Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The League of Villains is fighting with a group of Pro heroes and some students of 1-A as per the fucking norm at this point. 

Dabi is concentrating his efforts on the pros, actively avoiding the students having no interest in fighting them, that’s more Shigaraki’s deal than his. Plus, he is not about hurting kids… kidnap them yeah, (but he was ordered to do that) burn a forest around them to flush them out yeah, (also ordered to do that) scare them fuck out of them (who doesn't like scaring people?) yeah but never, NEVER, actually hurt them. 

He’s not a child abuser. And Fuck anyone who thinks otherwise. 

He has his hand up to throw a blast at an unsuspecting hero whose back is to him when he hears one of the students yell out in pain and quickly followed by the green-haired kid calling out “Kacchan!!” He turned towards the first sound seeing one of the many goons they got with them leave the Bakugou kid on the ground bleeding heavily from a knife wound to the abdomen.

Ice blue eyes widen slightly and he’s moving before he even fully registers what is happening or about to happen as he sees Endeavor prepare for an attack. 

The flame hero doesn't see the fallen student in his attack path and if he does, he sure as hell doesn't act as if he cares. 

Dabi's feet kick up dust as he slides to a stop, dropping immediately to cover Bakugou with his whole body and a hand in blond hair to keep him down as bright flames erupt over them. He feels his jacket and shirt burn away under the flames, feels the staples on his back heat up from the fire that is not his own and burns into the healthy skin they are attached to, and he grits his teeth to the pain because like hell was he going to move and let those flames hit the kid below him. 

“Fuck! Stop!” He yells curling himself over the young hero even more as Bakugou tries to move. Half at the moving teen and half at the flame hero who was still sending flames out. “You’ll die if his flames touch you!” He yells as the fire doesn’t let up making the teen freeze under him as realization hit him that the Villain wasn’t trying to hurt him but to save him. 

Dabi squeezes his eyes shut in pain as healthy skin begins to burn and he thinks he blacks out for a moment or two or maybe more than that because the next thing he knows he is hearing yells of “Don’t fucking touch him!” “Stay back!” “He was protecting him!” “Back off man!” “You might want to rethink moving closer!” “Don’t think we won’t hurt you, dudes!” 

He groans and shifts careful of his back feeling the skin pull and tighten as he tries to get up. He is caught around the waist by a strong arm, and he nearly flinches back seeing bright red hair before he recognizes the hardening quirk kid. 

“Careful man, you got burned pretty badly…” the kid is saying to him, but it doesn't fully register in his head as he looks around seeing the students of 1-A that were in the fight surround him in a tight circle. But they are not poised to attack him; they are facing away from and towards the pro heroes who were nearby. Pros who are incredibly angry-looking. 

“The fuck are you doing?” He asks the kids looking at them in disbelief. /They cannot really be doing this. Right? / 

“You protected one of ours.” He hears behind him a girl’s voice and when he cranes his neck, he sees brown hair. The zero-gravity girl. 

“So, we’re protecting you.” He hears to the side of him the electric quirk user. 

“Even from these fuckers.” That’s Bakugou, who seems to not be bleeding anymore thankfully, in front of him with the green-haired kid. Both have snarls on their faces that he was silently glad he’s not on the receiving end of as the heroes try to get closer. 

“Besides…” blue eyes snap to his open side seeing the youngest Todoroki glaring fully at his father. “That is what family does right? Protect each other?” His voice is low so that only Dabi and the tight ring of hero hopefuls can hear him.

“S-Shouto?” 

“Don’t worry Touya we’ve got you covered.”

 “You kids are fucking nuts.”

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, or fortunately, he’s still deciding on if these occurrences are good or not, that was not the only time he was saving some 1-A hero hopeful. And if he were going to be honest since the class had Shouto in it and Shigaraki was hell-bent on getting them it was more than likely would not be the last either. 

Shigaraki isn’t one for doing patrols or even assigning someone to do it, but Dabi goes out almost every night and roams around in a semi patrol fashion… What can he say? Some habits die hard… Or not at all in this case. Anyways, the patchwork villain is on his ‘patrol,’ not particularly close to their main hideout but close to his own apartment so he counts it when he hears the commotion.

“Oh, look, it's the villain disguising himself as a hero wannabe!” 

The tone is mocking in Dabi’s ears, and he can’t help how his feet turn down the alley towards it. He has heard that same tone while he was growing up and knew that it wasn’t good.

“Wh-” Whoever it was that tried to speak was cut off with the sound of metal on flesh. Dabi could hear them groan in pain and his lip curled up in a snarl behind his black face mask that hid his skin grafts. Oh, someone is going to burn.

“Oh no you don’t get to speak freak!” Another voice laughed and there were the sounds of a scuffle, fists hitting the person who had tried to speak, and the sound of torn fabric.

Dabi could barely see the head of crazy purple hair on the ground curled up before he let out a blast of hot blue flames over the heads of three other boys he didn’t recognize. He restrained from aiming right at their head but only just barely. They all yelled in fright and spun towards him, and he grinned seeing the fear in their eyes. “What was that about a villain in disguise? I think you’re mistaken… I’m not in disguise.” He growls and throws up a flaming wall between the three and the purple-haired teen controlling the heat so that it would not actually burn just to deter them from trying to get to the boy. “Now get the hell out of here before I fry you alive for the fun of it!” He says making the tone of his voice sounds deranged and manic.

The three were gone even before he finished speaking and Dabi clicks his tongue as he rolls his eyes. He walks towards the purple-haired boy as the other sits up with a slightly pained groan and Dabi crouches down in front of them. “The nerve of them. They are no better than bottom rung villains and they want to pick on you just because of your quirk? That’s fucking pathetic…. You alright kid?” He asked, getting a good look at purple eyes and white pupils as the teen looked up at him.

“Why did you do that?”

“Cau-” a fog-like feeling covers his mind and he distinctly feels like he’s floating and disoriented… he hates it. 

“Answer honestly, why did you save me?”

“Cause you’re a kid.” He answers quickly and even if his body isn’t responding to him his mouth seems to just be spewing out shit. True shit but still. ‘Right, this is that mind control brainwashing kid… Well, fuck me then.’

“Are you going to hurt me?”

 “No.” ‘Kay so he doesn’t trust me… I mean that’s fair… but I also just saved you from a worse beating kid give me a break.’

“Did you really save Bakugou from Endeavor?”

“Yes.”

“Okay…” 

The fog leaves him just as quickly as it had settled in, and Dabi shakes his head. “Nice quirk kid. You’ll make a good hero one day. Just stay good.”

The purple-haired teen frowns at him and tilts his head in confusion that reminded him of a puppy hearing a sound they didn’t understand. “You’re a villain... saying I’ll be a good hero. And you just saved me. What is wrong with you?” 

“Sorry just met you kid, childhood trauma is at least a year-long friendship to unlock.” Dabi jokes and stands offering his hand down to the teen. “Come on, let's get you home. You lot are off for the holidays yeah?”

Purple, what’s this kid’s name again?, looked at his hand skeptically before shrugging and taking it letting himself be pulled up. “I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that you know that, given you are Todoroki’s brother.” 

Dabi tilts his head up slightly as he looks down at the other male. An intimidation tactic he learned from his no-good father. “Is that a problem kid?” 

“No, just an observation. So, what? You’re going to walk me home?” The teen asks, taking the first few steps to exit the alley.

Dabi follows him. “Need to make sure that saving you back there isn’t wasted by those assholes coming back for you.” He says as his eyes look around, taking note of where they were going.

“Do you even know who I am?” The teen is looking back at him over his shoulder with a knowing glint in his eyes like he knew that Dabi didn’t really know his name. 

“Nope. Just your quirk and that you replaced that grape kid in 1-A earlier this semester.” Dabi shrugs at the admittance not caring that he really only knew the names of some of the kids in his younger brothers’ class.

“Well, you’re going to be in for a surprise when we get to my home.” The teen mumbles to himself after he faces back forward, Dabi not catching it. “It’s Shinsou by the way. Shinsou Hitoshi.” He speaks louder so the villain behind him could hear him clearly. And that’s still something he’s trying to process honestly. That a villain came to his rescue. That a villain is making sure he gets home safe. That a villain is the brother of one of his classmates… that a villain, that this villain isn’t acting very villain-like from what he had heard and just seen. 

“Dabi. But you already knew that obviously.” 

“Kind of hard not to. How far are you walking me? To the door?” Shinsou asks, looking back over his shoulder and seeing the other give a nod. 

“As I said, I need to make sure you get home safe.” 

“Okay well, this is my complex. Top floor.” Shinsou told him as he was looking up. Dabi let a hum out and followed close behind the other inside the building and onto the elevator. Honestly, he should just go back home now there wasn’t any reason for him to actually deliver the kid right to the door, but if he got this far might as well finish out the task. Dabi readjusts his face mask as the elevator door slides open revealing a short hallway and a single door. 

“Wait, your family has the whole floor?” He asked in surprise as the kid went to the door unlocking it.

“Well, technically my dad's do. I was just adopted earlier this year.” 

Both males blink when the door swings open quickly. “Problem child, you were supposed to be home 30 minutes a… ago.” Aizawa finished his sentence after a short pause when he caught a look at the person behind his son and the state his son was in. “Explain.”

So, this is how I die…

“Some kids from my old middle school saw me on my walk home from Kaminari’s… Dabi stepped in to stop them.” Shinsou explains quickly. “Sorry dad I should have texted you, but he insisted on bringing me home.”

“Hey little listener, you have a good ‘date’ with Kaminari?” Present Mic said, peeking his head from around the corner further into the apartment.

“Shit kid, why didn’t you tell me you had two pros as your parents?!” Dabi looks at Shinsou sounding betrayed as he spoke ignoring Shinsou’s spitting at Mic about it not being a date. “So, look about almost killing you before … Uhm sorry.” He quickly turns to Aizawa.

Aizawa looks at him with a straight face and Dabi hates how he can’t get a read on him before he finally speaks. “I’ll forget about it if you come inside for a bit and tell me why you keep saving my kids.”

Yup going to die. “Right, sure, okay…”

“Stop panicking, I won't arrest you. If anything, Mic’s going to feed you a decent meal. You look like you need it.” 

Wait what? Dabi blinks at the pro hero in front of him then looks to Shinsou then to Mic in the apartment and back to Aizawa. “… Is your class crazy because you’re crazy? Or did they come that way? Because saving a villain and feeding a villain are very crazy things to do…”

Shinsou laughed beside him and moved around his dad to go into the apartment taking off his torn jacket. Aizawa gave out an amused huff as he let Dabi into the apartment.

“Oh, they came that way.”

Chapter Text

A night out with some of the league should be the last place he thought he would be saving one of the 1-A brats... He should really stop saying that to himself, shouldn’t he?

Shigaraki left hours ago, thankfully, with Kurogiri and Spinner wasn’t much of a drinker so he hadn’t even come out with them all in the first place opting to stay at their hideout and clean (that was code for him not doing shit). Leaving him with Toga and Twice at a club with blaring music and a crowd of people of questionable backgrounds who were looking to let go for a while. And let go they did. Dabi had already drunk a bit and danced with both Toga AND Twice when either of them or both of them pulled him from his stool at the bar and out onto the dance floor. 

He was having fun just being Dabi. Not the villain, not the maybe-vigilante, not the son of Endeavor, not the member of the League of Villains.... Just Dabi. And he was enjoying himself with his, somewhat, two friends despite them occasionally being annoying. 

His two... Colleagues? Teammates? Friends? Did he actually have friends now? Anyways his two friends had left him at the bar to finish off his latest drink to go dance when Toga showed up from nowhere next to him pulling at his sleeve like that of a little kid trying to get the attention of an adult. 

“What Toga? Where’s Twice?” He asked, glancing at her worried face before he tried to locate his other friend. 

“He’s by the big pillar to the front left watching them. You need to come help.” Toga says quickly pulling at his sleeve insistently until he stands and starts to follow her even though he was very much confused.

“Help? Help with what?” he asks as they weave through people before he sees their blond friend who looks very agitated and about ready to pounce at whoever he has his eyes on. Dabi frowns and tracks where the other is looking before he frowns, and a low growl builds in his chest seeing a small group of 1-A student's being harassed by two much older men. “Thanks, Toga. Go calm Twice down I’ve got this.”

Toga lets go of his sleeve and easily disappears into the crowd before he sees her next Twice once more. He marches over, boots stomping on the floor with enough force to be heard just barely over the blaring music towards the small group pulling himself to his full height behind the two men. “Are these two vermin bothering you Ladies?” He asks, making sure his voice comes out smooth as he addresses the girls all while glaring at the two men in front of him with their backs turned. 

“Oi who the fuck are you calling ‘vermin/ punk?” One of them half yells as he turns around to glare at Dabi and the other follows suit quickly.

“Oh, sorry I’ll introduce myself. My name is Dabi. What’s yours?” He says as he leaves a few flickers of blue flames out from his mouth and on his hands. He grinned at how quickly the blood drained from their faces at seeing his flames however small along with hearing his name.

“I... Look, we were just leaving. Weren’t we Xavier?” one quickly said to him before quickly sidestepping around Dabi flinching when the villain let out another flickering of his flames towards him.

“That's what I thought.” Dabi growls glaring at the two as they scurry away passing by Toga and Twice who both spat something out at the two men. He turned back to the group of girls. “You ladies alright? They didn’t touch you, did they?”

“One of them grabbed Momo...” The girl with purple hair said glaring towards where the men had gone. Dabi nodded and looked back at his friends. Toga tilted her head slightly before breaking out in a grin and skipping off with Twice behind her.

“Well, you won't have to worry about them anymore, they should be plenty scared off and if not, they will be soon enough.” He said before crossing his arms and looking down at the girls. “Now... Tell me what you lot are doing here of all places... This isn’t a place for Hero hopefuls or teenagers for that matter.”

“Oh man, are you really going to go Big Brother on us?”

“Big Brother Dabi to the rescue! We’ve got to tell everyone about this later!”

“Never had a big brother before... This is so cool!”

Dabi is bombarded by how much the girls start talking not even catching most of the words or who even was speaking. He couldn’t identify one person in particular, but all of the Class 1-A girl students were standing in front of him or rather around him now, and they were dressed decently and looked like they were ready to just be dancing.

The taller girl with black hair cleared her throat to get the others to quiet down. “Sorry to be of trouble to you Dabi-san,” He flinched at the moniker. “But we came out because Jirou has a gig here tonight and we all wanted to go dancing... We didn’t think this place was bad.” 

Dabi let out a hum softly looking them all over before landing his ice-blue eyes on Jirou... or he hoped it was Jirou. She has purple hair, right? With the earphone jack quirk? Shit... “Perhaps put a little bit more research into the places you book gigs in next time.”

“What if Big Brother Dabi just comes with us the next time? No one will bother us then and Jirou can do all the gigs she wants without a worry!” Said the loud one with pink hair and skin. Acid quirk if he remembered correctly. 

Before he can even deny and get his hands raised to wave the idea away Toga and Twice are back at his sides and he sees the Hero hopefuls tense at the sight of them. “He would love to! Right, Dabi?” Toga wraps his right arm with both of hers as she looks up at him, eyes bright and happy. “That is what big brothers are for right? To take care of their little siblings?”

Dabi tried to glare down at the younger villain, he really did. But he knew Toga. He was friends with the girl and knew the gold eyes looking back at him were really asking if he would take care of her too. He rolled his eyes up with a loud sigh. He could feel the tension bleed out from the UA girls around them as he dealt with Toga. “Yeah, yeah, big brothers take care of their little siblings. Jesus, did I just become an older sibling to 20 more of you brats?”

“Not just. You did that when you saved Bakugou... And then Shinsou. Are you really surprised? We found out about Shouto’s home life, and we all pretty much adopted him. Come time for breaks where we are not at the dorms, he alternates who he stays with.” the girl with short brown hair spoke. 

Ura... Uraraka? I’m going to have to ask Shouto to tell me his classmates’ names at the rate. Dabi hummed at that information. “As glad as I am that he’s got friends that take care of him, you lot should go have your fun. I am going back to the bar to contemplate my life decisions that wound me up with over twenty siblings. No one should bother you if they do me, Toga, and Twice are here. See you.” he spoke and went to make his escape back to the bar before being stopped by the small set of arms around his own. 

“Dabi!” Toga whined and pouted at him. “You promised me and Twice a couple more dances! So why don’t you dance with the girls and us now? Please?”

“Oh, good idea!” The pink girl said and quickly slotted to his other side mimicking Toga. “Come on big brother! Let's dance!”

Oh lord help him.

Chapter Text

“You are not Hawks.”

“Same could be said about you.” Ice blue eyes roamed over the bird-headed teen as he stood from where he had tumbled in from the window of the current number two hero’s apartment, the one not attached to his hero agency just FYI. A quick look around the room they were in showed no sign of the red-winged hero. “Where is the bird brain?”

“He was supposed to be getting a first aid kit.” The teen replied, watching the older male closely.

Blue eyes shot back to the teen quickly, the budding of worry filling him. He knew the other was in his youngest brother’s class, something about a shadow demon-like quirk... He was one the League had tried kidnapping with Bakugou if he remembered correctly. “Are either of you hurt?”

“We are both worse for wear to be honest, but he ordered me to stay here while he got the first aid.” The teen answered back looking at the clock. “Though I am to assume that he has gotten distracted along the way.” Red eyes trained back on the sometimes villain as the man clicked his tongue.

“Of course, he has. Anything shiny and he’s off to catch it… or if there is chicken involved. Hold on there for a minute.” Dabi said to the other, raising a hand in a motion that said ‘stay’ as he quickly went to rummage through the hero’s end table beside the couch. “At least he’s smart enough to have more than a couple of these within easy access.” He said pulling out a kit after shoving take-out menus out of the way. He’s going to have to talk to the damn idiot again about how bad takeout food was. “Can’t say he’s smart enough for anything else though.”

The teen gave out a chuckle at the remark. “I wouldn't go that far about Sensei, but he does get easily distracted,” he said and offered up his arm pulling the cloak he wore away from the gash on his upper arm. Red eyes watched the sometimes villain kneel down in front of him and open the aid kit before going about cleaning up the wound. “You seem to know Sensei’s personal apartment and him well.”

Ice blue eyes glance up at him quickly before going back to his work wiping the dirt from the wound gently. “I sometimes stay here...” he mumbled quietly. “It’s why he made sure there is a fire escape so I can get in and out without going through the front door and risk being seen by people or cameras. Not a good look for a villain to be friends with the number two hero you know?”

“You are warm.” 

Dabi flinched slightly at the sudden voice to his right and turned quickly, flickerings of blue flames lighting up off his hand in preparation to fight, only to see the demon shadow thing that came from the bird-headed teen. “Uhhhh It’s my quirk, Cremation. Keeps me relatively warm all the time.” he explained after a moment of quietness looking at the shadow.

“Hmmm, I like him. Can we keep him, Fumi?” the shadow said, nodding as he snaked his way around the villain like a scarf making Dabi drop the aid kit in surprise and raise his arms as Dark Shadow practically hugged him. The soft buzzing against his skin from the being draping over his back felt odd, not a bad odd but he could definitely feel it even through his clothes.

“I’ve told you before, Dark Shadow, we can’t keep people.” The teen answered with an exasperated tone and a roll of his eyes before blinking and looking at Dabi. “Oh, forgive me I do not think I said my name and I have a feeling that you don’t quite know all our names in the class. I am Tokoyami Fumikage and this is Dark Shadow, my quirk.”

“I’m the best part of him but he doesn’t want to admit it.” 

“Uhm okay but uhm I kind of still need to finish up his arm so can you move please?” Dabi said not entirely sure how he was supposed to react towards the shadow quirk... or being called out on still not knowing all their names... Can you blame him though? There is a lot of them. “It’s Dabi by the way though I’m sure you know that well enough.” Tokoyami nodded at him in confirmation but didn’t speak.

“Oh right! Fumi is hurt! Bad villain cut him, but I got him!” Dark Shadow shifted away from Dabi as it crossed its arms and nodded its head. 

“That is good of you.” Dabi mumbled to the shadow as he picked up the kit and the small bit of the scattered materials that had fallen out upon hitting the floor. He let out a hum before quickly going back to the wound. “Was this a knife wound or a quirk?” He asked curiously. 

“Knife. Though it seemed like it had been controlled by the man’s quirk.” Tokoyami answered. “It flew through the air much like Hawks-sensei's feathers do. I’m sure Midoriya would have found it fascinating.”

