Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In hindsight, this fight should have been over with. They could've been home, resting...  But alas, in a world of quirks, Touya shouldn't have expected things to be easy. 

...

One moment, he and Keigo were walking back to their apartment. Next thing he knew, they were being mugged. It was stupid, trying to mug a pair of trained vigilantes. Of course the four thieves didn't know that. 

"You already know what to do if you don't wanna get hurt!" yelled a man with an elephant quirk mutation, posing to strike. 

To anyone else, it would have been intimidating. Touya and Keigo were rather short and the man towered over them. Not only that, there were two other goons next to him, wielding weapons. 

"I would say the same to you too, Dumbo."  Touya gave the man an innocent smile. 

In lieu of a response, the elephant growled and charged forward, attempting to punch Touya. 

Touya ducked and used his small stature to maneuver himself on top of the man's shoulders. With that, he put his hand on the nape of the man's neck and heated up his palm.  

"I told you, didn,t I?" The fire wielder whispered ominously. 

"Tch." The elephant grabbed onto Touya's arm with the intent to throw him off of him but that just provoked the vigilante into using his fire. 

The man screamed in pain, his skin near the state of blistering. It wasn't even the worse thing Touya could do. He always avoided using his fire, not wanting to severely injure or kill anyone. The elephant was probably strong enough to take the intimidating heat. Hopefully.  

While Touya was occupied with the behemoth, Keigo was busy dealing with the other two (seemingly quirkless) goons. The first one swung at him with a long mental pipe which Keigo just mutilated with sharp feathers.  The other attempted to help his comrade by swinging at Keigo, aiming for the head. The avian just ducked out of the way, fanned out one wing and pinned them both to the wall. 

The elephant man was still struggling, wriggling about in and attempt to throw the smaller man off. 

"Alright, fuck this." He gritted out, before slamming his back against the alley wall, hurting himself but effectively stunning Touya. 

Keigo reacted immediately by sending feathers out to take Touya out of the elephant's range.  As if he just remembered that there were two of them, the man charged and attempted to slam into Keigo. Keigo dodged with his speed and floated over the man. He used some feathers to pin the man down by his clothes to the concrete floor, not really wanting to skewer someone.

"Touya, are you okay?" He asked immediately, somehow satisfied that the men were restrained. 

He found Touya unconscious where he settled him with his feathers. 

"Wait... weren't there four of them?" He asked himself.

He was about to look around when this shorter man ran from behind a corner and pushed him. 

Everything went dark afterwards. 

...

"Arrogant brats." The elephant man muttered, ripping up the irritating feathers that pinned him in the first place. 

"It's a good thing there's four of us then." The midget responded, helping the other two goons get rid of the feathers. 

"Wanna try out your quirk on these two, newbie?" The elephant called out from where he was taking off the guitar case from Touya and checking if it had anything of value. Nothing. Maybe they should sell the guitar... 

"I dunno, man, isn't that a bit too far?" The lackey fumbled with his  black gloves and hunched over himself, clearly nervous. 

"It's just a harmless prank!" His friend reassured him with a pat on the back. 

"...okay." Resigned, he took off his gloves and clapped once. The sound echoed through the alley as a white portal opened up from where he stood. 

"This should be fun." The elephant man grinned maliciously, dragging both unconscious vigilantes near the portal.

"The feathered freak had a med kit with him and some cash." He shared nonchalantly. "This one however,"  He lifted up Touya by the scruff of his jacket. "- has nothing to offer but that stupid guitar." 

"Did you check their pockets..?" The newbie chimed in nervously, hoping that they would be spared somehow. 

"Got nothing. Buncha street rats." The leader spat out. 

With that, he threw Touya then Keigo into the portal like sacks of flour. 

He threw the guitar not long after, with a few objections from the newbie and the midget. 

...

Here yet again another confrontation between the League of Villains and some of the heroes. (Namely: Eraserhead, Present Mic, Midnight Hawks, Ectoplasm, Vlad King). You'd think they'd be tired of all this. This was like the third time this month!

"Don't you have anything better to do?!" Hawks  yelled, frustrated of having been called over to deal with the League, when he was just with them the night before. He would rather be faced down on his bed, comatosed , than deal with this, thank you. 

"No, not really!"  Toga chimed right back, enjoying Hawks's expression, flickering between amusement and annoyance. The other pros didn't notice that though. 

"This will end once you're all dead!" Shigaraki cackled with glee, playing his part as the terrifying main villain. Hopefully Sensei was proud. 

"This ends when you're all in jail!" Eraserhead growled back before charging forward, capture weapon ready. 

Before anyone could touch anyone though, a portal opened up next to the clearing, catching everyone off guard.

"Kurogiri?" Spinner wondered aloud. 

"His portal isn't white, dumbass." Dabi quipped, looking every bit done with the whole situation. Just like Hawks, he wanted nothing to do with this battle. This was all Handjob's idea of a substitute hobby. Fucking pathetic.

"Looks interesting! How ominous!" Twice chimed in. 

Before anyone could react or walk over to the portal (Toga and Present Mic), two forms were sent out of the portal. They hit the ground with a thud and from what they could tell, the individuals were unconscious. 

Shaking out of their initial shock, they realized that the other person had wings similar to Hawks's, albeit brown. 

The other person, the ravenette, started stirring, about to wake up. Everyone held their breaths then readied themselves. 

 "..what.." the man muttered groggily.  Something went flying out of the portal once more and hit the boy directly on the head, promptly knocking him unconscious once more. 

Almost everyone winced at the impact when they realized that the object was a guitar case.  Oh, and the portal closed up soon after. 

...

"What the fuck?" Eraserhead muttered, breaking the heavy silence. Everyone felt that. 

Toga, (being the sweetheart that she was) bounced over to the poor ravenette and moved to lift him up. 

"Don't touch him!" Vlad King and Eraserhead  suddenly protested, still trying to process things. 

"Hmpf! I don't see any of you guys helping!" She sassed back, prompting Twice to follow her lead. 

Snapping out of his shock, Hawks walked over to the other avian and  moved to flip him over from when he landed head first. Ouch. 

"... what the hell..?" 

There was no mistaking it, the other avian was him. With brown hair and wings. 

"Hawks? What's wrong?" Midnight asked cautiously. 

"What..." Eraserhead said out loud after inching closer to the two of them. 

"Oh my..." Midnight put a hand to her mouth, astonished. 

"Well, this is certainly interesting." Shigaraki piped up with glee, certainly excited at the prospect of an adventure, or a mystery, or both. 

"Dabi!" Toga piped up from where she was kneeling next to the other unconscious man. 

"This guy smells exactly like you!"

That really threw everyone off guard even more. Creepy. 

"Oi, fuck off, creep." Dabi bit back, stalking towards them, hands in his pockets. 

His face morphed into shock (which scared some of them even more, since when was Dabi capable of expressing more than two emotions?). 

The guy did look like him, if Dabi was actually physically and mentally stable. 

He was crossed between being jealous and astonished and he didn't know what to say except, "What the fuck." 

...

Everything hurt like a bitch. 

His head was pounding, his back and arms were aching from the fight, and his ears won't stop ringing. Was he hallucinating? It was too loud. 

After Cardinal set him down, some creepy dwarf came out of nowhere then pushed him. He didn't know what happened afterwards. 

'Where's Keigo?!' 

Ignoring the light destroying his eyes, Touya opened them and moved to sit up. He needed to check on Keigo first. 

"Careful! You might have a concussion, (though I don't know what that is.)"  Someone chastised next to him. 

When his eyes finally adjusted to the sunlight, (Wait, wasn't it night time earlier?!) he immediately searched around for Keigo. 

"Cardinal?!" He asked, frantic. At least he remembered not to use his real name.

He relaxed slightly at the sight of his boyfriend unconscious. He approached him and roamed his hands on his face and shoulders, checking for injuries. 

Everyone watched as the Dabi-look-alike hovered over the Hawks-look-alike, checking his companion over with concern. The young man then proceeded to lay the other's head on his crossed legs, it looked intimate to say the least. 

Everyone felt awkward, not knowing what to say.

Especially Dabi and Hawks themselves. 

Satisfied that Keigo was safe and secure with him, Touya finally looked up to see the person who chastised him earlier. A blonde high school girl that was staring at him with slight concern and wonder. 

She then beamed, giving him a wave. 

"Hi! I'm Himiko! What's your name?" 

That peppy attitude brought Touya some sense of comfort since he was not only in unfamiliar territory, but he was in this situation with Keigo, who he didn't want to be in trouble to begin with. 

"Uh... Yukitomo Koruhi." He greeted awkwardly,  still not used to hearing his fake name out loud. He barely used it, going by "Touya" to those who knew him. He barely interacted with strangers to even warrant the use of a name. 

The weird patchwork man standing a few feet away stared at him, judging him. It took a few more seconds for Touya to realize that the dark, brooding patchwork guy was him. 

"Holy shit." He breathed out, unintentionally catching everyone's attention.

"Koruhi-kun!" Himiko squealed, thankfully taking the attention off of him. She turned towards the patchwork Touya. "That's your real name, Dabi-kun??" 

He didn't seem to object. 
Everyone except Hawks made a mental note of that information. 

'Dabi' made a face and looked at Touya, letting him know that fake name was weird. He stared right back, letting the other know that "Dabi" was weirder. 

Not that anyone caught on to that. 

"Are the two of you okay? They're fine!" A man in a grey jumpsuit piped up and startled him.  

"Y- yeah. We're fine. Just tired..." He trailed off, eyes wandering towards the other people in the clear. It was overwhelming to say the least. There was a lot of them. 

'Is that Keigo?'

"Do you need medical attention?" 

Touya snapped his attention towards Eraserhead. Aizawa. That lifted some weight off his shoulders. Someone else familiar, but not so familiar. 

"Nah, we're good. Thanks."  He smiled awkwardly, still shaken, and everyone could see that. 

Finally taking some time to read the atmosphere, Touya realized that the two factions were in the middle of a feud. It didn't take a genius to figure out that if there were heroes, there were probably villains. 

The nice blonde had knives with her, the patchwork Touya definitely dressed like it, there was a reptilian holding a sword(s)?, a trenchcoat-wearing masked man, then there's the creepy person wearing disembodied hands-

"Uh..." He fumbled with his words, immediately standing up, carrying Keigo in a bridal carry. He looked for the guitar case and it was rather far from his reach. He could deal with that later. He needed to leave now. 

"D-Don't worry about us! Carry on with what you're doing. Nothing to see here! We'll be out of your way. K, bye. Thanks!" He babbled on, with every sentence, he took a few steps back. 

Everyone watched as he almost tripped on a branch, trying to get out of there as soon as possible. 

He didn't doubt that he and Keigo were strong enough but as of that moment, they had a lot against their favor. 1) They didn't know where they were. 2) They literally have just been mugged.  3) Cardinal was unconscious.  4) It has always been a rule to try and avoid confrontation. 

Needless to say, Touya was having a pretty bad day. 

...

As the odd pair disappeared beyond the clearing, everyone just stared at one another, willing the other faction to discuss what the fuck just happened. 

"So..."  Spinner started awkwardly, fiddling with his scarf. "Are we gonna fight or what?"

"Fuck that, I wanna know where they're going!" Shigaraki exclaimed excitedly, pointing towards the pair's trail, ever the manchild looking for entertainment. 

"NO. You will leave them alone." Eraserhead ordered sternly. "It's none of our business." 

He nodded towards the other pros. 
With that, Midnight acted, attempting to gas the League and knock them out. Dabi was the first to react and attempted to set Midnight on  fire, only to be stopped by Eraserhead. The gas was stopped by Toga, wearing her gas mask, ran over and slashed at her thighs and she cried out in pain. Hawks, (knowing that Midnight couldn't really hurt Toga since she was not equipped to do so), used his feathers to snag Toga by her uniform and throw her back.  No one noticed but she knew Hawks almost gently set her down. 

Getting frustrated by the whole morning ordeal, Dabi decided to take it out on the trees by setting the entire clearing on fire. 

"You just trapped us here!" Spinner yelled, warding off Vlad King with his sword. Dabi just sneered in response. 

The fire was rather quick to engulf the surrounding trees. At this point, some of them realized that the fire might even reach the foreign pair from earlier. 

"Ectoplasm!" Eraserhead called out to where the other hero  was having his clones dusted by Shigaraki. "Evacuate the two kids from earlier!" 

"I'm 24, you fuck!" Dabi yelled, only to shut up 
when Toga and Twice started snickering. 

Ectoplasm nodded and dashed in the direction  "Yukitomo" went. 

Growing impatient at not having anything fun to do but bother the heroes, Shigaraki called out for Kurogiri. But not before dusting a few of Hawks's feather projectiles as an act of pettiness, and Hawks just lets him, still in a daze. 

The League retreated. Toga giving one last worried glance towards the trees and Dabi sparing one look at the discarded guitar case.

....

"You gotta be kidding me." Touya groaned upon seeing the blue fire close by, engulfing anything in its way. 

'What did I do to deserve this?'  It was stupid, even his self didn't spare him! 

Fearing for Keigo's safety, he started running. It was still unsafe, seeing as he just woke up from blunt force trauma but it was still safer than walking slowly in the midst of a fucking forest fire. 

"Yukitomo-san, let me help you!" Another trenchcoat-wearing , masked man appeared. Seriously, why? 

Snapping out of it, he handed Keigo over to the hero. He didn't trust all heroes but Keigo's safety mattered more at the moment. The man could certainly carry him to safety faster than Touya's scrawny arms could. 

Touya made an indignant noise when another copy of the man suddenly carried him as well. It was embarassing but he certainly wasn't gonna complain. 

...

"There we go."  

Ectoplasm(as he later found out) set them down on the pavement. Cardinal was finally awake, which was a relief. But he did freak out upon waking up to some stranger carrying him  bridal-style in the middle of a forest. The explanation that followed afterwards was surely something...

"Thanks..." "Thank you..." Touya and Keigo stated respectively, awkward and still unsure of what to make of their situation. 

"Just making sure you're safe." Ectoplasm answered, getting rid of his copy. 

...

"The League escaped again." Eraserhead muttered upon reaching them, the low drawl almost unheard over the blare of the sirens.   

"We'll be going back to UA, kiddos!" Present Mic announced cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten up their mood. Hard to do with everyone else looking tired or confused, while there were firefighters trying to put the fire out.  Props for trying tho. 

"This situation...is quite the experience," Midnight started. "But if you need anything, you can ask UA for help, Hawks." 

Keigo stared at her, knowing that she meant well but it was still insulting that she only referred to him and not Touya as well. Not only that, Hawks was his hero name. His "hero" name... 

Before he could correct her, Aizawa spoke up.

"As for Yukitomo-san...We request that you come with us to the police station for interrogation." 

Touya snapped his attention towards him, suddenly not so relieved to see Aizawa. 

"And if I don't want to go?" 

"It seems that you and Dabi are counterparts. Any information you have would really help in apprehending him." 

Oh. For a second he thought that he was being legitimately arrested. 

"We were sent here against our will." Keigo snipped back, getting in a defensive stance in front of Touya (which he found endearing). "We'll stay out of your way but please, this isn't our problem." 

"I'll think about it..." 

Everyone snapped their heads towards Touya, surprised. Cardinal almost looked offended. Aizawa scrutinized him. 

"You don't have to go to the police today." He stated simply, heaving a heavy sigh.  

"Do you know what quirk it was that hit you? Do you know who attacked you?" Immediately changing the topic.

"We were unconscious, so no. I didn't see who had the quirk either. " He shuffled awkwardly, not knowing where this was going. 

"Well, Yuki..." Thankfully, Keigo had an explanation. "If there's other versions of us, there's likely versions of the men that attacked us."

"Precisely." Eraserhead praised him, contented to know that Hawks's counterpart was just as sharp. 

"We can help you search for them if you want," Present Mic spoke up.  "...and you can stay at UA while we do so." 

So that's why he brought up UA. Cardinal scuffed his shoe on the pavement, looking quite bothered.

"Uh.. Where's Hawks?" Touya wondered, confused at not seeing the other familiar hero.

 "Oh, he wanted to stay and help put out the fire." 

Cardinal hummed, still distressed but a little more at ease. Touya will have to ask about that later. The tension of the situation not really letting up, he fake-coughed. 

"We'll think about it, alright?" He said as he grabs onto Cardinal's shoulder. As he was leading them away, he spared the heroes a glance over his shoulder. 

"We really appreciate the concern but I think we'll manage for now. Bye!" 

With that, Cardinal held him, fanned his wings out and took them to the sky.

...

The conference room was filled with awkward silence. The heroes knew that quirks were unpredictable but it wasn't like they could take into account ALL possibilities. 

They weren't prepped for situations like  "Alternative Universe Quirks" (as Eraserhead speculated)  or "Weird Citizen Doppelganger Quirks" (as Ectoplasm suggested).

"That's quite the interesting event that happened." Nezu stated calmly, taking a sip of his tea. "And at 7: 30 am too!" 

Aizawa, who had resorted to lying face down on the floor near Nezu's desk, just grunted.

Present Mic objected to that but he himself ended up reclining on the couch with his feet on the table, looking every bit tired. He wondered why the two young men declined going to UA, "Hawks" seemed almost hostile. Did they really not want the help?

Midnight was plopped on the opposite couch, contemplating on what she said to the other Hawks and what could've offended him. He thought she didn't notice but he gave her the cold shoulder. 

Ectoplasm was sitting next to Midnight, recalling how the young avian from earlier started screeching and tried to push off of him, not even relaxing when his friend told him that Ectoplasm was a hero. He stared at his reflection on the tea cup. Was it because of his appearance..?

Vlad King was the only one not having a crisis, since he didn't even interact with either of the doppelgangers. Sure, he met Dabi before but the jittery shortstack with the guitar certainly wasn't a threat. It wasn't their business to intervene. But Aizawa did have a point, maybe the kid had info on his copy. They could finally maybe gain his background and arrest Dabi. 

The heroes also all silently agreed to save the discussion of Yukitomo's and Hawks's relationship status for another time. They're having enough of a crisis as is. 

Nezu clapped his paws to get their attention.

"There's certainly a lot to say! On one hand, our job as heroes is to help whoever it is in need but if the two young men refuse, that's fine! After all, it's their business. But on the other hand, taking them in and helping them will get us access to Dabi's counterpart, certainly he might have some useful information, hm? And you mentioned Hawks as well! What did he say?" 

With all that out, the other pros thought about what they should say first. 

"He just looked surprised." Vlad King shrugged then squinted.  "Everyone was sort of...preoccupied...so we forgot to ask him what he thought about the situation." 

The principal was still smiling but everyone could feel the disappointment pouring out of him like tea. 

"It was unwise to leave Hawks alone after a case. You should've gotten him after they settled the forest fire. Hopefully he wasn't injured?" 

"No. He wasn't." Eraserhead grunted. 

"Should we call him over here then?" Present Mic piped up. 

"I will do that!" Nezu spoke calmly. "Carry on with the rest of your day. I'll call you in when he's here to give us his insight." 

The pros all lazily got back on their feet and went to their respective classes. Aizawa being the worse offender, staying on the floor for a good minute before getting kicked out by the principal. 

