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Touya wheezes as the bright beam of black light slams into his chest, throwing him back a good several feet. His teeth grind together as the pain of it bites at his ribs, but he saved a civilian from getting hit with it, so take that villain. Fuck though, this is definitely a quirk going into his list of top twenty most painful villain quirks (not an accurate list by far – Touya, like any sane pro hero, does his best to not get hit by quirks when at all possible).
Speaking of said villain, he fully believes Dad can handle the scrawny guy from here. They almost had him, that shot was just a lucky one.
But after a moment of lying on the ground, clutching at his screaming ribs, the expected blaze of fire does not warm the air.
Cracking an eye open, Touya sees a cloudy grey sky. Then the silence hits him.
“Fuck,” he hisses, shoving himself into a sitting position. “How long was I out?” Considering the morning sky was a bright blue earlier and there is no one (either Dad or the villain) screaming, the fight must be long over. Though he is kind of confused to be waking up on the street and not in a hospital room.
Forcing his way to his shaking feet, Touya places a hand over the most painful of the ribs, pressing just enough hiss out a plume of blue flame and ensure the ribs are just bruised, not actually cracked.
“How inconvenient.” Touya nearly faceplants the second he goes to move. The only thing keeping him afloat is the thick branches wrapping around his waist. “Thanks man.” Touya really has no clue when Shinji got there considering the guy was supposed to be a whole city away. Apparently, his best friend was concerned enough to come back from his ‘undercover mission’ with Yu. Like please, they all work at an agency together, it would be impossible for those two to be any more obvious. At this point Touya and Ryuko have taken to staying in Touya’s office during breaks solely so that they don’t walk in on those two again. As much as he loves his teammates, he does not want to see them naked again.
The branches around his waist tighten past uncomfortable. Touya hisses and bares his teeth in a snarl as he snaps his head around to his best friend.
“What the fuck Shin? Too tight man! That hit fucked up my ribs.” He slaps the branch clinging to him hard enough it’ll be mildly annoying, but Shinji doesn’t so much as loosen his grip. Scowling, Touya lights a single finger – his middle one – on fire and taps the branch. He puts the flame out before it actually touches his friend, but it has the desired effect of Shinji letting him go.
Touya stumbles but manages to turn around and face him without embarrassing himself too badly.
“What the fuck dude? If that’s your way of telling me you and Yu are going on vacation or something, then go for it, you know I’ll cover your shifts. You don’t need to be a bitch about it.” His friend’s wooden face remains stone. Touya rolls his eyes and makes to step forwards.
“Stop. Don’t move.” He freezes instantly at Shinji’s pro hero voice.
“Shit. That quirk did something, right? That’s why you guys didn’t move me after the fight was over. Well fuck. Has the villain said anything about how long his quirk lasts for? I really don’t want to be stuck here all day, man.”
The older hero opened his mouth to reply, only for a wave of heat to billow in, casting the street crossroad in a blazing orange flames.
“Oh good.” He turns and gives his dad a small wave, only to frown at the fury on his father’s face. Then his eyes slip to the side, and Touya gapes. “Fuck, Dad, what happened? We nearly had the guy beat, how’d he get you?” Touya makes a vague gesture towards his own left eye, wincing. That is one hell of a nasty scar. The glare deepens, flames heating with the rising anger. Ok, touchy subject then. “S’cool,” he raises his hands in a placating manner, “you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want, I’ll just pester Shouto till he tells me later. So what’s the verdict with that quirk-”
“You’ll stay away from Shouto!” Touya stops, mouth gaping open. What. The. Fuck. He’s the one that’s been pestering Touya for like the past month to take Sho on as an intern? “You will not go near my son, villain!” Slowly Touya turns in a circle, his befuddlement only rising at the lack of people behind him.
“Dad. What the fuck. Did you get hit with a quirk or something?” He got no response whatsoever. Instead his dad turns to his best friend, who subtly flinches back from the burning flames. That’s really not cool. Something is definitely up. “Dad, back off and cool down. You know Shin’s flammable.”
The man whirls around, the orange flames at his shoulder flaring out wide. “I am not your father! Stop saying that!” His voice roars along the roads, drawing the attention of the nearby pedestrians who are hovering back at a safe distance. Touya frowns as cameras go up and people start filming. Was seeing Endeavor, his son, and one of his son’s teammates still cool enough to warrant filming?
Eh, he shrugs. Probably. After all, his dad is the Number One again, narrowly beating out All Might this time – they all know Shouto’s first place win at the UA sports festival is to thank for that. When one Todoroki does something noteworthy, they all go up in popularity.
“I mean it would kind of suck if I was secretly adopted, I’d owe Natsu like 50 whole yen. But come on, Dad, you’re really starting to freak me out.” He scratches the side of his head, absentmindedly remembering he needs to redye his hair soon. White roots are starting to peek out from the black.
Then there’s a fireball coming at his face. Swearing under his breath Touya grabs the collar of his black coat, yanking it up to cover his face as he ducks his chin down to his chest. The blaze of heat is uncomfortable rather than scathing thanks to his support gear being built to withstand his own flames first and foremost. He peeks up over his collar once the fire finishes trying to roast him, mildly annoyed his coat is smoking again.
“Seriously, what the fuck is going on? Also if you break the damn thing you get to pay for it, support gear is fucking expensive.”
“Support gear? So the League has a supplier now as well as a healer. Tell me Dabi, who managed to heal your scars? Recovery Girl deemed those unrepairable.” His dad is steaming again, the tight pull of his lips and narrowing of his eyes indicating he’s talking to a villain he loathes, yet Touya can’t see anyone other than himself in the vicinity.
“Ok. Look. I’m very confused right now, is this Dabi person invisible or something?” He gets two blank stares in response. Shinji makes a motion with a bark-covered hand and Touya gives a long sigh. “Shin, you know I suck at charades. Words please.”
“Are you saying you’re not Dabi?” His best friend sounds as confused as Touya feels.
“No? Again, who the fuck is Dabi?” The two other heroes exchange what Touya knows is an informative look.
“Who are you then?” Dad growls it out, fists clenched and ready to fight.
“Seriously? Damn, ok I guess. Protocol or whatever. I’m Fire Hero: Pyro, Todoroki Touya.” Dad’s flames sputter, before raging to a level unlike any Touya’s seen before.
“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK HIS NAME!”
Then his dad is charging at him, massive fist swinging at his face.
Fuck.
Ducking under it, Touya whirls to the side, still-smoking black coat flaring out around his knees. He ducks another punch and slaps a fireball to the side before deciding that if his dad really wants to fight, then he’ll fucking fight.
Touya dodges the next punch, grabbing onto his father’s flaming right arm and twisting, forcing the strong limb around to his dad’s back and shoves. It’s a simple pin, one he knows his dad can break out of easy, which is why he’s stumped when he puts a bit of pressure on the joints at his mercy and feels his dad freeze.
Then thick branches snap at his limbs, forcing him to let go and jump back.
“Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you two?” He doesn’t get an answer as Shinji helps Dad to his feet, the older hero glaring fury at Touya as he rotates his shoulder. Fuck, maybe this is a fever dream or something. Yeah, that sounds right. Touya’s in the hospital and getting surgery again, so he’s hyped up on drugs and having one of those funky hallucination dreams.
“Endeavor, we’ve secured the area and created a perimeter.” Oh thank God.
“Sho, tell Dad to snap out of it, he’s trying to fight me for some reason.” Touya pivots towards his younger brother’s voice, only to freeze and gasp as he sees him. There’s a massive red scar over his little brother’s left eye. “Fuck, Sho, what the hell happened? Who do I need to beat up for this?” Damn, two family members get scars over their left eyes on the same day? That seems oddly coincidental.
He moves a step forward, only for a blaze of green lightning to slam into him, knocking breath from his lungs. Touya drops down to a knee, doubling over and wheezing in time with his aching ribs.
“Fuck, Izuku, do you need to hit that hard? I know I pissed you off last time you came over for dinner, but seriously?” The green haired kid came to a halt next to Shouto, and both of them are staring at him with equal levels of confusion. “Besides, aren’t you kids supposed to be in school? I thought internships started next week?”
“Midoriya, I am confused.”
“Wait, Midoriya?” Straightening, Touya is quick to interrupt his youngest brother. “Fuck, when did you two go back to a last name basis? You didn’t break up, did you?” At the confused and rather scandalized looks he gets for that one Touya is quick to step back and hold his hands up in a ‘stop’ motion. “Not that it’s my business. Unless it is. Izuku, I like you, but if you hurt my baby brother, I will send Miruko after you with instructions to break at least three bones. She still owes me one for setting her up with Yumi.”
