Chapter Text
Shoto was practically buzzing with more energy than he had in years.
His favorite, awesome, older brother was walking beside him like he hadn’t been missing for several years.
Now that he had gotten over his initial shock and he had sorted about the entire interaction with Valentine and Rayne all that was left was the realization.
Touya wasn’t dead. He wasn’t going to snitch him out (not that Shoto ever thought he would to begin with) and Shoto got to show him his little base. It reminded him of how he used to run around trying to find Touya around the house when he learnt a new ice trick- usually from Fuyumi- and even then it was sparse because she didn’t want to ‘break any rules’. Touya always seemed interested if not ecstatic- but then again Shoto usually bothered him when he was doing his homework or his chores.
“So how long have you been a little criminal for Sho?” Touya asked absent timidly, following closely behind him as he led his older brother through the alleys that were quite familiar.
“If you're talking about meeting up with Valentine and Vayne that was only about a week ago” Shoto responded, letting his own mind drift off while he tried to remember the exact details, muscle memory already coming in handy as he navigated the alleys.
Touya hummed vaguely as he trailed behind Shoto, blindly trusting him to not lead him into a gang war, or at least Shoto’s thinks that’s what they’re called from TV. He hasn’t seen one yet. Turning yet another corner, the area around him got more familiar with every step and he pulsed with excitement.
He wanted to run or jump around to burn off even just a little of the energy he suddenly had. He briefly wondered where it had come from being he was exhausted after the entire mission ordeal. Then Touya appeared out of nowhere and then he got a paycheck. In that order surprisingly.
Shoto felt for the plastic bag he had moved to his pocket, his grin slowly growing wider. He had, technically, just done his first job. This proved that he would (in theory) really be fine without having Endeavor ruining his life. And, to make matters even better, Touya was here. Touya.
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t quite over his excitement but it wasn’t every day someone comes back from the dead. He didn’t even have the room nor the energy to be mad after leaving him stuck with Endeavor for all those years. Maybe that would change in the morning, though he doubted it. Maybe in the next month he would re-confront him.
Hearing a chuckle from behind him, he saw Touya staring at him with a fond expression while shaking his head. Slowing to a stop he turned completely around and stopped.
“What’s so funny?” Shoto asked, tilting his head slightly as he tried to look behind Touya in case it was something behind the other like a cat or a dog.
“You. You keep bouncing around everywhere and it’s hilarious” Touya responded in that scratchy yet familiar voice of his, rolling his eyes in mock annoyance as Shoto reeled back. He wasn’t trying to bounce around, although he very much wanted to, on the contrary he was actually trying to act nonchalant- like he wasn’t that affected by the sudden appearance of the other. He had heard Fuyumi explaining to Natsuo that it was adult to act like you weren’t bothered by the little things.
Then again, Touya was going to see his little place, the place he had found and had (somewhat) cleaned up. It reminded him of when he was younger and he would run around trying to find wherever Touya was hiding to show him something new he had learned.
Touya would act excited, and Shoto liked to think he either was or was just really good at acting. Fuyumi also acted impressed but her smile never quite reached her eyes and she was always quick to brush him off. Natsuo didn’t even try to hide his disinterest, much rather opting to play outside or with his video games.
So yeah, he was very excited and restless, but he had good reason to be. He heard Touya laugh again and realized he must have spaced out while reminiscing in the past and he wasted no time rolling his eyes and spinning back around and speed walking down the alley.
“Slow down, Sho, I don’t know this like you do!” Touya protested from behind, sounding much further than he had previously and the sound of hurried footsteps and the sound of trash loudly being kicked around trailing not far behind him. Shoto let his ‘annoyed’ frown turn into a slow grin, noting the teasing tone in the other's voice.
Shoto looked subtly over his shoulder and noted how the others' expression was also decorated with a smile, even after he almost tripped over a random garbage bag that had been torn open. Shoto, in the end, did end up slowing down, just enough that Touya wouldn’t wake everyone in half a mile radius up.
Looking around to try and deduct the quickest way to his little place, he took note of the street that had been desecrated by a rogue villain and knew they would be nearing the bakery building soon. Double checking to make sure they weren't any pro heros, not that there ever had been prior, he darted across the street suddenly, leaving Touya to scramble after him with a confused yelp at the sudden change in pace.
