back, but he didn’t because he knew that it would cause you anger and I needed help. I think you should give him a chance.”

            “You think I should give him a chance, after he basically accused me of hurting myself and blaming Endeavor?” Dabi asked appalled.

            Shouto shrugged. “I think you should hear him out again. He apologized to me about drawing the wrong conclusions, and I know he wants to apologize to you too. Hawks just wanted to believe something he thought was good, and we of all people can’t fault him for that. I know I can relate.”

            Dabi glared at his brother. Shouto was trying to guilt him over about his villain days.

            “Normally you little shits can guilt me into a lot, but not this.” Dabi growled out. “I stand by my actions, even if you don’t approve. I had my reasons.”

            “So you can justify attacking my class and kidnapping Bakugo?” Shouto was not backing down.

            “I said I could justify my actions, I never said anything about the crusty boss man.” Dabi defended himself. “Look, we are going to have this conversation, but I want it to be in a secure spot where random people might not walk in.”

            Shouto nodded. “Fair, but we are having that conversation.”

            Dabi settled back down on the bed. “Looking forward to it.”

            Silence fell between the brothers, but it wasn’t as awkward as Dabi expected it to be. Before either of them could try to break it, the door to the office slammed open, showing Aizawa, Hawks and Mic holding Eri.

            “Touya!” Eri shouted, wriggling out of Mic’s arms and rushing towards his bed. She raced to the edge of his bed, but seemed to think before trying to launch herself on top of him. Instead she stopped and placed her hands on the one Shouto wasn’t holding.

            “Hey squirt.” Dabi said with a small smile, squeezing her hand. “Looks like I’m moving back in. Have you been keeping all these guys in line while I was gone?”

            Eri nodded excitedly.

            “And what did I teach you to say when they try to annoy you?” Dabi asked.

            “Fuck off!” Eri said loudly, smiling brighter.

            Dabi cackled, and he was pretty sure Shouto and Hawks both had to stifle their own laughter as Mic reacted in horror. Aizawa’s face didn’t change, but Dabi could tell that he was fighting a small smile.

            “Eri! Don’t listen to him, that’s a bad word!” Mic shouted, picking her up. “Don’t listen to anything Touya tells you to say!”

            Eri smiled brightly. “Fuck off!”

            This caused Dabi to laugh even harder, and Hawks and Shouto couldn’t hide their’s this time. Even Aizawa finally cracked a smile.

            Eventually they got Mic to calm down and Eri to stop swearing long enough for Aizawa to tell Dabi what Shouto already told him. That Endeavor didn’t have custody of him, or Shouto, anymore, he was moving back to UA, and one more surprising thing.

            “You mean I'm getting a baby sitter.” Dabi groaned out.

            “You are moving to a double room with Hawks, it’s not getting a baby sitter.” Aizawa told him. “This was one of the conditions of getting you back to UA. The other option was the Commission taking custody of you.”

            Dabi stilled at that. Hawks barely talked about being raised by the Commission, but when he did, it wasn’t anything good. And this would be a way for them to manipulate Hawks into going back to them. Dabi wasn’t ready to talk to Hawks again, but the winged hero hadn’t betrayed him to the Commission yet. And Dabi wouldn’t either, at least not yet.

            “Fine. When can I get out of here?” Dabi asked.

            “Recovery Girl will be in soon to clear you.” Mic told him. “She’s finishing up a meeting with Nezu about your therapist right now.”

            “Do I seriously still have to see that guy?” Dabi whined.

            “No, we did a little digging and that man no longer has his license. The therapist was accepting money from the Endeavor Agency, and was a supporter of Endeavor. It was unethical for him to take you as a patient, even before the bribes.” Aizawa said.

            Dabi nodded. That didn’t surprise him, looking back on it. That guy was an ass.

            “But you still need to see someone.” Aizawa continued. “Nezu, Recovery Girl, and myself are working on finding someone to work with you. We have to be really careful because of your background, and we need to make sure that whoever we hire would not betray us to anyone.”

            “Look, you got me out of Endeavor’s house, I feel like that’s enough steps in the right direction that don’t need to see anyone anymore.” Dabi tried to defend himself.

            “If the specialist we hired agrees, you won’t have to see them anymore.” Aizawa told him. “Until then, you’re required to go at least once a week. Anything else?”

            “Is the baby sitter negotiable?” Dabi asked again.           

            “No.”

Chapter Text

Hawks finished moving his stuff to his new first floor room in one trip. Even though he had gotten some clothes and things to decorate his dorm room since arriving at UA, he still didn’t have a lot.

            Dabi had even less though. Endeavor’s house was currently a crime scene, so he couldn’t pick up any clothes. Fuyumi had promised to drop some of his things off once it was clear. But for now, that meant all Dabi had was the clothes Endeavor has partially burned off, a UA gym uniform, and the scrubs that Recovery Girl had kindly let him wear out of her office.

            Hawks glanced over at the bed that Dabi occupied. The room they had been given was on the first floor, next door to Mic and Aizawa’s. But it was more like a double dorm room instead of an apartment. There was no kitchen or living room area, but there was a lot more open space than the single dorm rooms. Each bed had been shoved to the sides of the room, as had the desks. The middle area seemed like a neutral zone for now.

            Dabi was just staring up at the ceiling. He hadn’t really moved since they had been given the keys, he hadn’t even spoken to Hawks when they entered. Dabi just chose a bed and lied down on it without a word to his new roommate. He had spent the past hour just staring at the ceiling.

            Hawks ignored Dabi ignoring him and set up his side of the room. Unfortunately, his stuff didn’t multiply magically since he had set it down, so he was done pretty quickly. Before Hawks could build up the courage to try to talk to Dabi, a knock came from the door.

            Hawks turned to see Shouto in the doorway, a carefully blank expression on his face.

            “What’s up kid?” Hawks asked. Out of the corner of his eyes, Hawks saw Dabi tense up.