“Um. I- I’m not dating Todoroki? Unless we’re dating and I didn’t know that. I mean it could be a possibility we spend a lot of time together and I really like Todoroki but I think I would know if we were dating and would remember going to dinner at his house I mean that’s not a simple thing I would be able to forget so I don’t think we’re dating but ohmygosh if we are and I forgot that would be super embarrassing and-”
“Midoriya. Breathe.” At Shouto’s instruction the kid heaves in a big lung full of air, green eyes calming down. “Who are you?” Touya flinches back at the coldness of his brother’s tone.
“Seriously? You too? Did you all get hit with a memory quirk or something?”
“Who are you?” Ice starts to build along Shouto’s right arm.
“Jeez, calm down pipsqueak. I’m your brother, Touya. You know, the hottest Todoroki?” He smirks at his own pun, letting a small line of blue flames trickle over his fingers to add to it just enough to get his sibling to laugh.
Nothing but a cold steely glare.
“My brother Touya is dead.”
His mind blanks.
What the hell is going on? Touya glances down at himself, poking his chest a couple times. He feels alive? His turquoise and black compression shirt is a little singed, but there’s no blood or anything.
Branches snake around him again. Right, he forgot about the other two.
Not wanting to go along with it anymore, Touya sets his forearms on fire and leave them burning as coolly as he can. That will prevent Shinji from restraining him at the very least.
Touya looks around the gathered group. Dad’s furious expression, Shouto’s cold glare, Shinji’s lack of recognition, Izuku’s puzzled mumblings, and the few filming pedestrians who won’t be scared off by the screaming teenager he thinks is Katsuki. It settles in his gut then, the utter certainty that something is very wrong here.
Taking slow steps back, his eyes narrow thoughtfully as he moves away from the group. Whatever’s going on is clearly not something that can be fixed right now. And considering how badly he’s outnumbered, it’s best to fall back, learn what he can, and come up with a plan to get whatever quirk is acting on his family to stop.
Deeming himself far enough away, Touya snakes a hand into his coat pocket and slams the small vial on the ground, immensely glad for the last-minute items he grabbed this morning as the smoke bomb goes off. With the area covered in thick, harmless, grey clouds, Touya slips into the alleyway he was aiming for and sprints down it. Shouts follow him, but he knows they’ll have to clear the civilians and check the nearby buildings first, so that’ll leave maybe one person to try and chase after him over the rooftops. And considering how he seamlessly slips into the first clothing store he sees with a cheery, unpanicked smile winning over the now-blushing cashier, he doubts they’ll find him.
After buying a duffle bag for his costume and changing into a pair of black jeans and a fun yellow Fat Gum hoodie that drapes off him everywhere (he got an extra large for a reason, sue him for being comfy), Touya exits the store with half his emergency cash left. Not ideal, but he doesn’t think he can get away with wearing his hero costume around in public. At least his black combat boots double as comfy footwear – he can wear them without any suspicion whatsoever. Same with his black gloves. They might look a tad stupid when paired with the hoodie and jeans, especially since it’s a relatively warm spring day, but they’re made of the same cooling fabric as the rest of his costume. He’d rather wear them and look like a biker who forgot to take off his gear than risk using his flames without his support gear. Touya likes not roasting himself alive, thank you very much.
Hefting the duffle up on his shoulder, Touya makes his way along the street, blending easily into the flow of people. After a moment’s consideration, he flips the yellow hood up, Fat Gum’s smile resting over his forehead. Black hair isn’t super telling, but even that could give him away if they’re trying to find him with CCTV cameras.
Civilian clothes acquired, Touya sets off to find an internet café. His phone is sitting comfortably back at his agency – Ryuko banned them all from carrying phones on the job after a few too many incidents involving the group chat, and their little communicator earpieces were top of the line for a reason. Speaking of which, Touya digs his out and unceremoniously drops it to the ground, letting his booted heel crush it under his next step. Just in case. He has no clue if those things have any sort of tracker in them, but it’s really better to not risk things until he gets this whole situation under control.
Thankfully he doesn’t need to go far before finding a café with some free-to-use computers hooked up to the café wifi. Slipping inside, Touya walks over to the counter and gives his friendliest PR smile.
“Hey,” he greets the girl working the counter easily, unmoved by her blush and sudden fluttering eyelashes. He’s too gay to care about that. “I’ll take a small black coffee and would like to use one of your computers for an hour or so.” She nods, all business-like, and hands him a steaming mug in a handful of seconds along with a small slip with a log-in password. He thanks her, moving to sit down at the one closest to the back exit.
Setting his duffle on the ground at his feet, Touya boots up the computer and taps in the password she gave him. Pink ink bleeds through, warning him that her phone number is on the back. He crumples it and sets it aside after the computer logs him in.
A single google search later has Touya staring slack-jawed at the screen. He doesn’t exist. Googling ‘Todoroki Touya’ came up with only a single hit from years ago. Frowning, he clicks on the link anyways. Turquoise eyes skim the article with haste as his right hand scrolls down the page. What the hell? This page is saying that he died at fifteen in a villain attack. Endeavor was on the scene, and both teenager and villain were caught in a massive surge of flame. When it was all over the villain was dead and only a jawbone could be matched to the teen.
He leans back in his seat, hands running up to grip at his black hair. Well. Shit. If this is going where he thinks it might be going, he’s fucked.
After googling his hero name, Pyro, just to make sure and getting zero hits, he turns to his family. Nothing comes up for Fuyumi, nothing for Natsuo, and nothing for his mom either. Which, unless they’re all dead too, doesn’t make any sense. Dad’s social media presence isn’t nearly as huge as his own, but he’s still got a handful of pictures of all of them from family vacations and special events (God, Touya’s begged for his high school graduation photo to be taken off the internet so many times. He was stuck in his awkward goth phase then and his family never lets him live it down).
Swallowing nervously, he enters a search for Shouto. That gets results. Touya skims through the articles titles, not bothering to click on the ones he knows to be less than reputable. Then he finds the video: Shouto’s showing at the UA sports festival. Clicking that link with no shortage of dread, Touya watches as his little brother stumbles his way through the first two challenges. The one-on-one fights are just awful. Shouto fucking destroys the first kid by planting him in an entire mountain of ice, his eyes dead and cold in a way Touya knows does not belong on his little brother’s face. Then Izuku proceeds to fuck up his fingers and arms, screaming unintelligible words at Sho until his baby brother finally uses his fire. But it’s not a controlled blast, like he’d been holding it back as an ace up his sleeve like Touya thought. No, instead it’s a surge that blacks out the cameras, uncontrolled in a way he hasn’t seen since Shouto was a toddler. That more than anything concerns him. He barely pays attention to the last fight, where Shouto looses against Katsuki.
This is all wrong.
Touya pauses, heaving a deep breath and letting it settle in his lungs before exhaling slowly. A sip of coffee later, and he’s hitting the enter button again.
He nearly spits out the coffee in his mouth at the results searching up ‘Endeavor’ bring.
Default Number One- Story of All Might’s Epic Final Battle and Endeavor’s Rise in Ranks.
Endeavor as the Number One Hero: The Battle of the Nomu – full video here!
Hawks’s Epic Speech and Rise to Number Two – How he Challenges Endeavor’s Rise to the Top.
As if someone else is controlling his hand, Touya finds the link to that Nomu video being clicked. He watches it with a sick sense of distance, not reacting even as Endeavor gets the injury that is to blame for the nasty scar slicing through his eye and manages to keep fighting with the help of that winged rescue hero Touya vaguely recalls seeing at numerous rescue and natural disaster scenes. He wonders why that guy’s at an active battle scene and fighting instead of just clearing out civilians, then tilts his head back and laughs until he starts to cry.
Fuck.
No wonder they didn’t recognize him earlier – there is no way this is still his world. That quirk he got hit with must be some sort of dimensional travel. There are just too many inconsistencies for it to be anything other than that.
The girl working the front counter comes over, tapping him on the shoulder.
“Sir? Are you alright?” Touya hunches down, elbows resting on the table in front of him as he holds his face, sobbing and laughing hysterically at the same time.
“No,” he gasps out, swiping the back of his hand over his wet cheeks. “No I’m not alright.” Downing the last of his coffee, Touya presses the button to shut the computer down and grabs his duffle, walking out of the café without looking back.
He walks aimlessly down the streets, mind buzzing with barely restrained panic.
