Chapter Text
Something was digging into Touya’s back. He groped behind him with the aimless movements of someone half asleep. It seemed to be a misshapen pillow that wasn’t doing it’s primary job very well, aka, being comfortable.
Touya threw the offending object away from him, and attempted to go back to sleep. He’d had a long day of hero work yesterday, and wasn’t one to waste the meagre hours of sleep he had on his tight schedule.
A soft giggle reached his ears and Touya bolted upright. He had definitely gone to sleep alone last night, and he wasn’t expecting any visitors.
And yet, for some reason Toga Himiko was sitting in front of him, peering with eager joy into his eyes.
It took all of (limited) self-restraint not to burn her out of pure shock. It wouldn’t help his already shaky cover if he injured one of the members of the group he was assigned to infiltrate. Not even if they had snuck into his room.
Touya’s eyes wandered past the blonde to take in the room behind her. This was definitely not his room either. It appeared to be a warehouse, probably a League hideout. At least she hadn’t snuck into his apartment.
His tired mind reminded him there were probably more important things to think about than if a villain had entered his room or not. Mostly that Touya may have just been kidnapped.
Toga giggled again. The sound sent shivers down Touya’s spine, who associated that sound with an oncoming death.
“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? You look so cute when you’re panicked!” Toga pouted at him.
Touya didn’t know how to reply to that, so he didn’t. He reached out with one finger and prodded her forehead, moving her (exceedingly) close face out of his personal bubble. Toga let him, which was even more surprising.
His movement brought attention to his arm. Or rather, the arm that was not his but also was, because what the hell.
Those scars had not been there the night before. And what the hell was that? Staples holding them onto his skin? What the actual fuck?
If Touya hadn’t been trained by the HPSC he would probably be having a panic attack right now. He was already halfway there as it was.
He could feel the burns, or rather the lack of feeling that accompanied dead skin. He reached up with one hand to his face, and felt more scarring, lining his jaw and underneath his eyes.
It formed a similar pattern to his own scarring, but this was much, much worse, as if he had never let it heal, never got skin grafts to cover the damage.
He ran a finger over a staple embedded in his face and winced as it tugged on his living skin.
What the actual fuck was going on? Had the League done something to him? But the only one here right now was Toga, who had moved from sitting in front of him to lying on the sofa, head upside down and legs kicked over the back, seemingly carefree. They surely wouldn’t let a known hero just wander around the base.
“Toga, what’s going on?” he rasped. He winced at the sound of his own voice. That was definitely damaged from smoke inhalation. His own support equipment gave him a supply of oxygen, as well as masking his face from the general public, but had he not had access to that, he could well imagine his own voice would sound something similar to this one.
Toga shrugged, sliding slightly off the couch as she did so. She didn’t seem to care that her head was only a few centimetres from crushing against the floor.
“You came in here, all moody as you normally are, and fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake you because you normally burn me when I do that,” Toga chirped. She didn’t seem particularly annoyed at that.
Touya squeezed his eyes shut. The scarred skin underneath his eyes scraped against his healthy skin. God, he ached all over. He was already wishing for a paracetamol, ibuprofen, anything just to ease the constant dulled agony.
Toga’s explanation hadn’t helped any. He definitely hadn’t come to wherever the hell this was last night.
His head pulsed in a flash of pain.
Last night…
Shit. He’d been fighting a villain who’d caught him off guard at the end of patrol. She’d managed to touch him, but all that had happened was he felt vaguely dizzy. She’d escaped while he was attempting to orient himself. He hadn’t registered the fight yet, only managing to get home before collapsing onto his bed.
He pushed past the blurriness blanketing his mind in an attempt to remember her file. The HPSC had told Touya about her earlier as she had been sighted around his normal patrol routes.
Her quirk was something to do with worlds, he was pretty sure. He also caught a vague notion of the idea of swapping in there as well.
So, her quirk probably had worked, just on a delay, and now he was swapped into another world. Of course. This shit just had to happen to him.
At least he had a goal now. Find the other version of her, and get her to swap him back.
That might be easier said than done. Touya wasn’t an idiot, and the signs were unfortunately all too clear. He was sitting in a League hideout, along with a notorious villain who had treated him like a known friend.
Touya groaned and buried his face in his hands. Of course he had to get swapped into a world where he was a villain. Nothing ever could be easy for him.
At least he had a vague knowledge of the workings of the League from his infiltration efforts. He knew Twice, as he was his recruiter contact. He also knew Toga, since she’d tagged along with Twice once, apparently out of curiosity to see ‘the secret hottie Twice wouldn’t stop talking about.’ Touya was pretty sure Toga had added the hottie part in there on her own, and not Twice, but the meeting had fucked with his head all the same.