...

After the forest fiasco, Hawks contemplated flying to his apartment right away to try and wake himself from this fever dream, or hunting down his other version and shaking him for answers. 

Instead, he settled for going back to the clearing to retrieve the guitar the other Dabi had with him. He didn't know why he went back for it, maybe he wanted to give it back. Maybe use that as a clue to Dabi's background. He'll never know. 

...

Who was he kidding? He knew exactly why. Those were just the reasons he gave the firefighters and police to leave him alone. 

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one with that idea. 

There, at the clearing, Dabi stood, guitar slung on his shoulder. He tensed and cursed when he noticed Hawks's presence.

He immediately called for a portal, not wanting to deal with Hawks. He didn't have the energy for it. What was he supposed to say to the best friend he abandoned then befriended again under a different identity? "Oh sorry, I faked my death and became a villain. But don't worry, in a different reality, we're still together and happy. So that makes up for it." ???

Oh, and of all the million ways to have his identity revealed, it was the ridiculous event of having a not-so-scarred version of him suddenly showing up, along with a non-hero version of the overgrown pigeon. 

What even. 

"Wait, Touya-" Hawks started, wanting to discuss their situation.  He was experiencing all the range of emotions at once. Touya was alive. Touya's Dabi. Touya's a villain. Touya left him. 

Yes, all of the emotions at once. 

Hawks deflated once Dabi entered the portal, not even sparing a glance at his direction. 

...

"That's something I don't want to touch even with a twenty-foot pole." Keigo muttered bitterly from his hiding spot at least ten feet away from the clearing. He just wanted to grab Touya's guitar and get out as soon as possible. But alas-

"Kei, be nice." Touya whispered harshly, pleading that Keigo wouldn't push him out of the tree for convincing him to spy on their copies.

They watched as Dabi left and Hawks's posture seemed to resign. Keigo didn't feel sorry for him.  

Touya wondered why Hawks hasn't spotted them yet. Maybe it was because the hero was currently crying. Just maybe. 

Okay, so maybe Keigo felt a little sorry for him.

"You can come out now." Hawks said hoursely, after noticing the two.  He wiped away his tears and regained some composure. 

"Damn it." Keigo muttered and sent them both down onto the grass. 

"Sorry." Hawks said suddenly, absolutely tired. "The other Touya got your guitar." 

It was still a mind trip, having another version of themselves.  Hawks wasn't trained for something as ridiculous as that. 

The hero stared at his copy. The copy stared back. Hawks opened his mouth, probably to ask about everything that happened. Everything that happened at the commission. What happened in another reality altogether. 
What happened to them? 

Keigo wasn't having any of it though. 

"I don't want us to get involved. Leave us alone. Settle your problems at your own time." He scowled, arms crossed.

The hostility made Hawks shut up. He wasn't intimidated. He wasn't.  

"Lets get out of here." Keigo turned towards Touya. "We'll find your guitar some other time." 

With that, Keigo grabbed his hand and walked him back towards the trees, leaving Hawks alone with his thoughts once more. 

...

A lot happened in the span of a few hours so Touya didn't blame Keigo for being antsy and agitated. He wanted to go home too but Keigo was snapping at everyone, including- especially Hawks.

His normally cheerful, yet reserved Keigo was giving everyone the cold shoulder.
Well, everyone except himself, which is good but still-

"Kei... talk to me. What's wrong?" He squeezed the avian's hand in comfort. He's been raptor-stress-gripping his hand and it hurt, but Touya didn't mind.

"We're stuck in a different reality altogether, Tou! For all we know, the guy that did this is a villain here too or dead, you know? We might not be able to go home!"  He snapped back. Realizing his mistake, he calmed down.

"Sorry. Sorry, I just..." He loosened his grip on Touya's abused palm. "I wanna go home."

"Me too, Feathers." Touya reassured him with a smile, that made Keigo's lips quirk up in response.  "I wanna go home too but it seems like my counterpart did some pretty bad things. And I want to help with that first. Plus, they offered to help."

Keigo hummed in half appreciation, half agreement. Touya has always been the better person. He was patient, kind, thoughtful, and brave. He shouldn't have been surprised that Touya wanted to help the heroes. He felt pretty bad now.

"Sorry about earlier, Touya." He rubbed his thumb over the other's pinkish, probably painful hand. He'll have to make it up to him.

"If you want to help the heroes, I won't stop you . I'm actually proud." He smiled sweetly, making Touya blush. "Just know that if you feel uncomfortable there, I'll get us out."

"I'm sorry too, Kei. I should have asked you first." Touya interlaced his fingers with Keigo's, knowing that the other thinks it's painful, which it was but who cares.

They kept walking in comfortable silence for a moment before Touya spoke up.

"Would you like to tell me now what's been upsetting you? I doubt it's this situation entirely." He gave him a cheeky smile.

"You know me too well." The brunette snorted. He stared ahead before answering.  "It's Hawks."

"Yeah, what about him?" He tilted his head innocently.

"You're way too calm for someone who has a villain counterpart." Keigo snorted and Touya just shrugged.

If he was being honest, Touya didn't know what to do about that. So his other self was a villain, he couldn't have prevented that. Might as well contribute what he can as an apology to this world. He was the type to go with the flow of things and always made the best out of any situation.  This was no different.

"...Is it because Hawks is a hero?" Touya asked hesitantly, shifting the topic away from himself.  Keigo sighed.

"No." He said lowly. "It's because he's the  Commission's hero."

Ah. Of course he'd be upset. They ran away to avoid Keigo becoming a hero. A tool for the commission. That wasn't prevented here. But then again...

"We don't know that for sure." He defended, earning a look of confusion from the other.

"He was trying to talk to me- I mean, Dabi! I- Instead of arresting him! Maybe he's not as loyal as you think?"  He wondered, flailing his other hand around in what was meant to be gesticulation.

"Eh..." Keigo's wings fluffed up in indignation.
"Have you seen the costume? He even has the symbol on him! That and fuck, how do I explain this?"

Touya just stared at him confused before smiling slightly.

"It's okay. Take your time." 

Keigo shook with resentment, not at Touya, but at the absurdity of their situation and how to even put his problems into words. Keigo glanced at his boyfriend's expression. He was being patient and positive for the both of them. He should at least try for Touya.

So he sighed and collected his thoughts. 

"Actually," Touya interrupted, "maybe we should sit down first."

He pointed towards a big tree in a small clearing, surrounded by lovely shrubbery. The ravenette smiled over his shoulder and plopped down. Keigo realized, this was Touya making him feel comfortable... and maybe preparing himself for some sort of breakdown. 

The avian snorted and sat down next to him. The other just gave him a smile, encouraging him to continue. So he prepared himself again and spilled.

"We ran away to avoid this. I didn't want to be a hero. I don't want to be Hawks." He spat bitterly.

"We both know how the training went. We both know what we were required to do and to who. It just doesn't sit right with me, Tou!"

Sensing the dark subject matter, Touya put a hand on his shoulder and urged him to cut that segment short.

A pause.

"And don't get me started on the outfit!" Keigo exclaimed suddenly, earning a comical reaction.  "What does he need a visor for? He's a bird, goddamnit! Then gloves! What's the point of having talons just for him to hide them!  It would be easier to have both the talons and the feathers! And what is up with that body suit?"

Keigo cut his rant short when he realized Touya was looking at him with some mix between sympathy and amusement.

"They're making him hide his other bird traits." Touya simply stated, looking down at the grass. 

"Exactly!" Keigo exclaimed, feathers fluffing up to reflect his agitation.

"I can't tell if you're resentful or concerned." Touya admitted sheepishly, causing Keigo to pause.

"...."

...

After getting back to the hideout, Dabi made a beeline towards his room, ignoring all of the questions he got his way, simply sidestepping when Toga lunged at him.  He entered his room and locked the door, blocking out all of the noise.

Sitting at his bed, he opened the case and took out the guitar. It looked like it's only been around for five years or so. The case looked a little worn with a few sewn on buttons and knick-knacks. This brings up the question: What happened to his first guitar? Maybe he should ask "Yuki" once he sees him.

Looking back down at the instrument, he couldn't tell if the thing had been bought, given or stolen. Given his counterpart's earlier behavior, Dabi wouldn't put it past him to be physically incapable of committing crime, even petty theft. He cringed at the thought.

He held the instrument properly and started strumming. The soft melody (of any comfort song YOU have in mind) made him bring back a memory. A time when music still held meaning and so did love.

...

"I can't believe they let you keep your guitar." Touya heard his team mate mutter when he showed off what his father dropped off earlier.

"It's my sperm donor's way of asking me to be compliant." He answered coolly, ignoring the other's reaction to him being crude.

"It doesn't work though. But hey, at least I have my guitar!" He grinned in triumph as his acquaintance merely gave him a dry look.

He walked back to his bunk, hoping to tell his best friend and room mate the relatively good news. He knocked first, just in case. With no answer from the other, he opened the door and walked in.

"Kei..?" He asked softly upon entering.

Keigo's bed was empty but his wings gave him away from where he was sitting next to the bed. Touya walked closer, only to find him hiding his face as he hugged his knees and hunched in on himself.

"Kei...talk to me."  He crouched down to level with him.  He pried his arms to see his face. "What's wrong?"

"Tou..." Keigo looked up at him with watery eyes. He looked like he just started crying which is not good but better than having been hours.

Touya sat next to him and gave him a hug, urging him to continue when he's ready.

"T- They're gonna clip my talons, m-my wings, and - and they're gonna take away my bird noises!" He cried, clutching the other boy's shirt. Touya started running his fingers through blonde tresses and planted a kiss on top of them.

"I'm sorry, feathers..."  The preteen muttered, not knowing what else to say. He wished he could hurt them. Make they pay. Make them suffer . For everything that they did to them, especially Keigo. But he couldn't. If he did anything, they would take that all out on Keigo as punishment.

It was hopeless.

"I... I wish we could run away, Touya...."  His sobs dissolved into sniffling.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm weak. I can't protect you."

It was true. They wouldn't have made it. They would have been hunted down by anyone, especially the commission. Touya wouldn't be able to protect Keigo, and that was the worst thing imaginable.

"So?" Keigo interrupted. He pulled away to stare at the other, eyes shining with so much love and conviction.  "We'll protect each other!"

Touya smiled sadly.

"We'll have to make do for now, feathers. I'm sorry."

Keigo probably didn't like that but made no objections.

"...I'm sorry." Touya said again, rubbing the back of his neck.

He wasn't good with words. The only ways he  comforted Keigo were through physical reassurance and...

"Ah. Wait here."

Keigo watched as the older boy stood up and went to retrieve something on his bed. He came back with the guitar he mentioned some time before.

"C-can I sing you a song instead?"

The way Keigo's eyes lit up reminded Touya of the stars.

...

Some time during the song, Dabi started to cry blood. He clutched the instrument on himself as his thoughts took over.

He faked his death and left his best friend, thinking that that was best for Keigo. He didn't think he would cross paths with him again. But as fate would have it, Hawks showed up one day asking to join the League. That was out of Dabi's control, he couldn't have known or prevented that.

But that didn't excuse his actions afterwards, especially after learning of Hawks's true intentions. Instead of pushing Hawks away, he kept coming back to him. Kept insisting of getting closer to Hawks-befriending him and even hanging out at the hero's apartment. He just rendered the point of leaving Keigo useless.

What's even worse is that Hawks reciprocated.

They became friends again, though Dabi wished that they were something more.

Now that Hawks knew who he was, what then? They were on opposite sides of a never-ending war. It didn't change what they both did for their causes. It still felt hopeless.

But somewhere, somehow there was a version of him that lived and stayed with Keigo.

Thinking about the alternative Touya, Dabi couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy. But more than that, awe and hope.

Maybe he could do the same for Hawks now.

...

Hawks should have expected being called over to UA.

After his encounter with the copies, he  received a notification from the principal. He took a few minutes to compose himself and curse out Dabi before flying over to the school.

He walked slowly over to the office, dreading the idea of talking to the pros. He didn't hate them, not at all. He just didn't form any connections with his coworkers. He considered Rumi his acquaintance but not  friend. They got along, sure but it wasn't enough. The only real friend he had was Dabi, but given their current situation, maybe not for long.

"Hawks! Please take a seat." Nezu greeted once he entered the conference room.

"Hey." He greeted, uncharactaristically meek. Everyone in the room noticed that he looked bothered and tired.

"How are you doing, Hawks? Tea?" Nezu offered.

Hawks took the cup but set it down. He never liked tea. He was more of a coffee person.

"I take it we're gonna discuss what happened this morning?" He asked, not beating around the bush, wanting this done and over with.

"Indeed!" Nezu agreed. "Yukitomo-san said that perhaps he'll help in apprehending Dabi."

Seems like the principal didn't want to beat around the bush either.

"Really? That's great!" Hawks said, feigning enthusiasm.

He thought it was nice of Touya to consider of helping the heroes. His mind briefly flashed to a scandalized Dabi's reaction to a copy of him helping heroes. It made Hawks internally snicker.

But wait... the possiblity of Touya offering to help getting Dabi arrested meant two things: Dabi finally going to Tartarus (there's no way an LOV member only gets jail), and Hawks having to see Keigo.

"Hawks." Eraserhead interrupted his thoughts.

"Hm?" He turned towards the older man, who was leaning against a wall, probably avoiding him.

"We would like to know your thoughts about the situation." The teacher explained. "There is another version of you."

"How could you tell that was me, anyway?" Hawks scratched his cheek, feigning stupidity.

The pro heroes in the room just gave him dry looks.

"Your reaction to seeing another avian." Ectoplasm remarked.

"Quirks like yours are pretty rare." Midnight remarked.

"Your face is very recognizable." Vlad King remarked.

"You looked distracted during the fight." Eraserhead remarked, judging him.

Hawks felt sort of threatened. He didn't know that Eraserhead was watching him. What else did the man notice? Hopefully nothing else.

"Young Hawks." When did AllMight get here?

"Yeah?" Hawks asked, schooling his expression back to professional and calm. He couldn't afford showing vulnerability here, in front of all these people.

"We would just like to know how you feel about the whole situation." All Might's voice was soothing, it was nice of him but it didn't help.

Of course they wanted to discuss the elephant in the room. Everyone saw how close "Dabi" and "Hawks" were. Everyone saw that.

Too bad Hawks didn't want to join that discussion.

"Well, If  the other man is another version of me,"  Hawks started, coming up with an excuse on the spot. "Then I think it's plausible to say that all of the relationships here in this world is extremely different from theirs."

"In conclusion?" Nezu added,

"I'm not all that bothered. As long as they stay out of trouble. Besides, they're trying to get back to their world as soon as possible, right?"

It made sense to act like the whole situation was just the complete opposite of this world. And not some close alternative  or half truth. 

"Well, Principal Nezu, thank you for having me today but I think I should be getting back to my patrol." 

With that, Hawks stood up and gave a polite bow. Making it clear that he did not want to speak to them any longer. No matter how rude it may be. He's the Top 2 Pro Hero, he's not under their jurisdiction.

He gave one last wave to the pros before walking out the door. Out of sight, he shook and ruffled his feathers, as if to get the nervousness out. A practice he hid from everyone,  especially the Commission.

The pro heroes just looked at one another then back at the door, varying levels of concern on their faces.

Eraserhead narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

...

Hawks floated just outside of campus grounds, cursing the universe(s?) for his shitty luck. He almost had a visceral reaction to them accusing him of something.  In his defense, he was emotionally and physically exhausted.

Hawks wanted to go back to his apartment to pretend that all this was a nightmare,  but he had a schedule to follow and he still needed to talk to "Keigo" and "Touya" at some point. He had a lot on his plate and it wasn't even afternoon yet.

Hawks begrudgingly went on his patrol, helping a few people with menial tasks here and there, waving at a few fans, and giving autographs and pictures.

With all of that out of the way, his thoughts wandered towards his other version. Keigo looked so much different and it wasn't because he dyed his hair and wings. It was the outfit and demeanor he had.

The sharp, black talons were bare (HC would never). The baggy, black clothes hid a lot of skin but it certainly looked more comfortable than Hawks's own suit and jacket- and if he focused enough, he could see scaly shins poking out of those jeans. 

As for Keigo's demeanor, he was rather resentful and hostile towards Hawks. Thinking back on it, he didn't blame him. He would definitely hate himself if he were Keigo. Wait.
...

Hostility aside, Keigo looked much more wild, free, uncaged and unburdened by the responsibilities of being a hero. Hawks never thought he'd see a version of his face that didn't have bags under his eyes or a painful, strained smile. The other didn't look like he stayed awake at night thinking about the lives he took or ruined. He didn't look like he was walking on eggshells, smiling and pretending  for everyone he met.

He looked real.

And he looked happy - with Touya.

Hawks couldn't help but feel jealous. Those two were probably frolicking in the forest while  Hawks couldn't even get his Touya to talk to him. It was petty of Hawks to be jealous of himself but eh, sue him.

After a while of walking, Hawks decided to just perch on top of a nearby building to continue thinking. His patrol required him to walk laps around different blocks but perching on a high point saves him time and effort. Not that the Commission cares.

He didn't want to be a hero. Sure, it was fulfilling to help people and it gave him a sense of validation when people look up to him but all that will not last.  If you stripped him of his hero status, you'll have nothing but an empty husk of a person.

The "Takami Keigo" of this universe has been dormant when he was six, only showing himself to Touya- then when Touya "died", Keigo died with him.

Distantly, Hawks realized that he was stress gripping his left wrist.

He grew up without the most important person in his life. He was alone and miserable and it still feels like that now. He wondered if Dabi felt the same way.

Thinking back to the other versions, Hawks wondered what those two did to achieve a different ending.

His curiosity at its highest point, Hawks decided that he would find them and shake them both for answers.

...

After a long conversation about laying off the hostility towards the heroes -especially Hawks, Touya and Keigo ended up just resting under the shade. Keigo leaning against the tree with his legs stretched out as Touya lays his head on them. The silence was comfortable, even with the occasional birds chirping or critters hissing.

"Are you hungry yet?" Keigo asked after a while of silently stroking Touya's spiky black hair. 

"What, are you planning on feeding me?" Touya teased, sticking his tongue out playfully.  Something smacked Touya on the forehead when he blinked. He looked at Keigo to find him smirking with mischief.

"Yeah," Keigo picked up the apple he dropped on Touya. "Say aah~"

Touya merely smirked at his teasing and opened up his mouth to annoy him.

Keigo didn't even bother to slice the fruit into pieces and shoved the whole thing into Touya's mouth. The ravenette quickly sat up and spat the apple out into his hands.

Keigo started snickering as Touya glared at him.

"Sorry~" The blonde's snickering stopped as he gestured for the other to hand over the apple. Touya maintained eye contact and just bit into the apple, just to spite him. Keigo just stared at him like he was an idiot.

"Saves me the effort, Cinders." Keigo teased and leaned back into a comfortable position. After eating half, Touya handed the fruit over to Keigo. He chirped as thanks but declined. Touya shrugged and finished the rest. 

After a prolonged comfortable silence, Keigo spoke up again.

"Do you want to go now?" 

"Sure."