He’s in a different world where he’s dead. Judging by Shouto’s abysmal performance at the sports festival and the lack of internet results for the rest of his family, something is seriously fucked up there too. His best friend doesn’t recognize him. He’s got only a handful of bills left of emergency money.
He’s got no way home.
Turning into an alleyway to cut over to the next street, Touya lights a hand on fire and melts the blade stabbing towards his gut.
“Fuck off. I’m not in the mood,” he snaps, only to find a teen clinging to his arm.
“Dabi! Don’t be so mean.” The girl pouts up at him, her fangs visible as she tries to hold back a grin.
“I’m not Dabi.” Fuck, maybe Touya should have looked up that name too. Oh well. Surely it can’t be that important.
“Yes, you are silly!” The blonde girl pats his arm skipping alongside him as he moves down the alley. “You might have covered the scars somehow, but I can still smell you! Now come on, Shiggy is getting impatient and wants to meet that new recruit you keep talking about.”
…It’s not like Touya has got anything better to do.
He lets the girl drag him down a twisting series of alleyways bordered by apartments and other buildings, his gut warning him as they keep going that they’ve reached a dangerous part of town as the buildings start looking more and more run-down. It’s nearly thirty minutes before she stops at a particularly old, rotted apartment complex, shoving the door open with little ceremony.
“I found him!” The girl keeps her grip on his arm to drag him past stacks of cardboard boxes and over to a couch planted in the middle of what used to be the lobby, where there’s a crowd of people gathered around a TV. Approaching, he doesn’t recognize any of them. There’s a guy with an obvious lizard quirk, one wearing a black and white mask, one playing with cards, one literally made of black mist, and one who really needs to have a spa day. Spa day guy looks at him with a scowl and sharp red eyes.
He does a double take once they meet eyes.
“What the hell happened to you? Where’s all your scars?” That draws the attention of the rest of the crowd, the lizard guy pausing the video game they’re in the middle of playing. Touya just shrugs his shoulders, really not sure what to do with this whole situation. The people he knows don’t know him, but people he doesn’t know do know him. This is really fucking confusing.
“Uh, real quick what are all of your names again?” He gets a blank stare from spa-day guy before the girl is hugging his arm again.
“Silly Dabi! You know you can call me Himiko! We’re family!” Internally struggling to keep his confusion inside, Touya absentmindedly pats her head. “And that’s Jin,” mask guy shoots finger guns at him, “Shuuichi-”
“Spinner,” the lizard guy is quick to correct.
“Kurogiri,” the girl points to the mist guy, who gives a polite but concerned nod, “Atsuhiro,” the guy with the cards flips them dramatically through the air, “and Tomura!”
“It’s Shigaraki or Boss to you.” Spa day scratches at his dry neck, uneven fingernails digging into the cracked and bleeding skin. Ouch.
“What the hell is going on.” Touya knows before looking over his shoulder who he’s going to see. It’s impossible to not recognize his own voice.
Twisting out of the girl’s – Himiko, she said – reach, Touya turns to the newcomer. Black hair, coat, pants, and boots, sheer white shirt, and massive purple scar tissue coating a good portion of all visible skin held in place with what look like staples. Touya knows this is the Dabi guy they all keep mixing him up with.
“Dabi!” Himiko gapes, looking between the two of them, nostrils flaring out like a bloodhound on a scent. “But. What? Do you have a twin?”
“Who the fuck are you-”
“What the hell have you been dying your hair with?” Touya’s quick to interrupt, brow furrowing as he glances at the nearly identical locks. “I can see that cheap shit flaking off from here. Do you want to ruin your hair?” There’s a long moment of silence before Shigaraki breaks it.
“…Do you have a twin Dabi? He does look pretty much the same as you, expect less ugly.” Blue flames spiral off clenched fists as Touya’s counterpart snarls angrily at the guy Touya guesses is his best friend.
“No, I don’t have a fucking twin. Who the fuck are you and why should I let you leave here alive?” Blue flames snap out towards him. Touya doesn’t bother pretending to flinch back. He’s used to the heat of his own quirk.
“Cause murder is bad?” He gets an annoyed look for that one and snorts, raising his hands in a placating manner. “Chill man. Though can we go with that whole twin thing? That’d be pretty cool, actually. I mean as cool as younger siblings are, I’ve always wanted an older brother.”
“What.” Touya’s doppelganger’s jaw has dropped, pulling at the crude staples holding him together.
“Yeah! It’d be fun and would give me an identity until I can figure out this whole mess. C’mon, I just said I’ll let you be the older twin! Let do it. There’s like nothing on the internet about any of our siblings besides Sho, so it’d be super easy to fake. Plus, if you’re going by Dabi then I don’t even need to change my name.” It’s actually a pretty solid plan.
Another long moment of silence, where Dabi stares at him like he can’t decide whether to roast him or leave or hug him, is broken by Dabi’s friends.
“Can I keep him?” Himiko is looking to the mist guy, Kurogiri, hands clasped in front of her like she’s begging her parent for a puppy. “Please? He’s a sweet cuddly Dabi and I want him.”
“Fuck off Vamp,” Dabi turns his scowl to her. “Besides, he’s clearly not me.”
Touya nods in agreement. “That’s pretty accurate. From what I’ve seen we’ve led completely different lives and have different experiences, so really we share nothing other than our DNA. Like actual twins.” He grins for good measure, actually getting kind of invested in this idea.
“What are your stats? We could use another long-range fighter in our party.” Shigaraki locks his gleaming red eyes on Touya, the skin around them wrinkled and dry like someone three times the guy’s age.
“I actually try for hand-to-hand combat where possible.” Touya shrugs at the shocked looks that earns him. “Yeah the quirk’s good for long ranged attacks too, but it also burns me out quicker so if I want to last a whole patrol I’ve got to be conservative with it. Plus there’s always a shit ton of damages I’ve got to write up tax reports for when I set things on fire while going after the bad guy.”
There’s such a long pause here that Touya wonders what it is he said that lost them.
“You’re a fucking hero?” Dabi spits the word hero out like it’s some kind of poison, upper lip curled in disgust. Touya nods, shoulders giving a tiny shrug.
“Yep. Well, was anyways. No idea if my license is valid considering I’m pretty sure this is a different dimension.” The card guy perks up, eyebrow cocked in intrigue.
“A different world, you say? Now that’s an interesting claim. What proof do you have?” Touya frowns, glancing over to Dabi who glares harder. Ok, no talking about family then.
“Uh, what’s your name again?”
“My alias is Mr. Compress.” Touya racks his mind, biting lightly on his tongue as he mulls it over. He definitely knows that name from somewhere.
“Got it,” he declares with a snap of his fingers. “You’re a retired actor who teaches an elective at UA, something about acting and espionage. I suck at acting and never took it, so I don’t personally know you, but people said you were a cool teacher.” They’re all staring at him again, and Touya wonders if this is a common occurrence, or just his fault.
“…What about me?” The question is asked with reluctance, but Touya obliges and tries to think of if he’s heard the name Shigaraki before. A long moment passes before he shakes his head.
“Sorry man, but I don’t know any Shigarakis.” Fingers start to itch at the scaly neck.
“What about Shimura?” That name clicks immediately.
“Oh, course! I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’re Tenko, not Hana. You two are a hero rescue team that pair up with the guy with the wings sometimes. You both ranked in the top twenty last I looked at standings. I mean, obviously. With your grandmother and fucking All Might in your corner I’m kind of shocked you didn’t rank higher.” Touya’s pretty sure he’s sent Shigaraki (or is it Shimura? He’s not entirely sure what’s going on right now) into a shock coma. The guy is staring blankly at the floor, eyes watery.
“Me next!” Himiko blurts that out, jumping around like a hyperactive bunny.
“Uh ok. What’s your family name?”
“Toga!” She gives a wide excited grin, and Touya is very glad he actually knows the name.
“Hey I do know you. You’re in high school and work part time at the café right across from my agency. We buy so much coffee from you when you work the Friday night shift.” She giggles, a blade flashing as she hopes over to squeeze him in a tight hug. Touya wheezes, pushing her off and gasping. “Aw, that’s no fun Fake-Dabi! Let me hug you!”
“Sorry,” he grimaces as he places a hand on his throbbing ribs. “Whatever quirk hit me to send me here fucked up my ribs. You were just squeezing a little too tight.”
“This is stupid.” A warm hand grabs his wrist, dragging him along. No one protests as Dabi pulls Touya upstairs and into one of the many empty apartment rooms. A steely blue glare he knows intimately pins him in place as Dabi takes a step back and crosses his arms.
