Archive of Our Own

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“It should have been me,” Enji rasped out, to no one in particular. Surely his son couldn’t hear him. “It should have been me in that thing, darling. Not you.”

He tried to reach forward to touch the glass, only to find out he had no arm to reach with, and his knees hurt like absolute hell from the motion.

“Fuck my life,” he sighed.

Calling it a “life” was surely a farce. His arm, his goddamn dominant arm, was gone. His legs were so ruinously shattered it would take daily rounds of healing Quirks to put them back together. His body was covered in wounds that hurt, itched, and burned. And none of that was nearly as bad as what his poor child was going through.

Touya had already had little resemblance to the little boy Enji remembered at the time he first revealed himself. But now, he barely looked human. Enji had seen burnt bodies before - he was a flame hero, after all, and sometimes, villains required drastic measures to be stopped. It was the fact that Touya was still alive that was so shocking.

Enji hadn’t looked online or accepted any interviews, but he knew, logically, what the public thought of him. A nightmare of a father who fought his own son, who sent his high school-aged child to war. A loser who lost his arm and was about to retire in disgrace. A failed hero, a failed husband, a failed man.

A waste of space.

There was a soft knock on the door before it opened to reveal a young woman with a kind face and distinctive golden eyes.

"Todoroki-san?" she asked gently. "I looked for you in your room, but I suspected I might find you here instead."

The doctor shut the door behind her and walked over to stand next to Enji as he peered up at the enormous device that was currently keeping his eldest son barely alive. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, very aware of his numerous injuries.

"I'm sorry to put you in this position, but we need to speak about your son. There are medical decisions that should be made soon and we must... settle his affairs."

“Settle his affairs?” Enji repeated in a shaky voice as he looked up at her. His azure eyes filled with tears, and at this point, he no longer cared to hide them. “Is he… is he really dying?”

Dr. Hamasaki sighed. "There is no kind way to say it. Yes, he is dying. Slowly, but his body is unable to recover in this state. It's nothing short of a miracle that he lived this long - not only since the war, but after his accident as a child."

The curious case of Touya Todoroki was a topic of much discussion amongst her colleagues. No one was quite sure how he'd managed to survive so long, although the leading theory was that it had something to do with his Quirk. Dr. Hamasaki privately believed it was pure stubbornness.

His case was often viewed with a strange mixture of curiosity and disgust. Dr. Hamasaki knew that it was her duty as both a medical professional and a healer to do everything she could to save a life, no matter whose life that was. Others quietly whispered that it would be better to "accidentally" damage his life support rather than spend more time and resources attempting to keep him alive. The same mutterings often circulated about Shigaraki, and the doctor tried her best to ignore all of them.

“No,” Enji whispered softly, shaking his head. “I can’t accept this. Tell me what he needs.” He raised his voice in his despair. “Just- tell me, what is it? New heart, lungs? Brain? Take mine, I’ll freely give it!! I’ll sign whatever I need!”

Dr. Hamasaki winced as she witnessed Enji's grief so openly.

"Todoroki-san, the issue is not just his brain or organs. His brain activity is... well, surprisingly functional. The reality is that there is not enough of his body left to save at the moment. We have excellent healers here, but they have to have something to work with. Your wife and children have already done so much donating blood and plasma. It wouldn't be ethical for us to ask for anything else."

Enji’s desperate mind saw something to latch onto. “Okay, but you never asked me for anything!” He looked down at himself and sighed. There was not a whole lot of him left either. “Just… find a part of me that’s not totally messed up and cut it off.”

"Todoroki-san, that would be incredibly unwise in your current state," the doctor replied, her protestations almost automatic at this point.

All the same, she did have ideas that were more... aggressive than Touya's current treatment plan. Her colleagues rolled their eyes and thought she was nuts to even consider recovery over hospice. She glanced towards the door, as though her supervisor might appear at any moment.

"There... there is a potential option, but believe me when I say that it is no guarantee."

“Please, anything,” Enji begged, eyes glowing with hope. “I don’t care what happens to me. Whatever it is, I’ll sacrifice it.”

Dr. Hamasaki sighed again, almost feeling like she shouldn't have said anything in the first place. It was cruel to offer hope sometimes. And who in their right mind would risk the life of a war hero over that of a villain, particularly when many of that villain's victims were still recovering in their burn unit?

"We obtained access to Garaki's files as part of Shigaraki's treatment," she began. "That man... he took extensive notes on every victim he experimented on, including your son. In the years when he was attempting to heal his body, he tried many different kinds of skin grafts - both from fire Quirk users and others - but he never had access to someone with the same Quirk. If you or your son Shouto were able to donate... it's possible his body would be able to heal more effectively."

Enji gasped, his vision darkening for a moment. But he could not let his anger at his son’s tormentor cloud his judgement.

“I can’t ask more of Shou,” he decided. “It was already too much to get him to fight Touya. Take my skin.” He looked down at himself once more. “My shoulders, they were protected by my armor, there are no wounds. And I still have two. Would that work?”

"Garaki seemed focused on intensifying power, not preserving your son's resistance to flame," Dr. Hamasaki mumbled, remembering the hours she lost poring over those disturbing files.

Her lips pressed together with discomfort as Enji spoke. He was clearly coming from a place of emotion, not logic.

"That could work. But please understand, you would have to undergo surgery yet again, and we would need to sample the muscle as well. It would not be an easy procedure, and you are already seriously wounded. It could impact your ability to return to hero work to further stress your body."

Enji took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

“Let me make this very clear,” he said quietly. “I’m not prioritizing my needs, my career, or my life over my children ever again. I don’t care that he’s a villain. I don’t care that he hates me. I don’t care that there’s only a small chance of it working. Do what needs to be done.”

Dr. Hamasaki jolted at Enji's suddenly stern tone. It left no room for argument. She nodded sharply.

"Understood. I... I'll need to make some calls. This will have to be approved by the hospital board, but I'll start the process at once."

Enji’s expression softened. “Thank you. Let me know if you run into any legal problems, I should be able to pull some strings.”

The doctor gave a tight-lipped smile. "Oh, it's not the legality I'm concerned with. It's convincing the board members to utilize our regenerative Quirk resources on this particular task. But I think I can convince them."

“Thank you for not giving up on my boy,” Enji whispered. “Everyone else has.”

"I'll never give up on a patient," Dr. Hamasaki replied firmly. She pulled out her phone and immediately began contacting one of her colleagues. "I'll be in touch soon!" she called as she rushed out the door.

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Shouto stared down at the prone form of his father in the hospital bed, once again unconscious as the anesthesia worked its way out of his system. Lacking his dominant arm, covered in burn marks and abrasions that were still healing from the war, and now with two patches of flesh missing from his shoulders.

It was, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Shouto wished for his brother's recovery as well, just as much as anyone. He too longed for the sentimental notion of sharing a meal with Touya and laughing together after everything they'd been through. But he knew that it was a fantasy. The doctors said that Touya's brain was active, but neither Shouto nor his family had seen any concrete evidence of that. There was only the thready blip of the heartbeat monitor and the hiss of the life support machine.

It was frustrating, in a way. He'd finally gotten to the point where he could stand to be around his father (for short periods of time), and now the man was dedicated to destroying himself. It felt more like a very complicated way for Endeavor to continue punishing himself for Dabi's crimes than a real chance at healing, but no one could talk him out of it.

He sighed and flipped to the next page of his reading assignment. At least school and his friends gave him something else to focus on. Graduation would be soon, and then their somewhat improbable move to 2-A. He could barely believe that such mundane things still happened.

“No, I can’t do Vanishing Fist anymore,” Enji mumbled, stirring in his sleep. “I can’t do anything. No. No one cares.”

Shouto glanced up as soon as he heard Enji's muttering, the tiny sign of life soothing his worries that his father was going to end up dead over this. He couldn't remember if you were supposed to wake someone from anesthesia.

“Shut up, All for One,” Enji said, unexpectedly clearly and sharply. “You look like a bouillon cube that got run over!”

"Dad," Shouto said loudly, clearly annoyed as he slammed his book closed. "All for One isn't here. You're in the hospital."

“I can’t be in the hospital, I have to help the others!” Enji cried out, opening his eyes. “People r-relying on me!”

Shouto's lips twisted in a grimace. He hated seeing his father in this state - so broken, and yet still so obsessed with his calling.

"There's no one to help right now," he said, trying his best to be soothing rather than irritated. "The war is over. All for One is dead. You're recovering from surgery."

Enji’s eyes widened, and he sank back into the bed. “If there’s no one to help,” he asked in a small voice, “then what am I to do with myself?..”

"You have to recover," Shouto replied numbly. "You have to rest." He searched his mind for something else to say. "You have to take care of Mom, and Fuyumi, and Natsu."

“But they don’t need me,” Enji argued, the medication making him unable to hold his tongue. “I put everything in the will. Everybody will be taken care of.”

Shouto glanced around the room, wishing that Fuyumi or maybe even a nurse was there to help. Emotions were not his strong suit. But there was no one else, so he had to try.

"Of course they need you," he mumbled. "You're more than just... money or stuff in a will. Who would Natsu complain about if you were gone? Who would Yumi make dinner for? Who would send Mom flowers?" He wet his lips and decided to finally mention the other brother. "Who's gonna take care of Touya if you're gone?"

“Touya’s still the same, right?” Enji asked, suddenly scared. “He didn’t get worse?”

"He's not worse," Shouto replied. He unfortunately didn't have any other details to share. As far as he knew, the procedure was still in progress, and it would be lengthy. The surgeons had to place the grafts, and then the healers had to work on spreading them throughout his body.

If his body lasted that long.

One doctor had cheerfully mentioned in Shouto's presence that they would get an award for new medical and Quirk science if it worked. There was even a grant involved. Shouto’s stomach churned at the idea of his brother being treated like a science experiment, but he supposed it was better than the alternative. For the doctors and healers, this was a chance to try out dangerous, experimental procedures that would never be permitted on a normal civilian. For his family, it was more personal.

Enji’s gaze fell on the textbook. “I’m sorry, Shou,” he said tearfully. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this. You’re just a little boy! You’re doing schoolwork in here? What are you working on?”

Shouto relaxed as he saw that Enji was becoming more lucid and normal.

"I'm a hero, and I'm here to make sure you woke up," he replied bluntly. "Mom, Natsu, and Yumi are all helping the clean-up efforts. I'm just doing some of my reading for class, it's not a big deal."

“Is it hard to go back to school after fighting in a war?” Enji asked quietly. “I bet it’s weird.”

"It's not necessarily more difficult academically, but it's hard to concentrate on normal things," Shouto admitted. "I'm just glad there's not much time left in the term."

“You’re doing well though, right?”

Before Shouto could even react, something connected in Enji’s mind.

What were you thinking?

I won’t tolerate this slip-up again.

You think you can get anywhere with this performance?

I expected more from my son!

“Wait, my bad, let me rephrase that.” Enji wriggled in his bed, subconsciously attempting to take a less helpless position, but ultimately gave up. “Are you struggling with any subjects? Do you need help?”

"I'm number five in class right now," Shouto answered, almost automatic in his response. He expected Endeavor to be concerned over his placement compared to the other students. He didn't expect the hint of actual concern in his voice.

"I'm not struggling. It's fine. You don't need to worry about tutoring me from your hospital bed."

Enji thought his words through before speaking. “It’s admirable that you are able to stay on top of things even after all that happened,” he finally said. The number would have bothered him before, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Besides, he had seen first-hand how strong and determined Shouto’s classmates were. There was no doubt whoever was above Shouto had earned their place.

“When I went to UA, I struggled a lot with money,” Enji said in a quiet, hoarse voice, himself unsure why he was sharing that. “I was on a stipend, which was very small, and I had to maintain certain scores. It was hard to study sometimes, being hungry and mocked for having grown out of my uniform. Other kids had parents who could hire them tutors. They had funds to fail and try again. Some had connections already with agencies from the moment they started their first year. They could take unpaid internships and buff up their resume while I was busy delivering people’s groceries on a bike for measly cash.”

“I knew my only chance was my high scores and stellar recommendations, or I was going to be poor my whole life. Duct tape my shoes. Never amount to anything. Never be able to make a difference. I forget that you do not have that urgency. You wouldn’t starve if you failed a class. You wouldn’t be a nobody even if you tried. I worked so hard to make sure you have food, a roof over your head, and clothes that fit, but instead of giving you room to fail and grow like any normal kid, I just created new hoops for you to jump through. I’m sorry, Shouto.”

Shouto was quiet as he listened to Enji speak. He knew that his father didn't grow up with money, but he didn't know any specifics about his struggle. He'd always kept those stories to himself before. He'd heard apologies from Endeavor before, but not quite like this. Maybe it was the aftereffects of the anesthesia.

"I want to excel for myself. It's not just about you." He took a deep breath so he wouldn't default to negativity to his father. "I... I'm sorry you had to struggle so much. I do recognize that part of the reason I'm able to do well is because of my privilege. I didn't even have to do the normal entrance exam. If I'm jumping through hoops, I'm making them for myself because I want to do my best."

“You are doing your best. I really believe that. But please, if you are struggling… tell me. Or tell your mother, or someone at school. I won’t…” Enji winced, wondering if his promises were any good in Shouto’s eyes. “I won’t be like I normally am. I don’t want you to crumble under the weight of my expectations like Touya did.”

The reminder of Touya was even more sobering. Shouto wondered if his father truly thought that he would ever go down that path. He didn't know if he believed that Endeavor's recent change in attitude was permanent or not, but only time would tell.

"Okay, I will," he said quietly. "I'm not... I won't ever be like Touya. You don't have to be concerned about that."

“I know, darling, I know. Just… keep in mind that you don’t need to prove anything to me.” Enji smiled, looking up at Shouto with something that looked like pride. “You’re already succeeding so far.”

Shouto's face was impassive, but inside, he felt in turmoil. He didn't know how to feel about Endeavor's words, or the look he was giving him.

"Thank you," he replied stiffly. "As far as school - it's just a lot of catching up on time lost right now. A lot of reading. Aizawa is actually being lenient for once."

“That’s… very unusual.” Enji tried to imagine Eraserhead being lenient and failed. “Okay. I think I’m about to pass out, so I’ll just go to sleep, and… are you going to leave or stay here?”

In truth, Shouto had planned to leave once it was clear that his father was stable. But the hospital room was quiet, and the chair wasn't too uncomfortable.

"I can stay and finish this reading. The dorms are noisy. Besides, I don't want to miss it if the doctor comes by with an update."

“Mm, okay.” Enji tried to lay on his side, hissed in pain, and resigned himself to sleeping on his back. “Please wake me up if something important happens.”

"You know he'll still probably die, right?" Shouto suddenly asked in a sharp tone. "Even after everything you've done?"

Enji flinched, suddenly pulled out of his dreamy state.

“Look, he ‘died’ at Sekoto Peak,” he replied, surprisingly calm. “Then Garaki fixed him up and said he was going to die in a month. Then he has been ‘dying’ for years and years. Now he’s supposedly dying again. I don’t think that boy is leaving this world anytime soon. We’re both just really, really hard to kill. So settle down, let the doctors do their job.”

Shouto went silent again. It was true that Touya had already defied the odds many times. He just didn't know how safe it was to hope, or what would happen if Touya survived.

"All right, I'll let the doctors try," he relented. "You can get some sleep."

“He’s going to live,” Enji whispered stubbornly - whether to Shouto or himself. “He’s going to be out and living life. Dating around. Smoking. Setting shit on fire in my backyard. And I’m going to love him like the rest of you.”

"Sure," Shouto mumbled back. "Maybe so. I'd like to see it, whenever that happens."

“Mm-hm.” Enji nodded and drifted off into sleep, having successfully convinced himself it would be alright.

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When Dr. Hamasaki slipped into Enji's hospital room, it was much later in the evening than anyone on the surgical team had expected, and the hospital had long since gone dark. She wondered if the recovering hero would be asleep, and then she could safely wait until morning to deliver the news.

Enji was reading the book left to him by Best Jeanist - a romance novel featuring a protagonist who felt very much like Jeanist’s self-insert. Enji wondered if the denim hero actually ghostwrote it.

"Todoroki-san," the doctor whispered in the doorway. "May I come in?"

“Oh!” Enji stirred in his bed and sat up straight. Shouto, who he thought was also reading, must have fallen asleep at some point. “Yeah, come in,” Enji whispered.

Exhaustion and stress were obvious in the young doctor's face as she moved closer, staying as quiet as possible without waking the sleeping teenager. Despite her fatigue, she was able to smile.

"Congratulations, Todoroki-san," she said, already feeling choked up. "Your son is currently stable. The grafts were successful."

Enji made a small, cheerful squeak. “Thank you!” he gasped. “Thank you-thank you-thank you!”

"There's still a long road to true recovery," Dr. Hamasaki said carefully. "He is stable now, but there is always a chance for a poor immune response, or problems with his internal organs. But I hope this gives you some relief."

“It does, it does!” Enji sobbed. “Oh, there I go crying again… His Quirk could protect him if he’s not on suppressants, but I’ll understand why you don’t want to take that chance.”

"That's not up to me, I'm afraid," Dr. Hamasaki replied. "You would need to take that issue up with the police and the justice department." She grabbed a box of tissues and handed them to Enji.

Enji was embarrassed about his crying but he couldn’t stop. “Okay. Okay, I will. Thank you.”

"I'm grateful to be able to deliver some good news to you. I hope that you feel very proud. There are not many who would pursue such a thing."

“Well… can’t say risk is not part of my daily life,” Enji deflected, refusing to give his ego another thing to feed on. “Aw, look at my son, he’s adorable! Sleeping all pouty. I don’t even want to wake him up.”

Dr. Hamasaki glanced at the sleeping teen. "Well, it's up to you when you'd like to share the news with your family," she said. "Good rest is hard to come by."

“He’ll hurt his neck,” Enji commented, observing his son with concern. He grabbed his only pillow and attempted to slide it between the back of Shouto’s head and the chair.

"Please relax, Todoroki-san, you've just been through a tiring procedure. I can bring a pillow for your son. Do you have any questions before I get that for you?"

“Yes, do you think Touya’s comfortable?” Enji would bring him a pillow if he could. “Is he in pain, does he suffer?”

"Well, he is currently deeply asleep," the doctor replied. "He will likely remain unconscious until his body is further along in the healing process. He is receiving pain management and sedation at this point."

“Thank you for your hard work,” Enji said softly. “You look real tired, are you sure you’re good to bring Shouto a pillow? I can give him mine, it’s not a big deal. I don’t need to sleep.”

Dr. Hamasaki chuckled softly. "You very much do need to sleep. The procedure was lengthy - longer than any of us expected. I will end my shift after this, but I certainly can bring an extra pillow."

“Okay,” Enji agreed easily, smiling. He was still giddy that Touya’s procedure went well. “Fine, I won’t argue with you.”

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Shouto awoke sometime in the early hours of the morning, curled up in the oversized chair in Enji's room with a pillow under his head and a blanket over his body. He remembered making the decision to rest his eyes a bit, but he'd never meant to completely fall asleep. His completed reading assignment was on the floor under his chair, and he could see the dim light of dawn peeking through the blinds.

He turned onto his other side with a grimace. Despite his youth, sleeping in a chair was not ideal, and he still felt occasional aches from his healed injuries. His father was asleep in the hospital bed next to him, with no apparent change to his condition. Shouto was surprised neither his mother nor his siblings had come to wake him.

He sat up and tried to make as little noise as possible as he folded the blanket and set the pillow on the chair. He could slip out and get a car back to the dorms.

“Touya? Is that you, baby?” Enji mumbled, unguarded in his drowsy state, reacting to a patch of white hair he’s spotted.

"No, sorry, it's only me," Shouto joked. "You don't need to get up. I was just going to head back to the dorms."

“Last night, the doctor said Touya’s surgery went well,” Enji recounted, still a little dazed but coming to his senses. “I was about to wake you up, but… you said the dorm was noisy, and you were working a lot… I thought I’d let you nap. And then I fell asleep.”

Shouto froze with his school supplies in hand. "The surgery... it actually worked?" he asked.

“Yep.” Enji smiled, pleased to be right. “The graft plan worked out. Now we just wait for him to wake up.”

"I can't believe it," Shouto whispered. "The skin grafts... his body is going to be okay?"

“So far, it seems so. The doctor thought us having the same Quirk was a factor that made all the difference. Garaki didn’t have access to skin that’s immune to Hellflame.”

Shouto nodded thoughtfully. "That makes a lot of sense. I don't mean to sound callous, but I'm just shocked that he made it through something as difficult as surgery." His expression turned worried. "If he manages to survive, what will happen to him?"

Enji sighed. He did not like to think that far. “He’s going to stand trial, like any other villain. And then receive his punishment.”

"Okay," Shouto sighed. He was unknowingly on the same page as Enji. "I don't want to think about that right now. Let's just take this as a victory."

“Yeah. I’m planning on an insanity angle for the defense. I think it’ll hold.” Enji looked out the window, noticing soft yellow light starting to come in. “You won’t be late to school, Shou? I texted your mother that you were with me last night. Don’t know where she is.”

Shouto's heart sank. He supposed that he wasn't used to depending on Rei anyway, so it wasn't as though anything had changed.

"I'm sure she's busy," he said with a shrug. "It's too early for the train, so I can get a car to take me. Classes don't start until 8:30."

“You know, if you need somewhere closer to stay or just a place to get away, you can use the agency housing. Just ask Burnin to give you a key.”

"Thank you," Shouto mumbled, rubbing his bleary eyes. "I may take you up on that. The house is full of strangers right now."

“Absolutely, you’ve earned that right,” Enji said with confidence. “And, um… I hope you’re not too upset with your mom. She hasn’t had to parent you in a while. You’re like a grown man to her. A big strong hero with wartime accomplishments. She’s reluctant to exercise any kind of authority over you.”

"I'm not upset," Shouto insisted. "We're all still figuring things out." He shouldered his backpack and thought again of how strange it was to focus on school immediately after the war. "I don't necessarily feel like a war hero when I still have to take a written final."

Enji smiled, secretly relieved that his son still got to experience something appropriate for his age. “Think of it this way: it’s got to be easier than fighting the PLF, right?”

Shouto was able to smile about that. "Yes, that's true.  I'll take all the written exams and group projects in the world if I don't have to do that battle again."

“Wonderful. Good luck in school today, dear.” Enji was having so many feelings, but he sensed that Shouto was approaching his limit on family time, and he wanted to respect that.

"Thanks," Shouto mumbled. Again, he felt like he was caught somewhere between his siblings - not as open to forgiveness as Fuyumi, but not as bitter as Natsuo.

Or Touya, he reminded himself. If Touya was actually alive, and going to stay that way, then he needed to get used to thinking about him.

"I'll... I'll come by later this week. To see about Touya."

“Okay. I’ll text you any updates.” Enji found it in himself to wave goodbye even though all he wanted was for Shouto to stay.

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Touya was aware of a presence nearby. Even back when he couldn't hear, or see, or speak, he knew that people came and went. Sometimes it seemed like doctors, because something would change in his mechanical prison and his body would be flushed with the familiar euphoria of painkillers, the startling numbness of sedatives, or something horrible and cold that he didn't understand. He couldn't move for the most part. At first it felt like he was floating, but eventually his surroundings seemed more mundane - a bed or a medical device, he wasn't sure.

He kept waiting to die.

 He'd thought there was no way in hell for whatever doctors or heroes they had working to save him. That was the point. He didn't intend to live through it. Why would they want to save him, anyway? To put him in Tartarus? To trot his burnt, mangled almost-corpse around as an example? Would they keep him on life support just long enough to sentence him to the rarely-used death penalty?

He wondered if Shigaraki was dead, too. It seemed likely. Toga was slippery enough to possibly escape.

He knew his family visited because he could hear them talking. Natsuo's voice was so much deeper than he remembered. Sometimes they felt like little shimmering lights in his head, and he desperately wanted to both snuff them out forever and hold them close. He was there too, much too often for comfort, but there was nothing to do to stop it. Touya couldn't use his Quirk. That was the first thing he tried when he actually felt half-way sentient, but the fire didn't come. Whether that was because of something the heroes did to him or because he'd destroyed his limbs, he wasn't sure.

The first time he opened his eyes, it was anticlimactic. He waited until it didn't seem like anyone was around, then dared to crack open one crusty blue eye. The light hurt. He didn't feel much pain because of the meds, but the light hurt. Seeing hurt. The knowledge that he was still fucking here and Endeavor was still alive hurt. He closed his eyes again, unwilling to see anything else.

The doctors tried to talk to him. His family tried to talk to him. His father even tried to get to him, promising that they could talk every day. He had the feeling that the doctors at least knew he could hear and see, but he refused to answer. He was almost content to keep floating along in half-consciousness, but now that he could think again, he kept getting caught up in the whirling firestorm of his own repeating thoughts and memories, and he wanted that to stop. The first movement he dared to make was to press the button for more morphine, but he wasn't sure they would give it to him. OD'ing on painkillers seemed pretty lame, but it was better than the alternative. Maybe some vigilante intern would pull his plug soon and that would be a relief.

Endeavor was back because of course he fucking was. He didn't know how to let things die, with the possible exception of all his familial relationships. Touya wanted to burn the hospital down with both of them in it. More than that, though, he just wanted to know why, and maybe that was what made him finally speak through his delirium.

"Endeavor."

In that moment, nothing else mattered. Not the arm Enji had lost (his dominant arm, the one he wrote with, the one he needed to drive and fight), not his massive injuries, not the ruined city around them, not even the hatred and confrontation the two of them had been locked in.

All that mattered was his little boy was alive. And he could talk.

“Touya,” Enji choked out. “My poor little baby…” He reached to pet Touya’s face, or hair, but halfway through realized that he was reaching with the ugly, cold temporary prosthesis. He froze and retracted the mechanical arm in shame. Touya did not need to see this.

Touya frowned and the expression felt strange on his face. Did he actually have skin? That was new. It almost sounded like Endeavor wanted to cry. He heard crying in the room sometimes, but he couldn't tell who it was and he didn't care. He didn't want to open his eyes again, but he sort of had to. He flopped his head to the side and felt the flesh on his neck tug horribly. It took more effort than he cared to admit. He blinked his eyes open and the room swam.

He didn't know how to make sense of what he was seeing. His eyes flicked towards things - the overhead light, a door, a small table with a stack of papers on it, and his father Endeavor sitting in a chair. He looked different from the cobbled-together images that often replayed in his mind. Older, maybe. More scarred. He was in a wheelchair with bandages stretched across his body.

Oh, his arm really was gone. That wasn't a dream.

"Why?" he rasped.

His voice sounded strange in his ears. Maybe it wasn't really his. Maybe it was somebody else. Maybe he was somebody else. Maybe Twice just made a copy of him and squished his consciousness into it as punishment for not saving him from Hawks.

What was he doing again? Right. Endeavor.

“Why what, my darling?” Enji asked, keeping his voice quiet and gentle.

"Why didn't you let me die?" Touya asked immediately. The words scratched his throat like razors. He wanted to reach out and do... something. Maybe hit him or throw something, but his arm just twinged uselessly at his side and his fingers twitched.

Enji gasped. “Why would I let you die?? You’re my son. I love you. I was sitting here awhile hoping you wouldn’t die.”

"Let me die!" Touya snarled, some well of energy rising up within him through the medically-induced haze. "I don't want to be here. I don't want to do this! You can't make me--" He tried to thrash in the bed and finally succeeded in moving his body a little, which caused a sharp pain in his side. He knew what ripped stitches felt like and it made him smile through the ache. A machine nearby started beeping rapidly and he fumbled, trying to make his hands obey his command to tear out all the IVs attached to him like a damn pincushion.

Enji took a deep breath and found two relatively unharmed sections of Touya’s body to press down on and pin him in place.

“No,” he said sternly, forgetting his guilt for a moment. “Touya! You will not be doing this. No more death. No more self-destruction. You’re alive, and you have a family that cares about you, and that’s not changing anytime soon. So lay still and don’t try anything, because I will hold you down, and the nurse will sedate you.”

Good, Touya thought in the back of his mind. Sedate me. Never let me wake up.

At the same time, he knew that it wouldn't really happen. If the doctors had put this much effort into bringing him back from death's door, then they definitely wouldn't off him with sedatives. That was too pleasant.

He could only vaguely feel Endeavor's hands - hand? and then some metal thing - holding him in place. That worked. He tried to ignite his fists and nothing happened.

"Where's my Quirk?" he rasped. "All for One better not fucking have it, I'd never let him have it!"

“You’re on Quirk suppressants, darling.” Enji still held Touya in place, but his voice softened. “It’s for the safety of yourself and others. You still have Blueflame.”

"No," Touya groaned and sagged against the hospital bed. The small amount of struggle made him exhausted. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to do this.

"Let me die," he repeated, though it sounded weaker.

Enji let go of him and sat back down. “Touya, I can’t do that. I let you die once, I…” His voice wavered. “I’m not doing that again.”

Touya's eyes sharpened on Endeavor's face and he felt the familiar hatred wash over him, but he just floated uselessly on top of the wave, buoyed up but not away from his entrapment. "If I live through this, I'm going to kill you," he promised darkly. "I'll drag you down to hell with me."

Enji’s heart squeezed. “I deserve this,” he agreed with a solemn face. “But you don’t. I don’t want you to go down to hell. You’ve been through enough hell in your life. I’m sorry I didn’t find you. It wasn’t for my lack of trying, I swear. I dug through that damn forest until the ash and debris were wet with my blood. I…” Enji desperately tried not to cry. “I found a piece of bone. DNA test confirmed it belonged to my son, so I assumed you died. Had I known… had I known that man took you, I… I don’t know if I would have been much better than him, but you got another miracle survival going for you, and I hope you don’t waste this chance. If you don’t want to see me again, that’s fine. But your mom loves you, your siblings love you, and your villain friends for sure care about you.”

Touya stared at Endeavor, letting the words float around in his brain. This was what he hated most - Endeavor didn't even deny anything, didn't try to defend himself, didn't get angry or aggressive. It was just like that stupid press conference he held after Skeptic released the video. So Endeavor knew what All for One and Garaki did. So what? If he'd wanted to go back home for good, he would have.

He blinked and it felt slow, his tenuous grip on consciousness loosening.

"They're alive," he slurred. He meant it as a question, but it quite come out that way.

“Most of them, that we know of,” Enji confirmed, relived at the lack of angry reaction. “Spinner is still at large, but he didn’t have serious injuries when last seen. Toga is in the mental ward. Her physical stare is fine, mental - not so much. Compress is in jail, unharmed. Shigaraki is here at the hospital. He’s badly hurt. He briefly regained consciousness a few times and only asked about you.”

Touya frowned. Why the fuck would Shigaraki ask about him? Whatever, he was probably delirious on whatever meds they had him on. Or he thought Touya could break them out. He tentatively flexed his fist. That seemed unlikely at this point. He'd have to be smarter about getting free.

It was hard to focus. His thoughts kept running away from him.

"Shouto."

Again, it came out like a statement rather than a question. He didn't give a shit about Endeavor's precious golden boy, but some part of him knew he was just a teenager. He wasn't even supposed to be there. In all of Touya's fantasies, it had just been him and Endeavor, fighting it out until the bitter end.

