Chapter Text
Dabi kept his head down and adjusted the surgical mask concealing the lower half of his face as he waited to cross the street. Tsubaki held his hand, her little wings shifting shape with her impatience. He’d gotten permission from Hawks and the hospital to bring Tsubaki with him when he came to visit, and the little girl was anxious to meet Dabi’s mom. She never really talked about her own mom - Hawks had told Dabi that Tsubaki probably didn’t remember her, but he wasn’t exactly eager to talk about the subject, so Dabi mostly left it alone - but she seemed curious about Dabi’s.
“Why can’t we just fly over?” Tsubaki complained, flapping her wings in frustration and lifting herself a few inches off the ground.
“Because I can’t fly, kiddo, and I don’t want you to go running off on your own. You don’t know your way around this area,” Dabi reminded her. “And you can’t go into the hospital without a grown-up.”
“Dumb rules,” Tsubaki grumbled, a pout making her lower lip stick out.
“Some rules are there for a reason, Tsubaki,” Dabi reminded her, pushing aside the irony of him being the one to tell a kid to follow the rules. “It’s important to…” Dabi trailed off, his eyes widening. Traffic had stopped, and they could cross the road, but there was something more intimidating than speeding cars blocking the path, in the form of two adults and a teenager on the other side of the street. The adults had white hair, the woman with red streaks and the man without. The teenager’s hair was split between red and white right down the middle.
Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto were crossing the street toward them, and Dabi was paralyzed.
“Blue? Why aren’t we going?” Tsubaki tugged on his right hand, frowning up at him. He glanced down at her, not sure what to say.
“I…”
“Dabi?” Dabi flinched at the surprise and suspicion in that tone. He looked up and found his siblings standing on the sidewalk in front of him, staring at him. It was Shouto who’d spoken, apparently recognizing Dabi beneath his surgical mask.
“Touya!” Natsuo had apparently gotten the Dabi-Touya memo, but not the Dabi-didn’t-go-by-Touya one. He also was apparently completely unaffected by the knowledge that Dabi was an actual literal villain, because he lunged forward and threw his arms around Dabi, pulling him into a hug that squeezed the breath right out of him. Dabi wheezed and tried to pat his brother’s back tentatively, peering over his shoulder at Fuyumi and Shouto, who stayed quiet. Fuyumi’s eyes were filled with tears, but Dabi couldn’t tell if she was happy or upset. Maybe both. Shouto looked mostly suspicious, but not overtly hostile, so Dabi thought maybe this accidental meeting would go okay.
“Hi, guys,” Dabi coughed as Natsuo finally let go but only mostly, moving to stand on Dabi’s left, one arm locked around his shoulders. “Visiting Mom?”
“Yeah! She mentioned you’d been by, but she didn’t say you were on your way here!” Natsuo exclaimed, squeezing Dabi’s shoulders. “Damn, I’m glad to see you. Hawks wouldn’t-”
“Language,” Dabi snapped, an automatic response. Natsuo blinked, and Shouto frowned at him. “Uh, I mean…”
“Blue?” Tsubaki chose that moment to pipe up, drawing his siblings’ attention to her. She stepped back behind Dabi’s leg, clutching his right hand, and stared up at them, her eyes wide and her lower lip starting to tremble, nervous because Dabi hadn’t told her if these strangers were safe or not yet. Dabi shrugged out of Natsuo’s hold and turned to the little girl, scooping her up and pulling the hood of her jacket over her head.
“Your wings, little spy,” he whispered as he settled her on his hip. Her wings shrank into her back and she hid her head against his shoulder. Dabi rubbed her back soothingly and took a half step back from his siblings. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, but...he also didn’t know how they’d react, and he couldn’t risk them making a scene in public like this.
“Did you kidnap a child?” Shouto hissed, his apparent shock fading beneath a renewed wave of suspicion.
“What? No! I wouldn’t-” Dabi broke off, realizing that telling Shouto of all people he wouldn’t kidnap a kid probably wouldn’t go over well. “Look, can we talk about this later? I’m really happy to see you guys, but we’re kind of running late, and-”
“Do you have a kid? Is that why you changed tactics?” Natsuo demanded, leaning around Dabi to try to get a look at Tsubaki, who clung tighter to Dabi.