“So, want to be twins till I figure out how to get home?” No answer, but that’s not an instant no, so maybe Touya can convince the other guy. Schooling himself to a more professional brain space, Touya shuffles the duffle up higher on his shoulder. “What’d you want to ask that they can’t hear?”
Yet another long pause, but Touya knows not to break it. Dabi just needs some time.
“Mom. What happened to her where you say you’re from. And if I find out you’re lying about this, there will be no where you can hide that I will not find you and grant you a painfully slow death.” A small smile teases at the edge of Touya’s mouth, but he doesn’t tease the other for being a momma’s boy like he instinctively wants to.
“Course man. Mom’s doing pretty good right now. She works in fashion design and her winter wear sells like instantly whenever she puts up a new line. She makes a big deal of pockets and comfort as well as style, which people love. She gets the lot of us to model stuff, and often drags Shouto’s hero friends in too so they can get some free publicity before debuting as heroes of their own right.”
“…She’s happy then?”
“Yeah, she is.” Touya leaves it there, knowing his own facial expressions well enough to know Dabi is done talking about it. “Can I ask something?” He gets a grunt and a raised eyebrow, so he keeps going. “What happened? Sho’s scar, your scars, the permanent anger stick up Dad’s ass, the lack of stuff I could find on Natsu, Yumi, and Mom. I can tell something’s wrong, and I want to help. You might not be the family I was born with, but you’re still family.” As soon as the words leave his lips, he knows them to be true. Touya does want to help this world’s version of his family. Even if they don’t want his help, he knows they need it.
Besides, the only one stubborn enough to force a bunch of Todorokis to work out their issues is another Todoroki.
“Do you really want to know? It’s not a happy story.” Touya sits down on nearest mattress, setting his duffle bag next to him. Dabi leans against the wall, waiting for a verbal response.
“Yeah. I do need to know. And I have a feeling you’re the only one who’s gonna give me the whole story.” After a silent judgemental look, Dabi comes around to sit on the bed too. They sit back-to-back, both staring at their respective walls. Then Dabi starts to speak, and Touya realizes he drastically underestimated how fucked up things are here compared to home.
“So,” Dabi’s voice is extra raspy now that he’s spilled his whole life story in the last couple of hours, “what are you going to do about that clusterfuck, hero?” Touya can tell Dabi tried to put venom into the moniker, but it falls flat in his emotionally drained state.
And really, that is a great question. From Dabi’s words Touya now knows that each member of his family is going to need some Big Brothertm support. Good thing he’ll have a hand in that department this time around.
“Well. I think I’ll start by officially making myself your twin, if you’re cool with it.” They’re still sitting with their backs to each other, so Touya can only hear the scoff and not see the accompanying eyeroll.
Then there’s a pause.
“You’re serious?” Touya hums, nodding. “Hm. Why would that benefit me?”
“Fair enough. Well for starters since I’ll already be in the government archives, I could officially bring you back to life. And before you ask, that would benefit you because you’d be able to visit Mom at her hospital.” He’s still not overly happy she’s locked up there, but at least she’s relatively safe for the time being. “Plus I can write up something about how you and your friends have been pretending to be villains to help heroes gain insider information.” Dabi snorts, and Touya really doesn’t blame him. He wouldn’t believe himself if he were in Dabi’s shoes.
“How would that even work? It’s not like you can just scrub all of our records clean.” Touya grins at Dabi’s snide tone.
“Got a laptop around?” Dabi thinks about it, then grunts. The mattress boings as he shoves off of it, Touya following close behind as Dabi stomps out of the room and back down to where his friends are still crowded around the TV.
“Fuckface, go get your laptop.” Shigaraki scowls at Dabi, slinking down in his place at the arm of the couch.
“Go get it yourself, Patchwork.” A splattering of blue flames licks at Dabi’s scarred hands.
One tired dad sigh and swirling purple-black portal later, there’s a laptop in Touya’s hands. He grins. Ryuko really should have known better than to force him into desk duty for a month after a particularly bad burnout three years back. She’d come back from patrol to find Touya scrolling through the HPSC’s files, having taught himself how to hack that morning. It was shockingly easy once he figured out the basics.
Powering it on, sitting on the floor, and poking Dabi’s ankle until he is told the password, Touya makes quick work of navigating to the Japanese government’s archives. Fingers zipping across the keys, Touya mouths along the words as he puts in line after line of code, grinning as the screen flashes and lets him in. From there it is a task of a few minutes to find each of the present criminals’ files and erase them, sending out a tiny virus that will erase any other official files relating to them that it can find on the web. He pauses, stretching his fingers, and smirks at the impressed looks he’s getting from Dabi’s friends.
“Congrats, you are all model citizens with no record.”
Himiko cheers, dragging Jin up with her so someone can dance with her as she jumps around.
“Can you put me in Ochako and Deku’s hero class, Not-Dabi? Please please please! It’d be so much fun!”
“I’m pretty sure that you’d be able to get in on your own, Himiko. All you have to do is pass the entrance exam, and I’m sure you can do that.”
The girl wilts. “But I’m a villain; they’ll never willingly let me in at a hero school.”
Touya smirks at her as he scrunches up his fingers before diving back to it. “Not anymore you’re not. They won’t be able to refuse you on that account if they haven’t got any proof.” That prompts her to start cheering again, babbling to anyone who’ll listen about how cute her hero costume would be covered in blood.
“Hey,” a booted foot kicks lightly against his hip, “that’s a nifty trick. Not too bad… Touya.” He smirks up at Dabi who meets his gaze for a moment before looking away with a grunt.
Touya hits enter, reviving Dabi (while changing that to the guy’s legal name too, cause why not) and writing himself in as a member of this world’s Todoroki family.
“Done,” Touya declares as he scrubs his presence from the government’s servers and shuts down the laptop. “Now.” He fixes them all with a stern glare as he climbs to his feet, laptop tucked in between his arm and side. “Just because I wiped your records doesn’t mean you’ll be able to go do whatever right away. If people saw your faces and know you’ve done some crimes, then it’ll be best to avoid densely hero-populated areas until it gets out that they no longer have the grounds to arrest any of you – which could be up to a couple weeks, depending on how often they check that kind of stuff. That being said, Dabi and I need to go talk to our younger sister. Later.” He leaves the laptop on one of the cardboard boxes as he drags Dabi out of the apartment complex, duffle bag slung over his shoulder once more.
“Bye Not-Dabi!” Touya waves to Himiko as they leave.
“I didn’t agree to this,” Dabi scowls at him as he jerks his arm free once they’re in the alleyway outside the complex.
“Too bad. From the sounds of it Fuyumi is lonely and trying to hold the family together by herself. We can’t let her do this all alone, that’s just rude.” Dabi grumbles and protests some more but still follows as Touya starts retracing his steps from earlier, when Himiko lead him here.
They don’t make it too far before there’s a sharp gust of wind, his Fat Gum hood gets knocked off, and the red-winged rescue hero Touya vaguely recalls touches down in front of them.
“Dabi! Good to see you man!” At least he’s talking to the real Dabi. Touya’s kind of over being confused for the other man. “Hey, who’s your friend?” Sharp golden eyes scan flick over him, and Touya smirks at the obvious checking-out.
“Hey,” he sticks a hand out, only to drop it after an awkward moment where the guy doesn’t move to shake it. “Alright then. Anyways, I’m Dabi’s twin, Touya.” The hero’s mouth drops open.
“What the fuck? Seriously?” He waits a moment and once Dabi doesn’t refute it takes that as confirmation. “Holy shit. No wonder you two look so alike. But Dabs, why didn’t you tell me you had a twin?” The hero pouts at the scarred man, and Touya rolls his eyes.
“Ok, look. If you two start making out I’m leaving.” The hero flushes a violent shade of red that matches his wings as Dabi splutters.
“Shut the fuck up.” His another-dimension-twin barely manages that, wisps of steam curling up from his stapled-together seams.
“Dude I’m not judging, he’s cute, but I’ve been too mentally scarred to handle walking in on another couple, so please refrain from fucking in my vicinity.” The hero chokes and he’s gone a second later in a flap of wings.
“Huh. Well I guess that’s one way to get Hawks to leave us alone.” Touya rolls his eyes at Dabi’s drawled comment.
“Sure.” Touya draws out the word and grins as Dabi half-heartedly swipes at him.
“Shut up. I forgot how fucking annoying siblings are.”
“Better get used to it, you’ve got three and a half for the time being.” That earns an eyebrow.