“The green-haired kid? Breaks his bones?” Dabi asked for clarification as he got some butterfly bandages applied to the teen's arm as the injury didn’t quite need to have stitches.  

“Yes, that is him. Though he seems to have gotten better control of his quirk as of late and has not broken a bone in quite some time.” Tokoyami nodded as he answered. “He likes quirks and any information he can get on them. Can even give tips for ways to use it in ways a person has not thought of before. He is highly intelligent... Though he is always not one with the darkness I do consider him a close friend... You are one with the darkness though... I can feel it.”

Dabi finished what he was doing and put everything back into the kit, a bit slowly as he listened to the teen speak. “Well, I suppose. I am a villain, after all, kid. Darkness is kind of part of the job.”

The teen tilted his head and Dabi was quickly reminded of a raven looking at him in curiosity with eyes filled with knowledge that it should not have posed. It left a shiver running down his spine as he moved to sit next to the bird-headed teen, Dark Shadow quickly draping itself over his back with a sigh of contentment soaking up his natural warmth. The buzzing actually calmed any nerves he had. It was almost like Dark Shadow was a buzzing weighted blanket without the overwhelming heat that made the villain hate them.

“But you’re not really, now, are you?” Tokoyami said once the older male was seated. “You may have done some terrible things, but they were for good reasons.

“I have killed people, kid. Well over 30 by my last count.”

“Yes, I know that... but you keep count... and they weren’t exactly good people, now, were they?” Tokoyami spoke and looked around the room but even still Dabi felt the other was still paying attention to him. “To me, a villain is someone who does terrible things for the fun of it or for the benefit of themselves that which are not necessary. Be it killing someone or robbing a bank … You are not like that. You keep saving us and protecting us even though we are being trained to essentially take down people who are like how you see yourself. To me, that is not a villain. The darkness that clings to you is not from the deeds you have done yourself but what has been done to you. At least that is what I feel.”

Dabi hummed softly and picked at a frayed edge of a hole in his jeans across his knee. Maybe it was because this was Hawks’ Kouhei, but he felt that he could mildly trust the younger. “My childhood was not the best to be honest so that is possible. And you are right. The people I have killed were other villains, people who had tried to kill me or people I care about, or even just people who were hurting someone who was innocent so they themselves were not innocent... but I could have avoided their death and I chose not to. 

The fire user then shrugged as he lit the end of the fray up with a quick flame to burn off the end watching the small whiffs of smoke lift from it. “I did enjoy killing them and I don’t feel guilty about doing it either. So, it still makes me the bad guy no matter how you look at it.” 

Red eyes studied him quietly before the bird-headed teen was pulling his phone out. “The girls said you saved them when they were out for Jirou’s gig... Do you by chance like that type of music?” 

 Ending the conversation then. Dabi thought thankfully before he nodded, turning his attention to the teen’s phone as the other thumbed through his playlist to select something. Strong sounds of electric guitar and angry beats from drums quickly fill the quiet of the room.

There wasn’t any more talk of heroes or villains after that. They simply talked about the types of music they liked and their favorite bands. Dabi shared stories of the few concerts he had gotten into giving soft smiles at hearing the other trill in laughter. He hoped one day he could have this type of bonding moment with Shouto.

And well if a red-winged hero smiled from the hallway and turned around with a first aid kit in hand leaving the two to talk, they were none the wiser.

Chapter Text

Dabi typically slept during the day and did most of his league work or side jobs at night. Actually, to be fair he had been spending less and less time actually doing league work. He still went to the base and saw them for sure; they were his friends after all, he just refused any jobs Shigaraki tried to give him. Toga and Twice seemed to do the same as him since the night when they helped the 1-A girls out at the club. He’s sure Shigaraki is starting to get pissed at them, but Dabi was starting to care less and less about that.

Anyways he typically slept during the day for multiple reasons. Villainy and vigilantism were easier to perform at night, he slept better during the day, it was easier to hide his identity at night, take your pick and you are probably right about his reasons for the day.

But unfortunately for him, he’s still plagued by nightmares and bouts of insomnia that lead him to being awake when he would much rather be asleep. So, when he couldn’t sleep for one reason or another, he found himself outside walking around aimlessly until he felt like he could sleep. That is how finds himself one day walking through a park near his apartment. 

It was a nice little park, a walking trail around the whole thing, a rather large playground for kids, an open field that usually had people playing with their pets or just lying about enjoying the nice day, a small pond, you know the works. He may not live in the nicest part of the city, but it’s not run down, or bug-infested, and it actually was pretty decent with a low level of villain activity. Which may or may not have something to do with him and his semi-nightly patrols... It was every night actually especially since he now knew for sure two of his brother’s classmates lived nearby.

He was close to the little playground on the walking path, the wind pulling at his hood slightly when it happened. An explosion happened large enough to rumble the ground enough and to have a gust rush past him. He was quick to spin around and stare across the street at the building that had the large billowing black smoke coming from it. It didn’t take him long to recognize the small elementary school in his neighborhood.

He’s across the street before he can even form a coherent thought as small children and teachers begin to stumble out coughing from the school building. “What happened? Is that everyone?” He asks one of the teachers hovering his hand over her back as she coughed hard not wanting to touch without permission but still letting her know he was there.

“Villains attack on the other side of the building by the bank... Endeavor is there... There’s a gas line right under the school.” She answered and let out another series of rough coughs before looking around fear in her eyes as she looked over the students and other staff. “I think there is one more class left,” she whispered in quiet horror.

Dabi curses quietly, of course Endeavor has a hand in this, the bastard, as he ushers her and everyone else from the school and across the street to the park. “Stay together, wait for appropriate heroes and fire rescue to get here. Follow their instructions. I’ll be right back.”

“Sir no you can’t!”

He ignored the woman’s yell as he sent a quick text off to Hawks and crossed back to the school. He doesn't even think before he enters the burning building, flames licking up at his feet hungry and hot to burn everything in its path. Not hot enough to burn him but he can still feel the heat of it. There wasn’t much he could do about the fire but with his own quirk he had some degree of resilience to fire... just not for long so he needed to work fast. Running through the halls checking rooms for any stragglers before he got halfway down the hall hearing scared cries from children in one of the rooms.

“Hey! Get back from the door, okay?!” He yells and hears a teacher telling the students that it was fine and to back up as he said. Once he was given the ‘all clear’ and he kicked the door in. He finds a group of small children huddled close together away from the door, a fire in the room, and a woman crumbled under the broken ceiling. “Well, fu--” he cleared his throat, stopping himself from cursing as he looked at the kids again. “Alright so I’m going to bust out a window here and I need you to help each other out while I get your Sensei out alright?”

He didn’t even wait for any type of confirmation before he strode to the window, the casing had been warped from the initial explosion, and put his hand to the glass, it took him no time to have the glass melted down and he took off his hoodie to lay over the edge, he would have to apologize to Hawks for ruining it later. “Alright, you go little ones. I promise to get your Sensei right out to you. Make sure you help each other out, okay?” he said turning to the kids he could see the fear in a few of their eyes and his heart tugged at the sight but a few looked determined and those few were the ones to step up and help get the others out.

Dabi smiled watching for a second before moving back to the woman caught under the broken ceiling looking over the situation. “Right so there is a proper way of going about being pinned by rubble... unfortunately we don’t have time for that so I'm going to have to lift it just enough for you to move out yourself.”

“Understood. Thank you... Please don’t get mad at me for asking but you aren’t a hero, are you?” She asks him in a soft voice that reminds him of his mother’s as he positions himself properly to lift what he could of the rubble.

“No. Not at all. Why do you ask?” From where he is lifting, he can see the kids getting out of the building and he feels relieved that they are all almost out.

“We can see your grafts, Dabi.” The woman is out from under the rubble and trying to stand, her ankle looks twisted, and she was bleeding from the head but other than that she looked fine. Once he sets the rubble back down, he looks at his arms and without his hoodie on they were bare revealing his skin grafts to everyone and he had forgotten to wear his face mask that day simply keeping his head down before. He looked at her quickly and for the first time was afraid of how he looked to others. “You are fine. Let’s get out of here, I need to check on my kids.”

Dabi was quick to nod, putting his arm around her to help her walk before getting them to the window and helping her out. She let out a soft hiss as she had to stand on her own while he pulled himself out, but he was quick to help her again once through.

He should have really thought things through a little better. Of course, there would be heroes outside when he got the woman and her class around the side of the building and over to the park to safety. And of course, one of them would be Endeavor even if it was his own fault for this whole thing happening. And of course, he would be immediately recognized as being Japan’s second most-wanted villain.

He glared at the heroes as he helped the woman towards the EMTs before turning his attention to the scared-looking EMT staring at him with wide eyes. Right, his grafts really were out for everyone to look at. “Head wound, hurt ankle, and smoke inhalation. No other visible injuries.” He speaks in a low calm tone even if he was stiff from how he could feel all the eyes on him. He needed to get out of there quickly.

“R-right!” The EMT is at least quick to fall into professionalism and get the woman to sit down and give her oxygen. The students are quick to flock to their side and that had Dabi blinking at them and gulping slightly looking between them and the heroes as he begins to be bombarded with questions. I’m not sure if I actually want to be arrested right now or be surrounded by 7-year old's.

“You saved my Hito-nii...” One voice caught his attention and he found bright red eyes staring at him.

“Uhhhh I saved your Hito-nii?” he says slowly with a frown before it dawned on him, she meant the purple kid, his name was Hito-something, right? “Oh Purple! Yeah, I saved him. He's your brother huh?” he asks, vaguely remembering seeing a picture of the little girl on the walls of the teen's apartment. To be fair he was still afraid he was going to die from the kid's parents, so his memory of the photos wasn’t all that great but that horn and long white hair looks familiar enough.

“Yeah! He’s the best! He said that you are his whole class's big brother too! So doesn’t that make you my big brother too?” Oh, damn she’s cute looking at him with those big red eyes.

“I uhm...” Dabi stumbles over his words as it looks like Endeavor is getting told to hold off by police and other heroes as he talks to the kids and the EMT is even looking over every so often. Often enough that the villain had noticed anyway. “Well, I guess that would make sense. If I’m your big brothers' big brother that would make me your big brother too. I mean if you are alright with that. I’m a bit scary looking you know?” He says motioning to his face.

The girl frowns and moves toward him making the motions to be picked up, which he doesn’t deny as he picks her up propping her onto his hip with ease. “You're not scary. Just hurt. … Do they hurt?” She asked her little hand hovering over his cheek as she looked at him with concern. 

“Sometimes. My quirk hurts me sometimes, so I have to be really careful… these are from when I was pushed into not being careful.” He says to her and smiles softly at her curious and concerned look in her eyes. “You can touch them; I don’t mind sweetheart.” 

The EMT was still looking at them when the girl touched his cheek thumb gently over the seam between good skin and the grafts between two of his staples. “I didn’t expect you to be good with kids.” He admits before looking absolutely terrified at Dabi like he had not meant to speak the thought out loud.

Dabi laughs and looks at him. “Well, I’m a big brother. Kinda comes with the territory.” 

Yelling starts over near the heroes, and he frowns looking over towards the ruckus his arm tightening around the girl in his arms as he sees Endeavor pushing towards them. He glares at the man and a snarl pulls at his lip. 

“Who’s to say he didn’t hurt any of them?! Are you idiots’ blind he’s a villain for god's sakes!” 

“Oh, come off it, old man! I’m a villain, not a…” he glances at the kids surrounding him, all of whom are equally glaring at the flaming hero like he had just been. “Jerk. They’re kids and everyone knows damn good and well that you guys wouldn’t have been here fast enough to get to them. So, I acted.” 

“Asshole.” 

Dabi is quick to look at the girl in his arms hearing the curse word leave her mouth. “Sweetheart… who taught you that word?” 

“Kacchan.” She answered with a shrug. “Kacchan says that if you’re going to curse, you need to do it right and not to sugarcoat it.” 

“Right. Remind me to have a talk with this Kacchan.” 

She laughs in his arms and hugs his neck. “Dad already did but you can have a go too Nii-san!” 

The flapping of wings gets everyone’s attention and the kids squeal in excitement as the number two hero lands near them. “Ahh well, if you had told me, you were being arrested; I would have been slower.”

“Ha-ha-ha so funny. Go take care of the flaming garbage so I get out of here.” Dabi glares over at the winged hero that 100 percent doesn’t work when he has a cute kid in his arms, but he tries anyway.

“Yeah, yeah but first… is that my shirt?” Hawks asked with an amused smirk pointing to Dabi’s chest. “Glad to see you are a fan. Maybe I’ll sign it later.”

Dabi frowns and looks down seeing a Hawks merchandise shirt. “I’m burning this as soon as I get home.” He growls at the hero who just laughs and walks towards Endeavor to get the flaming hero’s attention on him and not Dabi for a few moments' wings fanned out to block anyone's view.

“Alright, big brother has to go now. You all be good for your Sensei, okay? Help her out when you all go back to class because she’s going to be hurt for a little while.” Dabi says as he sets the girl down and a chorus of ‘yes’s’ answers him.

“Papa says you need to come to dinner soon so that you actually eat! And Dad says that you don’t have to patrol every night, so you need to sleep!” The girl is quick to tell him, giving him a hug.

“Right. Tell your Papa I’ll be by Friday or so then okay sweetheart? Now I have to go before I get arrested! Remember to be good!” 

“Bye big brother!” the girl yells with a quick following of the rest of the kids saying the same thing.

How in the hell do I keep adopting more siblings... I don’t make money legally so what the fuck am I supposed to do for Christmas?!?!?!?

Chapter Text

It wasn’t supposed to rain. Repeat it WASN’T supposed to rain. He had even freaking checked the damn weather app that morning, when he woke up from a nap, and even right before he left his apartment for his now every other night patrol since Aizawa got onto him for not sleeping when he last went over for dinner. Which frankly was pretty hypocritical of the man but whatever.

Anyways the point was that he had checked THREE separate times and NONE of those times had shown ANY chance of rain. Absolutely none. But here he was practically soaked to the bone standing under a connivance store's awning trying to wring out his hoodie from fucking rainwater. He doesn’t think his luck could be worse.

He pulls his face mask off in disgust shoving the thing into the pocket of his hoodie. Have you ever had a wet face mask on? It’s uncomfortable and feels disgusting. Not to mention when it’s wet it is more likely to pull at his staples and he does NOT feel like being wet, cold, AND having to replace his staples when he gets back home.

He looks around quickly to make sure that no one is around as he starts his quirk to maybe help with the drying of his clothes, but he knows that it is futile with how hard the rain is coming down, he would still get wet on his trek back home. It makes him warm right then though and that is all he cared about at that moment. He spends a few minutes getting himself warm as he looks over his phone noticing a text from Aizawa mentioning the storm quickly rolling in that he had apparently gotten right after leaving his apartment. He really wonders about his luck at that point.

The sometimes villain flinched when there were three very quick, consecutive, and very loud lightning strikes that sounded like they had all come down in the same area followed quickly by a loud yell of surprise. And Dabi can concede that yes, the lightning was loud and close and yes it did warrant a surprised yell but for whatever reason, his legs were already moving towards where the sound had come from. Even if it was just to check on the person that had gotten scared and made sure they were okay and even make sure they got home same before heading his own way back to his apartment because fuck this rain.

You know? He should really never think that he wouldn't run into any of the kids if he was out and about. He should stop that. Especially with him getting texts from Tokoyami with new song recs, going out with the 1-A girls to the clubs that Jirou performs at with Twice and Toga hanging off of him once every two weeks or so, and his every other night dinner at the Aizawa/Yamada household he should really just stop thinking he wasn’t going to run into any one of them at one point or another if he was out of the safety of his apartment.

But somehow Dabi is still surprised to find the blond electric user dancing in a small kid’s park surrounded by large buildings. A bright happy laugh on his lips as he spun around the swing set pole before bouncing on the balls of his feet towards the hexagonal jungle gym. 

Blue eyes watched as the teen ran around playing in the rain and on the kid’s playsets for a few moments before he smiled and chuckled lowly. Another strike of lightning overhead had the blond stop in his tracks with the biggest grin Dabi had ever seen watching as electricity flitted out around the teen like it was answering the lightning. 

“Are you having fun kid?” Dabi called out after the little sparks off of the teen calmed down smiling as the blond spun around to look at him. Eyes focused and pinpoint at him before being replaced with recognition and the teen relaxed back to a carefree stance and grinned at him. 

“Oh! It’s just you. Hey Dabi!” The blond said his hand raised to his chest before trotting over to the older male still with that wide grin.

“You say that as if I’m not a wanted villain but hey kid.”

“You’re still our big brother despite whatever those ass hats at the commission label you as. You’re not as bad as what they are trying to make you out to be. I'm Kaminari Denki by the way.” The teen says to him with a shrug and a grin still on his face. The blond turned his face back up to the sky just before another strike of lightning flashed across the sky, the strike landing on a lightning rod on top of a nearby building. “Gooooodddd this is a good storm today! I’ll be set for at least three days at this rate.” 

Dabi watched the other quietly for a moment before speaking. “Is that how you use your quirk? Gaining energy from outside sources and then expelling it?” He asked, curious about the younger's quirk and how it worked. 

“Sort of. I always have some sort of electricity going on. The human body has its own current going through it, mine is just a higher amount than everyone else's but I also draw on the electricity that is around me and can expel it out in an attack or store it. Mostly … it’s like … I'm a battery pack?” Kaminari spoke and tilted his head to the side as he thought about his own quirk. “It’s hard to explain so it's really just simplified down to Electrification. The electricity from batteries and other electronics aren’t as good or last as long as a natural source like lightning.”

Dabi nodded along as Kaminari spoke, watching the sky light up with each hidden strike behind the clouds. “A quirk like that has its drawbacks, right? Most do. Mine isn’t fit for my body. Even Shouto has to monitor his output for each side less he gets frostbite or heat stroke.”

The teen frowned softly before he nodded. “If I go past my wattage limit I short circuit my brain for a while. We don’t talk about it much, but my doctors think that is why I have ADHD and have a tough time concentrating on things that don’t interest me, unlike language, literature, art, or music where I pick it up pretty easily and can stay focused on it.”

The older male turned to him fully with a deep frown. “You Short Circuit your brain?” he asked and watched as the other shrugged before nodding at his inquiry. “Right, okay, so I’m talking to Aizawa about that, and we’ll get that figured out because that is NOT healthy for you. What even are those heroes thinking? You could literally kill yourself one of these days by accident.” he lets out a frustrated sound annoyed once again about how no one seemed to care about how a quirk affects the user. He lets out a long breath to center himself again before looking at the blond teen again. “Let’s get you home for the time being though. We don’t both need to catch a cold out here.” He said raising his hand to the other’s shoulder but stopped when he could feel the built-up electricity buzzing off Kaminari’s skin. 

“Sorry! I can't quite turn it off. But sure! I’m sure you being out here sucks. Fire and rain don’t quite mix well huh?” Kaminari spoke and bounced slightly as he started towards his home, Dabi following behind. 

“Not particularly. I mean if I tried hard enough my fire would be hot enough to still burn despite this rain but having soaked through clothes is still uncomfortable regardless.” Dabi said with a shrug moving up to walk beside the teen.

“Oh yeah, that is an awful feeling. I hate wet socks and jeans are just ugh I swear they are the worst.” Kaminari spoke with a groan and Dabi chuckled with him as he nodded. 

It took a moment for Dabi to realize that the teen was looking at him intently with a curious look and when he did, he raised an eyebrow at the other giving him a questioning look. “Sorry. You were on the news the other week from the fire at the elementary school nearby and there have been a few questions that have been cropping up all over from it.”

The villain waved his hand in a go-ahead motion. “Not like you are a reporter so go ahead and ask.”

Kaminari looked away for a moment before looking back at him. “Are you dating Hawks? From how fast he showed up even with his agency not responding to the call it suggested he was called …. or texted personally to get there and help. And from the video, he landed right near you and then made sure his wings covered you for you to be able to get away... Plus, you were wearing his branded shirt that was just released earlier in the month.”

“Seems like you have come up with your opinion there, kid...” Dabi replied to him before weighing his options. He could deny it even with the evidence being as it was or he could just tell the truth to someone he was sure he could trust; they were his new ‘siblings’ after all, so he should be able to trust them. “Don’t tell anyone other than your class but yeah. Been dating for a while now.” He said and then remembered how Mic had said the night he took the Purple kid back home. Well since we are talking about my life, might as well ask. “Are you and Purple?”