“He’s okay, he didn’t lose any limbs. He had some broken bones, but he’s back to school now.” Enji smiled fondly at the thought of his youngest son. “He did his homework in front of me and you while we were in hospital beds.”

"Ah," Touya replied dryly. He didn't know how to respond to any of that. It felt so normal to think about his brother doing homework while he slumbered.

His hand twitched and he grappled for the little button that was supposed to release more pain medication. Nothing happened. He pushed it again and again and it just buzzed annoyingly in his hand. Maybe he was cut off.

“Touya, you have way too much in you already,” Enji warned. “The doctor told me you’ve had some… substance issues. Is it true?”

"What about it?" Touya drawled. "Oxy and morphine are better than aburi and coke anyway." He pushed the useless button again, maybe just to get some kind of placebo effect.

“Nothing, I won’t judge,” Enji assured. “You’ve suffered too much. Are you hurt? Where does it hurt, baby?”

"I don't feel anything."

It was a lie, sort of. Touya felt the damaged stitches in his side, but barely. Mostly it was just the wet feeling of blood seeping against his skin. He still didn't get how he had skin that could feel things. The other stuff he felt was all inside his head, swirling obsessions and voices he didn't understand and the desperate desire to end everything.

Enji looked at him with pained eyes. His darling boy was suffering, and he couldn’t help it. What could he do?

With his trembling left hand, Enji swept Touya’s wild white hair away from his forehead and patted his head. Once, twice, over and over again, the way he did back when the world was bright and little Touya loved him.

"Stop," Touya hissed. He wrenched his head to the side and shoved Endeavor's hand away. His limbs felt like lead, like he was pulling his heavy, numb body on strings and nothing worked right. "I'm not your fucking baby. I'm not your son, I'm your enemy."

Enji retracted his hand immediately. “I’m sorry, Touya, but that’s not true. You went out of your way to prove you’re my son, and there’s no taking that back. And you’re not my enemy. I’m yours, but you’re not mine. You could never be. I can’t stop loving you just because you hate me and have a criminal record. It doesn’t work that way.”

Touya shifted his gaze up towards the ceiling and stared at the dull white tiles. He wanted something to happen. He wanted his Quirk back so he could turn everything to ash. This was worse than Tartarus, he decided. Just lying in a hospital bed while Endeavor claimed that he loved him and Touya had to listen to it, all while his body became something different thanks to whatever medical science magic they'd worked on him. His chest burned and he longed to scream, but he wasn't sure his throat would take it.

"I want to go back to sleep," he sighed. Thinking made him dizzy. Maybe the words he was saying were true.

“Okay, darling, I- oh shit.” Enji stared at the dark spot spreading across the white hospital blanket. “Did you hurt yourself, you little dummy??” He gently removed the blanket and sighed in relief - it was only a popped stitch. “I’ll get the nurse,” he announced, pressing the button. “Don’t ruin your new skin grafts, you angry little shit.”

Endeavor was so close now that Touya couldn't help it. He thought it was ingrained in his nature at this point. His hand shot up at grasped for Endeavor's throat, but his grip was weak and trembling. He could barely make a fist, much less choke out a pro hero. Frustration at his weakened state coursed through his veins and he tried to call the fire again on impulse, but nothing happened. That made him want to scream in frustration, so he did, but it just came out as a frail, cracked sort of yell. Maybe if he could move his body enough, it would damage more stitches.

"Let me bleed out," he gasped. "Do this for me." Since he couldn't squeeze, he just raked his jagged, clumsily clipped nailed down Endeavor's chin and throat.

Enji rolled his eyes in frustration. His neck was too thick and muscly for even the strongest villains to choke him out. The scratching only irritated him.

“Stop,” he said calmly and gripped Touya’s wrist. “Your mother will think I cheated on her.”

Touya stared at Endeavor's hand wrapped around his wrist and hated that the first thing that came to mind was a childhood memory – his father grabbing his hand to stop him from touching a poison ivy plant in the park. He huffed out a breath of annoyance and slumped on the bed again. He didn't know what to do with the reminder of his mother, so he ignored it.

"I'll never stop," he mumbled. "Never stop."

Words were difficult now. He hadn't talked in so long. Why did Endeavor have to be the first one he spoke to, anyway? Right, because he chose it like that. He could have waited until it was a nurse or one of his siblings. He squeezed his eyes shut.

This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real.

Maybe if he thought it hard enough, it would be true. Either way, with his eyes closed again, all he wanted to do was be unconscious.

“That’s right, sleep, my poor dear,” Enji cooed. He had a memory of his own pop up at the sight: Touya, tiny, tearful and exhausted, falling asleep on the couch after they’d fought and made up.

“I love you so much,” Enji sobbed quietly.

He was startled by the door opening, but it was not his children or wife, nor an angel of vengeance who’d come to collect his wretched soul. It was just a nurse.

Right. He had pressed the call button.

“H-hi.”

"Is everything all right in here?" the nurse asked, concern clear in her voice. She glanced at Enji's hand holding Touya's and gasped.

"Did he wake up? He occasionally presses the call button, but he's never been conscious. Did you speak to him?"

“Yes, yes.” Enji only now felt the blood running down his chin. “He thrashed around and popped a stitch. I pressed the call button.”

"I see," the nurse sighed. She drew closer to examine the popped stitch and noticed the marks on Enji. "Oh no, are you injured? What--" She trailed off, eyes flicking to Touya passed out in the bed and the small injury on his father, putting the pieces together.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Treat my son first, please.” Enji pulled a tissue from the nightstand and dabbed at the bloody scratches. “I have my Quirk and I’m immune to infection. He doesn’t and isn’t.”

"Understood," the nurse murmured. She swiftly examined Touya's prone form and found the source of the injury, as well as a few other stitches that had been stressed, but not fully broken. She'd have to call the PA to redo the stitches, considering the delicate state of the grafts.

"Did he attack you?" she asked carefully.

Enji stared at her with wide, vulnerable eyes. “Will you have to tell the police if I say yes?..”

The nurse bit her lip. "I will have to record it in his file, which the police do have access to," she said softly. "Endeavor-san, I know you want to protect your son, but we need to know as much as possible. We're treating his physical body, but his mental state is another thing entirely. The doctors haven't been able to assess his mental or emotional health because he hasn't spoken. As far as we know, you're the only person he's spoken to other than... well, himself."

“Okay. Okay.” Enji took a couple deep breaths. “He wants to die. He begged me to let him die and tried to pull the IV out. If not death, then he wants the drugs. He mentioned being addicted and interested in continuing his substance use. He wants to kill me and then himself. He doesn’t want to be my son. He’s mildly interested in the state of his brother and fellow villains. He wants his Quirk back. He tried to choke me out but was too weak for that, so he settled on scratching me.”

The nurse nodded and began tapping out some notes in Touya's record. She asked a few more questions with no judgment in her tone and recorded Enji's answers.

"Thank you. Believe it or not, this is very useful. It indicates that your son has some understanding of what happened in the recent past, as well as a... a sense of self, however skewed. The psychologist may have more questions for you later, but for now, we can work on repairing these stitches and continuing his detox treatment."

“Okay,” Enji replied, surprised to hear his shaky voice. “I… I think I’ve had enough Touya for today. I’m gonna go.”

❄️ 🔥 🎆 ❄️ 🔥 🎆 ❄️ 🔥 🎆

“My pretty Enji,” Rei purred, stroking his chest over the hospital gown. “How are you still so pretty, huh?”

Enji stared at her incredulously. “Still yours, yes, but pretty? How the hell am I pretty? I look like shit, I’ve aged twenty years in the past week, and I have one less arm.”

“Noo, you’re pretty,” Rei insisted, moving her chair closer so she could cuddle Enji.

Enji wanted to wiggle away, but he still had minimal control over his right side, he didn’t want to make noise, and he was wary of disappointing his wife any more than he already had. “You know, I visited you plenty of times. If you wanted me so bad, you could’ve had me.”

“Well, back then I didn’t want you!”

Enji snorted. “And what the fuck changed your mind?”

Rei smiled at the memories. “When I saw you in the hospital crying.”

“What?” Enji choked on air. “What the hell… is that some weird kink?!”

“No!” Rei gasped. “No, no, baby, I just was surprised to see you vulnerable and having emotions.”

“Okay.” Enji still suspected a weird kink, but he decided not to press it.

“And I don’t care about the arm,” Rei assured. “I mean, I care, I’m sorry you lost it, baby, but that does not diminish your attractiveness in my eyes. Besides, both thighs are still there, gorgeous.” She squeezed one with a surprisingly strong grip.

“Okay.” Enji mellowed down and allowed himself to be groped. Something stirred deep inside him at the long-forgotten attention.

“Are we on?” Rei pressed, leaning closer. “You know I haven’t gotten any in years.”

“I feel that,” Enji sighed.

Rei stilled. “What, you mean you haven’t?”

Enji frowned in confusion. “How, if you were in the hospital?”

“I meant, with someone else.”

“Oh! No. No, I haven’t.”

Rei wrapped her arms around Enji’s waist and squeezed tightly. “My sweet boy.”

Enji did not struggle, but he wanted it to stop. “Not in front of Touya.”

“Ah, he’s sleeping.”

“Yeah, right. That’s what you said when he was two.”

The next time Touya was forced to endure conscious proximity with Endeavor was some time later, and a number of things felt... different.

First, his brain felt unsettlingly quiet. The kind of quiet that he usually only got from drugs or rampant destruction, but he didn't have the jittery, manic high that he associated with methamphetamines, and he was painfully aware that he couldn't destroy anything.

He'd been forced to speak with some doctors after they figured out he was faking his unconsciousness half of the time, and then they gave him some kind of drugs that made him vomit and feel even more exhausted. At least now he was only nauseous.

He was also now handcuffed to the hospital bed, but that wasn't really a problem because he could just melt them off--

Oh wait, he couldn't do that anymore. Fuck.

He became aware of the fact that he could hear his parents' voices, and it almost sounded like they were - ugh - flirting. How did that happen? He figured Rei would've divorced his father by now.

Maybe he really was in hell. His divine punishment was listening to his mother put the moves on Endeavor.

He cracked an eye open and tried to muster up a glare.

“Yeah, but it’s not the case this time,” Rei insisted.

Enji groaned in annoyance. “Rei, I want to repair our marriage, but even I have my limits. We’re in a hospital. In front of our son who fucking hates me, who’s hurting so much right now just thinking about it makes me cry. I’m hurt. I lost a fucking limb, I just fought All for One, I was in a goddamn war, I’m on so many meds I don’t know if I’m lucid. I can’t do anything if I wanted to. And right now, I’m so not in the mood. If you want to go for someone else, I’m fi-”

“Seriously?” Rei gasped, not noticing her son’s pointed stare. “That’s your solution to repair our marriage?!”

“Touya’s awake,” Enji warned.

“Oh.” Rei forced herself to calm down. “Hi, darling.”

Touya blinked at his mother. He didn't want to think about the conversation he'd just overheard. He didn't want to think about anything. They must have cut his pain meds because his head ached and his body felt like it was trying to eject him.

"Kill me," he groaned, more dramatic sarcasm than true desire this time.

“See what marital problems do to a child?” Rei said, jumping to her favorite way of resolving problems with Touya: blaming her husband.

Enji recognized it and slapped his forehead. Unfortunately, he forgot his arm was now metal. “Ouch, fuck!”

Rei cackled at the red print on Enji’s forehead.

Touya stared at the scene, not really believing it was real. It felt so painfully mundane and normal. He was suddenly transported ten years prior.

He yanked on the cuffs, creating a metallic clang, but they didn't budge. He felt like throwing up again, but he wasn't sure if it was medication or the nearness of his parents. There was a door in the room. It was closed, but it was a door.

"Why are you here?" he demanded. He thrashed to side and hated how clear everything was. "Get me out of here. What the fuck did they give me?" He didn't even have a fucking pain buzzer anymore.

“Oh! Enji, what did they give him?” Rei asked, mildly disturbed by her son’s behavior.

“Antipsychotics,” Enji replied calmly, not meeting Touya’s eyes. “You kept talking to the walls, darling. We’re working on getting you out of here. You must understand it’s not easy. A lot of people want you locked up forever.”

“Or executed,” Rei added.

Enji whipped around and stared at her in shock. “What is wrong with you? He’s your son!”

“It’s your fault he’s like this,” Rei argued, pointing at Touya.

Enji was too full of medication to handle two family members dissing him. “Doesn’t matter. Touya, are you in pain?”

"Yes, I want pain meds," Touya answered immediately.

He turned to his mother. He had a flash of memory, of her reaching out to him through the fire when he was so close to his goal.

"They wanna execute me?" he asked bluntly. "Fine. Bring 'em in. We can do the injection right here." He lifted his arms as much as he could with the cuffs and turned them over to show his veins.

“Oh my god,” Rei gasped. “Enji, this isn’t going to get better, is it?”

Enji took a deep breath, trying not to blow up. “Rei, I can’t… I can’t console you right now. My son wants to die. I have to relearn basic motor skills. My head hurts so bad I lowkey want to die too. Can you toughen up one time and parent your son?”

Rei gasped and made a half-hearted shove at Enji. Of course, with their weight difference, all it achieved was Enji’s offended look. She then stood up and stormed off.

“I wish I could switch places with you,” Enji grumbled to his son.

Touya watched the interaction like it was a movie playing in nearby room, not his life. It was all too familiar - strangely nostalgic. It made him angry all over again.

"Switch places with me?" he hissed. "Look at me! I'm stitched together like a Frankenstein's goddamn monster! I don't have a Quirk, everyone I knew is either dead or in prison, and the best I can hope for is a clean prison cell to get fucking shanked in, or a quick execution. Don't try to make me pity you. It's not gonna work. Divorce her if you hate her so much. Don't complain to me about it."

“Okay, okay, sheesh.” Enji rolled his eyes. “And don’t talk to me about being Frankenstein’s monster. You’re not the one with three limbs. Your new skin looks good, by the way. It’ll heal, and you’ll be fine. And I’m trying my best to keep you out of prison, so maybe try to not be such a dick to everyone around. I fucked up as a father, but don’t act like all the shit you’ve done is my fault. I didn’t make you commit arson. I didn’t make you kill innocent people. I didn’t make you partake in organized crime. You wanna talk about daddy issues? Deku hasn’t heard from his dad in years. Hawks’ dad didn’t even feed him. My dad went up in flames when I was eight. Do you see any of us going on a murderous rampage? For once in your life, look at your own self instead of pointing a finger at me.”

It'll heal, and you'll be fine.

Touya didn't believe that for a second. He knew what it was like to staple himself back together. It always ended up hurting again. He just slowly oozed blood and embers, but it never truly healed.

His head swam. This was the most he'd spoken in one go and it made him exhausted. He heard Endeavor talking about his father’s death, and fucking Hawks, of all people. Was that asshole still alive? Was Deku? Or did Shigaraki actually turn him to dust?

His eyes scanned Endeavor's missing arm. He didn't even do that - All for One did. He wouldn't have taken the right one, anyway. He wanted Endeavor to be at full fighting strength when he killed him.

He was able to curl his hand enough to point a finger, but he couldn't turn it towards Endeavor thanks to the cuffs.

"Can't anyway," he said wryly. A little joke. His eyes followed the fingertip to the doorway. It was closed again. At least he still knew how to drive his mother away.

"Where's my pain pump?" he asked, still looking around for the little device that could offer him blessed numbness.

Enji actually chuckled at Touya’s little quip. “Well, the doctor thinks you no longer need it. If you need pain medication, you’re going to have an annoying conversation with the nurse and then probably the doctor. They flagged your chart as ‘drug-seeking,’ so it might not be easy, Touya.”

Touya heard the name and it sluggishly filtered through his brain like some kind of sludge. Drug-seeking, my ass.

"Don't call me that. Why are you still here?"

“What am I supposed to call you?” Enji asked calmly. “I’m here because I want to be.” He looked into the pocket of the sweatpants they’d allowed him to wear. “Do you smoke? Like, tobacco?”

"Don't call me anything. If we're not fighting, just leave. Go do something else and leave me alone." Despite his words, he followed Endeavor's gaze with suspicion. "Tobacco? Sometimes. Weed would be better."

“I haven’t been home since fighting All for One, and I don’t want your mother to know I smoke weed, so I don’t have any on me.” Enji pulled a pack of fancy-looking cigarettes with English writing on them. “She doesn’t know about tobacco either. The US ambassador brought me those. He said it’s my reward for dealing with All for One. You want one right now? I can open the window and ask the cop outside not to let anyone in.”

Touya stared at the box and in that moment, yeah, he'd take a damn cigarette. He didn't have anything else. It was at least a buzz. More talking made him tired.

"You'd have to take one of these cuffs off so I could hold it, because I'm not letting you fucking hold it for me," he said carefully.

“I don’t have the cuff key, cause if I did, I’d make a bad call and let you out,” Enji said wistfully. “Oh, hey, actually, if I put the bed into a sitting position, that would get your hands closer to your face. Would that work?”

Touya took that information and filed it away. Endeavor would let him out if he had the chance. A sentimental, idiotic move. He could work with that. He stared down at the cuffs.

"They're just aluminum," he argued.

“You just don’t know shit about metals, do you?” Enji snorted. “That’s titanium, sweetie. I can’t melt that in my current state.”

Touya frowned at the metal around his wrist. All the times he'd been cuffed before, they easily melted away, so he assumed it was aluminum or steel. Why would they waste money on titanium on him if he didn't have Blueflame? Maybe the doctors or the cops didn't trust the suppressants. Maybe they didn't work that well.

He weighed in his mind whether he actually cared enough about the weak hit of nicotine and tar to move.

"Fine, move the bed," he sighed.

“Alright, hold on.”

Enji stood up and walked to the door. It was clear now that he had difficulty moving. He peeked outside and exchanged a couple words with someone else, after which he unlocked the wheels on the hospital bed and rolled it towards the window. It wasn’t easy as Enji was limping and wasn’t entirely in control of his prosthesis, but he managed.

He then opened the window, with similar difficulty. The air outside was pleasant and cool, birds were singing, and a leaf flew in.

Adjusting the bed was even more difficult, and Enji inwardly lamented the fact that he would have to put it back down, but the adjustment did allow Touya’s hands near his face.

Enji put a cigarette into Touya’s hand and made a move to light it up with his right hand.

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath and repeated the move with the left hand. The thing lit up, and he moved on to getting his own fix, equally clumsy and clearly unsure how to use his hands now.

Touya watched the entire spectacle numbly. He thought he would be glad to see Endeavor weak, but instead it was just... deeply unsatisfying. Watching him struggle with simple tasks made Touya want to push him out the window.

The scent of Hellflame and the feeling of heat made his nostrils flare and his blood churn. He wanted the fire back. He wanted it so badly his hands shook. Maybe that was the detox, though. Actually smoking the damn thing required him to bend his body over awkwardly, the fragile new skin stretching and twisting as he brought his mouth to the cigarette clutched between his fingers rather than the other way around.

The first drag wasn't bad. It burned his throat and the back of his tongue because he breathed in too quickly, but he kind of liked that part. Seeing Endeavor smoking at the window next to him was surreal. It didn't fit with the images in his mind.

Enji sat on the windowsill despite his weakness - he actually enjoyed the fresh air and the sight of smoke escaping into the sky. He even somewhat enjoyed his son’s presence nearby, the sight of him, for once, being satisfied about something.

“Have you seen yourself in the mirror yet?” Enji asked quietly with a little smile. “You look like a fucking K-pop star. Fuyumi called it ‘Touya’s pastel princess era.’”

"No," Touya rasped, watching a little wisp of smoke dissipate in front of him.

Fuyumi. He wanted to see Yumi and Natsu. He didn't take any real pleasure in hurting them. They weren't supposed to be part of it. If he had to be alive right now, then maybe he could see his siblings.

Enji pulled his phone out of his pocket, turned on the front view camera, and held it in front of his son’s face.

Touya stared at the person in the camera and didn't recognize them. His new skin was pink and a little swollen, with deep bruises around the edges of his jaw and under his eyes. How the fuck had the doctors here fixed him so quickly? Even Garaki had left his flesh darkly mottled and taut, not like this.

He wanted you to be a monster, something in the back of his mind said.

He wanted to tear it off. It wasn't real. It wasn't him. The eyes staring back at him belonged to his father. Touya Todoroki died over a decade ago. He wasn't that person.

rip tear tear it off burn it

The urge hit him so hard he dropped the half-smoked cigarette in his lap and he dug his blunt nails into the puffy skin on his cheeks, trying to pull it away to reveal the charred skeleton that lived underneath.

Enji tossed the phone into Touya’s lap, grabbed the cigarette before it could set the sheets on fire, and held Touya’s hand firmly around the middle of the palm.

“Shh, no scratching. What are you, a kitty? Stop using your nails. It’s your face, you’re pretty, it’s fine.”

Touya's new face still stared up at him from the screen in his lap, except now the camera caught the edge of Endeavor's giant hand holding his, stopping him from taking off the mask.

"Stop touching me," he growled. "That's not me. I don't know who that is. This isn't real. I'm dead and this isn't real."

“Well if you’re dead, why not chill the fuck out and enjoy a cigarette?” Enji countered, still holding Touya’s hand.

Touya couldn't actually argue with that logic.

His brain was jumping all over the place, convinced in one moment that everything he was seeing was a mirage, and in another certain that it was all terribly, awfully real, and he really did all the things he remembered, and he and Endeavor were both still painfully alive.

"Okay," he said weakly. "Where's Natsu?"

“On the front lines,” Enji replied, handing him the cigarette back. “There are so many injured they recruited anyone with any amount of medical knowledge. Even cops. He worked fourteen hours yesterday, until he collapsed.”

Touya just held the cigarette in his hand, watching it slowly smolder. He blinked and almost couldn't remember where he was.

"Yumi?"

“Also on the front lines. She’s been recruited by the rescue committee. They reunite lost or orphaned children with surviving adult family members and find placement for those who don’t have any adults left.” Enji sighed, observing the smoke. “The number of those is… higher than we expected.”

Some emotion he didn't understand twisted in Touya's chest. He didn't want to hear about it anymore.

"Let me die," he said again, like a mantra. "I shouldn't be here."

“No,” Enji said quietly. “You’ve done a lot of shit. You destroyed lives, you killed people, you ruined buildings where people lived and worked. You’ve hurt your siblings. You tried to kill your brother, who’s a child. You made your mother hurt and worry. You don’t get to just check out and have it all be over. You don’t get the easy exit. Just like I have to face the consequences of my actions, so do you.”

Consequences. Touya was pretty sure there were no consequences big enough for what they had done. So... yeah, execution probably. He took another careful drag of the cigarette.

Shigaraki was in the hospital somewhere. If he could find him, maybe they could bust out with Decay.

"I want to see them," he said.

Touya was taking it better than Enji had expected.

“Okay, I’ll let them know you want that. What about your mother? Do you want to see her alone?”

He thought about Rei and how easily she'd stormed out, leaving him alone there with Endeavor. How was it that she could bust through a firestorm to reach him with her ice, but couldn't sit in a hospital room and listen to him talk? Maybe it didn't matter.

"If she wants to, I don't care," he answered.

He realized he was gnawing on the filter of the spent cigarette like an animal. He wondered what would happen if he stubbed it out on his thigh - was he still fireproof with all the medications and somebody else's skin?

Endeavor had a soft spot for him, which was ridiculous but useful. His eyes were still drawn to the door. No way was he going to some goddamn trial. He'd get out somehow or die trying. That would be a good punishment all on its own, either for him or Endeavor.

Enji gently plucked the filter out of his hold and quickly burned it away.

“She’ll be back,” he assured softly. “It wasn’t you she ran away from, it’s me. It’ll be better when I’m not here. It’s… an adjustment. Shouto is closed off, Yumi and Natsu are busy, and I let the rescue committee use the house, so they’re staying at my agency. It’s unsettling to her, I guess.”

Touya stared at his suddenly empty hands in mild confusion. It felt like time was delayed in some ways. He couldn't move, and everything around him was too fast. He wanted to try and focus on making an escape plan, but his brain kept meandering off in other directions.

"Hm," he replied noncommittally. He tried to absorb the information about his siblings, although a big part of him hated the continued sound of Endeavor's voice.

He didn't really want to talk anymore. The light spring breeze that came in through the window felt like it was taunting him. He didn't care if Rei came back. Maybe he could convince the nurse that skin grafts hurt bad enough for something more than acetaminophen.

Enji’s heart ached for his wayward child. His poor boy was hurting, and there seemed to be nothing he could do.

“Touya, is there anything other than drugs, death, and escape that would cheer you up? Do you want to maybe talk to Shigaraki? I can try to arrange that.”

Touya's eyes slid across to Endeavor perched at the window. If he couldn't do anything else at the moment, he might as well milk the old man's pity. If he could speak to Shigaraki, maybe they could come up with a plan. Find Toga and the others. Then what? He wasn't sure.

"Is All for One actually dead this time?" he asked dully. He definitely wasn't talking to Shigaraki if he was still being controlled by that freak.

“Yes,” Enji replied with conviction. “Hawks and I beat him into pulp, then All Might and Dynamight had their turn, and now he’s turned to ashes. The studies done on Shigaraki confirmed the jerk is not hiding in his body. Deku drove him out. So he’s gone for good.”

That gave Touya some pause. He'd put up with All for One because of the League, and because he was powerful enough to help with his goals, but he'd always quietly hoped Shigaraki would just dust him one day, so he didn't have to look at his disgusting excuse for a face and listen to him talk about everyone like they were just pawns.

His memory warped, ping-ponging all over the place as he attempted to revisit some of his more recent exploits. He remembered the cave. He remembered burning Toga's house down. He remembered bits and pieces of the final fight.

He eyed the door again. Speaking with Shigaraki could help him get out. Maybe just out of the room, if nothing else.

"Yeah, I'll talk to Shigaraki."

“Okay. Thank you for tolerating my presence, Touya. I know it’s hard. I’m gonna put the bed back, and then I’m gonna head out.”

Thank you for tolerating my presence.

Touya would have thought it was pathetic if he didn't know the sentiment was completely genuine. Everything was too clear. He could taste the remnants of cigarette smoke on the air.

"Leave it up. I haven't been vertical in fucking... however long I've been here."

🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆

When Tenko woke up, the first thing he felt was relief. He had not experienced anything like that in years. Everything he would feel had been suppressed, dictated, controlled, rationalized. And now he could feel whatever he wanted, and no one would weigh in on it.

He had expected to be questioned, tortured, beaten, everything All for One had threatened him with. But instead, he was cared for and encouraged to use painkillers rather than accepting pain as a natural part of life.

A therapist came to talk to him and asked him things like his perspective and his feelings mattered. Tenko cried because no one had ever treated him like this.

Then Endeavor came over. Tenko remembered having fought Endeavor and hurt him, but Endeavor wasn’t mad. Endeavor, Deku, and the other heroes had killed All for One. They had freed him. Endeavor was nice enough to notice no one visited Tenko. Tenko explained he had no family left - none that he knew of.

Tenko kept asking about Touya, and he learned that the love of his life was alive and making good progress in his healing.

Since Tenko was behaving and expressed no desire to mess anything up, he was allowed to go to the bathroom by himself, without an officer present, which was a relief. He still had to use a wheelchair, but he could feel his legs getting stronger. Endeavor had some other hero bring him books, so now he had something to do.

Still, he was most looking forward to seeing Touya. Today, Touya was coming over, and Tenko could barely contain his happiness.

Touya hated using a walker. It was bad enough in the physical therapy they made him do - handcuffed to the damn device after he'd thrown one of the tiny hand weights at the window hard enough to crack it.

(The cops that watched him all the time yelled and forced him down on the floor, but the PT just commented that his grip strength and hand-eye coordination was improving.)

He still didn't understand what the point of a physical recovery was. They were just gonna lock him up until it was time to stick the needle in his arm. Maybe he could request a firing squad instead for the drama.

He hated the drugs they had him on. He was used to relying on disembodied visions and furious, manic cravings telling him what to do. Now all he had was the echoing quiet in his head, the voices of various hospital staff, or - worst of all - Endeavor. But he'd been promised a visit with Shigaraki, so he was focused on that.

Between puking his guts up from the methadone, feeling dizzy and sleepy all the time from antipsychotics and sedation, multiple unsuccessful attempts to claw the weird new skin off his body, and the patronizing way all the doctors spoke about him (like he was a particularly interesting research specimen), he needed something to focus on. He had a feeling he was going to be transferred somewhere soon, so he needed to make his brain and body function for this.

He clung stubbornly to the railing as he staggered towards the room where they were keeping Shigaraki. The cops trailed along nearby, and he stubbornly dragged the walker he was cuffed to beside him - he refused to use it. He could walk. Not well, but he could do it. The cops were bored of his antics at this point.

Some therapist or social worker tried to talk to him about speaking calmly and how they "were in a safe place now" or whatever, but he tuned her out. She opened the door of the other room and Touya didn't have time to make his own entrance because the cops uncuffed him from the walker, forcefully dragged him inside, and cuffed him to a chair instead. He blinked to get his eyes used to the dimmer light in the room.

Shigaraki looked like shit. There was no other word for it. Touya suspected that he looked like shit as well, but he didn't really care. His former boss looked frail and concerned, sitting in a wheelchair with a stack of books on the table next to him. Since when did Shiggy read? Whatever, it didn't matter. They tried to give him books once but he hurled them at the orderly for fun. Maybe Shigaraki was better behaved.

He realized he'd been sitting in the chair saying nothing for a while. He realized he had no idea what to say, so he just said the first thing that came to mind.

"You're not dead."

“Touya!”

Tenko had to physically force himself not to rush and give Touya a bone-crushing hug. Yes, he’s your love, but you’re not his. Calm down.

“Why are you cuffed, dude?” he asked curiously, looking at his own uncuffed wrists.

"Why aren't you?" Touya huffed. He scowled and looked out Shigaraki's window. It just looked out on a parking lot.

"They cuffed me after I tried to choke Endeavor when I woke up." He gnawed on his lip. It took a few moments for his half-melted brain to catch up with his companion's words.

"The fuck did you just call me?"

“Sorry. Dabi,” Tenko corrected himself immediately. “Why would you choke Endeavor? He’s so nice. Everyone here is so nice. I’ve never been treated this well in my entire life.”

Something about the other name set Touya's teeth on edge as well. Nothing fit together like it was supposed to. His body felt like a cage and his mind wasn't any better. He tilted his head to the side and squinted. He wanted to get up and pry Shigaraki's eyelids open so he could stare inside his skull.

"What did they do to you? What kinda drugs did they scramble your brain with? You sound nuts right now."

Part of him appreciated the irony of calling Shigaraki nuts while he was the one cuffed to a chair because he kept trying to escape or attack the people around him. But that was how it was supposed to be.

“Nothing, actually. I’m not on drugs,” Tenko replied in a calm, clear voice. “This is my normal, All for One-less personality. And I don’t think it’s nuts to want to be treated better. Of course, it’s easy for you to say. You have a family that loves you, god knows why. I have no one. It’s been years since someone spoke to me without cussing me out, or ordering me, or taking orders from me, or insulting me. Maybe if you weren’t such a dick to everyone around, you wouldn’t be cuffed.”