“Who’s the half?” Dabi’s expression goes murderous. “And if you say Fuyumi because she’s a girl then I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Dude,” Touya skitters a step to the side, just in case. “Chill. I meant me. And trust me, if anyone tries to belittle Yumi cause of her gender, I’ll hold them down so you can roast them. Unless I’m gone since I managed to figure out how to dimension hop back to my world.” He adds that as an afterthought, and Dabi grunts, little licks of heat settling down.
“Don’t count yourself as a half. That’s just stupid.”
Touya grins, nudging Dabi’s shoulder with his own. “Aw, you do care.” That earns him a scowl.
They walk in silence for a good twenty minutes before Touya realizes he’s got no clue where they are.
“Hey, Dabi, where are we?” He gets a confused look from the other.
“I was following you.”
“Well. Fuck. I was following you.” They stop in the middle of the nearly vacant street, looking around. Touya recognizes nothing, though whether that’s because of the location or the fact the infrastructure is different in this dimension remains to be seen.
“I think there’s a subway station that way.” Dabi points left, “though I don’t exactly have the best luck with trains given my rather telling appearance.” A gesture to his face. Touya hums an acknowledgment.
“Idea.” He drops his duffle bag to the ground, tugging his Fat Gum hoodie off and holding it out to the other. “Here. Let’s swap shirts.”
“What.”
“Yeah! No hero ever expects a villain to wear hero merch, so you’ll fly under the radar.” Shrugging in a what-the-hell kind of way, Dabi shucks off his torn jacket and tosses it to Touya. He plops the massive yellow hoodie over his head, wiggling it down to cover his white shirt. The hood gets flipped up, fully drowning Dabi in the swathes of yellow cloth.
“Dude. You didn’t give me your shirt.”
“Uh yeah. It’s glossy and doesn’t catch on staples.” Rolling his eyes, Touya resigns himself to dealing with the strange looks on the subway. He pulls his arms through the tattered sleeves of the coat and tries to tug it around his chest to cover some of the bare skin to little avail. Guess people will just have to be cursed with getting a full view of his pecs and abs.
He doubts many people are going to complain.
“Alright, let’s go then. Also where is it we’re going? Is Fuyumi still living at home?” Dabi scowls, lips going tight and angry.
“Yeah. She hasn’t moved out yet. But it’s,” he pulls a phone with a cracked screen from his pant pocket, glancing at it, “nearly three. She’s either still at work or just getting home. I don’t remember what time her elementary school is done at. But dear old Dad won’t be for a while, so we’re good to head over there.” The word dad is spat out with enough venom to make a black mamba look like a high school dropout in comparison.
“Sounds good to me.” Touya hooks his thumbs in his jean belt loops, whistling a peppy tune Yu got him stuck on as they meander over towards the subway station.
Dabi clings a step behind to Touya’s right, skillfully using Touya’s bare skin as a distraction. No one was going to look at the hooded guy next to him when his six-pack was right there to stare at. He pays for the subway tickets with the last of his emergency money, ignoring the way the elderly lady manning the ticket booth slides her wrinkled thumb along the back of his hand when he reaches to grab the passes.
“I get off at 6.” She winks at him and Touya needs to force himself to not gag. A quick escape later, and Dabi’s snickering at his misery.
“You know, we can always put off seeing Yumi if you’re wanting to tap that.” Touya slams his elbow into Dabi’s gut, the earnt wheeze music to his ears.
“Fuck off. One, she’s way too old for me. Two, I’m too gay for her. If you’re going to try and tease me about someone, at least make them a dude.”
Dabi grunts a deep note, shoulders heaving. “Fair enough. Guys are hotter anyways.”
“Glad we’re in agreement,” Touya snorts as they clamber into the train. Dabi immediately claims a seat, and Touya stands facing him. There’s not much they can talk about where public ears can hear, so they say nothing.
Until a short woman with dark skin settles in the seat next to Dabi, sighing as she prods the navy knit hat she’s got on over long white hair.
“’Sup,” the woman greets. “Are you single?” She gives Touya’s abs a significant look, and he mentally groans. He figured people would just stare, not be bold enough to actually come up to him in person. “Cause I’ve got a buddy who is in desperate need of a good lay.”
“And you’re telling me this why? You don’t know me. I could be a serial killer.”
“One, no one wears an outfit like that and isn’t gay. Two, I don’t care. He’s lonely and needs more friends than me. Or fuck buddies, whatever, I won’t pry.” Dabi snorts at the woman’s brash words, the tips of his fingers holding Fat Gum’s smile down as far as it’ll go to block his face.
“She’s got you there. You do look pretty desperate right now, Touya.”
“Kindly shut the fuck up. This is your jacket.”
“Oh?” The woman slides her ruby eyes over to Dabi, who tries to melt into the seat. “Maybe you’re the one I should be trying to set up; he’s very into the whole ‘tall dark and brooding’ thing. What do you look like under that hood?” She reaches for the hood, only for Dabi to slap her hand away with his free one.
“He looks pretty much like me,” Touya quickly interjects before this becomes a scene. “We’re twins.” Her face lights up.
“Ooh, nice. Hell, let me text him real quick, maybe he’ll act like an actual twenty-something-year-old and want me to try and get a threesome going for him.”
“Uh no thank you.”
“No way in hell.”
“…Ok, never mind that then.” She sets her phone back in her jacket pocket after their nearly simultaneous responses.
There’s a long pause where Touya thinks she’s embarrassed herself enough and has given up. He’s wrong.
“So you two never tried it? Like, not even just to see what it was like to fuck yourself?” Touya’s face scrunches up in distaste as Dabi gags.
“Lady, no. Just, no.”
“I’m just saying if I had an identical twin then-” The train rolls to a screeching stop, cutting her off.
“Oh thank God.” Touya’s very inclined to agree with Dabi, though he wouldn’t have said that out loud and to her face.
But she follows them off the train as they get off.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” she protests, rolling her eyes at Touya’s scathing glare. “I took the afternoon off work to visit my girlfriend, not follow you two around.”
Yet as they keep going, walking past streets and fancy homes that are the norm for this neighbourhood, the woman doesn’t peel off. Instead, she starts shooting them small looks, as if they’re the ones following her.
It’s when they both turn to walk up the same path to reach the Todoroki household that Dabi snaps.
“Ok, what the hell? I thought you were visiting some girlfriend, go do that and stop fucking following us!”
“I am! You stop following me! I can and will punt you back to the train station if you need help getting back.”
That’s the moment it clicks.
“Oh shit. You’re Miruko.” The woman stills her tapping foot, trying for a nonchalant look.
“Pfft, no, what makes you think that?”
Touya raises a dyed-black eyebrow. “Cause I’m not a moron. Well, this is awkward. You’re dating our sister.”
“WHAT?” He’s honestly not surprised Dabi starts smoking.
“Dude, I like that hoodie. Don’t char it.” He gets a withering glare but the smoke hisses as the villain sucks in a breath in an attempt to not burst into flame.
“Explain.” Miruko glares at him, and it’s that single growled word that reminds him why she’s ranked top ten for years.
“Look, I swear we will, but it’ll be easier to only do it once. Fuyumi’s gonna want to hear this too.”
“Fine.” She stomps past him and pounds on the door, which a grinning Fuyumi opens a second later.
“Rumi! You made it!” Touya politely averts his eyes as they kiss, and kicks Dabi’s shin when he doesn’t stop glaring at the Rabbit Hero.
“C’mon.” Touya grabs Dabi’s wrist, tugging him up to the door. “Hey, so this is going to be weird and you might not like it, but I swear it’s true-”
“Ohmygod, Touya! You’re alive?!” He grunts as she slams into him, fingers digging into his shoulder blades.
“Uh.” He and Dabi share a glance over Fuyumi’s head. “Can we go inside so I can explain please?”
“Of course!” She holds on a moment longer before letting go and stepping back so they can all pass through the Endeavor-sized doorframe. After shucking off boots and making their way to the living room, Fuyumi turns to him with a blinding smile as tears start to build in her eyes.
“How are you alive? They, they said you were dead.” Miruko wraps a corded arm around his sister, a silent support and comfort.
“So. About that. I’m Touya, but not your Touya. That’s him.” He jerks a thumb towards Dabi, who has yet to stop hiding behind the Fat Gum hood. “I’m actually from a whole other dimension. Landed here this morning, found out our family is a mess in this world, and set to fixing it. We’re,” another thumb jerk towards Dabi, “legally twins for my time here, hope that’s ok.”