Still, this could help. If the worlds were anything alike, he could get valuable intel. Of course, that would involve him tricking the entire League into thinking he was this other guy. He didn’t even know his villain name.
His hero name was Kasai, but he couldn’t imagine it being the same here. His hadn’t been chosen for him, a name picked by the Hero Commission. There was no way it could be the same.
But how exactly could someone ask what their own name was without sounding absolutely insane?
“Hey Toga,” Touya tried, deciding he might as well go in without a plan because what the fuck else could go wrong at this point.
“Yeah Dabi?” Toga replied.
Dabi. Well that was easier than expected. He remembered that was one of the names he had thought of as his hero identity. Both his father and the hero commission had vetoed it as being too ‘edgy’. But as a villain, he wouldn’t have any of those restrictions. That probably also explained the emo leather coat. Dabi must be a villain who was full in on the edgy aesthetic. The scarring and the staples were probably a massive benefit to Dabi.
Touya let out a sigh. “Nothing.”
It occurred to him that Toga didn’t know he, or rather Dabi, was Touya Todoroki. The general public only knew him as Kasai. He’d distanced his family long, long ago and his father never bothered to glance at Kasai’s face long enough to figure out the truth. The hero commission knew, obviously, but had covered up his identity under miles and miles of red tape. That had been part of the deal he had been given when he had joined. Work for the Hero Commission, and he would never have to go back to his family again. Never have to be called Todoroki again. Never let anyone know of his connection to Endeavour.
It almost made everything worth it.
Something buzzed in the pocket of Dabi’s coat. Touya reached for it. There was a message from a contact called ‘birdbrain’, asking about a meeting.
Touya frowned. He didn’t know any birdlike members of the League, but maybe that was part of the differences between the worlds.
His phone buzzed again. Apparently he was late for whatever this meeting was. Touya’s curiosity took hold of him. If this was a secret League member, he had a duty to know who it was.
He rose up from the sofa, Toga falling sideways from the shift in weight.
“Gotta take this,” he said absently as he moved towards a door. Opening it revealed a dark, gloomy looking alleyway. He was pretty sure he saw some rats moving around.
Touya pressed to call ‘birdbrain’. He lifted the phone to his ear and waited for the other to begin speaking, a tactic honed on spam callers.
“Where are you? I’ve been waiting here for ten minutes, don’t tell me that patience is something the League is trying to test me for.” The voice coming though on the phone seemed oddly familiar, and was definitely annoyed.
Touya frowned, trying to place it.
“Could you remind me of the location again? It must have slipped my mind,” He lied smoothly.
The other drew in a breath. “Huh, you’re oddly polite today. Something wrong, hot stuff?”
Touya nearly dropped the phone. He’d been called that nickname once before, by Hawks of all people. This couldn’t be Hawks on the phone, no fucking way the golden boy of the hero world was working for the League of Villains.
“Just tell me the location,” he snapped, confusion warping his voice into anger.
“Fine, just sent it to you.” Touya’s phone vibrated with a message of a location. “Or you could just tell me where you are and I could pick you up.”
Touya hissed under his breath. He hated flying, but this seemed the fastest method. And by god did he want to know why the number 2 hero was in direct communication with the League of Villains.
Touya stalked over the entrance of the alleyway and squinted at a signpost. He relayed off the location, and promptly hung up.
Soon, two bright red feathers came swooping towards him. Touya’s eyes widened as he stumbled back in alarm, but that didn’t stop them from catching under his armpits and sending him hurtling through the sky.
Touya clenched his eyes shut, trying not to hurl from the dizzying view of the city spinning below him.
He felt the feathers grip weaken, and he was unceremoniously dumped onto a hard surface.
Touya cracked his eyes open to see Hawks standing over him. Well, at least he hadn’t been mistaken, this was definitely Hawks.
Touya picked himself up off the ground of what appeared to be the cement floor of a rooftop, eying Hawks warily as he did so.
Hawks looked the same, hero costume identical to the one Touya had seen at the hero rankings. That had been the only time the two had ever met, which Touya was glad for, as Hawks seemed to be exactly the smarmy, public stunner that he hated, but civilians seemed to love.
Nothing about Hawks had seemed to have changed, as Hawks raised a cocky eyebrow at Touya stumbling to his feet.
“Couldn’t have done that a little more carefully?” Touya asked through gritted teeth. He hated flying, and no doubt that would be the same with his counterpart. Although, maybe Dabi had adjusted after meeting up with Hawks for so long.
“Nope!” Hawks chirped, smiling that smile magazine covers were all too familiar with.
He was so much the same hero that Touya knew that it made his head ache. How was this guy working with the League?