            “Do you mind if I talk to my brother for a bit?” Shouto asked, staring right at Dabi.

            “Sure kid, just holler if you need something!” Hawks replied with a thumb up, making his way to the door. “I have to go talk to Aizawa.”

            Hawks tried not to make it seem like he was hurrying out of the room, but he really was. Shouto was going to talk to his brother about being Dabi, and as much as Hawks wanted to support either brother in that situation, it wasn’t his place.

            He shut the door behind him and walked over to Aizawa’s, knocking loudly. He heard a soft come in and opened the door.

            Aizawa was sitting at the table with his computer in front of him and a stack of papers. He was glaring at the one on top that looked to be written entirely in pink. Hawks hid a smile; Eri had been giving the 2-A kids her sparkly pens to do their homework in, and no one could say no.

            “Hey Mr. Aizawa.” Hawks greeted with a smile.

            “If you’re here to get an extension on your paper, no.” Aizawa said, not removing his glare from the pink covered paper. “You keep insisting that you are not a child, and if my children can turn their papers in early, a pro hero can get his in on time.”

            “Alright first of all, Iida and Momo turning their papers in early shouldn’t count.” Hawks defended. “And I’m not here about that. I’m here to see if you’ve heard anything more about Dabi’s case.”

            Aizawa sighed and put the paper down, turning his gaze to Hawks. “If you mean if we know who leaked his medical records, we don’t know for sure. It wasn’t anyone at UA as far as we can tell, it obviously wasn’t Endeavor or Fuyumi or Dabi. Natsuo wouldn’t have access to his brother’s medical records, and even if he did, he would jeopardize his future medical degree. We’re still working to see if we can trace the where the leak came from, but it’s difficult. It was pretty well encrypted.”

            “So does that mean you have no leads?” Hawks asked.

            “I didn’t say that. I said we don’t know for sure.” Aizawa told him. “Personally, if I had to guess I would say it was the League.”

            “Why would they leak Dabi’s medical records?” Hawks tilted his head. “They don’t know he is Endeavor’s son, and as far as I know Dabi was the only one who had a grudge against a specific hero. The others just wanted to bring hero society down.”

            “Well with Endeavor gone, that means the two Number 1 heroes gone in about a year, and with you currently missing, that’s three top heroes gone.” Aizawa reasoned. “Does the League know anything about your current situation?”

            Hawks shrugged. “Dabi texted them when this whole thing started that we would be out for a bit because of a quirk incident. As long as you haven’t given Dabi his phone back, he hasn’t had any contact with them as far as I know.”

            “He wouldn’t have memorized any numbers or had a fail safe in case of emergency?” Aizawa pressed.

            Hawks chuckled. “Dabi barely remembered to eat, if you think he bothered to actually remember anyone’s number you are overestimating him.”

            Aizawa hummed for a moment in thought. “My first hunch is still the League, but for now we just have to wait until we can finish tracing it. But while that happens we do have another problem.”

            Hawks groaned and sat down across from Aizawa. “Can’t we ever get a break for one second?”

            “Not since this class started.” Aizawa said with a sigh. “But for once this isn’t about them.”

            “What else did Dabi do now?” Hawks asked.

            “As long as he hasn't set anything on fire or harm one of the kids, he’s in the clear.” Aizawa leaned back in his chair. “This is about you.”

            “I haven’t broken your grounding, I promise!” Hawks defended.

            “I know, but it is about the Commission.”

***

            Dabi wasn’t sure how to talk to Hawks now. Shouto was telling him to give the winged idiot a chance, but it was hard. Dabi hadn’t trusted Hawks with important League stuff, he wasn’t an idiot, but he had trusted Hawks enough to spend the night at his place. Dabi had cooked in Hawk’s kitchen and had let him apply burn cream to some of the hard to reach scarring. Dabi had trusted Hawks with Touya.

            And while Dabi knew Hawks was going to betray the League, Hawks hadn’t betrayed his identity to the Commission. Even though it probably would have been better for his career and society as a whole for Hawks to blab.

            But Hawks had accused him of causing his scars and basically swept his father’s actions under the rug. And that hurt, a lot. Almost as much as when his mom flinched after seeing him.

            Dabi didn’t want to get hurt again, and he wasn’t ready to open up to Hawks again. But they were going to be living together, and Hawks was supposed to be keeping an eye on him. Dabi was going to have to get along with him if he didn’t want to be miserable.

            Before Dabi could get the courage to talk, Shouto knocked on the door and Hawks was gone before Dabi could say anything.

            Now he had to deal with one more uncomfortable conversation.

            The door shut behind Hawk’s feathered ass and Shouto’s eyes bore into him, almost making Dabi cringe. It was like both his parents were staring at him.

            “I want to talk.” Shouto said, making his way over to Dabi’s side of the room and sitting at his desk chair.

            “Okay,” Dabi sat up and looked at his little brother. “So talk. I know you have questions, and I will answer them as honestly as I can.”

            “As honestly as you can?” Shouto raised an eyebrow.

            “I still have a goal to bring down corrupt heroes, and that hasn’t changed, even being around your classmates.” Dabi explained. “So I’m not telling you any plans the League has in motion, even if I did, I haven’t been apart of the meetings for a while now. They might have changed.”

            “Even if it might save my life.” Shouto’s gaze was unbreaking.

            “Your life has never been in danger intentionally.” Dabi said forcefully. “Besides when you and your idiot friends saved that explosions kid from All for One, I worked to make sure you were in the least amount of danger possible. And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, you guys haven’t exactly had many direct scrapes with the League.”

            “What about the U.S.J. and the Forest Training Camp?”

            “U.S.J. was before I joined and the Forest incident was better organized than you think. The only reason you were ever in danger is because you guys went charging straight at us.”

            “You kidnapped our friend!”