Fuyumi looks helplessly between the two of them, eyebrows drawn together. “So, there’s two Touyas now?” He wisely stays silent, letting Dabi field this one.
“Fuck. Ok, look, she can’t attack me.” Dabi points at Miruko, who just shrugs after Fuyumi gives her a pointed look.
“Fine, whatever.”
In one smooth motion he yanks the hood back and glances over to Fuyumi. “I’m actually going by Dabi now.”
Touya wasn’t sure what to expect, but it isn’t Fuyumi shrieking and throwing her glasses (the most accessible projectile) at Dabi.
“You fucking bastard! You attacked Shouto’s class at their summer camp! You set a monster on Dad!”
“Dude, that’s not cool.” Dabi scowls at him as he ducks the slipper Fuyumi chucks at his head.
“Eight years. Eight FUCKING years, and now you show up just to hurt us more? I can’t believe you.”
“Yumi, look, I-” Dabi dodges the other slipper, swearing.
“YOU COULD HAVE CALLED!” With that Fuyumi slumps back into her seat, sobbing as tears spill over her cheeks. “You could have called me.” Dabi flinches back at the sorrow in her voice, panicked eyes snapping over to Touya. He shrugs, then tilts his head towards their crying sister. This is clearly not his place to butt in.
Shooting him a glare for the lack of assistance, Dabi hesitantly moves to sit next to Fuyumi. The second he’s there she turns, burying her face into his shoulder, hands bunching up soft yellow fabric as if he’ll disappear if she doesn’t hold him there.
“I’m sorry Yumi,” Dabi mutters into her hair as he hugs her.
Touya reaches over to tap Miruko’s shoulder, jerking his head to the side when she looks at him. They might as well give the other two privacy.
“I am so confused right now,” the Rabbit Hero keeps glancing over her shoulder back to Fuyumi, eyes lost.
“Trust me, I get it. I keep looking at all of you and seeing the people I’ve known for years, yet everything is different. It’s really fucking weird.” She raises an inquisitorial eyebrow, so he elaborates. “Example: back home you and Yumi have been married for almost six months and are planning a vacation to the Caribbean.” His statement makes her ears shoot up straight into the air, knocking the knit cap to the floor.
“I- Uh. Marriage? Me? And Fuyumi? You’re sure?” Her voice pitches to the next octave, dark face flushing.
“Considering I was my Fuyumi’s backup best man in case her friend couldn’t make it, yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
She sits down on the nearest coffee table, facial expression slack and shocked. Well great. He broke Yumi’s girlfriend.
“Ok, you two can come back in now.” Following his sister’s call, Touya trails back into the living room to see Dabi was subtly wiping blood from his face like he would a tear, while Fuyumi collects her glasses from where they landed.
“You two good?” Touya asks it despite already knowing the answer. Fuyumi’s too kind to not forgive Dabi.
“Yeah.” Dabi doesn’t meet his gaze with the response. “Also give me my coat back. I hate yellow.” Touya barks a laugh, but still shucks the coat off so they can exchange shirts again.
“Hmm. I gotta say, I’m pretty sure my pal would be super into you, even with the whole villain thing.” Touya raises an eyebrow as Miruko prowls closer to Dabi, who is clearly uncomfortable with the woman’s presence.
“Don’t be a bitch about it, I know my scars are fucking ugly.” Dabi glares at her, lips twisting into a sneer.
“I’m serious!” She gives an earnest grin. “Hawks is super into shiny things, and you’re covered in staples.”
Touya smirks as Dabi chokes, non-purpled skin flushing a deep red.
“I think you may want to question how well you know Hawks, he and Dabi have already met.” Touya emphasizes the last word, smirking and waggling his eyebrows just to be annoying about it.
“Shut up!” Dabi starts smoking, and if they were anywhere but in Fuyumi’s eyesight Touya knows he’d be getting a fireball to the face right about now.
“Ooh, what’s this?” Miruko’s ears are perked and twitching with her amusement. “My best birb bro hooked up with a big bad villain all by himself?” She wipes away a fake tear. “They grow up so fast.”
“No!” Dabi protests, face growing redder. “It’s not like that!”
“Oh please,” Touya scoffs. “You two were practically fucking each other with your eyes. He absolutely wanted to jump your bones.”
“Touya!” Fuyumi scolds. “Stop teasing Dabi.” He rolls his eyes but complies. No one says no to Fuyumi.
“Fine, I guess. But, we should probably talk about next steps.”
“I’m not seeing the old man,” Dabi interrupts before Touya can highlight his plan.
“All good,” he shoots a quick thumbs up to the other man, “that is not currently part of the plan. I figured you and Fuyumi can wrangle Natsuo while I tackle Shouto? Meet back here with respective siblings by, say, six? That’s a good couple of hours.”
After getting an enthusiastic nod from Fuyumi and a subdued grunt from Dabi, Touya steps into a side room to change back into his hero costume. There are high chances Shouto will attack him on sight, and while he doesn’t plan to hurt his little brother, fighting may be unavoidable.
So, clad in his dark pants, turquoise and black compression shirt, and fireproof and cooling black coat, Touya gives a small wave before lacing his boots up and heading out. He knows how to get to UA in his world, so hopefully it hasn’t moved too far from where he knows it to be.
Since walking would take forever, Touya hops back onto the train – sneakily avoiding the security guards checking tickets. Might not have been a bad idea to get some extra cash from his sister, but that thought was a tad too late. In any case he finds a relatively empty car and waits the thirty minutes it takes to get to the stop he needs. From there he makes his way up to the school, only to pause at the gates. Technically, he could just try and break in, but that would definitely send the wrong message.
Sighing, Touya hits the little buzzer and waits. A moment later there’s a click.
“Hey, I need to talk to Todoroki Shouto.” Another click shows someone heard him.
It takes nearly five minutes for them to decided to let him in. Touya ducks inside the campus as the gates peal open, immediately heading towards the dorms. It must be past four now, so there’s no way they’re still in class. He’s nearly there when a tired voice calls out to him.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“I’m picking up my brother-” His voice cuts off as his body goes stiff. Touya tries to move, and once that fails, attempts to ignite a wisp of flame.
Nothing.
Without his permission his body moves forwards, following after the purple-haired kid. He’s led to Shouto’s dorm – convenient – and upon entering is greeted by the whole class and an angry teacher. Well great. They still think he’s Dabi.
“For a supposedly smart villain, you’re an idiot. Walking up to the front doors like that? Come on man, that’s just lazy.” Touya isn’t sure who said that since his head won’t turn to the voice. Damn this quirk.
“Shinsou. Let him go.” Shouto’s homeroom teacher, an underground hero Touya only vaguely recalls meeting a couple times through parent-teacher conferences their parents couldn’t attend for some reason or another, is glaring at him with sharp red eyes and floating black hair.
Then there’s a… something, and Touya can move again.
“Woah,” he stumbles a bit from the quirk dropping it’s hold and turns to seek out the purple-haired kid. “Cool quirk kiddo. I did not see that coming.” He shoots the bewildered teen a thumbs up and a cheery grin.
Ignoring the rest of people there, Touya turns to his little brother. “Can we talk alone? I don’t mind telling everyone what’s going on, but I have a feeling you might not want me to.”
“I do not think that is a wise choice for me to make.” Touya has to fight to not flinch back at the cold, dead, expression on his baby brother’s scarred face. He clears his throat, glancing around the room. Shouto’s nineteen classmates are watching him closely, Katsuki in particular practically foaming at the mouth.
“Fine,” Touya winces pre-emptively. “Ok, so. I’m Touya, but not the one that’s biologically related to you. From what I’ve gathered, I’m from another dimension. That being said, I did stumble across your Touya; he and Fuyumi went to get Natsuo. The plan is you come with me and all of us chat, then I go chat with your dad about a few things I thought were common sense and beat them into him if he won’t listen. Sound good?”
“Is this some kind of villain trick?” That’s Katsuki’s boyfriend, the cheery redhead Touya always forgets the name of. His eyebrows are drawn together as he looks between Touya, their teacher, and Shouto, one hand on Katsuki’s arm to remind him to not do something stupid.
“Shit.” The word is soft, but in that moment their teacher blinks and Touya knows he can use his flames now if he wants to. Obviously, he doesn’t and lets the scarf wrap around him, pinning his arms to his sides. The teacher flares his own quirk back up again, red eyes watering.
