Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a specific quiet that came to being in a coma. He thinks back on the movies that he’s seen and finds it confusing. Everyone thinks certain things about people in comas. Some think that they’re dreaming, having no idea that times’ passing on without them. Others think they know exactly what’s happening. That people can hear, feel, and sense the world around them but can't respond to it.

Touya doesn’t know what category he falls under. In all honesty, he hadn’t even realized he’d been in a coma until he woke up in an odd bed, with a body that wasn’t quite his own. He doesn’t know if the emptiness of those years was because of a lack of sensing the outside world or the lack of the outside world acknowledging he was in that bed in the first place.

He woke up two days ago, tried to go home but was denied, and burned the place down. He didn’t mean to get violent, but they hadn’t been listening to him. If they had listened then he wouldn’t have gotten so mad. They brought it upon themselves.

He should’ve looked at where he was before running off but that’s neither here nor there. After a while of walking and sneaking onto trains he finally made it home.

He could see his house just a block away, some lights still on despite it being dark out. He supposes it shouldn’t be too late if his family was still awake.

His family. He can’t wait to see them, they must miss him so much.

He can just picture his mom smothering him, an annoying look of worry mixed with relief in her eyes as she cried. Fuyumi would definitely be crying too, she was always so sensitive. Natsuo would probably hug him but try to play it cool like when they were younger. And his dad…

He wonders for a brief moment if his dad would even care, but shakes it off. Of course he’d care! Touya’s certain that dad might finally take his eyes off Shouto for more than two seconds and really see him.

Touya wonders if Shouto’s grown since he last saw him.

‘Doesn’t matter, I’m so close to home. I’ll see them all soon enough.’

He uses his last bit of energy to make it to the front door and knock. He waits for a bit… then waits some more… and waits even longer.

Almost 20 whole minutes pass with Touya knocking over and over again and receiving no answer. Maybe he was wrong and everyone was sleeping. The lights from the front of the house are off but he can see light coming from one of the side windows.

Following the outside wall, Touya decides to go in through the window of his old room. He can’t wait around outside all night, plus maybe surprising them in the morning would be better after he’s rested.

He slips into his old room clumsily, not used to his body being bigger now than before the coma. When he finally looks around, everything is exactly where it was three years ago only with a thick layer of dust covering the room.

It’s dark, obviously because the lights are off, but the atmosphere itself feels depressing. It was uncomfortable to say the least, having people think you're dead for years but still keeping everything the same in your room. It almost felt like nothing had changed, like his room was forgotten about…

With a head shake Touya tossed the thought aside. Natsuo probably just told everyone not to touch his stuff because he knew Touya would be back and annoyed if they’d messed with his things.

The dust coated bedsheets looked almost uncomfortably dirty but he supposed it was fine for just tonight. He’d ask mom to clean them later tomorrow after he surprises them.

Just as Touya was about to lay down he heard a sound, a rather loud one, from down the hall. He thought no one was awake but the sound came from the direction of the training room.

‘Oh, it must be dad!’

He quickly shot up from the bed and opened the door. When he looked down the hall he saw light shining through the dark house, coming from the training room exactly how he had expected it to be.

‘He must be training late like always. Maybe if I let him know that I’m here he’ll finally let me show him what I learned at Sekoto Peak!’

With a spike of excitement, Touya shuffled to the training room.

He came to a complete stop when he got close enough to hear inside. It sounded like yelling and a little kid crying. His bubbling joy turned sour within seconds as he crept closer to the slightly ajar door.

As he peaked inside he saw his father raging with fire dancing around his large frame. Then he spotted a much smaller body within the room, hunched over and sobbing. He looked to be about the age Shouto should be, but there's no question that it's him. His two-toned hair is hard to miss. The sight makes Touya’s chest ache and within seconds he comes to two realizations.

One is that he was disgustingly proven right when he thought that nothing had changed. Not only was his room the same, but apparently so was his father. His ‘death’ seems like it’s done nothing to his dad.

And two, it seems that his replacement is still keeping all of dad’s attention to himself and taking it for granted.

Touya’s stomach feels like it’s full of rocks and his lungs full of smoke. He wants to run in there and yell, scream about how dad should look at him instead of some useless kid! He feels that desperate urge to burn Shouto again, the same urge he had all those years ago. He wants to call out, make himself known.

But what good would that do him?

Absolutely nothing has changed since he ran off. If his father barely acknowledged him then, what makes now any different?

Instead Touya walks back to his room as quietly and calmly as he can manage. It’s harder than it seems but he makes it back to that dust covered hole and sits on the floor, thinking.

He sits for what feels like hours, planning on what to do next. He doesn’t want to go back to those years of being ignored. He loathes the very idea of doing that.

So what now?

Does he run away again? He doesn’t have any place to stay and he hasn’t had food or a decent shower for who knows how long. Everything about this new body is awful but he still needs to at the very least keep it clean and fed.

Something in his core keeps tugging at him.

He wants to break something, hurt someone.

Hurt his dad.

Hurt Shouto.

That last thought stuck out to Touya. He remembers oh so long ago telling Natsuo that it wasn’t Shouto’s fault dad wasn’t listening to anyone. So what was it that made him want to hurt the nobody kid in the first place?