Unless…
Touya let out a laugh. He slammed his hands to his mouth to try and cushion it, but he couldn’t stop. He was vaguely aware of Hawks concern as he bent over double in laughter, but it was hard to care in the face of his realisation.
In this world, Hawks had been asked to infiltrate the League, and Dabi was his contact.
Honestly he should have realised that sooner, but the chaos of today must have been messing with his head. Also, the idea that Hawks of all people would be capable of undercover missions was messing with Touya’s head.
Touya had understood why the Commission had gone to him, out of anyone else. Kasai ranked regularly on the lists of heroes most likely to be villains, along with heroes such as Gang Orca. It hadn’t taken much convincing to get the League to trust him, no matter how much it made Touya’s blood boil at the thought.
Touya had never wanted to be a villain, so much so that the idea of it terrified him. That was why he was perfect for this infiltration. The Commission knew his fear would stop him from betraying them.
After all, even in his worst days, there was only ever one person he wanted to see burn up in flames. And for all his faults, he knew what would come of that, and he didn’t want it.
“Is there something I’m missing here?” Hawks asked, vaguely bemused.
The laughs that had forced themselves out of Touya’s throat stilled as he realised his situation. This made things a hell of a lot easier, having a hero on his side.
Touya sat down against the side of an emergency door, and patted the ground beside him. Hawks hesitantly followed, feathers fluffing up behind him as he leant against the door.
“I know you’re infiltrating the League under the Hero Commission’s orders.” Touya felt Hawks stiffen up beside him, and continued before he could get any ideas with how close his feathery weapons were to him.
“I know this because I am not Dabi, I got hit by a quirk that swapped me with Dabi while on patrol as a pro hero named Kasai. A pro hero that, in my world, is infiltrating the League just as you are.”
Touya risked a glance over at Hawks. He was frozen, eyes open wide. Touya sighed. He should have figured this wouldn’t go down the easiest.
“I don’t care if you believe me or not, I just need you to do something for me. I need you to find this world’s version of the person that hit me with the quirk, and get them to send me back. That’s all, then you’ll have your Dabi back and I’ll be out of your hair.”
Hawks flinched at Touya saying ‘your Dabi’. Touya supposed he was being a bit brash right now, but this whole situation was seriously fucking with his head.
“I’m sorry about this,” Touya mumbled. “This is probably very confusing for you right now.”
Hawks let out a harsh chuckle. “No Dabi I know would apologise.” Hawks dragged his hand through his hair. Touya tried not to notice his hands were shaking. “Guess you really are a different person, huh.”
“Sorry,” Touya said again. He was never the best for comforting people.
Hawks stood up, shaking his wings off behind him. “Don’t be. This isn’t exactly your fault. I’ll try and find the person for you.”
Hawks stepped forwards, and Touya realised he was about to leave.
“Wait!” Touya moved forward, hand outstretched. Hawks curved his face round to blink at him.
“I don’t really have anywhere to go right now,” Touya said slowly. “You’re the only one that knows I’m not Dabi, and I don’t want to test the League’s limits on their loyalty.”
Hawks eyebrow crooked upwards. “You want to come with me,” he said bluntly.
Touya shoved his hands into his pockets and ducked his head to the side. “If that’s not a problem?”
Hawks looked up to the sky and sighed. Heavily. Touya wanted to apologise again but figured that probably wouldn’t be helpful.
“I’ll take you to my apartment, but no burning things!” Hawks had the audacity to wag a finger at him, and Touya instinctively wanted to burn his glove off.
“I’m not Dabi, I’m not a fucking pyromaniac,” Touya said through gritted teeth.
“Still, do you even know how to control his quirk?”
“The quirk swaps you with versions of yourself. His quirk is mine.”
Hawks swallowed at that. “Ah. So Dabi is like your warped mirror version?”
“Can we just go? I really don’t want to think about how close any version of me may be to villainy,” Touya snapped, and then immediately regretted it. Hawks was only trying to help, he didn’t deserve the brute force of Touya’s own deep self-hatred.
“Sorry,” Touya mumbled. His shoulders relaxed. He hadn’t even realised he had tensed up.
Hawks let out another half laugh. “That’s so weird to hear coming from Dabi. So, so weird.”
Touya crossed his arms defensively. “Are we going to keep standing on this rooftop while you laugh at me or what?”
“Technically, you were the one to laugh first.” Hawks shrugged but moved to pick Touya up. Touya let him manhandle him, well aware that Hawks could drop him to his death once up in flight, even if he was a hero.
“Drop me and you’re dead,” Touya hissed into Hawks chest.
Hawks just grinned. “That’s more like it.”
Touya’s response was whisked from his lips as they took off into the sky.