Thankfully, nobody was insane enough to drive a car in this area of town so Shoto didn’t have to worry about being hit, more about being ‘seen’. He wasn’t completely sure his disguise was flawless and he did not want to give anyone any chances to find said flaws. Being out in the empty, moon lit and barren streets was like running across a grassless plain. It didn’t help that the cracks in the tar were hidden by the shadows of the few clouds that had entered the sky at some point.
Touya was not going to have fun running across this.
Luckily, his place was up ahead and was slowly approaching as Shoto slowed down and ducked into another alley, waiting at the entrance for his slow older brother who, like Shoto had guessed, was not doing well with the cracks based on his curses.
It didn’t take long for Shoto to wave the other in before darting around another corner and down a stretch, leaving Touya to grumble and complain about his chosen pace. At this point, they were surrounded by empty and deserted buildings, meaning that Shoto was doing this for no other reason but to mess with Touya.
It brought him comfort.
While he didn’t prank or toy with Touya often before his ‘death’ he still pranked him enough every so often to keep the other on his toes. And, yes, most pranks or jokes were pretty tame being as Shoto had close to no access to the internet and his humor and such were all reflections of the people who did have access to the internet.
He recalled a few times Touyas had pranked him instead of the other way around. A lot of the pranks Shoto pulled on the other was just him reusing the others pranks but watering them down accidentally and making a cheap carbon copy. Now that he thinks about it, his pranks really sucked. Not that he could do much better now- but they still sucked.
With one final turn of the corner, Shoto found himself face to face with the bakery that had provided him shelter when he first ran away and continued to provide that said shelter until now. He stood proudly in front of it before turning around to a panting and exhausted Touya to declare their arrival.
“Ta-da! Here it is!” Shoto proclaimed, bouncing from foot to foot, no longer caring about acting mature or like an adult. Touya looked up from where he was bent over catching his breath and his eyes wandered over the building, exploring it the best he could from the outside before finally responding.
“So, you're gonna give me a tour or what?” Touya panted, his breath coming out in a short burst like he just finished a marathon. Shoto’s face lit up at the mention of a tour and ran over to grab Touya’d hand to yank him inside.
Inside, the bakery’s front was still caved in, the traditional and honey tiled floor in shambles as it was littered with cracks, much like the road. The few booths still surviving weren’t doing much better, the muted colors looking even more bleached under all the dust. The old cash register, empty, he’d checked, was on a crackled marble counter surrounded by several broken displays, ants crawling around, scouting for any remnants of crumbs or sugar, though most of it had already been cleared out.
“Ok, so, um, this is the front! I don’t use this at all but I think this is how you do a tour!” He said, letting Touya catch his breath as he admired his ‘grand’ home. The other didn’t get that much time though because soon he was being whipped around the rest of the place with short and quick explanations of each of the small rooms.
Shoto ignored the semi-concerned look at the mold growing in the corner of a blocked off roof. Probably for the best it stayed sealed shut. That didn’t stop them from ending up in the managers office, the bathroom ending up adjacent from said office.
Inside was the large wooden desk he often used as a bed, his plastic and cracked organizer that’s weel had somehow mysteriously disappeared one day stored away in a corner whilst packed to the brim with stuff that was semi sorted. Maybe that’s why it was cracking. He did have more stuff in the top drawer less the bottoms
“And this is the main room! I use this one for almost everything being it has the least mold and holes in the ceiling and walls” Shoto proudly finished, spinning around to gauge Touya’s reaction. Touya was smiling fondly again as he looked around, noting the lack of holes compared to the huge one in the front and the football sized ones in the other rooms.
“This is pretty impressive, Sho. How’d you find it?” Touya continued, looking behind Shoto and out the window and at the broken glass and depressing view,
“I just… wandered around a bit. This seemed like the most sturdy and durable building compared to some of the others… Plus I was tired” Shoto said, trying to remember exactly how he had found them a while ago. Said ‘while ago’ feeling like yesterday
“Where do you sleep then?” Touya asked and in turn Shoto pointed to the blanket and backpack half underneath the desk. Touya stared at him blankly before asking again “Do you not have a mattress?”