The thoughts swirled in his mind for a while before it finally hit him. His father was a Pro Hero who couldn’t care less about his own well-being as long as he died as a hero. As long as his image was good, there wasn’t anything that Touya could do to really hurt his dad.

Except to hurt Shouto.

That runt was his dads prodigy, his miracle in the making. With the half-and-half quirk plus training from Endeavor himself, Shouto would grow into the hero his father always wanted. The hero he told Touya he could never be.

It’d be worse than death itself if Endeavor lost his legacy. And the chances at making a kid like Shouto ever again? Practically impossible at this point. Touya wanted to burn the kid so badly because he knew deep down it would destroy his father.

Now, he could play the long game. Train for years, humiliate his dad in the public eye then kill his little prodigy. It would take a while but he could definitely pull it off-

The sounds of doors slamming brought Touya out of his planning. He moved close to his own door and pushed his ear against it, wanting to hear what was happening.

Muffled sniffling, footsteps, and a door opening almost directly next to his room. He very quietly moved to the wall on his left, staring at it as if he could see who was on the other side.

“...-or your own good. One day when you surpass All Might you’ll be thanking me for your training. Now quit your crying and sleep. We have a long day tomorrow, I have something planned that's sure to set you up for the rest of your career.”

Touya didn’t hear Shouto respond, only ragged small breaths and the occasional whimper. His blood boiled.

‘He has everything I’ve been begging for and all he does is cry? How pathetic. I deserve that. I deserve to have a good quirk. To train with dad again. To be a hero. To be important!’

He couldn’t wait years for a plan that wasn’t even guaranteed to work. The kid was right there now. Touya could take him out now.

When he heard the door close again he assumed his father had left Shouto to sleep. Touya waited for a while to make sure he wouldn’t come back and when he felt safe, he snuck out of his room and into Shouto’s.

The boy seemed like he’d practically passed out as soon as he’d laid down, most likely from training. Touya stood over him, observing the kid he hadn’t seen for three years. On the left side of the boy's face was a new large scar covering his eye. It didn’t look fresh but it wasn’t as ‘healed’ as the scars on Touya’s own body.

Shouto had grown since the last time Touya had seen him. He was still a scrawny little thing, but his frame and limbs had stretched out just a bit. He was now, what, seven? Eight? His toddler chub had left his face slightly, but he still looked very young.

‘He’s just a kid. Tiny, helpless.’

He tried to make himself feel guilty for wanting to burn this child. Maybe a few years ago he would have felt bad, but not anymore. It’s not like he knew him anyway. Family by blood sure, but the only real thing he knew of this little boy in front of him was his name.

Touya’d been staring, analizing, and trying to figure out the best way to pull off this plan. He caught himself losing focus and blinked to re-track his mind.

When he looked back down at the boy, two mismatched eyes stared right back at him very much awake.

Chapter Text

For the last two and a half years every three to four nights without fail, Shouto has dreamt of his older brother Touya.

He doesn’t remember a lot about his passed brother, but he likes to think that these dreams have gotten Shouto closer to Touya in a way. 

The dreams started right after Mom got taken away. When he was left alone with just his dad. He knows Natsuo and Fuyumi would spend more time with him if they could, but they’ve never been allowed to. 

He knows Fuyumi’s bothered by it but she doesn’t say anything. Natsuo argues with Dad about it plus a lot of other things, but Dad doesn’t care to listen. Shouto feels like the only one who could’ve actually changed things was Touya, if he was still here.

No one talks about Touya, they don’t tell stories about him or share any memories about his brother. Sometimes it frustrates Shouto because it feels like they want to ignore that Touya existed at all. It’s not fair that everyone got to know him except for Shouto.

He thinks that he might not have cared so much about it if he wasn’t having these dreams. Each one's different, but all of them involve Touya ‘saving’ Shouto in one way or another. Taking him away from his father and spending time with him. 

Touya’s face is always a little blurry in every dream, the only constant being his pure white hair. Sometimes they talk to each other and Shouto tells Touya all about his day and Touya actually listens. Other times Touya speaks about himself and what he likes, but it always sounds watery and unclear and by the time Shouto wakes up he doesn’t remember what Touya had said. He thinks that if someone would just tell him about his brother then he wouldn’t have as much of a need to know things about him. 

Waking up in the mornings got a lot harder when he realized that those dreams weren’t going to go away anytime soon. Shouto eventually got used to them but they still bring this ache to his heart when he thinks about them the next day. He isn’t sure if it's because he misses someone he doesn’t remember or because he misses the thought of being saved. 

With all that being said, Shouto isn’t surprised nor scared when he opens his eyes to a white haired teen standing right in front of him.

No, instead, Shouto is absolutely delighted because this is the most detailed dream he’s had yet. 

He takes a minute to look at who he knows is his older brother. He knows it's Touya but he looks different than in his other dreams. There isn’t any baby fat or dream-like haze around his face, instead, his chin and facial features were sharp and clear. His hair was still a shiny white, ‘Just like every other dream’, and his eyes were as blue as the one Shouto has scared over. 

Speaking of scars, Dream-Touya’s face seemed to be covered in one big one. It covered his ears and went all the way down his bottom jaw to even down his neck. 

It didn’t look ugly and red like Shouto’s own on his eye. No, Touya’s scars were a soft purple-pink color, still noticeable but not as harsh as Shouto’s. He also noticed little patches of the same scar tissue right under both of his brothers eyes. 