“Sort of. Look, I promise I’ll explain, but not here.” Dabi glanced around. Shouto was pretty famous. They all probably were, with Endeavor’s trial getting closer and closer. He couldn’t afford for someone to take an interest in them and notice Tsubaki.
“I have to go. I’ll see you later, Natsuo, Shouto.” Dabi noticed his sister didn’t address him, and he couldn’t exactly blame her. She’d probably been the one to take on his role of trying to protect and take care of Natsuo and Shouto when he left, and for all Dabi knew, she could resent him for leaving her to be the sole source of comfort for their little brothers.
Fuyumi headed for the metro station down the street without another word.
“I actually have to go, too.” Natsuo sounded put-out by his admission. “I’m going to be late for class if I don’t leave now.” He paused, studying Dabi’s face, then gave him a crooked, uncertain smile and added, “Hawks said he wasn’t sure when or if you’d want to see us, so I didn’t want to reach out, but...look, I really want to catch up sometime, okay? You can tell me all about what you’ve been up to and how you got the mystery kid there.” Natsuo pouted at Tsubaki, who couldn’t even appreciate someone else using her trademark look because she was still keeping her face carefully hidden.
“You...want to meet up sometime?” Dabi wasn’t sure he was understanding right. He remembered Natsuo following him around when they were kids, and he’d kind of expected Natsuo to resent him for leaving without a word.
“Yeah. If that’s okay with you.” Natsuo dug around in his pocket and produced a pen and an old receipt, which he scribbled on for a second before holding the receipt out to Dabi. “If you want to meet, or even just talk, this is my number and email.” Dabi wasn’t sure what to say, wasn’t sure he’d be able to talk past the lump in his throat anyway, so he just nodded and took the scrap of paper, tucking it carefully into his own pocket. Natsuo squeezed his shoulders one last time, then ruffled Shouto’s hair before heading down the street after Fuyumi.
“Are you leaving, too?” Dabi asked when he realized Shouto hadn’t gone with them and didn’t seem like he was planning to.
“No. I need to make sure that girl isn’t someone you abducted,” Shouto replied. Dabi blinked, then laughed.
“Yeah, sure, kid. Come on; we were just on our way to see Mom. If you walk with, I’ll tell you about the kid.” Tsubaki, who had stayed still up until then, finally grew restless.
“Bluuuueee,” she whined, squirming a little. “I don’t wanna be a spy anymore, I wanna walk.” Dabi hesitated, glancing around for anyone watching them a little too closely, but couldn’t see anyone who might be a threat, so he set the girl on her feet.
“Okay, kiddo. You did a great job!” he added, crouching to straighten her jacket. He pulled down his mask for a moment to flash a reassuring smile at her before pulling it back into place. “I’m really proud of you.” Tsubaki’s irritation at having to hold still for so long vanished at the praise, and she giggled and spun in a circle, her wings regaining their normal size and shape just in time to flutter happily. Dabi straightened and held out his hand, which she took easily as she looked up at Shouto.
“Who’s he? And who were the others?” Tsubaki asked, frowning as the traffic stopped once more and the three of them started across the street.
“Ah…” Dabi hesitated, then decided she knew they were going to meet his mom anyway, so he’d just be honest. “Shouto here is my little brother. Natsuo and Fuyumi - the other two - are my brother and sister too.” Tsubaki seemed to consider this for a minute.
“So they’re safe?”
“Probably. But with all of us together like that it was better to have you hiding,” Dabi explained. Tsubaki nodded wisely, even though Dabi was pretty sure she didn’t understand most of what was going on.
“They didn’t call you Dabi like Dad does,” she commented.
“Before I decided I wanted to be called Dabi, my name was Touya,” he explained.
“I like Blue better,” Tsubaki decided as they reached the front of the hospital.
“Me, too,” Dabi assured her.
“You said you’d explain.” Shouto spoke up once they were inside, checked in, and in the elevator on their way to their mom’s room.
“First I need you to do something.” Dabi studied him for a long minute, then decided Hawks would forgive him this once.
“What do you mean?” Shouto seemed annoyed and suspicious again.