            “It was orders!” Dabi defended. “You act like I wanted to take your friend. Newsflash, he was a bigger headache than Toga and Twice on too much sugar! It would have been smarter to wait for a better time and take a different target, or at least one that didn’t scream at us every other second. Anyone with half a brain could tell that Bakugo would never change sides.”

            Shouto was quiet for a moment. “So you don’t believe in what the League is doing?”

            Dabi held up his hand. “Hold up, that’s taking it out of context. I didn’t agree with the plan, but I still carried it out because they are a means to an end. My goal is to end careers of fake heroes like Endeavor...”

            “And?” Shouto asked.

            “And what?”

            “It seemed like you wanted to say something more.”

            Dabi sighed. “And it was to free you guys.”

            Shouto didn’t say anything, but his eyes were softening. He gestured for Dabi to go on.

            Dabi squeezed his hands so that his fingernails were digging into his palms. “I abandoned you guys. Natsuo, Fuyumi, and most of all you. I left you guys to deal with Endeavor on your own, and I wanted to free you from him. Even if it took me forever, I wanted to get you guys away from that monster.”

            “Then why didn’t you come back?” Shouto asked. “You could have told the authorities about what happened and that would have gotten us away from him!”

            Dabi’s hands squeezed tighter, he could feel his skin break. “I tried that before the fire! Every time I tried people wouldn’t believe me because of his position, or if I found someone who would, Endeavor would just bury the report and the person, or show them my arms. He would tell them that all my bruises and burns were my own fault. I didn’t have any other choices!”

            Shouto reached out his hand to rest on Dabi’s own. Dabi relaxed a bit so his nails were no longer digging in his palms. Dabi took a deep breath to calm down before his fire appeared.

            “So why didn’t you tell us?” Shouto asked softly.

            Dabi was quiet for a moment. “Because… I thought your lives were better off without me. One night, after I had healed from the fire, I snuck back into the estate. I was still pretty baldly burned, but only a few patches of skin were stapled on. I thought you guys might freak out so I came one night that I knew Endeavor was working late. But then I saw you, Natsuo and Fuyumi sitting around, eating dinner, and you looked so happy. Even you were laughing at something that Natsuo said. I didn’t want to ruin that, you three seemed like you were in a good place. So I left.”

            “We weren’t happier without you, just so you know.” Shouto told him. “We all cried for days. Fuyumi stopped talking for a month, and Natsuo would hang out in your room, hugging old shirts whenever he missed you. Every year, on the anniversary of the fire, Fuyumi and Natuso would tell me stories about you, and every year I would hear them cry themselves to sleep. We missed you.”

            “I’m sorry I was gone, I just didn’t know what else to do.” Dabi said softly.

            Shouto held his brother’s hands for another moment, then pulled away.

            “Any other questions?” Dabi asked.

            “What happened the night of the fire?” Shouto asked.

            Dabi closed his eyes, and for a moment, he felt the heat of his fathers fire, and the pain of being burned alive.

            “I can’t talk about it. Not yet.” Dabi told him. “But it wasn’t pretty.”

            “You somehow survived a burning alive and your adult body has to staple itself together, I didn’t think it was pretty.” Shouto said with a laugh.

            Dabi let out his own chuckle. “So are we good now?”

            “We’re better.” Shouto clarified. “I still don’t like what you’ve done, or what you are doing to accomplish your goals, but I understand where you’re coming from. But Natsuo moved out, Fuyumi could move out anytime she wants, and I live here now. Aizawa won’t let me go back unless I fight him for it. Are you still going down this path?”

            Dabi looked Shouto in the eyes. “I have to. I want to see this through, you guys might be safe now, but I’m sure there are a bunch of other children who are going through the same thing we did. I can’t let people go through that, not if I can help it.”

            Shouto smiled at him. “You know what that sounds like?”

            “What?” Dabi asked.

            “It sounds like the words of a hero.” Shouto told him, smile morphing into a smirk.

            Dabi groaned and grabbed his pillow, swinging it at Shouto. His little brother laughed as it hit him.

            “Don’t call me that, I think that will physically make me ill.” Dabi said with a laugh. “Now I get to ask you a question.”

            “Alright, what is it?” Shouto’s laughter died down.

            “How did that date with Midoriya go?” Dabi asked with a smirk.

            Now it was Shouto’s turn to groan.

Chapter Text

            When Hawks got back to the room, Shouto was gone, but Dabi had a small smile on his face. Hawks almost didn’t want to ruin it, but this was an emergency.

            “So how did the talk with your brother go?” Hawks asked nervously. Sure, Hawk’s situation was an emergency, but he still didn’t want to start the first conversation with Dabi since their fight by asking for a favor.

            Dabi’s smile dropped a bit, but it wasn’t a frown. Not yet. “It went fine, Shouto is going to go take Midoriya out for coffee because I ruined their first date.”

            “That’s good…” Hawks trailed off, suddenly really interested in the wall on his side of the room. Awkward silence descended on the room.

            “What do you want?” Dabi asked; Hawks could almost feel those eyes trying to pick him apart.

            Hawks opened his mouth a couple times to try to speak, but he couldn’t figure out what to say first. He heard Dabi groan and sit up.

            “Spit it out bird brain, don’t do any hero bullshit with me.” Dabi told him.

             “I’m sorry.” That was the first thing Hawks needed to say to Dabi, and it was a bit overdue. Hawks looked at his roommate, whose face was carefully schooled to be blank. “I can’t take back what I said, no matter how much I want to. I wanted to believe in the fantasy that was my childhood, but that fantasy was your hell, and I’m sorry for not believing you. I will spend as much time as I need to in order to show you how sorry I am.”

            Dabi looked away for a moment. “I’m not forgiving you. Every time I tried to report Endeavor to a hero, no one believed me. Even when I tried to show doctors, police, and heroes my burns and bruises, nobody believed me. You acted like every single one of those heroes.”