“Dude, you don’t need to use your quirk. I’m not going to attack anyone.” The scarf only squeezes tighter, his hurt ribs protesting the action. “Ow! Fuck man, loosen up, my ribs are not happy with this arrangement.” The teacher blinks teary eyes again while letting the scarf pull tighter. A small puff of blue flames has the weapon littering the ground in piles of ash. “Fuck,” Touya presses a palm to his ribs, teeth gritted as he feels for any extra cracks.
“Blue flames.” He glances up at Shouto’s small voice, noting the boy has his thinking face on. “Dabi is Touya.” He glances to Touya for confirmation, so he nods. The kid’s face lights up as he turns to Izuku. “Midoriya, I was right. I told you my theories are not ‘crazy.’” The paired monotone voice and air quotes makes Touya snort, an action his ribs are not very happy with. “Now that it’s been proven I’m right, you can freely admit to being All Might’s secret love child.” Of course that starts a Midoriyatm mumble fest which Touya quickly blocks out, glancing over to the teacher again.
“Here.” Digging in his pocket, Touya pulls out his hero license and holds it out to the other man. “Proof.” The underground pro takes it, squinting as he scrutinizes the small rectangle of plastic.
“Hm.” The license is handed back to him, and he tucks it back into his coat. “I’ll allow Shouto to go with you so long as I come as well.”
“It’s alright Aizawa-Sensei. I believe him.” And isn’t that a relief to hear. “Plus I just texted both Natsuo and Fuyumi and they backed up what he said.”
“He’ll be back by curfew. Uh, assuming curfew is still 9:30?” He gets a whole class of bobbleheads in response to that.
Shouto grabs his wrist, tugging him out of the classroom. Touya can see the thin angry line of the teacher’s lips and knows they will be followed until the Todoroki residence at least. That’s ok, it’s nice to know this Shouto has someone looking after him.
No words are exchanged during the subway ride back to the house, though Touya can tell Shouto has questions.
After kicking off their shoes Shouto migrates over to Fuyumi, giving a small nod to Miruko as she stands awkwardly next to her girlfriend. Touya kicks Dabi’s shins pointedly until the guy looks away from the wall.
“Hey kid.” Shouto observes Touya’s counterpart with a blank expression, giving a small nod after his scrutiny.
“I am angry with you for attacking my class and kidnapping my friend.” Dabi winces at the blunt words, pale fingers twitching as if expecting the teen to attack him as some sort of revenge. After the moment passes, Dabi relaxes, and a tension Touya didn’t notice fades out of the room.
“Ok, cool.” All eyes turn to him. “You lot figure your shit out, I’ve got an angsty Endeavor to go wrangle. You had better have things sorted out by the time I get back.” This world’s Natsuo is openly staring at him, so he flashes the guy a quick smirk. “And if you need conversation topics, I’m sure Dabi would love to talk about Hawks.” There’s a panicked shriek, but he’s already darting out of the room, cackling.
“FUCK YOU TOUYA!” There’s a small burst of flame, but the shing of ice quickly follows, leading him to believe Shouto froze Dabi in a hunk of the stuff.
“Thanks for having my back, Miniroki.” Touya slips out the front door after calling that over his shoulder, figuring they’ll figure it out. He can’t poke his nose in their affairs too much, just be a nuisance that drives them to sort it out themselves.
Touya makes it all the way to the agency before orange flames attack him. His fingers, still secured within his costume’s gloves, grab at his collar and jerk it over his head as much as possible as the flames billow out harmlessly around him, scorch marks charring the asphalt underfoot.
“I’m just here to talk,” Touya tries, dodging the flaming fist aimed at his head. How rude. If this is how their dad treats everyone here it’s no wonder he only just got the Number One spot – and through a technicality at that.
“I will not listen to your lies, villain!” A heavy booted foot tries to finish off his ribs, so Touya dives to the side, popping back to his feet with a roll.
“Come on, let’s not make this a whole scene.” But Endeavor’s flames just keep burning, the anger behind the blue family eyes unrelenting in it’s force.
Talking will not work with this man.
Touya slaps the next wave of flame to the side with a small burst of blue, rocking from heel to the ball of his foot and back. Knees bend, shoulders rotate, and his hands come up to his face. Endeavor, Dad and this one, always favour long-ranged flame attacks. Touya made himself specialize in close ranged fighting to minimize casualties – his flames burn a fair bit more than Dad’s do – and because if he wanted a chance to bypass his father in ranks then they needed a different skill set. That’s why Shouto, the little over-achiever, decided to master both. Little brat is always teasing that he’ll steal Touya’s spot as soon as he graduates high school. A little fun family competition all around. Mom never lets it get too heated, less they burn through another table at family dinner night.
As such, this Endeavor really doesn’t have a chance. He didn’t spend the last twenty years helping this world’s Touya learn how to fight hand-to-hand, and he’s not used to people getting past the heat of his flames. He’s certainly not used to someone grabbing an outstretched arm and using it to flip him onto his back.
Endeavor grunts as his back slams into the road, orange flames sputtering a moment before he regains his bearings. He goes to sit up, but Touya drops on top of him, one forearm digging into his throat.
“Stop being an idiot and fucking listen to me!” Touya snaps, trying to stop the small wisps of blue that lash out at the pinned pro. Endeavor ups his flame’s heat, and Touya is once more thankful for his support gear. The heat of it is intense, but the cooling mechanisms built into the fibers of his costume chill his body and prevent him from needing to flinch away.
A heavy fist slams into his side, knocking Touya from his perch, and his already weakened ribs crack. Stars dance in the corner of his vision as he gasps, stumbling to his feet before he makes the conscious decision to do so.
“Surrender,” Endeavor growls, the orange flames dancing along his shoulders flaring bright in a peacock show of intimidation. Touya snorts, wincing as sharp pinches radiate outwards from the newly injured rib. Those will be a pain and a half to deal with when he gets home; Ryuko will absolutely confine him to desk duty again if she finds out.
“Look,” Touya doesn’t do anything stupid like raise his hands to follow along with Endeavor’s order, “I’m from another dimension. In that world I’m your son, Touya.”
“What.” There. The flames die down, now just hovering along his frame like a subconscious protection barrier.
“But that doesn’t matter because this world’s Touya needs you. So do this world’s Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto. Hell, I haven’t met Rei here, but maybe she does too. And if she doesn’t want to have anything to do with you, she’d still be happy to see you trying with your kids.”
“Touya is dead. My ambitions killed him.” Finally. Some hint of emotion other than anger. Pain and regret are clear in his tone, and even if they weren’t anyone could read it on his miserable face.
“Maybe. But Dabi still wants a family.” Taking a chance, Touya moves a step closer and sets a hand on the man’s massive forearm. He doesn’t get smacked away. “Shouto hates you. Natsuo hates you. Hell, Dabi tried to kill you, there’s no way he doesn’t hate you. Fuyumi is breaking apart trying to hold this family together by herself. Enji,” he looks the taller man right in the eyes, ensuring he can see Touya’s sincerity, “they are kids. It is not supposed to be their job to fix things. You are the parent. That’s on you.”
“They don’t want-”
“No,” Touya quickly cuts him off. “You do not get to make their choices for them. They’re your kids, Enji. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want them to be happy.” He waits, but there’s no rebuttal. “Go home. Talk with them, and really listen to what they want. If they want a new house, go build the damn thing yourself, you hear me?”
“What are you-”
“You need to put the effort in. That drive you had to surpass All Might? Take that same grit and determination and learn how to be a better person. A father they can trust and rely on. If they want you to retire to spend time with them, you fucking do it, understand? If you miss the chance I’ve giving you, you’ll lose them all for good.”
Touya’s lungs heave as he finally finishes, gasping in greedy breaths of air to make up for the impromptu speech. There’s a dazed look in Endeavor’s eyes, but Touya can tell that at least some part of it resonated with him. Good. Maybe this world’s Todoroki family still has a chance to pull through.
“C’mon.” He leads Endeavor to the parking garage and wastes no time driving the man home in his own car. The glazed film over turquoise eyes has yet to fade away as they pull into the long driveway of the Todoroki home. Endeavor is slow to follow him as he enters. Touya doesn’t bother to kick off his boots in case he needs to make a quick escape or chase down Dabi should he try to run. A hand darts back to grab Endeavor’s upper arm and Touya yanks him towards the siblings’ voices.
“Hey, don’t freak out.” Of course, since the Todorokis are all drama queens, Dabi immediately jumps to his feet and tries to attack Endeavor. Touya is quick to stop that, grabbing his counterpart around the waist and hefting him over his shoulder. Dabi spits and curses, flailing around like a wet cat desperate to escape a bath, yet Touya doesn’t release him. He’s dealt with villains far slipperier.