He wondered why this Dream-Touya had looked so banged up but decided not to take this for granted. Touya looked more real than ever and all Shouto wanted to do was run away with him again and play all day. 

After a minute of waiting, Dream-Touya finally noticed that Shouto was looking at him. They had a mini staring contest before Shouto blinked and smiled. 

He still felt tired from the day, his dream was probably manifesting his aches from earlier. Ignoring his small sore muscles, Shouto sat up slowly and lifted his arms up towards Dream-Touya. He didn’t do it often but sometimes he liked being picked up in his dreams, like how his mom used to hold him. 

Shouto didn’t notice the ‘panic-turned-confusion’ expression on his brother. He just lifted his arms a little higher and made the universal grabby-hands gesture. 

It was a little disheartening when Touya didn’t pick him up like he usually did in his dreams when asked, but he figured the dream would go in a different direction and he’d have to walk on his own.

Pushing the blankets off himself, Shouto moved to grab the older kid's hand tugging on it playfully.

“What are we going to do today? Are we running away again?”

His voice was small and quiet but there was a very noticeable tone of excitement to his words. The dreams that had him and Touya running from his dad were usually fun because they would always get away. The times that they weren’t fun was because they got caught, but that didn’t happen often so he won’t worry about it. 

The taller boy looked at him with utter astonished confusion.

“It’s night right now. You should be asleep.” 

Shouto made a face at that.

“I am sleeping. This is my dream time. What are we going to do for dream time?” 

He pulled on the hand he was holding again to enunciate his question, hoping for a real answer this time. ‘Dream-Touya’s acting strange.’ 

It took a long time for Touya to answer him but he waited because he looked like he was thinking really hard and Shouto didn’t want to interrupt his train of thought. After a bit more time his brother finally looked back down at him. 

“I think your suggestion earlier was a good one… Let’s leave.” 

Shouto looked up at Touya with pure happiness on his face. He sort of knew that it was one of those dreams, but it made him happy to hear it anyway. 

He turned to walk out his door when Dream-Touya finally grabbed his hand back with a tug that was a little harsher than usual. 

“Wait!- uh, let’s go out the window instead. You don’t want to get caught, do you?”

Shouto shook his head in understanding and changed course to his window. He thought it was a little strange that it was night time in his dream but he paid no mind to it. He happily snuck out of his bedroom window with his favorite dream buddy in tow. 

Hopefully this dream lasts a little longer than most, he likes looking at Touya’s face.

Chapter Text

It’s been almost an hour of walking with the kid around town. He asked once where they were going and Touya told him it was a surprise, the kid didn’t talk much after that. In all honesty, Touya was completely winging this.

He was going to kill him, but then the brat woke up and practically threw himself at Touya, talking about ‘running away’ and ‘dream time’.

It confused him to hell and back but after he took a minute to really think, it didn’t seem like a bad idea. He could take him to a different place and finish the job there instead of at the house. No struggle to hide, no mess to be caught up in. 

Now the issue was where to actually take the kid.

He looked down at the small hand gripping at his own. Shouto was insistent that he had to hold his hand if Touya wasn’t going to carry him. It was annoying that the kid had to have some sort of contact with him, but he’d deal with it just until he figured out where to go. 

As they walked and the more Touya actually let the situation sink in, he wondered why in the hell this child would follow some stranger out of his house. He knew Shouto thought he was dreaming, but even then Touya can’t think of anyone who’d willingly follow a stranger in a dream either. 

He briefly wondered if Shouto knew who he was. The kid definitely acted like he did and even implied earlier that this isn’t his first time seeing him in a dream. 

He wouldn’t be surprised if Shouto didn’t though. He ‘died’ when Shouto was really young and Touyas’ looked in a mirror, he knows how… different he looks. 

A small pull at his shirt brings him out of his thoughts. He looks down to see the kid pointing at a park that’s about a block ahead of them. He remembers seeing this park when walking home earlier that night.

‘Have we been walking for that long? We're in a different town…’

They weren’t super far away, but they’ve definitely been walking for more than the hour that he’d originally thought. 

“Touya, I wanna sit please.”

‘Well he definitely knows me.’ 

Shouto just keeps on surprising him, he supposes. With an eye roll he nods towards a bench near the edge of the park and watches as little legs run over to it. 

He is so utterly tired of walking, so tired that he forgets for a minute what his original plan was and sits next to the brat. He can kill him later when his feet don’t feel like falling off.

“Dad was really mean today again. He keeps scaring me with his fire and yelling when I can’t get something right. I think I ate too much today too, cuz my tummy hurt really bad during training…”

And just like that Touya finds that for as quiet as Shouto was during the walk, he seems to be a big chatter-box now that they’re sitting. The boy just went on and on about his day and Touya didn’t have the energy to tell him to shut up.

He would have tuned him out if it weren’t for the fact that he realized this was the first time he’d ever actually heard his little brother talk. 

And what he was talking about sounded agonizing.

Sure Touya would get hurt when he trained with dad but that was usually his own fault. The more Shouto talks the more it sounds like dad is the one doing the hurting.

Touya doesn’t know how to feel about that.