“Purple? Oh, Hitoshi! Yeah, we are dating. Took a while to get there because he was all ‘I’m not here to make friends.’ thing going on. Like sorry man but you're in a class with ME and Midoriya you have no choice but to make friends might as well accept your fate. But once he did get that it was pretty easy to be his friend.... and well, I get attached easily and have crushes all the time so I thought it was just that and that the crush would pass... but it didn’t. So, I thought to myself ‘well Denks you miss every shot you don’t take.’ so I asked him out to this cat café because he adores cats, the one that had just opened up with that bright blue sign and the cute window chalk drawing on the front of a kitten on the east side? And he said yes.” Kaminari rambled quickly but not so quickly that he wasn’t able to keep up with the other thought process. Between Twice and Toga always talking to him it was darn right easy to follow the ADHD-fueled speech of the teen. “How did you and Hawks meet?”

Dabi laughed and smirked at the teen. “I’m a villain, kid, and he’s a hero. How do you think we met?”

“Were you both drunk in a bar and ended up fucking in an alley?”

“DENKI!”

As he’s chastising him for his language Dabi can’t help but start laughing loudly soon followed by the teen giggling along once he realized Dabi wasn’t actually upset with him. He’ll take being soaked from the rain and the possibility of getting sick if it meant being this relaxed with one of his siblings that he didn’t have to save for once.

Chapter Text

He was curled up with Keigo on his couch in his own apartment with some pre-quirk horror movie on the tv that the hero had picked out. Dabi had a lot of pre-quirk movies that the other seemed to love to watch more than any new stuff that came out. And if Dabi had left them out any of the Jurassic Park originals were always Keigo’s pick during movie night, so Dabi hid them most of the time in the draw of his end table in his bedroom.  

A wing was draped over them like a blanket as Dabi laid back against Keigo’s chest watching how the murderer on the screen carved out his victims' eyes. Blue eyes flicked to his phone on the table in front of them, seeing it light up with a text message before turning his attention back to the screen to watch how the rest of the scene played out. There weren't many people who texted and with the important one being right there with him whoever it was could wait.  

A few seconds later his phone buzzed on the table again drawing his attention away from the movie once more in annoyance. He glared at the device, he really hoped that it wasn’t Crusty, or he would be hearing an ear full later. 

“Go ahead and look at it. You never know it might be one of the kids needing help.” Keigo said, lifting his wing off of them before pushing his own shoulder up into Dabi’s back to move him up and off of him.  

The villain groaned and fully sat up as he reached for his phone because Keigo was right, it could be one of the kids if Shouto gave out his number or it could be Aizawa for that matter. How many people had his number now anyways? That could be a problem. 

There were two text messages lit up on the screen with an unknown number. He hummed softly as he unlocked his phone as he leaned back on the couch, Keigo moving his legs to accommodate him. 

Dabi frowned reading the address that was first. It wasn’t near but not all that far from his apartment. A quick search of the address gave him directions before he switched back to look at the second text saying ‘Brother, we need help with an issue... please be discreet and quick if at all possible.’

“You are right, it's one of the kids. The text says, ‘we need help.’ And it’s not from Shouto so it has to be from one of the other brats.” He said and switched back to the maps app on his phone before turning it towards his boyfriend. “How fast can you get me here? I don’t want to be late getting to them if they are in trouble.”  

Keigo looks at the phone, studying the map quickly, not even questioning why Dabi would rather fly when he gets motion sick rather than take the train. “10 minutes tops with you but I’ll have to change first. You know which kid lives there?” the blond hero says as he gets off the couch heading towards their semi-shared bedroom. 

“No, not for sure at least.” Dabi says with a frown trying to place which kid it could be, he should probably get all of the kid's addresses after this to prevent him from not knowing beforehand. “Oh! The text said to be discreet so use that black suit I had made for you!” he called after his boyfriend who had disappeared into the bedroom.  

“I think you just like it on me!” Keigo yelled back.

Dabi smirked even if the other couldn’t see him as he sent a text back to the kid saying he was on his way and that he’d leave the bird on the roof as backup if needed. “I’m leaving you on the roof for plausible deniability, okay birdbrain?!” 

“Babe, you know damn well I don’t care what you do. If your siblings need help, I would and will slice apart whoever I need to, to make sure of that for you.” Keigo, now dressed in his all-black suit Dabi had made for him, said as he came back into the main area of the apartment. Dabi looked him over appreciatively, the suit added with the words that Keigo would cut down anyone who threatened his siblings was hotter than he anticipated. He chuckled seeing the other’s wings puff up under the look, the hero trying to show off a bit. “Anyways yes, I’ll stay on the roof where I can’t be seen so long as you keep the feather necklace on you. Burn it if I need to come down to slice and dice.”  

Dabi rolled his eyes and patted the feather under his shirt softly. “I always wear it, idiot. The suit looks good on you by the way. When we get back, I’ll make it look better on the floor.” 

“Promises, promises. Come on you flirt, let's go check on your little sibling.” Keigo said with a roll of his eyes but the blush on his cheeks told everything for the villain getting up off the couch and going to the balcony door. “I’ll try to stay slow enough you won’t get sick but maybe close your eyes for it? I know it won’t help much.”  

Dabi waved his hand dismissively at him. “I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about the kids than my stupid stomach. Just get us there quickly.” He said as he slid the balcony door open. The balcony landing was tiny, just enough space to step out on and lean against the railing to look down, maybe smoke if you did that, and if you were a bird then it was big enough to land on.  

The not quite a villain fought off wanting to turn into Keigo’s body and hide his face in the blond's chest, but he did close his eyes tightly. He hated flying it fucked with his stomach terribly and he really didn’t like how high they had to go to clear all the buildings safely. His stomach did an uncomfortable flop as Hawks shot them up into the air arms wrapped tightly around Dabi to keep him safe.  

Hawks’ wings beat quickly and the wind tugs at Dabi’s hair and his jacket roughly. Dabi made sure to control his breathing to try and stem off his panic and quickly growling upset stomach as Hawks banked left presumably towards the apartment complex they needed to get to.  

In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. He repeated in his head making sure to follow the steps as he counted. He yelped and broke his concentration when he felt Keigo dip down in his flight. Dabi knew it wasn’t an intentional thing, just the birdbrain needing to land them on the rooftop. He still hated it and his stomach definitely wanted to rid itself of the dinner they had not long ago.  

Hawks’ boots were audible for once as they landed, and he took a few steps to settle on the roof and gave Dabi a slight squeeze. “Alright Firefly, you can open your eyes now. I’m setting you down.” He said putting the sometimes but not really villain down.  

Blue eyes slid open once his feet were back under him and quickly looked around. He honestly wanted to wait for his stomach to settle but he looked over at his boyfriend. “Alright you stay here and if I need you, I'll burn the feather or call.” 

“Roger that.” Keigo said, giving a quick two-finger salute before sitting down on the roof's edge purposely keeping his wings to where no one looking up would see them and recognize him as the number two hero. “I’ll be here. Go take care of those kids.” 

Dabi hummed in response and went to the roof access door and slipped in easily and went down to the correct floor he needed. It took nothing for him to quickly realize which apartment he was needed at, scorch marks leading towards the door and all around the frame had blue eyes narrowing and a soft growl leaving his chest. Someone better not hurt them. He thought to himself as he made sure his boots made no sound as he walked to the door. He wiped the nameplate that was beside the door and frowned at the family name once it was clear enough to read. 

Looking back at the door he listened to the door for a moment and when he didn’t hear anything he knocked simply out of courtesy fully intending to burst the door open in a few moments. He got as far as taking the step back he needed and lifted his leg up to kick the door near the locking system to kick the door in before the door opened revealing bright red eyes glaring at him and blond hair. Dabi looked at his boot and put his leg down. Welp, that's awkward good going Dabi. “You guys needed help with something?” 

“You called the burnt fucker?!” Bakugou yelled behind him glaring over his shoulder at who he assumed would be the Green haired kid.

“Who else was I going to call Kacchan?” The other teen came into view at that time. “Shouto said to message Dabi if we needed any help like this. It is not like I could call Aizawa-sensei!” 

Dabi’s eyes bounce back and forth between the two. “Considering it is Eraser Head I’m sure whatever this is he would help as well. He’s just as crazy as you lot.” He commented, getting both of their attention back to him. “Now WHY was my date night interrupted? I don’t get much time with him you know so let's get this over with.” 

“Oh, Ummm come in come in... I... Well, we... uhhhh Kacchan?”

Bakugou moved out of the way to let the villain into the apartment quickly getting the door shut as soon as he was clear before moving past him to be in front of him. “Deku’s shitty sperm donor hit Auntie.” the blond spat as Midoriya led them further into the apartment. Dabi looked at the blond-haired teens back with a frown. He was no stranger to a father hitting a mother and he had a feeling he was here to help with something two hero hopefuls should have not done but was needed if such actions were done as they said. “And well fucking... No one. No one hurts Auntie. He also tried to hurt Deku before choking me... So yeah, now we have to get rid of the thing.” 

Dabi stops in his tracks seeing a well-dressed man crumpled up on the floor with bruises around his neck and bright red burn marks around his mouth and nose. He let out a low hum stepping around the two teens who watched him slowly and prodded his steel-toed boot into the curly black-haired man's side. The body shifted with the motion but nothing else. “Well while I do think your teacher would have helped you with this it is better that you called me instead.” He looked at the Midoriya kid as the teen moved beside him, hands twisting together in a nervous gesture. He gave a soft smile and reached up ruffling the kid’s green hair gently. “Good call kid.”  

Chapter Text

Dabi walks into the bar like he hasn’t been avoiding it for the last several months. He greets Kurogiri and Compress with a nod, both of whom give him confused looks at him being there but greet him, in turn, all the same. Blue eyes scan the mostly empty bar internally ignoring the glare from Shigaraki as he looks for Toga or Twice. “Do either of you know where Jin or Himiko are?” He directed his question towards Kurogiri and Compress. 

“What are you doing here Dabi? You haven’t been here in MONTHS and just waltz in here without a care that you’ve been on the damn news lately?!” Shigaraki growls out loudly, standing from his seat, hands slamming down onto the table, luckily pinkies raised to not destroy the table. 

Dabi let out a long sigh before he looked at his supposed boss. “Listen, I'm not here for you or here for any other reason other than to talk to Himiko or Jin. Now, are they here or not?” He asks not wanting to be there any longer. Honestly, he doesn’t even want to be a part of the League any longer, not with how close he was getting to the kids in 1-A, and his goals no longer aligned with that of what Shigaraki wanted. If he could help it, he was going to save Toga and Twice and get them away from the League as well before they got too far caught up in all of it to turn back. It’s the only reason he was in the bar right then, to get them out.

“No, you and I are going to have this talk right here, right now! What the hell are you doing with the heroes?! I thought you wanted to take them down!? Not-not cover those brats from crossfire or-or run into burning buildings just for some damn kids!” Shigaraki yells at him moving from the table towards him, hands raised as if wanting to grab him. 

Blue eyes narrowed at the other and lifted his lip in a snarl. “Those kids were just in elementary school! Do you really think I was going to let them burn to death? With my own god-damned experience with how that feels?! Fuck that, Shigaraki! And fuck you right along with it!” He yells back blue flames igniting over his shoulders and arms, simply a warning but he wouldn’t hesitate to actually burn the other if he got any closer to him, he’d take the whole building down with him if he had to. He watches as Shigaraki steps back from his eyes just slightly wider. “I don’t want EVERY hero to be taken down, I want the bad ones like Endeavor taken down. There are some good ones out there and those kids? Those in class 1-A are going to be GOOD heroes, hell they already are. Eraser Head and Present Mic are GOOD heroes. I joined because I want to expose the corrupted heroes and get them taken down. I joined to upturn the Hero society as it is, turn it into something new and better for people like us. People ostracized for their quirks or for mental disorders they can’t control. Not, not... Not what you are doing now.”

“What I am doing now is better for us all! It is what Sensei wanted to happen, so it is exactly what I am doing.” 

Dabi shook his head letting out a frustrated growl. “And when the hell are you going to realize that your Sensei has been manipulating you since you were a child? When are you going to realize that your Sensei is the worst of the worst and was feeding you lies your entire life? When are you going to realize that your Sensei is just USING you to get what he wants?” He asks glaring at the other. He wasn’t here for this. He didn’t want to be having this conversation with Shigaraki as he didn’t think the other could ever turn his life around after all he had done. Dabi just wanted to leave with Toga and Twice save them from being thrown into Tartarus. He wanted out and he never wanted to come back to this. 

“Sensei saved me when no one else would!” Shigaraki yelled back, hands tightened into fits and Dabi watches how Kurogiri shifts uncomfortably behind the bar from his peripheral vision. 

“When no one else would? Or were they not even given the chance? It is so hard to think maybe he made it so you wouldn’t be saved by anyone else. Don’t you think it is too awfully close to a coincidence that you are supposedly a hero’s grandson that he fought and killed? Even if he did save you, that doesn’t make him good! He’s just as false as the fucking heroes I want to take down. He’s just as bad as Endeavor in my eyes and I have no idea why the fuck I am even bothering with any of this!” He growled before marching to the door that hid the stairs that led to the rooms above. “Toga! Jin! We are leaving so get down here! And you!” He turned to Compress anger still in his eyes he was never sure exactly how the other fell into this life, but he didn’t believe the other to be truly bad. “You figure out if this is exactly what you want before you get dragged down to hell with him. Tell Spinner that too.” 

“Dabi? What are you doing here?”

“We’re leaving? Yay! I don’t want to leave.” 

Toga and Twice both came down the stairs looking at Dabi with confusion. Blue eyes snapped back to them softening slightly at the sight of them in comfy clothes. “Do you guys have anything here you want to take?” he asks them, getting shaken heads ‘no.’ in response. “Alright then let's go home.” 

“Home?” Twice asks, looking at him curiously but he is quick to follow Dabi towards the exit. 

“Who the hell says you can just take them?!” Shigaraki growls out making a lunge at Dabi only to stumble through a portal made by Kurogiri and reappears next to the Warp Villain.

“I think it would be best to just let them go Tomura Shigaraki,” Kurogiri spoke to his young charge while still watching the barely contained anger of the Blue Flame user closely, Dabi visibly tense and small licks of flames coming off his hands. “Let Dabi and his friends go. I’m sure we will see them again soon enough.” 

Ice blue eyes glared over at the warper ignoring how Shigaraki began to yell again about taking his team. “Don’t you try to find us, or I'll make sure there isn’t even ash left of you.” Dabi growls, blowing out smoke from his mouth, like that of an angry dragon, as he begins to overheat before stomping out of the bar Toga and Twice quickly following him. 

Things were quiet between the three now-former League of Villains for a few blocks before Dabi let out a long breath pulling his phone out to call Hawks to get them. He wanted a good day but of course, Shigaraki had to muddle up the beginning of it. 

“Dabi, where are we going? Did you say home? But we don’t actually live anywhere near here.” Toga says looking at the older male after looking around at where they had stopped. 

“I know. Just hold on a bit and I’ll explain once Pidgeon gets here.” Dabi says, waiting for the call to connect, reaching out to ruffle the girl’s hair softly. Twice was strangely quiet watching them quietly but even through his mask, Dabi could see the soft smile the other had. Hawks’ voice rang through the phone and Dabi turned his attention back to the device in his hand. “Hey, birdbrain you can come to get us now. Yeah, we are where I told you I would stop... No, I haven’t told them yet... Yeah, we had a bit of a problem with leaving but I don’t think Kurogiri will let him do anything just yet. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Dabi hummed listening to Keigo talk and gave instructions to whoever was with him before the other told him they would be pulling up in just a moment. “Thanks, Pidgeon.” 

After pocketing his phone again, he looked back at his friends. “Hawks will be here soon and he’s going to take us home... Well, our new home.”

“Oh, you and Hawkie moving in together?! That’s awesome!” Toga says bouncing next to him as she looped her arm through his and hugged it to her chest. “Is it nice?”

“Yeah, something like that and it’s big with a spare room for the kids to stay if they need to.” he says smiling softly allowing the younger, hopefully not a villain anymore, girl to hug his arm. 

“Big brother Dabi living up to the title huh? That’s cute.” Jin says to him in the second voice not even contradicting himself like normal and Dabi would be lying if he said he did not flush at the comment. 

Luckily, he is saved from trying to reply as a van pulled to a stop in front of them and the window rolls down to show Hawks in the passenger seat and his best friend Miruko the Rabbit hero, currently ranked Number 5 in the hero charts, was driving. “Hey babe! Hey Toga and Jin it’s good to see you two! Get in, get in I can’t wait to show you guys the place! It’s amazing!” Hawks says a bit too loudly, loud enough that it has Dabi lunging at him to cover his mouth with his hand to the amusement of Miruko who laughed at their antics.  

Toga let out a soft squeal at seeing Hawks and hopped to the van Jin being a gentleman and opening the door for her. “Dabi says it is nice and big! Guess it pays off to be dating the number two hero huh?” she laughs softly as she climbs in, eyeing Miruko skeptically. 

“Hey little vampire. Hey Twice. You can call me Miruko or Rumi and you will not have to worry about me. I have known about Bacon Bits for what seems like forever.” The rabbit hero says turning in her seat slightly as they each filed into the van 

“What is it with you assholes and calling me Bacon Bits? First Shigaraki, then Bakugou, and now you! What the fuck?” Dabi growls as he sits down behind Hawks pulling his seat belt on and making sure both Jin and Toga do the same. 

“I think it fits you! Doesn’t fit at all.” Jin speaks up with a grin towards the blue flame user that has Dabi glaring softly at his friend and grumbling under his breath about getting them to the house.

And it is an actual house, not an apartment like he used to live in, or Hawks lived in, that they end up pulling up to. It was surrounded by high stone barriers with a gate that let them in when Miruko typed the code into the keypad. As the van moved forward onto the private drive Toga unbuckled and moved to see the house better. 

“Dabi that is HUGE!” she practically yelled, the two pros flinching at her volume right next to their sensitive ears but grinning at her all the same. 

“I know right?! I was so surprised when he said this was the one that he wanted! It’s so much bigger than what I grew up in!” the blond said, turning to her as Miruko parked the car by the front. “But he says it’s smaller than his childhood home! Smaller!”

“It is... but this is much better than that place. It’s a Western-style rather than Traditional Japanese home.” Dabi says getting out of the van, allowing Twice and Toga out after him, Toga tripping as she tries to hurry. “I’ll show you around. Most of everything has already been set up but there are a few finishing touches to a couple of the rooms that still need to be set up.” he smiles at their backs as they both raced to the door like children. Keigo came up beside him in his casual clothes and took his hand in his with a smile. “You think they will like it?” Dabi asks uncertainty in his voice as he turns to his boyfriend. 

“They’ll love it. Come on, let's show them everything.” Keigo says quickly, giving him a kiss on the cheek before pulling him along to the front door where their friends waited.

---

“Dabi, you said there was a spare room for the kiddies, but I count four other rooms besides the Master bedroom. How many kids do you expect to need to stay here?” Toga asks him as they are standing on the second floor leading to all the bedrooms having shown the rest of the house off to the pair plus Miruko. The rabbit hero and Keigo were currently down in the kitchen making them all lunch. Which left Dabi with Toga and Jin and the big reveal. 

“Well, one is for Shouto to have, one is actually a spare, and the other two... Well,” Dabi says slowly, looking at the two doors in question as if they could tell him how to best express what he wanted. The doors remained silent, but he turned back to his friends with a soft smile. “Well, those two are for you guys if you want them. You two don’t belong with the League, never have. You were shunned because of your quirk, Toga, and your mental health, Jin. I have been given a new start and I want to make sure you get one as well.” he finishes off looking at each of their surprised faces. 

He watches as Toga begins to tear up before she nearly knocks him over in a tight hug with Jin quick to follow, wrapping his arms around the both of them, tears in his own eyes. “Y-You ac-actually care... No one has cared before.” Dabi hears Jin sob and Toga crying hard enough that she was only able to hug Dabi’s middle tighter. 

“Well of course I care... We are family, right?” Dabi asks one arm around Toga and the other on Jin’s shoulder looking at the other male. “And family takes care of each other. I’m going to take care of you two from now on, I promise.” Jin nods, dropping his head onto Dabi’s shoulder fully dissolving into hard sobs.