Shoto shook his head. He had been looking for one but the few he had actually dragged in had mice and rot inside, the others on the street not faring much better if not worse. He should look into finding a decent one being he had money now, which, speaking of, how much did Vayne even pay him? Had they even agreed on a set price? Shoto wracked his memory but it came up empty, his brain exhausted compared to the ball of energy his body was.
Touya looked outside at the moon high up in the sky, as if trying to come to a conclusion before he spoke again.
“Well, I don’t know about you but I’m pretty tired… I don’t suppose you have a second blanket?” Touya asked while staring at Shoto’s bed and Shoto suddenly felt nervous, all that energy disappearing within moments.
“No… you can use mine though!” Shoto said, glad to offer up something as simple as a blanket, if anything it just helped to prove that Touya was really here and this wasn’t just some dream. Touya shook his head, though, and waved his hand.
“I couldn’t take your blanket. Plus, I was mostly joking, I can use my quirk for the small things, especially since I’ll be using it a lot more” Toiuya responded, letting a small plume of blue flames erupt from his hands, barely the size of 3 quarters and Shoto stared at the flames warily, remembering the last time he had used his flames.
It was like 3 hours ago. He needs to stop acting dramatic.
“Are you sure? Where are you going to sleep?” Shoto asked, looking around the room and not noticing any areas that held a resemblance of comfort much less enough to even replicate a bed. Not that Shoto’s ‘bed’ was all that great.
Touya seemed to notice his mood shift, because of course he did, and looked around in turn.
“...I was sleeping all of yesterday so I’m not that tired. Plus, in a week I should have a… steady flow of money. Sorta” Touya replied, shrugging and choosing to sit down near the organizer and sifting through the snacks. Shoto tried to look at his brother to see if any part of him looked or seemed tired but his search came up empty. It didn’t help that the bottom of his eyelids were-
“What happened to you. Exactly?” Shoto asked, clearly taking Touya off guard being that he all but dropped the bag of chips he had grabbed and stared at Shoto, yet he stared back- equally determined to get an answer that wasn’t ‘I died’.
“...What?” Touya asked, suddenly sitting up straighter and returning Shoto’s intense gaze, and as unusual it was to have all of his older brother's attention on him like this, he stood his ground, taking a quiet yet shuddering breath.
“What happened to you exactly? What do you mean you ‘died’? And what’s with the burns?! Natsuo said you were dead- and so did everyone else. Endeavor said they found your jawbone and nothing else- there’s no way you could’ve survived. What happened?!” Shoto said, finally breaking as all the energy he previously had crashed into him and left him defenseless, the actual severity of the situation coming back for a round too.
Why had he been so quick to roll with Touya’s half-baked answer. Did he not deserve an explanation? He wouldn’t force Touya but it wouldn’t quell his nerves in the slightest. Touya stared at him, his eyes widening in alarm and a slight panic and Shoto realized his cheeks were wet. When had he started crying?
“Shoto…” Touya started, his hand reaching out before falling back towards him limply. He heard Touya sigh and look down at the half spilt bag of chips between them. Touya stared for a moment longer before looking back up, his eyes meeting Shoto’s and he was hit with a sense of deja vu.
Something similar had happened years ago. Before the incident, Touya still stayed up late with him telling him secrets. Touya had been avoiding him and been more agitable, and Shoto confronted him similarly, or as close to considering the gap in his age between now and then. Touya had admitted then that Endeavor had been being extra mean to mom and Touya had to keep coming to her defense- and on top of helping parent Natsuo, Shoto, and Fuyumi, he had been overwhelmed and to top it off one of his friends had apparently been a fake.
Of course, Touay didn’t unload all of that onto a child, only half of it did Touya reluctantly tell him and the other half Shoto had been able to deduct. It was then that their little tradition of ranting and listening to each other began.
And he they were now. Shoto once more demanded answers.
“How about I tell you tomorrow morning, I’m tired and it’d probably go smoother if we both had sleep” Touya finally replied, a slight plea lacing his tone.