Touya blinked. Okay, this was not going how he'd expected. He was looking for a kindred spirit in this damn place - instead, they'd somehow gotten to Shigaraki. He didn't want to touch the shit about his family with a ten-foot pole. He stared down at the cuffs on his wrists.

"This is just how I am," he argued. He swallowed and wet his lips. He needed to approach this conversation differently, but talking to people was never his strong suit.

"It's not nuts to want something better, you're right about that," he relented. "You know they're just gonna throw us in prison and string us up after this, right? It doesn't matter how nice they are right now."

“I don’t mind,” Tenko said unexpectedly. “This is the freest I’ve ever been. You realize I had that maniac literally possess my brain? I’d rather be in prison. To me, this is freedom. I realize it’s different for you. But Endeavor says no one is pushing for death penalty. The public blames All for One. Also, the details of what he did to us… Well, during the fight, All for One taunted Endeavor with some details, and then Endeavor shared it in an interview. And many people feel bad for us and blame All for One. So I think they’ll just put us in a mental hospital or something.”

Touya's guts churned uncomfortably. He wasn't really aware of the extent of All for One's control of Shigaraki, or everything he'd done. It was bad enough that Endeavor knew that the freaky doctor had taken him after Sekoto Peak.

"You don't mind going to prison," Touya repeated. "You really believe all that stuff? That they won't execute us and they blame All for One?"

“That’s what Endeavor said, and I believe him,” Tenko said confidently. “Has he ever lied?”

Touya didn't know how to answer that question. Maybe Endeavor hadn't lied exactly in that way, but he was supposed to be there for him as a child, he was supposed to be the person who understood, but instead he'd been abandoned. It would take too long for him to try and make Shigaraki understand.

He squeezed the handrests of the chair and looked away, back out at the view of the busy parking lot. He wanted Blueflame back. He decided not to answer the question.

"You got your Quirk?" he asked.

Tenko shook his head. “No. I’m on suppressants.”

Fuck.

That scratched Touya's first idea. Of course, if Shigaraki had full use of Decay, he probably would have broken out a long time ago.

He squinted at the figure before him. Shigaraki wasn't cuffed, but he was weak. Neither of them could overpower even one normal cop or hero at this point, much less the constant guard shifts that patrolled the hall.

"Think you can swipe a cuff key?" he asked quietly.

Tenko froze and stared at him for a moment.

“What?” he exclaimed, giving Touya a sharp glare. “Dabi, are you nuts? I’m not getting out. I’m not going back to being a villain. If that’s why you are seeing me, you can go back to your room. I’m staying, I’m getting treated, I’m done with the criminal bullshit.”

Touya's heart sank. He'd suspected the answer as soon as Shigaraki had actually started talking.

He really was alone.

It wasn't so much that he wanted to go back to being a villain. His whole reason for that was all messed up now. He hated the meds, but they made his thoughts slower and he was forced to struggle with the fact that he didn't really know why he did most things, it was just a compulsion of sorts. He just didn't want to be here. He didn't want treatment, he didn't want prison, he didn't want a mental hospital.

Most days he still just wanted death, but now that was off the table unless he could take it into his own hands. Endeavor wouldn't do the only thing he'd really asked of him and let him die, and now Shigaraki wasn't much help either.

"I don't give a fuck about being a villain," he snapped. "You think I care about All for One's master plan or something? I don't. I just don't want to be here anymore."

“Well, we can’t always get what we want,” Tenko said sagely. “We fucked up, we are fucked up, and now we’re facing the consequences of that. This is the situation, and we’ll have to deal with it.”

Consequences. There was that word again. But Touya knew - even better now, through the awful clarity of sobriety - that there was nothing he could do to pay for what he'd done. There was no use worrying about it.

"Okay," he answered numbly.

“Okay?” Tenko repeated, softer. “Okay. Good. Let’s try to make the best of it. We have each other, and if you behave, they’ll give you more freedom. I know you hate Endeavor, but you have other family members you could spend time with. It’s not nothing. And also, isn’t it good that we don’t have to worry where our next meal comes from? That we have normal beds and not the cave floor and some rags? That we can sleep in peace?”

Shigaraki's voice sounded different. It was softer, but not the kind of softness that came from being choked out or subject to All for One's torture. Touya didn't know what to make of it. If he didn't have a partner-in-crime, a confidante, then what was the point of more attempts at escape? He wished that Shigaraki still had Decay just so he could ask him to turn him to dust.

Ugh.

Now that he was more lucid, the constant craving for death was annoying. He hated the idea of giving anyone the satisfaction of his death. Some part of him also worried that it would impact his siblings, but they'd recovered after his death the first time and could do it again.

"Sleep is good," Touya relented. What he wouldn't give for the blissful high of opioids, though. He didn't say that part out loud.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you want,” Tenko said apologetically. “But I’m here for you. We can go through all this shit together. You can tell me stuff you don’t want to tell your family. I know we’re just partners in crime, but I really consider you a friend.”

"Tch, I don't even know what I want," Touya grumbled. He moved to cross his arms, but they were still cuffed to the chair.

A friend. Yeah, right. He wasn't friendly. Neither was Shigaraki, at least not the old version.

"You're really okay with all this? With just... letting them make all these decisions about us? With prison and the nut house or whatever?"

“I’ve never made decisions for myself before, so it’s really easy for me,” Tenko admitted. “At least they explain to me what they’re doing and why. What medications I am given, what they’re gonna do to me. Garaki and All for One just fucking went for it without a care in the world. And I do believe heroes and doctors mean well. You know Endeavor fought All for One? With one fucking arm? He could have burned me into nothing. He could have blown your head off. Deku could have strangled me with those black tendrils of his. But they didn’t. They brought us to be treated. They care what happens to us. They understand we’re not like All for One, that we’re not just evil for shits and giggles. Maybe this isn’t the end of the world. Maybe we’ll be treated and we can find some meaning in life. Maybe we’ll even be out one day.”

Touya didn't really understand why Endeavor or the other heroes had bothered to capture them in the first place, much less bring them to a hospital. Maybe it was a requirement for heroes to spare villains wherever possible. For the doctors at least, he knew it was their profession that drove them towards recovery. That's what doctors were for. Heroes were a mystery.

"Who says I'm not evil for shits and giggles?" he huffed weakly.

Finding meaning was laughable and getting out what even more ridiculous. He'd dedicated his entire young life to punishing Endeavor, but even after he did that, nothing got better.

"Glad it works out for you," he said. His voice sounded dull but the sentiment was genuine.

“Touya, what do you want?” Tenko asked genuinely. He did not know whether to tell Touya that he has one more person loving him, caring about him, wanting him to be happy. “Is there anything I can do? I feel so bad for you.”

"Don't pity me," Touya snapped. "I told you, I don't know what the hell I want. I don't have a purpose. I'm just existing for no reason. I want..."

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Endeavor and his mother had asked the same thing, but he hated talking to them. Shigaraki was more palatable.

"I want out of here, but that's not going to happen. I want to see Natsu, but... it's not a good idea."

Well, that was something.

“Why is it not a good idea?” Tenko asked

"Because I tried to kill him, man," Touya sighed, shaking his head. "You know why I'm in cuffs and you're not? I've attacked anyone who comes close. I can't help it."

“You can’t help it? Well, you’re not attacking me yet, that’s good,” Tenko reasoned. “I think if you explain that you can’t help it, they’ll understand it’s a mental problem and not you just being a dick for no reason.”

Touya mulled that one over. He hadn't attempted to attack Shigaraki, but he was also cuffed to a chair on the other side of the room. Besides that, Shigaraki was his ally. Everyone else was a potential enemy.

"Being a dick for no reason is kind of my brand," he said with a wry smile.

“Does it make you happy though? Or satisfied?”

Touya actually laughed. It made his cheeks ache. "Shigaraki, nothing makes me happy. Nothing is satisfying except drugs and destruction."

“Alright, happiness is not your drive. I get it,” Tenko accepted with a nod. “What drives you is spite. How about if I dare you not to be a dick? Can you get through one conversation with Endeavor without insulting or attacking him? I dare you. If you win, I’ll give you one of my muffins.”

Touya hated that Shigaraki understood his motivations so clearly. He wished again that he could cross his arms to shield himself, but it was impossible. The skin on his face itched from talking so long.

"I'm not a dog, I can't be lured with treats," he spat. It was halfway a lie because the muffins from the hospital cafeteria were admittedly pretty good.

"Endeavor wants to get me out, he's all guilty," he huffed and narrowed his eyes. "You're actually serious about this? The whole recovery thing?"

He was starting to understand Shigaraki's demeanor. He felt like the heroes had saved him from an even worse fate. He was free of All for One's influence, even if he was locked in a hospital room. His body wasn't being experimented on. It made sense.

“Yes, I’m serious. I want to recover and do something chill with my life. Even if it’s growing plants in a prison yard. I’m playing nice.”

Now that his mind wasn’t controlled, Tenko discovered he had a lot more emotions and feelings than he had before, and he found it easier to relate to others. “I feel bad for Endeavor. He’s kind of like us, you know? He’s done bad shit, even if he didn’t know any better. And now he regrets it, but there’s no turning back. There’s nothing he can do.”

"If you want me to go along with this, you'd be better off mentioning Endeavor as little as possible," Touya grumbled.

He wasn't sure if he regretted anything he'd done. Well, all right, he regretted bringing his siblings into it. Even Shouto, because he was just a kid. The things he felt weren't regret, but he did get confused about why he hurt people.

"Prison would suck. I don't wanna get shanked and become someone's bitch. Maybe they'd put us in a mental hospital instead."

“If you don’t want to go to prison, stop acting like a thug and be nice to your dad,” Tenko said sternly. “I don’t care if you’re mad when I mention him, he’s the only one who can really help you. He has huge influence right now, from what I hear. People walk by this hospital and fucking bow to it because Endeavor’s in here. He fought the worst villains this country has ever faced and lost his arm in the process - he has so much clout right now All Might looks like a D-list sidekick next to him. Whether you like him or not, you have to make him your ally if you don’t want to go to prison. You don’t have to be genuine, just play nice. He can get you the best lawyers, he can apply to public opinion or speak with the court. If worst comes to worst, he can use his cash to make your life easier in prison. Don’t throw that away.”

Touya was startled to hear Shigaraki trying to boss him around like they were still in the PLF or something. He hated that all he could do was sit there and listen. He hated more that he was right.

Endeavor had clout and influence. He had money. He pitied Touya and maybe Shigaraki and the rest of the villains, too. Endeavor was also motivated to get him out - he'd said as much out loud.

"That's true," Touya hummed as he mulled it over.

He had no power to attack Endeavor right now. But his father was useful in this circumstance. The rest of his family as well, to a certain extent. It was a plan, if nothing else. Shigaraki was good at making plans.

"Fine," he snapped. "I'm not good at playing nice, but I'll figure something out." If nothing else, he could just stop talking again.

“If you can do nothing else, no more attacks,” Tenko warned. “No more physical lashing out at people. If you must hurt something, hurt objects. Or cry instead of growling. People tend not to feel compassionate for aggressive types, but ‘sad and suffering’ might just work. Think about it as your assigned mission.”

Touya rolled his eyes. He could do that more comfortably now without all the staples. He didn't want to admit how much it did feel like a mission. Operation: Stay the Fuck Out of Prison. But he was a fighter, he didn't do recon and manipulation.

"My tear ducts are fucked, so I couldn't cry even if I wanted to," he huffed. "I'll try the whole... not attacking thing." In truth, it was unsettling when he couldn't control his impulses now.

“Good. I’m glad.” Tenko yawned. “I need to lay down now. Talking to you is hard work.”

"Same to you," Touya snorted. He looked away and caught a hint of his reflection in the window.

"Hey, answer me one thing -  how goddamn ridiculous do I look right now? They put all these skin grafts on me and now I don't recognize myself."

“You look really good,” Tenko said, stretching lazily on the bed. “Attractive, I would even say.”

"Attractive," Touya muttered under his breath, like it was an insult. Whether or not he was attractive didn't matter. He'd probably never get laid again.

His eyes unconsciously tracked the stretch, feeling jealous that Shigaraki could freely move and he couldn't. He suspected that the other man was lying about the attractiveness thing because Shigaraki looked terrible. But it was the normal kind of terrible. The 'recovering from serious injuries and I'm stuck in a hospital bed' terrible, rather than the 'a faceless worm man is trying to burrow into my brain and my skin is flaking off' terrible.

He didn't feel like explaining all that, though.

"I'll yell at the nurse and you can go the fuck to sleep," Touya grumbled.

“M’kay,” Tenko murmured, dozing off. “See you later.”

🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶

The first therapy session was more eye-opening than Enji had ever expected. He was referred by his doctor who was concerned that Enji’s mental state hindered his progress. Enji also suspected that anyone dealing with Touya would at least consider that his mental illness was hereditary.

To his horror, the therapist pointed out some similarities between him and his son. Pushing people away. Anger masking all the other emotions. Inability to ask for help. Begrudging acceptance instead of genuine appreciation.

How could Enji fault Touya for acting this way given his own actions? He had never shown love. Not to his wife, not to his children. He lashed out at everyone in his life. He wouldn’t ask for help even when his arm got cut off. He was trying to push his affection and help on Touya and getting upset when it was refused - but Hawks had been offering his friendship and help the whole time, and the best Enji could do was grumble at him. Even after Hawks had saved his life.

What kind of friend was he? What kind of person?

Enji didn’t even know if Hawks was busy when he dialed the number. If he was hurt. If he was resting.

Good god, I really am an asshole.

Hawks was starfished across his bed, wondering what the hell to do with himself. The past few weeks had been a rollercoaster, to say the least. The horrors of the final battle still flashed across his vision every time he closed his eyes.

The doctors and social workers said he needed to rest and recover, but all he wanted to do after the horrifying ordeal of losing his wings and then getting them back was go go go. He would never take the ability to fly for granted again.

He still didn't quite understand how he had Fierce Wings back at all, much less returned to the state they'd been in before Dabi burnt them off. He knew it had something to do with Shigaraki and Deku and the combination of All for One and One for All, but that kinda felt above his pay grade. Besides, he'd been sorta bleeding out in the dirt at the time of the big finale, and then passed out in a hospital for a while.

So here he was, left terribly to his own devices while his body healed, staring up at the ceiling of his small bedroom. Maybe he should jerk off or something.

The phone buzzing in his hands with an unexpected call made him jump, and one look at the caller ID made him scream and fling the damn thing away.

There was no way Endeavor was calling him. There was no way Endeavor was calling him.

On the off chance it wasn't a hallucination, he scrambled off the bed to retrieve the device. He cradled it against his ear while crouching on the bedroom floor between piles of laundry.

"Hello? Endeavor-san?"

“Hi, Hawks,” Enji greeted in that soft but respectful tone he reserved for his children. “Thank you for helping me fight All for One. I’m calling to ask how you’re doing. I heard your Quirk was back, is that true?”

"Hi!" Hawks screeched, way too loud and high-pitched. There was no mistaking that despondent timbre.

"I'm good, I'm good," he gushed. "Wow, the number one calling little ol' me. My Quirk is back and better than ever, baby! Um, supposed to be on bed rest or whatever, but I'm not gonna lie, I've taken a few flights. What about you? To what do I owe the pleasure of this private call?"

Oh fuck, he hoped that didn't come off as flirty. He tried really hard not to flirt with Endeavor, but it was like muscle memory.

For some reason, Enji felt his face get warm. Maybe it was the power of friendship.

“I just, um, I just realized that I’ve been taking you for granted,” Enji confessed. “You’ve always been there, and I treated you as an annoyance, and now you’re not there, and it… feels… different. My wife is here for me now, and… I don’t know, maybe it’s selfish, but you’ve never demanded anything from me and you’ve put up with all my bullshit, and I didn’t realize how good I had it.”

"Your wife?" Hawks repeated, like an idiot. Of course Endeavor and Rei were reconciling. He'd seen it happening after the first battle with Shigaraki and the subsequent expose from Dabi. It was a good thing; he was sure of that.

"T-that's great! Glad to hear you guys are reconnecting. But we don't have to be in a life or death situation to talk, or hang out, or any of that! I don't... I mean, I am kind of annoying. I don't take anything too seriously."

He laughed nervously. Did anything he was saying even make sense?

“You’re not that annoying, Hawks. You can come over if you want. I’m still at the hospital.” Enji sighed. He wanted something from Hawks, but he could not quite put his finger on it.

You can come over if you want.

Well, that was as much of an invitation as he was ever going to get. What he wouldn't give to have Endeavor ask him to come over under slightly different circumstances.

He told himself to calm down. Endeavor was an injured, traumatized, straight, married man. Just his luck.

"You're still at the hospital? Of course I'll come over! I've been cooped up here way too long. Gimme your room number and I'll fly over."

“233.” Enji could not hide the relief in his voice. “Hawks, I’m… I’m suffering. I’m really miserable. And I can’t tell my family that because everyone blames me for their own suffering.”

Hawks' heart pained for him. "Hey, I get that. Of course you're suffering. This whole fiasco is painful. You don't have to be okay right away. I can come over and you can vent about it all you want."

“Please come over,” Enji sighed, getting over his inability to accept help. “Rei finally got fed up with me and left, so I’m alone.”

Hawks wanted to fly, but while his wings were miraculously back to normal, other body parts were not. The trains were running again though, so he endured the stares of the haggard populace while he traveled to the hospital.

The desk staff let him up right away and he quickly located Endeavor's room. He had to stop in the threshold for a moment because the sight of him was... not good. It wasn't the missing arm - not really. That was jarring, but he'd seen it already, and he was getting used to seeing pros without all their limbs. It was more the exhaustion and sorrow in his face and the stiff, grief-stricken set of his broad shoulders.

Hawks could be cheerful, though. Maybe it was a little fake, but he was genuinely glad to see Endeavor, and even happier to actually be invited and told he wasn't that annoying. A real compliment from someone like Endeavor.

"Heyyy, the man of the hour!" he greeted with a grin. "How does it feel to save the world?"

Enji’s sad face lit up with a smile. “It’s so weird because my family treats me like I’ve just come home from a fishing trip while they were working. I keep forgetting I’ve done something worthy.”

"Ah, you know me, always happy to be president of the Endeavor fan club," Hawks grinned, flashing a v-sign. "Well, not actually president of your official fan club. I have a feeling that's a full-time job."

He wasn't sure how to respectfully disagree with Endeavor's family and their treatment of him. There was a lot of trauma and love lost there. Maybe it was better to not argue.

“I’m glad you’re here. But… be real with me. Do I deserve compassion?” Enji looked at his metal arm with disdain. “My world is upside down, and nobody cares. Is it my fault?”

"What?" Hawks gasped, completely caught off guard by both the question and the unexpected vulnerability. "Of course you deserve compassion! You just put your life on the line to take out All for One and you saved your son from dying in his own fire. Listen, I know things are rocky with your family and that's probably way more complicated than I know... but making mistakes in the past doesn't mean you're not doing good now. The work of crazed supervillains is not your fault, and a ton of people care. Maybe not your family right now, but the public and your fellow heroes definitely do."

“I should talk to other people more,” Enji said in a trembling voice. “Touya hates me and wants me to die, Shouto ignores me, Natsuo answers in one-liners, Yumi wants her parents to reconcile, and all my wife wants is for me to sleep with her.” Halfway through that sentence, Enji lost his battle against tears.

“Is that all I am, just a source of cash and something to be used? I’m tired all the time, everything hurts, I’m on so many medications I can barely feel my body, and when I do feel it, it has a metal arm attached to it where the real one should be.” He sobbed, and tears dropped into his lap just like the previous time he was at the hospital.

“I’m not… I’m not okay, I had to relearn how to brush my teeth, I can’t write and I struggle to type on my phone, I don’t know if I can be the hero I used to be without my arm because I have less firepower, and no one wants to give me a break or cut even a little bit of slack. How much more should I suffer to earn a bit of compassion?!”

Hawks was completely caught off guard. He'd seen Endeavor cry before, but not quite like this.

"I... shit, I'm sorry you're going through this. You shouldn't have to earn compassion, but even if you did, everything you've done would be worth it. The way they're treating you... it's not okay. I wish I could change it, but it might just take time. You're a human being. You're not just a tool. This recovery bullshit is the worst part, but I know you can get through it. It will get better."

“Hawks, you’re such a good friend,” Enji cried. “And I’m not a good friend to you. I haven’t even asked how you’re dealing… with losing your Quirk and getting it back…”

"Oh, I'm totally fine!" Hawks insisted, brushing off the concern with a wave of his hand and a laugh. "As long as I don't think about it too hard, it’s like I'm back to my old self." He thought Endeavor must be on some powerful pain medication to call him a good friend.

“Come sit with me,” Enji offered, patting the space on the bed next to himself.

"Sure, sure," Hawks agreed. He couldn't remember Endeavor ever asking him to sit close. It really was a new world. He perched delicately on the edge of the hospital bed so he wouldn't be too far into the other man's space.

"Are you getting decent treatment here? The doctors giving you the good stuff?"

“I g-guess?” Enji looked around himself as if for the first time. “I’ve been so focused on Touya’s treatment I don’t think I even remember what I’m on.”

Hawks bit his lip uncomfortably. "Listen, I'm no expert on... well, anything, to be honest, but if your family is giving you this much trouble and you have all this recovery stuff to get through, maybe it's better to try focusing on getting better. You know - one thing at time. Fix your body first, then try the relationships. Obviously there's a ton of baggage there with--"

He hesitated, uncertain of whether to say Dabi or Touya.

"--with your son. But that's not gonna solve itself overnight. You're just gonna end up hurting yourself trying to please everybody. You can't pour from an empty cup."

“That makes sense,” Enji agreed easily. “Do you think a relationship can survive without physical intimacy?”

"Uhhh..." Hawks stalled. He was no relationship expert, but Endeavor was asking him, so he needed to come up with an answer.

Why was he asking anyway? He said Rei wanted to sleep with him - did that mean he didn't want her? He guessed that made some sense, considering their time apart and how she'd hurt Shouto. Endeavor probably had lots of women falling at his feet all the time. It wasn't crazy to think he'd rather pursue someone else.

"Um, I think every relationship is different. Some are probably fine without intimacy like that. Others aren't. It depends on the priorities of the people involved. If sex is really important to one person and not the other, it might be hard. I... I mean I think it would be difficult for me personally to have a relationship without physicality, but that's just me. If I really loved the person, maybe I wouldn't care."

“I just… you know…” Enji was incredibly embarrassed, but he needed to talk to someone. “I haven’t… done anything in so long. Years. And I haven’t seen her in forever too. It’s like meeting a new person. And I’m on all these meds, I can’t even get it up. And I lost my right hand. How am I supposed to do anything, even if I wanted to? When I try to explain, she’s upset and says that I secretly don’t want our marriage to work out, that I don’t want her, that I find her unattractive. The only thing I find attractive right now is painkillers!”

Hawks was getting more deeply confused by the moment. What a complete mess. He tried not to think too hard about the specifics of Endeavor and sex, because then his brain just wanted to wander off into some deeply shameful fantasies about nursing the other hero back to health.

"You... you gotta stand up for yourself," he finally said. "If she wants your marriage to work, then she needs to accept that you need time to recover. Civilians don't understand the toll this shit takes on our bodies. It's not about desire, it's about being weakened and injured. She's an adult and she should be able to get that."

“So that’s why most heroes are unmarried,” Enji mused. “Okay. That makes sense, yeah. I’ll try. To stand up for myself, I mean. Not the other thing. Thank you, Hawks.”

"Uh, you're welcome," Hawks mumbled. He pushed a cheerier tone into his voice. "Happy to help! You know I got your back."

He almost patted Endeavor on the shoulder, but it was the side with the missing arm, so maybe that would be too painful. In any case, Endeavor wasn't like him. He wasn't a touchy guy.

“Tell me about you. How are you doing? Living your happy bachelor life?” Enji even smiled.

"Well, I'm still technically supposed to be on bed rest right now, which is not nearly as sexy as it sounds," Hawks grinned with a little wink. "Bachelor life is good. I'm not really... I mean I haven't been focusing on that since we've all been fighting for our damn lives. But I'll bounce back!"

“I do believe that. So will I, I guess.” Enji believed that a little bit less. “I’ll probably be living at the agency once I’m released. Come by anytime.”

"You will bounce back, I know it," Hawks replied with certainty. "The people need their number one hero. We won the war. They even had graduation at UA! Things will get back to... some kind of normal."

He tilted his head to the side. "You don't want to go back to your house? Are they still using it as evacuation space?"

“Yes. I do want to go back, but…” Enji shrugged. “It just seems so profoundly selfish to use that giant mansion for a handful of people when there are so many in need of shelter. A little apartment at the agency is perfectly fine.”

Something about it didn't sit right with Hawks, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. It was none of his business anyway.

"That's very selfless of you. I'd say you could crash at my place, but my apartment is kinda shitty and I don't have a guest room. Agency housing is spartan, but it's okay."

“The whole end of the war, I didn’t even really go to any home. I just slept in the car or whatever location I had to fight in. So the agency housing would look good in contrast.”

Before Hawks could reply, the door opened.

“Enji, baby, I brought you mochi- Oh, hi Hawks!” Rei looked surprisingly cheerful and not the menace Enji had described her as.

“Mochi,” Enji repeated like a zombie searching for brains, completely ignoring his wife.

“Catch!” Rei said suddenly, and a small orange object flew Enji’s way.

Enji caught it with his prosthesis without thinking. Once the mochi was in his metal hand, he realized what he had just done and beamed. “Guess I still got it!”

Hawks watched the interaction with a vaguely wistful feeling of affection. It was obvious that Endeavor and his wife had a rapport, even after years apart. They were clearly just struggling with getting used to each other again. It was nice to see Endeavor smile, even if he wasn't the cause of it.

"Hello Rei-san," Hawks said politely. "I just dropped in to check on the patient. I can get out of your hair, though."

“Oh, it’s okay, I’m not here to shoo you out,” Rei assured. She approached Enji and pet his hair while he was busy devouring the mochi. “You’re so beautiful.” She turned to Hawks. “Tell him he’s beautiful, he doesn’t believe me.”

Enji stared at her wide-eyed with half-eaten mochi hanging out of his mouth.

Hawks swallowed and fought down a blush, his friendly smile frozen in place.

Of course Endeavor was beautiful. He was the most beautiful man in the world as far as Hawks was concerned. He'd thought so since the moment he even considered those kinds of things. Even before, when he was a child just admiring a hero.

"Ah, of course he's a handsome guy!" he said in a way he hoped was casual.

“See? That’s two people!”

Enji pulled the half-mochi out. “So losing an arm didn’t lose me any rizz?”

“Have you seen those electronic arms?” Rei gushed. “You’re gonna look like a sexy cyborg man!”

Enji was visibly cheered up by the validation. Inside, he was relieved his wife wasn’t mad at him.

"Nah, lots of heroes have lost limbs and they still look great and kick ass," Hawks chuckled.

He saw the way Endeavor's face lit up with Rei's praise and hated that it made him feel jealous. He should've been happy with the fact that Endeavor called him a good friend and confided in him. He needed to get a damn grip.

Enji suddenly felt sleepy and exhausted. He found himself leaning on Rei, and she was holding him up and petting his hair. He resisted drifting off into sleep because he had a guest, but his eyes kept closing.

“Hawks, I think Enji wants to sleep,” Rei said gently.

“Oh, sorry,” Enji mumbled. “I didn’t mean to be rude…”

"No, no, it's okay," Hawks insisted, holding up his hands. "He should rest. I'm supposed to be doing that, too. You... you guys deserve your alone time. Just call if you need anything."

He made himself get up and bid goodbye to Rei before he could get emotional. Endeavor seemed at peace. That was good. He deserved that. Maybe Hawks would find his peace someday, too.

🧤 📺 🧤 📺 🧤 📺 🧤 📺 🧤 📺

Tenko was nervous. Endeavor had scored him some nice sweatshirt - the only type of garment that fit over all his bandages (other than a hoodie, which was already an infamous look). Endeavor said he could help himself and Touya if he could turn the public opinion their way, and Tenko really, really wanted to help Touya. Maybe Endeavor was manipulating him, but then again, Endeavor clearly loved Touya and did not have anything to gain from associating with villains.

Overall, Endeavor said he had the right attitude and to just be honest. Tenko wanted to believe him.

Megumi clipped on her mic and adjusted her makeup one last time. She was here on her own for once - no makeup artist, no director, no PAs. Just her and the smallest camera crew imaginable.

No one else wanted to come. She didn't understand how they had such little ambition. A chance to get the very first post-war interview with Shigaraki? That was priceless. A huge boost to her career. The only thing that would have made it better was getting an interview with Endeavor's villain son, but she'd been told in no uncertain terms that he was bad with visitors.

No matter. She was happy with her small stack of questions for Shigaraki. He didn't have his Quirk. There would be cops right there in the room. She was totally safe. Her colleagues were still too afraid to risk it, but she was confident in the safety measures.

Megumi pushed the door open and plastered on a brilliant smile, despite the inherent stress of the situation. She shook her short hair out of her face and assessed the man in front of her. He looked almost normal lying in the hospital bed. The familiar face, red eyes, and shaggy white hair gave him away as the notorious villain.

"Good afternoon! Thank you for agreeing to this interview. I understand you're still in recovery, so we will keep things short. Are you okay if we bring the cameras in?"

“Yes, let me just sit,” Tenko said very quietly and pushed his body up.

The reporter had gone through the checkpoint faster than he had expected. One of the cops helpfully rolled up his wheelchair and held it in place while the other helped Tenko sit in it.

Megumi watched curiously. Her colleagues thought she was risking her life, but the man in front of her was soft-spoken and feeble. It could be an act, but she was pretty good at seeing through fake people. She waited until Shigaraki was seated in the wheelchair before she waved in the cameras.

"I have some questions for you here, but please just think of this like a conversation - a conversation that just happens to be recorded. You don't need to overthink your answers, just be honest."

“Okay, sure, I’m ready to do that now that no one’s in my brain telling me what to think,” Tenko replied with a smile. One of the cops snorted, and Tenko smiled at him too.

Megumi's eyes lit up, glad she'd caught that candid tidbit on camera.

"Well, that's actually a good segway into one of my first questions. We've heard from heroes like Deku that All for One was controlling you, and potentially others as well. Is that true?"

“Yes,” Tenko answered readily. His voice was quiet and somewhat hoarse but confident. “At first it was just the worldview he raised me with and the orders he gave me. But towards the end, for the last few months, he had been literally trying to fuse our minds together. I could hear his voice in my head all the time. He could move my limbs. He could speak through me. It was the worst experience of my life.”

Megumi barely suppressed a shudder at the very idea. She had a weak mind Quirk, but she couldn't imagine controlling someone like that, or being controlled in return.

"How did you end up in All for One's control? Were you really with him since childhood?"

“Yeah,” Tenko admitted sadly. “My Quirk came in when I was five, and I accidentally took out my whole family. I was just… homeless and alone, and All for One picked me up. My life wasn’t great even before that, but All for One at least fed me and didn’t beat me, so I thought he was the greatest man in the world.”

