Sad flashback chapter. It's the second chapter this week, and I'm planning one more, because I wanted to have ch.13 up before November.

XII

For once, Dabi was alone at the apartment. Toga had left that morning looking particularly giddy, and Shigaraki had gone out the door two minutes ago, not bothering to turn off the TV. Maybe he'd actually thought Dabi was watching it and was trying to be considerate, but Dabi doubted it.

Even if Shigaraki were trying to be nice, Dabi was still going to get even with the boss for framing him as a cookie thief a few days ago. Everything was already set up and just waiting for tonight.

The commercial on TV ended and a talk show came on. Pro hero Hawks strutted onto the stage with a huge grin that didn't reach his eyes. He turned in a circle, fluffing out his wings, and waved at the cheering audience before finally sitting down to talk to the host. Everything he said was flippant and felt disingenuous.

The number three hero had the most teeth-grindingly irritating personality. Dabi turned off the TV.

He was completely different from before.

(Sixteen years ago.)

He had been playing with the other kids, when the ball went over the fence and bounced into the street. The others groaned in disappointment, and he went up to the chain-link fence, wondering how to get the ball back.

It was then that some boy came along and picked it up, glancing left and right.

At first, he thought the boy was going to run off with it. It wouldn't be the first time it happened—they weren't in the best neighborhood and stuff tended to be finders-keepers.

But then, the boy used his quirk to fly over the tall fence with the ball.

He watched as the boy went straight over his head, openly gaping and turning around to follow the movement.

The boy landed right in front of him. Now he could see that the boy was a head shorter than him, probably two or three years younger.

"Um, here. You dropped this," the boy said quietly, holding the ball out to him. Though the boy's face was blank, his red feathers twitched like he was nervous.

He slowly reached out, taking the ball from him. "Thanks." He debated for a moment, fidgeting with the ball in his hands. Then said, "Do you want to join us?"

They played a few games.

As the sun started to set, the boy said, with a small, hesitant smile, "I'm Keigo."

"Akihiro," he returned, only to be polite.

The boy's golden eyes lit up, yet his voice held a distant quality. "Oh—that's a cool name."

Akihiro frowned. "I don't really like my name," he mumbled.

"But it sounds like the English word for hero." Keigo's smile became a touch wider.

Keigo visited every few days, sneaking over the fence when the adults weren't watching. Even when the adults did glance in on Akihiro and the others, they didn't realize Keigo wasn't one of theirs. With how unique his red wings were, it just went to show how little they paid attention.

The boy slowly began to make friends with all of them, but spent the most time with Akihiro. It puzzled Akihiro. Keigo was almost like a baby chick that kept following him around.

However, Akihiro also liked Keigo. The boy had different life experiences from the rest of them, and that made him interesting.

Though he could also be annoying at times.

"Hi, Hero-niichan," Keigo chirped as he landed.

"Don't call me that."

"But Hero-nii," he whined.

Akihiro put his hands over his ears, whining back, "Stop."

"Hero-niichan," Keigo said one day as the two of them sat side-by-side on the garden wall, "what's your quirk? You already know mine."

"I'm not a hero, Kei, please stop calling me that," he begged. Then he turned his eyes away from his friend, instead staring at his slightly scarred forearm. "...It's a fire quirk."

"That's really cool," Keigo said, emotion leaking into his voice.

"No it isn't," Akihiro said with a frown.

Keigo smiled. "You're funny, Hero-nii." Then he asked, "Will you show me sometime?"

"I don't know..." Akihiro said truthfully. "It's really dangerous and I can't control it very well."

"Maybe you just need more practice," Keigo said optimistically.

Akihiro's laugh was a touch bitter.

Akihiro and Keigo were climbing the huge tree beside the garden.

Keigo's quirk made it easier for him, but Akihiro was determined to prove he could reach just as high, because he was three years older, and older kids were always supposed to be better than younger ones.

They were only halfway up the tree so far.

Akihiro stretched his fingers out for the next limb.

Keigo was standing on the limb with his arms behind his back, gazing down at Akihiro.

"Why don't you like your name, Hero-niichan?" he asked, tilting his head.

Akihiro paused to study Keigo's expression. They had been friends for over a month now, and Akihiro was getting better at reading him—either that, or Keigo was getting freer with his expressions. "Which one? Akihiro or Hero-niichan?"

Keigo smiled as he chirped, "Yes."

Akihiro sighed. "I don't really like heroes," he admitted.

"Why?"

