Chapter Text
Touya and Tenko began their patrol as the sun was starting to dip behind buildings and settle behind the horizon. While they started on the main road, they quickly moved on to walk between and behind buildings. While Touya lazily looked around them, Tenko was angrily typing away at his phone. From the buzzing of his own phone in his pocket, Touya could tell he was most likely messaging in the League’s group chat. It was a normal evening on all accounts.
“If you keep typing that hard, you’re gunna crack your phone screen,” Touya said, casting Tenko an unimpressed look. Tenko didn’t even spare him a glance, instead opting to flip him off with his partially gloved hand.
“I’m surrounded by fucking idiots. Twice took Toga to go patrol, and I told them how many times to, one, not fucking take Toga, and, two, wait until it was actually dark out. And, I have a feeling they’re trying to hunt down our guy which is fucking ridiculous.” He huffed and threw a hand up in the air at another text that came. “Fuck it. If they get arrested or sent to another fucking reality that’s on them. Why do I deal with these idiots?”
“Cause you’re a sad sack of shit that attracts strays.”
“That’s you not me. You saw the high school runaway who attempted to stab you three separate times and thought ‘ah perfect let me call Tenko he has a spare room’. You also literally pick up strays.” Tenko leveled Touya with a glare. Touya just rolled his eyes.
“Anyway, enough of that shit, we do have a guy to catch.” Touya didn’t deny the claims made against him. He folded his arms behind his head as he walked. “And I’m honestly sick and tired of looking fo this reality whatever bullshit guy. I’m considering just roasting the guy once we finally see him. Two birds, one stone.”
“-You know, isn’t that kinda morbid considering-”
“-Ohhhh no Madame President, I’m soooooo sorry my quirk got out of control, and I accidentally killed the one guy you wanted under custody so you could use his quirk to your fucked up advantage. And ohhh no I don’t have to deal with the arrest either. Crazy.”
“You’re going to land yourself into quirk rehabilitation training… Again .” Tenko was back to tapping away at his phone, but this time it seemed less angry and frantic. “Anyway, I think his quirk is interesting though. It’s kinda like-”
“I swear to god if you bring up your stupid ass video game character again I’ll put you into quirk training.” Tenko stopped walking to stare at Touya who turned around as he continued to walk, smirking at the younger man.
“I hate you so fucking much,” Tenko started, “Next family dinner I’m kissing Natsu straight on the mouth in front of you as many times as possible and I’ll make sure to bring up my ‘stupid ass video game character’ with him and Spinner any time you’re around either of them.”
Touya pulled a face and turned back around. “I still don’t see what he sees in you.”
“Says the person who called me his best friend.”
“I was a CHILD.”
“You were sixteen.”
“My exact point.”
Before their bickering could continue, there was the sound of an argument a building down. Both underground heroes paused, watching as a man was tossed out on his ass from the back exit of a bar. He clamored to his feet, shouting slurred profanities at the bulky bouncer who slammed the door shut in his face. Despite being locked out, he scrambled to his feet and proceeded to pound on the door incoherently shouting all the while.
Touya and Tenko shared a look, really not wanting to deal with a drunk right now. Unfortunately, he seemed to cause enough of a ruckus to warrant the bouncer to open the door back up, shouting about calling the cops if he doesn’t leave. Both heroes sighed. The faster they escort the drunken man away, the faster they can move on with their night. They exchanged another look and Tenko was already poised for a single round of rock-paper-scissors. Touya glared at him but obliges. Aaand he loses.
Touya heaved a sigh and walked up to the bar, grabbing the drunk by his collar. “C’mon. Save the last of your dignity and fucking walk away,” he grumbled. The guy struggled under Touya’s grip and began bitching. The bouncer looked skeptical and hesitant but when Touya waved him off, it seemed to be enough to get him back in the building. Touya led the drunk guy away towards the street.
“Listen get your ass home or we will call the cops. I do not have the time to deal with you tonight, alright?” The guy slurred back a response. Touya let go of his collar, giving him a light shove toward the sidewalk. Before he could get out one last retort, there was a loud metallic thump and a short cry.
Touya whipped around to see Tenko back in the alleyway and collapsed on the ground. A man loomed above him, holding Tenko’s metal bo staff. The description they were given for their target was vague at best, but with what few details they could get, this man matched them.
“Well, it’s my lucky day I guess.”
Touya took off at him as the man leaned down, reaching toward Tenko. Before he could get a hand on him, Touya knocked him back, hands flaming at his side. He was expecting more of a fight, but the guy just scrambled back after catching himself and ran off, leaving the bo staff in his wake. Touya gave a worried glance towards Tenko who was still disoriented before sprinting off after the guy. The chase takes the two of them through the back alleyways and at one point they even run out onto the street and continue on through the shadows of the city. A long time ago, Touya realized he was not made for endurance or much close combat so he needed to end this before he keeled over. A burst of flame caught the guy in the arm who finally seemed to be slowing down. Right when Touya thought he had him cornered, the man lunged at him, fingers grazing the exposed skin of his forearm. Immediately the world began to shift and spin.
“You aren’t who he wanted, but you should do just fine,“ was the last thing the man said before leaving Touya to collapse on the damp ground as the most intense vertigo he’d experienced set in.