"So All for One took you in when you had no one else," Megumi said, knowing this was a story that could draw people in. A tragic childhood accident. A monstrous villain who took advantage of the sad situation.

"How do you feel now knowing that All for One is gone? Is it a relief or does some part of you miss him?"

“I’m so relieved.” Tenko did a long exhale to demonstrate. “I’m in custody, there’s a whole squad of police around my room, but this is the freest I’ve ever been. People tell me what medications they’re injecting me with and what they’re gonna do instead of just sticking me with them. And I can complain when something hurts, and no one tells me to shut up. I try not to abuse the privileges though,” he added shyly.

Megumi was surprised by the openness of Shigaraki's reaction. He really did seem genuine in his relief and relative comfort. She had been cautious to remain neural before the interview, but now she saw how people could be swayed with Shigaraki's surprisingly positive attitude.

She knew this interview would be a sensation.

"Did you deal with medical experimentation?" she asked. This was a topic that had been hypothesized about at length, but no one had real information.

“Yes, lots of it,” Tenko sighed. “Ever since I was little, the two of them kept injecting me with stuff. All for One and Doctor Garaki. Mostly the latter. I’ve had tubes attached to me, been hypnotized, put in a giant specimen jar, had my food drugged, all kinds of things. I have a faint flashback of someone directly touching my brain, and I’m hoping that’s just a nightmare, but my rational mind tells me this fits All for One’s mode of operation.”

"Were you aware that Dr. Garaki died in prison three days ago?" Megumi asked carefully. It was information she was proud of finding - through a contact who was a guard at the newly constructed Tantallon prison. It wasn't widely known yet.

“Didn’t know, but I’m going to toast to that with my orange juice at lunch,” Tenko announced with a smile. One of the cops involuntarily let out a giggle. “I still see him in my nightmares. I wonder if other people see me in theirs. I hope this interview helps, if that’s the case.” He stared directly into camera. “I’m not coming to get you. I’m not coming to get anyone. Please don’t worry.”

Megumi was glad for Shigaraki's candor. It could be hard to get villains to open up - even harder if they were victims of trauma.

"Do you know what will happen to you now, or after your hospital stay?" she asked.

“My mental health is being evaluated to see if I’m competent to stand trial,” Tenko explained calmly. “I hope I am. Once that happens, probably prison. Maybe I’ll be executed, but then at least I wouldn’t die as All for One’s pawn. And that’s good enough for me.”

Megumi blinked and glanced over her shoulder at the cameraman. He just shrugged at her. She almost couldn't believe that Shigaraki could seem so relaxed about his potential future execution.

"Isn't there anything else you want to do with your life? Any goals you'd want to achieve now that you're no longer a villain?"

Tenko looked at the ceiling as if it could provide an answer. “I would like to learn what the options are. My life has been so different from most people’s. I mostly know about normal things from movies, and I don’t know what’s fiction and what’s real. I thought birthday parties were fiction until the officer here enlightened me.” He nodded at the cop nearby. “If I happen to be spared, I hope to lead a quiet life and be out of the way.”

Megumi smiled. It was a sweet sentiment, even though it also felt achingly sad. "Why did you decide to do this interview today? You must know that this is not common for people in your... situation."

“Endeavor said it could help me,” Tenko said quietly, deciding not to mention Touya. “Maybe save my life? I don’t want to presume though.”

"Oh, are you and Endeavor close now? You are both being treated at the same hospital... though I guess it's kind of the only hospital left after-- ahem." Megumi's brain latched on to a new segment idea - heroes and villains helping each other after the war - before she could fully think through her words.

"Anyway. Does that mean you're comfortable around the heroes in recovery here? You don't worry that they mean you harm?"

Tenko stared at her surprised, then laughed. “There’s literally nothing they can do that can make them worse than All for One. I could go to hell and meet Satan and not be scared.”

"Hm, an interesting thought," Megumi chuckled with a wry smile. She discreetly checked the clock on the wall.

"I'm afraid we're coming to the end of our time, but there are a couple of other things I'd love to hear about from you. You've mentioned All for One and your desire to have a quiet life. How do you feel about all of the pain and suffering you caused while working under All for One?"

These days, Tenko wore all his emotions on his face, and this time was no exception. His eyes widened, showing the depths of ruby red, and he hung his head and cast his glance down.

“I wish I had a Quirk that could undo it,” he whispered.

Megumi nodded slowly. It was a simple statement, but Shigaraki's expression told more.

"I think there are many people who would say the exact same thing," she murmured. "Before we say goodbye, is there anything else you'd like to share with the people watching? Any thoughts that I didn't cover already?"

“Yes,” Tenko nodded resolutely. “I want to thank the staff here at the hospital, and the police officers for taking care of me, and Endeavor for having such a kind heart and being my only visitor.”

"That's very sweet of you," Megumi smiled. "Of course, we could all stand to thank our law enforcement and healthcare workers more often! Thank you for sharing so much with me today. I hope we're able to talk again in the future."

“How did I do?” Tenko asked his new friends the police officers after the crew left.

“Adorably,” one of them replied.

“Endeavor will be proud,” another suggested.

🎆 🔥 🌨️ 🎆 🔥 🌨️ 🎆 🔥 🌨️ 

Touya watched the interview again and fumed. It was the only thing the stations wanted to play, which wasn't terribly surprising. He figured that restoring daytime TV was probably not a high priority for the rebuilding project. He would have thrown something at the little wall-mounted screen, but he was still cuffed, and he'd only recently earned television privileges at all.

He didn't see why Shigaraki had to be so damn complimentary towards Endeavor. Maybe it was scripted - meant to make both the hero and the ex-villain look good. Some of his answers to the questions were surprising, but they all oozed a cloyingly sweet sense of authenticity.

He hated it. He'd visited Shigaraki! Granted, it was only once, and then they confined him to his room again after he tried to break the walker. But he was trying! He'd even been - ugh - nicer to Endeavor.

(Maybe nicer was a stretch. He'd mostly stopped talking when he was around because he couldn't control himself, and he'd only tried to throw a bottle of orange juice at him once, which in his mind was terribly nice.)

He missed Toga. Natsu had told him she was in a women's facility though, so there was no chance of them being locked up together.

He missed Twice, of all people. He was sort of starting to understand Jin's messed-up brain because now he too sometimes felt like the things he did and remembered were... someone else. Without Blueflame, his head was achingly empty of drive and desire, so he could only sit around with his stupid thoughts and wait for a nurse or a shrink or a lawyer to come ask him the same questions over and over again.

The hospital wanted to move him to prison, that much he knew. He was somehow no longer dying, so they wanted him out. He had mixed feelings about it.

Today, however, he was supposed to see Shouto. He knew his youngest brother had visited while he was unconscious, but never while he was awake. The thought filled him with a weird, nervous energy, but all he could do was wait.

“Shou, just a final reminder, you don’t have to do this,” Enji said gently. “But if you do want to see him, I’ll have to be present. The police said no unaccompanied minors in there with him. If you… If you don’t want to be near me, I understand. You’ve been avoiding me. I can ask one of the police officers or another hero to go in with you.”

Shouto was quiet as he walked down the hospital corridor next to Endeavor. It was - unsurprisingly - bustling with activity, as despite the passage of time, there were still many people dealing with lingering injuries from the final battle with Shigaraki and All for One, and the aftermath of so many villains set loose on the country.

He tugged on his UA uniform, subtly betraying his nerves. He'd thrown himself back into schoolwork as soon as possible, and that was usually enough to distract him from... everything. He still didn't think he'd ever get used to Endeavor trying to be kind, though.

"It's fine, you can be there," he answered simply. He didn't deny avoiding his father. It wasn't so much out of hatred for the time being. It was just a lot to deal with.

"You said you've spoken to him," he continued. "Is he... lucid?"

“Lucid and a complete asshole,” Enji replied, not without bitterness. “He’s on antipsychotics and he’s adjusting. Apparently, there’s some serious mental illness going on. I mean, I guess we always knew, but I wasn’t aware he had actual psychosis. But he’s a real jerk to literally everyone. He had to be cuffed because he attacked me, but I still wouldn’t get too close to him if I were you.”

Shouto chuckled softly, maybe out of pure incredulity. It was one thing to see his brother floating in a giant metal cylinder, barely kept alive by life support machines and Quirk healing. It was thing to see him unconscious in a hospital bed, looking weak and bruised. The thought of Touya attacking Endeavor from his bed seemed more real.

"I think I'll survive," he replied. "I guess the psychosis isn't too surprising. I don't know what else could drive someone to such depths."

“I feel terrible for him, I mean, imagine just being cuffed to your bed all day, staring at the ceiling after everything you’ve worked for has gone to shit, and now you’re awaiting execution. It’s like I’m watching him being torn apart, and I can’t do a thing.”

Shouto frowned to himself listening to Endeavor's concerns. He didn't know what to think about so much empathy directed towards his brother. It was surprising to him that Endeavor could feel such a thing.

"We're doing all we can right now," he said. "He's in recovery. He'll have to go through the legal system. It really hasn't been that long since the fight."

“I want Touya to be happy eventually,” Enji confessed in a small voice. “But even if all the external circumstances align… I don’t know if he’s capable of it.”

"It's not up to us to make him happy," Shouto said carefully. "I don't know if he's capable of it either. I'd like for us to be brothers, to be able to share a meal together, but he has to work through all of his issues first."

“You’re the most mature of all of us, Shouto,” Enji noted, looking at his son with a smile. “I take no credit, but I’m proud.”

Shouto blinked, suddenly uncomfortable. He didn't want the focus on him. Touya was a safe - if painful - topic of conversation. They had a shared goal in saving his brother that enabled him to ignore everything else.

"Hm," he hummed noncommittally. They stopped in front of Touya's room, the door flanked by two guards.

"Ready?" he asked.

“Yeah.” Enji looked at his son, so serious and yet so young. “Just… wait here. Let me warn him.”

He left his son there and stepped into the room to his other son.

“Touya? Shouto is here to see you. I’ll be present. Can you play nice?”

Touya flopped his head to the side at the sound of Endeavor's unfortunately familiar voice. He squinted. His father seemed somewhat better. Maybe he was finally recovering. He couldn't decide if that was good or bad.

"You his chaperone?" he asked bitterly. "Do those cops seriously think he can't handle himself?"

“Yeah,” Enji confirmed. “It’s because he’s a minor, there’s policy or some shit. Not up to me. I know he can handle himself, but it’ll have to be either me or…” Enji suddenly cringed at an unfortunate bout of pain and stared at his right shoulder. Fortunately, it quickly passed. “Eh, me or one of the cops. And if you guys talk about family stuff, it might be weird if the cop hears it. But if you’d rather it was a cop and not me, we can do that.”

Touya squinted again at the obvious twinge of pain. It made some part of him darkly satisfied, but that part felt weird and muted, like hearing something from far away. He turned and stared at the ceiling instead.

"It's fine, I don't care," he spat.

It was true - why should he care if a cop overheard them talking? Why should he care if Endeavor was there or not? Shouto would probably report back like a good little child soldier anyway.

Enji tried to walk to the door, but the pain was back, and moving aggravated it. He decided to hide it and just sat in in the chair. “Shouto! Come in!” he called.

Touya stubbornly ignored Endeavor's pain and waited for Shouto. He didn't mock him - that should count for something, right? He still remembered the discussion with Shigaraki.

He wanted to stay out of prison. If that wasn't possible, he wanted to lull them into a strong enough sense of security to make a break for it. They'd already given him a little more slack in the cuffs at the suggestion of his physical therapist, who insisted he needed to practice eating and drinking on his own.

Shouto took a deep breath and didn't let himself think too hard about anything before he turned the lever and opened the door. He stood in the threshold, assessing his brother for a moment.

Touya didn't look like what he remembered. He should have expected that. Fuyumi had shown him a photo she snapped. The skin on his face was less pink now. Instead, it looked bruised and textured from scarring. Touya wasn't looking at him, but he remembered those eyes well enough.

"Hello, Touya-nii," he said quietly, politely. The nickname was automatic at this point. His brother turned in the bed and Shouto watched his eyes track across his body.

"Hey," Touya rasped. What the fuck else was he supposed to say?

Enji was busy taking little breaths in an attempt to soothe his pain. He knew neither of his sons would care he was suffering, and that knowledge was a bitter fruit to swallow. He had earned this treatment, it was his own fault his family despised him, but did he not just take out the worst villain in history? Did he not make everyone’s lives better? Did he not deserve some, even temporary, compassion?

Hawks’ cheerful face appeared in his mind, and Enji immediately felt soothing warmth spread throughout his body. Hawks cared about him. Hawks valued him. Enji wished he could do something to reciprocate. Maybe gift him one of those sketches - but that would require admitting that he had been routinely drawing Hawks and his wings for years.

Focus. His sons were here. This was no time to be thinking about his friend.

"How are you?" Shouto asked automatically. What a stupid question.

"Alive, unfortunately," Touya drawled. "So are you, I guess."

"Yes, it seems that way," Shouto answered calmly.

Touya stared at his brother, waiting for the violent impulses to hit him, but nothing came. Maybe it was the sedatives. Maybe it was because Shouto looked so young like this. He was in his high school uniform, not his hero jumpsuit. Touya still remembered what he looked like as a baby - disgusting little frozen snot bubbles and all.

A baby. He was just a baby. A child. That was why Endeavor was here. Not because of the danger Touya posed, but because Shouto was a minor.

The room felt fuzzy. He didn't know why Shouto was here. Was it because he asked for him? He suddenly couldn't remember.

"Touya--?" Shouto began, a crease of concern forming on his youthful brow.

Touya raised his hand to... he wasn't sure what. To touch him, maybe. To know he was real and he for sure hadn't murdered his baby brother - the only one who had suffered just like him under the weight of Endeavor's ambition.

The titanium chain clinked against the bedframe and Shouto flinched away, jumping to stand - removing himself from the danger with the practiced speed of a young hero.

Touya's eyes flicked towards Endeavor - sitting in the chair and obviously in pain from his injuries - and back to Shouto. His brother wasn't scared of Endeavor. He was scared of him. No matter how bad their father was, Touya was the man who tried to burn him to death.

He suddenly couldn't breathe. His heart felt like it wanted to pound out of his chest. Was he actually dying now?

Enji’s pain receded, driven away by his fatherly instincts. He rushed to Touya’s side and leaned over him, staring into his pained eyes.

“Touya? Darling, what is it, are you hurt? Should I call the nurse?”

Touya's eyes flashed around the room. Where was he? How did he get here? Why was Shouto here? Why was his father here?

He tasted smoke in the back of his throat and each breath came in a sharp gasp, but none of them felt like they were bringing oxygen into his lungs.

His skin hurt. His chest felt tight. His heart was exploding.

"I'm having a heart attack," he said deliriously. It was the only explanation.

"I think he's having a panic attack," Shouto whispered to Endeavor, eyes wide with worry.

Enji’s first impulse was to call a nurse, but Touya’s dislike of health professionals could have only made it worse.

“Touya,” he called firmly, metal hand clutching at the sheets for balance. “Look at the fire, baby. Don’t think, just look at the fire, my love.” His left hand ignited, and he held it close to Touya’s face, close enough to warm his skin.

Part of Touya raged against the sound of Endeavor's voice, but a larger part of him longed for the fire enough to ignore it. His mind felt achingly empty without Blueflame. He had nothing to guide him anymore, nothing to make the world make sense. Rage was his sustenance. Without that, what did he have?

He stared at the fire, wishing it was his, wishing none of it had ever happened in the first place. He felt someone take his cold hand and it was Shouto.

"Breathe, Touya," his brother's soft voice said. "I'm sorry I startled you. You're not having a heart attack. Your heart is fine. Just try to breathe."

Hellflame made a little dash towards Touya.

“Look, it loves you too,” Enji chuckled through tears. “Touya, you’re okay. You haven’t hurt your brother. See, he’s fine.”

Touya stared at his brother. His little red tie was slightly askew now, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up. He didn't look scarred. He had no missing limbs. But Touya had hurt him. He’d nearly killed him and the others. He remembered it all too well.

Hellflame was a strange comfort. A fire that was similar enough to his own to feel familiar, but also a reminder of their past battles.

"I'm sorry," he choked out to Shouto. He still couldn't breathe, but if he was suffocating to death, he could apologize to his baby brother.

Shouto blinked away the sudden moisture in his eyes. He hadn't expected this. He could only reply truthfully.

"I forgive you," he said quietly.

Enji smiled and cried at the same time. “Are you okay now, Touya?” he asked gently. “Do you want me to step away?” He recognized it was a moment between two brothers. Enji himself has not been forgiven nor offered an apology.

Touya tilted his head and frowned at Endeavor. A dozen versions of his face layered over one another until they settled on the current one. The scar across his face from the Nomu that Touya had sent. Empty shirt sleeve from the arm he'd lost in the battle that Touya fought in. Dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights lingering at his bedside, even after Touya did everything in his power to drive him away.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," he warned in an unsteady tone.

“Trash can,” Enji ordered to Shouto, pointing in the direction of the thing. He himself jumped to adjust the bed upwards so that Touya wouldn’t vomit while laying down and then choke.

Shouto grabbed the trash can and yanked it over beside the bed. Touya could only grab it with one hand thanks to the short leash he was kept on, but he took it gratefully all the same. He retched and spat into the trash can. Thankfully, there wasn't much to expel. Mostly water and bile. He felt oddly ashamed of the vulnerability as Shouto rubbed his shoulder awkwardly.

Enji dabbed his face with a tissue.

“Touya, darling, are you better now or should I get the nurse?” he asked tenderly. “Do you want water?”

Touya wanted to push Endeavor away, but both his hands were occupied either clutching the trash can or holding on to Shouto. He decided to let both go and slumped back against the bed.

He really was pathetic now, wasn't he?

"Water," he croaked. He kind of wanted the nurse, too. She would sedate him and maybe that would stop the frantic pounding of his heart.

“Push the button,” Enji asked Shouto quietly while he helped Touya drink water. “I want him to be checked out just in case.”

Touya hated the fact that Endeavor had to help him drink because his hands were shaking so badly. He thought he hated the weakness itself more than he hated Endeavor at the moment. It was confusing.

Shouto discreetly pushed the call button and soon a nurse appeared at the door. The guards looked in, maybe expecting an altercation, but since there was none, they went back to their usual positions.

Touya was so exhausted by the episode that he didn't even have the heart to argue with the nurse who checked his vitals. He still wasn't fully convinced he wasn't in cardiac arrest. The nurse spoke to Endeavor instead of him and he could only scowl weakly at her back.

"Yes, it does sound like a panic attack," she murmured. "Has he been like this before? We don't have any history of anxiety or panic disorders listed in his file."

Enji looked her in the eyes for a minute, then cast his gaze down in shame.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “My boy left when he was thirteen, and I don’t know anything about him.”

"I don't have an anxiety disorder," Touya spat. He'd heard the doctors toss around a lot of different words to potentially describe what was wrong with him.

Bipolar disorder. Substance use disorder. Schizophrenia. Psychosis. Depersonalization. Antisocial personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder.

(There were a hell of a lot of personality disorders they discussed. He didn't even know that many existed.)

Something as boring as anxiety felt like an insult.

"It's all right, we understand that this is a delicate situation," the nurse assured Endeavor kindly. To Touya, she said, "This may be a new symptom for you."

Touya grumbled as she checked his vitals and tapped out some notes in his chart.

"Your heart rate and pulse are still elevated, so I'd like to give you something to help you relax a bit," she said.

"Fine," Touya sighed. He would be glad to be sedated or unconscious again.

“Oh, I know what this is,” Enji teased. “It’s a ‘my body is having an adverse reaction to me being nice to my family’ disorder. I think it can be treated with exposure to more family. But not your grandparents.”

Shouto covered his mouth to hold back choked laughter and Touya scowled. Endeavor was teasing him. He'd really fallen so far that Endeavor felt like he was allowed to tease him.

"Gimme the drugs," Touya demanded. The nurse rolled her eyes.

"I will provide you with some non-habit forming medication to ease your anxiety, Todoroki-san," she sighed.

It took Touya a moment to realize she was speaking to him. Apparently he was Todoroki-san now. How depressing.

Enji let out a little high-pitched giggle at Touya’s reaction. “His annoyed face looks just like yours,” he shared with Shouto. “You guys probably think you’re serious and intimidating, but you look like fussy kittens.”

"My annoyed face?" Shouto gasped, shocked to have the teasing turned on him. "I barely even have an annoyed face, and it definitely doesn't look like a kitten."

Touya just stared straight ahead while he waited for the nurse to return with whatever she was gonna give him. He hoped it was at least Xanax. He was not emotionally prepared to be in a room with his father and brother bickering over him.

“Okay.” Enji decided to switch to the other target. “I asked Shigaraki what we can do to improve Touya’s public image. He said…” Enji snorted and choked back laughter, “put a p-pink sparkling bow on him and take a picture, it’ll look like a grumpy cat who got dressed up!”

"God damn it, Shigaraki," Touya hissed under his breath. Maybe this was payback for calling him gross when they first met. He was gonna punch that asshole the next time he saw him.

"Why the fuck should I care about my public image?" he complained. "If you think I'm gonna do a nice little show like that dusty freak, you're wrong."

Enji did not let that deter him. “Aw, but you’ll look cute with a bow, right Shouto?”

Shouto rose a brow at Endeavor. He wasn't sure how on board he was with pushing Touya, but it was a funny image.

"Maybe a collar with a little bell instead," he suggested.

“That sounds too much like an ankle bracelet,” Enji snorted. “Hey, Touya. Do you want to rest now? Do you want us to leave?”

Touya's patience for visitors was running thin, but particularly his patience for his family. He still didn't understand what made him apologize to Shouto, although he wasn't actually unhappy about it. His mind was swimming.

"Yeah, leave me alone," he grumbled.

“You did well, dear,” Enji said sincerely. “Have a good rest. Let’s go, Shou.”

Touya resolutely didn't respond to the praise. He needed Endeavor's status to stay out of prison, but that didn't mean he was ready to be friendly.

"Thank you for seeing me, Touya-nii," Shouto said carefully. "Let's talk again soon."

Touya rolled over onto his side as much as he could in his bonds and turned his back on both of them. He gave Shouto an awkward thumbs up where his wrist was attached to the bed.

“Cute,” Enji commented.

“He’s really trying. He’s actually trying, wow,” he noted once they were out in the hallway.

"I take it this is not usual behavior?" Shouto asked. "I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't an apology."

“Hey, Shou, I need to talk to you about some serious things. Is that okay with you?”

Shouto glanced at his phone to check the time. "I'm supposed to study with Midoriya later, but I have some time to talk now."

Enji led Shouto to his own room and sat down with him.

“Shou, I know I may have expressed the sentiment, but I haven’t actually openly admitted it,” he started in a slightly shaky voice. “And being this close to death knocked some things loose in my head, I guess. I just wanted to tell you, I… recognize that the way I raised you was cruel and unfair and doubtlessly detrimental to your emotional and mental well-being. And I’m sorry. I should have treated you better. My parents weren’t around for very long, and they struggled to provide basic things like food and clothing and adequate living conditions, and I assumed that offering all that would make me a good father. Obviously, I was wrong.”

“I should have applied my judgment and not used you as a tool in my petty struggles with All Might. You are your own person, a wonderful person who I love very much. And I realize that it’s too little too late, and I don’t expect you to forgive and forget and act like nothing happened. But I want you to know that I’ll try not to do any more damage. If you decide that you don’t care about the ratings, or you don’t want to be a hero, that you have some other passion - as long as it’s legal - I’ll support you, and I won’t be in your way. And if you need me to do something for you that can help you, I’ll do it, just let me know.”

Shouto was startled by yet another unexpected apology. His father had made vague comments about being remorseful or trying to make amends in the past, but never something quite this heartfelt. Shouto wasn't sure how he should react to all of it. Having seen Dabi's uncontrollable rage, he had little interest in continuing to hate Endeavor, but he also didn't expect them to have an emotionally close relationship.

"It's not too little too late," he said quietly, staring at the floor. "I know you're sorry. I understand that. I'm glad you recognize your mistakes and I hope you won't continue them."

He tugged uncomfortably on his collar. "I want to be a hero for my own reasons. It has nothing to do with you. I don't know how I feel about rankings right now, but I'm still going to be a hero. That is my calling. We have a shared goal right now. The battle is over, but there's still a lot to be done. We still have to help Touya and the others. I'm not interested in dividing our family even more."

“Okay. Thank you.” Enji recognized that Shouto was at his limit for heartfelt stuff, so he didn’t add any more. “Unfortunately, I have some news about dividing the family. Your mother and I are going to stay apart for some time. I’ve rented her an apartment in the city. We’re not getting along, and we each have our own struggles. I’m injured, and I’m worried about Touya, and we argue all the time, and I…” He glanced at his right shoulder, and his lips twisted.

“I’ve started having phantom pains, and they always get worse after I talk to her. The doctor said to remove the stressor. And she’s struggling to adjust because she’s been institutionalized for so long, and when she got out, the world wasn’t like before. I… don’t know what’s going to happen next, but she doesn’t want to go back to our house even after the rescue committee disbands, and everything I say makes her angry. We recognize that you’re a minor and will need to live with one of your parents once summer break begins. You can choose either one. Her apartment will have a room for you. We can also do one week each, or two weeks. Whatever works for you, Shou.”

Shouto frowned a bit as he thought through everything Endeavor said next.

"I guess I'm not surprised Mom doesn't want to stay at the house, and I'm sorry you're having phantom pains," he murmured. He took a deep breath and his eyes drifted towards Endeavor's missing arm. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want to live with either of you. I want to continue living at the dorms. Apart from that, I guess we can... split time on holidays or something."

"Are you going to get divorced?" he asked bluntly.

“I don’t know,” Enji replied quietly. He couldn’t deny that it hurt to hear that Shouto refused to live with either of his parents. “I don’t… I don’t know. I’m pretty bad at relationships. She… she started volunteering for the rescue committee, and I think there’s some other guy.”

"I see," Shouto replied awkwardly. He didn't want to believe his mother would cheat, but they'd also been apart for so long, and there was so much baggage between them.

"Maybe you can... go to couple's counseling," he suggested, unsure of what else he could offer. He'd never even been on a date.

Enji smiled. “Maybe. That’s not a bad idea. I bet when you have a wife, you’d be a much better husband than me.”

Shouto clenched his jaw. Well, he had nothing to lose if Endeavor got upset.

"When I have a husband," he corrected stiffly. "If I ever want something like that, it would... it would be a husband, not a wife."

“Oh.” Enji took just a moment to process it. “I’m sorry for assuming. Wait, is Deku your boyfriend??”

"Oh, um, no," Shouto mumbled with a blush. "Midoriya and I are just friends. I don't have a boyfriend."

“Well, all boys in your class are nice.” Enji frowned. “Except Mineta. I know I just said you can do whatever you want, but not that.”

"Mineta is close to getting expelled," Shouto muttered. "Even his efforts in the war can't save him from Aizawa. I definitely have no interest." He was pleasantly surprised to see that Endeavor didn't seem to care at all about his identity.

“Thank goodness, I’d rather you dated a villain than Mineta,” Enji exhaled. “Okay, well, I won’t keep you from your friend Deku,” he said casually, “I’m gonna go talk to a reporter about that video that went viral where I beat the shit out of All for One with my own severed arm and cuss him out in three languages.”

"Oh, I liked that one, especially with music behind it," Shouto commented. "I'll say hello to Midoriya for you." He paused and chewed on his lip. "Let me know if anything changes with Touya. And try to get some sleep."

“Okay. I will do… one of those things,” Enji said with a smile. “Also, hey, that video is supposed to be age-restricted.”

"Is it? Well, I'll talk to you later." Shouto turned and made his exit before his father could ask any further questions.

🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥

Hawks burst into Endeavor's hospital room without knocking, his arms overloaded with bags of takeout and a wide grin on his face despite the new scars. He figured that if Endeavor had called him to visit once, it was now an open invitation, and he'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

"Heyyy, Endeavor! I figure you might be tired of hospital food, so I brought all the good stuff to celebrate!" He began unpacking all the little boxes of noodles, handrolls, and yakitori onto the table next to Endeavor's hospital bed. "A little birdie told me you were getting discharged soon, so I had to come by for one last hurrah with the Number One!"

Enji had been thinking of Hawks a lot lately, and the arrival of the winged hero startled him, as if that meant Hawks could read his mind.

“H-hi Hawks. Nice to see you. Thanks for visiting.”

Principal Nezu had organized a parent-teacher conference to discuss how the kids’ education should proceed and what resources are available. Since Enji had not been discharged from the hospital yet, Rei stepped in to attend. Enji was worried a little - she had never spoken to the principal and didn’t know any of the teachers, and she hadn’t been parenting in a while.

"No problem!" Hawks replied, flashing a thumbs up and a cheerful wink. He knew that things were still dicey with Endeavor and his family, and the rebuilding efforts would take some time to really stabilize, but he couldn't help but feel hopeful knowing that things were moving forward. He sank into a chair nearby and wondered when he could start digging into the food - it was mostly meant to cheer up Endeavor, but that didn't mean he wasn't peckish himself.

"So what's the plan now? Any word on when you'll be able to go back home or are you still planning to crash in agency housing?" he asked.

Enji’s lower lip wobbled at the very thought about his agency.

“Hawks, I’m going to retire,” he said softly. “I’m sorry.”

Hawks froze and the disposable chopsticks he'd been fiddling with snapped in his hands and then skittered across the tile of the hospital room.

"You... what? Retire?" He laughed, but it was a harsh sound. "You're joking, right?"

“No,” Enji sighed. “I’m a disgrace. I’m the reason Dabi exists. I lost my dominant arm. Everybody knows I’m a shit father and a terrible person. I’ll just… spend the rest of my days staying out of everyone’s way.”

Hawks clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug painfully into his palms, leaving tiny red imprints behind.

"A disgrace?" he repeated quietly. "Is that what you really think? You're not a disgrace. You're a war hero. You helped defeat All for One for good! All of that exhaustive planning we did to win the war... do you think that means nothing to people? To other heroes?"

He bit his lip and tried to figure out the best way to tackle Endeavor's concerns about his family. "I know it's not my place to talk about Dabi, but you're not the reason he exists. Not by a long shot. He blames you - that much is clear - but you can't just accept that blame without thinking it through. People knew about your family's issues a long time ago and they still supported you in the war. They still fought by your side and cheered us all on to win."

A war hero. Enji laughed bitterly. “Doesn’t the public hate me? Call for my retirement? I haven’t checked anything, I’m too afraid.”

Hawks’ shoulders slumped and his wings brushed the floor. "The public isn't a monolith," he sighed. "But... no, they don't hate you. Uh." He swallowed and dug around in his bag until he came out with a stack of slightly wrinkled papers and cards. It felt childish in some ways that he'd collected the mementos, like a fan instead of a fellow hero. He set the colorful bundle on Endeavor's side table next to the yakiudon.