            Hawks felt shame wash over him.

            “But during the time I was gone,” Dabi continued, “Shouto told me how much you helped him, and that you still haven’t betrayed me to the Commission. I know one day you will betray the League, but you didn’t betray me, and that means something. But I don’t want to get into that right now. So tell me what you need right now, and I’ll let you know if we are in a good enough place for me to do you a favor. No flowery language, no more apologies, just to the point.”

            Dabi was looking at him again, his face neutral. The new scars reminded Hawks of the old ones, just not nearly as extreme. In a weird way, it was comforting to Hawks. It was like things were a little more normal.

            “The Commission is demanding a meeting. And I don’t think they are going to let me out.” Hawks told him. Dabi nodded and gestured for him to continue. “Aizawa said they’ve made threats, ones that they can follow through on. Like putting your family’s futures in danger, or tampering with the case against Endeavor.”

            Dabi ran a hand over his neck, almost like he was strangling himself, ghosting over the scars, turquoise eyes zooning out for a moment. Hawks wondered which moment he was remembering.

            “So what does that have to do with me?” Dabi asked.

            “Eyes are on the Commission right now. With the case against Endeavor, there’s been a lot of talk about him loosing his license.” Hawks said. “Which means that they have lost two number one heroes in a year. And with having been out of the picture for a while now, the public is scrambling. The Commission wants to meet with me for an update on what’s going on here. I need you to come with me.”

            “Why me? The Commission hated me before I threatened them; they hated me well before I died the first time. What could I do to help?” Dabi looked at Hawks like he was crazy.

            “Everyone’s eyes are on you right now. I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news lately, but people have wanted to know more about you. If you walk into the Commission building with me, and come out alone, its going to be hard to bury that. They will have to bow to public pressure to make sure I’m released.”

            “You sound as if you are going to prison.”

            “It’s not prison, its…” Hawks trailed off, but he didn’t have another good answer.

            Dabi sighed. “What does Aizawa say about all this?”

            “He gave me my choices, talked out some ideas, and asked what I wanted.” Hawks said.

            “And what do you want?” Dabi’s eyes were locked on Hawks. Hawks knew this moment matter, but he needed to find the words.

            After a moment, he found the right ones.

            “I want to stay here.” Hawks said quietly. “I want to stay here where people actually seem to care about more than training to be a hero. I like having friends, playing video games, and even doing homework with the class. I want to stay where I don’t have to put on an act all the time. Nobody expects anything of me here except to be myself, and I don’t want to go back.”

            Hawks made sure to make eye contact with Dabi as he said that, he needed Dabi to know how much this new life meant to him. Even if this was only until Eri could change them back, or if they found a cure, Hawks wanted to cherish every moment he could.

            Dabi held his gave for a second, then looked at their door. “Fine, I’ll help you, but this doesn’t mean we’re good. It doesn’t even mean we’re okay, but Shouto says I should at least give you a chance. And if I’m getting a chance here after everything I’ve done, I guess I might be able to give you one.”

            Hawks smiled. “Thanks Touya.”

***

Dabi walked out of the dorms and down to the lawn area, far enough away from the building that nobody could just walk out and listen to him, and still far enough from the bushes that anyone hiding in them wouldn’t know exactly what he was doing.

            This was the first moment Dabi had to actually be alone. He knew why Hawks, Shouto, and the teachers were all keeping an eye on him, but it hadn’t even been a day and he was already exhausted. He stepped outside by telling them he wanted to call Natsuo, which was true to an extent.

            Dabi had gotten his phone back from Endeavor’s house, and the first thing he did was type in the numbers Toga had given him. He had memorized them when she had first given them to him, not wanting to keep the piece of paper around in case someone tried to go through his room. This was the first chance he could put them in without someone checking his phone after.

            He sent a couple quick texts, one to Natsuo, seeing if his brother was available to chat, and one to Toga, confirmed that it was Dabi and that he had his phone.

            Toga immediately replied sending a horrific amount of emoticons. Between the little images, Dabi was able to put together that Shigaraki wanted to see him. It was still too dangerous to call the League, but their fearless leader needed to speak to him. Dabi just didn’t know how that was going to happen.

            Before Dabi could reply, Natsuo’s contact popped up. Sighing at his brother, Dabi answered the call.

            “Hey kid.” Dabi greeted.

            ‘Touya!” Natsuo greeted back, somehow cheerfully. “I only have a few minutes before I need to start my shift.”

            “If you’re busy we can talk another time, I know you just wanted me to check in once I was back in the dorms.” Dabi told him.

            “Nah, it’s fine. I want to talk to you.” Natsuo told him. “And how’s the new dorm?”

            “I’d forgotten how annoying it was to have Hawks nearby all the time. There are feathers everywhere already.” Dabi replied, cracking a bit of a smile.

            Natsuo chuckled. “Just be happy it’s only feathers. Doesn’t one of your classmates have an acid quirk? That’s got to be worse to clean up.”

            “She doesn’t seem to have too much of a problem controlling it. It’s the explosions kid who sweats nitroglycerin that is a bigger issue. And that kid loves to work out all the time, so he’s always sweating. I’m surprised Shouto and I haven’t accidentally set off an explosion yet.”

            “Well be careful, you’ve had too many hospital visits recently.”

            “Yeah, I am well aware of that.” Dabi let out a small laugh. He could laugh about it now, for now at least. “So how’s life on the outside?”

            “It’s going pretty well, my classes are tough, but I love it. And with my work at the hospital, I feel like I’m really helping. Plus my girlfriend and I are nearing our two year anniversary, so I have to think of a gift for her.”

            “That’s exciting! Any ideas?” Dabi asked.

            Natsuo sighed. “I have nothing. I have some time to think of something, but I want to make sure it’s special. She’s the first person I’ve ever felt this strongly about.”

