Dabi awoke to a blinding flash of lightning and the heavy roll of thunder that followed it, the grey sky only sending minimal light into the apartment. Reaching up to run a hand over his face, he noticed that his jacket sleeve looked a little bit different today. Instead of old black faux leather, there was soft tan fur and real light brown leather. Looking down, he was brought to the conclusion that he was wearing Hawks' jacket.

The rest of his clothes were as normal, though still slightly damp from having fallen asleep in them after they had been rained on. His own jacket was hanging up where it usually was by the door, along with his boots.

Oh, that's right. After his little realization last night, Dabi got away from Hawks asap, since he didn't want the winged man to know just yet that Dabi had figured out that he was Touya. Still, he probably didn't do that great of a job convincing Hawks that everything was fine, because he had insisted that Dabi take his jacket when he left.

"I'm serious. Keep the jacket, I don't want you dying from hypothermia before we figure this out." Hawks had said, though he probably thought Dabi was homeless or something, and honestly, Dabi didn't blame him.

"We?"

"Well yeah, me and you. I want to know what happened to Touya, and you want to know who you really are, so we can follow this lead together."

"..Right. Sure. You let me know how that goes." Dabi finished as he had walked away, Hawks' jacket still just sitting on his shoulders. It wasn't till he knew that he was definitely out of the line of sight did he put his arms through the sleeves and actually wear it. He still had to walk through the rain to get back to his place, so it made sense for him to wear the jacket. Why he ended up choosing to fall asleep in it instead of his own jacket he wasn't really sure.

Now Dabi already knew who he was, but just putting a name to himself didn't mean that he instantly got all of his memories back. And he wasn't about to give Hawks the benefit of being right just yet. That guy could sit in the dark a little longer about the fact that Dabi realized he was Touya. Plus, maybe Hawks would give him more information about Touya in the hopes that it would spark something in Dabi. Pretending not to know could be beneficial to him.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position Dabi rubbed the grogginess from his eyes, reaching over to search with his hand for a bit before finding his phone on the side table. Turning it on, he was met with a large amount of texts from Hawks, and with a sigh simply opened it to look at the last one that was sent.

[11:58 am] birdie - At least read your messages asshole, it's rude to ignore people when they're trying to help you.

Great.

Well, if Hawks was pissed at him then maybe he wouldn't think so much about how Dabi had been acting weird.

[12:56 pm] sender - fell asleep, sorry

He quickly shot the message back, before shutting off his phone again and setting it beside him on the couch as he proceeded to lay back down. He didn't have anywhere to go until later, and likely wouldn't go if it was still storming, so he didn't bother getting up. Was his stomach complaining of hunger? Yeah, but he could put that off till later.

Staring up at the dirty ceiling of his apartment Dabi listened to the sound of the rain pounding down outside, letting out a slow breath as he closed his eyes.

—————————————————————————————————————

"I can't do this anymore! I can't!"

The redhead pleaded as he panted, stumbling back slightly before gaining his footing again. His hands and arms were a bright patchy red, the hot, prickling sensation of burns beginning to linger under his skin.

"Stop complaining. According to your father's training records, you should be far beyond this level of control. Again." The stern voice was unrecognizable and seemed far away, as Touya could not see who was speaking it behind the white walls.

"And I'm telling you I'm not! Can't you see that it's burning me?!" Touya shot back, already struggling to breathe properly as it felt like his chest was getting choked out by some unseen force.

"Touya, don't argue with them! You know what happens-" Keigo's voice cut through, snapping Touya's eyes to him for a flashing second. He was up in the air for some reason, those bright red wings spread out behind him as he seemed to hover in the air.

Were they fighting? Training? It was hard to tell.

"Fuck that! I don't care-" No sooner had the words left his mouth there was a sharp pain around his wrists, the thick collars sending a shocking voltage through his form that caused his quirk to activate as an involuntary response.

"Again, Todoroki." The voice demanded, ignoring the sound of Touya screaming in pain as Keigo suddenly dove down and into the blue flames.

"Touya!"

—————————————————————————————————————

Dabi awoke with a jolt, gasping for air as if his throat was still being choked out by smoke. His body felt like it was on fire, overheating as it was still wrapped in the brown leather. Tearing off Hawks' heavy jacket he threw it away from himself as fast as possible. The fabric made an unsatisfying thunk as it hit the wall, before dropping down to the floor.

