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Shoto tilted his head to the side, examining the small bag he found in the box full of old stuff that had been stored away in one room of the house no one used anymore. Fuyumi had forced both Shoto and Natsuo to help her clean up the room just as an excuse for them to spend the weekend at the Todoroki state while Endeavor was away on a mission.
Finally, Shoto opened the bag, finding a bunch of stuff inside that he wasn't all that sure what it was.
"Natsuo." he called. He immediately turned to look at him. Shoto raised the bag, showing it to Natsuo "Do you know what's this?"
Natsuo walked over and took the bag, but before he could even look inside it, Fuyumi interrupted them.
"I know what it is." they both turned to look at her, a sad look flashing over her grey eyes. She walked over, peering inside of the bag as if she was afraid of what she would find, giving a small sight upon apparently conforming her suspicions "It was Touya's. Those are old flash drives. There was a time where he wouldn't let go of his camera, those are probably all the recordings he had on it."
A moment of silence crossed over the siblings. It was like that every time Touya was mentioned.
"... Should we watch them?" Natsuo asked quietly.
Fuyumi pressed her lips into a thin line, but finally gave a small nod.
"We could, yeah... I never really knew all the things he recorded with it."
They silently made their way to the living room. Natsuo emptied the contents of the bag in the coffee table, revealing quite a bunch of flash drives.
"They have dates." Shoto noticed.
In each one there was a small piece of tape with dates scribbled onto it with what was definitely Touya's handwriting.
They made a silent agreement to watch them in order, and Fuyumi reached out and put them into an organized chronological line going from the first recording to the last.
Having done that, Natsuo reached for the first one and plugged it into the TV. The recording promptly started.
At first it was only a dark screen and ruffling noises, but then the camera was moved and a smiling Touya came into focus. He looked to be around 14 at the time. Shoto took into his features: his bright red hair and bright blue eyes. He didn't remember much about Touya considering he died when he was 9.
Touya smiled before turning the camera, a little 5 year old Shoto staring at him with curiosity.
"Say hi, Shoto!"
Shoto tilted his head to the side.
"Hi?"
Touya giggled.
The video went on, with Touya talking to Shoto and teaching him how to use the camera. Then it ended.
Natsuo replaced the flash drive and the next one started, only that this time, Fuyumi was in it.
For a while it was just that, random videos with the other Todorokis, mainly his siblings. Rei would appear from time to time, but eventually less and less until finally she stopped, around the time she went to the mental hospital. The videos stopped being so constant around that time. Endeavor never appeared in any of them.
The next one started, and judging by the date, Touya was already around 16 in this one, only that this time, the room Touya was in didn't looked familiar at all. He went out of the bedroom and into a space that seemed like a living room, with a figure sitting on one of the sofas, apparently focused on something. Massive red wings spurred out of his back.
"Hey, Kei." Touya called. The figure raised his head, and all three siblings recognized it as their father's current coworker, the number two hero Hawks. And judging by Fuyumi and Natsuo's expressions, they had no idea he even knew Touya.
Hawks huffed in annoyance.
"Touya, we're supposed to be doing a project right now. So come here and help me."
"You didn't seem annoyed that we weren't doing the project earlier." Touya answered, sounding amused. Hawks glared at him, sending one of his feathers over to snatch the camera out of Touya's hands. He yelped, and the camera gave a couple of spins, getting out of Touya's reach before Hawks managed to catch it.
He pointed the camera at Touya, who was standing with his arms crossed now.
"Very funny, chicken. Now give it back, you're going to break it."
"Hmm... How about we trade?"
"Trade what?"
"A kiss for the camera."
Touya laughed, but still made his way other to Hawks, leaning over the camera and getting it out of focus for a second while he apparently kissed Hawks.
Hawks giggled, letting go of the camera and letting one of his feathers set it aside. From where the camera was sitting now, you could clearly see Hawks and Touya, making out on the couch. Luckily, the camera seemed to run out of battery then, the recording stopping.
"I... Had no idea Touya met Hawks. Or that they were dating..." Natsuo mumbled.
"It makes sense he never said anything. Dad would have never approved, he probably did it to protect Hawks and himself..."