“I’ll tell you once we’re in the room,” Dabi said. The elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing several people waiting to get on. The three of them got off and walked down the hall to Rei’s room. Dabi knocked, only having to brace himself a little this time, and then opened the door when his mom called them in. Shouto entered the room first.
“Shouto?” Rei seemed confused.
“We ran into Dabi on the way out. I thought I’d come up and get a couple answers,” Shouto explained as Dabi followed him in, Tsubaki in tow.
“Ah. So this is Tsubaki?” Rei smiled softly. “Hello, little hurricane.” Tsubaki’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Dabi in surprise. He nodded, wondering how Tsubaki would react to her safety word being used by his mom.
“You’re Blue’s mom?” Tsubaki asked, trotting over to the bed and putting her elbows on it, resting her chin on her palms.
“That’s right,” Rei agreed, smiling at her. “And you’re the little girl he’s been taking care of. I’ve heard a lot about you, little one.” Tsubaki seemed to evaluate this for a moment, then blurted out a string of questions and comments she’d probably been making in her head since Dabi told her she’d get to meet his mom.
“Blue is a great cook. Did he learn that from you? His quirk is really pretty; I bet your is too! Can you make animals with it? Blue’s still not very good at them, even though I keep telling him how to fix them!” Tsubaki paused for breath, and Dabi stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder.
“We have plenty of time, kiddo. You don’t have to rush.”
“Promise?” Tsubaki tipped her head back to look at him.
“Promise. I have one more thing. Shouto.” Dabi turned back to his little brother, who was standing just inside the door and looking like he was still processing a lot of things, though Dabi wasn’t sure what all those things might be. “If you want answers, say hurricane.”
“Hurricane?” Shouto repeated, frowning. “Why-”
“Finally!” Tsubaki whirled away from Rei and flung herself into the air. She latched onto Shouto’s shirt, staring at his eyes. “You have a scar, but not like Blue’s. Plus only one of your eyes matches his. Does that mean only part of you is his brother? What’s your quirk? Can you do fire like Blue? Is it pretty like his? Can you make fire animals too? I hope they’re better than Blue’s; his are awful, you know!”
“Tsubaki. Remember what I just said?” Dabi sighed, sitting on the edge of his mother’s bed and watching the little girl barrage poor Shouto with questions. Dabi was quietly amused at the overlap in what she’d rattled off to Shouto and Rei. “And hey, I think my animals are getting lots better.” Tsubaki huffed and dropped to the floor.
“You put a chicken head on a hawk body yesterday!”
“You just said to make a bird! You couldn’t even tell what kind of bird it was!” Dabi protested. Tsubaki just shook her head and sniffed.
“Excuses.”
“Dabi, uh...please explain?” Shouto looked a little shell-shocked from Tsubaki’s verbal barrage.
“A friend of mine has a daughter. I’ve been taking care of her,” Dabi explained.
“Yes, a friend,” Rei agreed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “How is Hawks, anyway?”
“Working a lot. Between preparing for the trial and running his usual patrols, he hasn’t been home very much,” Dabi explained.
“It’s not fair!” Tsubaki added, pouting. “He’s always working!”
“Wait. Wait, wait, wait.” Ah, there it was. Dabi eyed Shouto with a touch of concern, wondering how he’d react to the pieces coming together. “You...Hawks... her…” He pointed at Tsubaki, who stuck her tongue out at him.
“It’s rude to point,” she informed him.
“Very rude,” Dabi agreed, smirking as Shouto apparently struggled with the complete absurdity of an actual murderer telling him pointing was rude.
“Hawks has a secret love child.” Shouto couldn’t seem to stare at any of them too long, so he kept glancing between the three of them. “Hawks has a secret love child, my secret brother has been raising Hawks’ secret love child, and Mom knew?”
“Please don’t tell Natsuo yet,” Dabi replied. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to either faint or explode when he finds out, and I kind of want to see which.”
“Hey!” Tsubaki piped up, watching Shouto with renewed interest. “Aren’t you from the festival? In Uncle Fumi’s class?”
“Uncle...Fumi?” Shouto repeated.