            “Ohhhh Nat, that’s pretty big!” Dabi couldn’t help the full smile that appeared on his face. “So is she the one?”

            “What! I-I-I” Natuso stuttered over the line and Dabi laughed at his brother’s fluster.

            “Nat, relax, I’m teasing.” Dabi assured his brother after a moment. “But I’m really happy for you. I’m glad someone in this family is able to have a decent relationship.”

            Natsuo had stopped stuttering now. “Well, between our parents dumpster fire, you and Hawks having some weird undefined thing, Shouto needs a positive relationship to look up to.”

            “Hey, out of everyone in this family, I’m glad Shouto has the most normal one to look to as an example.” Dabi told him. “And me and Hawk’s don’t have anything, we never had.”

            “Oh really? Do I need to go back to the comment you made earlier about Hawk’s feathers.” Natsuo asked.

            Dabi could hear his brother smirking as his face heated up. “Shut up.”

            Natsuo cackled. “Okay, I wont press anymore on the bird, on one condition.”

            “What’s that?” Dabi was dreading where this was going.

            “You help me pick out a present for my girlfriend for our anniversary.” Natsuo said.

            Dabi groaned. “Natsuo, I know I like men, but that doesn’t mean I like shopping. In fact I hate shopping. And I’ve never picked out a gift for a girl that wasn’t family, and I’ve certainly never had a relationship last as long as yours. I wouldn’t be any help.”

            “I get that. But I want to spend some time with you.” Natsuo’s voice got soft. “You’ve lived with Shouto and Fuyumi, but I haven’t spent anytime with you that wasn’t with our siblings or at the hospital.  If you don’t mind, I’d like to hang out with my big brother at least once.”

            Dabi groaned again. His siblings were pushing all the right buttons; right now the only one he could probably say no to was Fuyumi. And that was only going to last until she cried in front of him. They are all his biggest weakness.

            “Fine, but you might need to start the paperwork soon to take me off campus. As I found out today, I am deemed too much of a flight risk to be allowed anywhere without supervision.” Dabi told him.  

            Natsuo cheered. “Yes! I’ll talk to the school tomorrow, but right now I have to go clock in for my shift. Love you Touya!”

            “Love you too Nat.” Dabi replied automatically, and the line went dead.

            Dabi pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment and stared at it. He hadn’t told someone he loved them that easily in a long time. UA was making him soft.

            But this conversation with Natsuo had given him an opportunity.

            Turned to walk back to the dorms, Dabi typed out a quick message to Toga, telling her he had an idea.

Chapter Text

Natsuo bounced his leg as he fiddled with his coffee cup. He glanced around the café he was at again.  This time he spotted the familiar hair of his sister.

            He raised his hand to flag her down, and she smiled softly when she saw him. A moment later she joined him at the table. They exchange normal pleasantries as she got her coffee, but they did have to talk about the real reason Natsuo wanted to talk to her.

            “ Fuyumi.” Natsuo started carefully. “You know we need to talk.”

            Fuyumi sighed sadly, taking a sip of her own drink. “I know.”

            Natsuo let out his own sigh. “Fuyumi, I know we didn’t exactly go through the same things growing up, but it was similar enough that I’d like to think we understand what the two of us have been through. So I have to ask, why on earth you thought it was a good idea to keep Touya there?”

            Fuyumi’s eyes were locked on her drink. “I wanted our family back together, for once, I wanted to have a normal family.”

            “Fuyumi, we were never going to be normal.” Natsuo said firmly. “Never. We were created to fulfill an arrogant man’s desperate desire to be the best. We are experiments gone wrong in his eyes, not family.”

            Fuyumi’s eyes welled up. “Maybe, but maybe for once I wanted to not be that. For once I actually wanted to be a daughter and a sister, and not a reject.”

            “Fuyumi, you’ve always been those things.” Natsuo said firmly, moving his hand to cover hers on her cup. “You’ve been the daughter who helped mom with Shouto and I, and would help her cook and bake on the good days. You’re my sister who held us when we cried, patched me up when I tripped during soccer, and was more welcoming than anyone else could have been when you met my girlfriend. You’ve always been those things, to Mom, Shouto, Touya and myself. You’ve been a daughter and sister to those of us that mattered.”

            A few tears escaped Fuyumi’s eyes, and she brushed them away quickly. “But why can’t we be more to him?”

            Natsuo squeezed her hand slightly, and looked down at his own cup. “I don’t know. Maybe the part that could have cared about us burned away in his ambition long ago. Maybe he was never capable of feeling that way. I just don’t know.”

            Natsuo took a deep breath, and then looked back at his sister. “But he doesn’t determine my self worth. He never has, only I do. It’s the same with you, the only person who determines what you are worth is yourself.”

            Fuyumi’s hand now clung to his own, and her other was busy trying to hide her tears.

            They stayed like that for a few minutes as Fuyumi tried to compose herself. Luckily their waiter seemed to know to leave them alone.

            “Thanks Nat.” Fuyumi whispered.

            “Anytime Yumi.” Natsuo said back.

            Fuyumi giggled slightly. “How the heck are you the only sibling who seems to have their issues figured out?”

            Natsuo shrugged. “After I moved out and started working, I started seeing a therapist. It’s been a lot of work, and it hasn’t been easy, but I think I’m in a pretty good place considering everything.”

            Fuyumi let out a small laugh. “UA is making Shouto and Touya see one, and mom has to see one in the hospital. Maybe you all should be sending Endeavor invoices for them all.”

            Natsuo laughed at that. “Hey, if you want to join the rest of our family on the healing train, you could send him your own.”

            “I don’t know Nat, I don’t have any scars like the others do.”

            “Touya and Shouto might have physical scars, but all of us have mental scars from that house. Maybe seeing someone will help you with yours.”

            Fuyumi was silent.

            “Look I’m not saying you have to do it, just think about it.” Natsuo said after a moment. “Not for me, or because of Endeavor, but for yourself.”