“You just said you weren’t tired.” Shoto blanked and Touya looked like a deer in headlights before smiling weakly and forming a reply, his voice strained.
“Yes, well, I’ve changed my mind. How about that blanket?”
------------ POV switch.
Dabi watched Shoto’s chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm, reaffirming that he was, in fact, asleep before Dabi draped the blanket back over his younger brother's frame.
It had taken a bit of convincing and negotiating but Dabi had finally managed to get Shoto to wait until the next morning under the guidelines that he wouldn’t lie or put it off, and they could go to a park the following day. Why a park was quite beyond him.
Sighing, he leaned back against the wall and stared dead ahead. He wasn’t lying when he said that he wasn’t tired, or maybe that wasn’t quite the word. He was positive he was running off solely on adrenaline from the night's events stacked onto the day prior.
He shifted his gaze from the wall to where Shoto had fallen asleep, an exhausted but happy smile slowly itching on his face. At least now he could worry less about Shoto being kidnapped and tortured in some basement- which wasn't too far a step down from dealing with Endeavor.
Dabi pushed himself up, deciding the room was too stuffy for the time being and deciding to go outside and take a walk. While being away from Shoto now that he had just found him was scary, the thought of Shtoo waking up and thinking he had left again was even worse, but if his brother had been missing for as long as the poster said, he should be fine.
Plus, Dabi wouldn’t be outside for any longer than he had to be, if anything he would circle the building while he tried to fabricate an answer.
While Shoto had been surviving on the streets by himself for a considerable amount of time, he had no idea if the kid had witnessed any crimes beyond maybe a mugging. Even if he did, how did Dabi excuse burning down an entire building. With people inside. Including kids.
Being overwhelmed and a little murderous wasn't the greatest answer one could supply, especially after reuniting with their sibling for 3 or more years.
He shook his head and walked out into the brisk and cold air, the chill biting and nipping at him until he finally snapped out of his thoughts and lit up his hands, the flame spiking before dying down to its desired size. Dabi was getting better at the entire ‘control’ thing, considering he had been out of touch for so long.
Looking around, he took the alley beside the building and walked into the darkness, slightly increasing the opacity of his flame so he wouldn’t trip on an arm or something. Letting the flame flicker around, he sighed for the hundredth time that night as he recalled his conversation with the ‘boss’ earlier.
…
Dabi wandered into the back of the second looking sketchy bar he had come across that night. When he arrived at the bar, 5 minutes early, mind you, Ratchet had redirected him twice, the man already drunk somehow like he had never left in the first place.
From then he had to walk around the city trying to find this super stereotypical bar that everyone had different directions for. One lady said it was north two blocks and then left, a man said it was a corner up ahead and the old grandma said it was 2 hours from here. Dabi could confirm no police would ever be finding that cursed bar.
Finally, after wandering down the first alley he saw so he could take out his anger on a dumpster, he had seen the correct bar from a broken window over and was able to have his first interview.
That’s where he is now.
Dabi looked up at the man in front of him, a man with an apparent bug quirk and black hair. Dabi tried to figure out what bug it was but came up blank.
“So, your name is Dabi, correct?” ‘Boss’ says, lacing his hands together and staring at Dabi with a stare that seemed to pick him apart. Little did they know he was used to those same looks being given at him from his father. It hadn't hurt him and he’d be damned if a stranger stare made him anxious.
Nodding, Dabi responded, “Yep, and you are?” Dabi pressed, inwardly hoping he wasn't breaking some mafia/gang rule by speaking a certain way. The man chuckled before smiling in a creepy- mask murderer way.
“Call me Koorogi, that’s the name I use in the underground. I suppose ‘Dabi’ is nothing more than an alias either?” ‘Koorogi’ asked, reaching a hand out to shake his hand as Dabi eyed it warily.
“You could say that…Now onto the point of this meeting?” Dabi said, cautiously accepting the other hand before looking up at the other with the same stare, albeit less hatred, he used with Endeavor. Well, one of them.
Koorogi chuckled again, the freak, before nodding and sliding a folder over and once more lacing his fingers together while Dabi eyed the folder like it was dynamite.
