The phone, only after laying dormant for a few seconds on its landing place, began to buzz with the notification that someone was calling Dabi. The phone was kept on silent so it didn't full out ring, being quieter was obviously very important for a villain.

This noise pulled Dabi in from where he was standing at the door, causing him to gather it back into his hand and stare down at the number that was calling.

It was Natsuo.

He had probably intended to pick up the phone when Dabi called, but must have been too far away to make it in time. Now he was calling back, and it was on Dabi to decide if he still wanted to talk to him right now.

Letting out a shaky sigh Dabi pressed the decline button, hearing the phone go silent in his barely lit apartment.

Nope, not now. Not today.

Setting his phone onto the side table he slumped back into the couch, kicking off his boots before turning to lay down. He wanted to curl into himself, but there wasn't enough space on the couch to do so.

Letting his eyes close, his mind was brought back to the sight of Todoroki staring up at him with a desperate sort of expectancy. Though the words went unspoken, it was like Dabi could read them across his face as plain as day.

'Please. I just want to know what happened to my brother. I just want to know.'

Maybe that was the reason that Dabi finally gave the answer that he did. Maybe that's as far as Shouto would push it. He looked.. happy with the answer that he had received from Dabi.

Something about that final look made a hole right in Dabi's chest and nestled inside, the ache already beginning to settle in and take hold. He still really didn't know who this Touya was that Shouto wanted him to be, but Shouto made him want to be it.

That's why he should've picked up the call from Natsuo. He knew he should have. He should have. But he panicked, and now he was here. Attempting to fall asleep when he could tell very clearly that rest was not going to come tonight.

Instead, he reached for his phone and pulled it in front of his face, the screen shedding light on his features as he turned it on. He may have been beginning this new discovery into the family that he had before, but he knew he couldn't ignore the family that he currently had now. He'd been abstaining from talking to the League for a while, ever since that second video aired, and while he didn't owe them an explanation it was probably better to rip the bandage off now than later. He didn't know how they would react, but it probably wasn't going to be positive. Best to get over their eventual abandonment now, he supposed. Then he really would have no choice but to become Touya.

Dabi was a glutton for punishment lately it seems.

[12:32 am] sender - hey

[12:32 am] sender - you guys remember that video i sent

[12:32 am] sender - it's true

With the message sent, Dabi wasn't just going to sit around and wait for the response that he knew was coming, so he closed the app and turned to google instead. When looking for information on Touya, he only briefly looked at his siblings, figuring that they weren't really that important to him. He certainly was wrong about that.

Not much came up about Natsuo besides a few academic achievements that the university he was attending mentioned and some of his social media accounts. It appeared that he didn't post much, reasonable considering he was in university, but a quick look through led Dabi to some photos of Natsuo taken within the past months.

There were a few with what looked like college friends, going on trips and taking group photos. There were also a few with a girl, in most which he was holding hands with or some other form of pda. Must be a girlfriend then. There were a few with Shouto and Fuyumi, which he only knew her name because of the caption underneath. Notably, there were none with either parent, not even mentioning them in any post either.

He didn't even know the guy, really, but he felt proud of him anyway. If everything Shouto and Hawks said was true, along with what little memories Dabi had, then it was certainly an accomplishment for Natsuo to be living the life he was.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't talk to Natsuo. The guy was clearly doing just fine, and Dabi didn't want to ruin that by getting him tangled up in whatever Dabi was going through.

Or, at least that's what he thought until he came upon a certain post.

The image was a picture of a young teenage boy with red hair and turquoise eyes. In front of the picture frame there was a single slice of cake, a half burned out candle now laying to the side of it.

[Happy Birthday Touya]

[It's been 10 years. I hope you're doing well.]

[I miss you.]

—————————————————————

"If I was gone, would you miss me?"

Touya asked as he was laying there in the dark next to Natsuo. His burns were freshly wrapped, though the hot and stinging sensation persisted even through the mass of painkillers that he had taken.

They were supposed to be sleeping, but there was no way Touya was going to be able to sleep with how uncomfortable his wounds still were. Natsuo was fine, but he always stayed up with Touya as long as he could on the nights like this.

"Of course I would miss you, Touya! Don't say things like that!"

Natsuo protested, reaching his hand across to give Touya's a squeeze before returning to his own blanket. That was another thing he was good for, talking Touya down from whatever rabbit hole his thoughts would sometimes sink into.

"Right. Thanks."

Touya cracked the smallest of smiles on his lips, before rolling over and turning his back to Natsuo as he shifted in the bed to try and get comfortable. Once he was turned away, he let the smile drop, a quiet sigh slipping past his lips.

He'd leave one day, get out of this place. But not yet. Nothing had been bad enough for him to hurt Natsuo by leaving. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt them too.

