The repeated loud buzzing of his phone was what finally brought Dabi back to consciousness on the floor.
On the floor?
Why was he on the floor?
Letting out a groan, Dabi pried open his eyes and turned his head, seeing the offending noise maker laying on the ground just outside of his reach. Rolling onto his back and stretching out his arm Dabi reached out to grab his phone, dragging it over to pick up the call.
"Hello?" His voice came out groggy, which mimicked pretty well how his mind felt right now. He ran a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a second before staring up at the ceiling.
"Is this Dabi from the League of Villains?" The voice on the other end wasn't one that Dabi instantly recognized, though he assumed that was probably because he was still fairly disoriented.
"Yeah, what do you want?" Whoever it was likely got his number from Shigaraki and wanted him for League related business, so Dabi wasn't bothered by being straight to the point and a little rude even.
"I was told we were going to talk."
"Fuck, okay. Give me a second to get up." Dabi let out sigh, pushing himself up from the ground. Standing up so quickly caused him to instantly get dizzy again, and he had to put a hand out against the wall to steady himself.
"Get up? It's four in the afternoon."
Shit, was it? Dabi pulled the phone away from his ear, 4:03 pm staring back at him on the screen till he brought it back up.
"When I decide to pass out and get up is none of your business, alright." Dabi snapped, not really a fan of the judgemental questioning at the moment since he unfortunately still felt like shit even after being out for about 12 hours.
"You passed out? Where are you right now? How do you feel?"
"Uh, at my apartment. And I feel fine." Dabi responded, instant confusion coming over his features. People normally didn't ask questions like that, especially if they only wanted him for League business.
"Don't leave. I'm coming to check on you."
"What- why?"
"People don't pass out for no reason. I'm already heading to the train station. You better tell me where you're staying, or I'm going to ask the League."
"I said I'm fine, just drop it-" Were random strangers now just deciding to care about Dabi? Who even was this person?
"I haven't spent 10 years believing that my brother is still alive just to be stopped. Address?"
Ah, shit.
"Natsuo?"
There was a long pause after Dabi mumbled the name, so quiet he could only hear the sound of the other breathing over the line.
"Touya."
Well fuck. This was not how he wanted his first call with his brother to go, obviously. Though, it may have been better this way, because Dabi wasn't sure that he would have picked up had he known who it was. Now it was too late for emotional introductions, though Dabi did feel a smidge bad for acting so snappy with him at first.
"Please tell me where you are. I'm concerned about your health." Natsuo spoke again, though this request was less demanding than the first time he had asked for the address. In almost a cynical way Dabi wanted to laugh, because there certainly was a lot about his health to be concerned about, though he doubted much could be done for him at this point. Still, he bit that remark back in the face of Natsuo's genuine concern, and instead told his younger brother the apartment that he was currently living in.
Obviously, it would take some time for Natsuo to get there from where his college campus was, so Dabi had some time to gather himself back together before he would have to see his other younger brother in the flesh for the first time in ten years.
Dabi wrangled himself together enough to take a shower, the cold water doing wonders to snap him out of his slightly groggy state. He changed his clothes too, deciding that it would probably be better for him to not be wearing his villain get up this time. He didn't have many other clothes, but he found a pair of black sweatpants and a plain white (non-previously-bloodstained) shirt back in the corner of his closet.
He didn't bother repatching up his wounds besides a few of the bigger spots that had reopened, since Natsuo was likely on the way to try and do that right now anyway. He knew Natsuo was studying something medical, that much he remembered from the google search.
There were a few quiet knocks on the door that signalled to Dabi that his brother was here, forcing Dabi to move over and open it. He almost felt like his body was moving on autopilot, hand gripping around the handle and lingering there a few seconds before he finally unlocked it and opened the door.
He had seen pictures of Natsuo before this, so he knew what he looked like, but he hadn't expected him to be taller than him. And bigger too, though that wasn't much of a surprise because Dabi was a basically dying twig.
He had to look up to meet Natsuo's eyes- only a small bit- but it was enough for him to notice.
"Touya?"
Dabi just gave a wordless nod, recognizing yet again that same look of Shouto's that he had seen last night. Why did everyone have to look at him like that, like they couldn't believe it was him but desperately wanted to.