Natsuo sighed at Fuyumi's words, but didn't say anything else. From then on, the rest of the recordings were mainly about Touya and Hawks. Them on what appeared to be Hawks' place (although it never seemed like his parents were there), on a date, rarely at the Todoroki residence. Videos of Touya trying to annoy Hawks, of Hawks occasionally starting off the video, of them just hanging out.
Then, suddenly, the recordings stopped again for a while. The next one was dated months later.
The recording started with a very tired looking Touya. By the looks of it, he was at Hawks' place again. He seemed to be almost 18 now, the age he died at. There were only a handful of flash drives left.
"Kei, look what I found!" he called, only to be met with a shushing noise from the other.
"Touya! Ryu just fell asleep!" Hawks whisper-shouted.
Touya didn't answered, and instead turned the camera and went out of the room again, going into another and finding Hawks standing over what looked to be crib.
He inched closer, pointing the camera at Hawks and then down at the crib. A baby with a white mop of hair and markings way too similar to those of Hawks appeared on screen.
All three of the viewers gasped.
"He's really adorable..." Hawks mumbled, the camera focusing on him again, although he seemed to still be looking at the baby.
"He is. Probably got that from me."
Hawks glared at Touya, causing him to laugh softly.
"Let's go, we don't want to wake him up after he finally went to sleep."
Nodding, Hawks accompanied Touya out of the room, and they both made their way over to the living room, sitting down. Touya placed the camera at the coffee table, angled at them.
"I still don't know how we are going to manage..." Hawks whispered.
"Me neither." Touya admitted, taking Hawks' hand between his. "I guess we'll figure it out as we go..."
"We're lucky Rumi already graduated and agreed to look after him during the day while we have class."
"We're lucky you laid and egg instead of carrying him around 9 months. Otherwise the Commission would have definitely realized..."
Hawks visibly tensed.
"The Commission can never know about Ryu. They'll probably try to train him like they did to me..."
"Hey, don't worry. We won't let that happen. We'll protect our son with our lives, okay? Whether it's from the Hero Commission or from my father. No one will ever touch him."
Hawks took a deep breath, nodding and seemingly relaxing again.
"Okay..."
"I know it's going to be hard, we're both about to graduate and I know the Commission wants you to open your own agency as soon as possible, and my asshole father probably won't give me a choice and make me join his agency... But we'll figure it out. And we'll keep Ryu safe and a secret. Rumi already agreed to help us, we got this."
Hawks nodded.
"Yes... You're right, we'll figure it out."
Touya smiled softly at Hawks.
And then the recording ended.
The three siblings sat there in silence for a while.
"So," Natsuo started. "apparently we have a nephew. Touya's son. Who he had with Hawks..." he frowned "... Who laid an egg. When they were both still 17."
Fuyumi nodded, dumbfounded.
"That is... Yes. Apparently, that's what happened..."
Shoto did some quick math on his head.
"That means he's around 7 now. Touya's son."
"Oh, dear..." Fuyumi laid back on her seat, looking like she was about to faint "Touya had a son... And he probably died when the poor thing wasn't even old enough to remember him yet!"
"Should we... Keep watching?" Shoto asked, quietly.
"Maybe..." Fuyumi sighted "We only have a couple more left anyway..."
So they kept watching the videos. Since that one, almost every single video had Hawks and Ryu in it. Sometimes, Touya would appear, bouncing Ryu up and down on his arms. Sometimes it was Hawks. They both looked awfully tired, but each time, they were both smiling down at their son.
Ryu turned out to have Touya's blue eyes and Hawks' wings too, although his wings were white, fading to blue from the middle down.
He was a very smiley, very cute baby.
Then the last recording came. Fuyumi winced when she noticed the date: late December. Touya died in early January.
The video was apparently of Ryu's first birthday. Surprisingly enough, in this one there was another person- Miruko. Apparently, she had been the mysterious woman that both men referred to constantly.
"Hey Ryu," Touya said, taking the baby from Miruko' arms. By the looks of it, Hawks was the one recording "Look at you, you're so grown up, little bird!"
Hawks laughed.
"Are you excited for your birthday, Ryu?" Hawks asked, causing Ryu to turn to look at him, making grabby arms at him. Touya huffed.