---

The pair of them cried until Keigo came to get them for lunch and even then, small sobs still came from them as they all ate. Once lunch was cleaned up Dabi stood from the table looking to Keigo for a confidence boost before he cleared his throat cutting off Toga’s questions about how hard Miruko had to work to get into the top ten as a woman. “Right so I said I was getting a new start in life and part of that is me being under Hero Supervision. Luckily, it's with Aizawa, Present Mic, and Hawks here as my ‘guardians’ so you know it’s easier on me.” he says with a chuckle. “I’m giving them anything I know about the League and the Nomu’s... You two don’t have to do that but I did manage to get the both of you what you need to be cleared of any crimes connected to you. You will both have to go to therapy and Toga you will be signed up for online classes to get your missing High School degree and, if you want, college classes after that.” He says to them half surprised to get eager nods in response. He swallows thickly not sure how they are going to take the next part, but he steadies himself with a deep breath.

“I also said that we were family so that means you should at least have the honor of knowing my birth name.” Dabi takes another breath, Toga and Jin looking at him seriously with the knowledge they would learn his name. “You know me a Dabi but I was born... I was born as Touya Todoroki. The eldest son of Pro Hero Endeavor.” He ignores the wide eyes and soft gasp of surprise to continue. “And as of two weeks ago papers were filed and I am now legally Dabi Touya Aizawa. It’s nice to officially meet you.”

Chapter Text

Living with Toga and Jin was interesting, to say the least. After learning his birth name and his new legal name things dissolved into slight chaos and stayed that way for nearly an hour. It mostly consisted of them trying to get him to tell them everything about growing up and why he hated Endeavor so much. He promised to tell them in all due time, but he was in therapy to work through his issues just the same as them. 

Toga improved by leaps and bounds while in therapy. Dabi figures the girl simply needed the support and structure to improve and become a better version of herself. He knew it was there from the start, she just needed a little bit of help to get there. Her schooling was a bit more difficult as she had missed so much and to her own recounting, she had not been the best in school before becoming a villain. But with the help of Dabi, who had the help of Aizawa, and a hired tutor they were able to get her on track to get her where she needed. 

Jin was slower to improve but between therapy and medication, he was doing better. He was to a point of not needing to cover his head to function as much as he had before. Jin also requested to be on quirk suppressants to make it easier for him to know that he was the original and not a copy, which his therapist was working him through. 

All in all, Dabi knew they were getting better and he himself was improving as well. Even with the frequent check-ins from the Hero Commission and seeing his own therapist for his issues he knew he was doing better. He turned down the use of quirk suppressants but accepted the medical help he was offered, so he was on the road to being physically healthy as well, scars included with the help of Eri and a few other Doctors that were known for his situation. And with Miruko showing up most days they were all eating better, she drags him into exercising with her in their in-home gym. Also, he was having regular dinners with the Aizawa-Yamada household and between Hizashi and Miruko he was sure he was gaining a healthy weight back rather than his stick-like figure he had before.

It was Friday and Dabi was going to pick Shouto up from Aizawa apartment when he went over there for dinner. It would be the first time Shouto had been to their new home since they all moved in which prompted Dabi into cleaning like crazy the last few days, but no one was going to mention that aloud to him for fear of something being caught on fire. Hawks was currently out doing his hero duties; Toga was in her room doing what schoolwork she had for the day (or was supposed to be doing at least.) and Jin was out at his therapy session while he himself was currently folding laundry in their family room while the tv played a movie about a self-centered rich guy turned hero following his kidnapping and near death. It was a good movie and part of a good series of movies in his opinion, even if the series was about heroes.

He was about halfway through the movie and about done with his and Keigo’s laundry when his phone rings on the table in front of the couch. He grabbed the remote pausing the movie before grabbing his phone noting Aizawa’s number before answering. “What’s up old man?” he says, pressing the phone to his ear and holding it up with his shoulder as he goes back to folding the pair of sweats he had been working on before.

“I need you to come to UA for a bit.” Aizawa is straight to the point and Dabi frowns deeply putting the now-folded pair of sweatpants on the couch with the rest of the already folded laundry. 

“Okay... Is everything alright? Like do I need to be prepared to fry some people?” He asks as he gets up. He wouldn’t argue with Aizawa about where he is needed to be, mostly because the man was in charge of his ‘parole’ but also because he was a good man and a good teacher to his siblings. He’s already at the genkan pulling on his boots and grabbing his hoodie to pull on when the pro hero chuckles on the line. 

“Not yet. Just get here as quickly as you can.” the man doesn’t even wait for a reply before the line beeps indicating the call ending. Dabi rolls his eyes, he makes sure to text the family chat saying he was headed out for a bit and will be back later before pocketing his phone and walking out of the house, locking the door behind him as he leaves. 

It wouldn’t be a very long walk, probably thirty or so minutes, to get to UA but still, he skirts around to the attached carport walking up to the sleek black and blue motorbike. He didn’t necessarily have a legal license for it but he was sure Aizawa wouldn’t mind him taking a faster route. The bike purred to life under him once the key was turned and he was quick to move down the winding driveway, the gate opening as he approached to allow him to shoot out onto the road quickly. He hates cars and flying but the feeling of the bike moving with his body is freeing to him. He’s not sure how that works with his motion sickness, but he won’t argue with having some type of outlet. 

He arrives at the UA front gates in just under ten minutes, he brings the bike to a stop on the sidewalk in front of the gates grinning at the disapproving look Present Mic, Yamada, is giving him. “Sup Pops.” Dabi says as he kicks the stand down and kills the engine. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a bike? WE could go riding together!” Okay not exactly what he thought he was going to hear from the man, but Dabi laughed softly. 

“Sorry, I didn't even know you had a bike. But yeah, that would be nice. I get motion sick when I’m not in control, so I typically hate cars but a bike? That is heaven.” Dabi responds by walking over to the older man. Mic gives him a visitor pass and they both pass through the gate without incident. “You know why Eraser called me here?” He asks curiously. 

“He didn’t tell you?”

Dabi’s eyes narrowed in suspicion at how the other said that. It sounded like Mic knew and was finding it amusing that Dabi didn’t. “No...” he says, willing his steps to not falter. He knew they wouldn’t arrest him not with how hard they fought to get him where he was now, nor with how well they took care of him, but that didn’t stop warning bells from going off in his head that he was being set up in some form. Mic laughs at his suspicious face and leads him down the hallways of UA. Old habits die hard as he locates any exits he could use or rather entry points should someone get inside the gates. 

“Oh, you’ll see dear, you’ll see.” Mic says as they come to a stop in front of a large door. 

Dabi looks up at where they were reading the little plaque. “Uhhhh why are we at 1-A's class?” He asks but the blond hero ignores him, opening the door and striding in like a former villain wasn’t walking behind him. 

“Oh, good you made it. The kids should be back from lunch soon and then you're going with them to Ground Beta for teamed quirk training. Pick the teams you think need to work together more, also ask Midoriya if you need help figuring out what is needed to help the kids push their quirks. I have to go for a mission that they need my quirk for, and I need to leave... well now. You got this. I’ll see you for dinner Kid. Mic lets go.” Aizawa speaks fast for once packing up a small folder before passing it to Dabi, pressing it into his chest so that he is forced to grab onto it before it falls and walks around him out the door. 

Dabi blinks just barely registering anything the man had said before he spins around. “Wait what the fuck?! Aizawa!” he yells as he steps back out of the room into the hallway only to find it empty, Aizawa and Mic not to be seen anywhere. “Oh, you are fucking bastards!!” he growled out loudly stomping back into the classroom. He tosses the folder onto the podium before opening it all the while blue flames flickering on his back. “This is such bullshit. I didn’t sign up for this. I’m not even a teacher!” he growls under his breath flipping through the folder mentally trying to calm himself so as to not catch fire to anything. There were twenty sheets each one about the kids, their quirks, their friend groups, temperament, and cooperativeness with other people. “Well, at least this is thought out. Unlike me being here.” he said and looked around for a paper in pen. He could take notes at least and figure something out. Also, ask the green-haired kid when he needs to because he will definitely need to.

Ten minutes of note-taking is how long it took for the 1-A students to come back. And not one by one, no all of them at the same time appeared at the door. The engines-in-his-legs kid was holding the door open for the rest of the students who paused upon seeing him at the front as opposed to Aizawa. 

“Yeah, I was surprised too… oh by the way where the hell is Ground Beta? Because that’s where we are going for team quirk training that I’m apparently in charge of today for some god-awful reason.”

No one answered him for a few beats before Bakugou barked out a laugh, going over to open the sidewall for their cases. Oh, that’s cool. Dabi thinks watching the cases slide out for each of the kids. “Well, they hired All Might with no teaching license. So, I’m not surprised you got roped into this as well, Bacon Bits.” The blond says smirking over at the former villain making Dabi feel like he was 100% in for some trouble with this lot.

“Touya.” 

Dabi turned back around at his name as each of the kids began grabbing their numbered cases and grinned down at Shouto. “Hey little Brother. Guess you get to see me a little bit longer than the weekend huh? You’re still working on your fireside, right? I can help a bit with that, lord knows the bastard does a ba-” the rest of his sentence is cut off by arms being wrapped around him tightly. He looked down at the perfectly parted red and white hair and he felt like a weight was lifted off him as he brought a hand up to cradle Shouto's head softly. “You good Sho?” He asks as he wraps his other arm around his little brother's back giving him a slight squeeze. Hugging was good. He hadn’t been sure if the younger of his siblings would even want to hug him for everything, he had done in his past, but he was glad to know otherwise.

Shouto doesn’t verbally answer but he nods before he lets Dabi go and takes a couple of steps back to look up at him. “Sorry. Not sure what came over me.”

“Emotions you dumbass. We’ve been over this, Icy Hot, you have emotions.” Bakugou is the one to speak up as he shoulders past Dabi and purposely checks Shouto lightly. “Deku has your case, let's go change and show our dear brother here how kick-ass we all are and make him glad he’s on our side.”

“YEAH!” the whole class yells out after Bakugou quickly following after the blond teen to the changing rooms and Dabi is left with the feeling that he was going to lose somehow before he is quick to follow behind because he really didn’t know where Ground Beta was.

Chapter Text

It’s been several months since they moved in and he was back to patrolling three times a week and a fourth if he was anxious for any reason, something he was addressing in therapy.  He’s still not sure how he feels about going to see someone for his issues, but he will admit that he’s in a better place mentally than he has ever been. Shouto is hoping that he will one day join the teen to visit their mother once Dabi feels he can see her without either of them having issues. Dabi wants to, he misses his mother dearly and he misses his other siblings, but he has made Shouto swear to not tell any of them that he was alive or who he had become while he was gone. He doesn't think they would do anything, no, he just wants to be the one to tell them in person... and well hopefully look more like he used to.

With the medical and quirk help, a lot of Dabi’s scars across his body were doing better. Across his torso was, to his surprise, nearly gone along with his legs. His upper arms and shoulders were still purple in color but patches were healing. Under his eyes, it was closer to red than purple. His jaw and forearms were still as bad as they had been, but he was still grateful for what they had been able to achieve so far. A fact that he made sure the doctors and nurses knew. His staples were also gone so that was an added bonus. He did replace a few with piercings just because he had grown to like them for reasons even, he’s not sure of but the not worrying about changing them out on his own or having the possibility of an infection happening was a weight off his shoulders.

He was healthier by leaps and felt better than he had in years, so he wanted to do more. he may have been tricked the first time ... and maybe a few other times but he did get persuaded to help with training on occasion. even then so, times he still felt antsy while at home. Even with Jin and Toga there to keep him company and Keigo when he wasn't doing hero work, sometimes at night he just felt the itch to go out, to leave for a while. So when that happened he left with very little explanation needing to be said.

He always texted Aizawa when he went out on his walks, patrols no matter what he called it he is not fooling anyone on what it actually was, sometimes even asking for his route to join the older man but more often than not he just went out on his own. At first, it was a good way to get familiar with the new neighborhood they lived in but they have lived there long enough for him to be well versed in the ins and outs of it now. So, he started venturing further making rounds near where he knew his 1-A siblings lived or scouted arrears the League had once used to hide making sure they hadn't made a move in the time since he, Jin, and Toga had left.

He knows there were some small rumors about a vigilante cropping up in different areas. They’ve been calling him Flames Shadow, which didn’t make sense to him. But Toga loved it, helping fuel the proverbial fire by adding in on the forums and blogs with random things about him and where he could possibly show up next that had him rolling his eyes about it every time it was brought up. Keigo also found it amusing, especially when it came up in interviews and he just smiled at whoever asked and said he hoped to have the vigilante become an actual full-fledged hero and work beside him.

Dabi was now wandering around the Chiba prefecture having taken a train ride to get there. His face mask was in place and his hood was up as he walked around. The night was pretty productive he had already stopped three muggings, two of switch he scared off one he dropped off knocked out to the police station with a note. He may or may not have taken a picture and sent it to toga so she could have some fun with it online. He was in a more residential part of the neighborhood and had just stopped at a convenience store to buy a drink before passing by a park when he stops dead in his tracks, his drink up to his mouth, and turned.

Bright red hair caught his eye, not styled how he was used to seeing it and he’s surprised he even noticed the boy who seems to want to disappear with how tightly they were curled in the pirate playset. Dabi looks around trying to get his bearings as he realized that while they weren’t technically far from the kid’s house he was further than he should be this late at night. Dabi twisted the cap of the dink back on as he walked over to the boy. “You good kid?”

The teen jerks and look up at him with bright red eyes brimming with tears that stubbornly didn’t fall and his quirk activating over his arms defensively. Dabi watched patiently as Kirishima’s body language shifted from on edge towards a stranger to relaxed at realizing it was him. Kirishima sniffed and nodded. “Yeah, I am fine. Just had an argument with my dad.”

Dabi frowned and leaned against the playset. “Wanna talk about it? I know a thing or two about having arguments with fathers.” He suggests and holds back a smile at the half-laugh he gets in return.

“I… I don’t really know where to start.” The teens finally admitted after a few moments of quiet between them.  “My dad isn’t really around at all. Like he just shows up when he wants money or to act like he is a good dad once every few years but it always ends with him disappearing again. Mama kicked him out and divorced him before I was born because he nearly killed her while she was pregnant with me…” Dabi stiffens at the confection and makes a mental note to figure out who this bastard was. Kirishima didn’t seem to notice his reaction and continued talking. “She met Mama Julie when I was like five or so and they married not long after. And like… I don’t get why Mama lets him come back so much. I know she doesn’t love him. She can’t right? And I don’t know why Mama Julie just lets him in our house either…” Kirishima sighs and lays his cheek on his arm that is propped up on his knees his other arm picking at stray frays of thread on his hoodie. “He’s so mean and rude to them throwing their things not caring if they break. He yells at me when I’m home at the same time and tonight he shoved Mama Julie into the wall and I… I lost it.”

Dabi watches the teen quietly. He’s not sure how he is supposed to do this but he knows that he shouldn’t talk just then. He knew he need to let the boy get out that he needed to.

“I yelled at him Dabi. No… no, I screamed at him. I shoved him away from her, my quirk was active and I didn’t care if I hurt him… I wanted to hurt him. I’ve never been so angry in my life. I wasn’t even sure that I could get that angry but he did that and I… and I really wanted him gone.” Dabi watched as Kirishima shifted before letting his legs fall into a crisscross pattern before looking up at him with red eyes that still held anger in them. The older male silently debated if this was going to turn into another time where he would need to get rid of evidence or not. “I screamed at him that he needed to leave or I was going to personally tear him apart. And you know my quirk right? I could do it so easily and not to mention my teeth… I have never thought about that before and with him, it just came out and I meant it… I didn’t stick around I left after that so that I wouldn’t have to see him leave and I just kept walking till I got here… and I… I had nowhere for that anger to go so I started crying and then well you showed up so yeah… that’s it.”

The older male reached over and ran his hand through the teen's hair. “Listen. That really sucks. Even though she remarried I’m sure she thought that you having a father, no matter how infrequent, was better than none. But ultimately you did the right thing, he was using you to still be in your mother’s life to take advantage of her apparent giving nature and make it harder on all of you. Your stepmother… I’m sure she cares for you just as much as your mother does and only wanted to make sure the both of you were happy.” He looked down at the teen and smiled. “and plus if that bastard ever tries to come back you can always call me and I’ll take care of him.”

Kirishima gave a slight smirk, sharp teeth flashing on one side. “Like you helped Midoriya and Bakugou?”

Dabi barked a laugh and pulled his hand back to himself. “Wasn’t sure that they would tell anyone but yeah. Just like that. My quirk comes in handy for that type of thing.” He said with a shrug before motioning his head in the rough direction he believed the boy's home to be. “Now come on let’s get you home, it’s late and we should make sure the dickhead is gone for sure.”

“Alright. Do you want to meet my moms?”

“I would rather not right now. Maybe someday though. They raised you well enough so I’m sure they are amazing women.”

Chapter Text

Believe it or not but Dabi actually does like animals. Especially strays, something about how they had no home to call their own and often were hurt or sick called to him. Before he had his old apartment he lived on the streets for years or found abandoned places to crash at for a while and he would find strays that were sick and dying or hurt badly enough that he took them in. He would make them comfortable until they passed and made sure their last days were as painless as he could or if they were just injured, he would help them heal until they were good enough to be on their own again. If they passed while in his care, he would cremate their bodies with his quirk while saying a prayer his mother had said years before when her own father had passed. He’s not sure if he believes in a higher power or not but it felt like the right thing to do each time.

When he got his own apartment and joined the league it was harder to bring the strays around, he didn’t trust the league as far as he could throw them. Now that they were in the new house, he was feeling like he wanted to take in a few stays he saw around on his patrols that needed help. He’s said some small things to the others about how he used to help the animals but he’s still unsure how they feel about one living with them for a short time.

So, when Dabi sees some teens laughing and hollering in an alley on his way back home from the grocery store just before dinner time, he frowned hearing loud yelps of pain from something they were surrounding. He huffed as he stalked forward through the alley his groceries still in hand. “I know damn good and well that you fucking kids are not hurting that animal.”

“What’s it to you, old man?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Fuck you dude. Who asked you?”

Three teens of the group of six spoke near at once before they turned to look at him the others of the groups still throwing rocks and cans at the dog that they had cornered against a dumpster.

Blue eyes narrowed at the sight, and he purposely blew smoke from his nose and mouth as he pulled his lip back to bare his teeth. He hadn’t felt anger like this in a long while as he stomped his foot down hard letting a quick trail of fire build up towards the teens forcing them back from the hurt and scared animal. “Back the hell away from it now.” He growled out lowly feeling the sound rumble deep in his chest as he stalked forward. “I should fry you where you stand.” The teens stare at him with wide eyes and shaking in fear, he’s sure he smells piss on one of the kids as he passed them, but he ignored them going to the poor dog that shook and whined in pain.

“If I turn around and you are still there, I will make sure that there isn’t any trace of you left for someone to find.” he snaps over his shoulder. He kneels beside the injured pup and shit, it was just a pup, the poor thing probably was not even a full year old yet. He hears six different series of footsteps run away from the alley, but he pays them no mind as he set his bags down to gently put a handout to the pup. “Hey little one. Shhh, it is okay. I’m just going to take you home, okay? Get you all patched up to find a home. How about that?”

He winces as the pup sank his teeth into his hand, but he didn’t move, not jerking his hand back as many would do in that situation. “Oh Little One, I know, but I really am just trying to help.”

“He doesn’t trust you.”

Blue eyes snapped to where the quiet voice came from, with a glare and a snarl on his face. A quiet squeak answered him before the person slowly walked forward with his hands raised to be fully seen. “S-sorry! I-I heard him c-ca-calling for his m-mom to s-s-save him from the s-s-scary humans.”

Dabi frowned looking at the teen in front of him. “Kouda?” he said slowly, remembering the kid's name from 1-A. Quiet. Prefers to sign when possible. Quirk is something to do with talking to animals. Good for defense and rescue missions... His brain quickly supplied about the teen before he slid his eyes back to the pup who was slowly pulling away from his hand. “Hey Buddy. I promise I won’t hurt you. See this kid here? He’s my little brother. And I will take care of you as I do him and our other siblings.”

Kouda squeaked softly and took a few more steps forward to get a better look at the puppy. “H-hey… Y-yeah, he is my b-brother… he does take care of us when he can… mhm…” the teen turned to look at Dabi. “He wants to know if you will really find him a home after.”