He didn't get much of a chance to ask or get a word out though, because as soon as the door was open all the way there was a pair of strong arms wrapping around him when Natsuo stepped forward to hug him.
Dabi's subconscious reaction was unfortunately a spike of fear that caused him to jerk backwards and shove himself out of the hug, resulting in not only a shocked look from Natsuo but also from Dabi himself. He didn't even know why he was scared of that, but he suspected that it probably had to do something with his lost memories.
Sucking in a shaky breath, Dabi took another step back to stable himself, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants when he noticed that they were trembling.
"Sorry. Force of habit." Dabi averted his eyes from Natsuo's face, feeling weird looking at him after accidentally shoving him away. He hadn't meant to do that, but he still figured it would upset him.
"No no, you're fine. I'm sorry for startling you, I should have said something first." Natsuo, to his credit, recovered quickly and apologized without casting judgement. "Don't worry about it."
With that reassurance, Dabi looked back up again, actually taking in Natsuo this time. He was wearing a rather simple outfit with a black shirt and blue letterman jacket; a backpack on both shoulders and a small duffle to one side. Likely filled with whatever he was going to use to help Dabi.
His scars were actually doing pretty well recently, besides the few scuffs that he still had remaining from the fight before the first video was released. It felt so long ago, but in reality it was only about five days. He was really tired though, and hungry, which likely were pretty evident judging by his appearance even though he had showered before Natsuo arrived.
"Well, are you going to let me in? I can't help you in the doorway." Natsuo asked with a light tone, to which Dabi nodded and finally stepped back into his apartment.
"Right." There wasn't much for him to see really, besides the old couch, tv, and small kitchen area off to the side. Dabi did his best to keep it clean, and his scars thanked him for it, but it did all smell pretty strongly of smoke.
"One of the stools in the kitchen should be good enough, if you feel like you can sit upright for awhile?" Natsuo suggested, placing the duffel bag onto the kitchen table and shrugging his backpack off of his shoulders. Dabi felt like they were dancing around the elephant in the room, which was how Natsuo felt about all of this, but he did appreciate the break from emotional reunions. That was a conversation that Natsou was likely saving for after he assessed Dabi's state.
Dabi did feel more awake now, so sitting up would probably be fine, and he made his way over to park himself down on one of the stools. He tried not to think about the fact that his brother was needing to help him and how weirdly weak that made him feel.
"I'm going to touch you, is that okay?" Natsuo took the caution to ask before reaching towards him this time, taking into consideration what happened when he had first arrived. Dabi gave a small nod of consent before closing his eyes, feeling like it was awkward to be watching as Natsuo was standing so close.
Natsuo was surprisingly more gentle than what Dabi expected, running his fingers carefully through Dabi's damp hair. He would be able to see the red roots that were just starting to grow in, which had been one of the things that Dabi had noticed first that matched up with the Touya theory.
Awkward as it was to just sit there while Natsuo inspected his scalp, Dabi did have to admit that he didn't feel apprehensive of Natsuo's touch in such a manner. He wouldn't let any of the League even jokingly reach for his hair, much less put their hands in it. Was he really that touch apprehensive, or had he just not noticed it before?
"Besides this small bruise by your hairline I don't see any trauma to the head, so that's good." Natsuo spoke, bringing Dabi back to opening his eyes as Natsuo turned to one of the pouches of his bag after sitting down on the stool next to Dabi. "When was the last time you ate or drank anything?"
"Last night." Dabi had to think about it for a moment, but he was pretty sure that he had eaten at least a little something before going to meet with Shouto the day before.
"Drink this then, and eat however much of this you feel like you can stomach right now." Natsuo handed Dabi a bottle of water and a granola bar, who only took a few nibbles of it before drinking most of the bottled water. He wasn't very hungry right now. "You took a shower before I arrived, right? Did you clean your stitches as well?"
"Just with water since I knew you were coming."
Natsou nodded, before he finally turned his attention away from Dabi's face and onto Dabi's scars.
"Shirt's going to have to come off, I'm sorry."
Dabi obliged, but he could see very clearly as Natsuo's expression went from mildly concerned to very concerned once he truly saw the state of Dabi's skin and how thin he was. He didn't say anything about it though, just making a quiet sigh before turning to the bag again.