"Oh, so you're saying you prefer your Pops before me?"
"You know he likes you better. You're his warm dad, he's going to cry the moment I try to take him."
As if to prove his point, Hawks handed Miruko the camera and walked over to the other two, reaching out and attempting to take Ryu.
The moment he was out of Touya's arms, his eyes filled with tears. So before he could even start crying, Hawks put him in Touya's arms again.
Ryu immediately calmed down and went back to his happy self, much to the amusement of everyone there.
"He's a daddy's boy." Miruko snorted.
"He really is." Hawks pouted. "That's so unfair! I'm his dad too!"
"Well, sucks to be you then, birdie. He clearly prefers me."
Hawks huffed.
"Only because you're warm and he likes that."
"Whatever you say..."
Miruko laughed.
"Let's go, I brought my nephew the best birthday gift ever!"
"Is it another Miruko onesie?" Touya asked, arching an eyebrow.
The bunny crossed her arms.
"Maybe. I had to get him a new one after the last one mysteriously turned to a pile of ashes."
Hawks snorted.
"Alright, you two. Let's move this over to the kitchen, we have a birthday cake waiting for us."
And then the video ended.
No one said anything for a good couple of minutes.
"I think we should contact Hawks." Fuyumi finally said "He'd probably like to keep the videos with Ryu or him in them."
Both the brothers nodded.
"I can get his number. Hold on." Shoto took out his phone, quickly sending a message to his classmate Tokoyami to ask him for Hawks' number and address. Fumikage was clearly confused, but after Shoto stated that it was for "family reasons" he agreed, sending over both his mentor's personal number and address.
He tried calling the number, but there was no reply. For what he could recall, Hawks wasn't required to go with Endeavor to this mission, so it was he either had the day off, or he was busy at his own agency.
"We can try going to his place, it's closer than his agency. Besides..." Shoto trailed off, but they all had some idea of what he was going to say next. Besides, maybe they could get to meet Ryu then.
"Let's go, I'll drive." Natsuo said. Fuyumi sighted, but put the flash drives with Hawks and Ryu on them back into the bag.
They hoped on the car, arriving at Hawks' place not that much later. They went up the elevator to the last floor and knocked on the door.
The sound of laughter was coming from inside, muffled by the closed door. Soon enough the door was thrown open.
"Took you long enough, bunny..." the person who had opened the door freezed on the spot. Shoto immediately got into a fighting stance.
"What are you doing here? Where's Hawks and Ryu?"
"What are you doing here?" Dabi responded, "And-wait, fuck, how do you even know about Ryu!?"
"Touya? Is everything okay?" Hawks suddenly came into view, also stopping short upon seeing the Todorokis, who all gaped at each other.
"Touya!?" Natsuo repeated. Dabi sighted.
"Get the hell inside. Now." they all promptly complied, Shoto still looking at Dabi warily.
Dabi closed the door before grabbing Hawks' arm and practically dragging him to the living room, who now the Todorokis recognized as the same on the videos.
"Little bird." Dabi called. The kid -Ryu- looked up from where he was apparently playing sitting on the ground "Can you go play at your room for a little? I promise it will be just a couple of minutes."
Ryu nodded, picking up his toys and running out of the living room, not before dedicating the other Todorokis a confused glance. Fuyumi smiled, no doubt wanting to talk with the boy later. Dabi gestured for them to sit, which they did, promptly followed by Dabi and Hawks.
"... So, what the fuck?" Natsuo asked. Dabi rolled his eyes.
"Isn't it obvious? Secret's out now, I'm Touya."
It took Fuyumi exactly two seconds to throw herself on top of her brother to hug him. And another 5 to break the hug and slap him.
"Ouch! The fuck Yumi!?"
"We thought you were dead!" she said, practically fuming.
"I know..."
"We had no idea about anything! You never told us you were dating Hawks, or that you had a son with him! We're not strangers Touya, we're your siblings!"
"She has a point." Natsuo cut in. "We didn't even find out because of you."
"Speaking of... Just how exactly do you know about Ryu?" Hawks asked.
"Wait- Endeavor doesn't know, right!?"