He reached again for the limb above him, and finally managed to grab a hold of it and pull himself up. He straddled the limb as he caught his breath.

His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about how to respond to Keigo's question. "I haven't really had good experiences with heroes," he decided on.

"Then you just haven't met the right ones."

"Maybe..." Akihiro said without commitment. He supposed it was possible there were better heroes out there.

Keigo gazed out into the sky. "One day you'll meet a hero that'll change your mind, and then you'll realize how great they are." Then Keigo looked to Akihiro and smiled. "You remind me of my favorite hero, Hero-niichan."

Akihiro blinked in surprise. "I do?"

"Yeah, and he's the best hero there is. He's strong and never gives up."

"All Might?" Akihiro guessed in confusion.

"No, he's even better than All Might."

Akihiro had to admit, now he was curious.

When Akihiro saw the toy, he nearly set it on fire. Of course, with his luck, the toy probably would've been fireproof.

Keigo held the Endeavor toy up proudly. "I brought Endi-chan with me today," he said with a smile.

"Endeavor is the hero you were talking about?" Akihiro asked incredulously. "I hate Endeavor. Why do you like him?"

"Because he saved me," Keigo said, a fond smile on his lips.

Akihiro scoffed.

A confused frown came to Keigo's face. "Why do you hate him?"

"Because he saved me," Akihiro repeated sardonically.

"Ah! Don't mock me Hero-Niisan, you're so mean."

"'You're so mean'," Akihiro mimicked, sticking out his tongue.

"Hero-nii!"

They were on the subject of heroes again. They sat in the grass, Akihiro leaning back on his elbows as he stared up at the drifting clouds and thought about the past. Keigo had shared his own life experiences with him, so it was only fair.

Though, he couldn't bring himself to ruin the boy's love for his favorite hero. So he shared something else.

"When I was a few years younger than you, I had an accident with my quirk. Some people came and took me in. I was really young. I didn't know who they even were. But they said they would take care of me, so I went with them. They praised me for my quirk, saying it was really powerful, saying they could teach me how to control it."

He continued, "When I was six, they started training me, saying I could be a hero, that I would be a good hero if I practiced more with my quirk."

Keigo's mouth formed an amazed circle. "You got to have real hero training, Hero-niichan?"

Akihiro let out an amused, yet bitter, huff. "Not for long. I only managed to burn myself and whatever was unlucky enough to be near me. Nothing they tried made my flames stop hurting me. So they said I'm not good enough for them. Not what they're looking for. They gave up on me and dumped me here. They hadn't really wanted me for me." He laughed then. "But I can't blame them, right? No one else wants me, either. I'm too dangerous. It's what they all say. A kid with an uncontrollable fire quirk. No one would want to adopt me. Only makes sense that even the heroes would abandon me, right?"

Keigo frowned. "They don't sound like heroes," he said skeptically.

Akihiro just shrugged.

The two of them watched the clouds for a few minutes.

"I know," Keigo said, "we could be each other's heroes. I'll never abandon you, Hero-niichan. We'll be friends forever."

Akihiro hummed in thought. It was true Keigo had never let him down before. Maybe he could stand to be a little optimistic.

That had been the last time Keigo had come to visit him at the orphanage.

He hadn't seen Keigo again until about a decade later, when the news showed a young hero with a fake smile, who didn't seem to care about anything but catering to his fans as he rose in the ranks.

Author's Note:

...that make sense? I tried.

Next chapter, Dabi, Toga, and Kurogiri play a trick on Shigaraki. (After thinking up the prank around the start of the month, I realized there was a possibility the chapter would go up close to Halloween—but then the timing ended up off, so that's why I'd decided to write as fast as possible and upload all this stuff this week.) I was originally going to make the prank scene be from Shigaraki's pov, but then I changed my mind and thought I'd write it from an outside pov like the bleach prank. Here's a little preview, using what I'd written before deciding to change the pov.

"Are you certain this will not injure Tomura Shigaraki?" Kurogiri asked.

"Nah, it'll only be a few feet," Dabi said, waving off Kurogiri's concern.

"Look, see, we can put a mat under him," Toga said.

(scene break)

Shigaraki woke up just before hitting the floor. He landed wrong, limbs twisting, one arm half under him. All five fingers touched something that disintegrated beneath him.

He blinked up at the dim ceiling above him, feeling addled.

...had he fallen out of bed?

He pushed himself to a sitting position.

This wasn't his room.

It resembled his room. It was the same size and the window and doors were in the same locations. But it was completely empty of furniture, and was kind of creepy and cold.

Where was he?