            “I’ll think about it.” Fuyumi said quietly.

            “That’s all I’m asking, whether or not you decide to get help, I will still be here for you.” Natsuo gave her hand another squeeze.

            Fuyumi looked down at her cup. “After everything with Touya, I think you might be the only one of my brothers who will still talk to me.”

            Natsuo grimaced at that, she wasn’t completely wrong. Touya was still mad at her, and Shouto wasn’t too happy either. But at least Shouto still tried to update them on Touya’s healing, but it wasn’t anything more. Natsuo was sure that Touya had been radio silent with Fuyumi since the incident.

            “Right now, you need to give them space. You crossed some pretty big lines with Touya, and Shouto isn’t to thrilled about it either.” Natsuo told her. “But you’re our sister. If you can show them that you are trying to get better yourself, they might just be willing to listen to you.”

            “I’ll try Nat.” Fuyumi said quietly.

            “That’s all I’m asking.”

***

Hawks and Dabi both fiddled with their ties in the car nervously. Neither of them were comfortable wearing the nice button downs, sports jackets and ties they were currently wearing, but it was necessary. At least, that’s what they were told.

            Aizawa was driving, glaring at the road as Mic fiddled with the radio stations and gave directions. It was not a great car ride.

            When they pulled up to the commission building, Dabi almost set it on fire right then, if only so this could be over. There were a couple people with cameras outside, which is something the group wanted, but it didn't mean Dabi had to like it. 

            Dabi ran a hair through his recently touched up hair. Thanks to Mina’s magic and nobody startling her this time, it was a solid shade of blue. No red could be seen, and that was the thing Dabi was most grateful for. Unfortunately, Mina’s magic couldn’t cover up his new scaring; it was too new for any make-up, it risked an infection. Dabi had dealt with enough trial and error with his older scars to know not to risk infection with them. His hand ghosted over them as he lowered it. Another reason to do this to the Commission.

            “Ready?” Hawks asked besides him, looking significantly calmer than Dabi knew the bird was feeling.

            “If you guys aren’t out here within two hours, or I don’t receive a code word message from you before then, I’m calling Nezu and we are storming this building.” Aizawa told them. He cracked a small smile. “Feel free to let the Commission know that.”

            Hawks managed a small laugh while Dabi only cracked a smile. With a nod to each other, Dabi opened the door and stepped out, Hawks right behind him. He shut the door, and with a little hesitation, took Hawk’s hand.

            The Commission already thought that Dabi and Hawks were a thing, and it wouldn’t do well for them to go against that right now. It would also lend Dabi public support if they wouldn’t let Hawks out. Dabi and Hawks were by no means back to any semblance of normal, but they could at least agree to put on this act for now.

            The moment their hands clasped, camera flashes went off. Reporters shouted questions as the two made their way to the front doors, hurrying inside to avoid answering them. Once inside, a large imposing man in a suit who just gestured for them to follow him greeted them. They were led to an elevator, and with a simple nod to Hawks, stepped inside and were left alone.

            The elevator had no buttons, but the moment the door closed, it moved. Taking them exactly where they needed to be.

            “This is really creepy.” Dabi whispered to Hawks.

            Hawks shrugged. “It’s the Commission, their favorite pet needs a special way to speak to the higher ups.”

            Before Dabi could respond, the elevator halted, and the doors opened. The two stepped off and entered a normal looking office floor. Hawks squeezed Dabi’s hand and used it to guide him down the hall. They came to a stop in front of a large, dark wood door. The gold plate on the door showed this to be the office of the president.

            “Ready?” Hawks whispered.

            “Sure.” Dabi replied, not willing to admit he wanted to be anywhere but here.

            Hawks gave two firm knocks on the door; they waited for a reply, and then entered.

            The office looked like a typical bigwig office. On the opposite end of the room was a large desk, arguably too large for the amount of space someone needed for their computer and paperwork. It separated Dabi and Hawks from the wall of windows. One wall was covered in large books and expensive looking knick-knacks. The other one seemed to be a shrine to some of the great heroes of the past. Dabi recognized some older hero’s pictures on the shelf, but hanging on that wall were ten pictures, the top ten heroes.

            Dabi hoped he hid is cringe at seeing Endeavor’s face well, and instead put his focus on Hawk’s picture. He looked so serious and fake, so different from the carefree looking man that hung out with the League at the bar. 

            A small pull of his hand brought him back to the room. Behind the too big desk were two women, one sitting at the chair, the other stood just beside her. Dabi recognized the one standing to the side as the handler that had shown up at UA. Hawks continued to tug his hand to get them closer to them. There were two chairs on the two boys side of the desk, but Hawks stopped them before they could sit.

            Standing it was then.

            “Madam President, Ma’am.” Hawks greeted the two with a nod. Dabi nodded at the two as well, not trusting himself to talk in this situation yet.

            “Hawks.” The President greeted. “Thank you for following orders finally.”

            Hawks was silent, and Dabi could feel his hand tense up.

            “We demanded you here today to recall you back to the Commission for training.” The President continued on. “Even with this quirk accident we can spin it in a positive way to the public. This would have been easier had you just come back when it first happened, but we can still work with this. With the new scandal that’s come to light, you will be the new number one hero.”

            The President looked directly at Dabi for that last sentence. Dabi hoped the glare he fired right back was as hot as his flames. She looked back at Hawks.

            “Madam President, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Hawks questioned. Dabi saw the handler and the President’s eyebrows shoot up in shock.

            “Are you questioning us?” The President asked.

            “Madam President, I currently have the capabilities of a teenager. I’m not powerful enough to be number one, not right now.” Hawks told them, voice wavering slightly.

            “We wouldn’t have that problem if you had just come back to us in the first place.” The President said sternly. “We can accelerate some parts of your training again to get you up to an acceptable level. You can go on your patrols and come here for training. Hopefully that will be enough.”