"I meant to give this to you last time, but then Rei dropped in and I didn't want to intrude-- anyway, these are some of the letters that were left for you. When you were still unconscious and going through all those surgeries, all kinds of stuff piled up at the hospital for you - cards, letters, toys, flowers, whatever. People were always gathering at the hospital because they knew you and some of the other heroes were here. It was becoming a hazard, and then rain got to everything... so the cops cleared all of it away, but I snagged some. Hopefully it's still readable."

“People… brought things for me?” Enji gasped, his eyes wide in shock. “I’m not… I’m not hated?!”

"Listen, I'm not gonna lie to you and say no one is upset about the family stuff, but no, you're not hated," Hawks replied carefully. "People... they see what you did. The public and other heroes. They know... they know what you gave up to stand against All for One and Dabi."

Enji reached for the most wrinkled card, assuming it had to be one of the first brought here.

‘Dearest Endeavor,

I saw a picture of you in the hospital. It pained me to see you in a wheelchair all bandaged up. I heard some gossip about recent struggles within your marriage. I don’t know if it’s true, but if it is, I know you will find someone who appreciates you more.

I’m happy both of your pretty eyes are still intact, and I hope so is your undefeatable will. I know it’s strange to say, but I’ve loved you for years, and I still do. You are gorgeous, and I’m dreaming of visiting you at the hospital to relieve your-’

“Oh no, this is embarrassing!” Enji squeaked, throwing the card away. His face was warm.

"Uh, I didn't read all of them, so..." Hawks picked up the discarded card and his eyes widened. "Oh wow. Um. This person is definitely a fan of a different caliber."

“I can’t believe someone wants to sleep with me that much,” Enji snorted.

Hawks barely held back from rolling his eyes at the self-deprecating comment, knowing full well how hard he worked to not fantasize about his coworker.

 “Let’s try the pink one,” Enji continued.

‘Dear Endeavor,

My name is Yuki. I am 5 years old. My favorite hero is Hawks. I like him because he’s pretty and smiles a lot, and he saves people. My dad said you saved Hawks from the bad villain, and the bad villain cut off your arm. Thank you for saving him. Now you’re my favorite hero too.’

Below was an adorable drawing of what Enji assumed was himself and Hawks holding hands and smiling.

“I definitely prefer this one,” Enji decided, handing it to Hawks to read too.

He took the card with the drawing and felt a strange mixture of twisted emotions. The drawing was sweet, and he couldn't help but think of how nice it would be if they actually did hold hands and smile together.

It was also unfortunately a painful reminder of exactly how far Endeavor had gone to protect him. He closed the card and his eyes briefly lingered on the stump of Endeavor's missing arm.

"Yeah, it's... it's cute," he replied in a strangled tone. After a moment of discomfort, he added, "You did save me, you know. Multiple times now. I know... I know what you sacrificed to do that." Grief and guilt churned in his gut as he spoke.

“You did the same for me.” Enji recognized this was an important moment, so he put the cards aside. “Hawks, you’ve saved my life numerous times. You’ve supported me more than anybody, ever. Don’t you dare blame yourself.”

"I'll blame myself if I want to, you can't stop me," Hawks replied with a sad smile. "This isn't about me, it's about you."

“Well I blame myself for a lot of shit too,” Enji replied with a similar smile. “And you can’t stop me either.”

"Ha, touché," Hawks laughed sharply. "Do you get that people don't hate you, though? There were a lot of mixed sentiments about heroes prior to the war, and that's still an issue, but people don't hate you. They don't hate heroes in general."

“I need to read more,” Enji said thoughtfully. “But please, start eating without me. It was so nice of you to get all this food.”

Hawks hesitated, drawn to the food but uncomfortable eating without Endeavor. He tentatively picked up a box with yakitori to begin eating.

"Okay, but let me know if you get tired of going through this stuff and I can, you know, read for you or something," he muttered, aware that Endeavor likely couldn't eat and read at the same time due to his missing limb.

“Alright, thank you.”

‘Hello Endeavor,

I wish you well and everything, but why the hell are you still with your wife?’

Enji made a surprised noise and kept reading.

‘It’s clear the marriage is a complete disaster. Let the poor woman go, you already have a perfect partner by your side. I just know you two would be so good together! I bet he’s spectacular in bed too. I attach a helpful art for you. Make the right choice!’

The drawing stapled to the inside of the card held Enji’s gaze for longer than was reasonable. On the white sheet of paper was a surprisingly accurate depiction of himself holding Hawks in his arms, both of them wearing traditional attire. Hawks’ head was tilted back, eyes closed and lips parted, clearly in anticipation of a kiss. The Enji in the drawing looked quite eager to provide. To make it even more scandalous, Hawks’ clothes were coming undone, exposing a bare shoulder and a hint of chest.

Enji put the card aside as quietly as he could and covered it up with another card.

Hawks was busy gnawing on a chicken skewer, but he caught the huff of surprise and noticed the other hero trying to hide one of the cards. Maybe it was something unflattering or more thirst comments?

The table was cluttered, so he sent a feather to snag the card and then plucked it out of the air with slightly greasy fingertips. If someone was being rude, he wanted to be able to argue before Endeavor internalized it.

"What is so bad about this one--" he began, and then his face turned red once he saw the drawing. "Ha! Um, I can't believe this survived the rain." He closed the card and looked frantically for somewhere to put it, feeling warm all over. Why did the damn artist have to capture something he wanted? It was definitely inappropriate to be thinking about, especially while Endeavor was recovering and attempting to repair his marriage.

"W-why are these guys so focused on your marriage, huh?" he chuckled nervously.

“I have no idea!” Enji cried out in mild frustration. “This one promises to give me a fireproof child!”

"Woah, okay, uh, let's try to find a normal one," Hawks mumbled, somewhat regretting his decision to save and share the items without reviewing them first.

He wiped off his hands and dug through some of the cards until he found one with a more run-of-the-mill message inside.

'To Endeavor and the Todoroki Family,

I'm 14 and I live with my mom and my sister. Our apartment building was destroyed by Dabi, but the heroes were able to evacuate everyone in time so no one got hurt. I know it must have been really hard to fight your son, but now our home is being rebuilt and we can be safe again.

Thanks to you and all the other heroes. I hope you all get well soon.

Katashi'

“I wonder what happened to the dad,” Enji sighed. “Probably nothing good.”

The next one was on a nice paper with embossed flowers, which was why Enji picked it.

‘Dear Endeavor,

It has come to my attention that you’ve lost your arm. I understand the pain, fear, and grief that comes with becoming disabled. I lost my ability to walk as a result of a villain attack, and I thought my life was over. I had to quit my job, move to an accessible home. But now I own a store that sells disability-friendly home items. I attach a business card in case you want to check it out - you may not know yet what items exist to eliminate some of your struggles.

I know it might feel like the end of the world, but humans are remarkably flexible, and with modern technology, you can build up a routine that works for you. You’ll figure out writing, typing, and showering soon enough. With quality support items, you should definitely be able to continue your hero career. You’ve already shown that you only need one arm to punch All for One!

Best of luck to you in whatever you choose to do.’

Enji did not realize when his eyes began watering until a tear fell on his blanket. He had not considered any of it. Somehow, he thought he would not ever be able to live independently. Why did he think that?

Hawks couldn't help but peer over Endeavor's shoulder to read the card. He realized that Endeavor had started crying and quietly handed him some tissues.

"You really will be back to your old self in no time," he said quietly. "A lot of heroes are dealing with missing limbs and various disabilities now. Just because you're not exactly the same as before doesn't mean you're not a hero. It doesn't mean you're not needed."

He cleared his throat awkwardly, trying not to tear up as well. "I mean, I need you. Maybe that's selfish. But can you really see me as number one? That would be a disaster."

“Don’t say that,” Enji argued, although his voice sounded soft and pathetic. “You’d be an amazing number one. You’re already the real number one in my mind.”

Hawks rubbed the back of his head and laughed, glancing to the side. "Everything I said at the billboard chart rankings still stands, you know? We need a leader - a symbol of strength and perseverance. Not just the public, but the heroes as well. That's not really who I am. Maybe it will be one day."

He sighed heavily. "Listen, if you really want to retire, then I'll support you no matter what. But do it because it's what you want, not because you think people hate you, or because you want to hide in shame. What does Endeavor mean, anyway? I always thought you were someone who would never give up, regardless of the odds."

“Way to call me out,” Enji snorted. “No, I don’t really want to do anything else. I still have a lot of fight left in me, and I can kick and punch just fine. I’m just… I’m about 90% guilt at this point.”

"Calling you out is kinda my specialty," Hawks replied with a wink. "Just think it over, okay? I'm not gonna push you anymore. I know maybe you... you have other priorities, with your wife and your family." He leaned back in the chair and crossed a leg over his knee.

"We're all guilty. What have I done wrong? What could I have done better? All I can do is ask myself, where can I do the most good? For me, right now, that's being a hero. I got a second chance I never expected. Maybe in another life, I'd do the most good as a nurse, or a professor, or an artist, or president of the commission, but right now, I'm sticking with being a hero."

“I want to be a hero too,” Enji said quietly, as if he was a child ashamed of dreaming too big. “I want to go to work every day. I don’t want to sit at home and wallow in my misery. Or beg my sons for their attention. I don’t want to leave my agency.”

"Then don't," Hawks replied, equally quiet and cautious with his words. "Go after what you want. You don't have to keep punishing yourself for the mistakes of the past, just learn from them."

“Can I…” Enji reached for something invisible with his trembling fingers. “Am I allowed to do things I want? Things I like?”

Hawks stared, unused to seeing Endeavor so vulnerable. "Of course you are. You're a human being."

“What if my children hate me for continuing as a hero?” Enji whispered. “Or my wife?.. Or… I’m not worried she’ll hate me. I’m worried that she will, and I won’t care.”

"Shouto wouldn't hate you for continuing to be a hero, neither would Fuyumi," Hawks replied, making an educated guess about Endeavor's less problematic children. "Natsuo and, uh, Touya have already made their minds up about how they feel. I don't think they'll be swayed either way. And I'm sure Rei wants you to be happy!"

“I think maybe you’re right.” Enji was clearly afraid to hope. “I, um. I’ll discuss this with my family. The part of it that talks to me.”

Hawks smiled warmly, his heart breaking a little less to know that Endeavor actually listened to his ridiculous opinions. "Yeah, definitely talk to them! I know it's hard but try not to let life get you down."

“How can I get down when you’re always there to raise me up?” Enji countered, smiling. “Seriously, Hawks, you’re my strongest supporter.”

"Of course I am! I told you I'm president of the Endeavor fan club. Just, uh, not the part of the fan club that writes you inappropriate letters." Hawks was suddenly aware that the weird drawing was still tucked up against his leg in the chair, and now he didn't know what to do with it.

“I weirdly kinda don’t mind the inappropriate letters,” Enji confessed, absolutely burning up with shame. “Here I am, thinking of myself as the lowest of the low, and then there are people whose greatest dream is to have sexual intercourse with me.”

"Ah, y-yeah, I guess that's a good way to think about it," Hawks chuckled nervously. "People always think heroes are hot, and you're obviously an attractive person."

“Aw, thank you,” Enji replied shyly. He wanted to pay Hawks a compliment back but then thought it would be creepy, for an older person to do this. So he left it at that.

Hawks was just happy that Endeavor took his slip of the tongue well, rather than locking up and getting uncomfortable. He didn't expect anything in return. "Sure, no problem," he muttered. "Hey, make sure you actually eat something. I hear that's important for recovery."

“Okay,” Enji muttered hesitantly and then restated, firmer, “Okay. I will eat, I will do my physical therapy, I will order a durable prosthetic arm, and then I’ll go out to the people and be their number one hero.”

Hawks grinned, happier than he'd been in months - maybe even happier than when his wings returned. He gave a joyful whoop and cheers'ed his takeout container into the air.

"That's the Endeavor I know!"

🎆 🧊 🎆 🧊 🎆 🧊 🎆 🧊 🎆 🧊

Touya wasn’t sure what possessed him to allow his siblings unfettered access to his hospital room. Fuyumi was usually fine – she cried sometimes, and tried to get him to forgive their father, but otherwise she was normal. Shouto was quiet and often absorbed in his schoolwork. At least he brought soba sometimes so they could share a tepid meal that wasn’t hospital slop.

Natsuo, however…

Natsuo liked to talk.

He particularly liked to talk about Endeavor, exactly the person Touya was trying to push from his mind most as he attempted to formulate some kind of plan to escape the hospital before they transferred him to prison, or he had to go to trial. He couldn’t depend on Shigaraki’s help – that guy had already made his preferences clear, and the word among the nurses was that he was being moved to a psychiatric facility soon.

Lucky bitch.

Touya stared up at the ceiling tiles while Natsuo blathered on, halfway wishing he was still a corpse so that everyone would leave him alone.

“—so I decided I’m gonna marry my girlfriend, we’re gonna make a new family, and then I never have to talk to him again,” Natsuo spat, full of familiar bitterness.

“You’re what?” Touya snapped, finally deciding to weigh in on the conversation.

“I’m never going to talk to Dad again, I’m completely cutting him out of my life,” Natsuo replied sternly.

“Yeah, sure, whatever – you’re getting married? Aren’t you like twelve?”

Natsuo frowned deeply and for a moment Touya thought his brain was scrambled, because his brother’s disapproving face looked exactly like Endeavor in that moment.

“I’m nineteen,” he huffed.

“Same difference,” Touya grumbled. “Listen, if you wanna ignore the old man for the rest of your life, do that, but don’t get married when you’re still a teenager. Is that even legal?”

“I… I just need parental permission, and besides, I’ll be twenty soon,” Natsuo mumbled.

“Twenty,” Touya sighed like it pained him.

“Why do you care?” Natsuo demanded.

“Because you’re making a stupid life decision just to stick it to Dad when there are a lot of other ways to tell him to fuck off,” Touya muttered.

“What, like trying to murder him?” Natsuo drawled.

“I mean, it’s a thought,” Touya drawled right back with a raised brow. Natsuo was silent for a few moments, his hands balled into fists against his knees.

“I thought you would get it,” he said quietly.

“Get what?” Touya sighed.

“I don’t… I don’t want to be part of this!” Natsuo cried. “Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend that you wanted to be with forever? Haven’t you… haven’t you been in love before?”

“’Course I’ve had a girlfriend,” Touya grumbled. It was partially true. There were girls – and yeah, a few guys – that he’d slept with for a couple months and he liked them well enough, so maybe that could be called dating, but he hadn’t exactly lived a life that lent itself well to candlelit dinners and White Day gifts.

“You seriously never thought about getting married? Starting a family?” Natsuo pushed.

“You’re really gonna ask me that while I’m handcuffed to a bed, stitched together like some kinda zombie, and waiting for them to ship me off for execution?” Touya snapped.

“Sorry,” Natsuo mumbled numbly. “I just thought… I dunno. You’re the oldest.”

“Yeah, I’m the oldest, and I’m telling you it’s a stupid reason to get married,” Touya huffed. “Have you even asked this girl—”

“Akiko,” Natsuo corrected sharply.

“Sure, Akiko– have you even asked her if that’s what she wants? And you’re seriously thinking about kids at such a young age after everything we’ve been through?”

“She’s on board,” Natsuo replied. “She wants a family.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Touya said, squinting at Natsuo.

“I’m fine with kids,” Natsuo insisted.

“How’s that gonna work with school?” Touya asked, searching through his scrambled brain for everything Fuyumi had told him about Natsuo’s life. “You’re going to med school soon, right? How are you gonna pay for college? Where are you guys gonna live?”

“I’ll figure it out,” Natsuo mumbled, hunching his shoulders.

“Uh huh.” Touya rolled his eyes, even though the motion made the delicate new skin around his eyelids itch and tug. “You know, I thought I’d figure out running away from home, too. I lived in a lot of scummy places and had to deal with a lot of scummy people. There were a lotta times I could have died and it had nothing to do with fighting people.”

“Well, I’m not gonna become a villain,” Natsuo snapped.

“So you’re planning to marry this girl, have kids that you’re at best neutral about, either barely scrape by financially or continue mooching off Endeavor, and… then what?”

“I don’t know, okay?!” Natsuo cried. “I just don’t want to be in this family anymore! I don’t want to see him! I don’t want to think about this shit!”

Touya let his brother calm down, watching his chest heave from emotion that had nowhere to go. Natsuo didn’t have fire to burn through all his rage and sorrow – he just had to sit with it and slowly freeze.

“You know, Fuyumi and Shouto are part of his family,” Touya sighed.

“I know that,” Natsuo grumbled.

“You gonna leave them behind, too?” Touya didn’t bother to mention himself. It was fine – acceptable and probably expected – if Natsuo never wanted to see him again. It made sense.

“No, I’m not gonna leave you guys,” Natsuo replied quietly.

“Then you already have a family,” Touya muttered, exhausted by the conversation. “Dad doesn’t have to be a part of it. Just focus on your damn school and your friends and Yumi and Shouto. Get married when you’re older.”

“What about you?” Natsuo asked carefully.

“What about me?” Touya spat. “You gonna come visit me in prison? Send me little letters?”

“I could,” Natsuo offered.

Touya flopped his head to the side and wondered how much longer he could put up with human companionship. Natsuo looked terribly young in the hospital chair next to him. “Okay, make me a deal,” he began.

“What’s the deal?” Natsuo asked skeptically.

“Don’t get married if I can’t come to your damn wedding,” Touya sighed.

“We’re just going to the courthouse—”

“Do we have a deal or not?” Touya demanded. Natsuo glared at him, his fists clenched again while his pale grey eyes searched Touya’s face.

“Maybe,” he replied delicately.

“Don’t talk to that asshole if you don’t want to,” Touya continued. “You don’t owe him a relationship. But let him pay for your college and all the shit you need like housing and food or whatever.”

“But that’s what he wants—”

“Does it look like I give a shit what he wants?” Touya growled. “Do what’s best for you. And what’s best for you is not a teen pregnancy and a mountain of loans.”

“How would you know what’s best for me?” Natsuo asked with a glare.

“Maybe I don’t – but I know what it’s like to not have any money. I know what it’s like to not have a place to live or any food to eat. I know what it’s like to sleep under bridges and starve for days. You’ve never experienced that. It fucking sucks. And it would’ve been a lot worse if I’d been trying to raise some kinda family at the same time.”

“We’re not the same,” Natsuo replied, but the words sounded weak. Touya looked away and slumped against his mattress.

“No,” he relented. “You’re smarter than me. You were always smarter than me. Don’t waste it.”

Natsuo went quiet again and Touya could feel his frustration and annoyance like a poisonous haze that laid over the room. Finally, he sighed and reached out to take Touya’s scarred hand.

“What are you doing?” Touya complained. “I don’t wanna hold hands.”

“I’m shaking on our deal, but you’re cuffed so it’s weird,” Natsuo muttered.

“You’re weird,” Touya grumbled.

“You’re weird,” Natsuo shot right back, though he snorted and started laughing as soon as he said it.

“Damn, this is fucking stupid,” Touya huffed as he awkwardly shook Natsuo’s hand.

“You’re fucking stupid—”

“Okay, enough!”

Natsuo’s laughter echoed through the room and Touya wondered if this counted as a good deed, even if no one ever saw it or knew about it. Maybe it was better that way.

☕ ❄️ ☕ ❄️ ☕ ❄️ ☕ ❄️ ☕ ❄️

Soichi couldn't say that volunteering to assist after the war was fun, but it was rewarding. It gave him something to do during the long days. His office had been destroyed, so he currently had no job, and they hadn't restored power to his neighborhood yet while reconstruction focused on districts with hospitals, schools, and care facilities.

They'd assigned him to one of the resource hubs in the evacuation zone near UA. He knew his Quirk was an odd one, but it did give him an important job - keeping the fragile wifi and data connections up and running. While other people handed out food, water, clothing, and bedding, he helped them connect to their emails, contact their loved ones, watch the news, and get some much-needed entertainment.

He did have to stop people from accessing inappropriate materials a few times, but otherwise it was a good job.

And, of course, the most beautiful woman in the world was there.

Her name was Rei, and she had silky white hair, soulful grey eyes, and the cutest laugh he'd ever heard. There was a healing scar across her face that made Soichi wonder how close she’d been to some of the battles, but many people had scars following the war. She looked sad sometimes, but everyone did these days. He knew that trying for anything romantic was a little strange right now, but people met in all kinds of ways. He'd even heard of a couple who met in the aftermath of the Kamino Ward battle!

At the very least, seeing her during his shifts made him smile. He liked to think he made her smile too sometimes. Maybe he'd get up the courage to ask her on a date once more restaurants were open.

He spotted Rei as soon as he arrived for his shift. He'd shown up early to set up another laptop - an ancient device that was sitting in his closet gathering dust. It was old, but it functioned. They always needed more.

"Rei!" he called out, waving cheerfully. "Good morning!"

“Hi Soichi!” she greeted, feeling that odd warmth in her chest again. “You want some stone-solid frozen pizza?” She waved at him with the giant pizza slice wrapped in plastic.

"Uh... maybe after it thaws a little," Soichi laughed. "Know anyone with a heat Quirk? We can team up and have fresh baked pizza!"

Rei frowned at the mention of a heat Quirk. “My villain son,” she suggested, still unwilling to mention her husband in front of Soichi. “But he’s in custody.”

"Oh, I didn't know," Soichi replied. "I'm so sorry. That must be terrible to deal with. Is he... is he in prison?"

He flinched as soon as he spoke the question out loud. "Ah, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to. We can talk about something else."

“He’s in the hospital,” Rei said quietly. “But after he recovers, he’s going to prison. He doesn’t really want to talk to me.”

"I'm sorry," Soichi said again. His heart ached for Rei. He had friends and family who had lost their homes or been injured, but nothing as bad as this. He wondered if being in the hospital meant her son had fought in the war, or if he was one of the escapees. He didn't dare ask. No wonder Rei looked sad sometimes.

"This is probably a silly question, but is there anything I can do to help? Do you want to talk, or be distracted, or... or a hug or something?"

“You can hug me,” Rei said before she could think better on it.

Soichi very carefully put his romantic interest aside and pulled Rei into a gentle hug. It wasn't uncommon for the people who came to their hub to need some comfort, but of course it was different because it was Rei. He felt so awful knowing that she was here helping people while her son was in the hospital - villain or not. He decided to say as much.

"It's so admirable that you're here working hard while you're struggling through this," he said. "If it was me, I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed."

“I don’t really have a bed to be in right now,” Rei sighed. “I mean, I’m about to, but…”

Soichi’s hug in a random dingy tent was better than anything she had ever experienced with Enji on luxury sheets in his expensive mansion, and the knowledge was troubling.

“My husband let the rescue committee use our house for the children,” she finally said. “And he’s also in the hospital, and he barely fits into that bed himself, so…”

Soichi felt his breath catch in his throat. Her husband. Her husband. Of course Rei was married - how could she not be? She was gorgeous and smart and funny and had a great Quirk. He should have suspected as much already, especially when she said she had a son.

"O-oh? That's... that's rough," he gritted out. His brain spiraled as he tried to think of something appropriate to say.

"He's not a villain too, right?" he joked, and immediately wanted to strangle himself.

Rei let go of him because she had to laugh. Soichi couldn’t have said anything more absurd if he tried.

“He’s a pro hero,” she finally said.

"A pro hero?" Soichi squeaked.

Here he was - a nobody - swooning after a pro hero's wife. Wow, it couldn't get much worse than that. At least it taught him a lesson about getting too caught up in romantic fantasies. He would just be satisfied with Rei's friendship and that was that.

"Um, that's great!" he said with forced enthusiasm. "I mean, not great that he's in the hospital, but we all owe the heroes such a debt of gratitude after everything... I hope he recovers soon."

Rei sighed sadly and began sorting through the hygiene supplies.

“Soichi, I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” she said bleakly. “I just… He’s such a workaholic, he’s always been about work. And we’ve been separated for a very long time because I was in a mental hospital, and I didn’t want to see him. And he used to be awful, but now he’s nice. And I tried to restore our relationship, but it just doesn’t seem like he’s into me at all. He doesn’t even want to kiss me. I mean, he’s never been particularly affectionate, and my parents arranged the marriage, so it’s not out of love, but what man doesn’t even want his wife?”

“And he thinks I’m being mean, and I feel so bad because he’s disabled now, and he sacrificed his body to protect us, and here I am with my petty marriage struggles. He says his pain is worse when I’m around. He rented me an apartment, and we’re going to separate, and I don’t know, maybe we’re going to get divorced now…” She didn’t notice when she started crying, but by the end of her speech, tears were dropping on the packets of wet wipes she was sorting.

Soichi's head spun from how quickly the conversation shifted. He tried to take in as much as he could from the barrage of information. Rei had been in a mental hospital? Her husband didn't want her? They were separating?

He saw that Rei was crying and rushed to pull some clean tissues out of his pocket. He kept them around all the time now because tears were frequent in their work.

"Oh, Rei, I'm so sorry," he said soothingly. "Maybe... maybe it will just take time for the two of you to be close again since you've been separated so long and this war has been so awful... it's been awful for everyone, but I'm sure it's even worse for you, with your family being divided like that."

He offered Rei more tissues and struggled over whether or not to speak his mind. Was he letting himself be swayed too much by his interest? Surely it couldn't hurt to ask. Maybe no one had asked before. "If the marriage was arranged by your parents, do you... do you want it to continue? Do you love him?"

Do I love Enji?

“I don’t know,” Rei admitted. “I’ve never been with anybody but him, so I don’t… I don’t know any better. I mean, he’s hot, like, really really hot, but he’s not good at anything in a relationship, and I’m angry and annoyed when he opens his mouth.” She chuckled through her tears. “Like, you know, very pretty to look at but needs to shut his mouth and stay that way. And we have four kids together, and one of them is a minor, so that complicates things if we want to separate.”

Soichi tried not to feel anything about Rei saying her husband was really really hot. He shouldn't care and all pro heroes were hot anyway. And Rei had four kids with the man? If they weren't in love then why??

"You shouldn't stay together just for your kids," he blurted out. This at least he could speak on. "My parents got divorced when I was in high school and it was a relief. They tried to stay together for me and my sister, but we could feel the strain and the awkwardness all the time. Dealing with the divorce and separate homes was so much better than them fighting all the time."

“Our kids do complain,” Rei sighed. “You’re right. I… I’ll give him one more chance. I’m not going to leave him right now, he lost a limb, that would be just an asshole move. But if things are back to normal and he’s still acting like we’re roommates, I’m dumping his fine ass.”

"I mean, uh, you don't have to listen to me! I don't know anything!" Soichi laughed nervously. "I've never been married, I don't have any kids, and I definitely don't know anything about the life of a pro hero..."

Oh god, what if I broke up some hero's marriage just by opening my dumb mouth?

“No, no, you’re awesome!” Rei protested. “No one else cares about my perspective. My younger kids don’t want to take sides, my oldest is handcuffed to a hospital bed and cussing everyone out, my parents want my hospitalized, one-armed husband to send them money, and I don’t have any other friends. I’m glad you’re giving me advice.”

"I... I'm happy you can confide in me, Rei," Soichi mumbled, his heart aching once more. "You're not just this guy's wife, or your kids' mother, or your parents' paycheck. You're a person and you deserve to be happy, whether it's with your husband or... or some other situation."

❄️ 🔥 ❄️ 🔥 ❄️ 🔥 ❄️ 🔥 ❄️ 🔥

Rei tried. She honestly tried, over and over again, but Enji was like a stubborn mountain that refused to move.

They got their house back, and Enji took her shopping for home decor, which was amazingly sweet. After that, they made love on brand new sheets. It wasn’t as bad as some of the other times, and Enji didn’t look like he wanted it to be over, so she took it as a win.

Things got worse once her doctor finally took her off one of her medications. She thought the difference in their sex drive was noticeable before, but now it was staggering. She wanted Enji everywhere. In his car. On top of the washing machine. In his training room while he was doing his yoga. In the garden next to the koi pond. Of course, in bed, all the time.

At first, Enji giggled like a shy maiden and gave in, but he quickly grew tired of it. He had gone back to work, all too soon, he was always exhausted, or injured, or not in the mood. A couple times, Rei woke up to his warm, perfect body pressed against her and took advantage of it, but Enji would wake up upset. She felt both guilty and mad that she had to beg for crumbs of affection from her own husband.

Surprisingly, Soichi was still there, still sweet and smiley, bringing her candy and giving her rides, and he even gifted her a scarf. Rei wore it and told Enji where it was from, and that fire dunderhead did not even spare her a frown of jealousy.

Somehow, that was the final straw. What in the world did Enji offer? Yes, he protected the country, but he did it for all other citizens, without being married to them. Being a parent to their kids? He fucked that up spectacularly. Money? By law, Rei was entitled to part of it, especially after giving him kids and sacrificing her mental health while he worked on his stellar career. All he could offer was bickering, a pretty face, and bad sex after which he cried.

“Enji, baby, I cannot do this anymore,” she blurted out of nowhere as they both sat on the couch.

“What? It’s not that bad,” Enji replied, still staring at the screen. “Is it because there’s snakes in it? I can switch to the one about mountain flora.”

Enji was so fumbling and sweet, and it hurt Rei to do this to him.

“No, Enji. Our marriage.”

Enji dropped the remote, cussed, picked it up, paused the documentary, and turned the light on.

“Rei, what do you mean?” he asked in a shaky voice.

“I can’t be in this marriage anymore,” Rei said firmly, holding back tears - at least one of them had to be strong. “The kids are fed up with our fighting. Nothing improved after so many years. You hate kissing me, you hate holding me, you hate when I’m in your lap, you hate having sex with me.”

“I--”

“No, shush, don’t deny it, Enji. You can’t stand it!” Rei raised her voice. “I tried everything, every position, I tried sexy clothes, new places, waiting till your day off, spur of the moment thing, you don’t want anything, you aren’t attracted to me”.

She paused, so Enji assumed he should speak. “You’re… you’re right. I don’t want to have sex,” he admitted. “If we could never do it again, I’d be fine.”

Rei slapped her hands against her thighs in frustration. “See? I want a man who wants me. I was locked up for years, only to come out and be celibate again? I don’t want a roommate, I want a partner. And I want a divorce.”

Somehow, the ‘d’ word hit Enji the hardest. He didn’t know what to say.

“Oh, Enji, please don’t cry, please don’t cry, dear,” Rei softened and reached out to touch him.

Enji flinched away. “No! You want a divorce, fine. But that means you don’t get to touch me anymore. Ever!”

“I can live with that!” Rei yelled back.

Enji sighed and sagged back against the couch. “Why are we fighting?” he asked quietly. “We have nothing to lose anymore. There’s nothing at stake. We don’t want each other, there’s no cheating. One of our kids is locked up, two are grown and moved out, Shouto doesn’t want to live with us. The house is mine, so is the agency, the rest I’ll split with you fairly. There’s no reason to even get mad at each other.”

Rei exhaled loudly and paused to think. Indeed, there was no reason. She was free.

“We can see other people!” she suggested.

“I can smoke weed in the pool,” Enji cheered. “And take extra hours at work!”

“Enji!” Rei gasped. “You smoke weed?”

“What are you gonna do, divorce me?” Enji snorted.

“Fine. Keep the house, I’ll pack my shit.”