With that, they both stood up and took a rather long path to UA. They weren't really in a hurry anyway, and it was an excuse to meander around downtown like it was a vacation, instead of a quirk crisis.

...

Ashtray 

Hey 
11:00 am

Can I come over? I want to talk now.
11:01 am

Oh, now he wants to talk? Hawks scoffed, glaring at his phone mid-air.  A few fan girls squealed at the sight of him, probably wondering if he was talking to his "girlfriend"  again.

He pondered for a minute if he should prioritize finding the doubles of themselves or solving his issue with Dabi first. Perhaps Keigo would be less hostile if Hawks fixed things with Dabi first. What did he know?

Deciding that somehow Dabi would be easier to talk to than his damn self, Hawks snorted and replied.

Bird Brain

...

Alright...

Where are you right now?
11:25 am

Ashtray

At the base.

I'll be dropping by.

11:26 am

Bird Brain

I'm on patrol rn.

I'll see you after.
11:27 am

Ashtray

Ok.
11:28 am

Hawks glared at his phone. Dabi seemed somewhat hesitant if the lack of snide remarks were anything to go by.
He huffed, it was kinda hard to stay mad when Dabi wasn't being annoying.

Having a few more hours before his "break", Hawks decided to continue his patrol from above. He pocketed his phone, sort of heavy with the promise of bringing up the past. 

Chapter Text

Aizawa could already feel the migraine setting in, surprised that it took that long.   

Their lovely morning started off with a call from the Commission sending the staff to deal with the League since they were nearby UA.  They sent Hawks in as well, for some reason...

During their encounter with the villains, Hawks yelled in frustration, which surprised even Eraserhead. The young man was usually calm or cocky with nothing in between.  Someting was probably bothering him.  He had a point though, the whole ordeal with the LoV was getting less intimidating and more annoying. 
Aizawa just wanted to go back to sleep.

Then in an absurd turn of events, a portal just opened up then dumped two strangers out like body disposal.

In an even more absurd  turn of events, the strange pair was apparently Dabi and Hawks. 

As interesting as the whole ordeal was, they still had to deal with the League. During the fight, he noticed that Hawks wasn't really all there - simply throwing off Toga then missing a few of his targets. But it was easy to tell why.

He may not have explicitly said that the brunette avian was him but it was obvious. They've all seen Hawks's face-it was everywhere, how could they not.

Now Eraserhead wouldn't accuse the young man of possibly having a connection with Dabi. He believed that Hawks was a good kid and he wouldn't do anything that violated the code of hero ethics.

But-

The way the clones acted was of intimacy.
That didn't incriminate Hawks directly but the way Dabi and him especially reacted. Everyone stared with shock, maybe wonder but when Eraserhead looked at the scarred man, he saw longing.

Then Hawks, when he finally saw him, was not disgusted or even the least bit confused.

He looked sad. (Not that the other pros noticed.)

If that wasn't even just a little bit incriminating, the way Hawks acted during the conference was. 

Aizawa snorted at the memory of Hawks feigning stupidity. Did he really think he was that good at acting? After all the shenanigans his class did, nothing gets past Aizawa.

The young hero somewhat sounded defensive.
He really did not want to talk about the issue.
Then there's the excuse of the doubles just being opposites of the people in this world.

Okay-

That really made sense, he'll give him that.

But his body language said otherwise.

If he was allowed to, Hawks probably would've ran out of the room as soon as possible.
When they were talking to him, he looked like he was going to flinch but kept holding back.

Aizawa would have just chalked it up to sleep deprivation, stress, maybe anxiety.

But all these behaviors only started this morning. Those were not coincidences.

Speaking of this morning...again.

Aizawa reclined in his chair, massaging his temples.

Hawks gave the excuse that he wanted to help put out the fire despite knowing that fire was his weakness- especially blue fire. Then there's the way he absolutely refused to look at any of them as he said all that.

Something serious was up with Hawks.

Well, to be completely honest, something about him had always rubbed Eraserhead the wrong way. He just couldn't pin point what it was.

Maybe talking to the other "Hawks" will shed some light on that.
...

Which brings him to the real cause of his current migraine. 

Yukitomo and "Hawks" (now that he thought about it, he never shared his real name) are currently here. At UA.

Aizawa should be grateful that they walked right to them- and he was, makes things easier.

No, the reason why Aizawa was mentally preparing himself to meet them was because
according to Hizashi, Yukitomo and Hawks flew up to his English class, almost crashing into the window and their excuse was "We forgot that this isn't our world. Sorry..."

What did that mean???

How did they even get past security?!

And that wasn't even the worst thing, no, the Dabi-look-alike introduced himself to class like it was nothing and Class 1-A didn't even attack him, they welcomed him. Even Bakugo.

Aizawa slumped in his chair and groaned.

Sometimes,  he wondered if the universe(s???) had it out for him.

...

Present Mic tried brushing off the morning crisis, he had a class to teach after all! But alas, the crisis decided to find him.

Because he invited them this morning...

THUD

The class erupted into a series of shrieks, yelps, and jolts- including Present Mic accidentally activating his quirk.
Luckily, whatever it was didn't hit the windows and scatter glass.

They all watched with varying levels of confusion or bewilderment as a pair of young men dusted themselves off as if they didn't just make a small crack on the wall outside from how hard they crashed. That was concerning.

The sound of knocking on glass snapped Present Mic out of his shock and went over to unlock the window closest to his chalkboard.

"Hi!" Yukitomo greeted with so much cheerfulness that it looked so wrong when he had Dabi's features. Yamada didn't know if he should be amused or terrified.

"Yamada-sensei! Who are they?" Iida broke the awkward silence because who else would.

With that, the teacher finally processed what's happening and turned his attention back on the odd young pair.

"What do you think you're doing just barging in here?"    He put his hands on his hips, trying to look intimidating but by the avian's blank stare and the other's still bright grin, he was failing.

Yukitomo shrugged and gave one of the vaguest excuses ever. That this is what they often did in their world. Who let them do this? Why have they not been arrested? Are they okay???  There were so many things wrong with that statement alone, implications aside.

Yamada sighed, resigning himself to fate since he was the one that invited them in the first place. "Alright. Get in."

The pair stepped down onto the wood floors and padded to the front, all eyes pinned on them as they went. The kids were really curious to see who these people were. It wasn't everyday that their class gets interrupted by odd strangers. (Villains didn't count.)

"Hi."  Touya gave the kids a gentle smile.
"The name's Yukitomo."

"Hey." Keigo spoke up from where he was leaning against the chalkboard.

The kids stared.  The avian was clearly Hawks, which brought up a lot of questions, especially for Tokoyami.

Then there's the man addressing them, he looked kinda familiar. Black hair. Blue eyes. Piercings-

"You!"

"Yep. You can call me that too." Touya answered as this blonde spiky-haired kid lunged at him with murderous intent. Nice.

"Yamada-sensei, why is Dabi here?" Midoriya piped up nervously, along with other kids parroting after.

The class erupted with chatter once more as they watch Bakugo struggling against a few feathers pinning him to his chair to prevent him from attacking a somewhat copy of a villain they knew.

They quickly looked towards their teacher for an explanation.

Present Mic held an expression that somehow looked tired, amused, and anguished, all at the same time. It was quite the sight.

He walked up to "Yukitomo" and gestured,
"We found these two in the forest unconscious-"

"Technically, we found you-" "Hawks" cuts in and gets ignored.

"-They'll be staying here for a while until we can get them back to their...world.."

"We're alternative copies of the guys you know in this world."  Keigo cut back in firmly.

The class quieted down as they processed the weird explanation. Bakugo stopped struggling to actually take in the info.

"So..." The blonde started, pointing at Touya. "This technically isn't the crispy fried freak?"

That made Touya laugh and he tried muffling it with his jacket collar. Most of the students cracked a smile at the sight while the rest were surprised that any form of Dabi was even capable of emotion. After getting that reaction, Bakugo suddenly calmed down, which surprised the others even more.

Noticing the shift in atmosphere, Touya coughed himself to stop and held up his hands in a placating manner.

"S- sorry! The nickname's hilarious!" He grinned. 

"Heh." The explosive blonde said, smirking. "Plenty more where that came from. Do you know what that bastard did yet?"

That made everyone except Keigo and Touya tense up. Bakugo wasn't really known for showing tact. Kirishima and Mina glared at him, hoping he doesn't hurt the man's feelings or something.

"Well, he's a villain and that's all I know." Touya shrugged, not at all bothered that the kid had this somewhat malicious look in his eyes.

"Well, that bastard kidnapped me." The kid ground out, implying that perhaps seeing a copy of his nightmares is not something he wants. Touya tensed up. Keigo snorted.

"Sorry that happened to you, kid." The avian said sincerely then followed it up with,
"But we have nothing to do with that."

Touya immediately waved an arm towards Keigo to shut the fuck up as he placates the child, who surprisingly, wasn't mad. Or at least looked like he wasn't.

"What he means is," Touya started, throwing a glare over his shoulder. "We may not have anything to do with that and we didn't know but if it makes any of you feel better, we'll stay away."

That was quite considerate of the man, it was definitely giving the students whiplash when they compare him to the black-clad man that burned down a forest and attacked them.

They all waited in silence for one another's response, especially Bakugo's. 

"Nah. You're good." Bakugo leaned back into his chair and kicked his feet up. Keigo recalled his feathers, satisfied that the threat stopped. 

The class simultaneously thought that the whole situation felt sort of ironic.

Present Mic, who has been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time, cleared his throat to get all of their attention. 

"I'm going to notify Principal Nezu and Eraser that you're here." He said, pointing over his shoulder. "You're free to follow me to the conference room if you'd like." 

"Sensei!" Kaminari spoke up, propping himself up on his desk. "Can they stay here???"

Some of the teens nodded in agreement and gave their teacher weird puppy dog eyes. 
Present Mic nervously turned his gaze on Yukitomo, Bakugou, then "Hawks". What could go wrong?  

"...alright.." He sighed, slumping slightly then walked out the door. But not before peering through the gap as he shuts it.  

Kaminari cheered in triumph, along with a few of the other extroverts. Finally, something else exciting in class that did not involve almost getting killed, kidnapped or traumatised. Yey. 

"Well?" Touya addressed the class, shit-eating grin ever present. "What do you guys wanna do before we go and absolutely annoy Eraserhead?" 

"Sir!" A kid with green fluffy hair spoke up, stuttering a bit - ah, Midoriya. "Can we ask you questions please..?"

"Sure!" Touya turned towards him, and it still amazes the kids that this man oozed so much energy and joy that he gave *insert all the damn extroverts of mha* a run for their money. That and this man was literally just Dabi with the Redo setting. 

"Have you met the other Dabi...?" The greenette asked hesitantly. 

"Kinda." Touya shrugged, sitting on top of the teacher's desk. "We didn't interact though." 

"Kindly get off the teacher's table!" A kid with blue hair stood up hastily, clearly triggered, making hand motions for him to get off. 

Touya, despite his niceness, was an absolutely heathen. Instead of getting off, he schooched over and made room for Keigo who sat down next to him. The blue-haired kid looked like he was going to have a stroke. 

"Really, how come?" Kirishima tilted his head in question to Touya's answer. 

Touya started slowly swinging his legs to and fro. "Well, I just woke up and when I saw that they were gonna fight, I left. Didn't wanna get involved in that mess." He chuckled. 

As Iida goes through an existential crisis, a whole bunch of the other kids started getting out of their seats to sit in front of the teacher's desk. Namely: Mina, Kaminari, Tokoyami and Sero. They were all intrigued to learn more about a parallel universe than English, really. 

"Anyway!" Touya piped up. "Before we continue, can I know your names first?"

The only ones he really knew were Shouto and  Midoriya. Shouto, he came back into contact with a few years prior, along with his other siblings.  Along with his baby brother, was the green-haired lad his sibling adores so much. 

Not that these kids have to know that.  

One by one, the kids introduced themselves. Stand-outs were as follows:

"Shouto."   That was it. 

"My name is Iida Tenya. Kindly get off the desk."  Haha, no. 

"Bakugo, but you can call me Lord Explosion Murder."   His double kidnapped this kid, 
                 seriously?  

"I'm Kirishima!"  The kid's got energy, he likes 
                this one. 

Then there's 

"Tokoyami. Have we not met yet in your time, Hawks?" 

Everyone perked up at that. Keigo surveyed the kid, before shaking his head no. 
This seems to have surprised the kids and disappointed Tokoyami. 

"Who are you to me?" Keigo asked, not meaning to be rude this time. He was genuinely curious, for he had only met Shouto and Midoriya. 

"I'm your- uh... this world's Hawks's intern."

Keigo frowned at that. The man took a child under his wing. Was he teaching the poor kid the ways of the Commission? He hoped not, unless Hawks wanted to get decked. It took a while to get over the concept of his other self being not only a prisoner, but a tool. He'll have to get to the bottom of this later.

God forbid the grooming of more children. 

Keigo snapped out of it to look at the young bird, who was looking at him with curiosity, with wonder. Now, Keigo was not good with kids (that was Touya), was not extremely fond of them despite not hating them. But this bird kid- 

Instincts.

"I would have loved to be your teacher." He blurted out and smiled, not breaking eye contact with the kid.  
 
Tokoyami immeditely flushed and looked down. "W-well, you are in this world, sir." 

"Hmm. Then maybe I can teach you a few things that Hawks can't." Keigo smiled mischievously, thinking of all the ""pranks"" they could pull on the Hero Commission. 

"What do you mean..?" 

"Don't worry about it for now." Keigo waved him off. 

The exchange they had was quite ominous but the kids opted to ignore it. 

"If you're not a hero, then what are you? Kero." A girl with long green hair- Tsu as she called herself, asked, tilting head slightly. 

"Hah." Keigo scoffed, in mockery of the Comission's name- Keigo definitely did not choose that name.  "You can just call me Cardinal. I'm a vigilante instead."  

Low sounds of astonishment or surprise filled the room. Varying levels of approval and disapproval. 

Shouto thought it was good that they were not bound by the law on what is helping and what is not. It probably also meant that they helped everybody. Especially the ones that heroes did not, right? 

Iida looked conflicted, remembering the Stain incident. Vigilantism was illegal for a reason but this was Hawks. It meant that they were still doing good, right? Would Hawks actually commit extremism..? 
 
Tokoyami sat still, processing what he learned. He didn't know what to say. 
It could be worse he supposed...

"Ooh! Wait, I thought of something!" Kaminari chimed again, metaphorical light bulb flickering over his head. 

"Oh no." Jirou snickered. 

"Do you think there's a villain Hawks out there and a hero Dabi???" 

The class halted all movement. What the fuck kind of question was that? 

The silence was broken off by three people laughing- Yukitomo, Cardinal, and then Bakugo. 

"What's so funny?" Hagakure asked, extremely confused. 

"To be fair though..." Midoriya muttered to himself, scribbling notes down on a journal. 

"That sounded like a stupid question, sure!" Bakugo barked out, leaning far back in his chair.  "But at this point, everything's so fucked up, that ain't so far-fetched!" 

"I'm surprised you didn't reject the notion of Dabi as a hero.." Sero muttered, amazed at how absurd this day made Bakugo. Said blonde just snorted.

"If the stapled-freak has a copy that's at least  decent-"

"Wow, thanks."

"-Then I guess the damn universe can make a copy's that the absolute opposite." 

Everyone else nodded or murmured in agreement with that statement. 

After a while, their conversations lulled into general questions when Keigo made it pretty clear that they did not want to get into the logistics and lore of parallel universes since they weren't all that sure about those either. 

The class was getting really comfortable with the two young men. It was quite funny actually. "Yukitomo" kept surprising them with all the information. On one hand, they wondered if this guy was really a different Dabi or another person altogether. On the other hand, they wondered if at least half of the information can match up with Dabi's background because the answers were so... so... Good? Wholesome? Not Villainous.

"Favorite color?" Uraraka asked, expecting it to be black or dark grey because Dabi looked absolutely edgy but then the man said, "Lilac. Because of the autumn bellflowers." 

"......."

"What do you do in your spare time?" Sero asked, briefly thinking along the lines of petty crime and loitering about but like earlier, it was a surprising answer. 

"I like performing in bars via music, maybe some arts, and there's the pseudo shelter for the homeless that we run."

"......." 

Kaminari snickered at the thought of Dabi singing on a stage somewhere.
Most of the kids had the same look of awe at the idea of Yukitomo helping the poor- trying really hard to picture the villain counterpart in that way. The very few who weren't in awe, were either confused or were expecting it already. 

"What instruments do you play?" Jirou piped up, interest piqued. 

"Mainly the guitar. I try playing the piano sometimes though." 

"I would love to see that!" Aoyama happily declared, and they all agreed. It would be interesting after all. 

"Heh, sure. At some point." Touya grinned as Keigo smirked at the idea of putting on a show. 

"Do you like animals...?" Koda asked, almost a whisper. 

"Hell yeah. Especially cats." Huh, kinda like Aizawa-sensei, the kids thought. 

"Do you like sports?" Kirishima asked, because of course he would ask that. 

"Do I look like I would?" Touya asked back,  chuckling slightly, clearly self-deprecating.  It was a fair answer. If they wanted to, one of them could at least snap Yukitomo's arm off like a twig. 

...

"Have you ever killed anyone?" Mineta asked out of the blue, everyone legit forgot that he existed. Everyone tensed up, including Keigo. 

"Don't you trust him yet?" Sero irritably asked over his shoulder.

"No. He won't attack us right now. " The brat snorted.  "But I dunno about everyone else in their world though." 

The kids glared at him then looked back at the older man, and to their surprise, he didn't look mad, or even surprised, as if he got that question before. 

"I've never killed anyone." Touya answered rather softly. 

That question made something in him ache, did this mean that Dabi has? If he hadn't, why would the child ask this? 

His mind went back to the Commission "training", the execution lessons. Would this world's Touya really..? 

The kids sensed that something was wrong. The older man stated earlier that he knew that Dabi was a villain, but he was not informed of what crimes. Jesus Christ. 

"He's just asking that to be an asshole." Bakugo grunted, he was usually tactless too but the teachers and the two men already made it clear that there's no threat. At least the explosive blonde wasn't stupid. 

Murmurs of agreement filled the room as they try to diffuse the situation and not upset the nice man. He did look like Dabi but it was made very clear  that they were not the same.  

"Hey!" was the purple shit's response to getting called out. 

"Hey, it's fine. I'm not offended."  Touya  chuckled, making the kids relax somewhat. Also surprised that the man was patient enough to handle the brat. That's nice. 

While the kids were busy ganging up and roasting the purple kid, Touya was left to think for a minute. 

Contrary to Touya's persona, he was not stupid. A little slow, but definitely not stupid. He knew Hawks has killed people. The Commission has always been thorough like that. If the "hero" was capable of doing so then Touya wouldn't put it past his clearly more unstable self to do the same, given the training they both endured. 

It was so easy to forget that they were technically not the same person. 

So entertaining the previous thought, Yes, this world's Touya probably would. 

But the kids didn't have to worry about that so he won't make them.

"Any more questions?" He piped up, making it clear that questions pertaining to crimes are not questions, but accusations at this point. Mineta just made a "Tch" noise and sunk lower in his seat. 