As the vertigo reached its peak, Touya’s vision whited out for a split second before his vision began to clear. The vertigo subsided and a dull headache took its place. Despite the fact his head stopped spinning, Touya heaved up what was left of his dinner. He felt disgusting, wiping his mouth and struggling to his feet. It took him a moment to gain his bearings before the reality of what happened settled in. That guy had used his quirk on him. His stomach lurched again as he looked down at his hands. Dark purple, gnarly scars threatened to inch further down his hands as staples held it to the healthy skin. He needed to figure out who he was in this reality and fast.
Touya patted down the hoodie and sweatpants he now wore, looking for a phone. He came up with two: a cheap burner phone and an older model smartphone with a destroyed screen. He tried the smartphone first, opening up the camera to get a better look at his face. Just like his hands, the purple scarring crawled up his neck and onto his face, medical staples keeping everything together. Touya faintly thought that maybe this is what he would look like had they not figured out how to reduce the damage from his quirk. He grimaced which pulled uncomfortably at the staples. Not wanting to dwell much longer on his appearance, he moved on to his phone contacts. The smartphone held only a handful of contacts, most of which seemed to be the League. Crusty was Tenko. Lizard had to be Spinner. Stabby Bitch was no doubt Toga. He switched phones once he scrolled through some of the conversations. He had growing suspicions of who he was in this reality. The burner phone turned up with only one contact, Pretty Bird. Some things didn’t change. Their conversations, though, were dull. Most of it was Touya listing a location and time.
He switched phones one last time to hopefully get answers on who he was and what was going on here. A search for Himura Touya turns up nothing relevant. With a frown, he reluctantly types in Todoroki Touya which is more successful but only presents him with an article from when he was thirteen. It explains a quirk accident that occurred on Sekoto Peak, leaving the area razed and the only remains being a piece of jaw bone. While he clearly didn’t actually die then, it did most likely explain the extensive scarring. The next search he does is for his hero name. Clearly, he never got shipped away to be trained at the Commission and forced to be a hero, but perhaps something will turn up. The name Dabi does churn up some results, and, well, he’s not so sure how he should feel about it. Dabi in this reality is an S-rank villain with the League of Villains. Interesting that the League still remains here, but rather than being a ragtag Vigilante group, it is a notorious villain group. Looking into more recent news of Dabi, Touya finds the articles and videos of the high-end attack on Endeavor where Hawks was present. Well, that was interesting.
Deciding that he had enough information, for now, Touya is met with a dilemma. He had no idea how this quirk worked so he had no idea when, how, or if he could return back to his own reality. Until he could get that information, he needed to lay low and his options were very limited. The only person he felt like he could trust right now is most likely a spy that this version of him has an ambiguous relationship with. It was better than nothing and definitely better than the League right now who seem to be puppeteered by a villain Touya thought was long dead, though clearly wasn’t in this reality. So, to Keigo’s he goes.
Touya spent more time trying to find out if he knew where this Keigo lived, which landed him outside of the apartment building they both lived in back in his reality. Once again, though, he was at an impasse. He couldn’t use the front entrance like a normal person because, well, he wasn’t a normal person now. He was left with no option but to find his way onto the balcony. Touya quickly came to the realization that even while his body normally protested at highly strenuous activity, this body was really not having it. Despite the fact a large number of nerves were fried, his skin pulled in uncomfortable ways and his joints ached and twinged. He was relieved when he finally reached the balcony, collapsing with his hands on his knees for a moment to regain his composure. Once he gathered himself, Touya finally took a look into the dark apartment.
Even though he had the address in his phone’s notes, Touya questioned if Keigo actually lived here. It looked sterile, like out of a catalog. The only sign someone lived here was Keigo’s hero uniform strewn across the living room. Boots were kicked off by the door, his jacket was tossed over the back of the couch, and his visor and headphones were set on the coffee table.
Touya was quiet as he slid open the glass door and stepped into the apartment. As he was closing the door, Keigo came out from the small hallway leading to the bedrooms with two primaries in hand, looking alarmed but like he had just gotten out of bed. Touya took note of how Keigo only relaxed some when he recognized Touya and stowed his feathers away. Despite the look of nonchalance, Touya watched how Keigo’s fingers twitch near the primaries, ready to act if necessary. Not great but he supposed it was to be expected.
“Dabi? You forget something, hot stuff? You know you coulda just given me a ring?” Keigo asked, trying to sound flirty and smooth. Touya felt gross to be put at a distance like this, but he had to remind himself that this isn’t his Keigo.
“Sorry.” Touya paused for a moment, remembering the stilted text conversations and how it was just nicknames and his hero name used. “Sorry Hawks, I uh… Listen I had some issues. A quirk accident, and I need to lay low for now.”
“And why not with the League?” Hawks asked, seeming to relax some more though he looks confused.
“I gotta lay low from them too.”
Hawks narrowed his eyes at Touya. “Okaaaay… What kind of quirk accident?”
Touya knew he wouldn’t be able to pull one over on Keigo and he needed the help anyway, so he might as well rip the bandaid off now. “Maybe we sit down for this?”
Hawks sighed and nodded, gesturing to the couch and armchairs. “Alright Dabi, this better be good.”