—————————————————————

Dabi's turquoise eyes remained locked on the post, scanning the words over and over again. There were only a few words there, but they were soaked full with unspoken feelings. The real Touya existed there, existed in Natsuo's mind, so close but yet so far away from the empty fog in Dabi's mind. He felt like he should be crying, but instead of the tears that couldn't come the hole in his chest continued to sting deeper.

He hadn't really cared about his missing memories before, why should he? It hadn't mattered who he was before, only who he was now. There had been no reason to be sad about it. Now, now that there were people that had connections and knew what he was like before, it made Dabi fully realize what he was missing. He hadn't even seen or talked to one of them yet, but judging by the pattern of behavior, there were three Todoroki siblings that actively cared about the person he had been before and wanted to see him return.

He wasn't sure how to feel about that yet.

Snapping him from his thoughts was the sudden silenced ringing of his phone again, the contact name 'knife chick' appearing at the top of his screen. Just wonderful, now was really not the time to argue with the League about why he didn't say anything about this sooner. Still, ignoring them would only cause more trouble.

Letting out a sigh he pressed the accept button, bringing the phone up to his ear as he sat up.

"Dabi! Hi! I'm glad you picked up. You doing good? Shiggy's got some questions for ya." Toga's perky voice crackled over the line, likely because of the somewhat sketchy signal that their hideouts tended to have.

"Yeah, sure."

He could hear the phone being put on speaker mode and then set down, presumably because the whole rest of the League was gathered together at this time to hear this. Great.

"Alright guys! I got Dabi on the phone!" Toga's voice was slightly faded, likely because she pulled back away from the phone to make her announcement. There was a few seconds of shuffling and footsteps, before a different voice came through the speaker.

"So. You're really Endeavor's son."

"Yeah." Dabi responded to the League's leader, trying to keep back some of the usual bite to his words.

"And this wasn't something you thought important to mention before?"

Forward answers were probably best in this situation, Dabi knew. Dodging around the question was something that Shigaraki hadn't appreciated since day one when Dabi didn't give out a name when he joined the League.

"Didn't know it. Amnesia."

"Amnesia?"

"Last thing I remember is waking up in that twisted doctor's lab and hauling ass a year ago. Been coming up with shit ever since. Sometimes memories come back, but mostly they don't."

Dabi explained, letting the silence settle after his words. He couldn't tell if anyone was going to talk or not, or what they were going to say about his coming out with this information.

He didn't want to say that he was actually concerned or worried about what could come of this, but that would be lying. He had already accepted that he was going to get some kind of flack, and was just waiting for it to come now.

He heard a mumble of something close to 'that's fucked up' as well as other mumbled talking that didn't carry over the phone line, leading to what felt like the longest five minutes in his lifetime as he waited for a response. Eventually, he heard the phone crackle again with the sound of Toga's voice.

"Sooooo, what do you want us to do to help?"

"Huh?" Dabi was struck out of his thoughts by her words, surprised by the question and not expecting it at all.

"Like, to help you get your memories back. Or revenge, either one." That was Twice's voice now, before Toga chimed in again.

"Shiggy says we could go after Endeavor if you want. You know, since he probably messed you up."

"What?" They were.. offering him help? Not teasing or belittling him because he couldn't remember? They would fight Endeavor for him?

"Do you want it or not?" This time the voice was Shigaraki again, though the way he asked the question was hardly in the way that he would normally talk to Dabi.

"No." Dabi answered still in slight bewilderment at the offers being made, before changing his answer slightly. "Not yet. I'm trying to figure out who I was first. So don't expect me to be around much." He knew he had to eventually talk to Hawks again, not to mention Shouto, Natsuo and Fuyumi as well. Discovering stuff about himself was likely not going to be very fun, and probably put him in a bad mood, so he didn't want to have to deal with the League on top of that. Still, it was a bit of a relief that they were allowing him to have such a break, even if he wasn't expecting it.

"Fine. Do what you like, just don't create trouble for us."

"Will do." Dabi answered before finally hanging up the call, letting his hand drop into his lap as he stared down at his phone. Running a hand over his face he let out a breath, depositing his phone back onto the little table next to the couch.

Laying down he stared up at the ceiling, brain still trying to wrap around what had just happened in the phone call. Not only had the League accepted his explanation with little questioning or doubt, they also offered help in not only trying to find his lost memories but also getting revenge on the man who seemed to have fucked up Dabi and his entire family.

That was a lot to be offered from people that he assumed didn't give a shit about him in the first place. First Hawks, then Shouto, and now this. Was caring about Dabi starting to become the new trend? He dared not get his hopes up, but things were at least starting to look a little better.