“You said I didn’t have to see him, you fucking liar!” Touya pats Dabi on the head as a consolation.
“Yeah, well plans change.” Dabi tries to set him on fire but given Touya’s support gear and Dabi’s lack of he gives up quickly as his skin starts to smoke. “Done your tantrum?” A wordless snarl, then Dabi goes limp.
“Ok. Here’s the deal. I kicked his ass,” Natsuo snorts, smirking. Touya rolls his eyes. “Anyways, afterwards we had a talk and Enji is ready to listen to what you guys all want.”
“Why do I no believe that?” Snark and anger is evident in Dabi’s tone.
Touya shrugs. “Well, if I’m wrong, then Enji knows he’ll never get to see any of you again. So, I guess we’ll see.” He turns to Endeavor, who is staring with open shock at Dabi, who sneers upon noticing the attention.
“The fuck you looking at, Old Man?” Touya is not the one whose jaw drops open as Endeavor slumps to the floor, knees smacking the ground with a force the guy will definitely feel in the morning.
“Touya.” It’s a sob, tears spilling freely down the hero’s face. Dabi goes rigid at the word, so Touya sets him back on his own feet. Not much chance of him bolting now. “Touya. You’re alive. I- I failed you.” Endeavor turns from Dabi, looking over all the siblings. “I failed all of you.”
“Dad, it’s ok. You’re trying now!”
“No.” The downed hero shakes his head, flaming facial hair thankfully absent for once. “Thank you, Fuyumi, but do not grant me forgiveness I have not earnt. You all deserve more than that. Whatever you need, whatever you want from me, I’ll do it.” The words are shaky from his tears, but clear and certain. Touya’s shoulders slump, the tension draining out. This is going much better than he figured.
“What if I want you to die?” Dabi’s question is snarled out, but Touya knows his own voice well enough to tell Dabi is not serious. He’s testing Endeavor, seeing how far this can go before the man fails them all again.
But Endeavor just meets Dabi’s cold gaze. “Just tell me how you want it to go.” Dabi looks away first, grunting.
“…Good to know. Maybe later, might as well take advantage of having the Number One in my pocket for a while.”
“I want family dinners once a week.” Touya’s a little shocked Fuyumi speaks up next, but mostly proud of her. “No excuses. Rumi’s coming too, and you guys can bring your partners if you want.”
“Hawks and I are not dating!”
“She never said you were, Dabi.” Touya snickers as his counterpart sputters, face red as he tries to deny all the allegations none of them are making.
“I don’t want to see you. I will not forgive what you’ve done to all of us.” Natsuo finally glances away from the wall and to Enji. “I want money for a better apartment than the crappy one I’ve been living out of, and you’ll pay for the rest of my schooling.”
“Of course,” the hero nods solemnly. The lack of a refusal throws Natsuo off, so he looks away, foot scuffing against the ground anxiously.
“Stop texting me. It’s embarrassing. And if I want help with hero work, I’ll ask. Stop trying to make those decisions for me.” Enji nods along with Shouto’s demands.
“Either take it yourself or get someone to cover my Friday night patrols so Fuyumi and I can have date night.” His eye twitches as the Rabbit Hero smirks at him, but Enji nods anyways.
“Very well.”
Fuyumi grins at the response, pressing a quick kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek. Cute.
Something grabs hold of his core, and Touya gasps as it’s jerked.
“Touya? Are you ok?” Dabi is next to him, one hand on his shoulder to steady him.
“I don’t know,” he answers truthfully as whatever it was yanks again. He stumbles. His vision flickers, showing him a clear sky and familiar landscape. Oh. “It was nice meeting you all,” Touya gets out as his insides keep lurching around, giving the family a wave. He meets Dabi’s concerned gaze. “It was fun having a twin for a while. And hey, ask Hawks out on a proper date, will you? He’s cute.” Dabi’s affronted look is the last thing he sees before everything goes white. For a moment he hovers there, like a ghost in an abyss of nothing, then he’s tugged along. Following willingly, the white fades out and he’s gasping in a breath that reminds him his ribs are still in need of medical attention.
“Ow.” That single puff of a word has Touya’s dad in his line of sight. The differences between the other world’s Enji and his dad are shocking, now that he can really compare them. There are worry lines on Dad’s face and a few grey stress hairs dot the pile of red. Dad’s muscles are smaller, having spent more time with the family then at the gym training. Plus, Dad is much more emotive. The worry in his eyes is clear and he makes no effort to hide it.
“Touya! What happened? Are you alright?” Touya waves off Dad’s concern, pushing himself up to a sitting position and wincing as his ribs twinge again.
“Ribs hurt, and I’ll explain later.” He looks around, grinning as he spots that criminal that hit him in the first place handcuffed and being led to a police cruiser. Trying to shove to his feet, his vision whites out again and he nearly collapses back into the small outline his body left in the road. Dad’s strong arms scoop him up with ease, the warmth of his father’s quirk a familiar comfort.
“I’ve got you, Touya.” A simple phrase, but embarrassingly enough Touya has yet to hear anything that will make him feel safer.
It’s later, way later, after his ribs are healed and Ryuko clears him for active field work again, after he tells his family of their counterparts he met in the other world, that he officially meets this world’s Hawks.
A bridge collapsed. As he was close, Touya rushed over to help. Hawks arrived soon after and cleared pretty much everyone out within moments of his arrival, which is both really fucking unfair and ridiculously cool. He can’t help but look over now that the officials are here to take over the last bit of clearing the rubble Touya hasn’t turned to ash. It’s curious, would he have noticed how unfairly gorgeous Hawks is if he hadn’t seen Dabi interact with the other dimension’s Hawks? He’d like to think so – there’s not much going for him, but Touya can usually appreciate a hot guy.
But as he walks over Dabi and his Hawks are far from his mind. All Touya can think of is not making a fool of himself and if right after an accident is a good time to ask for a coffee date.
“Hey, Pyro, right?” Hawks waves at him, and Dabi gives a small two-fingered salute back.
“Yeah. You’re Hawks?”
“Yep! Nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard good things.” Hawks gives him a small smile that nearly stops his heart. “Though I must say, those things I heard? Drastic under-exaggerations.” There’s a wink, and all rational thoughts promptly leave his brain.
“Fuck me?” Fuck, yep. He’s done for. What an absolute idiot. His face goes crimson as Hawks blinks owlishly at him, forcing all hope that he didn’t hear to sadly depart. Then he laughs and isn’t that the best thing Touya has ever heard.
“Let’s do coffee first.” Hawks pulls a marker, no doubt one for signing autographs, and pops it open by grabbing the cap with his teeth and jerking the pen free. Touya gulps and tries to not light himself on fire as Hawks grabs his forearm to scrawl a phone number down. “Call me.” There’s another damning winking, then a gust of wind as those beautifully powerful wings carry Hawks off into the sky.
There’s a thump on his back a moment later that has him nearly hacking up a lung.
“Attaboy. About time you hook up with someone.” Touya glares as Shinji, who only showed up once they had nearly everyone out, smirks at him.
“Oh fuck off. And not that it’s any of your business, but he gave me his phone number and we’re going for coffee sometime.” Wood crinkles are Shinji smiles warmly at him.
“Seriously, Touya, I’m happy for you. You haven’t been on a date in forever. Hell, Yu wanted to try and set you up with this friend of hers that does yoga. Trust me when I say dating anyone, let alone a super hot pro, is better than that guy.” Shinji shutters and Touya snorts at the mental image of his friend being dragged to fucking yoga class.
Shouto ends up interning with him
“Goddamn it Icyhot, stop getting in my way you bastard!”
“Kacchan! It’s not his fault you veered left instead of right!”
“Yeah Kacchan. Stay out of my way, bitch.”
And he dragged along his two best friends. Touya swears he’ll have grey hairs before the week is out.
He snaps out a hand, grabbing the back of Katsuki’s costume before the kid can get to far into launching himself at Shouto.
“No. Keep this up and you all get to do paperwork for the rest of the week.” Thankfully they shut up. “That’s better. Now are we going to finish this patrol or are we going back to the agency early?”
With minimal grumbling Shouto gets to walk next to Touya as Izuku and Katsuki trail behind. Glancing over, he ruffles his brother’s hair, mixing the white and red.
“Hey!” Shouto protests with a laugh, eyes crinkling around the corner as he giggles. Touya laughs too.
He has no clue if the other Todoroki family managed to figure their shit out, but he hopes so. They won’t know what they’re missing out on if they don’t.
But for now all seems pretty right in his world.