He can’t even sit here and pretend that Shouto was lying, he’d seen dad get… overly angry at people, mostly his mom. 

Eventually Shouto had finished going through his entire day and just started talking about other random things. Touya’s rage slowly turned its aim from Shouto to his father. He had always wanted his dads attention, always wanted to be seen and instead his dad was stupid enough to waste his time on some child who had no idea that he wasn’t dreaming. How dumb.

“Touya, did you hear me?”

He looked to his right and saw his brother looking back up at him.

“What?” 

“I asked you about your day. What did you do?” 

When he paid attention to Shouto’s eyes, they seemed to have this childish hopefulness in them. Like he actually cared about what Touya had to say. 

“I walked.”

“Where?” 

“Home.” 

“Oh.”

It was awkward talking with some kid that's supposed to be your brother. He didn’t know what to say, but he wasn’t lying, he did walk all day. 

“Where did you walk from? Was it far?”

Shouto didn’t look bored or bothered by his short responses, rather he looked like he was hanging off of every word Touya said. 

He kept answering the boys endless questions, the responses still blunt but true. The more he answered Shouto the more he looked at Touya like he’d hung the stars. In all honesty, the only reason he was still talking to the little brat was because of that look. He acted like Touya answering these silly questions was all he’s ever wanted. 

And Touya was absolutely thriving at the attention.

Eventually the kid tired himself out and fell asleep on Touya’s side. His little hands were gripping at his shirt like he thought he’d disappear. He fought off his sleep as best as any eight year old could but eventually lost the battle.

Now with a sleeping child at his side Touya had no idea what to do next. He kind of didn’t want to kill the kid anymore, but he definitely wasn’t going to take him back home.

Dad would just lock him away again and Touya would never be able to feel like he did just now under Shouto’s undivided attention. He wanted that for himself. He wanted Shouto’s attention to himself.

If he went home now not only would dad still not see him but he’d take away the only person who did. Not to mention that on the off chance he’d let Shouto spend time with him he’d have to share with Fuyumi and Natsuo.

Okay, going home was not an option right now. If on the off chance the boy wakes up and doesn’t want anything to do with Touya, then he’ll kill him. If he does want to stay, then he’ll keep him.

He just needs to figure out where.

Chapter Text

It took almost the entire night for Touya to find a place to stay temporarily. He’d remembered walking past a burnt building the other night and figured it looked stable enough to hold him and his newly acquainted friend. 

It wasn’t the distance that made the walk so long, rather the fact that, while Shouto is a small kid, he’s sure as hell dense. 

No, Touya wasn’t weak. Shouto was just heavy, that’s all.

It took him longer to get to his destination because of the extra weight on his back, but they made it nonetheless. 

By the time the sun was rising, Touya had laid his brother in what seemed to be a corner of an old ashy office building. He’d climbed in through a hole in the back wall and situated himself and the sleeping kid away from view of the opening. There were still charred desks and cabinets around so he found it easy to move those and make something of a fort in the corner of the large room. 

After he was done moving things around he decided to get at least some sleep. He was absolutely exhausted and hoped the kid was a late sleeper. He dozed off rather quickly, his body not waiting a second later to get the rest it craved. 

A few hours passed and he woke up again to a strong feeling that someone was staring at him. 

He had a guess at who it was, of course, but was startled when he opened his eyes to see just how close the kid actually was. Two wide, mismatched eyes, brimming with tears stared right at him just inches away. 

He pulled away to sit up and ask what was wrong, before rethinking it. He wasn’t dumb, he could tell there were a lot of things wrong in this situation. 

He kidnapped a child who thought he was dreaming and took him to who-knows-where in the middle of the night. Away from his house and family.

Touya cringed a little before fixing his expression and looking back down at the kid.

“What?”

'"What?" Really? That’s not passive-aggressive at all.’

He berated himself a little more, mentally, when Shouto began to sob. Full clumps of tears streaming down his little face that twisted into a pained expression. 

Just as he started to panic, his brother threw himself at Touya, clinging onto the front of his shirt and crying all over him. He had absolutely no idea of how to handle the sobbing mess of a child in his lap, but he remembered some of the things his mom used to do with Natsuo and Fuyumi when they cried like this.

“Uh… It’s ok, uhm, stop crying?”

He very slowly and very awkwardly patted Shouto on his back, moving his hand up and down. The boy's breaths were coming out fast and sharp, mumbles and words lost to the sounds of crying.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, Touya not understanding the main reason why Shouto was crying and getting no clues from the boy himself, who could barely talk. 

Eventually, the kid calmed down on his own and Touya was finally able to make out a few weak words between hiccups. He caught something along the lines of ‘is it really you?’ and ‘are you saving me?’. 

Touya felt a little weird calling this saving, ‘Much more like a kidnapping but ok…’, but he could definitely answer his first question. 

“Yeah, it’s really, uh, me I guess. Surprise?”

Kami, why was he so terrible at talking to people?

It should’ve been obvious that Shouto would find out he wasn’t actually dreaming, but in all honesty Touya didn’t think through kidnapping his brother correctly, let alone how he was going to deal with his emotions.

As if it were anymore possible, he felt the boy push his face even further into his chest. 

“Man, I can’t even wash my clothes, quit crying all over me.” He complained half-heartedly. 