Dabi looked at the puppy. “Of course, Buddy. I’ll get you healed all up and then Kouda here and I can find a family for you. Does that sound alright with you?” he asks still speaking softly motioning a hand towards the teen that had come closer and crouched beside him as well. The puppy’s eyes looked between the two of them before softly giving a bark in reply that he took to mean yes.

“Alight, Buddy. Hey Kouda, do you mind carrying him and following me to the house? I am afraid that I have groceries to carry so my hands are full.” He says looking at Kouda who nodded slightly with a quiet squeak at being addressed. The older male nodded back and stood up again grabbing the bags of groceries while Kouda picked the puppy up gently whispering soft words of comfort to him. “I have a yard for him to be able to go out in, but I want him to be inside while he is healing. How old is he?” he asks looking back at the pair as they began walking, directing the question towards them both.

The puppy looks up at Kouda holding him and the teen whispers back to him quietly them having a quiet conversation before the teen looked back up to him. “He said that he is 8 moons, full moons, old. The next full moon is in a few days so roughly 9 months old. He says he was out exploring and lost his mom, he hasn’t seen or heard her in almost a moon now. He was looking for food in the garbage when those kids found him and hurt him.”

“Fucking kids. I swear if I see them again I’ll make sure they leave with a few scorch marks on ‘em. Teach them to ever hurt some poor animal for fun again.” He growled out ignoring Kouda’s startled look.

“I-I g-guess I forget t-that you a-are t-technically a villain… or m-more vigilante now r-right?” he asked stuttering softly as he moved to be more in step with Dabi as they walked.

Dabi hummed in thought before shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t see myself as anything really. I mean basically, I am a legal vigilante considering my ‘contract’ with the commission, but I still break the law often so…” he trailed off and shrugged again looking over at Kouda. “I’d do anything for you kids though you know that right?”

“Of c-course! Y-you’re all any of t-them talk about and what y-you do f-for them… a-and S-Shouto loves staying w-with you.” Kouda answers quickly before looking down at the puppy petting him slowly.

The once villain hummed softly before focusing ahead of them sensing that he had hit a soft limit on the talking aloud for a moment. When he sees the gate to the house, he looks back over at them. “Just about there, guys.” he said smiling over at them. Once reaching the keypad he entered the code for the gate to open for them. “Hey Buddy, can you please tell Kouda what hurts while I get out our med kit?” he asks leading them up the private drive only briefly looking back to see Kouda blinking in slight awe of his home.

The pup gave a soft bark in reply, and he simply nodded back before letting them all in. “I’m home!” he calls out into the house. He knows Toga should be home and should be doing schoolwork, Jin was probably in her room learning from her if he had to guess since the other man didn’t have anything on the schedule for the day, and Hawks was at work. He frowned at the groceries in his hand as he walked to put it in the kitchen. It was mostly all for dinner that night but if he was working on the pup he would not be able to start cooking like he needed to. “Himiko! Jin! Come down here!” he hollers again setting everything on the countertop before locating the kitchen’s first aid kit.

Kouda is standing awkward at the entrance to the kitchen looking like he felt very out of place and Dabi felt bad for the quiet teen. “Go sit down at the table okay? I’m just going to get him washed up and then I can properly check him over. Did he tell you what hurt?”

The teen nods handing the pup over just as footsteps were coming down the stairs. Dabi takes the puppy over to the sink getting some lukewarm water running before starting the wash the pup up. Dirt and grime quickly turned the water murky as it ran down the drain. He shushes the poor dog as he worked not even turning when the footsteps finally reached the kitchen.

“Dabi! Dabi! Jin passed the mock test I gave him!” Toga yells excitedly as she raced into the kitchen with Jin right behind her. Both of them froze as seeing the pup in the sink with Dabi cleaning it up and the teen at the kitchen table who fiddled with his hands softly in anxiety eyes wide at the two former villains that entered the room. “Uhhhh…. Dabi?”

“Hey, I need you guys to start up dinner there. Also, congrats Jin maybe we can get you up to the GED test soon.” Dabi nodded towards the grocery bags before looking and addressing Jin on his accomplishment. It had been of no surprise to learn “Found some kids hurting this poor thing to I’m gonna patch him up and get him healed before finding him a home.” He explains to them both as Jin just shrugs the scene off before going to do as told.

“Oh, you poor baby!” Toga said in a sad voice walking over to the pup he had in the sink covered in suds from the soap. “Don’t you worry we will take good care of you.” She said before looking at Kouda at the table. “You are in 1-A yeah? Ummm” she snapped her fingers before her face brightened. “Kouda! Right?”

Kouda blinked at her and nodded slowly. “I-I am. N-Nice t-to meet y-you?” he says it as if it was a question.

“Yeah! You can call me Himiko, are you staying for dinner?” She again looked back towards Dabi as he dries the pup gently with a towel before looking back at the other teen. “We don’t mind.”

“Don’t pressure him, Himi. Go help Jin with dinner.” Dabi said once he moved across the kitchen to the table placing the pup down on the surface. The pup immediately shook out his fur, now white and brown with small black spots since the mud and grime were gone, making the three smile and laugh softly at how cute he was. Toga skipped off to do as told going to Jin to ask what they were making. “Alright let’s look you over. I saw a bit of blood but not a lot so it should just be a few bandages and just some bruising that would need to heal up. Plus, some food would do you some good. Right Buddy?” he said softly smiling at the pup who was waging his tail hard enough to wiggle his whole body and giving soft yaps.

“H-He is very happy right now, which y-you can see. But he does say the cut is on his right side and that his chest hurts some along with his front right shoulder.” Kouda said looking up at class 1-A’s brother as he nodded and went to work on finding the cut easily enough with how white the pup’s fur had turned out.

After getting the cut treated with ointment and a simple bandage wrapped around his leg Dabi then checked around his chest pressing gently as he could and determined that it was just bruising of the chest and a sore joint to the shoulder. After some asking the pup told Kouda that one of them had grabbed his leg when he tried to run. He warned the pup to at least be gentle on the leg for the time being, but it should be more than fine without anything on it.

“Dinner is done! Is Hawkie gonna make it or do we need to set him out some for later?” Himiko asked bouncing back over to them not even waiting for the answer to her question before turning to the pup. “Oh, look at you all handsome again! Do you want some beef? I made sure to cut up some just for you baby boy.”

"I think Keigo is going to be a bit late to dinner, but he should still make it. And don't spoil him too much. We don't want him having expectations when we find him a home later.” Dabi warned her with a shake of his head watching how she pouted before going to go set their dinner table. “She’s going to feed him behind my back I just know it.” He mumbled before looking back at Kouda. “You really are more than welcome to stay. I had gotten everything for Beef Sukiyaki if you are interested and Jin is a surprisingly good cook.”

Kouda looked towards the dining room where Toga had disappeared into nervously. “I-If… If it is n-not a problem, then yes. I-I would l-like to stay and g-get t-to know you all.” He said watching as Dabi placed the pup on the floor and the pup slid on the tile slightly as it took off where Toga had been going.

The former villain smiled and let out a soft laugh before looking at Kouda. “Honestly, pasts aside, we are pretty boring. If you are not comfortable talking though just say so, Jin doesn’t always want to talk so we are more than understanding on that front. I know some sign if that helps as well but it’s not very good because I am still learning so I might ask you to finger spell something so I can translate.”

“O-oh… you would do that for me?” Kouda asked surprised.

“I meant it when I said I would do anything for you kids. Learning sign falls under that.”

---

Kouda came over for a few days after they had found the pup watching him get healthy again, translating when needed, before he returned back to school. He did text to check in with Dabi every so often and the ex-villain happily sent photos of the pup every time. By the time the pup was healthy enough to find a home Toga, Jin and even Hawks were begging him to keep the little pup.

Dabi sat on the couch rubbing at his face at the end of the week, grateful once again that his face was no longer stapled together as he had missed being able to do that. The other three were all out as he had practically all but thrown them out telling them to go get take out for dinner at their insistent nagging at him. There was only so much he could take of each of them but to have all three hounding him he had reached his limit. He looked at his feet seeing the pup laying across one of his feet, the pup was chewing on an old sock Hawks had tied knots into to make a tug toy.

“You know…” he started getting the puppy's attention. “, I had always made sure the strays I took in before got good homes. Or that they were fine on their own if they were not inclined to stay with people. I have never once thought about keeping one of them. Not once.” The pup blinked up at him and tilted his head slightly, one of his ears flopping to the side with the action. Dabi sighed softly and reached down to pet the pup before cupping his jaw and lifting the pup's head slightly to look in his eyes.

“I guess we need to come up with a proper name for you. What do you say?”

Chapter Text

Dabi stared at himself in the mirror of their master bathroom, hands on the edge of the sink gripping it tight enough that his knuckles were white. A box of the higher-priced hair dye to the side just waiting for him to mix up and apply to his hair. Hair that was back to its normal stark white and a small patch of red that hadn’t changed over the years. Once he ‘died’ or well woke up after dying he had alternated between cheap as hell box dye that maybe lasted him a month or so depending on how often he was able to shower (which wasn’t often at first) or going to this girl he knew that could change someone’s hair color for three months at a time if he was able to scrounge up the money to pay her.

Now though they had money. Now he could afford the semi-permanent dye or hell he could afford to go get his hair professionally done if he wanted, hell even change his hairstyle while he was at it.

So why was he hesitating? Why wasn’t he starting to mix the dye? Or call a hairdresser? Why was he hesitating at seeing his hair the way it used to be when he was younger? Why?

He’s not sure how long he just stared at himself in the mirror with the warring thought in his brain. Long enough that Keigo had arrived home, giving him a kiss on the cheek before taking a shower. He’s not even sure if the other had spoken to him or not or if he had responded if the other had.

Ice blue eyes move from his reflection to the box dye before letting out a slow breath and reaching to put the supplies back into the box. He finally put the box away under the sink ready for him to use if he changed his mind later on before he quickly left the bathroom without another glance at the mirror. He found Keigo laying on their bed playing on his phone and he felt a soft smile that luckily no longer pulled at any scaring before he moved to the bed and laid beside his boyfriend.

Neither said a word but he felt gold eyes on him as he curled himself close to the other on his side. He knew he needed to go make dinner, Keigo couldn’t cook for shit and Jin had his therapy appointment that afternoon so he was letting him decompress and Himiko needed direction and supervision to cook. There was the option of ordering in but they had already done that once that week and he refused to let it be a recurring thing. He let out a sigh pressing his forehead to Keigo’s shoulder

“You okay baby?” the blond hero finally asked shifting slightly to be on his side as well curling a wing over the both of them like a cocoon.

“I’m fine. I think I’m going through a quarter-life crisis but I am fine.” He mumbled slightly to the other.

Keigo chuckled softly and ran a hand through Dabi’s hair gently. “Does it have anything to do with you not using the hair dye?” he asked scraping his nails against the ex-villain’s scalp just how he liked smiling when he could feel the other relax further.

Dabi hummed and nodded just slightly so as to not move Keigo’s hand. “Is it weird?” he asked and before he could get an answer he continued. “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen my actual hair color and I thought I would hate it as I used to before… but I didn’t. I looked myself in the mirror and I saw… ME. For the first time since before the incident, I saw me and not… not the monster I had become.” He said only glancing at his boyfriend's face for a moment before looking back at his chest quietly eyes tracing the old faded design of the Jurassic World logo. He held back a snort at his blond idiot’s obsession with the franchise.

“You are not a monster. Never have been never will be.” Keigo spoke slowly as if he wasn’t sure the words would be received well and when Dabi didn’t move to speak he continued. “What you went through was shit. And yeah you’ve done some bad things in the past but so have I. Am I a monster?” Dabi shook his head in reply. “Then neither are you. We broke the molds that our pasts tried to make us and we are all the better for it. You have siblings that love you so much. They look up to you and know that you are just a call away and they will be safe. You are helping them to become the heroes we needed when we were younger. You are helping them shape a new society where people like Himi and Jin won’t be ostracized for their issues. And speaking of them you are helping them start fresh. You are giving them a new lease on life when everyone else wrote them off as not worth it. You have two dads now who actually give a shit about you and helped you do all of that. You are not a monster… you are a brother and a hero regardless of how you think of yourself, you are those two things through and through.”

Keigo pulled Dabi to his chest as the other started to cry. He didn’t say anything else until he calmed down again and gently wiped his face clean with soft swipes of his thumbs. “I love you Dabi.”

“Love you too Kei… okay enough of this I have to go make dinner.”

---

Hizashi is picking you up at 7 am. Be ready. ~ 🧣Aizawa 🧣 (Dad)

Dabi read the text several times that he had received from Aizawa the night before as he got ready that morning. With no context as to why he was being picked up and nothing else from Aizawa, he went with one of his white quirk-resistant undershirts with a black hoodie over the top and just regular dark blue jeans with his combat boots. Toga had been awake already and he made her breakfast and made sure there was enough for Jin and Keigo to reheat for later before he walked out of the house and down the driveway at 6:55.

At exactly 7 o’clock a car pulled up beside him and he could recognize the bright blond hair of Hizashi anywhere. He quickly got in the car. “Pops where the hell are we going this early in the morning? I hate mornings.”

“He didn’t tell you?” Hizashi asked watching him put his seatbelt on before pulling away from the curb.

“This is starting to feel like when I first got conned into substituting for his Hell Class.” Dabi said wearily glancing at the door for just a moment as the thought of just bailing out entered his thoughts.

“Oh don’t worry it’s not that I promise. He’s off with the class training with the Pussy Cats again for the summer before they start their second year.” Hizashi waved him off as he was driving and the now white-haired ex-villain tried to keep up with where they were going but quickly lost interest and turned in his seat to face one of the two people he actually cared for as a father figure. “I’ll tell you what is going on when we get there I think that will be more fun.”

Dabi groaned at the other's version of ‘fun’ and leaned back in his seat closing his eyes. If he fell asleep hopefully he wouldn’t get motion sick even with Hizashi driving carefully.

Sleep he did, until he was lightly tapped on the shoulder and the blond man beside him saying they had arrived. He yawned and stretched as much as he could in the car before looking at where they had parked. He promptly froze staring at the large building in front of them.

Takoba National Stadium.

He blinked slowly before rubbing at his eyes and looking again to make sure he wasn’t seeing things or still asleep somehow. When the building didn’t change he turned to Hizashi who was grinning at him and holding a case similar to the ones the kids used in the hero course for their costumes.

“Surprise?”

Dabi thinks his brain has short-circuited because he just blinks at the man for another moment watching how Hizashi's face falls slightly and he starts to fidget under his stare. He shakes his head quickly and reaches for the case pulling it into his lap and unlocking the latches. ‘Just roll with it’ was a motto he had adopted to survive life before and he was going to do that now.  

“They are better versions of your current get-up as a vigilante plus a remodeled version of your coat as a villain. Um just with added armor and better quirk-resisting materials for your fire. There is a cooling feature as well so you don’t overheat. Midoriya, Bakugou, and your brother designed the gloves with those canisters there that will dispense different chemicals that will change the color of your flames. While your face mask is more of a stylistic choice from all of the kids in 1A.” Hizashi explained while he looked through the contents before finally pulling the face mask out.

Styled like the jaw of a dragon it was a dark metal-like material that would come up over his nose and end below his eyes going all the way back where it would clasp together behind his head. Around the bared teeth of the mask, there were few vents where he assumed he could breathe out the smoke he tended to do when he was scaring people off or overheating. He couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face looking the costume over. His HERO costume. One that all his siblings helped design to suit him best.

“Today is the last Hero Licensing exam for adults of the year and well… Sho didn’t think you would come on your own. He says that you don’t think you are worthy enough to be a hero but… Hey, look at me real quick, son.”

Blue eyes snap up at being called son and he swears there aren’t tears in his eyes as he is overcome with a rush of emotions at the costume and the word. He’s lying of course but he gives Hizashi his whole attention as he clutched the face mask to his chest as if it would be taken from him. Hizashi smiles at him and he swears the man is just sunshine in human form. “You are a hero. It’s time to make sure the rest of the world sees it too.”

He’s full-on crying now and lunges across the center console to hug the older man tightly. Dabi quickly gains control of himself to pull away after a few moments and look down at his hero costume. And that sounds so weird and so absolutely right to him.

“So… What do you think your name will be Hero?” Hizashi asks beside him.

He hums softly as he traces the details of the mask. “I think… Gairyx… The hero of fire and renewal.”

Chapter Text

Dabi had tried to not be seen as a limelight hero all that often, though the Hero Commission had other plans based on his patrol schedule. He had both day and nighttime patrols which was fine by him honestly pretty similar to what he had done when he was still skirting the line between legal and illegal. Civilians looked at him curiously when he was out an about in his hero costume and only a few were brave enough to ask about him. He told them he was a new hero, that his hero name was Gairyx, and that he would be there if they needed him. Dabi held back groans when those few brave ones even asked for a picture with him wanting to boast about meeting a new and upcoming hero, but he posed with them all the same, blowing smoke out his mask for the picture. They loved it, he supposed, as they scurried off with laughs and waves to him. 

Toga loved it too, always sharing every picture that came up proclaiming herself as his first and biggest fan online which led to some wondering if he was the same vigilante she had shared before.  Jin sometimes too would log on to share one or two posts of his fights saying they, (him, Toga, and Keigo), were supporting him and that he was doing amazing things. Dabi will deny it and be lying if he said he didn’t tear up reading those messages from his friend. Hell, most of class A also got in on it by sharing anything with his hero name in a post. He couldn’t tell you how many times he’s had to tell them not to post the pictures of him out of costume just to keep his sanity a little longer. 

Sometimes Hawks, Miruko, or Present Mic would join him on his day patrols, and he spent most of his night patrols talking to Eraserhead through their coms. Today was one of the few days where he was patrolling alone. He had his hands stuffed into his pockets as he strolled around the prefecture he was scheduled in this time. Being not fully tied to any one agency helped with not being stuck on the same routes every time, which was nice, monotony was a killer if you asked him. Sometimes he could even change his route up if he wanted as long as he checked in with one of his commission handlers first. He was planning his route back to whichever agency he had access to that was closest to do his reports before changing and heading home. Jin and Toga should be the ones to cook dinner and neither of them had asked him to pick anything up yet, so he assumed they were good to go grocery-wise for whatever they decided to make.

He likes being a hero, more than he liked being a villain, and more than he liked being a semi-legal vigilante. Sometimes he wondered if he would have liked it as much as he does if he had never gone through what he had if he were as close to his adopted siblings as he is now if he would have found the family he has now. He doesn’t think so, so while he hates all that he has had to go through to be where he was now, he wouldn’t change it for anything. 

He hums softly, hearing a commotion going on further up ahead and he heads towards it weaving through people with ease until he has a clear look at a group of heroes taking down a group of small-time villains. He recognizes them easily enough as the hero team ‘The Lurkers’ but he smiles at seeing two of his siblings and a class B student amongst them. The senior heroes seemed to be letting the students get the experience and were keeping the civilians back a safe distance while they worked eyes still watching keenly in case things turned. 

Dabi watched as Kaminari subdued one of the villains with an electrified hand, the villain’s body locking up with the shocks long enough for the blond to place handcuffs on them. Blue eyes traveled over to the class B student who had captured two of the group in her vines though he did frown at the use of prayer as she did. Sero though by far had done the most excellent at capturing his part of the group. Where Kaminari had to get close to not harm the innocent people nearby or anything else and the vine girl had to be cautious of where her quirk went to reduce property damage, Sero, or Cellophane here he supposed, had no such hindrances. 

Sero used his tape to bring two of the villains together in a sharp motion knocking them into each other hard while keeping one back with hand-to-hand combat and a fourth was already down on the ground tangled up in his tape. He was doing well at keeping them focused on him while the other two students took care of the others releasing them into police custody but by the time, he had a second one fully captured in his tape and the third caught in a headlock the last of the group broke away from them and made a break for it. 

Now Gairyx would be a bad hero and a terrible big brother if he let that slide his hand shooting out and with a flick of his wrist potassium chloride mixed with his flames and he surrounded the villain with a ring of purple flames. “You stay right there and let my sibling take you in, got that? Hate to have you burn yourself you know?” he said stepping closer to the flames the purple hue glinting off his mask and in his eyes before he looked over to where Sero had subdued the last one of the group the teen grinning as he lifted the visor of his helmet up so Dabi could see his face properly. 

“Da- I mean Gairyx!” Sero said loudly pulling the tape around the villain he had tied up tightly as he handed him off to an officer. Kaminari quickly trotted up to his friend with a matching grin. Dabi smiled back even with his mask he knew that they could see he was happy to see them as well. 