            “You can’t just do that!” Dabi burst out. The two powerful women had mostly been staring intensely at Hawks, but now they were looking at him. “Hawk’s body is developing again. You want him to train at an accelerated rate after patrols? His body will get overworked quickly. He won’t be able to keep up with the rate you want him to go! He could get hurt and be out of the hero game for good.”

            “We wouldn’t have had this problem if he had just come back after the quirk accident like he was supposed to, or even when his handler went to retrieve him.” The President snapped out.  “Besides, he is the Commission's, Hawks needs to do as we say.”

            “You’re speaking about him as if he were your pet.” Dabi snapped back. “Hawks is a person, and he gets to decide what to do with his life.”

            “Hawks is a ward of the Commission, and if he doesn’t want to do as we say, we can make life so much worse.”

            “How? You’re already having him work for you guys and then come back to torture before he gets his two hours of sleep and then it repeats? How can you make his life worse? Are you going to keep him in an actual cage now?"

            "Hawks has been training to be a hero his whole life. He has wanted this his whole life. We are merely helping him achieve his goals, as we promised. Hawks needs to do as he promised and come back to work."

            “He made that deal when he was a child, which is already illegal as hell. On top of that, you are literally going to work him to death. There’s got to be another option that allows Hawks to stay at UA and train at a pace that is better for his body.”

            The President smirked slightly, and Dabi paused. He had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like what she said next.

            “We can always refuse to take Endeavor’s hero license away and clear him of all charges.” The President said, her smirk almost looking as vicious as Dabi's when he had his scars. "That way Hawks can keep training at your little school, and we can keep the number one."

            Dabi growled slightly, he couldn’t help it. “Everybody knows what he’s been doing to my family. The public wouldn't stand for it."

            “Not if we release your newest medical records.” The President’s smile looked almost feral. She held out her hand, and Hawk’s handler put a file in it. The President opened it, and Dabi could see his name, Touya Todoroki, on the top, along with a familiar looking form. It was his release papers from the mental health ward.

            The President looked down and seemed to scan it, humming and tsking as she read through it.

            “See I look through this and I see a young man who buckled on the pressure of having such a great father, and unable to control his volatile quirk.” The President said, voice dripping with fake pity. “And even before this you have a history of self-harm and inability to control your quirk. This certainly lines up with our narrative that you did all that to yourself, and decided to blame Endeavor for your mental instability. It’s such a shame you inherited your mothers physical and mental weaknesses. Maybe they’ll let you be neighbors in the hospital.”

            The only thing keeping Dabi from bursting into flames and burning her and the entire building down was Hawk’s fierce grip on his hand grounding him. But right now this wasn’t about Dabi and what he wanted to do. He could destroy this all when he was back with the League. Right now, the big thing was getting them both to walk back outside. Then he could laugh as he incinerated the president, her screams would be music to his ears.

            "Everyone has already seen the originals, nurses have witnessed it all. My siblings will support everything." Dabi fired back.

            "That can easily be explained as fakes, nurses can be paid off or replaced," the President said with a wave of her hand, "as for your family, do you really think all your siblings will support you? What about Fuyumi?"

            Dabi hesitated for a moment. He didn't know what Fuyumi would do, but he couldn't back down. "Theres been too much time, the public won't believe you."

           "The public is easily manipulated. We have our evidence, we can make more if need be. We run the world, and unless you give us what we want, we will destroy you in the publics eye. You will never be able to be a hero."

            “You’re acting like I care what the public think of me.” Dabi snarled out after a moment, he couldn’t let them see how much this was affecting him, even if he was failing at it. “Even if somehow this story takes off, I’m not going to be a hero. Public opinion doesn’t matter to me.”

            “But if the charges are dropped against Endeavor, then UA will have no reasonable leg to stand on to keep his children under their guardianship.”

Chapter Text

Dabi’s heart dropped and his body started to heat up to the point that Hawks had to let go of his hand. His fire wasn’t appearing yet, but that was because it was building, bubbling up inside him until he actually exploded.

            Dabi opened his mouth to quip back, when a loud boom echoed behind them, and a few pieces of what felt like wood chips hit them in the back. Dabi and Hawks turned.

            In the middle of what used to be the large wooden doors to the office, Miruko stood, leg still poised in the air. 

            “Hey guys, sorry to burst in like this, but nobody was letting me in peacefully.” Miruko said with a smile.

            Dabi and Hawks peered behind Miruko to see several people in the commission uniform knocked out cold on the ground. Dabi was pretty sure he heard Hawks mutter, “oh shit.”

            “Miruko, what is the meaning of this?” The President’s voice shouted from behind the desk. Dabi didn’t dare turn his back on the rabbit hero to look back at the President.

            “The meaning is my best friend has been off the hero scene for a while, and has not responded to any of my text messages for several months.” Miruko strutted in the room as she talked. “Then suddenly I see news alerts that he is hold hands with Endeavor’s suddenly alive-ish son, both of who look like teenagers, walking into the Commissions head office. So I came to get some answers.”

            “We are in the middle of a meeting, you and Hawks can discuss this later.” The President said.

            At this point Miruko had reached the large desk so Dabi could look at everyone. The Presidents desk was covered in some pieces of the door, and the handler had taken cover behind the chair. If everything weren’t so awful, Dabi would almost laugh at the woman cowering behind the chair.

            “See I don’t really do later when it’s about someone I care about.” Miruko took a seat at one of the chairs, crossed her legs, and looked directly in the woman’s eyes. “More importantly, what was that I heard about Endeavor getting his kids back?”

            The President looked flustered for a moment. “I don’t know what you think you heard, but this has absolutely nothing to do with you. I suggest you leave before this starts to effect your career.”

            Miruko laughed. “Madam President, I am currently the top ranked female hero, and someone who was able to make the villain Dabi run away when Hawks and Endeavor could barely stand. You can’t afford to loose me.”

