Chapter Text
The onslaught of questions overwhelmed him slightly, but he did his best to answer them and calm his sister down.
“I’m alright, nothing happened.”
The lie was bitter in his mouth, but he couldn’t just say “Oh yeah, I followed a stranger into a dark alley, just about joined the League of Villains, was nearly stabbed this morning and gave multiple criminals permission to kill dad!” That would not go over well. Natsuo at least wouldn’t care much about the last part. But the rest…?
“And I didn’t even say anything, I just failed the provisional license exam.”
Fuyumi hugged him a bit tighter and then let go, only to pull him through the door and start speaking again.
“You know, Natsuo came home for the weekend for once, and then Father came back but you weren’t with him and I got so worried, but he just said that you would be spending the night elsewhere, speaking of that, did you remember what Touya told you to do if this ever happened?”
He nodded. He had remembered, even if he only followed his brother‘s advice to a small degree.
“You can put your stuff away in your room and then can you please go and fetch Natsuo? He has been playing games since he woke up, if he ever went to sleep. I know you probably haven‘t eaten yet, and I‘m not sure if Natsuo got himself some breakfast or if he missed it as well. He can help set the table while I make you some food.“
Shouto nodded gratefully and went upstairs to put his things away. This entire situation was so bizarre. First he got kicked out, then he just walked into the league of villains' base, stayed the night, and if you overlooked Toga's stabbing habit, they hadn't tried to kill him even once.
He entered the hallway between his and his siblings' bedrooms and heard the tv shut down in Natsuo's room. It seemed his brother had noticed the time on his own. The door opened and he was met with Natsuo's face, exhausted from a night without sleep but happy nonetheless.
"Fuyumi said she's making food. I'm going to put my stuff away and then we should set the table."
The silence felt awkward, but then Natsuo nodded sharply and pushed past Shouto into the hallway, beelining for the kitchen. Shouto and Natsuo only ever talked when the older was home, which is to say, rarely. Natsuo had fled the house and moved into his college's dormitory as soon as physically possible. Shouto hadn't had any contact with any of his siblings, Natsuo least of all. Touya’s face was just a frustrating blurr in his mind, most of the memories tainted by bruising pain and the burning sensation that came from training with their father. The others were silent, stolen moments after training when his older brother patched them both up, or in the middle of the night when their father haunted Shouto’s nightmares and Touya had to calm him down before he woke everyone else. Some rare ones pictured them doing things to spite their father’s ideal of how they should behave. Those were his favourites, even though he couldn't remember Touya’s face after all these years, and the only reminder that he even existed was the shrine in his old room.
After Touya’s… accident, for lack of a better word, Fuyumi was the one who patched him up, his nightmares now spent in silent solace. He only ever saw Natsuo from a far, or when their father was out for work during the meals.
Shouto closed Natsuo’s bedroom door and continued on toward his own. He pushed the door open and put his bag on the floor. The walls in his room were bare, safe for the All Might poster that he and Touya had put above his bed out of spite. The only reason Endeavor hadn’t taken it down the moment they hung it up was because they had glued it to the wall with superglue. If he had actually tried, he would have taken out half of the wall together with the poster. The bookshelf was filled with books about martial arts and quirk training. Shouto hadn’t read any of them, and wasn’t planning on ever doing it either.
With his bag safely deposited in his room, Shouto left it there and went to the dining room. Natsuo was already sitting at the table, and Fuyumi was bustling around setting up way too much stuff for a quick, three person meal. Everything was as usual then.
Breakfast went by relatively uneventfully, with Fuyumi asking too many questions he couldn’t answer and Natsuo being silent as he never was when their father was home.
It was when he was sitting back in his room that the truth of his situation came crashing down on him. He‘d actually met the league of villains,
and agreed to help them. Sure, there was something clearly wrong about society with how often Touya and Natsuo had complained about the abuse to the police and other authorities. They were completely blown off once they told the name of their abuser, despite the numerous burns and fresh bandages on Touya and Natsuos burn scars where his wrist met his arm, where an adult might grip too hard when pulling their child with them against the childs whishes.