"...so you said something about liking flowers?" Midoriya piped up awkwardly, making the mood shift so hard it was as if nothing wrong was brought up. Touya liked that. 

"Yeah. Especially those Rindou flowers." He smiled softly, and all the kids finally relaxed fully. 

 "Do you have a significant other?" Hagakure cood, propping her chin on her hands, wanting to get gossip this time. 

That got a reaction from everyone and they all waited with anticipation. To their bewilderment, the man started blushing and spluttering.  Kaminari wonders if Dabi was still capable of blushing like that. 

Keigo immediately schooled his expression to stop blushing. The question just caught him off guard is all. He waited for Touya to make an excuse. 

Touya chuckled nervously, scratching at his cheek. Touya briefly wonders if Dabi pulls at his cheek staples when he's nervous. 
Anyway, Touya was not ashamed of being gay- he absolutely loves and adores Keigo. But the thing was, these kids were probably smart enough to put two and two together. 

He sort of already showed his status with Keigo to the pros. No need to incriminate themselves further. 

"Uh..." Touya just looked at everywhere but Keigo and the kids. Real smooth. 

"Moving on!" He blurted out like an idiot. 

"Eh??? You didn't answer my question!" Hagakure accused. 

"Moving on!" Touya blurted out once more. 

"Eh.." Hagakure huffed but backed down, not wanting to actually trespass his boundaries. 

 "Anyway," Kirishima chuckled nervously, "How about you, Cardinal?" 

"Huh?" Keigo snapped his head towards the kid, surprised that he was even addressed at all. 

The kids had been really focused on the raven that they didn't immediately realize that Cardinal didn't even talk at all. It was so weird seeing a reserved and quiet version of the avian, compared to the very talkative, confident, and outgoing (obnoxious, from what Shouto heard) hero, Hawks. 

"...what about me..?"  Keigo asked, shifting in his seat. 

He wasn't really talkative. Never was. Despite him being the type to speak his mind- because fuck authority and all that , that only happens because the topics weren't about him. 

"We've been asking Yukitomo-san a lot of questions." Midoriya said.

"Yeah, you sure have." Keigo stated flatly, throwing a glare at the purple kid who had the audacity.

"It's only fair if it's your turn!" Kaminari piped up, really excited.

"We don't actually know Hawks all that well." Momo admitted softly and everyone agreed. 

"What about you, Tokoyami?" Mina asked, pertaining to the fact that he's the hero's intern. 

"Uh..I guess I know him...enough?" Tokoyami admitted. He didn't really know his mentor aside from his favorite food and that he was amazing at his job. 

"What do you mean by that?Kero" Tsuyu asked. Tokoyami sighed.

"I mean, Hawks doesn't like talking about his personal life. He avoids them at all costs.." 

"He does kinda get dodgy during interviews, huh?" Mina commented. 

"So your solution to that issue..." Bakugo commented, cleary bored. "Is to ask the guy from an alternative universe about his life." 

"Why not?" Kaminari argued, "It's the closest we can get to knowing Hawks!" 

"Yeah! And you didn't complain when we did it with Yukitomo-san!" Hagakure pointed out and Bakugo just made a "Tch." noise. 

"Hey." Touya piped up, hands raised in a placating manner. "Cardinal will only answer questions if he wants to." 

They all snapped their attention towards the man in question. Keigo contemplated the entire exchange. 

Hawks was a secretive person, even towards his child intern. It was understandable and frustrating at the same time. The issue wasn't that Hawks was reserved, no, it's that there's no personal life to ask about. 

Ever since Keigo saw the hero and smelled the  tiny traces of blood on him, he knew that most of his humanity has been lost. The very little he had was because of this world's Touya, obviously. Keigo's time at the Commission foreshadowed what Hawks will be so he knows. 

But the kids- especially the bird child, don't have to know that. 

"Sure, I can tell you a few things about myself." He decided as the rest of the class move closer. 

...

Aizawa and Yamada sat at the conference room with the principal. Aizawa was at his usual state of tired, plopped down on the couch and next to him was Present Mic, drinking as much tea as he could to reduce stress. 

"Yukitomo-san implied that they visit UA on multiple occasions in their world?"  Nezu asked, just to clarify. It has been one hell of....half a day... He probably could have just misheard them. 

"Yes." Aizawa grunted, still not ready to meet the disturbingly upbeat version of a man who tried to kill him that one time. 

"Is it really that much of an issue?" Yamada inquired. "Sure, it's another version of Dabi but y'know, another version." 

"That's not the issue here." Nezu clarified. "I fear for the integrity of our infrastructure and security." 

That made Yamada snort. Of course the two young men were not a danger to the people but to themselves and the building. 

"We can deal with that later. I'll help pay for damages." Yamada offered, since he was the one that invited them, but in his defense,  no one told them to rocket themselves into the wall. 

"No need, as long as they cease doing that." Nezu dismissed. 

"Should I get them now?" Yamada inquired, having drank enough tea to continue with the day. 

"Go ahead." 

With that, Yamada stood up and patted Aizawa on the shoulder before walking out. 

...

"They visit UA in their world and get past security." Aizawa spoke up suddenly, his migraine still in progress. 

"Yes." Nezu confirmed. 

"They're friends with the other versions of us..?" 

"Yes." 

"This is stupid."

"Yes."

"Do we do something about it?"

"Yes."

"By that, you're just telling me to suck it up and  greet them, huh?" 

"Yes."

"...fine."

With that, Aizawa stood up, cracking his back in the process. He stood there for a while daring Nezu to make fun of him some more, especially about meeting the two since Nezu didn't have to.  

"..."

That was the second time he got kicked out of  the office.

...

Yamada approached his classroom but when he was just a few feet away from the door, he could hear the sounds of heavy thudding and an unGodly amount of singing.

"SINGING RADIOHEAD AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS

WITH THE BOOM BOX BLARING AS WE'RE FALLING IN LOVE

GOT A BOTTLE OF WHATEVER BUT IT'S GETTING US DRUNK-"

What the fuck.

Yamada immediately opened the door to find most of the kids scattered across the room. Some of the students (Kaminari, Tokoyami, Sero and Ashido)  sitting on their desks or banging their hands on them (Kirishima, Bakugo, Jirou). The rest of those not by their seats were on the floor. (Mineta was the only one in no category for he was taped to a wall. Huh.)

Then to top it all off, the likely masterminds of this chaos were sitting on his desk swinging their legs to the beat of a song he's never heard of. 

"SiNgInG HErE'S to NeVEr GroWiNG UP~"

Maybe Yamada should have let them finish before going in. When they sung, some got distracted and resulted in an extremely off-tune lyric. 

"......"

"What are you doing..?" He asked hesitantly, not quite mad but not quite happy to find the chaos after being gone for like... 10 minutes. 

"Yuu-kun's a performer, sensei!" Mina squealed like a fangirl. 

Huh. Guess that explained the guitar. Just when Yamada thought Yukitomo couldn't be any further from Dabi, he gets a surprise. 

"That's awesome!" Present Mic exclaimed, genuinely impressed. "I'd love to watch you perform!" 

The kids cheered. 

"But not right now. Sorry." 

The kids' faces fell. 

Touya and Keigo just shrugged and got off the 
desk. 

"That was great!" Touya exclaimed, flashing 
the kids another grin.  

"We should totally do this again some time!" Mina said, stretching her hands up.

"Yeah!" Jirou exclaimed, unabashed by the prospect of jamming with someone new. 

 "That depends on our stay." Keigo said with a shrug. 

"Of course!" Touya replied, practically vibrating.

Present Mic watched the entire scene with astonishment then fondness. The kids have already taken a liking to the duo. Even Bakugo, who had every right to dislike Yukitomo. It was honestly surreal.

"Lets go, kids." He called to the two and opened the door for them. "Hawks" snorted at the nickname. 

Yukitomo bid the kids goodbye before walking out. Like a starry-eyed child, Present Mic briefly thought. 

"Hey, um... Hawks?" Present Mic spoke up, after a while of awkward silence. 

"Cardinal." The brunette immediately answered. "What is it?" 

"Oh, it's that. You never told us your name so we just assumed calling you Hawks but y'know... can't get the two of you confused."

"Ah." Keigo responded, trying not to sound offended since these people definitely did not know. What else was he supposed to say? 

The trio walked in awkward silence once more until they reached the faculty room. 

"Yukitomo. Hawks." Eraserhead greeted overhead from the couch. 

"Cardinal." Keigo reiterated, bored drawl matching Eraserhead's. 

"Cardinal." Eraserhead repeated, brow raised. "Take a seat." He gestured to the couch opposite to him. 

Once they were all seated, Eraserhead straightened up and immeditely went straight to the point. 

"According to Hizashi, you guys mentioned having already visited UA enough times to be comfortable barging in on classes."   

"Oh, absolutely!" Touya answered, already starting his plan of annoying Eraserhead to hell and back. Why? Because he hasn't been arrested to prevent it. 

"So to clarify, you're not at all criminals in your world?"  Ouch. 

"If we were, why'd you leave us with the kids?" Cardinal snarked back and Eraserhead swore that Hawks's wittyness were the only things the two avians had in common. 

"He has a point." Present Mic piped up as Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"Tsk. We speculated that the two of you are acquainted with our counterparts."

"Ohoh, Eraserhead and I are definitely friends, that's one of the reasons why I agreed to do this." Touya gave the man a mischievous grin, enjoying the way his eye twitched. 

"Excuse me?" Aizawa started, anghast. Present Mic and Midnight were enough of a handful already! What is his other self doing? Is this brat lying just to get under his skin? 

Before anything else, the kid pulled out something from his now open jacket, and Aizawa tensed. The open area showed the same loose shirt but with a bandaged chest and a necklace with a red feather clasped on it. But he was more worried about whatever the other pulled out. 

"Here." Touya grinned, handing him a small notebook, opened to reveal a page with a sketch on it.

"What..." Aizawa said, staring at it in shock and confusion. A sketch of him in monochrome...smiling. 

"Can I get your autograph?" The kid proceeded to surprise him. 

Cardinal and Present Mic were holding in snickers at the sight. 

Keigo and Touya were quite fond of Aizawa and Yamada, so to see Touya extend the same attention to this world's Eraserhead is quite amusing.  

Yamada found this amusing because Yukitomo is acting like a starry-eyed child and it shook Eraserhead because to him, he was still sort of Dabi. 

But he's not and it's honestly adorable. 

Aizawa took a few more seconds, waiting for the joke to end but it didn't come. The kid was actually serious about getting his autograph. What's up with the other world?  

Snapping out of it, he grabbed a pen and signed his name under the neat sketch and handed it back to the ravenette. He has never given autographs before and out all the people to ever be first to ask, it was Dabi's other worldly counterpart. What even.

"Sweet! Thanks!" Touya thanked the man, leaving out his plan of rubbing this thing in the other Eraserhead's face. 

"Sure." Aizawa grunted, hiding the confusion and slight awe in his expression. 

"Anyway," He continued, wanting to get back on track. "How and why are you acquainted with ... me from your world?"

"Oh. Well...He saved me from a bunch of thugs  a few years back. He offered to take me in when I told him that the police and orphanage weren't options. It was nice of him." 

Touya's expression held fondness and it provoked an emotion Aizawa couldn't quite place. 

Touya recalled that night. It was just two nights after he and Keigo ran away from the HPSC. Their faith in heroes were dwindling for obvious reasons and they only relied on each other. As optimistic as Touya was, that didn't translate well into faith. So when he was cornered by a bunch of drunk men (one of which had a quirk-nullifying ability) who wanted do God knows what with him, all he could think of was "Someone, anyone please save me." And an angel arrived at that moment in the form of Eraserhead. 

"Oh." Present Mic sympathized. "How old were you?" 

"I was 16." 

Aizawa took a sharp inhale. 

"Shouldn't you be getting Detective Naomasa for this?" Keigo inquired. The last time they had an interrogation, Naomasa was there. That caught Eraserhead's attention. 

"He's on his way." He said.  "How do you know him?" 

 "Oh, we already had an interrogation back in our world." Touya explained. 

"We revealed our life stories there, in exchange for free range for vigilantism and getting Yuki's dad in jail." Keigo added, Touya looked at him, surprised that he mentioned that last part. 

"Oh?" Aizawa's interest was further peak, it seems these people are more than willing to share information.  

"We already did the whole "Dabi's real name reveal" in our world." Cardinal added, rather amused.

"I didn't use Dabi though. I go by Phoenix." Touya explained, still not actually getting where this is going. 

Touya's plan was to just give the heroes some info like his quirk weaknesses, and most probable locations. Not his name or entire backstory, since that was this world's Touya's problem. 

"What are you planning..?" Touya asked Keigo, making the teachers pay closer attention. It seems the two didn't talk about what information to give. 

"Well, let me make a proposal, guys." Cardinal smirked. 

"Since we've already shared our backstory in our world, I don't want to tell you that here. Out of 'respect' for the other versions of us. You get the information about the guy who did this to us and Phoenix and I will convince Dabi and Hawks to give their backstories when we regroup, and compare info. Sounds good?"  

The two teachers stared at the avian, surprised at the turn of events. The man looked really uncomfortable with the idea of helping them a while ago. Now he wanted to help them? 

"Uh... Cardinal, can we talk outside for a moment?" 

"Sure."

...

"I thought you would have wanted us to give as little info as possible?" Touya asked, not mad but completely confused. 

"Change of plans,  Cinders." Keigo smirked. "We're going to make our doubles confess their crimes and surrender."

"Oh..." Touya said. "Why..?" 

"Because I've come to the conclusion that they need to get help. Like us." 

"That makes sense but I thought you don't want to talk Hawks." 

"I can beat his ass later but I need to know if you're up for convincing yourself."

"I don't mind." He said with a smile.

A lot of things could go wrong and they knew it. Both of their versions are lethally-trained and experienced. They could both be killed.

But then again, so were they and they have always been bold and reckless. 

"Great." Keigo chirped. "How long do you think it think it will take to convince them?"

"Give it a day." Touya announced, confident.  

They were both grinning like weirdos when Detective Naomasa found them. It was as Eraserhead described. Two young men who looked exactly like the villain Dabi and the pro hero Hawks but acted the exact opposite. 

The detective faked a cough for their attention. 

"Greetings. I'm Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa."

"Hi." Touya greeted as Keigo simply raised a hand in greeting. 

Niceties aside, they walked back into the conference room. Present Mic and Eraserhead nodded their heads in greeting and they all situated themselves once more. 

"Detective, change of plans." Aizawa said. "Cardinal over here wants to convince Dabi to surrender and Hawks to give information instead." 

"Oh?" The detective perked up, not expecting this. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"From observing everything, I've noticed things that prove my assumption that our world is not as different from this world as you would think. Only a few things changed." 

"Like?" Naomasa asked, activating his quirk.

"The only things that changed with us is that we're on opposite sides." 

"You're joking." Yamada quipped in disbelief. 

"He's not." The detective countered. 

"Cardinal." Aizawa stated firmly, but Keigo heard a hint of pleading. "Do you know what you are implying?"

"Well aware, Eraserhead." Keigo countered firmly. To hell with incrimination at this point. 

"Well..." Touya chuckled nervously. "If they're friends, it's easier to convince Dabi to surrender, right..?" 

Aizawa sighed heavily, close to confirming his assumptions about Dabi and Hawks's relationship. Phoenix had a point though. It would be easier but...

"Affiliation with villains is illegal." Naomasa stated, already getting more confused and frustrated. 

"I mean..." Touya quipped. "Yeah? That didn't stop them though."

"So... To clarify." Aizawa started again. "By your observation, almost nothing changed. You're still friends here but this time on opposite sides." 

"Yes."

"And... the personalities?" Present Mic tacked on, still trying to process things. 

"The same but sort of hidden." Keigo shrugged. 

Sure, Dabi and Hawks were murderers but if the timeline is to be believed- (the HPSC outfit, the scars on Dabi and Shouto, then the interaction between Dabi and Hawks were give-aways) then all this means that the events all lined up until at one point, it did not. 

"Wait... Since I saved Dabi in the other world, doesn't that count as a big change?" 

"In events, sure." Keigo explained. "But the personalities of the people? No."

"Sounds kind of ridiculous." The detective commented. 

"It is, but at this point I'd believe anything." Present Mic answered.

Aizawa groaned, trying to piece the information together but some things really do not make sense.

"You're telling me... You and Dabi aren't so different."

"Yep."

"He's a murderer, a kidnapper and an arsonist."

"Murderer? I think so... The rest, yeah...Sorry."

"But you're none of those."

"Of course not."

"How can you say that there's little difference?"

"It's not that... It's just... What we're getting at is that at some point in time, Dabi and Hawks were us."

"That's..." Aizawa almost lurched at the implications. "Wait... so if I met you before in the other world..."

"You couldn't save him here." Present Mic concluded.

Aizawa stared down at the coffee table, conflicted. It would be illogical to blame all of Dabi's issues on himself since Aizawa didn't even know him back then. But at the same time...

"Don't blame yourself." Cardinal scoffed, or reassured, it was hard to tell.

"I don't think it's that incident that changed everything so don't worry." Touya actually reassured him with a smile. No offense to whatever happened to Dabi though...  Touya internally winced.

"If that wasn't it then what was?" Aizawa asked, still distraught at the idea of not saving a child in need-regardless of who that child became.

"I think it's earlier than that." Keigo admitted.
"Though I'm not sure. We're gonna have to ask them both."

"Wait..." Present Mic halted. There's been something he's been bugging to ask and he was sure it's been bugging Aizawa as well.

"The two of you are friends. Dabi and Hawks are probably friends?"

"........yes, friends."  Touya answered.

"How did the two of you meet..?"

"We're not gonna tell you that- that's this world's pair to tell."

"But the circumstances are probably different." Present Mic reasoned.

"I doubt it." Keigo countered, confident at his intuition.

"Again, we'll just have to talk to the other two and compare info, yeah?" Touya waved them both off. 

"Fact-checking as well." The detective reminded.

"It's their story you have to fact check." Keigo sassed back.

"True but you lied once. Why lie?" Naomasa smirked.

"What did they lie about?"  Present Mic asked, worried. Everything was going so well...

"You lied about being friends." Naomasa looked at the two, something was up, he could feel it.

Aizawa resisted the urge to face palm while Yamada heated up. Neither of them mentioned what they saw that morning except for "two young men who looked exactly like the other two men". It wasn't really in their place to do so.

"I didn't lie." Touya replied, confused. "Cardinal's my best friend."

"Well, my quirk said he's not."

"What..."

"Co-workers? Your attire suggest rather conspicuous activities."

"First of all, rude." Keigo snapped back, crossing his arms.  "We're vigilantes and being  almost homeless doesn't exactly offer high end clothing."

"Vigilantes." The detective scoffed. "Should have known."

"Wow, the detective in our world's clearly the opposite of you."

"Excuse me..?"

"Haha..." Touya chuckled nervously. "We're kinda friends with the Naomasa in our world."

"But you're vigilantes. I would never." Tsukauchi countered.

"I don't like you already..." Keigo grumbled.

"Hey... None of that." Present Mic chastised, trying to placate the two men.