“Hawks’ little bird intern. With the shadow monster quirk,” Dabi explained. He was fully aware of Tokoyami’s name, of course, but it was more fun to watch Shouto piece that little tidbit together himself.
“Tokoyami knows?” Shouto leaned back against the wall. “Holy shit.”
“Language!” Dabi and Rei chided in unison. Shouto gaped at them, then at the tiny four year old who had apparently gotten bored with Shouto repeating things she already knew and had climbed onto Rei’s bed. Dabi watched as Tsubaki pulled a glob of water from her wing and started to make animal shapes out of it, showing each one to Rei.
“So. You and Hawks, huh?” Shouto tilted his head, watching Dabi for any reaction. Dabi really didn’t want to discuss that with his baby brother, so he just gave Shouto a lazy grin.
“You seemed awfully attached to some of your little hero classmates. Wanna tell your big brother about your high school romances?”
“Hell no.” Shouto shuddered at the idea, then went quiet. “I do want to ask you something, though.” Dabi glanced at Tsubaki and his mom, who were very seriously discussing whether the bird Tsubaki had made out of water looked more like a duck or a hawk.
“Let’s go outside,” Dabi decided. Shouto nodded and opened the door. Rei looked up, a question in her eyes. Dabi grinned and waved off her concern before following Shouto into the hallway. Dabi scanned the area, making sure no one was close enough to overhear them, then turned to Shouto. “Okay. Ask away.”
“Was it worth it?” Shouto’s gaze burned straight through Dabi, the intensity reminding him of the night he’d faced his little brother as a villain.
“Which thing?” Dabi leaned against the wall with one shoulder and shrugged the other. “Running away from home? Absolutely. It fucking sucked until I learned how to take care of myself on the street, but it was still better than being burned alive every day in the name of training.” Shouto winced, his posture tensing and his fingers curling into fists.
“And the other stuff?” Shouto pressed.
“You mean killing people?” Dabi took his time answering that one. The short answer was that he didn’t really regret it, but he was pretty sure that telling Shouto that wouldn’t go over well. “Let’s put it this way. I regret leaving you and Natsuo and Fuyumi and Mom behind more than I regret anything else.” Shouto had to take a minute to process that.
“You decided not to kill him.” He didn’t sound totally sure of that, and honestly, Dabi wasn’t exactly sure of that himself, either.
“I realized I had more to lose if I killed him than I would get out of it.” Dabi glanced at the door like he could see through it to the little girl chatting away with his mom. “Hawks made me a deal, and I took it. That’s all. If it weren’t for him and that kid, I’d still be set on giving the old bastard a taste of his own flame.” Shouto’s eyes narrowed.
“So you didn’t decide killing him was wrong.”
“That bastard deserves to die for what he did to our family. And ever since I decided to run away, I wanted to be the one to do it. But now I’ve got something I want more. So I guess I didn’t magically become a better person, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m still the same selfish asshole I’ve always been. Besides, I figure people die in prison all the time anyway. Best thing we can do is be happy while he rots until someone else finishes him off.” Dabi gave him a crooked grin, which Shouto pointedly did not return.
“That’s terrible.”
“Yeah, well, so is he.” Dabi pushed off the wall. “Look, I’m not looking for you to forgive me or anything. If you wanna talk, we can talk. I just need to know you’ll keep quiet about Tsubaki. I don’t want her to suffer because of who her dad is or because I’m the one taking care of her.”
“You’re the villain, not me,” Shouto reminded him. He glanced at his watch, then added, “I should go. I’m meeting some classmates to study soon.”
“Ah, the little heroes in training. Tell the bird kid he’s babysitting next weekend.”
“We have our provisional licenses now. We’re technically already heroes,” Shouto informed him.
“I’m a villain. I don’t believe in heroes.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Shouto poked his head into Rei’s room to say goodbye and wave to Tsubaki, then turned away and spoke with his back to Dabi. “You’re a pretty terrible villain now that you’re not with the League anymore; you can’t even stand bad language around your kid.” Dabi gave an affronted growl, but Shouto was already walking away.
Dabi watched him go, silent.
He didn’t believe in heroes.
But if he did, he’d believe in Shouto. Or at least the hero Dabi thought he could become, especially now that Endeavor wouldn’t be there to influence him.