"Fuck- ah.. shit. Stupid fucking bird-" Hissing profanities out between still ragged breaths, Dabi peeled off his own shirt, which was now stuck to his skin, dropping that to the ground. Forcing his legs to work, even though they felt feeble and his stomach churned sharply, he booked it for the door.

He'd never had nightmares like this before meeting Hawks, hell, even after meeting Hawks he'd never had any until now. He didn't want to be Touya if being Touya meant things like this would happen.

Immediately as he stepped out of the apartment, the cool rain hit his skin and provided relief, a shaky sigh making its way out between his still heavy breathing. Sure, he was going to get wet again, but that was the least of his concerns when the rain was literally hissing as it touched him.

Okay.

Something would have to be done. He couldn't deal with this.

There had to be some way other than Hawks that he could figure out what happened to Touya, because Dabi was still set in his decision not to inform the winged hero about his recent discovery.

It didn't take much to be reminded of the thing that had sparked this whole discovery in the first place: that stupid Quirk Conspiracies channel. Sure, he doubted that two highschool hero students would have more information than the number two hero, but Shouto was apparently Touya's younger brother and that had to be worth something. Who was it that Shouto had said knew more about Touya than he did? Dabi had to wrack his brain for a second, which was obviously not so great at retaining information, but the name came to him eventually.

Natsou. Natsou Todoroki.

Alright, this was getting him somewhere. Now that he was sufficiently chilled physically and emotionally, Dabi returned inside the apartment once again. Grabbing a towel he quickly dried off before returning to the couch and retrieving his phone. Going back to the second video he scrolled the comment section, before finally making one of his own.

[If someone thinks they might have information about Touya, what should they do about it?]

Obviously, with it being the afternoon and them being students, he didn't expect a reply right away. However, his phone buzzed shortly after with a response and he lifted it up again to read what had been said.

[Great question! If anyone has information about Touya please dm us or Todoroki privately but also call the necessary authorities if you feel that it's serious enough! Just a reminder that we are only heroes in training and that all serious issues should be handled by the pros! -Midoriya]

Ha, yeah. He would definitely not be doing that.

This story was already gaining too much attention as it was, the last thing he wanted to do was get more heroes involved. Especially not Endeavor. So Shouto it was, if only to get the information he wanted out of him.

[Hey, I'm the one who messaged you both about having information about Touya. I'd feel more comfortable talking to Natsou though, would it be possible to get his information?]

Dabi sent the text through the direct messaging system, waiting as he saw the three dots pop up almost immediately. They must have been between classes.

[Maybe. Would it be possible to get your name so I can pass it on to him?]

Ah, so it wasn't going to be that easy apparently.

[I'd prefer to remain anonymous for now.]

Dabi wasn't entirely sure if Shouto would still comply if he knew that he was speaking with Dabi, but then again, he was the one who had suggested the theory in the first place. So maybe he did want to draw Dabi out and speak with him. Still, to be on the safe side, anonymous it was for now.

[Well, then I'd prefer meeting you in person before I decide to give out my brother's personal information to a stranger.]

Damn, alright. So much for that. Kid had some guts, that's for sure.

[Very well. What works for you?]

It took a longer couple minutes before he finally got a response this time, but eventually he was given a somewhat private location, and a time that was likely after whatever extra curricular activities Shouto probably had to do.

With that settled, Dabi finally got off the couch to take care of his other pressing matters, which included his rain soaked clothes and the growling of his stomach. While he was scrounging around for food, he heard his phone buzz again, likely Hawks responding to Dabi's acknowledgement of his texts finally. Still, Dabi didn't feel like talking to Hawks right now, not when he was already getting prepared to deal with a lot more talking about Touya than he would likely be comfortable with.

—————————————————————————————————————

The sun was just beginning to peek down over the tops of the buildings when Dabi set out for this little meeting, his shirt now dry and his own jacket around his shoulders. There was enough covering and shadows that he didn't have to worry too much about being seen, especially if he stuck to the routes that he knew like the back of his hand.

Once he was getting close he slowed down, keeping down the crunch of his own boots on the pavement as he listened to see if they had arrived yet.

"Do you really think they're going to show, Todoroki? I mean, most of the people that we've tried to talk to have all bailed at the last minute." That had to have been the voice of that green haired kid, the other one on the channel, Midoriya was it?

"Don't worry, he'll come." That was Shouto's voice, which sounded like it was gradually getting louder as Dabi got closer to the location.

"He?"

Taking that as his cue to make an appearance, Dabi rounded the corner, and he couldn't help the smirk that pulled at his lips when he saw the expressions on their faces.