The two hero hopefuls came over to him and Dabi let the flames die down to allow them to handcuff the final villain. Once they had all been handed over to the police, he opened his arms up to the two teens nearly being barreled over in how hard they rushed him for the hug he was offering. He laughed and hugged them back just as tightly. “You guys did amazing out there. Chargebolt, I noticed better control over your quirk! Good job!” he praised the blond teen when they pulled back before looking at Sero. “And the way you use your quirk is stunning Cellophane. I see you’ve paid attention to how Eraser uses his scarf with how you had those two knocking into each other back there. You did great.” 

The darker-haired teen flushed under the praise and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I mean… yeah, I guess I have. Shin- Errr Psyche I mean as well since he’s learning from sensei.”

“He had also been watching that movie series you like bro, the one with the spider hero.” Kaminari said and sidestepped away with a laugh when Sero lunged at him for apparently revealing a secret. He laughed at their antics.

Dabi could hear cameras going off behind them, but he paid them no mind as the vine girl and the three pros of the group moved toward them. He tensed slightly hoping that none of them could recognize him from his time causing trouble as a villain before Sero caught his attention again. “Don’t worry. We got you covered bro.” the teen said to him in a hushed voice and Dabi nodded to him before looking at the four coming to them. “Sorry to have stepped in. Couldn’t let him escape from my little brother like that.” He explained when they were close enough to hear him. 

“Little brother?” Mt. Lady said with a curious tilt of her head looking between Dabi and Sero as if trying to place some type of resemblance between them. 

“Yeah, he’s all of Class A’s big brother really.” Sero explained smiling up at Dabi and the ex-villain let out a chuckle. 

“Oh, you are the one that sometimes comes to train them. Correct?” the vine girl said in a quiet tone and Dabi nodded. 

“Yeah, I do. You did well with those two earlier by the way. You made sure to not cause unnecessary property damage.” Dabi said to her who smiled and nodded at the praise thanking him quietly. “The name is Gairyx by the way. Nice to meet you all.” He spoke looking at each of them. 

“Don’t believe I have seen much of you before. Are you a newer hero?” Kamui Woods questioned and Gairyx looked at him tensely. 

“Yeah, I am newer on the scene. Just got my license not that long ago at the insistence of Eraserhead… Actually, I’m pretty sure I was basically kidnapped to take the test since I didn’t know I was doing it at first.” He said looking off before shrugging while Kaminari and Sero laughed beside him saying they knew before him. The others on the other hand frowned at the word kidnapped looking at each other in confusion.

“Are you almost done with your shift?” Sero turns to him with a tilt of his head. 

“Yeah, just about to drop by Miruko’s to do my reports before heading home. If you two are nearly done you can stop by the house for some dinner if you like.” He offered them with a fond look. 

“We wouldn’t want to be a bother.” Sero said even as Kaminari grinned at him and nodded excitedly. 

“You are not a bother if I am offering.” 

“If you are sure…” Sero trailed off before nodding. “We will be there. I’ll text you when we are close alright?” the teen said, and Dabi smiled giving the boy a quick side hug. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you two there. I need to go however, I need to get the reports done and call Jin to make sure he makes enough for all of us. Nice to meet you all officially.” He directed the last bit to the other four before waving to the civilians still taking pictures of them all and he walked off towards Miruko’s agency.

--- 

“You know… We should have a Christmas party here for all the kids… Eraser and Mic too.”

Dabi pulled a face of confusion stopping his motions of drying the plate in his hand to look over at Toga. “Huh?” he said watching her watch out the archway to the living room. He could hear the two teens playing some video game with Jin and having fun. He knew their dog would be getting all the attention and love he could from the two boys probably laying between them or across their laps. 

“A Christmas party. They have been through a lot, and I mean yeah, the dorms are nice and all but how much can they honestly decorate? We could decorate the whole house for them, and they wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning up. And it’s not like we don’t have the space for them all to sleep to stay the night before and after… We could make it work… Right?” Toga explained as she turned around to face him. 

The ex-villain blinked at her and let out a humming noise in thought before going back to drying the dishes to be put away. “To be fair we put them through some of those things...” he said lowly as if to himself, but he knew the girl heard him anyways by her hum of acknowledgment. “-but we could… We would need to talk to Aizawa first though… and we’ll need to invite Miruko as well. She would raise hell if she didn’t get to come.” He said after a few moments of thought. They did have enough space for everyone to sleep comfortably. Toga would surely want to share her room with the girls and Shouto and Jin would share their rooms readily enough for the boys. The actual guest bedroom could be for Aizawa and Yamada. Plus, there was enough space in the living room to fit a few futons if some weren’t keen on sharing that much. 

“So, we’ll do it?!” Toga said excitedly bouncing in place when he looked over at her. 

“I said we will have to speak to dad first. He will tell us if we can or not. After we have the green light… yeah, yeah, we can do that.” He said before his words caught up to him and his eyes widened at what he had called Aizawa out loud.

“Dad huh?” Sero’s voice carried easily enough to them, and he spun back towards the archway seeing the teen there with an amused smirk on his face and Kaminari just behind him covering a laugh with his hand.

“Don’t you dare tell him that I call him that! I haven’t said it to him yet!” Dabi spoke quickly pointing a finger at the two boys who quickly dissolved in laughter at the sight of his near panic. Sure, he called Hizashi Pops all the time but sue him it was a little daunting to call Shouta Fucking Aizawa ‘Dad’ to his face when he at one point tried to kill the man! Toga was giggling to the side of him, and he shot her a quick glare before focusing back on the teens. “I am being serious Hanta, Denki, don’t you two go running off and telling him what I said!” he half growled out. He was only half sure they wouldn’t do it but he had to make his point regardless.

“We won’t, we won’t. Promise. But promise us to say it where it can be recorded. I’d kill to see his face at that moment. I mean I think everyone in the class has called him that at least once, right Denks?” the black-haired teen asks looking over at his friend.

“Oh yeah, and it’s great each time. His face kind of goes all shocked and confused for a second before he just looks mildly irritated and fond at the same time. Like this.” Kaminari said before trying to mimic Aizawa’s facial expressions only to start laughing partway through and ruining it. 

Sero laughed before him before grinning over at Dabi. “You should tell him though. He’d love it from you I am sure of it.” Toga and Denki both quietly agreed with him.

“Yeah, yeah… I’ll think about it.” Dabi mumbled and finished up the dishes. “Come on let’s get you both back to the dorms before he kills me, and I don’t get that chance.”

“Sure thing bro.”

Chapter Text

As soon as Aizawa gave them the green light to have the whole of Class-A over for a Christmas party/sleepover their house became a mess. Just looking at everything strewn about made Dabi itch to clean it up even if it would be a waste of time as he would just have to clean it up again later as more stuff was brought in. Boxes of Christmas lights were everywhere with Keigo outside making sure that every bit of the house, the fence, and every bush outside were covered in the multicolored and twinkling bulbs. There was a large, now empty, box that their new Christmas tree had come in in their living room that had everything moved to accommodate the large thing that Himiko insisted needed to go near their fireplace because that was how it was done in all the Christmas movies she had watched.

To hell with his setup basically, not that he complained he was the first to move the couch but that was beside his point. His therapist in his last session said he was most likely OCD that developed from having to keep things clean and orderly at all times as a way to make sure he didn’t get infections in his scars and he was beginning to think she was right. But the boxes everywhere weren’t even the biggest mess. No. No. Admittedly he was actually making the biggest mess with all the damn wrapping paper he had surrounding him as he went through wrapping presents for everyone, shooing away anyone who came to help him.

Himiko and Jin were bouncing around from place to place putting up decorations in the house with music flowing through their sound system. The two blondes happily sang along and danced around between decorating with Shiro, their dog that Dabi had rescued with Kouda some time back, bouncing around their feet just as happy. Dabi may or may not have paused in his wrapping a few times to watch/video them just because of how happy they were. He would watch them for a minute or so before he would shake his head and try to wipe the smile from his own face to go back to the wrapping.

He had already done most of the class plus Mic, Aizawa, Eri, Miruko, Himiko, Jin, Eri’s teacher, and her classmates. For Eri’s teacher and her classmates were just small things for the classroom and things like fidget toys. As for everyone else? Each person got one thing he thought they would like, one thing they would need (that thing varied from person to person), and something that reminded him of them. And those were just from HIM. Keigo, Himiko, and Jin had gifts for all of the kids as well something he only found out about when he went to go clean the guest room up and change the sheets on the bed and found three piles of gifts all wrapped up stashed there for the time being.

He didn’t tear up. He didn’t. He had been cutting onions for dinner just before, so no he did not tear up at the sight of his family getting his siblings gifts. No, you can’t get him to admit to anything else. Nope.

He was just finishing up the last of the kid's gifts when Keigo came back into the house with a satisfied smile. “Babe! When it’s dark you have got to come to look at the house! It will be the best in all of Japan I swear to you!” the blond hero said throwing his hands and spreading his wings out which had Dabi rolling his eyes fondly at his boyfriend.

“If you say so, birdbrain.” He replied and looked down at his final present and then to the tree deciding the best way to place them all that would look nice and presentable. Okay, his therapist was definitely right about the OCD thing. “Hey, help me get these over to the tree will you Kei?” he said looking back toward his boyfriend.

Ever the one to quickly do what he asked Keigo sent several feathers to gather up the wrapped gifts to move them over to the tree. Dabi smiled at him and picked up a few going over to the tree. He set about arranging them while Keigo moved the rest over. “Can you set the ones wrapped in purple next to the door please!” he said over his shoulder. “I’m taking those to Eri’s school for the kids and her sensei.”

“The ones from the fire? I’m sure they will love that and to see you again.” Keigo responded doing as told before he came over to him and sitting beside him and wrapping an arm around his waist while he worked.

“Yeah them. I’ve stopped by a few times after then too to check on them. Haven’t had the chance since I became a hero but I figured it would be as good of a time as ever to go tomorrow while off as any.” He replied and turned his head to place a quick kiss on his boyfriend’s lips.

“You suiting up for it? I’m sure they’d love a visit from a hero, especially their personal hero.”  Keigo asked after returning the kiss.

Dabi hummed leaning over to fix one of the gifts into a better position before leaning back against the other and looking up at their tree. “I don’t know. You think I should? That would mean, at the very least, the Sensei would know who I am and who I used to be.”

“I know we are not wanting too many people outside of our trusted few to know but I figure they will be okay. Plus, they are kids they are not likely to have known exactly who you used to be and that Sensei of theirs was so very thankful for what you did to save her that she has ignored you being Dabi since. I’d say they are trustworthy enough for you to show up in a full suit.” Keigo said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Not to mention I love your suit.”

Dabi looked at the tree surrounded by the wrapped presents with a thoughtful look. “I’ll think about it.” He murmured cheeks tinted pink.

The blond hero was right about the lights on the house. It did look truly magical once the sun was down. Maybe he would be right about suiting up to see the kids at the elementary school.

---

He did go to the school in full suit the next day when he went to take the gifts over. As soon as he had walked in Eri had yelled “Nii-san!” loudly and he chuckled nervously behind his mask and he knelt down to hug her when she ran to him.

“Hey, baby girl.” He greeted her the class behind her talking loudly. He looked up when the sensei came over to them. “Good afternoon Takahashi-sensei, sorry to intrude but I wanted to bring over gifts before they were let out for the holiday. There’s a bag for you as well.” He addressed her standing again his hand resting on Eri’s shoulder as the girl leaned into his side happily.

“It’s good to see you again… Gairyx.” The woman said to him with a warm smile that he easily returned hoping it connived through his mask. She turned to her class. “Settle down little ones. Hero Gairyx has brought us some gifts today so everyone to their spots!”

The class was quick to go to their assigned spots all of them showing clear excitement on their faces. He smiled and stood up letting Eri scamper to her own seat. Once they were settled he opened one of the large gift bags he had the gifts in. He handed each of the students a small gift, each gift was identical since he hadn’t been sure what to give each of them. When he moved himself back to the front he handed the other gift bag, full of supplies for the class plus a few knick-knacks he thought she would like to Takahashi-sensei.

“Oh. Thank you, Da- uh Gairyx.” She said taking the gift after catching herself from saying the wrong name.

“You guys can open them now if you want. And if you don’t mind I might just hang out here for a bit to answer questions and whatnot.” Gairyx said looking at the kids who as soon as they got the go-ahead tore into the decorative paper wrapping their gifts.

The woman nodded at him. “You know you are welcome here anytime dear.” She said to him reaching out to pat his arm before putting the gift he had given her on her desk.

He stuck around for a long while playing and talking to the kids. Offered to read them their storybook when it was that time, and helped Takahashi-sensei when she wanted them to focus on their lesson. He knew she had taken pictures of him doing all of that with the kids and he knew he would find images of himself and the kids online later but he was fine with that, he enjoyed his time with them. Plus, a little good publicity wouldn’t hurt he supposed.

Afterward, he was changed back into his civilian clothes and was walking through the shopping district doing a bit of window shopping. He was wearing a Hawks-themed jacket with his red wings printed on the back, his black “Put Your Hands Up Radio” sweatshirt with cuts around the bottom hem, his quirk-resistant white undershirt as per his usual, a grey scarf, black jeans, and his combat boots. He looked like a mishmash fanboy but he was comfortable and warm with how cold it had gotten the closer they got to Christmas. Snowflakes fell down, piling up on the sides of the road and against the storefronts, soon enough there would be enough to cover the ground making a winter wonderland. In times like this, he was glad for his quirk keeping him warm without much effort. Summer though, he hated. But he wasn’t out to admire the weather, no he was out in search of one last gift. For Keigo.

The holiday was creeping up faster and faster and he still hadn’t found what he deemed the perfect gift for his boyfriend yet and that bothered him. What were you supposed to get your own personal hero anyways? After this last year of not only saving Dabi himself but Himiko and Jin from the League as well, getting them an all-new home, supporting them until Dabi became a hero as well, just all around being there for him when his brain decided it was a bad day. Keigo was the best boyfriend, the best friend, and the best person all around for him and that put him at a loss for what to get him.

He’s bought the man merch of his favorite movies series, damn dinosaurs he swears, but none of those gifts were perfect. Nothing said ‘I love you more than I love myself’ … actually that’s probably not the best message to be saying with a gift but it didn’t make it any less true. At this point with Christmas just around the corner, he was about to give up hope on finding anything.

Apparently, the universe had other plans for him. The sun must have shone just right to make it shine so brightly. Bright enough to catch his attention just as he was thinking of heading to the grocery store to stock up for Christmas dinner. Bright enough to make him wander over to the storefront window to look at the item.

Oh.

OH.

His mind was made up before he could even think of a full sentence.

---

Aizawa and Yamada arrived with the kids in the afternoon on one of UA’s buses. They each ran off the bus through the snow looking at the large house in awe making Dabi chuckle in fondness.

“Hey! You all are carrying this stuff in yourselves!” Aizawa yelled at them from the bus opening the under storage and revealing brightly wrapped gifts that had Dabi blinking in surprise.

“We decided to just do all of our gift openings here instead of at the dorm,” Shouto explained from beside him when he looked for an explanation. “We have stuff for all of you guys as well… and they may have gotten too much stuff for Shiro however.”

Dabi laughed and gave his brother a quick one-armed hug before going to help with carrying the stuff in. “The amount of gifts there are is going to end up hiding my tree I swear.” He joked as he collected an armful to help out.

“That comes with having such a big family as you have apparently adopted.” Aizawa said coming up beside him and helping him settle a box that seems to want to topple out of his grasp. “They are your problem now.”

“Hey son!” Yamada called from his own pile of gifts before walking to the house, snow crunching under heavy boots.

“Sure, sure whatever you say, old man.” Dabi teased Aizawa before following after Mic. “Hey Pops. I have a room set up for you and Scrooge back there. And all of the kids have their own futon set up in Himiko, Shouto, and Jin’s rooms.” He explained as they came into the house.

He stopped short at hearing a soft gasp from the blond man and he looked at him setting the gifts down quickly. “Dabi…” Mic said looking at the tree and all of the gifts around it in piles upon piles.

The once villain now hero swallowed thickly and sat his own gifts down before rubbing at his neck. “I- uh I might have gone a bit overboard buying gifts for everyo-” he was cut off from his embarrassed explanation with a tight hug that he blinked at before returning just as tightly.

“Oh my god you guys decorated so beautifully!” he heard from one of the kids somewhere in the house but he was caught up in the warmth of the hug he was getting too much to care to look as Himiko bounded down the stairs to greet them all. Shiro was barking excitedly too and he could hear Jin talking to what sounded like Sato and Bakugou in the kitchen so he knew dinner was already underway and in good hands.

“You okay kid?” a grumbled voice said behind him and he pulled away to look at Aizawa’s poorly concealed concerned black eyes looking between the two.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. Guess it just got to me that this is actually real and really happening.” He said looking away from the older pair to around the large living room at most of the kids already milling about, some setting the gifts up alongside the ones that had already been there making sure they were also neat.

“Oh, we need to get a picture of everyone together!” Momo said from somewhere and he turned to find her at the staircase with most of the other girls and Toga. She was looking down at everything eyes sparkling with joy and Dabi smiled up at her.

“Sure thing Momo, let’s just wait for Miruko to get here and we will get a big group picture together. Till then we can do smaller groups if you want.” He suggested feeling Mic pat his back before moving further into the living room to check on everyone making sure they were settled in.

The black-haired girl nodded excitedly and spun to the other girls to talk to them about where they should set up a camera to take the picture. He felt a w=eight on his back as arms wrapped around his waist. He leaned back against Keigo and closed his eyes with a content sigh. “You are doing such an amazing job with them all you know that right babe?”

Dabi hummed softly not wanting to disagree with the other but also not fully agreeing with the statement either. “I’m trying to. I want to be the best for them.” He said back in a quiet voice before turning in the blond’s arms to face him. “You help me be that for them.”

“Hush with that. This is all you. If you hadn’t wanted to do better, you wouldn’t have. You put in all this effort Dabi, not me. I may have loved and supported you through all of this-” the winged hero flared his wing slightly using it to motion around the room where they could see everyone together. Hanta, Denki, Eijirou, and Mina were setting up a gaming console while Izuku and Iida listed off teams. Seemed like they were setting up a tournament-style chart for everyone to have a go. “-But you, my beautiful firefly with a heart of gold, you made this into a family. You did that.”

Dabi blinked as his cheeks warmed up and he buried his face into Keigo’s shoulder. “Shut up. You are embarrassing.” He said hearing some of the kids holler out their names. He’s sure Denki or Mina, probably both of them now that he was thinking about it, snapped a picture or two of the pair. “Come on Rumi is on her way so let’s get some of the pictures out of the way.” He said pulling away from the embrace.

Getting everyone into suitable, suitable by Iida (the teen still didn’t trust him enough to allow Dabi to call him Tenya but he understood where the distrust came from) and Momo standards anyhow, was a time and a half. Rumi showed up just after they got the whole class situated after taking pictures of just the girls and then just the boys. A course of ‘Miruko’ and ‘Rumi’s rang out from around the group as the woman walked in with a  stack of gifts as tall as herself.

“Carrots I swear. You could have called, I would have helped you with all this, dear.”

Dabi blinks, still holding the camera, watching Jin go over to the rabbit Hero taking some of the gifts off the top to help her out. Rumi didn’t even look surprised and once the gifts were sat down gave the blond man a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, BunBun but you know me. I can handle it.”

“I’m sorry. What?” Dabi asked out loud looking at the two with wide eyes. “When the fuck-“

“Language!” Both Iida and Mic called from across the room at his curse.

Dabi rolled his eyes. “Sorry. When did this happen?” he said waving one of his hands at Jin and Rumi both of whom had red cheeks.

“Well… uhhhh Baby Rabbit. Help. Brother is mad.” Jin said moving behind Rumi making her laugh as he tried to hide from Dabi.

“Oh come on Bacon Bits,” the rabbit hero said grinning over at him and making Bakugou chuckle from where he was still standing with his class waiting for the pictures to be done. “Jin and I are just… testing things. Ain’t that right BunBun?”

Jin smiled from behind her wrapping an arm around her waist and resting his chin over her shoulder. “Something like that. My Bunny is never wrong.”

Dabi just turns to Keigo. “Did you know about this? Actually no. No, I don’t want to know, that is going on the shelf to process later. Pictures. We are taking pictures. Pops, Dad, Princess, and Purple please go stand by the tree.” He didn’t notice that no one moved as he checked over the camera before looking up in confusion and a cut-off ‘Hey!’ when the device was grabbed from his hands in the same instance that Aizawa’s capture scarf wrapped around his waist.