“Where did you go? Why did it take so long for you to come back? Was all the stuff you said yesterday true?”

A barrage of questions came tumbling out of that tiny mouth of his much like last night. 

‘For as small as his body is he sure has a good set of lungs on him.’

“Alright, alright, slow down before you run out of words for the day.”

“I can run out of words?”

“What- no, it’s- just can it for a minute and I’ll answer you if you’d let me talk.”

He saw the boy pull away, letting go of his shirt and putting his hands over his own mouth, nodding excitedly. He seemed all the more happy to listen and get real answers from the teen. 

“You were probably too young to remember my… accident, but after it happened I woke up in some sort of hospital-daycare place. I was asleep for years apparently, and no one knew I was still alive. When I came back home it was clear that they all forgot about me.”

His voice came out bitter at the end, still angry that his own family had moved on from him like he was nothing.

Apparently Shouto could tell he was frustrated because the next thing he heard was his little voice quietly saying, “I didn’t. I know I was smaller, but I didn’t forget.”

And if Touya was iffy on keeping the kid then, he absolutely wasn’t anymore.

Maybe if it was anyone else saying it, he wouldn’t have believed them. But there’s something in his brother’s eyes; something fierce, and determined, and angry. For a second, it’s almost like he’s looking in an oddly small mirror.

Shouto adjusted himself so he was sitting comfortably on the teen's thigh, resting the side of his head on his chest again, and kept talking. Touya let him.

“No one wanted to talk about you except for mom, but dad would get really really mad when she did so she stopped. I didn’t think about asking her about you because I didn’t want to get her in trouble. I wish I did though, because then she got taken away and I had no one to talk to anymore.”

Touya stiffened at the mention of his mom, ‘She got taken away?’, but didn’t say anything. He let Shouto talk.

“After that, it was like everyone wanted to forget about both of you. I hated it. It wasn’t fair that everyone got to know you and everyone was able to forget about mom. I couldn’t forget. And I didn’t get to know you! It was like no one cared!”

Tears of frustration built up in the boy's eyes. He seemed to have worked himself up, yelling to his older brother about what happened after he left.

Touya wonders if he’s always been this talkative and was never allowed to show it, or if it's Touya who’s barely now seeing it.

He lets the little boy in his lap talk and talk about things that happened after his disappearance, occasionally asking questions when he was confused about something. 

The more Shouto talked, the more Touya found a sort of sad comfort with him around. How sad was it that not even his own father cared as much about Touya than the child who barely remembered seeing him in his life? 

He learned that Shouto shared much of the same anger that Touya was feeling. He was angry with Touya because everyone but him had seemingly forgotten him.

Shouto seemed to have a sort of resentment towards their father as well. It wasn’t the unfathomable rage that Touya had been feeling for the past however many hours, but it was still a semi shared emotion. Touya thinks that when Shouto grows a little more and understands things better, he’ll grow just as angry, just as vengeful as Touya himself.

Vengeful.

Huh. 

A sort of twisted, spiteful, happiness bloomed in Touya’s chest when he realized how wonderfully this plan was coming along. He knew his father had noticed by now that his precious legacy was missing, how could he not with his constant surveillance. And now that he had Shouto to himself? In a few years they most definitely could take down the flawless reputation of the Number Two Hero. 

So long as Shouto keeps looking at him with those wonderful stars in his eyes, he thinks things are going to work out perfectly.

Chapter Text

Fuyumi didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her youngest brother, barely any at all, so when dad asked if she could help Shouto get ready in the mornings that he couldn’t, she jumped at the opportunity. It used to be mom who would get him ready but Fuyumi didn’t mind taking the roll. She took any chance to spend as much time with her brother as she could. 

When she first started getting him ready she found that her little brother talked a lot. He used to ask her a lot of questions, some normal, others about more uncomfortable topics, like mom or Touya.

He stopped talking as much when she didn’t answer things about either of them.

In all honesty she began to worry about Shouto after mom left. He seemed to have gotten fixated on learning more about Touya and when she tried to change topics, or ask Shouto about himself, he would get frustrated with her. He never said anything or complained of course, but he had this look in his eyes.

The same kind of look Touya used to get when talking about dad.

It scared her.

After more time passed he stopped talking all together, his responses short and polite whenever she would make conversation. She thinks he finally moved on from that odd phase. She doesn’t blame him for wanting to know more about his oldest brother, but she just didn’t like talking about Touya. It made her uncomfortably sad and she didn’t know how to deal with it, so she avoided the topic in total.

Now, every morning that she has to get him read has been spent in mostly sleepy silences. Shouto isn’t a morning person but Fuyumi definitely is, so she doesn’t mind waking him up herself. 

Dad told her last night that today would be one of those days that Fuyumi had to get Shouto ready, so she finished up making breakfast and made her way to his room. She made sure to knock on Natsuo’s door while passing by, letting him know that food was done.

She hummed a tune she’d heard the other day as she walked to Shouto’s room. The morning was quiet and cool. A window must be open because she could feel a slightly windy chill coming into the house.

She frowned a bit when she got closer to her brother's room, noticing that the cold was coming from there. 

‘He must have opened the window again.’ 