            Dabi bit his lip at that. She wasn’t wrong. Even if the Nomu hadn’t weakened his father and Hawks that day, those are two people Dabi could at least fight. Miruko was completely different. Her style and his own were not a fun match for him.

            The President glared at her, then shifted her glare to Dabi, then Hawks. “I can see we will not be accomplishing much more with this conversation. Mr. Todoroki, you have a decision to make.”

            Before Dabi could respond or shoot a blast of fire at her like he really wanted to, Miruko held up her hand.

            “Hold that thought Todoroki.” Miruko stood up and placed her hands on the desk, leaning on it slightly so she was right in the President’s face. “Madam President here still needs to answer my question.”

            The President huffed. “You are not relevant to the conversation here, Miruko. I don’t have to answer to you.”

            “You might not right now, but considering Endeavor should be locked up and it looks like the only thing Hawks should be fighting right now is acne, I am next to be number one.” Miruko pointed out. “So you better start working with me, or it’s going to be a rough time until you can find a new puppet to replace me.”

            Dabi took this moment to interject. “They want to take Hawks back to train him, and give him a normal hero schedule at the same time. So he would always be working. But Hawks actually wants to stay at UA and learn how to be hero properly. And if Hawks doesn’t come back, they are going to make it seem like I just made up everything Endeavor ever did, forcing Shouto to go back to that monster!”

            Miruko turned her head to look at Dabi, her eyebrows shooting up. “What?”

            “That is not what we will be doing!” The President protested.

            Miruko turned her attention back to the President. “Really? Because that sounds exactly like something you would do.”

            The President glared at Dabi.

            “We are merely trying to make sure Hawks will receive the necessary training to be back in his rightful place.” The President defended, although her voice didn’t hold as much confidence as it once did.

            “No, it sounds like you are either choosing to break Hawks, or break children that have clearly been through enough.” Miruko shot back. She straightened up, removing her hands from the desk. “And I will not stand for it. Neither will the others. So you have a choice to make, either let Hawks train his body as he should and take away Endeavor’s license, or you will lose every single hero under your control.”

            The President gapped like a fish. “You can’t do that!”

            “I can and I will. I will make sure everyone knows about the conversation we’ve had here, and we will watch to see what you do. So it’s you’re choice, and until you make that choice, Hawks and his friend are leaving with me.”

            With that Miruko turned, put one strong hand on each of the two boys shoulders, and pushed them towards the door, ushering them out and onto the elevator they used to come up.

            The moment the doors closed, Miruko rounded on Hawks.

            “Hawks what the actual fuck is going on?” She almost shouted at him. Hawks cringed slightly.

            “Uhh well…” Hawks seemed so unsure of himself in front of her; Dabi was kind of surprised.

            “Long story short this bitch, we only have until this gets to the bottom and we have to face an army of reporters. Tell me I did not just jeopardize my career for something stupid.”

            “We got hit by a quirk that rewound us back to our teenage bodies, and Touya and I have been hiding at UA since.” Hawk’s seemed to almost trip over his words in a rush to give the rabbit hero what she wanted.

            Miruko sighed, gave a glance at Dabi, and then looked back at her friend. “You owe me a whole ass explanation later. For now, is there someone waiting to take you back to UA or are you planning on flying you and your new boyfriend away from the reporters out front.

            “Eraserhead and Present Mic should still be out front waiting to take us back.” Hawks told her.

            “Great.” Miruko turned to Dabi as the elevtor glided to a halt. “Alright little Todoroki, message Eraser that you guys are about to come out, and I am coming with you guys. The little birdbrain has a lot of explaining to do and I am not letting him hide from me.”

            “Just call me Touya.” Dabi told her as he took out his phone to do exactly what she asked.

            The doors slid open to reveal a slightly torn up lobby. A couple planters were broken and a couple more people in commission uniforms seemed to be applying ice packs to rabbit foot shaped bruises.

            Hawks and Dabi both looked at Miruko, who just shrugged. “They weren’t letting me in.”

            She placed her hands on their shoulders again and led them outside of the building. Immediately they were greeted with a wall of flashes and too many people yelling questions for Dabi to keep straight.

            Miruko released Dabi’s shoulder to hold her hand up for silence, which quickly settled over the crowd of journalists.

            “As we can see here Hawks was involved in a quirk accident, rendering him to a younger body, roughly to the point of a high schooler’s.” Miruko announced. “Therefore, the Commission thought it best that until the quirk is reversed or fades away, Hawks will be training at UA High School until he is ready to get back to the big leagues again. It will be a great way to see how the future heroes train.”

            The moment Miruko stopped talking the wall of flashing light began again and the shouting started. Dabi tried to take a step back, but Miruko returned her hand and pushed the two through the crowd to the car that they had crawled out of. Hawks opened the door and climbed in as quickly as he could, Dabi right behind him, and Miruko squeezing in last.

            “Hey Eraser, can you get us out of here?” Miruko asked politely once the door had shut. Eraser didn’t’ even respond, just shifted the car and pulled away, making a few reporters scatter.

            “So Miruko, do what do we owe the pleasure?” Present Mic asked causally, glancing at the back seat. Dabi was sure they made quite an image. Hawks had his massive red wings and Miruko had her insanely long legs, and both were squishing Dabi.

            “Hawks owes me an explanation, and it seemed like these two needed some help up there.” Miruko told him.

            “As much as I’m sure they appreciate it, is there somewhere we can drop you off?” Eraser asked, not even trying to mask his desire to get rid of her.

            “Sorry guys, Hawks and I need a talk, and depending on that talk, I might need to talk to Nezu.” Miruko flashed a smile at the dark haired hero.

            “Great.” Eraser groaned out.

            “Great.” Hawks whispered, speaking for the first time in a while, sounding about as thrilled as Eraser did.