"I don't like you either." Naomasa snipped. "Need I remind you, you're the criminals here."

"How is it criminal to help people on the streets?" Keigo sneered.

"You don't have a license."

"Too bad we don't care."

"That's illegal and the two of you should be in jail."

"Hey..."

"Yeah? What are you gonna do? Arrest us?"

"I would. You're being disrespectful-"

"Hah! We're not under your jurisdiction, you're literally a universe over."

"The same moral code applies."

""""Moral"""???"

"Cardinal-"

"I don't think you have the right to question the law. Especially here, where you're under our care and assistance."

"Detective, please hear them out-"

"You agreed to help these delinquents?"

"We agreed to help in return."

"Out of necessity rather than moral code, huh?"

"Fuck off, Detective-"

"Enough, the both of you." Aizawa commanded, glaring at the two of them.

"Detective..." Present Mic chastised. "Yukitomo isn't lying about being Cardinal's friend."

"My quirk detected a lie and it's still detecting a lie."

"Which one this time,  huh?" Cardinal snapped.

"Your name, "Yukitomo.""

"..."

"Yeah, you're right." Touya shrugged.

"What?" Present Mic started, shocked.

"That's not my real name." He admitted. "But you're gonna have to hear it from Dabi. Wouldn't be fair."

"Why would we adhere to the whims of criminals?" The detective asked, indignant that the situation was even happening. He was told that the men were opposites of this world's counterpart. Then they said they're not but Hawks would never disrespect him like this!

Aizawa doubled over and rubbed his eyes, wanting to go back to sleep. Everything was going well but of course the two kids were vigilantes, and of course their only detective really dislikes vigilantes. Peachy. Then there's  the two lies they gave. The first one, understandable. Fine. It doesn't take a genius to notice some things. This is Aizawa and Yamada, of course they noticed.

But the second lie... ugh.

"Detective, please, for decency's sake, ignore the first lie."

"But these kids-"

"Please. Just let that one go. It's not worth reading too much into."

"And the name?" Naomasa crossed his arms. "You expect me to trust these two when one of them is lying about their identity."

"They're offering to get Dabi to surrender." Present Mic reminded. "Cut them some slack."

"But-"

"Phoenix and Cardinal have a point." Aizawa brushed off.
"Let the other two give their piece, and they're offering to make sure there will be no incidents whatsoever."

"Fine." The detective grumbled. "What do you want me to do now?"

"Kindly search for a man with an alternate dimension/world portal quirk."

"Sounds ludicrious." The detective commented.

Keigo grumbled something nobody caught.

"Yeah but y'know." Touya shrugged again, giving the man an awkward smile. "Quirks."

Naomasa sighed heavily and face palmed, he needed a drink and they haven't even started yet.

"How long will convincing them take?" He grumbled.

"Give us until tomorrow or something." Touya said with a confident grin that almost sent a chill down Naomasa's spine.

"Alright." The detective stood up and headed for the door. "I'll call when we have something."

"Bye!" Touya waved at him while Keigo merely glared. Naomasa didn't bother waving back and the avian just glared harder, if that was even possible. Naomasa bowed in respect for the two teachers and left.

"..."

"Cardinal..." Present Mic sighed. "You guys said that you and Naomasa are like friends, right?"

"Yeah. Our world's Naomasa." Keigo grumbled.

"The Naomasa in our world's not really judgmental and actually approved of our...jobs." Touya admitted, nervously scratching at his cheek.

For the nth time that day, Aizawa sighed and leaned back into the couch cushions.

"Will we get every detail once Dabi surrenders?" He asked, absolutely tired yet determined to know what happened to the two worlds- timelines?

"I'll make sure of it." Touya reassured him and it worked somehow.

Aizawa took that quiet moment to actually observe the kids- yes, they're still kids no matter what Dabi says. Phoenix, despite being Dabi, did not feel like him, at least not anymore.  The kid was lively, energetic, and absolutely nice. It was honestly unsettling to a degree. Thick bandages covered the lithe body  in places where Dabi's scars would be. It made Aizawa feel sort of guilty once more, if he had met the young man once back then, maybe he wouldn't have turned out that way. Maybe he wouldn't look like that. Where did those burns come from..?

"I don't blame you, y'know." Touya spoke up, so sincere that it made Aizawa internally wince.

"Seriously, Eraserhead. I can hear your thoughts over here." Keigo piped up.

"Brats." Aizawa grumbled then went back to thinking.

The young men didn't blame him which just made him feel even more guilty. Did Dabi hate heroes because he wasn't saved when he needed it? So many questions that he needed the answers to but he had to wait. Damn it.

Bright blue eyes still stared at him with patience and that same damn fondness. Aizawa didn't need more guilt so he looked down at the table. The brat had been reassuring him, saying nice things and for fuck's sake, drew a picture of him and asked for his autograph. He can claim that "the worlds aren't so different" all he wants but it's so hard to see Dabi in the young man in front of him- when he could have.

And that made Aizawa even more guilty.

Deciding that he can deal with that later,
his gaze roamed towards Cardinal. Funny how they kept calling him "Hawks" since this morning. He didn't want to give his name either. How odd. Maybe they'll give it along with Dabi's. The avian brat was snarky, almost rude, and yet very reserved.  Aizawa was right, despite the claim that their personalities did not change here, Hawks's intelligence is the only trait he could see in this version of him.  This one, despite the huge wings, didn't seem to draw attention to himself.  It was probably the clothes or the way he held himself. Cardinal seemed rather aloof, and defiant to authority in general. Eraserhead would probably apologize to Naomasa on his behalf.

This kind of behavior made Eraserhead think. "The personalities are the same, although hidden." Does this mean Hawks isn't supposed to be the confident, polite hero he is? Is that why being around him felt off? Is that why he and Dabi are "acquainted"?  Then what does that say about Dabi? Jesus Christ...

Aizawa groaned, feeling the elephant in the room get bigger.

"What's wrong?" Yamada asked, concerned.

"We've been tip-toeing around this morning's subject."

"Is it the whole..."  Touya gestured vaguely to himself and Keigo.

"Yes." Aizawa confirmed, because as much as he didn't want it to become an issue. It is an issue.

"What's the problem with that?" Cardinal asked, not quite hostile, yet.

"The entire staff saw that." Aizawa muttered.

"Platonic intimacy is a thing." Touya shrugged, giving another lop-sided smirk.

"It's the implications, Phoenix."

"Is this the whole "affiliation with villains" is illegal and shit?" Keigo sassed.

"Yes." Aizawa muttered. "You are implying that the interactions between Dabi and Hawks are not of enemies-"

"Exactly why I think we can convince them to surrender." Keigo countered.

"Them?" Present Mic wondered aloud. "Why 'them'? Hawks isn't a criminal."

Keigo chuckled humorlessly, almost cynical. "I guess not."

Before they could ask what he meant, he added "but he is by affiliation." 

Aizawa rubbed his face and wondered if too much sighing, groaning and face-palming will subtract from his already questionable lifespan.

Anyway.

"It wasn't our place to mention that scene from this morning."  He muttered, waiting for a reaction.

"We pretty much made it obvious though." Touya chuckled, bashful. "Still, platonic intimacy is a thing."

"Brats, this is me and Hizashi you're talking to." 

Aizawa figured there was no harm in sharing that since the duo probably already knew if they were acquainted with their other counterparts.

"Of course you'd notice, you're married." Keigo huffed. "But Hawks and Dabi aren't so..."

"What gave us all away?" Touya asked.

"Nothing definitely says platonic like laying one's head on your lap." Aizawa grinned.

"And wearing matching necklaces."

"And blushing around each other."

"And holding hands- don't think I didn't see you earlier while we were walking!"

"Okay, okay! Geez." Touya waved them both off, telling them to shut up. "Those can be platonic!"

"But are they?" Aizawa challenged, smirking.

"No..." Touya sighed, defeated. Keigo's too busy snickering to back him up.

"We thought so." Present Mic huffed, smiling before getting apologetic. "Sorry, the entire staff noticed that too."

"It's fine. I don't think they'd connect that with the hero and villain anyway." Keigo reasoned, waving the notion off.

"They didn't but I did." Aizawa admitted, finally getting a chance to get it off his chest.

"Ah." Cardinal said, not at all surprised. "How then?"

"I kept watching out for their reactions. They were pretty interesting."

"So you knew and didn't tell us?" Touya asked, head tilting slightly. He was not shocked or all that bothered. He trusts Eraserhead not to judge. He hasn't so far.

"It was just a hunch." The teacher shrugged. "I didn't have proof."

"Wait... Why didn't you tell me?" Yamada asked, somewhat betrayed and confused.

"Needed proof first and these two just gave me some semblance of a confirmation."

"Bold of you to assume that we'll hide that anyway." Keigo smirked, arms crossed, quite smug he might add.

"You seem to be fond of incriminating Hawks." Another one of Aizawa's observations of the avian was he was not so fond of heroes, especially himself. It was strange until they revealed to being vigilantes but it shouldn't warrant the distaste for his hero counterpart.  

"It's not incriminating if it isn't a crime." Keigo shrugged nonchalantly. "You'll see what I mean when we get them here."

"What were their reactions earlier, Aizawa?" Touya spoke up, confused.  "I wasn't really paying attention."

"Neither Dabi nor Hawks looked bothered or even surprised to see themselves cuddling and holding each other." Aizawa mused, "It was safe to assume that something was up."

"I'm not complaining but you guys don't seem all that upset." Touya admitted, he trusted Aizawa but Dabi probably would not.

"Kids-"

"No." Keigo cut in.

"Kids, this day has been so off-putting that we're just letting things play out since you promised that everything will have an explanation sooner or later." Aizawa explained and that was the truth. The entire ordeal was exhausting. Should he even mention Hawks's behavior during the conference? Or Dabi's expression this morning?

Was it worth the premature headache when they can all just discuss this tomorrow?

"Alright." Touya spoke, tone hinting on relief and wonder.

"Alright!" Present Mic mimicked, trying to kick the atmosphere back into full gear.
"What now???"

"Do you want us to go find them now?" Touya asked, glancing at Keigo for help. He just shrugged with a look of "Your call." 

"You can do that tomorrow . If you'd like, then rest." Present Mic suggested, offering them
hospitality in exchange for their consideration.

"You may stay at the infirmary for today." Aizawa added, remembering Cardinal's rather concerning quip about being "almost" homeless.

"Sounds great." Touya piped up, features finally showing a bit of exhaustion and it made Aizawa wonder what even his energy limit was.

"Have you guys eaten anything yet?" The blonde teacher asked, standing up to leave.

"An apple." Keigo shrugged. "We didn't have the money to buy anything while we were in the city."

"You decided to meander around town earlier?" Aizawa asked,  suddenly bothered again.

"Relax, Aizawa." Keigo, waved him off again. "No one paid us any mind. We look nothing like them."

If the avian just meant Phoenix then Aizawa would have believed him since Dabi had a very distinct appearance. No way they would have
suspected Yukitomo with him. But Cardinal? His face was everywhere-

"I had my bandana on and everything." The avian interrupted. "Besides, Hawks has flashy red wings. Unlike him, I'm good at keeping a low profile."

"He kinda has a point..." Yamada muttered, thinking about it.

"Fine." Aizawa grunted.

With that, all four of them went out of the faculty room.

"The canteen's available for a while and if you don't want to attract more attention to yourselves, you should be at the infirmary by lunch time."

"Alright."

"I forgot to ask something!" Present Mic halted and turned towards them.

"Yeah?" Touya tilted his head in response.

"You mentioned visiting UA a lot in your world. That means you already know the kids?"

"Nah. Just you guys, Midnight and two of them kids. We only visit during break when no one's around." Keigo explained.

"Huh... Will we know those two kids?"

"Maybe tomorrow. Goes with the backstory." Keigo shrugged while Touya gave him an apologetic grin.

Aizawa groaned.

Chapter Text

When his patrol ended, Hawks went back to his apartment in five minutes flat.

He found Dabi sitting on the couch, uncharacteristically silent. The guitar was on the floor in front of him and it seemed like Dabi was nervous about something. Hawks didn't want to waste any more time than they already did and just sat on the opposite end of the couch, getting rid off the visor and gloves as he did so.

"Hey." Hawks greeted softly.

"Hey."

"..."

"This has been a really weird day, huh?" Hawks  asked softly and Dabi grunted his affirmation.

"Just when you think you'd seen everything huh..."

"Yeah."

"..."

"You're stalling for time."

"I'm not the one that owes you an apology, ashtray."

"I know..."

"...please just tell me what happened."

"I'm sorry."

"..."

"I was weak. I couldn't protect you from them and I thought that...if I killed myself...you'd be fine-"

"I'm not. Never was ever since."

"I'm sorry."

"....why..?"

"I didn't think I'd live to see you again." 

"You're a villain now."

"I know... and you're a hero. Just like I knew you would be."

".....i'm sorry..."

"...don't be..."

"...."

"Where did we go wrong..?" Hawks moved closer.

"Everything, probably." Dabi reciprocated.

"I missed you." The avian whispered, snuggling up to the other's side, just like they usually did in ignorance.

"You don't hate me..?" Dabi asked, hopeful. He was sure he would be hated forever and he wouldn't even blame him.

"Of course not..." Hawks sighed. "I turned out the exact same way."

"I really am sorry, Kei..."

"I know. I am too."

"You don't have to apologize."

"I'm everything we hated."

"You're a good hero and I couldn't be prouder, Kei."

Gentle hands started stroking blonde locks and he sighed.

"I've killed people." He admitted.

"So have I..."

"..."

"We've become everything we hated, huh..?" Hawks chuckled humorlessly.

"I guess we have."

"Is that why you befriended me again? So we can be miserable together?"

"I'm sorry. I honestly don't know." Dabi chuckled, just as cynical.

"How long were you planning on not telling me?"

"Until I died, I guess." Dabi admitted.

"As if I'd ever let that happen." Hawks pulled back, looking at him firmly.

"I know." Dabi whispered, heart constricting at the thought. Hawks promised to protect him a long time ago. When it was supposed to be the other way around.

"Kei..." He hugged him tighter.

"Yeah..?"

"The other versions of us ran away together."

"Good for them... I still need to talk to them too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. It's interesting to see us so..."

"Happy..?"

"Free." Hawks corrected, smiling sadly.

Dabi hummed in contemplation and pulled back.

"So I was thinking..." He smiled softly.

"Hm?" Hawks hummed, looking up into soft blue eyes that he'd been longing for and thought he had replaced.

"If they managed to run away back then... maybe we can run away now."

Hawks's wings fluffed up along with his shock.
Tears welled-up in his eyes once more and he didn't bother wiping them this time. 

"We can..?" Hawks asked, the hope making his heart full enough to burst.

"Only if you want to." Dabi smiled softly at him, pressing his palms on the other's cheeks and using a thumb to wipe away tears.

"Tou..."

"Kei..."

"Thank you..."

They stayed like that for while, softly crying. Words really weren't enough to described the joy they were both feeling at that moment. Hawks snuggled up further into scarred arms. Planning their escape can wait. So can the rest of the world.

"Kei?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't really plan out what I was gonna say to you."

"Same." Hawks responded and they both chuckled.

"Can I... sing you a song instead?"

Hawks's eyes widened and a long-buried memory reared itself. He smiled softly, eyes shining in amusement and fondness.

"Big bad villain Dabi... sing? Oh no."

"Shut up." Dabi grumbled, words holding no heat unlike his cheeks.

"Hmm, go ahead." Hawks cooed, rubbing a hand over a scarred arm as encouragement.
"I miss that too."

Dabi grabbed the guitar from the wooden floor and looked back at Hawks for a signal to start. He was staring at him with that same look from before, stars in his eyes and tenderness on his lips. He could have sworn Hawks looked at him like that at least once when he didn't even know he was Touya. That thought made his heart pound.

The song was actually something Dabi heard playing at the piercing parlor he went to back then.  It made him think about his relationship with Kei and how he never even confessed his feelings when he was too much of a coward to do so.

He started strumming once Hawks gave him a soft grin of encouragement.

I should've stayed at home
'Cause right now I see all these people that love me
But I still feel alone
Can't help but check my phone
I could've made you mine
But no, it wasn't meant to be and see, I wasn't made for you
And you weren't made for me
Though it seemed so easy

Keigo is and always will be his home. Thinking back on that fateful night, he should have stayed. He should have been there for his best friend. It didn't matter that he saw him as more than that and Kei didn't...

Besides, even if he did, they would have been severely punished and Tou didn't want that for him. Fuck his feelings. Keigo's safety mattered more.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" Hawks interrupted, cheeks flushing and wings fluttering.

"What?" Dabi stopped strumming, worried that he just upset Hawks again.

"What made you think I wasn't yours???"

Hawks started chuckling. As if it was funny. Here he was, singing his heart out and-

Wait.

Dabi's cheeks flushed even harder when he finally processed what Hawks said.

"Tou~, why didn't you say so~" Hawks cooed, cheeks still rosy but he didn't even look embarrassed or ashamed.

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship damnit!" His hold on the guitar tightened.

"That's a bold assumption." Hawks snickered then smiled softly.

"I had every right to think that you deserved someone better." Dabi said firmly.

"Bullshit." Hawks countered firmly despite his eyes brimming with new tears. "I've always wanted you."

"..."

"I've said my piece but since I miss your voice, please continue." Hawks declared, rearranging his position so he could rest his hand on his palm.

Dabi composed himself with a long sigh and continued strumming. They were gonna have to talk about that again later. Not only was that the most anti-climatic confession ever, 
it also made Dabi ridiculously happy so they should do that again but without the sad song that represents all his unrequited feelings and regrets.

Anyway.

And that's because I wanna be your favorite boy
I wanna be the one that makes your day
The one you think about as you lie awake
I can't wait to be your number one
I'll be your biggest fan and you'll be mine
But all I did was break your heart and make you cry

Listening to this song years ago, Dabi thought back to all the times he and Keigo promised to be a hero duo and be each other's number one fan. Touya always believed that Keigo had everything it takes to be the number one hero.
If only the commission didn't.....
Regardless of everything, Dabi still thinks the world of Hawks.  He wanted to give him everything but what did he do.

But as his angel still looks at him with love and not resentment, Dabi vows that he will make it up to him and never make those same mistakes ever again.

But won't you wait?
You know it's too late
I'm on my own shit now
Let me tell you how it feels to be fucking great
I feel great

Well, those were a bunch of lies.

After running away from his problems and feelings, Touya thought that Keigo would eventually forget about him, eventually move on and and so would he. But apparently Hawks didn't and neither did Dabi-  no matter how many times he convinced himself otherwise back then.

And when he met Hawks again, he couldn't- even for his own good, stay away. Despite at the time thinking that maybe Hawks was already with someone else and Dabi was with the League, he didn't leave Hawks alone. All he could think about was even if Hawks didn't love someone else, and it was way too late for them to love each other,  Dabi just wanted to be there.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
You need to be yourself
Love someone for loving you instead of someone really cool
That makes your heart melt
Who knows what you truly felt?
You're still my favorite bird
You better trust me when I tell you
There ain't no one else more beautiful in this damn world
In this damn world

Hawks was still crying tears of joy and it made Dabi's heart swell with pride and love.