"He doesn't." Shoto answered "We found out because of this." He threw the bag at Dabi, who catched it easily enough and opened it, looking inside. A flash of recognition crossed his eyes.
"My flash drives..."
"Oh man, I remember this!" Hawks grabbed one random one, looking at the date "Tou, look! It's Ryu's first birthday!"
Dabi fished another one out of the bag, looking at the date.
"And this is from the first time we spent your birthday together... Where did you find this? I thought I lost it, but I always feared the old man would find them and find out."
"In the spare room, inside one of the boxes. I found it." Shoto answered.
"Well... What happened after you supposedly died?" Fuyumi asked. Dabi grimaced.
"The old man got me good. Took me a full year to recover, it was a miracle I didn't die of an infection. I wasn't sure of what to do, I was legally dead, and I didn't know how Kei would react if I came back looking like... This. Spent about 3 years on the streets doing small jobs and keeping a low profile until I got into the League. Not that much later this bird showed up, trying to sell me a story about how he wanted to join the League. The Commission sent him to play double spy. I was furious when I first found out. I knew Shigaraki would dust him on sight, and then Ryu would be alone. So I made up this bs about testing him and convinced the League to trust him."
"And don't worry about him not telling you, he didn't tell me who he was either. I had to figure it out on my own."
"So he stormed into the League's headquarters one night, screaming about how I left him alone to raise Ryu for 3 years. The rest of the League were... Surprised, to say the least. But somehow they still trusted us."
"And since then, Touya is playing double agent with me with the intention of eventually getting him a plea deal, and managing an agreement for the other members of the League to receive lighter sentences."
"Shigaraki is a lost cause, and Compress can do fine on his own. Spinner hasn't done anything illegal besides joining the League, so he's fine."
"Toga and Twice are a problem though. Toga is a minor, and both her and Twice need physiological help... And they definitely won't be happy when they find out, but... We'll figure it out."
"The plan was to take the Hero Commission out first, but that's asking for too much, and if we don't act soon, we might just have a war on our hands."
"The Hero Commission?" Shoto frowned.
"They're corrupt..." Dabi reached out to hold Hawks' hand, giving it a small squeeze as he took a deep breath and continued "Very. I was bought out of my family when I was 6, and they started training me to be a hero since then. And I'm not the only one. They've always controlled me, and if they ever knew about Ryu... They'd do the same to him."
"So they're not that different to Endeavor..." Shoto mumbled.
"Not really, no..."
A heavy silence hung on the air for a couple of minutes after that.
"Enough with the depressing stuff. How about you meet Ryu?" Hawks said, trying to lighten the mood.
"We'd love to," Fuyumi automatically answered.
"Little dragon, come here!" Dabi called him.
Merely seconds later there was a kid standing on the doorway. He gave a curious glance in the Todoroki’s direction again before jumping into the sofa, claiming a spot between his parents.
"Hey, Little bird. There's some people here we would like for you to meet."
"Ryu, these are my siblings: your aunt Fuyumi and your uncles Shoto and Natsuo. I've told you about them before, remember?"
Ryu lightened up at the mention of their names.
"You're dad's family!?"
"That's right." Fuyumi smiled "It's nice to meet you, Ryu. How old are you?"
Ryu looked over at Hawks, who gave a small laugh.
"You're turning 7 in December."
"I'm turning 7 in December!" he repeated, smiling "And my daddy's birthday is in December too!"
Dabi chuckled, ruffling Ryu's hair.
"That's right, both my bird's birthdays are in the same month."
Then Hawks' phone vibrated with a text. He pulled it out, frowning upon realizing what it said.
"Rumi can't come to look after Ryu. Last minute robbery, she has to take care of it."
"Guess that means we have to reschedule our date..."
"We can stay with Ryu if you want us to." Fuyumi said.
"Wait, really?"
"Sure. Father won't be back until Monday, and we could use some time to get to know Ryu."
"I'm staying with them!?" Ryu jumped up and down on his seat, excited.
"So it seems," Dabi answered.
"Guess we're going out after all, hot stuff."
It had been a long day for the Todorokis, but as they watched their older brother leave what he called his home with his lover, leaving them with his son, they all silently decided they wouldn't have wanted for that day to go any different than it did.