“Everything you’ll need is in there. I know Ratchet should’ve had a conversation with you but I can’t trust the brute not to get things mixed up,” The man rolled his insect eyes before refocusing on Dabi “Take as much time as you want to read it but once you sign it your stuck here for quite the while” The man warned, and Dabi finally opened the folder.
Inside it was a few sheets of paper packed to the brim with text, an actual crime to the eyes and Dabi glanced up to see if the man was serious.
He was.
So Dabi read them- more like skimmed over it. Which, you shouldn't due when you have to sign said contract with a mafia, but he had very few goals in life anyways, one of which would probably get him murdered on sight (cough, cough, Endeavor)
To sum it all up, the paper says he will get paid per body, that he has to come in if there's an emergency, blah blah blah. Apparently, the old guy who did this job, a man with maggot quirk, had ratted them out meaning he was no longer with them.
Anyways, Dabi scanned over it a second time before looking up again and meeting Koorogi’s expectant eyes. Dabi hadn’t seen anything about giving them his organs or joining a cult, and the money was… enough. Of course, he wasn’t totally on board by depending on some gang's bloodlust for his (potential) apartment rent. The chances of this kind of opportunity, if you could even call it that, came up again was extremely low though, so this was most likely a once in a lifetime offer.
Holding in the want to sigh, he grabbed the pen that had appeared in front of him, courtesy of Koorogi, and then he signed the paper, using his alias of course.
…
Dabi turned the corner, nearing his second lap, and winced at the memory.
Probably not the best idea to sign a contract he had skimmed over, but he hadn’t even been aware of Shoto’s situation at the time. He had thought it had either been a ploy by Endeavor or that Shoto would want nothing to do with him if he was actually kidnapped.
On the plus side, if all went well with the little gang he had joined, yay, he would be able to get an apartment for Shoto-
How was he going to explain that to Shoto?! If he thought mass murder with fire was bad how would he explain him literally hiding evidence?! Shoto wasn’t dumb, it’s not like he could just lie and say he got a night shift at a gas station.
Dabi stopped, just shy of leaving the alley and looked up at the sky to where the moon was now covered by thick and hazy clouds, shoving his hands into his pockets he sighed, again, and let a conflicted frown breach his face.
It will be a long night.
—----------- POV switch;
When Shoto woke up, he was actually surprised to find himself in his room and not dead in an alley somewhere. He would’ve thought that that entire fiasco would’ve left him murdered in some dimly lit backstreet, especially with the fire. Then he reunited with Touya-
Wait.
Touya.
Shoto bolted upright, the blanket he hadn’t remembered falling asleep with falling off as he frantically looked around the room for the confirmation that it wasn’t all some sick and twisted dream. He searched for any sign of a second person being in the room but it all looked the same to him.
No objects seemed moved by a foreign person, excluding the little organizer but he had probably eaten something out of there in a sleep induced daze. He sighed and rubbed his eyes to get rid of any sleep still lingering on before pushing himself into an upright position, stumbling before regaining his balance.
Plus, the person that Shoto had thought was Touya was covered in burns and had black hair, a stark contrast to what he last looked like. To be fair, Shoto has had a lot of his appearance changed since then too, from the recent hair dye to the not so recent scar. The difference between the two photos hadn’t been declared dead years ago.
Realizing he hadn’t bothered to change out of his clothes, for some reason, he shrugged and went to go find something to do. Maybe find a jar to put his money in. He did regret sleeping in his ‘bed’ with somewhat dirty clothes on. It wouldn't necessarily hurt him but he didn’t really have access to a working washer so his options were kind of limited.
Shoto wandered out into the hallway, stretching his arms a bit out of habit, and starting thinking about what he could do today. He couldn’t stalk the alleys way as per usual until it was night, going out in public, even with semi dyed hair was also still a no-go. It was around mid-day, meaning he wouldn't have to wait long to do any of his current ideas, but the thought of just sitting around didn’t quite sit with him (pun not intended)
Steering his way towards the front of the building, hoping staring at a wall would somehow spark a decent idea of what he could do for the day.