He would help the league, but he would have to figure out how to do it without alerting his family, without losing them, and all the while try to make the league be less murder-y. It would be easier to change society like that. Stain was proof. The video still had an impact, even weeks later. The HPSC may have tried to delete it, but it was reposted too many times and in places where they had only minimal influence or access.
The second time Shouto visited the league, it was with a bag of ingredients and recipes in hand. He had asked Fuyumi to teach him, but learning was a slow process. He kept cutting the vegetables wrong, and cooking them too short. One time he had actually set off the smoke alarm in the hallway by forgetting to open the window to let the smoke out when making bacon for breakfast. The smoke had traveled through the open kitchen door and set off multiple alarms in the house. Why did they even have that many fire alarms in the home of people who set themselves on fire on the regular? Or maybe that was the reason.
Shouto knocked on the door. It opened, and he was greeted with Dabi’s face. He looked really grumpy, just like Natsuo when Fuyumi interrupted his gaming or like Bakugo when he just woke up and wasn’t yelling yet.
Dabi took one look at his face and went to close the door in Shouto’s face, but he shouldered through. Dabi was surprisingly light in comparison to his build. Probably because he was about as tall as Shouto and didn’t train as much.
The living room/bar space was almost empty, except for Shigaraki, who was sitting silently on the couch playing something Shouto didn’t recognise. There was a cartoon sheep and a lot of blood. It was doing some sort of… sacrifice? Dabi was standing behind him, the look on his face now more pissed off than before. Not quite Bakugo’s level of pissed though. More annoyed and resigned. Like Fuyumi when he really messed up. Actually, the resemblance was incredible for two people who weren’t related. Huh.
Another door opened and Kurogiri stepped in, noticed him, and motioned to the bag in Shoutos hand.
“Groceries?”
“And recipes from my sister. Turns out learning how to cook is taking a bit longer than expected.”
There was a snort from behind him, and Dabi walked past him, snatching the bag out of his hand in the process. He opened the door Kurogiri had just come out of, and walked into what Shouto could now see was the kitchen. He followed, and slipped through the door just as it closed. Dabi only spared him a single glance and began sorting through the food and paper.
“Help or get out.”
Shouto went to help, opening the fridge and putting the vegetables away. The silence was tense. The first time he had stumbled into the hideout, Dabi had avoided him all night and the following morning. He had protested when him joining the league was brought up. Now they were standing together in the kitchen sorting through groceries bought with Endeavours credit card and his sisters recipes.
“I thought you were avoiding me.“
Dabi halted in his action, the cucumber he was about to hand over hanging in the air between them.
“I was. But there’s no point now. You’re going to be around a lot, and I can't avoid you forever. If we ever have to fight together, which I doubt, we have to cooperate with each other well. Infighting is never a good idea in this kind of society.“
Dabi stacked the papers neatly, and put them on the counter. Then he exited the kitchen, leaving Shouto to think about what he said. It was true. They would have to cooperate when it came to fighting against others. Fighting with each other would do them no good. And while Dabi was clearly not overjoyed with having him here, and didn‘t believe he would actually help them, he was nice enough. Nicer than Endeavour at least.
When Shouto left the kitchen Dabi was nowhere to be found. He’d probably went to his room or left the building entirely. Kurogiri was once again standing behind the bar, and Shigaraki had closed his prior game in favor of Animal Crossing. This time his gaming companion was talking to him via the small bluetooth speaker standing on the coffee table. They were speaking quietly, but the voice was definitely someone he knew. He went to sit on the couch, as far from Shigarakis murder hands as possible, but that wasn‘t very far.
“What even is the point of this game?“
The conversation came to an aprupt halt, and Shigaraki turned to him with an unbelieving look on his face. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but the speaker interrupted him.
“Is that you Shouto?“
That was when it clicked. Natsuo‘s voice was clear over the speaker. Wait what. Natsuo? Why was Natsuo playing Animal Crossing with one of the dangerous people in Japan? But considering Shouto‘s own current situation he really couldn‘t talk.