“I’ll help you pack your shit!”

🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡 🏡

Shouto scowled at his reflection in the mirror as he adjusted his shirt. The last thing he wanted to do with his time off from school and volunteering for patrol shifts was spend an evening with his parents. Seeing Natsuo and Fuyumi might be nice if Natsuo was in a decent mood, but he could do without the constant tension between his parents.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad!" Izuku said hopefully, his smile brilliant despite the new scar cutting across his cheek and jaw.

"You don't know what they're like," Shouto insisted. "You'd think that they could manage to get along since they decided to live together again, and we all survived this damn war, but no."

"I guess you're right, I haven't seen them together like a couple, only apart," Izuku muttered.

Shouto had a terrible, brilliant idea.

"Come with me," he said bluntly.

"W-what? But isn't it like a... a private family thing?" Izuku stammered.

Shouto shrugged. "Who cares? You saved the world. Besides, Dad loves you."

"I mean... if you really want me to--"

"Great, go change and we'll leave in ten minutes," Shouto said firmly.

“Why are there two of them?” Rei asked, staring in the window at the two boys approaching the house.

“Maybe Shouto got a multiplication Quirk?” Enji suggested absent-mindedly while he was arranging different cookies on a plate. “Maybe All for One threw it his way as a last-ditch effort to annoy me. ‘Here, you get multiple teenagers at the same time. Suffer, Endeavor.’”

Rei found that extremely funny and started laughing while holding on to the kitchen counter.

“They’re being weird, right?” Fuyumi whispered to Natsuo. “Right? It’s not just me?”

"So weird," Natsuo whispered back, a nearly permanent frown on his features. "It's like they're... happy. Ugh." He shuddered in disgust. He wished he’d stuck with his promise to never see Enji again.

Shouto didn't bother knocking, he simply let himself in with Izuku trailing along beside him. He intended to make this dinner as quick and painless as possible.

"Hello, I brought Midoriya with me for emotional support," he greeted blandly.

"Ha! Ah, I mean, thank you so much for having me!" Izuku sputtered his thanks to the Todoroki family as they gathered around the dinner table.

“Enji baked cookies,” Rei bragged. “Look at them, so pretty!”

“Like Shouto,” Enji added.

Fuyumi started laughing, a little nervously. “O-okay.”

Natsuo rolled his eyes and shook his head. He didn't know why his parents were acting so strange, but it was definitely annoying. He swiped one of the cookies off the plate as a pre-dinner treat.

"He is pretty!" Izuku agreed cheerfully. "That's what the magazines say, too. Oh, maybe you can model once you're a full-time pro!" He didn't see what the problem was with Endeavor and his wife. They seemed so much nicer now!

Shouto tried not to blush and failed. He sat down heavily at the table. "I don't like people taking pictures of me," he grumbled.

“Well, but you are very beautiful,” Enji insisted. “Hawks does modeling shoots all the time.”

“Maybe Hawks can be your wife,” Rei said casually.

Instead of being shocked or lashing out, Enji threw his head back and laughed.

"Okay, what the hell is going on with you guys?" Natsuo asked loudly. "Why are you two acting so weird? Mom better not be pregnant again!"

Shouto actually felt slightly better with Natsuo yelling. It was more normal this way.

Enji and Rei looked at each other and laughed even louder.

“Pregnant? Oh my god,” Enji wheezed, tears showing in his eyes.

“Nope, I’m done popping out little menaces,” Rei chuckled.

“She’s also done doing something else,” Enji added, and was interrupted by his own laughter.

Shouto didn't think he'd ever seen his parents laugh so much. Maybe Endeavor when they were chasing that smiley villain all over the place.

"I still don't know what you're talking about!" Natsuo shouted in exasperation. "Stop hinting and just tell us!"

Izuku decided it was best to keep his mouth shut and simply focused on eating his rice with wide eyes.

“We are here to celebrate…” Enji gestured widely with his arms and held a suspenseful pause. “Me becoming Japan’s most eligible bachelor.”

Rei poked him in the side. “Are you kidding me, I will freeze your--” She suddenly remembered they had an audience. “Elbows.”

“We got divorced, you guys,” Enji announced, smiling ear to ear. “She doesn’t live here anymore.”

Izuku gasped and dropped his bowl on the table with a clatter. He definitely didn't feel like he should be there to hear the announcement, but he wasn't mad about getting the best hero gossip in the nation first.

"Thank fuck," Natsuo groaned and laid his forehead on the table.

"You're... divorced?" Shouto echoed. "As in, it's already done? You're not trying to work it out?"

“We’ve already tried. I’d rather fight All for One again,” Enji said bluntly.

“Shut up, Enji, you’re trash,” Rei replied just as bluntly. “Just because you’re the number one hero doesn’t mean you’re the number one man.”

“You’re getting real close to getting that alimony payment in the form of a truck filled with change.”

Rei closed her mouth so fast it was comical.

“Yes, it’s done, and we have a 50/50 custody of you, Shou,” Enji added belatedly.

“It’s… probably for the best,” Fuyumi said.

Shouto let the information sink in slowly. He waited to have some kind of emotional turmoil about it, but in all honesty, he felt completely neutral. In a way, he was relieved to simply know what was going on, rather than wondering what would happen with his parents' strange relationship.

"Okay," he said simply as he reached for the bowl of cucumber salad.

"Congratulations," Natsuo drawled, waving his hand in the air. "Anything else we need to add on for this family dinner?"

"Oh, if we're sharing things - I'm gay," Shouto said through a mouthful of spicy cucumbers. "Endeavor already knows."

"You are?" Izuku gasped in shock.

“What do you mean ‘you are?’” Enji exclaimed. “I thought you guys were, like, gay together!”

Fuyumi rolled her eyes. “Dad…”

Izuku turned red from his toes to tips of his ears. "W-we're not!" he stammered. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with thinking that! We're just close friends!"

"I told you he was here for emotional support," Shouto sighed.

“Emotional support Deku,” Enji wheezed.

“Shouto, if you want to bring a boyfriend over, my place has real walls,” Rei said sweetly.

Enji pulled a coin out of his pocket and silently twirled it in front of Rei who tried to push him away.

"I don't have a boyfriend, but thank you for the offer," Shouto huffed, now also red in the face.

"Stop embarrassing him," Natsuo snorted. He shook his head and sighed. "So wait - that's it? You're divorced? We don't have to deal with this anymore?"

“Yes! Exactly!” Enji said cheerfully. “No more of this bullshit. Your mom is not going to be so annoying anymore cause she’s gonna get laid…”

“Enji, you’re literally the worst!” Rei exclaimed, trying not to laugh.

“You get that divorce agreement, look at how much money I left you, and tell me I’m the worst.”

“I’m rich,” Rei bragged.

“The reporter asked me today, ‘Endeavor, you only have one arm, are you gonna retire?’ How the hell? My will looks like a joke!”

Natsuo covered his ears with his hands and groaned. "Oh god, don't talk about sex in front of me," he begged.

Shouto and Izuku simply stared very hard at their dinner plates while the adults went back and forth about money and sex.

“Sorry, sorry,” Enji said. “Um, you guys have any more news that’s more appropriate? Maybe that you’re also gay? Or you want to be a villain? Or you’re in debt and need money?”

"I'm not gay, and I don't want to be a villain," Natsuo grumbled. "I could use some money to go out to dinner with my friends."

“Sure, baby,” Enji said sweetly.

Rei hid behind a lettuce leaf.

“See? See what she’s going?” Enji giggled, pointing a finger at her. “I’m the fun parent. Remember that.”

Rei laughed at Enji’s statement and dropped the leaf.

"Are you going to tell Touya?" Shouto asked. He wasn't even sure how they'd contact his brother now that he was awaiting trial and sentencing, but he had to ask.

“At some point, yeah. It was his idea. He said ‘if you hate her so much, just divorce her,’” Enji shared. “He probably will say he doesn’t care.”

"That does sound like him," Natsuo muttered.

Shouto shifted in his seat, almost wishing he hadn't brought up his eldest sibling. He decided to change the topic back to his parents.

"So you're staying in the house and Mom has her apartment?"

“Yep, I’ve had this house since before any of you were in my life, so it was a given,” Enji replied.

“I got a cute apartment next to a park,” Rei shared, clearly excited about her new home. “And I also took all of Enji’s favorite cast iron pans, even though I can’t cook.”

“Don’t forget to put them in the dishwasher,” Enji said in a fake sweet voice.

Rei clearly didn’t get it.

Shouto nodded towards his mother. "I'm glad you're excited about your new place. I'd like to see it whenever you're ready."

"What the heck are you gonna do with all this space?" Natsuo snorted. He couldn't imagine what Endeavor would do with the place.

“Throw some killer parties?” Enji suggested uncertainly.

“We’re both taking what we came into this marriage with,” Rei explained calmly. “Enji’s taking this unreasonably large house, the number one hero agency in Japan, and most of his body. I’m taking my cast iron pans, my couch, and what’s left of my mental health.”

Shouto found that he felt tentatively hopeful as the dinner drew to a close. He was still glad to have Izuku there as a buffer, but his parents were infinitely better now that they were divorced. Considering how long they'd been separated when Rei was in the hospital, it didn't even feel that different.

He listened to Natsuo complain, tried his best to follow along with Fuyumi's stories about the students at her new school, and only offered up information about his classes when he was asked.

All in all, it felt... normal. And he was happy with that.

☕ ❄️ 🔥 ☕ ❄️ 🔥 ☕ ❄️ 🔥 

Soichi ended up stuck at work on the day that Rei had scheduled to move the last of her things and arrange the new furniture. He'd wanted to help her on such a potentially emotional day - as a friend, of course! - but then his coworker called out sick.

Thankfully, his last assignment of the day was much quicker than he expected, so he ducked out as soon as he could to get to Rei's new apartment. He grabbed some drinks and snacks just in case, and on impulse, a bottle of champagne to toast her new life.

She didn't even have to drink it with him if she didn't want to.

He was trying his very best to simply enjoy the friendship rather than hope for anything more. As he pulled up to Rei's address, hoping to surprise her, he spotted a car he didn't recognize. Maybe she got someone else to help?

He caught sight of Rei with her hair pinned back and called out. "Hey, Rei! I made it!"

“Oh!” She looked a bit surprised, then a bit worried. “Soichi, honey, thank you for coming over. I’m exploiting my ex-husband as free labor force. Oh, this might be a little awkward…”

“Coming over with big, bad, and heavy!” a male voice called, and then the source appeared - Endeavor, in a tight black t-shirt and jeans, with a shiny silvery arm, carrying a large red couch up to the building entirely by himself. “Oh, hi,” he greeted, casually stopping as if the couch weighed nothing.

Soichi's mouth fell open and he dropped the little bag of bottled water and sports drinks that he'd brought as he watched the enormous hero carrying Rei's couch.

"E-Endeavor?" he gasped. "You never said your ex-husband was Endeavor!"

Enji simply laughed and carried the couch into the apartment.

“Come on, Soichi!” Rei whispered. “I told you he’s a pro hero who lost an arm, had a wife in a mental hospital, four kids, one is a villain with a heat Quirk, it’s pretty easy to figure out!”

"Well I... I didn't want to jump to conclusions, and I don't keep up with hero news much anyway!" Soichi sputtered.

If he hadn't long ago given up hope on any kind of romance with Rei, this was certainly the nail in the coffin. Rei's standards must be simply impossible to achieve. He also felt distinctly uncomfortable knowing that some of the bedroom woes Rei had shared with him were about the number one pro hero in the country. Not to be completely outdone, he picked up a box of books and carried them inside after Endeavor.

“Hey, are you her new man?” Enji asked curiously. “Or trying to be?”

"What?" Soichi squeaked. "No, no, nothing like that. We're just friends." He would never actively try to pursue a married or recently divorced woman. That just seemed wrong.

Enji frowned. “So we’ve been divorced for two days, and she hasn’t slept with anybody?” He went back to setting up the bookshelf. “Why’d she divorce me then? I could have given her nothing just the same…”

"I... I don't know," Soichi replied, thoroughly confused by the conversation. "I think most people need some time after a breakup or divorce to start looking for new partners."

“Not if the reason for the divorce is looking for new partners,” Enji countered while attaching a shelf. “Hey, man, I’m not bitter about it. I saw how you look at her. I’m not going to set you on fire.”

"Nnngh," Soichi groaned, covering his face. "I'm... I'm a good person! I don't look at other people's wives like that! Or their... recently divorced ex-spouses. That would be disrespectful."

“Dude, the woman was locked up in the nuthouse for years and got out only to be with a husband who didn’t want her. If you don’t go for it, someone else will. Don’t be an idiot.”

Soichi flushed and tried not to look at Rei too hard as she came in through the front door with more items. It was a lost cause anyway. She likely didn't see him like that.

"That's very kind of you to say," he mumbled. "I'm Soichi, by the way. Good to actually meet you in person."

“I’m Enji.” Enji even turned to face the other man. His smile was genuine. “I’m pretty harmless when I’m off the clock.”

Soichi tried his best to return the smile despite the awkwardness of the situation. He really should have guessed that Rei's ex was Endeavor earlier.

"Okay, I believe you," he said. Rather than keep thinking about what he and Rei used to do together as husband and wife, he focused on the remainder of the boxes and bags that needed to be carried and unloaded.

“You guys are just so good at collaborating!” Rei praised.

“And you’re so good at not doing anything!” Enji replied, matching her tone.

“Just like you in the bedroom!” Rei said in the same voice.

“I’m gonna push this bookshelf off the stairs!” Enji continued with a sweet smile.

"Ha, yeah, just trying to help," Soichi muttered. He tried his best to keep a neutral expression at their rather threatening banter. Maybe that was just how they were with each other.

After the boxes and furniture were taken care of, Soichi busied himself with setting up the router and TV while Enji and Rei bickered over some pans in the small kitchen.

“What are you doing after this, hotshot?” Rei teased. “Going on a date?”

“Yeah, actually,” Enji replied, smiling. “With the prime minister!”

Rei stopped what she was doing. “Wait, for real?”

“Well, he’s taking me to dinner,” Enji laughed. “Because I’m so awesome and I fought All for One.”

“Well, good for you. Let me know later if the evening had a happy ending.”

Enji laughed adorably, clearly unfazed by their earlier arguments.

Soichi finished up with his task easily thanks to his Quirk and eavesdropped a bit on Enji and Rei. He wondered briefly if Enji was gay - that would explain some of the marital problems - but that seemed laughable. Enji was nicer than he expected from his hero persona, but he didn't come off as in the closet.

"Anything else you want me to set up?" he asked Rei. He didn't want to overstay his welcome.

“Set yourself up for success,” Enji teased. “Rei, I trust you can finish from here. I have to go buy another couch before the dinner with the prime minister.”

“Oh, Enji, you sure?”

“Absolutely.” Enji waved at both of them and promptly walked out.

Soichi frowned at Enji's sudden exit but shrugged it off.

"It seems like you guys are getting along despite the divorce," he said with a smile.

“There’s a time limit to this, and it was close to expiring, so he left,” Rei explained. “Did you bring champagne?”

"Oh, ha, yeah," Soichi chuckled. "I just figured... people always treat divorce like it's so sad, but you seem really happy and hopeful for the future, so it's just my gift to you to celebrate your new beginning."

“Okay then, let’s share it. I know where my wine glasses are!”

Enji had put them into a kitchen cabinet above the sink, and it was too high up for Rei to reach, but she had a stepstool. And if straining to reach the cabinet lifted her short dress up and offered Soichi a nice view, who would judge her? She was a free woman.

Soichi felt like some deity somewhere was really testing him. He knew what Enji had said, but it still felt wrong to ogle Rei. He couldn't help that his eyes were drawn to Rei's shapely legs and the tiny hint of cheek that showed when she reached up for the glasses. Why had she worn such a short dress for moving, anyway? He was only human.

"Thank you, that's very kind," he managed to say. "Do you need help with that?"

The glasses were still in a box that said ‘glasses,’ but Rei cut through the tape with an icicle she made. She threw the icicle into the sink and carefully handed Soichi one of the glasses.

“Put this down for me, will you?”

"Oh, sure," Soichi agreed. He turned and placed the glass on the counter, ready to assist with anything else.

Rei handed him another and made sure to gently brush her fingers against his hand as she did so.

Soichi swallowed anxiously. There was no way Rei was touching him on purpose, right? It was just wishful thinking.

"I'll um, open the bottle unless you want to do the honors," he offered. The front of Rei's dress was rather low cut, but he made a valiant effort to keep his eyes on her face.

“Soichi, what is it?” Rei asked softly. “Why are you so anxious?”

"Oh just..." Soichi trailed off and wanted to make an excuse, but he was no good at lying. "Your ex-husband asked if we were sleeping together and actually seemed confused that we weren't and now I'm confused," he blurted out.

Rei responded with her sweet soft laugh. “You want to sleep together?” she attempted to clarify.

Soichi nearly dropped the glass that was still clutched in his hand. He always loved her laugh, especially when he could be the cause of it.

"Rei, you're... you're beautiful, and I really like you a lot, but I don't want to be inappropriate or disrespectful," he mumbled.

Rei stared at him. “Oh my god, is that what it’s about?! Holy crap, Soichi, I’ve been worried something’s wrong with me that none of the men in my life want me. Please forget all that immediately. I’ve been a good, proper, wait till marriage girl for far too long. I’m not interested in being one for a moment longer.”

"Of course I want you!" Soichi gasped. "I just thought you only wanted to be friends with everything going on in your life. You mean you're... you're interested in me like that?"

“Yes! I have been for a while!” Rei gasped. “I tried to patch things up with Enji because I was ashamed of how much better I felt with you. But now he and I are done, so no need to worry about that anymore.”

Soichi felt like his entire worldview had been tilted and turned upside-down. Rei felt better with him than with the number one hero in the country? Disappointing sex life or not, Endeavor had been a key piece of defeating All for One and saving the country. Surely that counted for more than an awkward IT guy with a crush.

He had a wild thought of tossing the glass in his hand aside, but at the end of the day, he was simply not a man who broke things when it could be helped. He set the empty wine glass on the counter, grabbed Rei's arms, and pulled her in for a fierce kiss - the very thing he'd been convincing himself not to think about for months.

Rei smiled against his lips and kissed him right back. Her hands grasped his waist, so much smaller and more grabbable than Enji’s. Honestly, the entirety of Soichi was smaller and more grabbable. Rei gasped in excitement at the thought of what she could do with him.

Soichi floated right up into the atmosphere when Rei kissed him back. He'd almost been expecting a slap in the face for being too forward. He moved his hands to squeeze Rei's slender waist.

Rei bit his lower lip, almost as a little punishment. Her hands wandered across his chest, shoulders, arms, almost assessing what she had to work with.

Soichi yelped in surprise, not expecting Rei's fervor. His confidence was bolstered by the way her hands moved across his body and he tentatively returned the touches, sliding his palm to the small of her back while his other hand slipped lower to grip the side of her hip.

“You’re so pretty,” Rei whispered, smirking against his lips. “I wonder what’s in those pants.”

"I'm pretty?" Soichi replied. He'd truly never thought of himself in that way. Maybe he was? "You can find out, if you want," he murmured, kissing the side of her neck.

Rei pet his soft hair, contemplating. “Okay, so, I’m as horny as a twenty-year-old. But I’ve only been with one man. And he’s only been with me. So, frankly speaking, I don’t have much experience.”

Soichi decided to slow down just a little and moved his hands back to Rei's waist, rubbing circles into the crisp fabric of her sundress with his thumbs.

"That doesn't matter to me," he assured her. "I've had a few girlfriends, but I'm certainly not, you know, Cassanova out here. I absolutely want you, but I don't want you to feel pressured at all."

“Okay. We have plenty of time.” Rei smiled at him. “And you are very pretty.”

"Thanks," Soichi mumbled. He cupped Rei's cheek in his palm and gazed into her eyes, amazed that he could be this close. "You're... you're the most beautiful woman in the world," he said quietly.

“You must have not seen a lot of women,” Rei laughed. “But thank you.”

Soichi huffed and rose a brow. "You just haven't been looking in a mirror hard enough. I think you're gorgeous." He bit his lip and mustered up more courage. "Maybe we can still share that glass of champagne, and I can take you out to dinner sometime to convince you."

“I would like that,” Rei said softly. “And please don’t compare yourself to Enji, okay? I know it’s intimidating, but his looks or hero qualities don’t translate to relationship success. Like, at all.”

"That's going to be difficult, but I'll try," Soichi murmured. He gave Rei another kiss, softer this time, and pulled back to pour them both a glass of champagne. He was more than happy to toast to Rei's new beginning, especially if he got to be a part of it.

🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶 🔥 🪶

The first two days of solitude went fine. Enji woke up to peace and quiet, meditated and stretched (sometimes by the koi pond), drank his coffee and ate whatever he wanted, then drove to work. They had not yet informed the public about their divorce, so no one pestered him with questions.

Problems began on Enji’s first day off. There were no annoying children, no advances from his wife, no need to coordinate schedules to decide what to do. It was dreadful.

No big deal - Enji just scheduled himself for overtime. However, he began to get tired. He was not a young man anymore, and he had recently gone through a bad injury.

He tried swimming laps in the pool, watching more documentaries, exercising his prosthetic arm, smoking copious amounts of weed, and eating junk food.

It helped for a while, until he looked around one day and took in the mess his house had become. The mess his mind had become.

His therapist reminded him once more about asking for help, and so he rang the number.

“Hawks?”

Hawks was somewhat less shocked when Endeavor called him these days. It was usually just to complain about work or coordinate patrol schedules - all agencies, big and small, were working together these days to ensure coverage during the recovery period, especially considering how many heroes were gone, either still dealing with injuries, retired, or... otherwise permanently out of commission.

He tried not to think about how easily that could have been him.

All the same, he liked to think of them as friends as well as colleagues these days. It was a marked improvement on the whole "barely tolerating his existence" thing.

"Heyyyy Endeavor!" he greeted cheerfully. "What's up? Did you see Miruko got cleared for duty again and get scared? Because I sure did."

Enji did not even have the strength to uphold a casual conversation.

“Hawks, I got divorced,” he said softly.

"What?!" Hawks squawked. He had to careen wildly so he didn't hit some construction scaffolding. He tried not to talk while flying unless it was a fight, but of course he made an exception for Endeavor.

"Divorced?" he repeated. "Oh shit... I'm so sorry. Are you okay? What happened?"

“Well, we were fighting all the time, and I didn’t want to be intimate with her, and she was tired, and the kids were tired of our shit, and Touya even said we should get divorced,” Enji explained. “So we did, and she moved out. She seems happier that way. The house is… so empty. Shouto said he doesn’t want to live with either of us, and Nezu allowed him to stay at the dorms during the summer break.”

Hawks touched down on top of an office building so he could focus on the conversation, as it was obviously more serious than he expected.

"That... that's really rough," he mumbled. "I can see how it would be hard to be in the house like that if you're used to having people around."

“My house is a mess,” Enji whined. “I took more hours at work, but that only led to cramps. I can’t even get drunk. I wasn’t happy in the marriage, but now that it’s over, I’m also unhappy. I’m upset Shouto doesn’t want to live with me. And Yumi and Natsu moved out after the rescue efforts wrapped up. Touya hates me with a passion. Hawks, I’m so lonely.”

Hawks paced the roof, wondering what he could possibly do to help in this situation.

"Ah, I'm sorry your family doesn't want to live with you," he muttered. "It's normal to be unhappy after a break-up, even if it was the right thing to do. You've got lots of people who care about you, though! Uh, me, obviously, your sidekicks, Jeanist, Rumi..." He realized that he didn't know what other heroes Endeavor was close to.

"Do you need help cleaning the house? I'm not much of a housekeeper myself, but I'd help you! Or do you just want to get away for a little bit?"

“Maybe you could just be here to… motivate me?” Enji suggested. “I would hate to force you to work for my benefit.”

"Yeah, of course!" Hawks replied immediately. "Listen, I don't mind doing some work, but if you just need a warm body there for encouragement, I don't mind! I mean, I guess you could also probably just hire a housekeeper for the day."

A warm body.

Enji stilled for a moment. His body was warm now. That was strange.

“Would you… would you rather I did that?” he asked in a small voice. “You don’t want to come?”

Hearing Endeavor ask if he wanted to come in such a soft tone was a unique form of torture, but Hawks put those feelings aside. He was being a good friend, damn it!

"No, that's not it at all!" he insisted. "I'd love to come over. I was just thinking, if it's a difficult or annoying task for you, you could always hire someone else. There's no shame in that. I'd be happy to keep you company either way."

“Please come over and keep me company,” Enji said, no longer caring if he was being pathetic. “I don’t want a stranger to come in and see how I live. I’m embarrassed.”

The please really did Hawks in. If he hadn't been working, he would have dropped everything and gone straight over.

"I only have 20 minutes left in my shift, then I'll be there," he said firmly.

“Thank you, Hawks. You know where I live?”

"Yeah, I think I remember your neighborhood," Hawks replied. It was only partially a lie. He'd definitely committed the address to memory after the last time they met up with the other heroes to organize some rebuilding efforts.

Enji had the decency to shower and change into clothes that weren’t stained (a tank top and sweatpants), hide the pot, toss all the trash from the couch, and put a clean throw on it. That was about all he had energy for.

Hawks almost didn't bother changing out of his hero uniform, but then he thought about the reality of showing up at Endeavor's luxurious home in sweaty gear and looking like garbage, so he sped through a shower at the agency and threw on some casual clothes. He rushed to the Todoroki estate as soon as possible, knowing that it must be serious for Endeavor to actually ask for help. He knocked on the door of the large home and tried not to look too anxious as he shuffled from foot to foot on the doorstep.

“Hi,” Enji greeted shyly, opening the door in his tank top. Behind him on the floor was a wedding picture in a frame with cracked glass. There were random aluminum cans stacked on the porch, but Enji had managed to remove the ones that served as ashtrays. Some depressing song with a lot of cusswords was playing in the background.

Hawks blinked, his eyes shifting subtly to the trash, the broken frame, and Endeavor's muscular shoulders.

Yeah, he was definitely going to hell for checking out a recently divorced man clearly grieving his ex-wife.

Thankfully, Hawks was a great actor. He put on a smile and shoved his hands in his pockets, the picture of casual comfort and friendly interest.

"Hey! Thanks for inviting me over. I don't think I've been here when it wasn't for some agency function."

Enji politely stepped out of the way. “Sorry there’s so much trash in here.” There were a lot of takeout containers, soda bottles, and a clearly destroyed punchbag halfway sticking out of the training room door, like Enji had wanted to toss it and got lazy right in the middle of the chore.

"Don't worry about it," Hawks chuckled. "You should see my apartment. I wasn't lying when I said I was a terrible housekeeper."

He took off his shoes and left them by the door, trying not to be too starstruck standing in Endeavor's home. It was obviously cluttered, but he really didn't think it was too bad. If he hadn't known what a stickler Endeavor usually was for neatness and cleanliness, he might have thought he was just having a busy week.

“This is disgusting, I’m ashamed of myself,” Enji admitted. He clicked on his phone to turn the song off. “I’ve been eating unhealthy, living like a pig, and I had a prison call with Touya, and he cussed at me, and I cussed him out a lot worse. Actually, I don’t feel that bad for the last one. That boy needs some straightening out.”

"Ah, well, that's a complicated situation - he's a hard guy to get along with on a good day, much less while he's locked up," Hawks replied cautiously. "Please don't be embarrassed. I have zero judgment. What can I do to help?"

“Just… hover around while I do my shit, you’re really good at that,” Enji suggested with a smile. “Also, can you help me rearrange my TV room? Rei took the couch, and I got a bigger one, and it’s not fitting well into the space where the old one was. I mean, it fits, but it’s, like, touching the walls in that little area…”

"Sure, sure, definitely!" Hawks agreed. He was good at hovering – that much was true.

First he trailed around the house after Endeavor as he picked up, eventually convincing the other hero to give him a trash bag to help out. He was no stranger to a bit of depression cleaning. After the clutter was separated into trash and recycling and thrown out, he helped Endeavor shift the furniture around in the living room so that everything fit better. They ended up moving the TV to a different spot and scooting the couch around so that it was no longer butting up against the wall. Having four hands made everything go more smoothly and Hawks was quick with a joke or a story about his patrol or one of their shared acquaintances.

“Thank you, Hawks,” Enji said sincerely. “Now is the part where I order delivery food and we watch stupid shit on TV. You good with that?”

"Absolutely!" Hawks agreed. "That's what I'd do if I was at home, anyway."

Well, that or find a quick hookup. But Endeavor didn't need to know about that. It was a rush just to hang around the Todoroki homestead like a real guest instead of an annoyance.

“Here you go, order whatever you want,” Enji offered generously, handing Hawks his phone with a delivery app pulled up.

Hawks preened at the trust involved in Endeavor handing over his personal phone, and he eagerly ordered from his favorite yakitori shop down the road.

"Are you feeling any better after cleaning up?" he asked, handing the phone back before he could be tempted to snoop for nudes.

“A little bit,” Enji said seriously. “I wish you could help me clean the mess in my head just as well. I’m afraid it’s a lot worse than takeout boxes and soda cans.”

"Well, you can talk to me about it if you want," Hawks replied carefully. He curled his legs up on the new couch and rested his chin on his knees. "I'm not an expert on relationships - and definitely not kids - but you can always vent to me."

“She has a new man…” Enji exhaled while settling on the couch. “I’ve met him. He’s like a cute little muffin. Nothing like me.”

"Ah," Hawks muttered, looking down at the floor. "So you're... insecure that her new beau is so different? But didn't you guys get divorced because you weren't getting along?"

“I don’t want her back, I just feel… inadequate,” Enji sighed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. The only thing I did right in this marriage is being faithful, and it wasn’t even such a big deal for me. But now I’m going to live alone in this big house because I’ve pushed everyone away. I didn’t even realize I was doing things wrong by my wife and children, and now it’s too late. Is this how villains feel? Is that why they’re so surprised when we arrest them?”

"Hey, just because you weren't the right guy for one person doesn't mean you're inadequate. I mean, clearly she wasn't the right woman for you, either. You guys got married and started having kids when you were pretty young and didn't really know better." Hawks took a deep breath, knowing that his kids were a particularly painful subject. "I know that... that what happened with your kids was bad. You know what you did wrong now. The only thing you can do is try and be better. I don't think it's too late."

“Oh Hawks, why do you believe in me so much?” Enji asked with a sad smile. “You’ve always supported me, even when other people turned away. You’ve always been on my side.”

"Well, yeah, of course I do," Hawks replied honestly. "Maybe your kids or your ex see this side of you that failed them, but I see the hero that... that not only saved me, but saved millions of people. I'll always back you, no matter what."

“Thank you. Thank you, Hawks. You’re my best friend,” Enji whispered sincerely.

Hawks squashed the urge to flop over and roll around on the couch in the words. He was Endeavor's best friend. It wasn't exactly what he sometimes wished for, but it was pretty damn amazing. He settled for grinning over at his companion.

"You're my best friend too, just don't tell Rumi, she'll get all jealous," he chuckled.

🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤

Despite his (admittedly poor) attempts to behave himself, Touya still ended up going to damn prison. They didn't even have the decency to warn him beforehand. Endeavor just showed up all weepy one day out of the blue, a nurse injected him with something that completely knocked him out, and he woke up in a prison cell.

He was pissed, to say the least, but there were a couple of things to be relieved about. For one, he wasn't in Tantallon - the shiny new military prison that loomed large in all the prisoners' minds, the replacement for Tartarus. For another, his cell mate for the time being was Compress, so he had a familiar face to stare at when he couldn't sleep. He would have preferred Toga, but Compress was okay. He was still annoyed with Shigaraki for swooning over Endeavor and suggesting that he wear a bow, but he did wonder where he ended up.

Based on what he gleaned from other inmates and his lawyer, the place he was imprisoned now was a kind of holding facility. There were so many villains go deal with - from the PLF battle, the war with All for One, escapees from Tartarus or other prisons, and petty criminals taking advantage of the chaos - that special wartime procedures were in place to get everyone processed as quickly as possible without individual trials and sentencing. Touya thought it all sounded like a war crime, but who was he to get bent out of shape about war crimes?

Over the months and months of waiting, he saw familiar faces come and go. He even saw that asshole Geten and invested some serious time carving a blade from an old toothbrush because if he was going down, he was definitely shanking his bitchy cousin on the way out. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Geten had been there for some time already and ended up whisked away to Tantallon before Touya could complete his plan.

His lawyer told him that the courts had decided he was not competent to stand trial. She also told him it was a good thing, but it still felt kind of like an insult. He knew he was crazy, but he didn't need government bureaucrats talking about it. He hadn't really recognized the extent of his crazy until a bunch of people were suddenly invested in it, though.

He realized that there were large swaths of his memory that were simply missing, both from his younger days after Sekoto Peak and more recent years. He realized that the things he saw and heard were not always... real when he had a whole conversation with Magne in the dining hall before remembering she was dead.

Dead people visited him a lot while he was in prison, actually. Twice was the most common one - laughing heartily at him for being the crazy one in one breath, and then sobbing with remorse for his thoughtlessness in the next. Magne, of course. Then heroes started showing up. Snatch. Midnight. Crust.

Once he started seeing charred corpses in his competency hearings, he decided that hiding the pills they gave him every morning in his cheek wasn't worth it.

One day, Compress was gone, too, and he started revisiting his wishes to be executed instead of rotting in prison for any longer. He didn't even get any joy out of cussing out Endeavor when he called on the phone anymore. But after nearly a year of hemming and hawing over his mental state, the justice department finally decided to do something with him. He thought for sure that he'd get shipped off to Tantallon with everybody else, but instead they told him he was going somewhere called Ikawa Wellness Center, whatever the hell that meant. He suspected that Endeavor had pulled some strings, but maybe he really was just that nuts.

Tenko was scared.

He stayed at the hospital for so long he started to believe he was dying, and nobody was telling him anything. The seasons seemed to change outside the barred window of his hospital room.

He had to recount his life story to multiple professionals, and even though it was his own life, saying everything out loud in one go made his life sound horrific. Traumatic early years where he was beaten, starved, and non-stop accused of being malicious. Taking out his family in a matter of minutes. Being tricked into surrendering himself to the most notorious villains. Ruthless training, murder and betrayal all around, blood, needles, death, manipulation… The smiling, optimistic Tenko from the first few days after waking up was gone. His body healed, but his mind only seemed to be getting worse.

Still, he was deemed competent to stand trial. Someone had hired him a lawyer - who, Tenko did not dare ask, but the lawyer was good. He focused his defense on the manipulations of All for One and Tenko’s nightmare of a childhood, as well as the mind control and experimental drugs. It was not hard to confirm with an abundance of evidence from the doctors, as well as the journals that had been kept by Dr. Garaki. The bastard noted every single thing he and his master had done to Tenko, starting from the very first day he was in their care.

Tenko, once again, was horrified. The entries described the most routine aspects of his life - bedtime, reading, daily schedule, exercise, every little bit rooted in experiment and manipulation. Even the prosecutor was horrified.

When it was time for him to testify, Tenko followed his lawyer’s advice to lean into the idea that his world was so different from other people’s that the crimes he had committed were part of the norm. He was successful - at least, in avoiding prison. Not flipping out at people at the hospital helped him here too - all the defense’s witnesses had nothing but good things to say about his character.

In the end, he was sent to a mental hospital. It was different from the regular hospital, and the way it was set up filled Tenko with trepidation. The soulless place reminded him of All for One’s home and a Nomu factory at once, he did not know anyone, and his white hair and red eyes attracted quite the attention.

He had his own room - again, with barred windows - and his own bed to curl up on and cry once he got processed and put in uniform.

There were no goodbyes in prison. Touya didn't have anybody to say goodbye to anyway now that Compress was gone, and his new cell mate watched him with hungry eyes that made him too anxious to sleep at night.

The guards came and gathered him up one morning with little fanfare to take him to his new home for... however long they were going to keep him. At least he was too depressed to need sedation this time, so he was able to watch the world pass by in the tiny sliver of a window in the transport van.

The mental facility was nicer than prison, at least from the outside. He saw grass and a few sparse trees as they escorted him inside. By now, he was numb to the violation of a body search, but he had nothing on him. Without his Quirk, a weapon, or the will to live, he was basically harmless, so it was almost funny how concerned they were about him.

The guards handed him off to the facility security and he was able to get up enough energy to flip them off as they went. He was still cuffed, but as he was escorted down the hall, he saw private rooms. Thank fuck. He could strangle himself in peace.

Tenko was busy braiding his hair into a slightly messy fishtail braid. The provided hair tie was soft, mushy, and stupid. Did they think he was going to hang himself on a hair tie? Or use it to snap at people?

He knew some residents were whispering about him and staying away from him. Others looked with interest. Someone definitely said, ‘I would hit that,’ and Tenko pretended not to hear it.

As they were having lunch, he heard whispers about a new resident someone spotted getting out of the prison van during a smoke break.

Maybe Tenko needed to pick up smoking to fit in better? Instead, he just stared into his soup. What the hell was swimming in there?..

The staff insisted that Touya had to eat lunch with the rest of the nut jobs, even though he'd barely arrived and been assigned a room. He had little interest in food, but figured the sooner he finished that particular task, the sooner he could get back to his room and start making a plan.

A plan for what? He wasn't sure, but some kind of plan. Either to keep himself from completely losing his mind or to quietly off himself, he hadn't decided.

They shoved a tray with a sad bowl of soup, a tiny salad, and a hunk of slightly stale bread into his hands. Either no one recognized him yet, or they had recognized him and were keeping their distance. He was transported back to middle school lunch periods for a moment until he spotted a familiar head of white hair hunched over a table.

"Shigaraki?" he said, loud enough for it to echo awkwardly through the dining hall.

Tenko froze at the sound of his favorite voice in the world and flipped around so fast his white braid slapped someone in the face. “Touya?? Touya! You’re here too?!”

Touya shoved his tray into the empty hands of a staff member and stalked across the room with furrowed brow and a heavy scowl on his features. If fucking Shigaraki was here, then he definitely didn't care about soup.

Tenko slid off the bench and rushed towards his friend.

“Touya!” he cheered, opening his arms for a hug. “What the heck, life just got better!”

Touya caught Shigaraki by the front of his collar and shook him.

"Where the hell did you go, huh?" he demanded. "I was in fucking prison and you weren't there, you asshole!"

He heard one of the staff calling for security, but he didn't really care. He let go of Shigaraki's collar and swept him up in a crushing hug. He didn't even know he was doing it before it happened. Maybe it was to make sure he was real and not one of his hallucinations.

Tenko wrapped his arms around Touya’s waist, tightly, putting all his strength in that move so that he wouldn’t have any left to confess his love. “I was on trial,” he sobbed. “It was horrible…”

"They put you on trial?" Touya asked in shock. "Shit, they said I was too crazy to do that." He realized that Shigaraki was crying on him, and that was weird. He'd seen the other man cry before, but only from pain or All for One doing something awful to his brain. He didn't know what to do about it.

Tenko hid his face against Touya’s chest. “Apparently, I’m not too crazy to stand trial, but they’ve decided I’m too crazy to be in prison. So now I’m here. This is my sentence.”

"Well ain't that nice," Touya drawled bitterly. "I guess that makes sense, though. That monster was living in your fucking brain. The judge still wants to send me to Tartarus 2.0 for a hundred years."

“You’re not done yet, right?” Tenko sighed in disappointment. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. I hope you stay too, you psycho.”

"I'm here until they decide I'm sane enough for trial, I guess," Touya grumbled. "Maybe if I'm super nuts, they'll keep me here, too."

He glanced over his shoulder and noticed two orderlies approaching.

"Please release the other resident and sit down, Todoroki-san," one of them said. Touya scowled. He was never going to get used to people calling him Todoroki-san.

“Ah, h-he didn’t hurt me,” Tenko assured. “We were just hugging, I missed him!” A lot more than I care to admit.

Touya let go of Shigaraki and glared at the young man sitting in the seat next to him. The stranger squeaked and quickly moved out of the way, and Touya heard him whisper his villain name as he went. He supposed he was still intimidating without the scars and piercings, especially since he was still in his prison jumpsuit, as they didn't have a new uniform ready for him yet.

The facility staff seemed more comfortable with Shigaraki than they were with Touya, and accepted his explanation with a friendly smile. Touya slipped into the now empty seat and hunched his shoulders.

"So you missed me, huh?" he snorted, like it was a big joke.

“I’m so glad you’re here! Everyone is scared of me. The residents, not the staff,” Tenko whispered. “Also, I think someone wants to bang me, but I’m not interested.”

Touya was genuinely surprised by Shigaraki's excitement, then he remembered how glad he'd been to see Compress. He guessed it was the same. A familiar face was a familiar face.

"You're not that scary," Touya huffed. He swiped the bread off another resident's tray and gnawed on the crust. He narrowed his eyes at the mention of sex.

"Is that allowed here?" he asked. Being in a mental hospital was potentially better than he imagined, but he was also picky about his hook-ups.

“Stealing bread? No,” Tenko replied with mild judgement in his voice. “Hooking up? Also no, but people do it all the time. One guy even slept with a nurse. She got hardcore fired. Escorted out by security and all.”

"Hm," Touya replied, unbothered by the judgmental tone. "Well, if you're not interested, just kick them in the nads. Or I'll do it for you."

“Stop being mean,” Tenko snorted. “You’re such a meanie. If you’re nice, they’ll let you have internet access. You can watch YouTube and whatnot. Also there’s movie nights, but you, again, have to be nice.”

Touya felt like he must have been transported to some kind of alternate universe if the former protégé of All for One was telling him to stop being mean. It was almost unbelievable.

He had a sudden bout of worry that it wasn't actually real. Maybe he actually was hallucinating and his brain had conjured up a sweet version of Shigaraki. He'd touched him, though. None of his other hallucinations could be touched.

“Touya? Touya, Touya, what is it?” Tenko whispered, overflowing with concern. “Touya, I can get you help, you can get help, do you need it?”

"I'm fine, just trying to figure out if you're real or not," Touya muttered. He tore the bread in his hand into little pieces, suddenly uninterested in eating.

Tenko patted his hand. “I had that too. Right in the middle of a trial, while I was questioned. I thought it was all a hallucination, and I was still at Garaki’s lab, in a big tub of goo. My dissociation got broadcasted on national TV. I had to get reevaluated. I try not to look myself up when I’m online.”

"Bleh," Touya said with a shudder, both at the mention of Garaki and of a televised trial.

The pat on the hand helped somehow. The staff had also looked at Shigaraki, and other people couldn't see his delusions. "I mostly only see people who are dead, and I'm pretty sure you're not dead, so I guess we're safe."

“I’m sorry you’re still having hallucinations, Touya,” Tenko said softly, like he really meant it. Did they not even treat you in prison? Just let you suffer?”

Touya crossed his arms, shielding himself from Shigaraki's unexpected concern. What did he care about Touya's emotional health?

"No, they did treat me, but it was medication only, and I... I didn't actually take it. I just cheeked it when they gave it to me and no one double-checked," he admitted. "I'm swallowing the damn pills now, and supposedly they're gonna put me through therapy in this place."

“Oh, Touya, you’re such a Touya,” Tenko sighed. “You haven’t even been through therapy?” He sipped his soup. “No wonder you weren’t competent to stand trial.”

"They had shrinks at the hospital who asked me all kinds of stuff, but I don't know if that's the same as real therapy," Touya snorted. He turned and squinted at Shigaraki. "What's that supposed to mean, anyway? Why are you calling me by that name?"

“I’m sorry,” Tenko said sincerely. “It means this is your typical mode of operation - being defiant for no reason. But I’m glad you’re taking your medication now. And the reason I’m calling you that is because I started going by my birth name, and I assumed you did the same. But if you’d rather be called Dabi, I’ll call you that.”

Oppositional defiant disorder. Touya remembered that was one of the brain sicknesses the doctors discussed around him back at the hospital.

He shrugged. Doctors, guards, and legal clerks called him Todoroki. His family called him Touya or a nickname. Other inmates called him Dabi. He didn't have a preference for any of it, and no one was ever glad to speak his name.

"Touya's fine," he sighed. It was better than the formality of a family name or the weird memories associated with his villain name. Shigaraki wasn't his damn boss anymore. "Wait, what's your birth name? I don't think you ever told me."

The admission pulled a chuckle out of the other man. “Tenko. That’s what my parents named me. During the trial, my lawyer got access to Garaki’s journals, and… he took copious notes about my development since day one, as if I was a science experiment. He wrote that All for One was very particular about not ever using my birth name. So now I go by it because screw you, All for One.”

Touya almost smiled at that. Spite was a great motivator. The one thing he had in common with his jailers and the government was hatred of All for One.

"Okay, Tenko it is then," he said. "You're not a fucking science experiment, so choose whatever name you like."

Tenko smiled. “All right… Touya.”

👖 🪡 👖 🪡 👖 🪡 👖 🪡 👖 🪡

Tsunagu stared at his stupid tea, his stupid dishes he just washed, and the stupid book he was reading, and decided he would rather have sex. Unfortunately, no one else lived in his fancy apartment, and Tsunagu was too pretty to just jerk off to porn like a loser.

He had a rotating list of acceptable holes, but one of them was his top priority.

Just thinking about Hawks made him warm. The blonde curls, the pretty eye markings, the beautiful, talented lips, the flawless body… Tsunagu was dialing the number before he even knew it.

Hawks heard his phone buzzing on the counter and snatched it up before it could make too much noise and disturb his guest. Despite how early it was in the evening, Endeavor had fallen asleep almost immediately, signaling his exhaustion. Hawks could only imagine how bad his sleeping had been if a second-hand pull-out couch was preferable to the nice bed he probably had at the Todoroki estate.

Hawks, however, couldn't sleep at all knowing his hero was in the next room. So here he was, half-heartedly making a cup of tea and vibrating with anxiety. He saw Tsunagu's number on the phone and felt some momentary relief, but he didn't want to wake Endeavor. He scurried down the hall to his bedroom and answered quietly.

"Hello? Tsunagu?"

“Hello, beautiful,” Tsunagu purred into his ear. “Such a sweet, soft voice. Are you up for letting out some moans in it?”

Hawks clamped a hand over his mouth before he could make any incriminating noises. Honestly, sharing an evening with Tsunagu sounded absolutely perfect, but he couldn't just leave while Endeavor was here.

"Ah, I'm sorry Tsu, I'd really love to but I'm... I'm busy tonight," he replied.

“Oh really?” Tsunagu’s sweet voice turned a little menacing. “May I ask who in the hell can possibly be better than me?”

"It's not like that!" Hawks hissed. "Ugh, it's very much not like that. It's..." He stalled, wondering if it was safe to reveal who was sleeping over. He wasn't sure if Endeavor had told anyone else about the divorce. It certainly wasn't common knowledge yet.

"It's Endeavor, okay? But he's just crashing on my couch for a night. That's all."

Tsunagu let out a giggle which turned into a full-on villain laugh. “Holy SHIT, Hawks. How did you score Mr. Perfectly Sculpted? Seriously, how in the fuck?! You used to care that he’s married!”

"I didn't score anything," Hawks replied, scowling into the phone at Tsunagu's rather evil laughter. "He's just... having a rough time and didn't want to be alone at his house."

“What do you mean, alone?” Tsunagu frowned, his horniness giving way to his gossip brain. “Wait a minute. His wife left? His wife left him, and you’re taking care of him and his perfect thighs? Go for it, Hawks. Get that flaming dick.”

"Yeah, she moved out, I guess," Hawks muttered despondently. He couldn't lie to Tsunagu, but maybe he could leave out the actual divorce part until Endeavor was ready to talk about it.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but Rei being gone doesn't mean he's suddenly gay, Tsu. There's nothing for me to go for. He told me the other day that I was his best friend."

“Well, shit,” Tsunagu sighed. “But hey, maybe he secretly is. Or maybe he’s willing to try the other side just for you. I think he adores you. Do not lose hope, Hawks.”

"That's sweet," Hawks mumbled. "A guy can dream, I guess. Anyway, he's not in a good place for that kind of thing. He's pretty damn down. So I'm just trying to be supportive."

“Poor sexy Endeavor,” Tsunagu chuckled. “Hey, do you need to talk? Or are you waiting to go back to cuddling with him?”

"We're not cuddling," Hawks huffed with a small chuckle. He wondered if Endeavor was deep enough asleep for him to just sneak in a little snuggle. That seemed too creepy to actually consider.

"I'm okay. I'm just trying to relax enough to eventually fall asleep. Sorry I can't meet up tonight."

“It’s okay. I’ll ask someone else. Also, offer to hold him.” Tsunagu smiled dreamily at the thought of holding Endeavor. “I bet he’s very huggable. And he probably wants some attention now.”

Hawks bit his lip and tried not to get too lost thinking about how nice it would be to hold Endeavor. He was probably warm, like a big muscley heating pad.

"Ha, sure, I'll do that right away," he snorted. "Have a fun night, Tsu. Tell me about it later, if you want."

Having shot and missed with Hawks, Tsunagu closed his eyes and bid his heart (his dick) to tell him who to call tonight. The answer was somewhat surprising but so clear in his mind he did not hesitate.

‘Hello, you silver bitch. I know he haven’t talked in a while, but I miss your slutty waist. Come over, and I’ll make sure you walk away limping 🍑👋🏻’

🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤 🎆 🧤

Touya stomped down the hallway towards Tenko's room after his individual session with one of the facility counselors. He hated individual sessions less than group, but that wasn't saying much. Some other resident was lingering in Tenko's doorway, which he considered a personal offense. He loomed over the other man until he turned around with a little squeak.

"Scram," he growled, and the stranger huffed and slouched away, muttering about 'cock-blocking.' Whatever, if Tenko wanted to hook up with a scuzzy nobody, he could tell Touya to his face and he'd leave.

He peered into the room and saw Tenko at his small desk with some art supplies and papers spread around. His room was nearly as familiar to Touya as his own, but neither of them had much in the way of personalized decorations. Fuyumi had asked Touya if he wanted anything, but he didn't want to get attached to the space if they were going to send him back to prison.

"I hate therapy," he announced and collapsed onto the carefully-made bed. The nurses had confiscated Touya's sheets recently, so it was nice to feel some fabric rather than just a mattress. His eyes scanned the hand-drawn pictures in the room curiously.

“Thank you, Touya!” Tenko turned cheerfully to his new visitor. “I’ve been pretending to be busy so that dickface would leave me alone. Who told him the way to a man’s heart is through talking about his ass?! Please, I ran the PLF. I’ve had enough people staring at my ass, you’re not special.”

Touya frowned, chewing on the idea that people had apparently been staring at Tenko's ass while they were supposed to be focusing on completely disrupting society. Touya wasn't sure he even knew what Tenko's ass looked like. He'd been kinda absorbed in other things.

Wait, no, he did remember - those black pants left very little to the imagination.

"Want me to go kick his ass?" he offered with a yawn.

“No, please, I don’t want you to get in trouble,” Tenko said in a serious tone. He stood up and gripped Touya’s cheeks while staring into his eyes. “Touya. I mean it. Don’t you dare fuck things up with needless displays of aggression. I want you out of prison, not in it!”

Touya frowned at Tenko holding his face. He didn't think it was something he would have dared to do before.

"Doesn't matter," he grumbled. "I'm probably going back to prison either way. Don't get your hopes up."

“Please…” Tenko gasped. “Touya, please. You’re really mentally ill. Your dad can afford a good lawyer and a team of experts. You have a chance to avoid prison. But your attitude might ruin that! Touya, I am begging you to keep your hopes up. Please. I… I don’t have many people that care about me or even want to talk to me. Even fewer that understand me. I… I need you.”

Touya didn't necessarily appreciate being told he was really mentally ill by the person who was currently his only friend, especially after having the same thing explained to him over his 90-minute session with the therapist, but Tenko wasn't necessarily wrong. He bit back his gut-level desire to scoff and tell Tenko to need somebody else, because he wasn't changing, but the truth was that he was exhausted.

Everything made him tired. He was cold all the time without his Quirk. He didn't like being in a mental hospital and having his every movement controlled by some overeducated bleeding heart, but it was better than prison, and infinitely better than Tantallon.

"I don't know if I can do that," he admitted. "If I get my hopes up and then they get crushed anyway, I don't know if I can... keep going."

Tenko allowed himself to wrap his arms around Touya’s waist and pull him closer.

“We survived the war and All for One, Touya,” he whispered. “And I… really care about you. Please don’t take this from me.”

Touya was perplexed by how snuggly Tenko had become, but he supposed they'd been through a lot of death and trauma. A bit of clinginess wasn't so bad as a coping mechanism, and Touya was touch-starved enough to feel okay with it.

"Fine," he grumbled. "You don't have to be so dramatic about it."

“Do you like cuddling?” Tenko asked in a quiet, soft voice. “I find myself needing touch, but I only trust you.”

"I... I like it all right," Touya muttered. He tried to think back to what life was like before the final battle.

He enjoyed the casual touches he got from the League, and of course the occasional messy hook-up, but he didn't really like combining the two. Generally he wanted people out of his bed as quickly as possible rather than cuddling with them.

Tenko wasn't asking for sex, though, he was just asking for closeness. So maybe that was fine.

"If you need to touch someone, it's fine," he decided. "Just don't let that creepy guy get to you. You'll end up with your ass groped."

“I don’t want my ass groped!” Tenko gasped. “Let’s sit and cuddle on my bed and talk like gossipy teenagers we never got to be. It’ll be like our own little party.”

"Sure, I guess we can do that," Touya agreed hesitantly. "I barely remember being a teenager and I definitely wasn't gossiping with anyone. What the hell do we gossip about here?"

He scooted up against the wall and made space next to him, figuring that Tenko would burrow into his space if he really wanted to.

Tenko immediately did just that. “Ooh, let’s talk about our love life! Who was your first crush??”

"Love life?" Touya snorted derisively. "What love life?" He thought over the question and figured it was not a bad exercise in trying to pull something from his spotty childhood memories.

"I think it was a girl in my grade 6 class. I remember she had some kind of air or wind Quirk and another kid tried to look up her skirt at recess, so she blew him all the way across the playground until he fell in this dirty retention pond. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen."

“Oh my god, that’s so funny and gross,” Tenko laughed. “What’s recess?”

"You don't know what recess is?" Touya asked in confusion. "It's like a break in the middle of a school day where the kids play, usually outside."

“Break?” Tenko tilted his head in confusion. “You didn’t get punished for being distracted from your duties while you still had energy?”

"Uh, no," Touya muttered. "We were kids. We didn't really have duties except for schoolwork and chores. And recess was part of the schedule - you're required to take breaks from school when you're young."

Tenko pouted, lost in thought. “But isn’t it a sign of weaknes- aw, darn it!” He slapped his forehead. “Fucking All for One. No one told me I was allowed breaks and not to have duties! My life is a fucking lie. Let me guess, you’re not supposed to grow out of playing toys when you’re six either, are you?”

"No, you're definitely not," Touya replied. He was halfway amused by Tenko's antics, and halfway sad for his strange, joyless childhood. At least Touya had toys and siblings to play with growing up.

"Maybe once you're out of here, you can buy yourself a bunch of toys to make up for it," he suggested.

“Maybe.” Tenko looked down at the floor and dangled his feet childishly. “This is really my fate, huh? Just being trapped over and over in places where people wonder what’s wrong with me and no one loves me. Wow. You know, I’ve never understood why people had suicidal thoughts, but now I do. Life sucks ass.”

"This was your idea and it was supposed to make you happy, not depressed," Touya complained, ruffling Tenko's hair. "You're here for them to figure out what's wrong with you and make you better. And I'm sure you'll, you know, find love one day. I bet you have a whole weird fan club out there."

“Okay,” Tenko sighed. “But after I asked you about your crush, you were supposed to ask me the same thing.”

"I was just about to, calm down!" Touya huffed. "I was trying to make sure you were feeling okay before I asked."

“Ah! You care.” Tenko’s sad expression gave way to a smile. “Okay. Thank you.”

"Of course I care, I care about stuff," Touya grumbled. He elbowed Tenko in the side. "Okay, now your turn. First crush - go."

“Ah.” Tenko’s face lit up. “When I was… ten? Nine maybe? I went to sleep, and every part of my body hurt so bad, and I cried myself to sleep. And then I was dreaming, and an angel appeared to me, and he was so beautiful and had long flowy hair. And he pet my head and said it’s not my fault and everything will be alright. And then he appeared in my dreams when things were really bad, to console me.”

"Your first crush was on someone you saw in a dream?" Touya asked, his brow furrowed. It felt like that shouldn't count.

His first thought was that he hadn't realized Tenko liked men, but then again, he'd never seen him date or fuck around with anybody.

His second thought was that it was all very sad - a tiny childhood version of Tenko falling for some made-up person who rescued him and consoled him. It made him angry with All for One and Garaki all over again.

“If only real people count, then there was a man, but I killed him,” Tenko sighed. “I was a teenager. He was making deliveries for All for One. Weapons, or some science junk, I have no idea. I didn’t know anything about him, he just looked good and was quiet. Until he noticed me and asked if I would suck him off if he paid me. I was… disappointed, and heartbroken. Then All for One walked into the room, and I snitched, and he allowed me to decay the bastard. So I did. I have no remorse. Can’t be hot if you’re dust!”

"Ugh, gross, I'd be disappointed, too," Touya grumbled.

Hearing Tenko be so callous about someone's death at his hands did give him pause - a reminder that he was still Shigaraki in some ways, the same way Touya was still Dabi under all the new skin and medications. He glanced down at Tenko's hand splayed across the bed next to him. He had no fear of Tenko's chemically suppressed abilities, but it was a weird feeling.

"You should talk to your therapist about that," he suggested.

“How all the people who ever claimed to love me or be attracted to me just wanted to use me?” Tenko suggested casually. “Yeah, I shared that. She said I’m still young and my life isn’t over, and I’ll have plenty of time to find someone who loves me.”

"Also the part about dusting that creep, probably," Touya drawled. "She's not actually wrong about the other stuff. You are really young."

“I feel old and young at the same time. I feel like an alien. I mean, look at this.” Tenko ruffled through his drawings. “They asked us to draw how we feel, and everyone just, like, made blobs of colors, and I drew fifteen piles of shit!”

The drawing featured a number of piles that varied in size, color, and amount of flies.

Touya snorted into his hand, but he couldn't stop himself from laughing. He was soon doubled over with uncontrollable laughter as he thought about all the colorful piles of shit Tenko had drawn.

"That's how I feel, too!" he wheezed, cheeks aching. "I hate those fucking exercises! I just crumpled up the paper and threw it at the therapist!"

Tenko stared only for a second and then began laughing too. “See? You’re the only person who understands me! That’s why I was so happy when you arrived!”

"You're the only person who's ever happy to see me," Touya chuckled. "Well, sometimes Endeavor, but that's complicated."

“Aw, he loves youuuu!” Tenko teased. “Seriously, he clearly sees something in you no one else does.”

"Yeah, he sees somebody who died a long time ago," Touya replied coldly. "Love has nothing to do with it. It's a fantasy about his dead kid."

“Oh.” The very thought of it made Tenko ache for Touya. “But then wouldn’t it be easier to deny that Dabi is Touya and just mourn his sweet, lost no-criminal-record boy? Rather than, you know, admit his failure as a father to the entire country and put up with you cussing him, scratching him, and referring to him exclusively by his hero name?”

Touya was quiet for a moment. It was true that Endeavor's reactions to everything had been the exact opposite of what he'd expected. He'd thought his father would deny his existence, decry his misdeeds, and let him rot in prison if he was ever caught. Instead, he kept sending him long letters and asking if he could visit. Here at the mental facility, Touya and his shrink had to approve any visitors, though. A questionable power.

"Everyone thinks it should be simple - like we can both just forgive and forget, but it's... complicated," he muttered.

“Oh, you don’t have to forgive him, Touya,” Tenko assured, patting Touya’s shoulder. “It’s up to you. I’m just saying, when you talk about yourself, you assume you have no value. Like people only want to punish you, or use you, or project their unfulfilled dreams on you. But you don’t need to be perfect to be loved and cared for. Flawed people are loved. I mean, someone probably even loves Endeavor. People in prison have someone visiting them. Even a piece of shit like Overhaul had a dad that loved him.”

Touya made an effort to actually listen to what Tenko was saying - after all, it couldn't be any worse than what the doctors and therapists and social workers and lawyers said. He grumbled under his breath, finding nothing he could actually argue with.

"Tell yourself some of that stuff, weirdo," he muttered and flicked the side of Tenko's head.

“It’s not that easy, fire freak,” Tenko shot back. “You have a family that loves you. I killed mine. And my dad never even loved me in the first place.”

"Your dad was garbage," Touya huffed. He scowled at the bare white wall of Tenko's room. "Whatever, I'll be your family. And if we ever get out of here, we can get the League together and they can be your family, too."

“That’s amazing!” Tenko gasped. “Can you just say, for me. That Endeavor isn’t a total garbage, and he has a tiny bit of a redeeming quality. I won’t tell him.”

Touya narrowed his eyes at Tenko. "Why are you on me about this?" he demanded.

“Because it’s holding you back!” Tenko cried. “Being angry at Endeavor ruined your fucking life! You might end up in prison because of this, when you’re so fun, and lovable, and brave, and just the best messy bitch I’ve ever met! You need to get interests other than hating Endeavor! He’s trying not to be shit, so you don’t have to make your entire personality about hating him for being shit!”

"He ruined my fucking life!" Touya shouted back. "Don't talk about this shit like you know because you don't!"

He clamped his hands over his mouth and hunched forward, rocking back and forth. He had to calm down and not yell or the staff would come and sedate him, and probably put him in solitary again. He liked hanging out with Tenko. He didn't want to be locked in his empty room.

Anger was a strange emotion. It felt blunted thanks to whatever meds they had him on. He didn't necessarily enjoy being angry at Endeavor any more, but it wasn't something he could just turn off.

He didn't think he'd ever been called lovable before. Maybe not fun or brave, either. But he had other interests! ...Right?