“Well, son, you should be standing with us right?” Aizawa said with a more than satisfied smirk.

Huh?

Oh… Oh shit, I said it didn’t I? Oh no, oh no…

“I got it! I got it on video!” Mina yelled bouncing from her spot as Aizawa pulled the now mentally freaking out Dabi moving over to the small family. Eri grinned up at him and raised her arms to be picked up which he didn’t deny at all.

“I-uh,” Dabi said feeling the scarf unravel from around him as he sat Eri onto his hip. “I mean I suppose so… I am-” his eyes darted between all of them. “I am an Aizawa after all.” He got out finally.

They grinned at him in response and he stood with them for the picture before pulling Shouto into a picture with him since Keigo and Rumi seemed happy enough to continue to take the pictures from then on. He made sure to get group pictures with everyone, made sure that Aizawa and Mic got pictures together and the other couples within the class insisting it was so that they could post on their socials, including Jin and Rumi even when he was still trying to process when that actually happened, had the ‘Big Three’ of the class take a picture together and having each of the ‘Squads’ slash friends groups of the class as well. Honestly, there were a lot of pictures taken and he wasn’t going to apologize for it. He wanted memories of his first real Christmas in god knows how many years for a lifetime so that meant pictures of everything.

Before too long the pictures were finished and gifts were being divvied up between everyone Keigo once again sending his feathers to hold the camera and record everything while they opened the presents. Dabi grins and soaks up all the love and joy of the room as everyone shows off their gifts. He even showed his own off to the camera so there were pictures of himself as well.

Bakugou was yelling from the kitchen that food was about to be done so that they needed to clean up while Sato in a much quieter voice requested the same.

“Um, actually there is one more thing…” Dabi said nervously, anxiety grabbing hold of him as he fiddled with the last gift he had stashed away in his pocket. Everyone looked over to him but he only had eyes on Keigo the blond hero tilting his head in question at the blue flame user. “Babe… Kei I had a hard time finding you something that I thought would be perfect for you. Something that said I love and appreciate you, that you help me be a better person, and something that said thank you all in one. I struggled for a long time trying to find it and I had almost given up on the notion that I would ever find such a gift.” Several of the kids were whispering and other were elbowing each other to quiet down.  He saw multiple phones out and he bet they were recording but he honestly paid them no mind. His blue eyes were trained on gold that was searching his face for a clue as to what Dabi was about to give him. “I’m lucky I didn’t because once I saw it I just knew that it was the right choice and you know me I think everything through before doing it, nothing is done recklessly or thoughtlessly. But I bought it before I even finished thinking that it was perfect.”

His eyes flicked around the room as he shifted on his feet. Everyone’s eyes were on him as he moved over to the winged hero, they followed him as he stopped just in front of the other male a soft loving smile on his face to match Keigo’s confused but interested one. They watched as he knelt down on one knee and he watched as gold eyes blew wide and teared up quickly at the action as Dabi pulled the ring box from his pocket.

“Keigo Tamaki…  I may not have known when you first showed up in my life that you would be as important as you are now but I knew even then that you were special. I knew as soon as I laid eyes on you in person that my life would forever change. And I knew that I wanted to keep you near me, that I wanted to take you away from all of the harm that could have come to you. When I realized that I loved you I knew then that I would abandon everything for you. You made me realize what type of person I wanted to be and you helped me become that. You loved and supported me through it all as I broke myself and re-forged the pieces into the big brother, son, and hero I am today. And for that nothing could ever say thank you enough… but I found something that said I love you more than life itself. With everything we've been through and will go through, one thing remains the same - you are the person I want to spend the rest of my life with you are the one I want to grow old with and watch all the kids grow up beside… so Keigo, will you marry me?”

“YES! Yes! A million times and in every lifetime yes!” Keigo said loudly as tears streamed down his face letting Dabi put the ring on his finger before pulling the other male to him. Redwings wrapped around them both hiding them away as they shared a deep kiss both grinning and full of love.

It was a very Merry Christmas indeed.

From our family to yours:

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

With Love,

Dabi, Keigo, Himiko, Jin, Rumi, the Yamazawa family, & Class-A
❤

Chapter Text

“Join us tomorrow morning with a hero that is climbing the popularity charts by leaps and bounds! What is his secret? How does his quirk work? Why is there not much information about him out there yet? How has he gotten so popular so quickly? Find that out and more with our exclusive LIVE interview with Pro Hero Gairyx at 7 am Japanese Standard Time!”

___

Dabi wanted to do literally anything else like he would take walking into the Leagues bar again and fighting Shigaraki over going to this interview set up by the Hero Public Safety Commission. And it was right after his overnight shift? Bullshit. All of it. Not to mention how the news station had wanted him to show up without his mask to have a clear look at his face, wasn’t going to happen but it was heavily encouraged in the request he received from them. At least the commission agreed with him about not doing that and keeping his mask on. It was safer for him and everyone else if he kept it on.

“You know you don’t have to do this right?” Keigo asked him for what seemed like the millionth time since he told him about the interview earlier in the week.

Dabi sighed rolling his eyes a bit before looking over at his fiancé, and that still was an amazing thing to think that he was actually engaged to this beautiful man next to him.  “And you and I both know that is not true. The Commission says I need to do it and we both know neither of us is in a position to actually deny them when they want something. Especially since they are currently the ones allowing me to be a hero and not locked up in Tartarus.” He straightened from his crouch on the nearby building that they had met up on. “Either way your shift starts soon so you need to get going baby.”

Keigo let out a soft coo and pouted at him before also sighing and flexing his wings behind him. “Fine. Get some sleep after the interview. I’ll see if I can swing back home for lunch and see how it went.” The winged hero checked around them before grabbing Dabi’s hand and placing a quick kiss on the back. “Love you.”

“Love you too Kei.” He replied pulling heat into his mouth before blowing a smoke ring in the shape of a heart towards him earning a laugh before the blond flapped his wings and took off into the sky. Dabi smiled watching until he couldn’t see him anymore before turning to look at the new statin. He groaned softly knowing he was running out of time before he looked over the edge of the building double checking the alley between the one he was one and the next before he dropped down.

At least he had a private entrance to use when he got to the news station, he was immediately met with a swarm of people pulling him to hair and makeup. They couldn’t see it but he scrunched his nose at it all and he refused to let them take the mask off to apply makeup below the mask. “I’m not even fond of you putting makeup on me in the first place so no the mask will not be coming off at any point of me being here.” He grumbled to them, they didn’t need to know that he regularly let Himiko put makeup on him. They finally settled on just fixing his hair which once they were done honestly just looked the same to him but what was he to say to ‘experts’?

Before too long he’s waiting to be called onto the set from where he was off camera. He could hear the woman talking to the cameras getting ready to introduce him. At least it was not in front of a live audience, he is sure he would be a bundle of exposed nerves if had been he might be a hero now but he was still trigger-happy with his quirk when he became nervous or overly agitated.

“Now let’s get on with this interview! Hero Gairyx please come join me!”

Dabi took a deep breath, steeling himself into the role of Gairyx, before stepping out to where the camera could finally see him, he gave it a small wave as he moved across the stage to the newswoman. He shook her offered hand.

“Gairyx it is such a pleasure and honor to have you here with us today. My name is Hina Watanabe but please call me Hina.” The newswoman, Hina as he just introduced herself, told him with a soft smile on her face. She had long brown hair that was tied up in a high ponytail and was dressed very well.

“Gairyx, as you already know, and it is an honor to be here as well.” He greeted her.

“Oh so secretive! Sit, sit let’s talk. Is there a specific reason there is so little information about you out there? There’s not even a record of where you went to school It’s almost as if you just appeared overnight as a hero and then climbed the popularity ranks in no time.” Hina asked moving them towards where a couch and chair half face each other and the camera positions well with a table in front of both where. 

Gairyx let out a soft laugh as he relaxed back into the couch putting his arm over the back, he pictures of relaxation. “Well, you won’t find any school information. I didn’t graduate from a hero school nor did I go to any school past middle school, health reasons made it so I was homeschooled afterward. Everything else I like to keep pretty quiet for safety concerns. As for practically a hero overnight that… that about tracks.” He let out a soft laugh. “My dad saw potential in me where I honestly hadn’t. He planned with my Pops, who practically kidnapped me into taking the adult licensing test.” He turned his attention to the camera. “Which is a thing if none of you guys knew that. As long as you have a hero sponsor who can vouch for you, no matter your age or your quirk, you are still able to become a hero. Granted that you pass the licensing exam. It’s a leftover clause from when quirks and heroes were just beginning.”

“Such encouraging words. Thank you Gairyx for the information that I am sure many of us were not aware of such a clause. Now you said you were practically kidnapped? Care to explain that?” Hina had a hit of worry in her town but he could clearly hear the amusement along with it.

“Oh yeah, it’s all a joke I swear to you. So my dad texted me late in the night that my pops were going to pick me up in the morning and gave no other explanation. Well, morning came and there was still nothing from him so I just got ready and met my Pops outside and he wouldn’t tell me either. Said it will be ‘more fun’ if he let me find out on my own and well the last time he said something like that it was a trap… So I just took a nap, I get car sick you see so sleeping makes it easier on me and I knew from past experience that being rested was probably a better option. Anyways when Pops woke me up we are at one of the testing faculties. Not going to lie I cried when he handed over my costume for the first time. Then I went on to pass the test and my adopted siblings went nuts on social media, so now we are here.”  Gairyx said letting out a soft laugh at the memory. He still felt a bit emotional about his costume. How each of his siblings helped design it, how much thought and care had gone into the creation of it.

Hina shifted on her seat leaning forward a bit and he focused on her. “Speaking of siblings… would you be referring to a certain Class-A of U.A. high school by chance? There have been rumors and claims you have spent or been seen with them as of late.”

“Well, I can’t exactly deny that. They are all over social media sharing everything they find of me as a hero on their own hero socials and even their private accounts. I also have the pleasure of being able to help with their training on occasion, even before becoming Gairyx. They really have just become my adopted siblings at this point and I would not trade it for anything. They will become amazing heroes one day and heck they already are in my book.” He said pride over his siblings leaking into his tone. “But I better not find out they are watching this when they are supposed to be paying attention in class.” He gave the camera a pointed older brother look as if he was looking at one of them.

Hina let out a laugh and smiled at him. “You do sound like an older brother. It suits you.”

His attention goes back to her, this interview was going better than he thought it would but he still felt like the other shoe was bound to drop at some point. “For them, there’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do. And I grew up as an older brother so it is… nice, to say the least, to feel like one again.”

“You phrase that as if you don’t see your biological sibling or siblings anymore.”

Gairyx shrugged softly eyes looking a little sad for a moment. “I don’t. Our lives have gone on different paths a long time ago but that is okay one day we will be on the same one when we are old. I still love them deeply and that is enough for now.”

“Still… I am sorry that you seem to not have the relationship you obviously desire with them as you do Class-A. But it does lead to some more questions I would like to ask if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead. Any questions that can lead to my identity though I will have to decline to answer.” He waved for her to continue her questioning.

“Well, there is another rumor floating around, well more speculation than rumor if you asked me. Trying to draw conclusions where there might be none. But your quirk is very similar to Endeavor’s and the two of you even share the same striking eye color. What do you say to those?”

Gairyx let out a bark of a laugh and shook his head, even as he felt the prickling of unease along his spine. “Sorry, sorry I know that is supposed to be a serious question I just find it funny.” He said between laughs before calming himself down and grinning behind his mask. He could swing this well enough it’s all just an act, right? “Sorry, it’s just that fire quirks are very common. As are any other elemental quirks. But just because they are common doesn’t mean we are all related. I mean I can name at least two heroes in America with fire quirks and I am not related to any of them. As for my eye color? Sure they are similar but I think mine are… brighter? At least I think so. Plus, I have an amazing dad and it is not Endeavor I can promise you that much. If I could tell you my father’s name I would but Dad absolutely hates the press and likes his privacy too much for me to do that. He would probably also have me do something I don’t want to do in retaliation and I would not be able to stop him.”

Hina gave out another laugh and nodded. “Got it. We understand Gairyx it is good to have some secrets. As I said it was more speculation than anything so I thank you in clearing that up for the viewers. Well speaking of quirks, can you explain how yours works? We have seen red flames and even blue before but your flames seem to encompass the colors of the rainbow and more. How is that?”

At this, he was visibly excited to talk about as he pulled the sleeves of his jacket up to show off his gauntlet-like gloves on both arms up to the middle of his forearm. “So my flames are naturally colored ranging between red to yellow and if pushed blue like any other flame user. But let’s be honest that is boring since it is so common. At least that is what three of my brothers said. See they were the ones to design these for me with an engineer friend of theirs before my hero test and they wanted me to ‘stand out’.” He gave a fond shake of his head. He ran one hand over the different canisters along the glove. “Each of these canisters is made flame resistant metal and holds different chemicals. Each chemical when introduced into a heat source, my quirk in this instance, changes the color of the flames. I activate them each with a bend of my fingers and how far I bend them.” He raised curled his ring finger on one hand just enough to feel the tug of the line connecting to the canister and activated his quirk watching as purple flames danced along his palm. “Saltpeter or Nitre is used as the additive to create purple flames. By far my favorite to display with blue being right after, I use those two the most out of all of them honestly. Thinking about changing the white and yellow flame chemicals out for another set of them.”

Hina’s eyes nearly sparkled at watching the flames in his hand as he switched between the colors. “White flames, or ethanol fires, are hard to see with the naked eye but those watching should be able to see it with the cameras. But if you want I believe if the lights are off you should be able to see them.” he explained when she got a confused look when he curled his pinky and no color was evident in his hand.

“Oh no, no, that is fine we can all go back and watch it back later. That is so interesting and thank you for answering and demonstrating that to us.” Hina shook her head at his offer as she spoke to him with a grateful smile at the end. “Well, I do believe that we have asked all of the most prominent questions that were submitted. But your fans are wanting to know… Are you in a relationship currently?”

“I am actually engaged to be married.” He said grinning behind his mask. “It’s still recent. Proposed on Christmas like some love-sick sap, which I am. It is still a rush of a feeling remembering that I am going to get to marry the love of my life one day. Maybe not soon because we both lead very busy lives but one day it will happen. Sorry for those out there that had their hopes up. I still really appreciate all the support.” He said addressing the camera again.

“Oh my… you sound like you really love and care for your partner. How did the two of you meet?” Hina asks watching him.

“Oh gosh… We met a couple of years ago… I was going through a very rough spot in my life see and they swooped in and I just knew they were going to change my life from then on. As for the where… listen when I say I was on a rooftop I know how that sounds coupled with that rough patch but it was never that bad I swear. I was just hanging out up there on my old apartment complex enjoying the night air and relaxing. I had some music playing and I guess they heard it or me when I was singing along and came up to investigate.” The camera can easily see the soft look around his eyes and anyone seeing the show would be able to tell that he was smiling under his mask. Even if it didn’t go exactly how he was saying the feelings he had about how he first met Keigo was still there. “They asked me out first, because let’s be honest I was a little dense and didn’t realize they had been flirting until they just told me. They are… they are the best person I have ever met. They are my hero and stuck with me while I tried to figure myself out and worked to make myself into the better person that I am today. I don’t know where I would be if they had not come into my life.”

Hina gave out a soft little aw as he spoke about Keigo, one day the world could know about them but not right then though he couldn’t wait to let everyone know that the winged hero belonged with and to him. “That is so wonderful to hear someone so young talk about the person they love like that. Just one or two more questions, Gairyx. I am sure you are ready to get out of here and back to hero-ing.”

“Actually I just finished my shift before this so it’s just to home I got after this.” He shifted in his seat feeling a chill down his back subconsciously activating his quirk just enough to warm up thinking the ac was bothering him. He should have known the interview was a bad idea and pushed back to not do it. But he didn’t know and he’d have to face the consequences of that sometime in the future.  For right then though he answered questions about his hobbies and any charities he affiliated with. Right, then he was simply Hero Gairyx giving his first interview. For right then he was none the wiser to what brewed far off.

---

 The television screen was filled with a hazy picture and static but the sound came from the speaker clearly. Red eyes glared at the object as the glass he held turned to dust in his grasp before nails dug into his palm as he made a fist to slam down onto the bar top, the glasses still atop of it rattled from the force.

“Oh my… I know you had your speculations and were looking into it for the evidence but to see and hear him for myself I can definitely   see what you mean by it being him.” Compress said from somewhere else in the bar a frown clear in his tone. Spinner let out a low grumble of ‘traitor bastard’ from beside him. Both went unheard as Shigaraki glared at the screen showing ‘hero Gairyx’ in an interview. Showing who Shigaraki had suspicions of since the start was their ex-member Dabi.

Chapter Text

Blood pours in thick rivers down from his nose, he can taste it in the back of his throat and he knows it coats his teeth. He has no choice but to swallow it down to be able to breathe right, his mask preventing him from spitting the liquid out and his nose is just as full with blood that air doesn’t get through his nostrils. He snarls out glaring at the culprit across from him. The bastard even has the gall to have a satisfied smirk on their face as if they knew what was going on under the mask. 

Gairyx growls lowly from his chest and stomps the ground hard sending fire towards him before he is jerking hard to the right to avoid a kick from the other person in this god-awful alley. Right, he reminds himself there are four of these fuckers here in this tight alley he had chased the thieves into. Unlucky for all of them, including himself, it was a dead end. He has his blue flames, hot as ever dared, at the opening of the alley to stop them from trying to run but he keeps having to either die it down slightly so that it doesn’t try to catch the buildings on fire or he’s having to split concentration that it weakens on its own as he fights.

He spins and lands a kick on the third hard as he could forcing them to stumble back with a gasp of pain, what remains of his blade still clutched tightly in his hand from when Gairyx first melted it. He hadn’t seen it at first had a nice cut along his shoulder for that mishap but melting it with his flames had been retribution enough. The fourth growls low and silver-tipped claws rake out at him that he has to dance away from putting him closer to the first.

The longer he fights these four he starts to see, to realize through their spitting words at him and their actions that they were trying to emulate Stain. Which means they have no intentions of surrendering to him or allowing him to leave alive. Unfortunately for him. But also unfortunate for them because he has no intention of dying anytime soon, least of all to a dumb group of thieves who can’t even get Stain’s… teachings, as much as he loathes the word now that he’s seen the damage and twistedness that following in Stain’s steps was, right.

“All heroes should just die already!” the second one was spitting. Scale-like skin catches the light of his flames as he shoots a fireball toward him to keep him back. Some sort of snake or lizard from the looks of it. It has him grimacing as he thinks of Spinner for a moment.

“Oh is that why you are coming after lower-ranked heroes? Think you lowly villains can just take us out?” Gairyx lets out a bark of a laugh to avoid a punch from the first again, the only actually to actually be a fight in his opinion. “HA! There are four of you and one of me! Yet I’m still keeping you on your toes! How long till backup arrives I wonder? How long till I have you in handcuffs beaten up for the cops to haul you off to jail hm?” he growled with an edge to his voice that he didn’t get dampened enough to not flow through his words. He was getting angry. The spark of who he had been while just trying to survive on the street trying to catch and burn, to forget who he had become and just burn these scum where they stand.

He swallowed what blood was in his mouth, he’s going to have to ask Himiko to describe how it tastes to her because he was hating it so far, before he takes a deep breath to center himself again. The snake-like one jumped at him again at the same time as the first forcing him back towards the one with the blade and the cat-like one. The wire is thin in his mind he can feel it as he reaches out and grabs the snake villain with a far too hot hand and hears the scream of pain. It scratched an itch he hadn’t known was there till right then. Sounds like he needs another therapy session. The wire doesn’t snap thankfully even as he digs his feet into the concrete and grabs the man with his other hand, still far too hot to be comfortable, before surplexing them over his shoulder smirking when he heard the yowl of the cat-like one when they collided.

The first thought was on him in seconds not giving him a chance to change stances. He groans as a hit lands on his cheek heard enough he hears the mask groan with the force. Some type of stone glitters off the villain’s fists as he pulls back throwing his other hand out in a jab towards his throat.

“Recipro Burst!”

Gairyx dodges the jab sending a wave of mixed-colored fire at the villain before he jerks around to see Iida landing a quirk-powered kick to the villain with the blade. The wire is thinner beginning to fray in spots. The ends are ready to catch and burn away. He’s distracted enough by one of his siblings showing up that the first villain leaps through his colored flames and tries to tackle him to the ground. Fuck. He growls forcing himself to concentrate on the one that was throwing punches at him.