"Let me know if anything I do hurts too much." Natsuo instructed before carefully beginning to clean and rebandage Dabi's healing wounds and old scars. The two of them fell into a bit of silence as Natsuo worked, occupied occasionally with the sound of Dabi quietly inhaling when there was a sting of pain.
"Shouto told me that you contacted him first, but asked for me. Is there a reason for that?" Natsuo finally asked softly, not forcing Dabi to look him in the eye as he simply continued to work on wrapping his wrist.
"The video. He said that you remembered the most about Touya."
"Okay. Do you remember anything about me?"
"A little. I looked you up."
"Shouto?"
"Only what he's talked about."
"Fuyumi?"
Dabi's silence was enough of an answer to that question, and he didn't bother looking over to what he was sure Natsuo's face looked like.
"She's your younger sister. She graduated college and teaches at an elementary school now."
"Good for her."
"She misses you too. You should call her."
Dabi didn't know if he would just yet, he was already dealing with so much. Even just one person knowing more about himself than he did put a strain on his mental stability, and now there were at least six. Handling another one probably wasn't the best idea right now, but he didn't want to be rude and ignore the one remaining sibling that he hadn't contacted yet.
"I'm going to put this in your bathroom so you can use it later, and you can call me if you have any questions about it, okay?"
Dabi nodded, thankful for the change in subject so he wouldn't have to answer to the suggestion of calling Fuyumi. He doubted that he would need to call Natsuo for help with the medication or bandages, he hadn't needed anyone before, but he would probably end up calling Natsuo later for other things.
After Natsuo was finished with that, he began to put the extras away in his bag again and zip it up. Dabi assumed that he was going to leave after that, and stood up to go see him out. It was still early enough in the evening that he'd be able to make it back to his campus before things got too sketchy around Dabi's questionable neighborhood.
Instead, to Dabi's surprise, Natsuo picked up his bags and moved over to the couch, setting them both on the ground in front of it as he pulled out his laptop and sat down. He started typing something as Dabi just wordlessly stared at him for a second, his hand hovering over the doorknob.
"What are you doing?" He finally questioned Natsou, letting his hand drop to his side as he turned away from the door.
"Revising this essay that's due tomorrow."
"No- I mean, what are you still doing here?"
"Keeping you company." Natsuo explained as he finally looked up from his laptop. "You look like you need rest, and you seem to be fine, but I'm just going to stay and make sure that nothing happens."
"Oh." Dabi exhaled softly, not sure what else to say to that. No one had willingly stayed with him just for company's sake before. Sure, the League would hang around him when he went with them or chose to hang out with them, but they never initiated contact outside of League stuff. Before, he thought that was just the nature of their relationship, purely business, but now he was beginning to reconsider that. Maybe they never asked to hang out with him because they were respecting his boundaries and desire to be alone, even though they wanted to spend more time with him. Judging by their reaction to his identity, that was likely the case. Once this was all sorted out, he'd have to make sure to talk to them again.
"You know, you're being awfully relaxed for a situation like this. I was expecting some kind of tear filled reunion or yelling at me for becoming a villain." Dabi finally said as he moved to sit down on the other side of the couch, shifting slightly to be sitting in a way that would be comfortable for his scars.
The comment was offered flippantly, but the question was genuine. Besides the sudden hug upon seeing him for the first time, Natsuo hadn't made any move to emotionally dump on Dabi. For anyone else, that might have been seen as disrespectful, like he didn't care, but Dabi could tell that Natsuo cared a lot already. He was just confused as to why his reaction wasn't more like Hawks'.
"I do feel that way. But you don't need that right now." Natsuo said as he turned towards Dabi, "I don't plan on this being the last time that we get to see each other, so we can talk about that later. I just wanted to make sure that you're safe, and I'm glad that you're still alive, Touya."
Ah, there it was. The reaction that Dabi was expecting. The quiet, sincere words accompanied by a genuine smile that demonstrated a fondness Dabi wasn't used to being on the receiving end of. This was the part that reminded him of Hawks, the fact that just his existence was enough to give someone else happiness. He still had trouble grasping the concept, but his body had no problems telling him how he should feel about it.
The warm tightness in his chest was starting to become familiar, seizing his vocal cords and making words hard to create. It caused his eyes to water, Dabi blinking a few times before finally responding.
"-Thanks."