It was slightly troublesome whenever Shouto kept his window open at night. She kept having to remind him not to do so or else he could catch a cold. She opened the door to his room and just like she knew it would be, the window was wide open. She sighed and looked down to where her brother was sleeping, preparing to wake him nicely before lecturing him again, only to see that he wasn’t in bed.

Panic shot through her veins quicker than she thought possible as she frantically searched his room, hoping and begging that he had woken up himself and was just hiding somewhere.

After a minute of finding nothing in his room she ran to find Natsuo, praying that at least he was still here. She took a minute to feel slight relief when she found him eating in the kitchen, but quickly got back on track.

“Have you seen Shouto?”

“Uh, good morning to you too?"

“Answer the question! I can’t find him!”

She didn’t mean to be rude but clearly Natsuo saw how frantic she was and let it slide, his expression turning serious.

“No, I haven’t seen him. Is he not in his room?”

“I went to wake him up and he wasn’t there.”

“Check down here, I’ll check all of the upstairs. He has to be somewhere, maybe he’s hiding from dad again.”

Natsuo stood up from the table and tried to give a comforting smile. Fuyumi was still very obviously on edge but followed the plan and began searching the house.

Fuyumi was fifteen minutes in and in the middle of searching one of the side rooms when she ran into dad.

“Fuyumi? Why aren’t you with Shouto getting him ready for the day? I have very important things to do with him today, I need him looking his best.”

She felt her heart drop. How was she going to explain to her father that she lost his kid? She was absolutely mortified and she’s undoubtedly sure her face showed it. 

She was proven right when her dad turned serious and grabbed her by the shoulders. 

“Fuyumi, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what ha-happened, we're looking I promise! But we ca-an’t find him!”

Tears began streaming down her face as soon as she opened her mouth, words warbled and hiccuped. Dad quickly let her go, his face looking angry and panicked all at once. He very loudly joined her and Natsuo’s search, yelling out Shouto’s name through the house.

It soon became very clear that Shouto was not there.

Fuyumi’s stress only skyrocketed more when her father ran out the door, instructing her to call the cops while he checked Sekoto Peak.

Sekoto Peak?

This felt eerily and sickeningly familiar, every fiber of her being was reduced to a sobbing mess. Natsuo was the one who ended up talking to the police.

Dad eventually came back but he was empty handed. None of them knew if it was a good or bad thing. On one hand, the last time he came back from there he came back holding Touya’s jaw bone. On the other hand, Shouto was still missing and absolutely nowhere in sight.

The police suggested that he’d snuck out through the window on his own, that there was a good chance he’d be back by tonight. Fuyumi didn’t think he would, but she would understand if he did. Either way, they still sent out people to search, hoping to find him before he got himself hurt.

A lot of things happened after that, more police and a detective came in and out of the house talking to each of them individually. It was all very overwhelming, and if Fuyumi was being honest she zoned out for a majority of it. Only zoning back in when someone questioned her.

By mid-afternoon they had already sent out a public announcement to be on the lookout for Shouto, but didn’t disclose that he was the son of Endeavor. 

The sun set and still no sign of him anywhere. Eventually she and Natsuo were sent to bed, being told to rest from such an eventful and stressful day.

Fuyumi fell asleep that night feeling as though she’d failed another one of her brothers.

Chapter Text

After a while of Shouto talking and sitting in his brother's lap, the teen had told him they needed to plan things out. Touya had left their little hidey hole as soon as it had gotten dark enough and instructed Shouto to stay put. 

Shouto didn’t mind, but now he was left alone in this burnt building with nothing to do. He took a deep breath and laid on his back, staring at the black ceiling. 

He thinks he should be worried or scared. He’s hungry and he knows he won’t be able to see Natsuo or Fuyumi anymore. But those feelings seemed to be clouded by the pure elation sinking into his bones. 

He actually got to talk to Touya.

The real Touya.

Not some blurry image of what he thought his brother looked like. Not a dream world where he knew he wouldn’t see his brother again until he fell asleep the next night. No, this was the real, authentic, living, breathing Touya. 

It made Shouto feel like he was going to vibrate out of his skin.

Not only did his brother come back, he came back to be with Shouto! He came back and took Shouto away from dad. He listened when he talked about his life after and before he left.

Touya cared enough to save him and keep him around.

The thought that he actually had someone who wanted him around for who he was made tears prick at his eyes. Only mom had wanted him around before she was taken away, but now he has someone else. 

He wonders what his brother is doing right now. He said he needed to leave to get food and a few other things, but Shouto can’t think of anything they’d need besides food. 

How long has he been gone? He can’t tell the time with no clock but it feels like it’s been a while.

Shouto brings his hands up from where they laid on the floor, moving to grip the front of his shirt. A sudden and big sensation of being completely alone hit him hard. 

Touya would come back soon, he shouldn’t be such a baby like his dad says he is. 

He’d be back any second now and they could talk again, just like this morning.

Right?

The longer Shouto spent waiting the more his thoughts raced. The grip he had on his shirt turned his knuckles white but it kept him slightly grounded. He laid there for who knows how long and just thought.

‘What if he got caught?’

‘Is he hurt? Does he need help?’

‘Did he get lost?’

‘Why isn’t he back yet?’