“Took you long enough to wake up”
Shoto’s head shot up and he found himself staring at the same guy that he thought he had dreamed about, then like a freight train, the memories were hurled at him as everything that happened the previous night proved to, in fact, not be a dream.
“Touya?!” Shoto half asked, half stated, his feet frozen to the ground. Touya seemed to wince for a fraction of the second before rolling his eyes with faux annoyance.
“You keep acting surprised about that, this is like the 3rd or 4th time in the past 24 hours,” Touya stated, pausing to push an instant ramen cup into his hands, small puffs of steam curling around the lid. “It’s kinda been sitting around but I tried to keep it warm” Shoto was going to question how Touya had even made the ramen, being that the bakery being that almost all the appliances were fire hazards but Touya beat him to it by lighting up his finger.
“Why…?” Shoto tried asking, looking back up from where he had been staring at the cup noodles and fixing his stare to be fixated on Touya. Touya shrugged before responding, “I had nothing better to do,” he said, pausing before steering the conversation away “So… how have you been?” he asked, and Shoto noted how similar Touya and Fuyumi acted when they tried to start a conversation.
“Good… what about you?” Shoto tried, not really knowing where to start. There was a lot he wanted to ramble about to Touya, like he had always done prior to Touya dying, which was a whole other thing he still really had to ask Touya, and he would respond, if last night was anything to go by.
Shoto didn’t ask though. He wasn't sure if it would ruin the mood, and he could always ask whenever, it's not like Touya was going anywhere. Hopefully.
“Also good…” Touya responded, the two descending into a semi awkward silence, neither of the two wanting to actually ruin the already tense (?) mood. Shoto considers asking about what happened while Touya had been gone all those years as he stirred the cup ramen with the wooden chopsticks, the puffs of steam slowly fading, leaving only a few stray whisps.
He thought about confronting him. To get an answer that would explain why Touya had disappeared, because why else would he leave Shoto alone. After all the promises and vows to take him with him when he eventually got a job and an apartment.
Why else would Touya have been declared dead? Leaving the entire family grieving, even after all the years passed. Even Endeavor had been shocked, completely postponing all his ‘training’ to attend interviews and meetings, whether it was a ploy to fix his PR or because he actually had cared a little (which Shoto doubted)
Touya’s ‘death’ was the 3rd pillar to fall, the first and second being marrying Endeavor and having his kids. The fourth pillar was Endeavor abusing her, thus leading to the collapse of the grand building, resulting in Shoto’s scar, a mere casualty in the downfall.
But, doing so would be just as awkward as Touya’s attempt to start small talk, and to further that, Shoto already had Touya’s promise that when he asked he would respond as truthfully as he could, which was also reassuring because Touya had very few promises broken, at least those made to Shoto.
“So,” Touya paused again, leaning back on the old and dated bakery equipment, his eyes wandering around the room without making direct eye contact, “What do you usually do all day?” He asked, his foot slightly tapping on the ground.
Shoto shrugged, wounding the noodles around the chopsticks before taking a bite, immediately noticing the store bought and cheap flavor which was quickly replaced with a chicken and carrot flavor.
“I usually wander around…sleep…,” Shoto tried his best to reply after he finished slurping the noodles, trying to remember what else he usually did, and he was a bit ashamed to find out that he really did close to nothing all day, everything interesting tending to happen when the sun disappeared behind the buildings and the moon tools its place.
Touya hummed, unimpressed as he raised an eyebrow, clearly about to make some comment joking about how Shoto was the ‘embodiment of sloth’ even if it were far from the truth, and Shoto made sure to clarify what he meant almost immediately after.
“I’m less recognizable in the dark and it’s easier to blend in to the environment” Shoto reassured, watching Touya roll his eyes again before letting a smile creep its way on his face.
“Well since I don’t have any plans either… Wanna find a card game or something while we wait for the sun to set?
Shoto couldn’t have agreed faster.
—----------- POV switch;
Touya had no idea what Shoto meant when he brought up going to a park halfway through their game of go-fish.
After a while of looking for playing cards, including rummaging through Shoto’s collection of things he had stolen, because he apparently stole things now, he had said ‘screw this’ and grabbed a bunch of scrappy newspaper and a pen and made his own DIY cards.