He can hear Iida fighting the others as he tries to end the fight with the one on him as fast as possible. Another stone-covered fist is thrown at him words spitting that he should just give up. “Not gonna happen.” He snaps back blocking the hit with his arm letting flames cover it and grinning behind his mask when he gets a pained hiss in response. He gets a hand on the villain’s head with his other arm and before he can think better of it, he is slamming the other into the wall of the alley as hard as he could. The villain crumples to the ground in a heap. Iida. His mind growls and he is snapping his head to find him.

Having decided that Iida was an easier target the other three had circled around him. The man with the melted blade lunges at the teen and Gairyx is across to them in seconds. He grips the arm holding the blade in his too-hot hand tightly till it clattered to the ground as he yelled out in pain. He yanked him in close with a growl. “Touch my brother again and I will skin you with that pathetic excuse of a weapon. Do you understand me?” He hissed out, smoke wafting from his mouth and out the mask. Brown eyes stare at him wide with fear and filled with tears before they are dislodged with the villain’s frantic nodding.

Letting out a ticking sound he lets the man go watching him sink to the ground before turning to the others. The snake one at least has the right mind to throw his hands in the air at blue eyes landing on him tongue flicking out nervously. The cat one, maybe a tiger now that he is getting a better look at him, is solely paying attention to Iida. Silver-tipped claws lash out at the teen catching on his uniform jacket and easily slicing through. Iida is a good fighter stepping back quick enough that the claws didn’t nick into his skin and sending a quirk fuel kick to the cat’s midsection.

Satisfied that Iida had him handled he rained himself back in to find his zip-tie cuffs to put on the two he had. The blade user was shaking when he got to him and he sighed shaking his head as he gathered his wrists up in his naturally heated hands. “I apologize for scaring you.” He said quietly to him as he tightened the cuffs. He didn’t let the villain try to say anything before going to the one he had slammed into the wall. Still crumpled on the ground he frowns at the sight before double checking to make sure he didn’t accidentally kill the guy, pulse steady under his fingertips breathes warm and consistent just unconscious, before putting the cuffs on him.

“W-wait don’t!”

He quickly looks over to see the snake one grabbing the discarded knife and trying to lunge at Iida as the teen was distracted with getting his own set of zip cuffs on the cat. The wire snaps. He’s on the snake man in seconds slamming into him just as the knife is getting close to Iida’s back. He ignores the blade digging into his own flesh as he slams a fist into the villain’s face, and then again. Again. Again. And again until someone grabs his bicep of his raised arm stopping his next punch.

“You’re going to kill him! Stop!”

He blinks at Iida mind clear again and he relaxes in the hold before looking down at the villain under him. Bloody and beaten but alive and conscious. He flexes his fingers slowly feeling the skin sting and burns around busted knuckles and he counts his breaths before pulling his arm from Iida’s hold. He can hear sirens near, backup finally getting there, a useless lot they are. He stands and lets Iida get cuffs on the snake man that groans on the ground in pain bright gold eyes swollen but still watching him in fear.

He counts his breathes while he stands in the alley finally allowing the fire at the entrance to die down to nothing. Handing them over to the cops is easy, giving his statement was easy, and listening as Iida give his own statement was easy. Having to stand there under a hard glare from the teen was not easy. By the time the cops have left with the villains in the back of their cruisers the wire is back in his head. Thick and strong no frays anywhere along its length.

“What was that?”  Iida hisses at him stepping towards him, red eyes narrowed at him.

Dabi blinks at him before shrugging.  “Doing my job.” He mutters and at least he does not have blood in his mouth anymore. Though he feels it dried on his face under the mask. God, he needs a shower… and to call his therapist.

“Doing your job doesn’t mean killing people Gairyx!” Iida snaps in a near growl. He’s closer now nearly in his face anger radiating off him like heat off his exhausts.

“And what? Let him hurt you? Fuck that. What the hell were you even doing here anyways? You can’t be stepping in on hero business like that Iida! Not without Manual.” Dabi says back letting anger into his tone.

Iida doesn’t roll his eyes but his body language says he very much would have liked to. “I have a provisional license. That allows me to perform hero duties without Manual as I see necessary.” His red eyes narrowed. “You needed help. And back up was dealing with something else so I stepped in. I may not see you like the rest of the class but I won’t let another hero, even one I don’t care for, get hurt when I can prevent it. And if you must know I just left the train station. I’m walking the rest of the way to U.A. to wind down from patrolling with Manual.”

Dabi takes a breath and lets it out relaxing again. “Only you would think walking back after patrolling to be relaxing.” He checks his phone and notes that it’s close enough for him to head to the nearest agency to do his reports before heading home. “I’ll walk you the rest of the way.” He says looking to Iida who despite already being tense seems t tense further.

“No thank you.”

“Wasn’t an offer I am telling you. Dad is already going to have my hide for allowing you to get hurt as it is.” He says walking past him. Listening to how the teen waits before moving to catch up to him. The street is empty and he is grateful for that.

“I still don’t trust you. You may have the rest of the class and Mr. Aizawa fooled but not me. What you did back there wasn’t an act of a hero but who you really are. A villain. Just because you saved a few of them doesn’t change who you are.”

The words cut deep and Dabi stops walking frowning hard at the ground at his feet. And while it hurts he gets it. He gets it. So he doesn’t blame Iida for not trusting him. For not seeing him as anything else other than the villain he had once been. He takes a breath and looks at Iida over his shoulder. “That’s fine. You are still my brother to me no matter how you see or feel about me. That means I will protect you just the same as I would Shouto or the others. And…” he pauses to take another breath eyes flicking around them to make double and triple sure they are alone and no one could overhear. “You are right. A hero wouldn’t have done what I just did and I apologize for that. I went too far. No matter my reasoning it was too far.”

He watches how Iida looks away from him shifting his bag on his shoulder, hands tightening and relaxing on the strap rhythmically. The teen seems to fight with himself for a few moments before relaxing and moving past him in easy steps. “Let’s just get to U.A. I’m sure Aizawa already knows that I’m behind schedule so it would be best if you were there to explain.”

It’s not a win. But it wasn’t a loss either. He’s taking it either way. “Right behind you.”

Chapter Text

At this point he doesn’t even think anything of being called to U.A. by Aizawa, it happened so often that he just showed up on his own if he had the time to, sometimes they just let him hang out with his dads in the teacher lounge. Even had specific days where he asked the Commission to have him scheduled at the school. He helped in the actual class if he could and in training during heroics. He’s met a few other kids from different classes as well. There was the crazy support girl who had helped design the canister gauntlets. She was odd and definitely crazy, she scared him a little. He even met an American hero transfer student who split a part of her time with the hero course but spent a good part of her time in Support since in all technicalities there was no space for her in either of the two classes. The first time meeting her had been a little crazy, he wasn’t going to lie about that, his quirk going off without his say and doing things he didn’t want before suddenly being cut off without Aizawa’s quirk or Dabi’s own say. It was her doing. She was fast and efficient in training. It is nearly brutal at times. But that was an American for you he supposed, they were all a bit rough. She was a little shit and a little on the wild side. He liked her.

But that was all to say that he showed up to U.A. often. Always in hero gear so that he was less likely to be recognized as the former second most wanted villain of Japan: Dabi. He was there he was known as the class-a teacher’s aide (even though Aizawa leaves him on his own quite often, the bastard). So, when he receives a text as he just crawling in bed with Keigo the night before he doesn’t think too much about it.

Aizawa (🧣Dad🧣) – The commission should have changed your schedule. I'll need you at the school tomorrow. All day. Rest up.

He hums and replies with confirmation to be there before falling to sleep in Keigo’s arms feeling content and none the wiser to the hell he would walk into the next day.

---

He scanned his way through the gates, Nezu had given him his own passkey after the first time he had watched over the class and walked with his hands stuffed in his coat pockets. Some students greeted him, hearing himself being called Sensei was still weird and he was still not sure if he hated it or not, others only glanced at him so used to him in the hallways not stopping their conversations to acknowledge him any further. However, as he walked, he heard a few mentions of an early day for the day. He stopped by the teacher’s lounge first not finding either of his dad’s, though the few teachers that were there greeted him kindly before turning back to whatever they were doing at their desks. He greeted them as well before making his way towards Class-A’s room.

He finds Aizawa there, but the room is changed slightly making him frown as he looks around. The podium was changed out for an actual desk which was covered in papers, there were two chairs on both sides and the student desks were pushed further back to make room, each of them empty. He frowned looking for the clock and knowing the hell class was at the very least punctual, especially with Iida urging them to be on time, so why were they not here already? “Hey, Dad.” He says as he steps into the room getting Aizawa’s attention from the papers he was looking over. “Where are the Hell Spawns?”

“They are doing heroics instead today to make up for it being a half day,” Aizawa explains going back to the paperwork.

“Okay… where are they? I can head over there.” Dabi said with a confused frown. “And why is it a half day? Didn’t think you guys did those that often.”

Aizawa didn’t even look up at him as he waved to the seat next to him. “You are staying here and helping me today. And it’s a half day because most of the teachers are doing parent-teacher meetings today. Including us.”

“I’m sorry what?”

Black eyes did look up then with an ‘I am done with this conversation’ vibe about them before Aizawa spoke again. “Parent Teacher meetings. We need to go over each of the kids' grades, where they need to improve, how they are in class with the others and will other teachers, how heroics is going, and how they are doing in the dorms. You are helping me. Now come sit down so you can look this all over. The first ones should be here in about thirty minutes.”

Dabi has never felt this much dread in his short life, he’s almost absolutely sure of that fact as he nearly stumbles to the offered chair with a thick swallow. Anxiety crawls up his spine as the minutes tick by and he flips through the papers. He doesn’t think he should be here. He’s not a teacher and he’s not really an aid despite what everyone saw him as, yeah he helped them out when they asked him and maybe he showed up on his own but honestly, they didn’t need him. No one ever actually needed him there. He couldn’t possibly be of any use here. Plus, parents! Terrible idea for him to meet them. He has no idea what each of them knows about him or his past or what he currently does. He thinks he might get sick as his stomach gives a rough roll when there comes a knock on the door.

Aoyama’s mother was first. She worried about how her son was still settling in at the dorms with everyone even if it had been a long while of them living there and how he was doing with his quirk. Aizawa soothed that worry the best he could, telling her about the dorms and how the kids did movie nights on the weekends, nights of video game tournaments, how they spit dorm chores and so much else that Dabi hadn’t known about. When it came to talk about his work Aizawa motioned for him to speak and after a rough swallow, he spoke through a tight throat telling her how Aoyama, err Yuga, was doing and what they were working on for his quirk handling.

After her, he breathed easier, especially when Aizawa said he was doing just fine. Not many of the parents even knew who he was, a blessing he was grateful for. Some asked if he was the ‘class big brother’ their kids had mentioned and chuckled when he confirmed it finding it amusing but thanking him for watching over their children alongside Aizawa. Kirishima’s moms had pulled him from his chair, scaring him for a few seconds, and hugged him tightly calling him dear and son and welcoming him to the home anytime. Warmth seeping into his bones he didn’t know he needed with each word they spoke to him before leaving a batch of fresh cookies for him to enjoy later. With each parent that left without yelling at him, he felt better and better had him relaxing into his chair easily.

Until two walked in at the same time.

Midoriya and Bakugou.

There was no denying who they were or who their sons were. Mrs. Bakugou was a near mirror image of her son and Mrs. Midoriya definitely attributed much to how her son acted. If there was anyone who would know all of who he was, Touya, Dabi, and Gairyx and the mess of it all it was going to be the two of them.

He was sitting rimrod straight as soon as they stepped passed the door. And the bastard he decided to call his dad was smirking beside him like he knew exactly the amount of turmoil that was going through his head. He should light his chair on fire. Actually, no that was a bad idea, funny but bad, and he wasn’t about that anymore… maybe after they leave.

“Oi Aizawa this your brat?” Mrs. Bakugou asked as she sat down in one of the seats across from them.

“Mitsuki.” Mrs. Midoriya chided before smiling at Dabi. “It’s good to officially meet your dear. Shouto and our boys have told us much about you.”

Dabi grimaced slightly behind his mask, and he probably looked at least a little guilty because Mrs. Bakugou, Mitsuki his mind reminded him, laughed. “Not all good there huh, Dabi?” she teased, and he tensed at the mention of his name. “Don’t worry about it kid. You’re safe with us just as much as Shouto is.”

He blinked in confusion and reached up to take his mask off. “What?” he asks setting the mask down on the desk. He had no reason to hide who he was from them.

“Well, you must know that Shouto, when he’s not here or with you, spends most of his time with our boys in our homes. He’s safe with us and you are as well.” Mrs. Midoriya says to him in that kind and gentle tone of hers that he distinctly remembers what love from a mother is supposed to feel like.

“But why?” He can’t stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth before he has even had the time to think them through. “I mean. I get why for Shouto, he’s a good kid and he deserves a place that isn’t with that bastard to feel safe and loved at… but I’m not him. I’m… I’m not good. I never have been. I can try all I want but I have done quite a lot of bad things. I mean I kidnapped your son for god’s sake!” he doesn’t mean to raise his voice, but he does as he motions toward the blonde woman across from him.

“Yes, you did do that. And I do expect an apology for that.” Mrs. Bakugou replies with a touch of coldness to her tone before she takes a breath. “But… You don’t have to go trying to convince us that you are a bad person. You’ve more than proven that you really aren’t under all… that.” She motions her hand at him and at first, he thinks she means his hero uniform before he realizes she means his attitude, him as a person, not the hero or the once villain.

“What Mitsuki is trying to say is, thank you.” Mrs. Midoriya cuts off any thought he might have started to have and has them veer right back into confusion, right off a cliff into a deep sea of confusion if he’s being honest, because that wasn’t even close to what he was thinking the blond woman was saying. These two are going to give him whiplash by the end of this he swears. Or they are going to kill him he’s still not sure. “You helped our boys,” she says the sentence slowly, carefully picking her words and he realizes that she’s not sure if Aizawa knows what happened that night or not and was choosing to err on the side of caution. “You sent me flowers after, they were beautiful by the way, and replaced what was destroyed but most importantly; when they called, you came. We could never hope to thank you for that but thank you all the same.”

Blue eyes are blinking at them, he is aware of how Aizawa watches them silently piecing together what is unsaid with what is how the man doesn’t speak up at any point letting Dabi lead the way.  His brows scrunched and he worked his jaw, he wanted to deny the claim and he would if he thought it would do any good but looking into those green eyes, he knew it would be in vain to try. He swallows and shifts in his seat as his eyes dart to each person in the room. “I-… I just did what was right.”

Mitsuki lets out a huff of a breath that is either amused or annoyed, he’s not sure not able to get the right read on her which was frustratingly a lot like her son. One second, she’s hot and the next she’s cold enough so that it puts Shouto’s quirk to shame. “Of course, you did. Look I get it, kid. You might not always do the good thing and you definitely don’t always do the wrong either. You do what is right and that is what matters in the end. Don’t you think?”

Dabi can’t speak, mind wheeling too quickly to give him actual words, but he nods in understanding as his eyes sting slightly. Aizawa must take pity on him because he commandeers the conversation and the attention back to him and what they were actually there for. He barely chimed in the rest of the conversation except when there was gentle prodding from Mrs. Midoriya, Inko as she wanted him to call her, usually about Shouto and their two boys together. Mitsuki left him be, not prodding him into speaking like Inko, though she looked at him, and studied him on occasion, when Inko and Aizawa were talking they didn’t need her input at the time.

When the time for both slots of the meeting was about to be up the two women stood from their seats thanking them for their time. He stood as well catching Mitsuki’s eye before he bowed in front of her. “I am deeply sorry for the harm I caused in taking your son before. Nothing of the sort will ever happen again and so long as I am around him or all the rest will be protected with my life.” The words left his mouth and the tightness he had been feeling in his shoulders released.

Mitsuki was quiet and he did his best not to fidget under her gaze, keeping himself bowed in apology. Before long she let out a long sigh. “Get up kid there’s no need for that. You are forgiven or whatever.” She says flippantly but he can still hear the sincerity in the words. He rights himself and fixes his shit and coat smoothing them back down with his hands. “Just be good to them as you have been alright brat? We won’t have any problems then.”

He nodded quickly to the words, but the blond woman was no longer paying attention to him instead ushering Inko out with words for getting dinner with Masaru, who he assumed was Mr. Bakugou, later.

“You good kid?” Aizawa asked when Dabi turned back around to the desk, when he nodded the man continued. “Good the next one should be in any second so fix yourself up.”

Dabi nodded again absent-mindedly, as he grabbed his mask to put it back on and situated it back into place. Just in time for the door to open behind him.

“Aizawa-sensei? It’s good to see you again. Oh, and hero Gairyx! Lovely to meet you! Shouto says such nice things about you.”

At the voice, he feels every bit of his blood drain from his face and what was left of his heart fall out of its spot in his chest down to his stomach. He was frozen, he dared not breathe even, hands still cupping his mask from where he was messing with it. With wide panicked eyes he looked at Aizawa with a sense of betrayal as the man greeted his sister as if Dabi wasn’t seconds from dying there on the spot.

Chapter Text

Hello Crewmates!  
  
Sorry for having docked the HellShip with no notice and for being so inactive as of late on all other platforms. I wish I could tell you I was living my life and having a grand ‘ol time with everything... but I can’t do that because I refuse to lie to you all.   

Life had been... extremely hard for me for the last year or so. Sometime around a year ago, my mental health took a sharp decline, and it made everything difficult. I got put on new medication because of it in September. By October I stopped writing completely hence no updates on anything from after then. By November I stopped watching TV or anything that wasn’t TikTok. I kept reading though, it became the only thing that kept me deciding to wake up was that I had AO3 and all its glory to wake up for. I have no recollection of December at all. In January work got busy again but much the same in that I don’t remember it. At the beginning of March I did turn the tv on to binge-watch Hazbin Hotel (I had loved the piolet when it came out and the show didn’t disappoint me) I wrote for the first time and got out a first-time-ever all dialogue fic... and then I stopped again. I couldn't keep up the motivation or care.   

My physical health took a toll as well, not as badly as it could have, but I had gained quite a bit of weight and that certainly wasn't helping the mental issues. My birthday was in April... I don't remember it or May. I remember June for the most part. I went to Fan Expo Dallas. I did have fun there even if me and my partner had an awful fight and my mental health wasn’t right for a while after and then I don’t remember the rest of June after.    

Then July happened and... I came home from work the morning of July 1st and had a hard conversation with my mother about my baby girl Rossi. She was my dog for the last 13 years. She had fallen that morning and could not get up on her own. She had been having these episodes for a while now but had always been able to get up on her own after a moment. She had started to eat less regardless of what I fed her or encouraged her to eat. She loved on me as much as she could before this day and I knew she was just trying as hard as she could just for me but if I wasn’t there, she would have no desire to try for my mom to get up or eat or anything. We decided the next morning we would take her to the vet and... and we ended up making the hardest decision I have ever had to make and have her put down. I lost it in that room. A large part of me died with her day and I will never get that back. I had Rossi from the time she fit in the palms of my hands till her last breath. I still find it hard to not look at the gate she greeted me at every morning as I come home or look at her bed and wish she was there. Sometimes I wake up and think she is waking me up to go outside and then remember she's not there and I cry all over again.   

I don't remember the rest of July or August. I have started taking more medication to help but I’m not sure if it is doing anything. I don’t sleep well that often and I have been fighting more often with my partner than I’d care to admit to. One day I would like to get back to writing and I have slowly started on some things but nothing that I care to post right now and nothing ongoing honestly.    

Honestly, I am so very sorry for having had to drop everything like I have. I do read your comments, and I love each one of them. I wish I could say I would be back soon but at this point, I am more concerned with getting my mental health worked out so I can dedicate the proper time to writing like I used to.    

Again, I am so sorry for all of this. I love you all.   

Anyways for the normal notes! (I’ve missed putting this in ngl)   

How are you today? Have you drunk any water? Slept? Taken a shower? Eaten? Taken any medication that you need to take?      

If not please do that! I love you and I want you to take care of yourself! (I even swear im doing all of these myself!)   

Again, I love you all and until the next time, this is your Captain signing off.   

Goodnight my Crewmates.     

Love, Captain (KC)