‘What if he left me? Maybe he didn’t want me as a brother now that he knows me. He probably hates me just like everyone else. He left just like-’

Small trickles of tears ran slowly down the sides of his face. His expression was blank, eyes glossed over staring straight ahead at the ceiling. Everything felt still but loud all at once, his mind never leaving the thought that Touya was hurt somewhere or that he’d abandoned Shouto. 

He was so deeply constricted and trapped in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed when Touya finally got back. 

He was pulled from the fog when Touya pulled on his arms and made him sit up. Almost immediately it felt like the world had quieted. He focused on what his brother was saying, relief washing over him now that Touya was back with him.

“Are you even listening? What’s going on with you, what’s with the crying?”

His brother looked uncomfortable, a strange expression on his face, like he didn’t know what to do to help. As soon as Shouto had realized that Touya was worried about him, the light returned to his eyes. 

Touya wasn’t hurt and he cared enough to ask why he was crying instead of telling him to stop. 

“I’m glad you came back.”

That seemed to throw his brother off, his expression going from shock to confusion within seconds. 

“Of course I came back, what was I supposed to do, leave you here?”

The temptation to say yes was there, but Touya sounded so confident that that wasn’t an option at all. It made Shouto’s chest warm. Touya seemed to get the message anyway when he didn’t respond.

“I was gone for a couple hours, brat, and I’m back now. If I wanted to leave you I would’ve done it by now.” The teen said with a light scoff.

Touya moved from where he was crouched when he pulled Shouto to sit up, sitting across from him instead. A couple bags sat in between the two and a few more further away to Shouto’s right, against the wall.

“Alright, if you're done crying I brought food. It’s not a lot but it’ll get us by for a couple days before we have to leave again.”

Touya looked through the bags before he found what he was looking for and began to eat. After a minute he looked at Shouto expectantly and he figured that was his sign to look through the bag himself and start eating. 

“Listen, prodigy, I got some stuff to make both me and you less recognizable, but mainly you. I have some ideas for what to do with your hair, but absolutely no clue on how to handle your whole, uh, scar situation. Until we figure it out, you absolutely cannot leave this place. Endeavor already has half of Musutafu looking for you.”

Shouto felt a chill of panic crawl up his spine when he thought of his dad catching them. He almost forgot how recognizable he’d be because of his scar. He’d have to brainstorm on how to hide it soon.

“What are we doing to my hair?” He asked over a mouthful of his food.

“Dying it, duh. But you have two options, you could dye your white half red or all of it black.”

“Are you dying your hair?”

“Yup, I’m going with black.”

“Oh ok. Then I want to do that too.”

“You're the boss.”

Shouto was happy that he and Touya would match. He would’ve chosen black anyway, he doesn’t like the idea of having all red hair, but matching was a bonus. 

They both finished their food and fell asleep earlier than last night. Touya said they could do both their hair tomorrow when they woke up. 

Shouto was glad Touya was going to stay around for a while. And if he cuddled a little closer to him when they fell asleep, well he didn’t hear Touya complaining.

Chapter Text

Surprisingly, Touya woke up before Shouto this time. He didn’t wake up early by any means but it was before Shouto, so he counted that as a win. He finds it strangely anxiety-inducing not having the brat in his eye sight. He’d learned that last night, when he left and couldn’t focus on what he needed to steal- cough- acquire for the next couple days. Luckily for the both of them Touya wasn’t too distracted and got as much things as he could. 

He carefully moved Shouto aside and got up, looking through the things he was able to find. The idea of having a clingy child hanging off of his arms while he was busy seemed like a nightmare so he decided to try and get as much done as he could before his brother woke up.

Touya grabbed the hair powder that he’d found at some costume shop and moved to the other side of the room he and Shouto were staying in. The brand looked cheap and he knew it probably came off easily when washed but he just needed a quick change. Hopefully it didn’t stain or get everywhere. 

After about thirty minutes of messing with his hair, and another ten of making sure he didn’t miss any spots, Touya’s pure white hair looked as black as the charred building he was in.

The broken glass he was using to make sure he got each spot helped but it didn’t give him much of a good reflection to see how it turned out. He figured he couldn’t look any worse than he did with these awful scars though, so he didn’t think too much about it. 

Lucky for him the only thing that got stained were his hands but with a water bottle he would be able to get it out. He didn’t want to do that just yet though, instead heading over to Shouto and waking him up. He nudged his brother's side with his foot but didn’t touch him with his hands, trying to keep his clothes as clean as he could.

“Hey, pipsqueak, wake up. It's mid day by now, we got things to do.”

Shouto squirmed a bit before rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Touya saw the moment the boy noticed his hair, two sleepy eyes widening as soon as he looked up.

“Your hair is black.”

“Yeah, I told you I was gonna change it.”

“Well, I know but I think I’ll miss the white on you.”

Touya tilted his head at the statement. He didn’t have any opinion on his hair, not anymore at least. Changing it just felt necessary to his plan. What could Shouto possibly miss about the white?

Doesn’t matter, he was awake now so Touya could change his hair too.

“Whatever, come on, it's your turn."

At that, the boy brightened and hurried to follow his brother to where the hair things were. Touya noted that he seemed a lot more excited than he would’ve anticipated. 

They both sat on the floor, Shouto sitting criss-cross in front of Touya who was sitting on his knees. 

“Jeez kid, how come your hair’s almost longer than mine?”