It was a little hard to read the numbers and shapes on a few of the cards but he had tried to get weathered and bled through newspapers for that exact reason, and being some of these newspapers were surprisingly old, it wasn’t hard to find some. Of course, some of the ‘cards’, the spades specifically, had all been drawn on paper that did not make the numbers or shapes stick out, so those were obviously harder to read.
Touya had to debrief Shoto on the rules of the game, which was followed by a few practice round, which lead to them playing for quite awhile, until Touya got a little sick of losing and decided to teach Shoto another game, crazy 8, in which Touya actually had the upper hand (only because he actually had some experience playing prior to this while Shoto was winging it)
He called it quits though once the sun when down and they could leave the stuffy building (Not because Shoto was kicking his but)
Which leads them to right now, the sun almost fully set and the last of its rays swallowing the sky in a yellow and reddish embrace. Touya listened while Shoto talked about something, occasionally providing his own 2 cents when asked a question.
It’s not like he wasn’t listening, he was soaking up every moment of this Endeavor-free time with his younger brother, but he couldn’t help but feel on edge.
He hadn’t seen any posters up for him, which would make sense because according to Shoto he was actually proclaimed dead (he would divulge later) but he was almost unrecognizable to what he used to look like. Not only was he older, but he had scars and a completely opposite hair color. The only similarities being things like his eyes, which, who would look at his eyes and make a connection to the dead kid from a while back? And that was if Endeavor even made his death public.
Shoto, on the other hand, had dyed hair (navy blue- the color he had wanted had it not been for the little thief-) but that was it. Touya had tried his ebay to burn every poster he came across but they were plastered everywhere, especially in public places which he had taken to avoiding.
He also had a very obvious and recognizable scar that was far from easy to hide. So, yes, Touya was listening and responding vaguely whilst keeping an eye out for any heroes or money-hungry civilians lurking around.
“And that’s how I found this park! I think it’s pretty cool- I don’t know how to use those things though- or that?” Shoto said, concluding the story that Touya had been following before pointing to a few playground toys he had long forgotten the names of as well as a tire swing.
Thinking back, Shoto had never really been to a playground. Always training or locked up away from the public eye unless it would help boost his future hero career. Following that, the only time Shoto had probably seen a tire was in that stupid ‘training/ gym’ room.
Then Touya had an idea.
“Hey, Sho, you wanna see how to use the tire swing?” Touya asked, jutting a thumb towards the tire swing. Shoto looked confused at the wording before the realization hit him and his face lit up with that rare childish excitement. Or rather rare for Shoto.
Speaking of, Shoto nodded feverishly and bolted towards the swing, stopping next to it, not knowing where to go from there as he waited for Touya to follow, excitement pulsing through him as he jumped foot from foot.
The sun had almost completely disappeared in the few moments Touya had his attention detached and now the moon was high above, the very last strings and wisps of the sun's glow barely peaking in between the building.
At least Shoto's hair would blend in with the night well.
Touya followed in tow, and gave Shoto the basic rundown on how to hold on to the horizontally hung tire, grabbing the edges and pulling backwards before taking a few steps back, his arms already heaving from lifting the sudden weight after leaving them idle for a few years.
“Are you ready?” Touya asked, peeking his head around to try and see if Shoto was having any second doubts or if he had wanted to try a different piece of equipment out but Shot just nodded his head once more, eagerly confirming his question with a ‘mhm!’ and a mix of ‘please’ and ‘hurry’,
Lifting the swing higher before letting go taking a few steps back so as to not become a casualty, he let go. Shoto’s laughter almost immediately filled the air as he almost crashed into a pole (oops) and Touya was hit with a stage mix of deja vu and nostalgia.
Touya laughed back, although much quieter and smokey, a con of being burnt alive. Touya stepped forward as the swing lost momentum and pulled it back onwards, continuing the cycle.
Touya smiled, and he realized that hey, he might be becoming an official villain and going down a path he can't turn back on, but now he has Shoto with him- and in the end that was really all that mattered. The one family member who actually listened and he listened in tow.
All was okay.
It would be fine.
That’s what Dabi thought until he saw the familiar outline and flames of a certain hero.