During the course of their second friendship, Dabi found out that despite the Hero Commission's """efforts"" of creating Hawks, a  bit of Keigo was still in there somewhere. Keigo was unlike the hero persona. Hawks was loved by everyone. Dabi, despite this, loved Keigo even more.

Whenever Dabi found Hawks staring at himself in the mirror when he visits, the man was questioning his identity. What people saw and loved. What people would ridicule or scorn. Hawks would rather take comfort in a villain and that made his heart twist.

Dabi told him that "he cared about Hawks", even with all his flaws. He loved all the things that made him human and animal, all the attributes that the Hero Commission hid. All the things the fans and other heroes didn't know. And Hawks believed him.

You're gonna wanna be my best friend, baby
You're gonna wanna be my best friend

You're gonna wanna be my best friend, baby
You're gonna wanna be my best friend, best friend
You're gonna wanna be my best friend, baby
You're gonna wanna be my best friend
Best friend
You're gonna wanna be my best friend, baby
You're gonna wanna be my best friend

Dabi almost wanted to chuckle at the irony of this chorus. Then again, he had this song in mind during a time where he thought his feelings were unrequited.  Looking from under his bangs, he could see Hawks hiding his giggling. Probably never heard a goth say "baby" unironically.

I say that I'm happy
I say that I'm happy
But no, no, no, no
No, no, no

Hawks gave him a sad smile, eyes conveying understanding and sympathy. They both thought their situations were going to be okay and that they will be contented without each other but of course...

It was just impossible.

Just as seen with their other versions, they were only happy since they were together, and they were free.

Oh, I still wanna be your favorite boy
I wanna be the one that makes your day
The one you think about as you lie awake
And I can't wait to be your number, your number one
I'll be your biggest fan and you'll be mine
But all I did was break your heart and make you cry

I still wanna be your favorite boy
I wanna be the one

I might just be the one

Touya had always wished on anything that might have granted, to be Keigo's one and only, for Keigo was his. It seems that this one desire transcended to another world (maybe to many more). Heh.

"But you are, Tou~" Hawks responded, taking hold of both his hands and keeping them on the guitar. His voice was watery and his face was flushed but it was the happiest Hawks has ever been.

'I don't deserve it. Never did. Never will.'

"Thank you, Kei..."

The afternoon ended with the both of them just sprawled across the couch, holding onto each other. Both of their signature jackets gone, but with their plan on leaving, maybe they didn't need them anymore.

Dabi continued combing his fingers through blonde tresses and wondered how the other version of their world came to be. Way too much seems to have changed except for one  thing.

His love for Keigo and desire to be with him.

He smiled at the thought. The one thing that will never change and will most likely persist throughout all the other worlds...

He looked down at Hawks's sleeping expression, soft smile still in place, cheeks flushed and stained with tears. He gently kissed the top of his head.

Of course.

Who else would they be with but each other?

...

After their lunch, Touya and Keigo cleaned up after themselves and were about to exit the canteen when a handful of students, male and female alike bumped into them. 

The kids stared at them in shock because of course, who were these adults who looked like your stereotypical drug junkies? 

"Sorry." Touya said courteously before side-stepping out of their way, Keigo mimicking.   

One of the girls snapped out of her shock and promptly brightened, trying to suppress a squeal. 

"Omg Hawks???" She called before Keigo could even walk past them. He winced at the name and the pitch. 

"You dyed your hair? That's so cool!" 

"Are you sure that's him???" A guy asked.

"Pretty sure~"Another girl cooed. 

"Can I get your autograph?" 

"Can I please have a picture?" 

Jesus Christ. 

"Sorry." Keigo bowed curtly before grabbing Touya's hand and sprinting past them, passing a few more kids along the way. They were a few hallways away from the infirmary when they bumped into Izuku, Shouto, Ochaco, Tsuyu and Iida. 

"Oh! H- Hi, Yukitomo-san and C- Cardinal-san!" Izuku greeted, flushing when he stuttered.  

"Greetings, Yukitomo-san. Cardinal-san." Iida greeted politely.

"We're going to the canteen. Kero Would you like to join us?" Tsuyu invited with a soft smile and head tilt. 

"Yeah!" Ochaco beamed along with them and Shouto stared at them expectantly. 

"Haha, sorry, kids. We already ate." Touya chuckled nervously, glancing back at the path where they left a trail of confused teenagers, who may or may not have alerted the teachers. 

"We'll be at the infirmary though." Touya added when the kids deflated, especially Izuku and Shouto. 

"C-Can we visit?" Izuku asked, hopeful.

"Sure thing!" Touya reassured him and let himself be pulled away by Keigo. Keigo gave the kids a quick apologetic smile and wave before dragging the other to the infirmary. 

"Today's been great and all but I want to go to bed now." Touya stretched his arms over his head and almost yawned. He was tired but the excitement of today really got his adrenaline pumping. It was so easy to forget that it was just nighttime in their world hours ago. 

"Finally, you're tired." Keigo commented, exasperation and fondness somehow mixing. 

"Why do you always say that?" Touya asked, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the bed railings. Recovery Girl was no where to be seen so that meant either her lunch time or she was being informed of the situation. 

"Because you run on sunlight and sweets, Cinders." Keigo retorted sweetly, shrugging off his own heavy jacket and placing it on the opposite railing on the bed. 

"Wait, you're not taking the other bed?" The ravenette asked, pointing his thumb at the vacant bed next to the window. 

"No." Keigo answered simply before flopping down on the bed, all of his feathers already detached and hiding underneath the cot. 

"Fair enough." Touya grinned and shrugged, plopping down next to his boyfriend and snuggling comfortably. 

After being active all day, they finally got to settle. They got into a fight, got dumped in another world, then started moving all day when they were supposed to be home that night. Their bodies were practically begging to go numb. 

They both started falling asleep to the sound of each other's steady breathing and comforting warmth. 

...

Shouto was barely listening to what Izuku was rambling about. Thankfully, Izuku could read him and cued the others to just leave him to eat in peace.

Shouto didn't know what to make of their whole morning.

One moment, they were having their standard English class, next thing they knew, strangers barged in like it was nothing. 

They later found out that those strangers were an alternative universe Dabi and Hawks. It was honestly surreal seeing one of the men not as scarred and not at all menacing. 

Shouto never told anyone this but during that night at the training camp, he was sort of suspicious of Dabi's true motives. Nobody died that night, which was good but it was highly unreal when some of the villains involved were serial killers. Then there's the whole calling out to him specifically. He originally chalked it up to being mocked as Endeavor's son but the way Dabi added that "Little" to his name, sort of signified familiarity. 

Then he heard the reports of how the police managed to find where the villains kept Bakugo- because "Dabi was being careless and led them there". Shouto doubted that the man who was supposedly calculating would be careless enough to do that. He wondered briefly if Bakugo would hate him for even thinking of the possibility of Dabi caring. 

But as seen this morning, everything was possible.  

"Yukitomo" as the Dabi copy called himself, was not who he said he was. 

Shouto almost snorted. 

Of course the man wasn't who he said he was, he was a walking contradiction. First, he really was the opposite of Dabi. Second, his answers to the questions reminded him of someone else. 

Shouto wasn't sure if any of his classmates caught him staring at Yukitomo for the entire duration he was present. Everything just kept clicking into place the longer he observed the not-burned man.  The eyes, same as his father's and left side. Blue eyes that kept flickering towards him with fondness, for some reason. 

The name, same as his mother's last name. The love for flora, the guitar, the overwhelmingly bright demeanor.

And then the bandages- everywhere. 

It all reminded him of his late brother, Touya-

"Todoroki-kun?" 

Shouto snapped out of it to find Midoriya and the others staring at him in concern. It took a few more seconds for him to realize that they've all finished their meals, while he has not. 

He immediately apologized and quickly finished the rest of his noodles. 

"You've been rather spaced out since this morning." Tsuyu commented bluntly. Well, that's one person who noticed.

"Sorry." Shouto muttered, arranging his tray to clean up. 

"It has been a rather odd morning." Iida commented thoughtfully and they hummed in agreement. Shouto also thought it was amusing how calm Iida was compared to this morning. Good. He didn't want to end up applying first aid on his friend if he actually had a heart attack.  

"I'd like to visit them after class. Would any of you like to go with me?" Midoriya piped up, picking up after his tray and leaving it on a clean-up station. They all followed suite. 

"Why do you want to visit them anyway? Kero" Tsuyu asked curiously, most likely out of consideration for the visitors. 

 "A-Ah. I want to ask more about Cardinal-san's and Yuu-san's quirks. Plus to see if they're okay."  Midoriya chuckled nervously. Shouto almost smiled fondly. Of course Izuku wanted an interview. 

That almost made Shouto light up, he had an idea. He needed to prove his suspicions. If Yukitomo was Touya, then Touya's Dabi. 

Touya's alive and Shouto will have him back-

But he's getting ahead of himself. 

"I would like to join you." Shouto spoke up, it took a lot of will power to not sound too excited.

"T-That's great, Todoroki-kun!" Izuku praised,  proud that Shouto's inviting himself instead of allowing himself to get dragged along.

"I think I'll sit this one out." Tsuyu commented as they exited the canteen. "Tell me how it goes though. Kero"

"Yeah, I'm with Tsu on this one." Ochaco said.

"I think they're resting. They have been rather...rowdy." Iida piped up, probably reminiscing the ruckus the two men caused this morning. 

Midoriya hummed in agreement. "Exactly why it's best to visit them after the day."

When they were at a hallway outside of the canteen, there was some sort of commotion.
As it turns out, a student did call over a teacher regarding the visitors. The group watched with varying levels of amusement as a bunch of students gave their description of the adults to Power Loader. 

Power Loader, to his credit, was good at keeping his composure. Present Mic had the foresight to at least inform the other staff of their odd pair of visitors. The other students, however were not, so it was taking the man all of his strength to not crack up at some of the  "descriptions" the kids were giving. 

"Discount Hawks and some sketchy back-alley junkie." 

"Hawks probably going through a mid-life crisis, dyeing his hair and running away with some stranger."

"The other guy looks like a drug dealer."  

"Why's Hawks wearing the cheapest clothes possible, isn't he a millionaire???"

"The man in the hoodie looks like somebody's make-shift patient doll with all the bandages."

"They're dressed like they got their clothes from the discount bin." 

Power Loader had yet to meet these young men but he sort of felt sorry for them. All these desciptions were amusing and all but it all just pointed to the twobeing...unfortunate. 

Regardless, he hushed the kids and assured them that they were not in danger and if they saw the two young men again, they should be left alone. The kids protested but the teacher reminded again that they should mind their own business. 

Shouto frowned when he zeroed in on one of the unnecessarily rude descriptions- that just translated to: Yukitomo looked like he went through hell and back with those bandages. 

Maybe that's another reason why he's at the infirmary. 

"Come on, lets go." Iida nudged all of them away from the other students, back to their path to the classroom. 

Their next class was Math with Ectoplasm, and it seems he was informed of what happened that morning. 

"I can't believe they just did that." Their teacher said in disbelief. He didn't even look all that disappointed, if anything, he looked confused. Shouto didn't blame him.

"Best class interruption ever."  Kaminari piped up, holding up his pen like a sword. 

"As interesting as that was, it was inappropriate." Iida chastised. 

"I'm surprised they even visited." Ectoplasm piped up. "They didn't seem to want to this morning."  

"You've met them, sensei?" Momo asked softly. 

"Yes. I was one of the people called over for the case after all." He answered, writing more problems on the chalkboard. 

"They seem really happy to be here though." Mina commented in response to his earlier statement. 

"Well, "Hawks" wasn't earlier." He said. It really was sort of hurtful when the young man freaked out at the sight of him then proceeded to show distaste towards them. Good to know the kid calmed down. Maybe they could meet on better terms. 

"He said his name's Cardinal." Kirishima corrected cheerfully. 

"Oh?" Ectoplasm mused. The avian still didn't give his name, huh?

"How long will they be staying here for, sensei?" Hagakure asked, invisible hands bouncing her eraser on the desk. 

"I'm not sure either. It depends when they can find the perpetrators that did this to them." 

There were murmurs of acknowledgment in the class and that made Shouto think. How long would that take? He needed a lot more time, preferably a week, to prove that Yukitomo is Touya. And Touya is Dabi. 

And even better, more than a week to get his brother back. 

Damnit, Shouto, quit getting ahead of yourself. 

"Sensei?" Shouto spoke up, voice as monotonous as ever but deep inside, he was really giddy. 

"Yes, Todoroki?" Ectoplasm asked, a little surprised that the extremely quiet lad even spoke at all. His classmates were thinking the same thing. 

"In a case where they have to stay for... a week, will they be staying at the dorms?" Shouto vaguely gestured on the "week" part.

"I honestly don't know." Ectoplasm answered but he was intrigued at how all of this will play out and how long. It was also intriguing that Todoroki was the one asking.  

"What are you asking that for?!" Mineta snarked. "You really want those criminals to stay longer than they have to?" 

"Oi, shut the fuck up, Grapeshit-" Bakugo barked back, hating the sound of Mineta's voice, or his existence in general. 

"Language, Bakugo-" Iida chastised for the nth time that day, why is no one listening? 

"C'mon, Mineta! They were really nice!" Hagakure piped up. 

"I'm just curious." Shouto answered simply with a half-hearted shrug. 

"Hey, now." Ectoplasm spoke up, directing his attention on Mineta. "Yukitomo-kun and Cardinal-kun agreed to help us regarding a case against the League. Be more respectful."

As hurt as he was with Cardinal's reaction to him prior, he didn't think he was being malicious. They deserve to be respected, especially now that they're guests. 

"Don't worry." He held his hands up in a placating manner. "I'll ask Aizawa and Nezu for more information regarding this situation."

Shouto hummed in agreement, suppressing a sly smile. Once classes end, he'll confront the pair. 

Maybe confront is a strong word to refer to his maybe-supposedly-dead older brother... 

Nah, confront is the best word to deal with this situation, like a fight.

And he's sure he'll win. 

"Oi, Thermostat, quit smiling. It's fucking creepy."

Chapter Text

When the bell rung after their final class, Shouto stood immediately upon impulse and everyone looked at him like he'd gone insane. 

"Sorry." Shouto muttered as the rest of the class just looked away and started preparing to leave as well. They didn't bring it up, out of respect for Todoroki, even Bakugo didn't voice his thoughts but he did let out an obnoxious laugh. That was nice of him, Shouto supposed. 

(Mineta tried to make fun of him but got promptly backhanded by Kaminari.) 

Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Iida bid him and Midoriya farewell before heading back to the dorms. Finally being left alone with Midoriya, Shouto felt like he could start bouncing on the balls of his feet, unable to contain his excitement.  

"You seem excited, Todoroki-kun." Midoriya commented suddenly as they were walking. He immediately blushed. "N-Not that it's a bad thing! I-It's just rare! N- No, wait! I mean... I wasn't s-staring or anything, I-I'm sorry!"  

"It's okay." Shouto almost chuckled. "It's because I am."

"O-oh?" Izuku piped up, astonished. Todoroki has really come a long way. It was was quite the feat to get Shouto to make friends now he's taking the initiative to do things. He said he was excited too, Midoriya beamed proudly at the thought.

They arrived at the infirmary and knocked first. A really soft "Come in." was their answer. Shouto went first to make sure they didn't intrude on something. He gently opened the door and peeked in to find ""Yukitomo"" sitting on the cot, stroking Cardinal's hair as he slept next to him. The ravenette turned towards him and smiled, not even surprised to see him. Shouto almost narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the reaction. The man kept giving him these fond looks and it wasn't even creepy... 

It was however, incriminating as all hell. 

But then again, the man had been nothing but bright and cheerful for the duration they all interacted with him. Regardless, Shouto sincerely hoped that he was special. 

"Hey, Shouto-kun." 

Shouto snapped out of his daze and bowed politely, ushering Midoriya in who did the same. 

"Y-Yukitomo-san, h-how are you feeling?" Midoriya stammered, getting ready to help with whatever they need. 

"Pretty good." Touya answered softly. "I really should be sleeping more than three hours though." 

"W-Why don't you then?" Midoriya stammered, confused. "I-I mean, you can! We won't bother you. I-I'm sorry. We should go, T-Todoroki-kun!" 

"Woah, hey!" Touya chuckled. "It's fine. I just don't sleep a lot. Sleep is for the weak!"  

In the back of Shouto's mind, he could hear Touya screeching the same thing all the way from Natsuo's room that one night. 

"What brings you guys here anyway?" The older man asked, tilting his head. 

"A-Ah! I wanted to ask you guys a few things.." Midoriya chuckled nervously, pulling out his journal from his bag and sat down on a chair up against a wall, Shouto followed.

Touya watched all of this with amusement and fondness. Some things really did not change, the green-haired lad did the same thing when they first met in their world. Though he really shouldn't be surprised, Shouto didn't change either.

...

Touya only managed to sleep for three hours. Which was normal, considering their occupation and schedule. During his time awake, he just sat there and thought of what to do with Shouto, in case the kid got suspicious of him- he was really smart like that. 

It was understandable that Shouto never recognized Dabi, the dude was practically Touya's sleep-paralysis demon. 

But Phoenix was another story. He might have dyed his hair and got piercings but he knew his eyes and bandages really stood out. 

Someone knocked on their door and Touya was really pleased to find that it was Shouto and Midoriya visiting.

Shouto was looking at him with some sort of curiosity and maybe even recognition and that's when Touya had a brilliant idea.

...

"What would you like to know about us?" Touya asked innocently, very ready to enact his plan. 

"Where's Recovery Girl?" Shouto asked first, wanting to make sure that they had privacy after noticing a shift in ""Yukitomo's"" tone. 

"She'll be in her office." He stated simply. Someting about giving them privacy, but not before giving them an unimpressed look regarding their PDA. 

"Oh." Midoriya said. He looked between Shouto and Yukitomo. Their expressions unreadable. Maybe it's because of the exchange the former and Dabi had at the forest? But he looked excited earlier...

"U-Um..." Midorya coughed, getting back on track. "What's it like being a vigilante?" 

"Oh, it's great!" Touya grinned. "I don't need a license to do squat, but we're sort of homeless!" 

"Uh..." Midoriya wrote all of that down, unsure of how to respond. 

"Why's your fire blue?" 

"Because my body's made for an ice quirk and it burns nitrogen instead of oxygen." 

"Your body's made for an ice quirk?" Shouto, asked, needing him to elaborate. 

"Yep. I inherited my mother's constitution." Touya emphasized, egging on Shouto's memories. 

Shouto narrowed his eyes and his lips twitched up in almost a smirk. He heard that way too many times for it to be just a coincidence. 

"Oh?" He can play along with this battle he's starting. "Do you have a family, "Yukitomo"-kun?" 

Midoriya was pretty sure he heard that tone more than once. Shouto's on to something. 
Oh no.

"T-Todoroki-kun, I'm sure he's not Endeavor's secret love child-" 

"Yeah, I have a family." Touya chuckled, remembering his world's Shouto's almost crackhead theories. 