“I was supposed to get it cut soon, but I didn’t want to so I just kept hiding from dad until he gave up for the week.”

Touya snorted, “Yeah? And how long did you keep that going?”

“Three weeks until you found me. But I don’t think my hair grows very fast, it's only a little longer than when I’m supposed to get it cut.”

“Yeah well it's long enough for me to have to use the rest of what I left plus another container of that hair powder stuff.” 

They chatted idly until Touya was finally done coating Shouto’s hair. He was afraid that the red wouldn’t get covered as well as the white, but as it turns out he didn’t need to worry. 

Shouto looked like he would blend in a lot easier now without his hair making him look like a walking landmark. Only issue they have left is his scar, and maybe his own too.

Touya knows he looks scary with his burns. He wouldn’t get recognized the way Shouto would but it’d definitely call more attention to them than needed. Especially if he was planning on making them worse later. 

“Alright, you're all done. Look at you, looking all normal and average. Sorta.”

A small hand came up to feel at a scar that was as healed as it could be. Touya wondered where the boy had gotten it, but didn’t ask. He knew if someone asked him about his scars he’d probably burn them alive.

“Uhm, thanks Touya. For making me look… normal.”

Shouto’s voice sounded small and wobbly. For a second Touya thought he’d made the kid cry with his comment, until Shouto turned to look at him. 

There it was again, that Look. 

It was like his very eyes sparkled when he looked at Touya.

And all because he’d dyed the kids hair. 

Touya’s half certain that he could kill someone and Shouto would still look at him that way.

‘Good.’ He thought. ‘I deserve to be looked at like that.’

He preened under the attention, a twisted grin pulling at his lips. 

“Anytime kid. That’s what I’m here to do.”

He wasn’t. But he would be if it meant keeping those eyes in his life. They looked like mom and dads. If he tried hard enough, he could almost pretend it was them looking at Touya like that. 

Like they were proud of him.

Shouto grinned and hugged his torso. Touya didn’t understand why the boy was so adamant about physical affection, but he could tolerate it, so he won’t say anything for now. 

After that Touya washed off his hands and they ate something small. He kept brainstorming on what to do with Shouto’s scar. He didn’t know how to do makeup for shit and doubted that it would even work with how prominent the scar was. He could cover it with something, but Touya wasn’t 100% sure of that idea yet.

It was about mid afternoon when the two of them heard cars pulling up to the front of the building. Touya wouldn’t have thought much of just a couple cars but when he also heard people coming inside the building, he panicked. 

Luckily, they were staying in a room at the very back of the building so that gave them time to move. Touya got up immediately, moving fast and quietly while he got the little items they had and put them in a backpack. 

Shouto looked scared out of his mind but got the message quickly and followed his brother’s lead. They finished fast, seeing as they didn’t have much to begin with.

Touya wasn’t sure if they could leave from the hole in the back wall. For all he knew there could be more people waiting around the building. 

Escape options seemed to be dwindling and so had their time. Footsteps could be heard getting closer the longer they stood there. 

He’d almost accepted his fate and was about to light the whole place up when Shouto pulled on his sleeve. He turned to look at him and saw the boy pointing to a misplaced tile in the ceiling.

Understanding immediately, Touya moved to grab Shouto and put him on his back. It was easier to carry him now then it had been the other night, but he wasn’t sure if it was because he’d been able to rest or because of the adrenaline. 

He hopped on a table under the tile and moved it as silently as he could, just enough to climb in with his brother on his back and the bag on Shouto’s. 

The tiles were insanely burnt and sensitive and honestly both of them were surprised that they hadn’t fallen yet. Neither of them tested their luck though as they stayed impossibly still, footsteps and voices entering the room they were hiding in. 

“Are you sure there’s someone in here? This place has been burnt down for weeks. Why would anyone want to stay in this dump?” One person asked, shining a flashlight through the room. They sounded young.

Another voice answered, sounding older and tired, “One of the neighbors called in saying they saw some kid sneaking in here last night.”

“Oh shit, you think it’s the missing one? Ya’know, Endeavors kid?”

Touya felt Shouto stiffen but they stayed quiet. 

“What crap are you on about? The news didn’t say anything about him being Endeavors.”

“Well yeah, but come on dude, the description of his quirk matched Endeavors and his wifes. He looks like the spitting image of the two of them too. Everyone knows it’s Endeavor's kid, he just doesn’t want to fess up about losing his child.”

“Well now that you put it that way I wouldn’t want to either. Losing two kids within three years? Yikes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah, you’re new to the force so you weren’t around when that case came to us. But yeah, Endeavor lost his oldest in a fire ‘bout three years ago. Don’t tell anyone I said anything, it’s supposed to be classified.”

Touya could feel his blood boil. His bastard father covered up his death? He really did want to forget Touya ever existed. If it weren’t for the kid on his back and his growing plan, he’d be burning those fuckers to ashes right now just for knowing about him and not saying anything to the public. 

He took a shallow breath, they’d leave any minute now and him and Shouto can get the fuck on out of here.

“That’s crazy… and now his youngest is missing. You think it’s a coincidence or…?”

“Shut up and finish searching this room. The faster we get this done the sooner we can go home.”

A few more minutes pass by and the two, seemingly, officers leave. 

Both Touya and Shouto let out a sigh of relief.

They really needed to get moving.