Touya groaned and squeezed his head between his knees. He didn't have a personality. It was all just Dabi inside with a new coat of paint.

“I… I’m sorry,” Tenko said in a quiet, shaky voice. Touya rarely yelled at him. “I won’t bring it up.”

Touya took a deep breath. Great, now he'd freaked out Tenko. Getting uselessly upset made him feel kind of sick now.

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you," he muttered. "It's just... a lot."

Hearing Touya say sorry was… taking some getting used to. Still, Tenko leaned against him and sighed.

“I wanted to have a fun conversation about our lives,” he said, and let out a huff. “But our lives are so fucking fucked up there’s barely anything fun. I don’t think I even know how to have fun without a video game console.”

Touya felt Tenko slump against him. It was a relief to be forgiven so easily. Maybe that's what things were supposed to be like.

"You really want to hear a redeeming quality about Endeavor?" he asked. "I'll even make it fun."

Tenko snorted. “Somehow I feel like I’ll regret it, but go on.”

"He's tall," Touya said simply. "So he could reach every single shelf and cabinet in the house when I was growing up, and there was this one cabinet no one else could reach, and he hid these little almond cookies there. Those were his secret cookies."

"Of course, I wanted those cookies, but I was like two feet tall. So while he and my mom were distracted, I built this whole little structure to climb up in the cabinet and get the damn cookies, except I shut myself inside, and being a tiny child, I thought, oh I live here now, I'll never escape, these are my only rations, and I ate the entire box."

"So eventually they're looking for me and my dad sees this dumb garbage staircase up to his cookie stash, and finds me there, and I thought he'd get upset about the missing cookies, but I was sick from eating all that sugar in one go and he didn't say a word about it. He just got me down and replaced the cookies. And I kept climbing up in the cabinet and eating them."

"So that's your redeeming quality - he's tall and can hide secret cookies in the cabinet so your idiot siblings can't get to them."

“I’m actually about to expand on that,” Tenko replied with a smile. “I think it was his way to show he cares about you, or loves you or whatever. I mean, I don’t know much. My dad was shit, and then I had All for One. I don’t think either of them was capable of love. But in the movies, dads always suck at being open with their kids and loving them, so they do stupid shit like buy them stuff or teach them to punch their bullies or play baseball with them or whatever. I don’t know if it happens in real life though. But that was a very cute story. Just imagining you in the cabinet…” Tenko chuckled, amused by the image.

"Hm, I don't think I'd fit in the cabinet anymore," Touya mused, holding out a long, scarred arm and examining it.

"He was always trying to buy shit for us, that's true. Never learned to play baseball, though, and no bullies were stupid enough to try anything with me."

"I think you're right about All for One not being capable of love. He was too fucking twisted for that. I don't know what the hell was wrong with your bio dad, though."

“I remember something about him hating heroes and me wanting to be a hero,” Tenko sighed. “Hey, did you notice you called Endeavor ‘my dad’ instead of ‘Endeavor’? That’s new.”

Touya scowled and prodded Tenko in the side. "You don't have to listen so hard to the shit I say," he grumbled.

Tenko laughed like he scored a win. “I always do, you’re my friend. I care about you. I want you to be happy.”

Touya thought that being happy was a tall order. He didn't know how to be happy if he wasn't causing mayhem.

"Sure, yeah, you too," he muttered. "You should be happy."

“I already am, I have a friend, and we’re chatting in my room!” Tenko gasped. “I’ve been dreaming about this.”

"You don't dream about anything more interesting than this?" Touya snorted, sweeping his hand around the small room. "Like getting out, going on adventures, fucking, eating a really good

“Yes!” Tenko gasped even louder. “Fuck, that all sounds so good. Honestly, I would settle for just a sandwich. Food here sucks. I miss takeout.”

Touya groaned and pressed his hands to his eyes. "Damn, that makes me miss that greasy little noodle shop we used to get takeout from. I'd kill for some katsu that's not soggy as hell or some curry with actual flavor. Or one of those big American style subway sandwiches with all the toppings. The food here is better than prison but somehow worse than the regular hospital."

“And that soup the other day!” Tenko agreed passionately. “What the heck was in it?? Like, I looked, and the things that were swimming in the liquid, I didn’t recognize a single one.”

"I don't want to think about it too hard," Touya grumbled. He poked himself in the stomach. "I don't really have an appetite anyway. The shrink says it'll come back, but who knows?"

“Oh no!” Tenko reached to pet Touya’s stomach but retracted his hand when he remembered Touya wasn’t his. “I guess it’s hard when the food is so awful.”

"I think it's the meds and, you know, depression," Touya sighed. "I used to eat all kinds of garbage because I was hungry. My Quirk takes a lot of energy."

“It must suck to be on suppressants. Your fire is important to you.”

Touya nodded slowly. "It fucking sucks. I tried to explain this to the damn therapist. It's not just... an ability or something. It's part of me. It would be like removing all my blood and then saying 'don't worry, you're fine.' And now I'm cold and slow all the time, too. I feel like my brain is dying."

Now Tenko was worried about Touya. “I’m… really sorry. You should ask for an extra blanket. I miss it too, your Blueflame. It’s beautiful. I don’t miss Decay. It’s kind of a nightmare, and it’s a relief to be able to shower without gloves.”

"I..." Touya began. Oh, this was embarrassing to admit. "I'm not allowed to have separate blankets right now. They think I'm gonna hang myself with them." He glanced again at Tenko's hand against the bed. "You really don't miss it? Having all that power?"

“No, I don’t miss it, but goddamn.” Tenko looked at Touya in fear. “Are you… have you tried? How do you sleep without the blankets??”

"No, I haven't tried," Touya muttered. "I just thought about it, and I took the sheets off because I was curious if it would actually work, and they caught me." He shrugged. "I don't sleep well. If I act normal for a while, they'll give the comforter back."

“I wish they would allow me to watch over you so you can sleep well,” Tenko said softly. “If you ever want to nap here with my blanket, let me know. I’ll make sure you’re okay.”

Touya wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of Tenko trying to take care of him, but it was kind of a nice thought. Even without the coldness, sleeping without blankets made him feel too exposed to fully relax.

"Sure, okay," he mumbled. After a breath, he added, "I'm not... I'm not gonna do that, you know. I decided against it. Not letting these fucks get off easy by taking myself out."

“I’m glad,” Tenko whispered, hiding the degree of his relief. “Please don’t do it, Touya. I’ll be really lonely without you. I don’t have anyone else.”

"Don't worry, I won't," Touya sighed. He absent-mindedly carded his fingers through Tenko's hair. It was shorter than it had been during the war, and he wondered if they cut it in the hospital the same way they'd done with him.

"You should find some nicer friends," he joked. "Get a pen pal."

“Yeah, like some girl obsessed with true crime who thinks I’m hot?” Tenko laughed. “I heard of those.”

"Exactly like that, or maybe a guy or whatever," Touya chuckled back.

He leaned into the touch, trying to contain his happiness about Touya touching him. “My hair’s a mess, isn’t it?”

"Your hair is fine. Normal. It's just shorter than it was before."

“Yeah, I kept having nightmares that it came to life and tried to strangle me while All for One laughed in the background,” Tenko said casually, as if that was a normal occurrence in his life. “And I kept struggling with that, but then the therapist said why not just cut it so it’s not long enough to go around my neck. And I agreed, and now, no more nightmares. I mean, not about the hair.”

Touya frowned and tugged on the white strands, feeling an unfamiliar sense of concern and empathy for his companion. "Yeah, I think your hair is safe now," he murmured. "I guess you probably have way more nightmare fuel than most."

Tenko let out a little gasp. He wanted Touya to tug on it more, but he felt that this was somehow inappropriate. Touya’s show of care felt even better than the physical attention.

“Maybe I’ll have better dreams now,” he whispered. “Maybe you’ll appear in them.”

"Sure, yeah," Touya laughed at the very idea. At least he was considered a step up from All for One.

"As long as dream me has access to good sushi and Blueflame, that's fine," he snickered.

“Of course,” Tenko chuckled. “I promise.”

🔥 🎆 🔥 🎆 🔥 🎆 🔥 🎆 🔥 🎆

Enji did not know who to thank for his luck. He had resigned himself to never seeing his oldest child again, but somehow, Touya added him to the list. Part of him still worried it was some kind of trap or cruel joke, but he couldn’t helo but rejoice.

Enji wondered if he was wrong to feel his way. He was a hero, and Touya was a terrifying, high-profile villain. He had caused so much death and destruction, it was safe to say he was one of the worst. And yet Enji loved him dearly, with that painful kind of love that required no reinforcement, no reciprocation, no reason at all. Maybe he was just lonely these days. Just seeing Touya’s name made him want to hug and protect, just like with the rest of his children.

Luckily, one of them allowed hugs, although the reaction was surprise.

“Dad, what is it with you?” Fuyumi laughed, so small she looked lost in the hold of her gigantic father. “Why are you so cuddly? Is it because you’re lonely after mom left?”

Enji laughed in embarrassment and let go of her. “No, hugging a partner and hugging your kid are two different things,” he protested.

“You’ve just never been much into it,” Fuyumi tried to explain.

At least she didn’t look mad, Enji thought. Natsuo would have shoved him away. “Well, I haven’t been much into anything other than sticking it to All Might, but now I have other priorities.”

“Glad to hear it,” Fuyumi grumbled. “I’m sick of hearing about All Might by now.”

Enji sighed. “It all seems so minute and stupid now. Back then it felt super important.”

“What’s important to you now?” she asked quietly.

Enji let out a heavy sigh. “Making amends. Fixing what I’ve broken. Getting Touya to go through one conversation with me without murderous stares.”

“Well, go get him then,” Fuyumi nodded. “I’ll be okay out here.”

“Wanna go with me?” Enji tried.

Fuyumi snorted and shook your head. “Stop being afraid of him and go.”

“Right, right. Not afraid.”

Touya sat in one of the stiff plastic chairs with his head resting on the table before him, cheek pressed against the laminate cover and expression as morose as if he was facing his execution. He'd quietly added Endeavor to his list of approved visitors less than a week ago and he wanted it to not be a big deal, but of course his therapist immediately had to congratulate him about it. It felt like everything he did, no matter how small, was held up by a line of mental health professionals as either "growth" or "regression."

Sometimes he just did things, and it wasn't a symbol of anything, but no one seemed to agree with that.

So here he was, waiting for Endeavor to get through security and... what? Discuss current events? The staff members in the visitation room promised him that he could leave at any point, as though he was afraid. He wasn't afraid. He was annoyed and a little sleep deprived. Maybe if he didn't try to attack Endeavor, they'd give him his blankets back. Maybe if he convinced enough people that he was totally getting better, no thoughts of death and destruction at all, he could stay in the weird nut house with Tenko instead of going back to prison.

He tapped his fingers against the table and sighed, waiting for the inevitable.

Enji was dressed somewhat formally - in a suit, though no tie. In all honestly, he had shown up in it, and while in his car, realized that his signature Endeavor pin was still on it. The damn thing wouldn’t come out, so he just let the whole tie in the car.

“Hello, Touya,” Enji greeted softly. “What is your mood today? Mad, annoyed? Mildly disgruntled?”

Touya watched Endeavor enter - wearing a suit like he was going to a funeral or something. Maybe he was. He was surprised to find himself rather unaffected by his father's entrance, although he loomed large in the relatively small room. The staff had helpfully cleared out any other visitors so they wouldn't gawk at the number one hero.

"Fine," he muttered, after allowing the question to sink in. "Irritated. Tired. What else is new?"

Enji looked around, assessing the environment. “You seem healthier. You’ve gained some weight, that’s good. I, uh.” He looked around sheepishly. “They were going to send you to an isolated facility on an island. There are only two such places functioning at full capacity right now, for former villains. This one and that one. PLF and jailbreakers destroyed the rest. The government wanted you and Shigaraki in different ones. I got some staff from the hospital to testify that you behaved better after Shigaraki talked to you, so they sent you here. I hope you guys are getting along, cause if not, I can arrange you to be transferred, but then Natsu and Yumi would have to take a whole day off to visit you.”

Touya frowned, still slumped against the table. He wasn't sure he felt healthier. Had he gained weight? His appetite had been slightly better after they adjusted his meds.

"You put us together?" he asked, surprised. "And yeah, we get along fine. He goes by his birth name now."

He gnawed on his bottom lip, uncertain of how he felt about Endeavor saying he behaved better after talking with Tenko. Did he? He generally felt better having someone to connect with. The idea of being isolated on some random island sounded awful.

Touya was talking to him. Touya was sharing things with him, albeit reluctantly and briefly, but he wasn’t telling Enji to get lost.

“I’m glad you have a companion,” Enji said, deliberately choosing the most neutral terms. “Touya, I came to see you and check how you’re doing, but also to tell you something. I, um… took your advice. Your mother and I tried to repair our marriage, but we hated being near each other, and we kept fighting, and your siblings were sick of our bullshit and all moved out, even Shouto. So we got divorced. The divorce is finalized, and our marriage and cohabitation are completely over.”

Endeavor calling Tenko his companion made Touya think of a guide dog or something, but he decided that was a pretty funny image and didn't push it further. The next piece of news startled him so much that he actually sat up in the chair and looked Endeavor in the face.

"You guys got divorced? Like really, actually divorced?" he asked. "That wasn't me giving advice - I was talking out of my ass. She seriously moved out?"

“Yeah.” Touya seemed surprised but not enraged or dismissive - that was not what Enji expected. “She’s… well… there’s a new guy. She met him while we were still married. I don’t think they actually did anything. But when I helped her move out, he showed up, and I saw how he looked at her.” Enji winced at the memory. “I spoke to him while I was putting furniture together, and he said they were just friends. But I made an excuse and left, and I guess they got together.”

Touya crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at the table. In all his memories of his family, his parents had been together, at varying levels of closeness. He was under no misconception that they were in love or anything, but it was still different. He wondered if Rei was happier this way. He wondered if he cared.

He also realized that his siblings hadn't mentioned this change, which was irritating. He guessed Endeavor wanted to break the news himself.

He also didn't know what to think of Rei's supposed new man. Was she seriously out there dating while he was in a mental hospital? Maybe that was why she'd only come to visit the one time. He was starting to make himself angry now, but it wasn't at Endeavor for once.

“What are you thinking, Touya?” Enji asked gently. “Are you… mad I couldn’t keep the marriage together?”

"What?" Touya asked. He was genuinely surprised on two fronts - for one, he actually wasn't angry with Endeavor and didn't feel like he'd caused the divorce. For another, he was simply shocked they went through with it. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"No," he scoffed. "I don't think anyone or anything could've made that relationship better. It just boggles my mind that you guys actually did it instead of suffering together for the next fifty years."

Enji chuckled. “I think we have to thank that guy. Neither of us knew any better, so I guess being around him showed her what it’s like to be more than begrudgingly tolerated.”

Touya huffed and glanced away. "Natsu or Yumi could've told me. You didn't have to come all the way here."

“I wanted to see how you’re doing,” Enji said softly. “And I think parents are supposed to tell their children about their divorce. Not siblings.”

Touya was at war with himself. Every instinct told him to lash out or ignore, maybe just leave the room, because if they weren't exchanging blows then he didn't care to have a conversation. Logically, though, he knew that as much as he hated this place, there were definitely worse places to be, and he'd kinda promised Tenko he would try to stick around - not that he owed that guy anything.

Touya forced his voice to be even instead of mocking. It probably still came out a little bitter.

"Why?" he asked. "Why do you want to see how I'm doing? And don't just say because I'm your son."

“Because I love you,” Enji replied immediately. “Because I care about you. Because I’m glad you’re not dead, and I want to make sure you don’t die again. Because I miss you and I want to see you.”

Touya figured that Endeavor probably actually believed all the stuff he was saying. He was certainly very intense about it.

"What the fuck is there to miss about me?" he scoffed. "Touya died a long time ago. You got over it. Why would you want to see someone who hates you?"

“Got over it? I never got over it.” Enji shook his head. “I thought of you all the time. I spoke to you, thinking your spirit would hear me.”

The anger still smoldered in Touya's chest, but it was directionless and easier to ignore than usual. The idea of Endeavor talking to his ghost was just kind of sad.

"That's sad as hell," he spat. He tipped back in the chair and scowled at the ceiling. "What did you tell my spirit, huh?"

“Mostly that I’m sorry,” Enji sighed. “Some life updates. That I hope you’re at peace. That maybe you’re with my dad now and he’s happy because he never got to be a grandfather.”

"Oh yeah, I'm the most at peace when they shoot me up with diazepam," Touya muttered. He didn't really believe in an afterlife, but it was a nice thought.

He stood up abruptly and began pacing the room to expel some nervous energy. One of the security people looked like they were itching for an excuse to subdue him, but he wasn't actually doing anything wrong this time.

"It's good that you guys got divorced if you hated being around each other," he said, jumping back to their previous topic.

Enji seemed undisturbed by Touya’s pacing. In fact, it reminded him a lot of himself. “Well, I’m the one who ended up single, but I do also feel relieved. The house was like a minefield. Now it’s just Hell Minefield. Also, I can smoke in the kitchen while sitting on the counter, and there’s no one to complain. The neighbors came over to ask if she died because we’re not arguing anymore.”

"Just date someone else," Touya said with a shrug.

The mention of smoking made his palms tingle. He used to sell his Ativan for cigarettes when he was in prison, but now the nurses checked to make sure he swallowed everything. He had nothing to trade here except favors, which had s certain connotation he didn't appreciate.

“I have no idea how to do it, I’ve never dated,” Enji chuckled. The very idea of himself on a date was weird.

"Fuck, you're so strange," Touya groaned, irritated with the continuing conversation. He scrubbed his hands against his face and stared longingly at the door.

"I don't want to go back to prison," he blurted out.

“I’m doing my best, darling,” Enji assured in his most soothing tone. “I’m getting ready for the trial, I have a good team already. Once you are deemed competent, a lawyer will come talk to you. Until then, please don’t get in trouble and take all your meds, okay? Just… look at Shigaraki and do what he does.”

"You're suggesting I emulate Shigaraki?" Touya snickered with a crooked grin. The smile faded quickly. "Tenko is... much nicer than me. At least now that he doesn't have All for One in his brain."

Touya could feel himself getting restless and agitated - reminded of prison, reminded of his trial, reminded of his childhood with Endeavor sitting there taking about missing him. This was usually the part where he started seeing things or attacking people, but so far the room was just a room. Maybe the meds were doing something.

Of course, Enji noticed. He was reminded starkly of Touya’s childhood.

“You’re getting into your zoomie cycle,” he teased. “Do I need to let you go so you can run around?”

"Weird, the doctors say it's mania and delusions," Touya drawled. He wished he could fold in on himself.

"I just--" He blew out a frustrated breath and turned back to glare at Endeavor. "If you want this - us not killing each other - I can only deal with it a little bit at a time."

“Okay. Okay.” Enji did not look upset or disappointed. “Thank you for telling me, Touya. I’m gonna go now. I appreciate you meeting with me.”

"Yeah, sure," Touya huffed. He could feel the eyes of the staff people watching him and it made his throat dry. He didn't look at Endeavor when he asked the next question.

"When are you coming back?"

Enji wanted to jump around and scream in glee, but he forced himself to stay calm. Maybe Touya was asking because he didn’t want to see Enji.

He mentally ran through his schedule to produce an answer. “I can come by in a week.”

"Okay," Touya replied, his shoulders sagging. "Just make sure you show up."

“Of course!” Enji assured. “Is that too long? I’m sorry, I really am needed at work. The cops found out about a major child sex trafficking ring. They’re taking advantage of postwar chaos and so many children being orphaned and vulnerable. The things I just saw the other day… The government put me on the task force starting tomorrow, and I’m not taking any time off until all these assholes are in prison or in the ground.”

Post-war child sex trafficking.

Well, now he was going to be sick. Touya hadn't considered that facet of a society wrecked by their battles. How many children had he helped turn into orphans?

"That's not too long. I need space between this shit."

“Okay,” Enji nodded and stood up. “Then I’ll see you in a week, Touya.”

"Okay," Touya replied numbly. He didn't want to go back to the table, so he just sat down on the floor of the visitation room as he watched Endeavor leave.

Tenko was bored without Touya and wasn’t sure where he had gone. Luckily, it did not take him long to locate his friend.

“Touya! There you are. Where have you been? And why are you so sad?”

Tenko's face swam in and out of focus for a moment before the image settled, to Touya's great relief. He really wasn't up for hallucinating All for One's face plastered over Shigaraki's body today.

"Endeavor came to visit," he replied grimly.

“Oh, Touya…” Tenko cooed, thinking his father had upset him. “Do you want to go lay down on my bed?”

Embarrassingly, the thing Touya wanted to do most was hide, and Tenko's room was definitely better for that because he had blankets.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

“Come on over here,” Tenko invited once they reached his room. He even lifted the blanket for Touya to get under.

Touya kicked off his slippers and gratefully climbed under the blanket, curling up and clutching his knees to his chest. He glared at the mattress and tried to calm his rapid heartbeat.

Tenko gently pet his hair. “You wanna talk about it, Touya?”

Touya grabbed Tenko by the collar of his shirt and yanked him down so they were laying next to each other. He pulled the blanket over both their heads and assessed him in the dim light.

"I don't know who I am anymore," he muttered.

Tenko did not have time to revel in his fantasies - Touya needed his help.

“You’re someone I care about very much,” Tenko whispered. “You’re safe here.”

Touya covered Tenko's too-earnest eyes with his hand and scoffed. He wasn't safe anywhere, but this was a better place than most.

"I was nice to Endeavor, you better be happy," he hissed.

“I’m happy,” Tenko said uncertainly. “What are you doing, Touya? You dragged me into bed under the covers with you, and now you’re touching my face.”

Touya's stomach did a funny little flip-flop. "Dunno," he muttered. "I wanted you to suffer with me but you're staring at me too hard."

“You want me to suffer,” Tenko repeated in mild disbelief. “Touya, what the hell happened? Did he disown you?”

"With me, geez," Touya huffed. He moved his hand off of Tenko's face. "No, he didn't disown me. He and my mom are getting a divorce. Or they already got a divorce, I guess. She moved out and has a new boyfriend already."

“Wow. Endeavor is single,” Tenko chuckled. “That’s crazy. Are you upset about the divorce?”

"It's just strange, I've never known my parents as being separated like this," Touya grumbled. "Rei visited once and got freaked out by the whole mental hospital thing and hasn't been back."

“Are you worried about Shouto? He’s a minor, it’s got to be weird for him since it directly concerns him.”

"Apparently he already moved out - he must be staying at the school or something," Touya sighed. "He's a minor but he acts like he's 30. I bet he's relieved. Fuyumi and Natsu, too. I can't believe they didn't tell me."

“If they told you, you’d be like ‘coward Endeavor, wouldn’t come and tell me himself,’” Tenko argued.

Touya frowned. That did kind of sound like him. "Don't act like you know me," he grumbled. "He said he's... preparing for my trial. With the lawyers and stuff. I have to go back and do another hearing as soon as the doctors decide I'm sane enough."

“I’m hoping they’ll just send you here, and we’ll be nuthouse buddies,” Tenko whispered.

"That's what I'm hoping for, too," Touya replied, feeling oddly vulnerable about the admission. He remembered another point from the conversation with Endeavor. "He said the government wanted to separate us. Put me in some facility on this island. But some guys from the hospital testified that I... behave when I talk to you."

Tenko gasped. “So I’m actively helping you do better? I’m so flattered!”

"You're helping me do something, I guess," Touya muttered. Being under the blankets with another person made him feel slightly warmer, more like what he was used to, and that in turn made him drowsy.

"This is what you wanted, right?" he asked, squinting at Tenko.

“Yes, this is everything I wanted,” Tenko admitted in a rare moment of vulnerability.

Touya smirked, just barely, and allowed himself to close his eyes. "You should have some more interesting goals," he chuckled.

“I kind of wanted a cat to sleep here under covers with me, but this is almost the same.”

Touya would have rolled his eyes if they weren't already closed. "Shut up and let me sleep."

“Good night,” Tenko whispered, desperately refraining from giving Touya a goodnight kiss.

🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️

They picked Touya up hellishly early in the morning to transport him to the courthouse. He'd known it was coming, but no one gave him an exact date - security measures, they said. It was early enough that he barely had a chance to say goodbye to Tenko and the few other residents he'd decided were tolerable. He watched the drab little building he'd come to know over the past months disappear through the windows of the van.

Once he arrived at the trial, it was a whirlwind of activity. His lawyer was there - multiple lawyers, actually - talking very fast and assuring him that they were "on target," whatever that meant. He was shuffled through the hearing at breakneck speed, squeezed in between a couple of petty thieves who seemed terrified of him. There was no jury. Only a judge, some other government workers, his legal team, and the facility's medical director. Even his family had to wait outside.

He supposed it helped that he was pleading no contest. What was the point? Yeah, he did that shit. Out of his mind for most of it, but there was no denying that he did it. He was just there to accept whatever conviction they gave him.

Once security shoved him in front of the judge, there was really very little for him to say. The questions were all for his lawyers and the shrink, who both advocated ruthlessly for him to complete his sentence in a mental institution rather than prison. He could feel the judge's eyes boring holes into his skull while he waited for his fate to be determined, pulse pounding in his ears. He thought he might faint, which he rationalized could be good for his image as a helpless nutcase.

The number of years they tacked on his sentence was daunting. Nearly his entire life so far. Maybe the thing that helped him was not getting charged for the murder of a hero - that somehow fell on Compress. "Accessory to" and "Attempted" were preferable to his legal team. The judge sounded tired when he announced the "by reason of insanity" part. Touya barely had time to react to the realization that he was not being sent to Tantallon before the guards pushed him out of the room.

Enji was heard outside exchanging a few words with the bailiff before they both approached Touya.

“Five minutes,” the bailiff said boredly.

“Touya,” Enji whispered, clutching his son’s shoulders. It was evident he had been crying. “Touya, how are you? Are you aware of what happened?”

"Huh?" Touya replied blearily, staring at his father's reddened eyes. It took him a moment to register the question.

"The judge accepted the plea deal," he answered before a lawyer could butt in. "So I'm serving my sentence by... mandated hospitalization." He simply regurgitated the words the judge had used.

“You’re eligible for parole after two years,” Enji whispered, leaning closer to his son, relief and despair mixing in his eyes. “Two years, my love. Be good, take your medication, listen to your therapist, and we’ll get you out, okay?”

"Two years," Touya repeated in a quiet tone. The idea of parole was laughable considering his crimes, but it was a nice fantasy. Maybe he'd get lucky.

He let out a long breath and sagged, the chains around his wrists and ankles feeling like they weighed ten tons. He was aware of Endeavor's hands on his shoulders, keeping him upright, and he tipped his head forward just enough to rest his forehead against his father's chest for a moment.

"Thanks," he rasped. "I hope you're paying those lawyers a lot."

“I am,” Enji chuckled. “Don’t worry about the cash.” He gently held his son close, aware of the fragile peace between them. “I just got a nice fat paycheck from the government for busting those trafficking creeps. I bet they won’t be getting parole.”

"Hm," Touya mumbled. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Part of him wasn't convinced he was any better than the traffickers. He pulled back once the affection started to feel suffocating.

"Say hi to the kids for me," he muttered. In some ways, he was glad that Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto hadn't been allowed in the room. They didn't need to hear his crimes listed all at once.

“Of course.”

The bailiff cleared her throat.

“Touya, I love you,” Enji whispered desperately, holding on to his son’s hands. “I’ll always love you, I’ll always protect you, I won’t let anything happen to you. You’ll be fine. I’ll visit you soon.”

Touya gritted his teeth. He knew he should say it back. Regardless of whether or not he felt it was true - something he still wasn't certain about - Endeavor had undoubtedly played a major role in keeping him out of prison and out of the grave. It would be like a reward for him to hear it. But Touya wasn't a liar.

"I'll try to say it back one day," he said hesitantly.

He felt the bailiff grasp his arm and his hands were pulled from Endeavor's grasp, his feet moving away from the conversation before he could attempt anything else.

Enji cared about his public appearance, but not in that moment. He knew Touya wasn’t going to prison - he would be taken back to the same facility he’d been in, where he was safe and cared for and had a friend. But having his son ripped out of his arms made him cry, and there was nothing he could do to stop.

Touya could hear his father crying as they escorted him down the hall, and the sound still echoed in his brain when they put him back in the transport van. He knew that this was the best possible outcome, and yet it all felt terribly punishing.

There was a time not long before that he longed for Endeavor's pain and suffering, but it was never about sadness. It was never about grief. The same way their fighting was never about making Endeavor weak or taking his limbs. It was supposed to be about showing Endeavor the horror that he'd created in his eldest son through negligence and lack of love.

Maybe he'd achieved that after all, leaving his father sobbing in a courthouse after a judge deemed him irrevocably insane. It didn't feel like much of a victory. Instead, he just wanted to throw up all over the floor of the van. Thankfully, he'd skipped breakfast.

He closed his eyes as they bounced along the newly rebuilt road back the facility, casually eavesdropping on the driver and guards as they discussed painfully normal things like their spouses and what they hoped to have for dinner that night. He'd never been happier to see the stupid building come back into view.

Tenko had been glued to the window all day and had to be threatened with solitary confinement to attend breakfast and lunch. They tried to send him to individual therapy, but he was so zoned out he couldn’t answer any questions. The therapist decided he should be allowed back to his post at the window because sooner or later, the issue would get resolved.

His first thought was that Touya was unfairly attractive in the orange jumpsuit and chains all over him. He then realized that Touya was here and pressed his cheek so far into the window he could feel the glass begin to give. He must have looked comical from the outside.

Touya slouched up the sidewalk, eager to get back inside and out of all the damn restraints. He squinted up at the building and could swear he saw a face pressed up against one of the upstairs windows, but the guards quickly shoved him along.

After an uncomfortably thorough security search, they put him back in the drab grey pajamas he was now so used to and set him loose, almost as though nothing had ever happened.

Immediately, he was ambushed by a crying Tenko and swept into a hug. “Touya!!” he whined. “You’re back!!”

Touya wheezed as the air was crushed from his lungs and he was enveloped by a rather weepy ex-supervillain.

"Yeah, I'm back for as long as they'll have me," he huffed. "Was that you in the window? You're ridiculous."

Even as he admonished Tenko, he felt his eyes burn and his throat tightened, his body threatening to cry as well.

“It was me,” Tenko sobbed. “I’ve been waiting there all day.”

"Don't cry," Touya murmured, his tone usually soft. "I already had Endeavor crying over me. This is a good thing. The judge agreed and everything."

“Aw, Endeavor cried too? Guess we both…” Love you, Tenko almost said. “Care about you.”

"Guess so," Touya said gruffly. "I'm too crazy for regular prison, so you're stuck with me here."

“I love being stuck with you, Touya!” Tenko cheered. “Are you hungry? They should feed you.”

Touya chuckled at Tenko's exaggerated joy at his return to purgatory. His mouth twisted and he pressed a hand to his stomach.

"I haven't eaten all day, so yeah, I guess they should feed me," he sighed.

“Come on, Touya.” Tenko pulled him along by the hand. “I’ll talk to the staff for you.”