"Tell me more." Shouto demanded, moving his chair closer to the cot, not breaking eye contact with the older man. 

"I have a mother and three siblings." Touya teased, loving the way Shouto's eye kept twitching, bordering on mania. 

"Names." 

"Rei, Yumi, Nat, and Sho." 

Shouto took a long inhale, reigning himself in. He just needed one more evidence.

"I know you lied about your real name." He gritted out, trying not to burst from giddiness. 

"W-Wait, what?" Midoriya asked, dumbfounded. 

"Yeah." The ravenette smirked, egging Shouto on even more.

"Wait-" Midoriya, pleads, confused. 

"What's your real name?" 

"...."

"Todoroki Touya." 

That's all Shouto needed to hear and he jumped from his seat and pulled Touya in a bone-crushing hug, his eyes watering in relief and absolute joy. 

"...." 

"A-Uh..." Midoriya held on to his journal, not scribbling anything down, afraid that he might have misheard them. Wasn't he the one supposed to be asking questions? What's happening? What did he say his name was?

"S-Should I go..?" Midoriya asked when Shouto didn't budge at all after a minute. 

"Hey, you can let go now." Touya coaxed softly. 

"No." Shouto refused like a petulant child, clutching Touya's shirt tighter. 

"I can't explain anything with you clinging onto me like this." Touya reasoned, tone soft and hushed. "We can keep hugging later, I promise. You look uncomfortable like that."  

Shouto reluctantly pulled away and took the time to examine Touya- his big brother. He was right about everything! Which means Dabi is his brother. But wait-

"Sho, what's wrong?" Touya asked, watching as the kid's expression morphed from absolute relief to sheer guilt and grief. He just found out that his brother's alive and is...  Oh. 

"Touya-nii..." Shouto whispered, distraught. 

Touya was the best brother and Shouto wished he was around longer- he remembered getting rocked to sleep after a terrible day, getting sweet treats when the flaming garbage bin wasn't around and he especially remembered receiving sweet "I love you"s when he was four. 

He had Touya for two years but then he was just gone. His siblings didn't know where Touya went. The flaming dumpster never revealed anything either. 

Next thing they knew Touya was reported to have committed suicide at 17. 

Shouto was never the same since.

But Touya's alive. 

Touya is Dabi and Shouto sobbed harder for what happened to his older brother.

He needs to get him back. 

"Sho?" Touya nudged his brother's head from where he was resting them in his hands. Midoriya ambled closer to Shouto and laid a comforting hand on his back. His mind finally caught up with the situation and he couldn't do anything other than be there for his friend. 

"I'm sorry..." Shouto sobbed to no one in particular. 

"Hey, don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." Touya soothed, smoothing out his bi-colored hair, hoping to alleviate his stress. 

"I had my suspicions but I didn't do anything!" Shouto cried, gripping his head. He should've asked! Tried harder! Should have followed Dabi before High End! Maybe even after! He could have saved-, no, he could have helped Touya. Touya wouldn't have wanted to be "saved". 

"It's okay, you didn't know." Touya said softly. 
He returned to ruffling Shouto's hair and it seemed to lessen some of his worries. 

"Will you help me get Touya-nii back?" Shouto asked, eyes brimming with hope and determination.

"That's the plan!" Touya declared proudly. 

"Ah, uh, w-what's the plan, Touya-kun? Ah! C-Can I call you that?" Midoriya piped up. 

"Of course! Alright, here's the plan..." 

...

Cardinal woke up some time during Touya and Shouto's convoluted interdimensional-family reunion. If he was being completely honest, he woke up when he heard the knocking but decided to stay mentally absent-it was quite the gift to block out any distractions with a quirk as sensitive as his. He finally got his shit together after things calmed down. He knew something was distressing but he didn't hear anything. Touya wouldn't have minded if Keigo didn't get involved. 

Upon reopening his senses to his surroundings, Keigo heard idle chatter.Touya was still sitting next to him. Shouto and Midoriya were sitting on the cot next to theirs.  

"Cardinal-san, are you well-rested?" Midoriya greeted politely. 

It was the best rest he had in a while, if Keigo had to admit. No offense to Touya since he always made sure that Keigo was comfortable but sleeping in dingy "apartments" warehouses, or trees while danger is creeping right around the corner is far from comfortable. A three-hour nap is the best sleep he's had in a while, not that he has any right to voice that. 

"It was alright." He answered simply. 

"Hey." Touya greeted with a soft smile, kind of like seeing the sunrise when one just woke up at 6 am. 

"Hey." Keigo greeted back, sitting up and stretching his arms overhead. 

He turned his head towards the two boys and raised an eyebrow, waiting for a comment or quip about him and Touya sleeping together. Distantly, he could sense Recovery Girl in her office. Knowing her, she'll probably have something to say. 

"It was obvious." The dual-haired boy smirked. 

"Right." The blonde remarked dryly. He turned towards his boyfriend. "You obviously told them, along with your real name."  

Touya just grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Because of course he would. 

"So what have you guys been talking about?" He asked, shifting his position to sit cross-legged, he may or may not have forgotten to take off his shoes before sleeping so he took them off then. 

"Won't Recovery Girl-san be upset about that?" Midoriya asked nervously, dreading the older woman's reaction, especially when he's around. 

"I didn't get dirt on the sheets, it's fine." Keigo dismissed. 

"Still." Midoriya reasoned. 

"We were just talking about vigilantism." Shouto piped up, patting Midoriya on the shoulder. 

"Oh?" Keigo's eyes briefly flickered towards Touya, for all of the mundane questions the man was getting, he suddenly got that?  

He turned back towards the young kids.  "Thoughts?" 

"Well," Midoriya inhaled.

"Iactuallyagreewiththeidealsbehindvigilantism. Ithinkciviliansshouldhavetherighttofendfor themselvesintimesofcrisisbecauseI'veseen firsthandthatheroesaren'talwaysathtescenerightaway,becauseofthis,civiliansgetinjuredorkilledwhentheyeasilyshouldn'thavebeen.Inaworldfullofuniquequirks,someoneisboundtoencounteraveryspecificsituationthattheirquirkcanhandlebutdidn'tbecausetheydidn'thavealicense,whichiscounterproductivetothesafetymeasuresinplace.Furthermore,theoverrelianceonjustproheroeshascausedanothergrowingsocietalissue-thebystandereffect,othercivilians,&even fellowheroesstoppedhelpingpeoplewhentheycould,evenwhenthoseinneedarechildren.Granted,someciviliansmightendupcausingmoreharmthangoodbutinalotofcases,therearecivilianswhohavequirksthatcanapplytocertainsituationsandtheycouldhavehelped,hadthelawallowedit!Andanotherthing,some"heroes"reallyjustdon'thelpthehomelessIliveneartheparkwherehomelessadultsandsometimeskidsgoto,andwheneveravillainsattacks,someoftheheroesonpatroldon'thelp!Idon'tgetit!Aren'theroesmeanttosavepeopleGranted,somecasesofvigilantismalsoleadtocriminalsgettingkilledbutIdidmyresearchandaheroortwohadacaseofmanslaughterbefore!There'sadifferencebetweenextremismandvigilantism!Funnystoryactually,ourfriendIidaactuallyattemptedtogokillStainbutluckilyTodorokikunandIstoppedStainandsavedIidasee?That'sextremismand vigilantismrespectively.Wealmostgotexpelled,haha.Anyway,vigilantisminherentlyisn'twrongwhenhandledcorrectlywithdisciplineandmoralintegrity.Longstoryshort,Ilovethatyouguysarevigilantes."

Keigo blinked owlishly at the green-haired lad. He could have sworn the kid didn't even blink. Touya seemed to have understood the kid because he was nodding in agreement, either that or he was just going along with it without understanding anything at all. It was hard to tell with Touya sometimes. 

"Right." Keigo answered finally, he wanted to go back to sleep. 

"Touya-nii didn't want to give any details except that you guys are poor and we got in contact again." Shouto piped up bluntly. 

The avian gave the other a dry look. Touya just shrugged. Keigo sighed in exasperation at his boyfriend's unexplainable weirdness. 

"I told them that it's best if the Touya here explains things himself."  He reasoned and yeah, Keigo couldn't argue with that but boy, did hearing Shouto's summary make things weird. 

"He also said you guys don't want money." Shouto said monotonously, but the older men knew he sounded a tad bit bitter.

"We have jobs, Shouto." Keigo replied. "Besides, lemme guess? You were offering Enji's credit card again."  

"That's a bold assumption." Shouto denied. 

"He was." Midoriya snitched and Shouto looked at him, almost betrayed. 

"I could have just been offering actual currency." Shouto retorted. 

"You did that too," Touya teased. "but only after I told you about credit card fraud." 

"That shouldn't be a crime when it's him though." Shouto grumbled under his breath and that made them chuckle. 

"It's fine, kid. We've got things covered." Keigo assured. 

"Then maybe you shouldn't outright say you're homeless." Shouto retorted. 

"Technically..." Touya was about to reason.

"Then let me give you money." Shouto whined, making a move to grab his wallet. 

"We're good." Touya denied again. 

Shouto glared at Touya, almost pouting. It was amusing to say the least.

The Shouto in their world got back into the habit of acting childish and being more expressive, so seeing this world's version of the kid almost there is really nice. Both Touya and Keigo are rather proud. 

"How fast can you get them here tomorrow?" Shouto asked, excitement really showing this time. 

"Give it a day at best." Keigo replied, liking the way hope just kept radiating off of the usually blank child. 

In his peripherals, he could see Touya grinning proudly at Shouto's expressiveness. He can already picture the amount of chaos these two can do, given the flashbacks of Touya and Shouto "bonding" in the other world. Yikes. 

"Now that you've rested, do you think Aizawa-sensei's gonna allow you at the dorms?" Shouto asked. 

"I think not, since we probably wouldn't be here for long." Keigo answered. 

"We can annoy him into letting us." Touya piped up. 

That made Keigo stop and think about it. 

"...."

"No." 

 "Eh???" Shouto, Touya, and Izuku exclaimed. 

"Aizawa and Yamada don't know that you guys are siblings." 

"Can't we tell them?" Shouto asked. 

"Tomorrow." Keigo chastised, throwing a glare at Touya for not thinking any of this through. 

"Fine." Shouto huffed, standing up. "But you have to eat breakfast with us before you go." 

"Of course!" Touya agreed immediately. 

"Sure thing." Keigo replied with an even tone. 

Shouto smiled and gave Touya a quick but firm embrace before heading to the door. Izuku bowed in respect before following. They bid their farewells and were about to head out. 

Shouto turned to them once more.

"Please tell "Dabi"-nii that I'm going to beat his ass tomorrow for everything." 

With that, the two kids left, chuckling as they did so. 

....

Shouto and Izuku had a leisurely walk back to the dorms, chatting about a few things like Touya and tomorrow- which they simply plan to have as much time as possible with his brother in the morning.  

"Touya-nii used to sneak into my room with  snacks after training." Shouto confided suddenly and Izuku stayed quiet, letting him speak as much as he wants to. 

"Touya-nii stole a lot of money once to buy a guitar and he would sing me to sleep with it sometimes." 

"He used to cook for me and my siblings and when he could, he taught Fuyumi-nee how." 

"Touya-nii was extremely sappy and affactionate, I miss it."

"He was also the one that always made soba for me- that's why it's my favorite." 

"There was this one time when Touya-nii tried convincing Natsu-nii to stay up all night with him but he ended up hyping them up so much that the old man heard them and beat him up for it. It wasn't funny but when Touya-nii told me, he made it funny." 

"We just heard Touya-nii... com-... passed away when I was eight." Shouto clamped up before he could reveal the worst part. 

"Touya-nii was my favorite." Shouto finished the list at last, thankful for Izuku's presence.

Izuku smiled solemnly at the stories- alternating between sad and wonderful. It was as if Izuku actually met this brother before, with the amount of information on him- more information than the other two siblings he had met, sadly.

He could picture it now, a vivid image of  Touya-kun holding Shouto-kun as a child. This thought made Izuku really happy, sad and then angry. 

"Midoriya?" Shouto paused in his musings to look at the expression that suddenly morphed on his friend's face. 

"Todoroki-kun?" The other turned towards him, suddenly smiling serenely.

"Yes?" Shouto asked, confused, and honestly a little wary.

"Since you plan on doing something with Dabi-kun tomorrow, don't you think we should do the same to Endeavor-san?" Izuku mocked, as if he actually respects that flaming totem pole of a man.

Shouto stared at Izuku's ominously serene expression and slowly smiled, finally catching on. 

Another change of plans, Touya-nii. 

...

By the time the pair arrived at the doors, they've already discussed what they planned on doing to Endeavor- and his belongings of course.

They were both wearing rather pleasant expressions but to those who knew them, those looks seemed far from pleasant- bordering on ominous. 

"How did it go? Kero"  Tsuyu greeted politely from where she was sitting on the floor, doing her homework on the coffee table. It was just her, Iida, Aoyama and Tokoyami present, the rest of which did not dare to question the menacing aura around the pair- except Tsu apparently. 

"I learned a lot today." Izuku answered calmly, the smile almost didn't reach his eyes. 

"As did I." Shouto replied, face as blank as ever, but if they looked hard enough, a ghost of a smile was on his face. 

Bakugo was right, Todoroki smiling was sort of creepy without context.

"Uh... I think you should rest and get ready for dinner." Iida spoke up cautiously. 

"Of course!" Midoriya exclaimed cheerfully, bright aura back in full swing, as if the past minute of strange exchange didn't just happen. 

"Bye, Todoroki-kun!" Midoriya waved as Shouto went to the elevator to go to his room. 

They heard the lock click as Midoriya entered his room, as the elevator bell rang as Todoroki went up. The students looked at one another and shrugged, opting to ignore whatever's going to happen.

Chapter Text

It was around 8 pm when Hawks and Dabi both decided to get their asses moving and start making a plan to leave.

Their jackets still laid somewhere untouched, not like they need them where they're going. Dabi smiled looking over to where Hawks was sitting in the bedroom, packing a few clothes. He still can't believe they're gonna do this.

If only he had done this way back when...

...

Keigo and Touya were sat underneath a tree, just outside of the Commission facility. They
snuck out when it was dark out, but they didn't have much time. They were both rather beaten and exhausted, this was the only breather they had in a while. Not that the adults cared...

"Why can't we just leave, Touya?" Keigo whispered into Touya's ear as he had tucked himself as much as possible against him, injured knee to a burned knee.

"They can easily track us down, Kei- we're dead." Touya whispered back, looking at his severely burned forearms as proof.

Keigo gave him a pleading look, wanting to argue but Touya was sort of right. He sighed and laid his head on the taller kid's shoulder.

"When we get through this, we'll still be room mates, okay?" The blonde asked, soaking in the warmth the other provided.

"...Of course." Touya whispered hesitantly. He couldn't bring himself to correct Keigo, that it was not "when" but an "if".

After a few seconds of dreadful silence, Keigo spoke up hesitantly.

"Do you want your family to come live with us?"

Despite not giving his last name, Touya mentioned his family a lot in passing. He still wanted them out of that damn house, of course Keigo would ask.

"Yeah." Touya answered, hoping that the tiny bit of disappointment won't show. He wanted them out of the house of course, but not with him, he wanted to live with Keigo-alone. Wow, isn't that selfish?

Keigo smiled lightly at Touya. He did not return it. The idea of them living together, the idea of his family getting out of there, the idea of everything turning out okay -

It all felt impossible.

Touya couldn't bring himself to tell Keigo that he had given up.

...

Dabi smiled sadly at the memory. He was such a coward, a weakling. Couldn't even kill himself right either.

He looked down on the phone in his hand, he was texting the League that he wouldn't be around anymore.
Shigaraki texted "Good fucking riddance."
Twice responded with "Wait! Where are you?!You have so much to live for!"
Toga responded with "Please invite us to your weddiiiiing~♡" 

Dabi shook his head in exasperation and walked over to Hawks and sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry about back then, Kei." He said, laying his head on the space between Hawks's wings.

"I know, Tou." Hawks cooed warmly, looking over his shoulder. "All that matters to me is that you're alive and we can leave together."

Dabi smiled softly, the giddiness straining the staples on his cheeks. He closed his eyes in contemplation.

"I'm thinking about it. When we fuck off to another island, what about your hero career?" Hawks hummed in contemplation.

"That's just it. A job. We can be vigilantes together too if you want." He answered.

"That sounds great. A universal rip-off."
Hawks snickered at that. 

"I'm thinking that when we sort things out... what about my family?"

"Do you want to see them again?" Hawks stopped folding some clothes and turned towards Dabi, shoulder to shoulder.

"I kinda do..." Dabi admitted. "Don't think they would want to see me tho."

After everything he's done? Hell no. That would take a lot of plot convenience.

Especially on Shouto's part. He may have had a good relationship with the kid when he was a toddler, but that's irrelevant to everything now. He would say that he had rather okay intentions but he still technically harassed his class and kidnapped his classmate. He then proceeded to call out to the kid like a creep during that night. Then he attacked Endeavor's discount-mobile-game-prop-looking ass.

Shouto's never going to forgive him.

"Maybe lets give it time, Tou." Keigo comforted, laying his head on his shoulder.

"Once everything cools down, we can send them a letter or something." He added.

"That'd be great." Dabi concluded, not quite convinced that it will work but he had no right to say so.

They stayed like that for a while, no sounds except for the rustling of clothes as some of Hawks's feathers grab and fold them.

Hawks started humming the tune of Dabi's  earlier song, extending his right wing to wrap around his lover.  Hawks closed his eyes to think as well. Their thoughts synching by default.

...

Keigo couldn't sleep no matter how much he tossed and turned.

They had to cut their earlier conversation short to sneak back into the facility. The handlers never caught them wandering out that night but that didn't take away the dread of it.  It was probably stupid. Why break the rules and risk getting caught? Why be scared about it?  Well, Keigo was never one to care about the rules anyway. Touya taught him that.

"Hey, Tou. You awake?"  He turned over to his left and called out.

" ... yeah."  was the quiet reply.

There was something about Touya's tone that rubbed him off the wrong way. Maybe he's just tired...

"Tou..."  Keigo called out once more.

"Yeah..?" A little louder this time.

"I can't sleep." 

A snort was his response.

"Do you want me to sing you to sleep?"

"I'm not sure."

"You can sleep next to me if you want..?" Touya offered hesitantly.

Keigo immediately sat up and jumped onto Touya's bed with no hesitation. Touya didn't have enough time to adjust before the bed dipped and he let out an "oof" of surprise at the extra weight on his arm.

"A little warning next time, Kei." Touya chastised, readjusting his postition to cradle Keigo's head.

"Sorry." Keigo muttered softly and snuggled into him as an apology.

"'S fine." Touya dismissed. Not even upset that his arm nearly got crushed. He was secretly overjoyed with cuddling with Keigo.

"We didn't finish our topic earlier." Keigo reminded, tracing circles on Touya's chest.

"What is it?" He asked, not wanting to hurt the blonde's feelings by dismissing him. He didn't like the topic but it's a small sacrifice.

"Where do you want to live one day?" 

Touya turned his eyes away from the ceiling to give Keigo a confused look.

"I thought we'll be room mates in an apartment, Kei." Touya reminded, trying not to sound a tad bit bitter.

"Well, yeah but that's when we're heroes." Keigo explained quietly. "What if we weren't? Where do you wanna go?"

Touya stared at him, stunned. He didn't know Keigo ever thought about it, cuz Touya sure did. A lot . Was that unhealthy? Touya cringed at his own thoughts and focused his attention on Keigo again.

"Uh... I don't know." Touya lied. He didn't think Keigo wanted to live anywhere else but in Kyushu, in an apartment, when they become a hero duo. But if Touya could have it his way, they'd live as far away from here as possible. In another country. Hell, another region would do. Away from Musutafu and Kyushu. Away from all the terrible memories. It will just be them, the nature, a self-made cabin, and maybe a child .

Oh, what a dream come true that would be.

Touya snapped out of his extremely delusional train of thought and looked at Keigo's expression. He looked sad. That made Touya's heart ache-

Keigo mulled over Touya's answer. He didn't expect that. He was expecting his usually fiery  friend to say something like "As far away from here, that's for damn sure."  or "Anywhere as long as it's not here."

Maybe Touya really was just exhausted. He should let him sleep.

"Tou... I wish we could live in the province." He finally admitted.

"Hm?" Touya hummed, surprised.

"Birds are meant to be free." He whispered.

"Out in the open, up in the sky, touching the clouds~" He kept babbling, on the verge of tears.

Touya stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.
How is he supposed to tell his friend that they couldn't just leave before and after all of this? There's already a lot he's not telling Keigo. Does it matter..?

"Touya."  Keigo called, suddenly firm.

"Yeah...?"  Touya whispered cautiously.

"I wish we could live in Toshima Island."

"Why?" Touya asked, confused then it dawned on him.  "Wait... Oh."

"Yeah." Keigo smiled at the look of realization on Touya's face.

It wasn't even that good-a memory of Toshima. Keigo mentioned it once in regards of his father, having lived there as a child. His mother said that the people were kind and peaceful. What happened to father then?

Well, whatever. Keigo didn't care enough to find out. All he knew is that he wanted to live there, especially now that he has everything- Touya .

"Maybe it will happen one day." Touya reassured half-heartedly. His lungs burned with distress and his heart constricted.  How do you explain that feeling to someone who doesn't deserve it?

"I hope so."  Keigo whispered against his neck, suddenly getting tired himself.

"Touya..."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being my friend..."

"Of course." Touya gritted out, tears already threatening to spill out. Why?

"Can you sing me a song?" Keigo asked, burying his face in the junction of the other boy's neck and shoulder, Touya's heartbeat and heat threatening to lull him to sleep.

"What would you like?"  He asked, calming himself down somewhat. What is he even sad about? Irrational. Stupid. Quit it-

"All of The Stars..."  It was song he heard of once during one of the nights they snuck out. He used of o his feathers to navigate the forest past the facility grounds. He encountered a lone stranger playing it.

It reminded him of a special someone.

"Alright."  Touya agreed after telling his irrational brain and heart to suck it up.

...

Hawks pulled away and held Dabi's hand.

"You already know where we're going, Ashtray."  He said certainly.

Dabi took a second to realize what he meant.

"Toshima." Dabi whispered, smile widening on his face.

The two of them were grinning like idiots, too joyed at the thought of leaving and finally being free.

...

Touya and Keigo asked for permission from Recovery Girl into letting them go to the school rooftop and she agreed. (Read: They pestered her non-stop until she kicked them out.)

With the wind blowing slightly, they were thankful for the thick outfits they were wearing and Touya's quirk. The dark blue expanse that was the sky was littered with white specks that were the stars. The shadows of the buildings from afar were illuminated at the edges by colorful lights. The view from the top of UA was beautiful to say the least.

"I'm glad we have free range of the place." Touya commented, stretching his entire body and breathing in the fresh air.

"As we should." Keigo answered and the last part muttered to himself. "We're not prisoners."

Touya didn't pry when the other muttered something under his breath. Instead, he went over the edge and plopped down, feet  dangling off carelessly. Keigo sat down next to him with a sigh.

"It's nice up here." Touya commented, throwing a shy smile in Keigo's direction.

"Yeah." Keigo answered passively, attempting to reciprocate the smile, falling short.

"What's wrong?" The ravenette asked, moving even closer, if that was even possible.

"A lot on my mind actually." The avian admitted.

"We can talk about it if you'd like." Touya offered, patting the top of Keigo's fluffy head.

"Maybe." Keigo shut down. He honestly didn't know what to say. He hasn't organized his thoughts yet.

"Alright." Touya agreed, letting Keigo speak in his own time.

The taller man readjusted his position, folding his right leg to himself and the left to fold in the criss(cross) position. Keigo saw this and smiled. His boyfriend has always been so considerate and thoughtful. He changed his position to lay down his head on Touya's lap.

Touya hummed a soft melody into the night, knowing that soft sounds are what calmed Keigo down, not Touya's aimless chattering. He started stroking the blonde hair, untangling and entangling it in its nest-like state.

Keigo closed his eyes to the rhythm of the song the other was humming. He could be lulled to sleep if he wanted, but they're not here to sleep some more, they're here to think by themselves.

Despite the still of the moment, Keigo's mind was buzzing with images of Hawks and Dabi. Their very existence confused him-no offense.

First, Hawks. Keigo disliked following the authority and absolutely despised the Commission, especially when Touya came along. Never did he think to see himself resign to a fate worse than death. Birds were meant to be out there, flying high in the sky, no one to stop them!

The faint scent of blood bothered Keigo, but it wasn't unexpected from Hawks. What happened to him?

Then Dabi. He didn't get to see him up close or even interact with him. From that few seconds of seeing him leave though, he could tell Dabi was resigned as well.

Scars all over, tattered attire, he looked, honestly, close to being dead. He's not sorry.  
What happened to him?

How did this world came to be?

If Hawks's curious of how he and Touya exist, then it's vice versa.

"Hey, Feathers."

He opened his eyes to look up at Touya and at the stars. Their light illuminated Touya's head like a halo.

"Yeah?" Keigo answered, distracted.

"If our two worlds exist, then there's more, right..?" Touya asked hesitantly, some fear laced in there.

Keigo turned his attention to the dark horizon and pondered about the question. Somewhere out there could possibly exist more versions of their reality. Is it even reality if it's not absolute? Are there originals? Fakes? Why would the universe need "alternative" worlds/timelines? Is that just how it is? Or did something happen to the original world? What kind of messed up deity did this? It sounds like the plot of a show Shouto and Midoriya
would want to watch.

Ah, what the fuck. Keigo's getting a headache.

"Cinders, I have no answer to anything." Keigo finally admitted after a few minutes of awkward silence.

Touya chuckled and patted Keigo's head.
"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Keigo dismissed with a huff, looking up at the raven.

"You mentioned something earlier though." Touya carried on. "Something about one thing changing everything in this world. What was it?"

"Oh, that?" Keigo said in surprise. "I was just making deductions."  Someone else might say, he was just pulling stuff out of his ass.

"Well, you never explained to me why or how though." Touya was really just going along with what Keigo was saying, they made more sense than anything at that moment, really.

"Ah-" Keigo said nervously. -ahahaha.

"Well...

Uh...

Maybe..."

Touya waited patiently. He always knew that between the two of them, Keigo was leagues smarter than him. His intelligence was something else. Him leading the interrogation with Aizawa and Yamada was a testament to that.

Keigo though ,hadn't thought too much about what could have possibly changed between the  two worlds. Events. Check. Current personalities. Check.  Past events. Somewhat Check. Past personalities....  Why haven't they thought of that?

"At some point, they were us." Keigo muttered, referencing Touya's statement from before.

The real question was when?

Touya started humming again, lower and quieter than before. His hand occupied with blonde locks. His mind, occupied with a memory.

Keigo could tell that the other was trying to figure things out, then so will he. He shut his eyes to reminisce.

...

-

"T- They're gonna clip my talons, m-my wings, and - and they're gonna take away my bird noises!" Keigo sobbed against Touya's chest.
He felt a peck on the top of his head. It was always comforting.

'I won't let them.' Touya decided internally, right hand stroking Keigo's hair, left hand gripping his shoulder from stress.

"I... I wish we could run away, Touya...."  Keigo's sobs dissolved into sniffling.

'I'm weak. I can't protect you. We won't make it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry-'

"What if we did?"  Touya asked, voice above a whisper but it boomed regardless, with the amount of conviction and defiance it held.

"I'm being serious, Touya." Keigo replied, looking up at him.

"So am I!" Touya declared, holding Keigo by the shoulders. If he really wanted what's best for Keigo, he shouldn't just let this happen. He won't stand for it! 

"One day, we'll get out of here." Touya said lowly. Keigo's eyes widened.

"Promise?" The blonde child asked quietly, wiping away his tears.

"Promise." Touya assured him, wiping away his tears with his thumbs.

The promise was sealed with a kiss on top of Keigo's head.

...

Chapter Text

The couple stayed there until the sun rose, unbothered by the night 'til dawn chill.
They could use some alone time before going back down to interact with everyone. They chatted about nothing until they both felt tired enough to sleep again.

Keigo and Touya laid together on the concrete floor, quite used to sleeping in the worst environments after years of living on the streets.

Touya sat up with a yawn, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He nudged Keigo, urging the blonde to open up his senses. Keigo growled lightly, making Touya chuckle.

"C'mon, Pretty Bird, it's morning." He cooed, brushing the bird's bangs out of the way.

Keigo just snuggled closer to the raven as his heat source, ignoring Touya's affectionate chuckling. Touya shook his head in exasperation and just stayed there as Keigo slept on. 

... 

Shouto has set his alarm for 5am, earlier than it normally should be, wanting to spend as much time with Touya as possible. He did his usual routine faster and went downstairs to metaphorically kick Midoriya's door in.

He was just about to knock when Izuku himself opened the door in a huff. They both stared at each other in shock before Midoriya snapped out of it and greeted him.

"Good morning, Todoroki-kun!"

"Good morning, Midoriya." Shouto greeted slowly.  "I wasn't expecting you to be awake this early."    He really wasn't. He was expecting to wake Midoriya himself-is that weird?

"Hah!" Midoriya blurted out before withdrawing,stammering and rubbing his neck sheepishly.  "I didn't want to inconvenience you so I got ready beforehand!"

"It wouldn't have been an inconvenience." Shouto immediately retorted, stepping out of the way so he and Midoriya could head out.

...

They knocked on the infirmary door before stepping inside,  only to find the cots empty.

"Where could they be?" Midoriya muttered but before Shouto could give his input, Recovery Girl popped out of no where to tell them that: 
"The brats never came down from the roof. You might want to check there."

Midoriya held in his scream of surprise and Shouto remained unfazed. With that suggestion in mind, they went out and headed upstairs.

They knocked like usual and opened the double doors to the roof. The sunrise silhouetted Touya's sitting form upon sight. Shouto smiled at the softness of the image before him. The breeze softly ruffled Touya's hair and at that moment Shouto could only think about how happy he was that his brother's alive.

"Hm?" Touya turned away from the sunrise, feeling like he was being stared at. He turned to look behind him and there Shouto and Izuku stood, the latter waving at him cheerfully.

"Oh, hey, Sho." Touya greeted, giving his brother a bright smile that rivaled the sun.

"Touya-nii." The boy greeted softly and gave an amused look at the sight of Keigo.

"He doesn't want to wake up yet." His older brother commented, looking down at the avian tenderly.

The roof was peaceful, with no one to bother them and that gave Shouto an idea. He nudged Midoriya out of his musings and whispered.

"I would like to get take-out and eat it here." He plans on ordering cold soba for both him and Touya.

"What a great idea, Todoroki-kun." Izuku whispered right back.

"We'll be right back, nissan!" Shouto called over to the older pair as he and Midoriya went back downstairs.

...

As he and Midoriya were getting their order, he  wondered how his reunion with the real Touya would go.  Not that this Touya wasn't real. But he wasn't his. Speaking of, he wondered about his other-world version. How much changed?
When did they reunite? What about his other siblings? What about mother? What about the old man?

He was broken out of his musings when the cashier asked for his payment. He bid his thanks and followed Midoriya out of the cafeteria.

"If you don't mind me asking," Midoriya spoke up, soft features as comforting as ever. "What were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking about the other world." He put simply.

"It's so fascinating." Midoriya commented, bright green eyes filled with wonder. Shouto hummed in agreement.

"I mean- think about it!" Izuku exclaimed, his whole frame practically bounced, almost dropping the carton of food he was holding. 

"There's endless possibilities for things to happen! Multiple versions of everyone we know and love. Multiple versions of events that happened. Everything bending to someone's will. Perhaps the tiniest of details changing each world. The cycle going on and on. Is there even a finite number of worlds? Is there an "original" world? Are there worlds where quirks don't exist? GASP Anyway, "

Midoriya rambled on and on, probably forgetting that he asked about Shouto's thoughts on the matter. Regardless of Midoriya asking every known question to man regarding the universe- in the span of a few minutes, Shouto didn't mind at all, fond smile making its way on him lips.

During their walk, Midoriya went off on a tangent how he vaguely remembers a show that had interdimesional/interuniversal (?) travel and the possibility of that show existing as a reality T.V show, Shouto let him finish, adding his own ideas into the mix. Maybe they should try asking the adults. Midoriya dismissed the idea, saying that maybe they could investigate by themselves one day. Even better. Possible future plans aside, Midoriya snapped his fingers, wanting to plan out the other soon-future plan.

"Have you thought about what you want to do about him, Todoroki-kun?" He asked, already having an idea since he thought about it last night. Luckily, Shouto did too. Of course.

"I have a few ideas." Shouto answered calmly, corners of his lips twitching to smirk. This idea being his most wicked out of the three he had.

"We can take all the Endeavor merch in Musutafu and set them all on fire somewhere. Not that there's enough stores selling them though."   

Midoriya made a strangled chuckle at that last part.

He then put a finger to his chin as if in thought, giving Shouto another innocent-sly smile.

"That's a really good idea, Todoroki-kun!" He praised, and it really was- downright brutal compared to his idea.

"I thought about plastering All Might merch all over his agency(and house maybe)." He admitted, suddenly being sheepish.

"That'd be pretty funny actually." Shouto praised, glad with the way Izuku perked up at that. He added, "And I don't mind if you vandalize our house as well."

They smiled at each other then there was a pause,  the two boys suddenly communicating telepathically, sort of. 

"Why not both!/Why not both?"

...

They reached the rooftop and sat down across  the older pair. Touya smiled at them before taking notice of the cartons in their hands.

"We could have eaten at the cafeteria." He commented, yet grateful of Shouto's thoughtfulness.

"It's nice up here." Shouto reasoned and handed him his take-out bowl of cold soba.

"Thanks, Sho." He beamed at him.

Shouto's lips perked up in response, eyes twinkling with even more hope than it did in the last few years.

The raven turned towards the blonde and poked him once, twice and Keigo squinted his eyes open with a groan, slapping the offending hand away, as rude at it may be- then again, it was just as rude to keep poking someone in their sleep.

"Morning, birdie~" Touya teased, poking him on the cheek again then on the shoulder and ribs. Keigo swatted the hand away with a wing but couldn't contain the small smile at the other's antics.

The fake brunette sat up with a stretch and a few pop! of his joints could be heard.  "You're getting old." Shouto commented bluntly, earning a scandalized look in return.

Touya and Midoriya chuckled at the exchange and resumed eating. Keigo sighed and picked up his utensils and started eating the chicken
strips they ordered for him.

Some time during their meal, Touya couldn't help but notice that his brother kept giving Midoriya this knowing, mischievous look. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Shouto had a crush on Midoriya. His curiosity only piqued more when Midoriya smirked back.

"Hey,"  He said catching everyone's attention. He gestured with his chopsticks towards the teens.    "What are you two smiling about? Don't think I didn't notice."

The two brats went "Pfft-" before straightening up.

"It's nothing, nissan. Just an inside joke between Midoriya and I." The kid said, props to him seeming as calm as usual, not that it worked on his brother though.

Touya and Keigo immediately called bullshit.

"Sure, kids." Keigo quipped back. "Just don't break the law."

"You're vigilantes." Shouto retorted.

"Yeah." Touya dismissed, still waving around the chopsticks. "Anyway, as your brother, my instincts tell me that something's up."

"Nothing's up."  Shouto almost whined. The usually calm and stoic boy, having finally tapped that childhood energy ever since Touya  came back.

"Right," Touya egged on, rolling his eyes playfully. "and I'm known for being an upstanding citizen of Musutafu."

Shouto kept his lips shut, staring at Touya, relenting on sharing his grand plan with him. From what he gathered, Touya would either order him to stay away from Endeavor and trouble in general or... join him and get side-tracked from his mission to get back Dabi.

Shouto slouched and continued eating, ignoring Touya's analyzing gaze.
Touya pursed his lips and went back to eating as well. If his baby brother wasn't gonna tell him what's up then fine.  As long as it wouldn't get him into serious trouble. 

He raised a brow at the other teen but Midoriya just avoided his gaze, preferring to carry on with his meal as well. Keigo sighed lightly in exasperation, already sensing something coming up but what else could he do about it?

...

When it was time for Touya and Keigo to leave, Shouto stubbornly held onto his brother for a minute or two, in a hug that was bordering on bone-crushing.  To which Touya answered with as much vigor and affection.

"Take care!" Midoriya called to the older pair as Keigo set to fly them out of there. Shouto smiled at his brother and waved him a short goodbye.

The avian threw the kids a two-fingered salute, as Touya gave a small wave, occupied with actually holding onto the other's shoulders.

With one last nod towards Touya, and grabbing his midsection, Keigo spanned out his wings and lift off.

...

When the pair reached Hawks's apartment and landed on the balcony, they were greeted with the domestic sight of Dabi and Hawks having breakfast in the living room as the news drones in the background, stacks of papers on the floor, littering the area.

"Well." Keigo muttered, setting Touya down gently.

"Yeah." Touya whispered back, smiling cheekily at his partner, blush tinting his cheeks.

Before Keigo could knock on the glass door, Touya held his knuckles, not looking at Keigo, but at their other world versions.

Hawks was in an old sweater and not the thick hero costume, hair more askew than usual, as if he just woke up.  He was distracted, reading something on a paper to Dabi. He leaned closer to the raven and said something and Dabi laughed. The villain(?) was just as relaxed, that weird jacket of his in a heap behind the couch. Wearing cheap jeans and a shirt.

It was a peaceful, lovely morning and maybe Touya just didn't want to ruin it.

After a minute of silence,  Keigo wondered what even is happening. Everything was so awkward, yet peaceful. He wanted to nudge Touya and open the  doors but at the same time, he wanted to leave the two alone for this moment.

His inner turmoil was answered when a few of Hawks's feathers suddenly zipped to the balcony doors and yanked them open, forcing Touya and himself inside, with the former almost crashing down on all fours because he was leaning on the glass, and the latter managing to catch himself into a crouching position.

The vigilantes stared with wide eyes. The other duo stared back.

"Hey." Hawks greeted, sending the same feathers to shut the balcony doors behind them.