Hello! I'd forgotten I had started posting on this website and not only on Ao3 so I'm going to post chapter 4 to 11 in one time, sorry!

Don't forget to comment to give me your opinion ;)

Enjoy!

For the next several weeks, Shouto and Dabi continued to text. Sometimes there was not a message in days and sometimes they could send dozens a day. It went from pictures of their meal to random thoughts. If Dabi was baffled by this development, Shouto was ecstatic. His plan was unfolding perfectly. Sure, it was taking time but it was necessary. You don't rebuild a relationship in the span of a week, or so he'd heard. He wasn't really good with this kind of thing but he was making progress.

Shouto was even thinking about involving Natsuo and Fuyumi in his plan called "good-bro-gone-bad's redemption" soon. He just wasn't sure what their reaction would be and he didn't want them to be hurt again, but they had the right to know. Another problem was their parents. Their father could not know, it would only go badly if he did. And… if Shouto was being honest with himself, as much as he was making efforts to be better as a human being, a hero and a father, Enji didn't deserve to know. Not yet at least. Their mother was still fragile, but it has been so long since she last saw her eldest son… It wouldn't be fair for her to not be able to see him. Actually, he was talking about all that but he wasn't even sure if any of them was in the right mindset for that. He was putting the cart before the horse, that wasn't right. He should wait more before telling his family… It would actually be the wiser choice for now. He still had time and he needed to be closer to Touya before going further with the plan.

In the meantime, he needed to focus on his studies and hero-training. He had been texting or even day-dreaming way more than he was used to since his encounter with Dabi/Touya (should he call him Toubi or Daya until he finally admits being his brother? … No, it'd be too confusing) and it was time he pulled himself together before his grades suffered from it.

Class A and B were currently in training-class. Vlad and Aizawa had organized battles of two students from class A against two from class B. The students were paired with someone whose quirk or personality was opposed to theirs. Shouto was with Kaminari for once. He figured it was because while Shouto was a person who tried to think his next move before even doing his first one, Kaminari was more, um, reactive? He could do with a little more planning and keeping his power for much longer instead of discharging in the first middle of the fight like he did most times in a desperate move when the plan of the group wasn't working. As for him, Shouto guessed he could learn to be more spontaneous. Sometimes thinking too much was as much a disadvantage.

The unlikely duo was pitted against Monoma and Tetsutetsu. The pair was unusual to say the least, but their will to win was unparalleled. The last time Tetsutetsu and Shouto fought, it had ended in a tie. Shouto was hoping his training had paid off and he'll be able to beat him this time. He had no doubt Tetsutesu had trained as well and Monoma's quirk was also problematic, so the fight will surely be ferocious.

And… it really was.

Monoma copied Shouto's fire quirk when he was using the ice one and vice versa. When Kaminari tried to attack Monoma, Tetsutetsu acted as a shield, protecting his teammate from a discharge that would have knocked him out. Their teamwork was better than theirs. It was obvious to anyone watching. That was until Shouto and Kaminari decided to use the fog wrapped around the training ground after an attack to hide in the rubbles and choose a new plan.

Both of them were dusty, their hero suit damaged. Shouto rested his head against a block of rubble. He was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath. He was really exhausted. Not even closing his eyes was helping. He had been protecting himself and Kaminari from the beginning of the fight and it was taking a toll on him now.

"How are we supposed to beat them?" Kaminari sighed.

"We need to beat Monoma first, but to do so, Tetsutetsu has to be occupied."

"We tried that before, " Kaminari reminded him. "Didn't work that well."

"Maybe, but right now we have an advantage. They don't know what we're going to do. Tetsutetsu is a lot like Kirishima so he's not going to let us think about a strategy very long. He'll want to attack us first. We need to use that."

Both of them stayed silent for a few seconds before Kaminari looked up, excited.

"I think I know what to do, but you need to trust me."

"Okay," Shouto replied, before adding, "as long as you don't want to discharge all your power at once."

"Uh…"

Shouto tilted his head, his blank eyes staring at Kaminari.

"No, really, listen, this is a damn good idea, dude!"

He thought back at the goal of the exercise… Him and Kaminari needed to work together to win and improve themselves and if his classmate had an idea to get them out of this mess, why not? He nodded.

"I'm listening."

Like Shouto had guessed, Tetsutestu wanted to win as fast as possible. As stealthily as possible for him, he was approaching their hideout. He steeled himself and was about to destroy the part of the rubbles that was hiding them when Shouto leapt on him. The teenager had used his ice quirk to fling himself in the air and as soon as Tetsutesu was in his field of vision, he used his ice to trap him. Thanks to that, Monoma got out in the open to help his friend.

"Shit… seriously I told you not to be reckless. These pathetic guys from class A were holed up there for a reason," Monoma complained, before starting to warm the ice around his partner. "What are they even doing?"

Unfortunately for him, Monoma hadn't seen Kaminari going around the rubbles and slowly making his way to him. Which was probably why he was so surprised when Kaminari yelled behind his back:

"Our damn best!"

And then proceeded to shock him.

Monoma staggered a little before collapsing on the ground. He was quickly followed by Kaminari who went "wheeeeyyyy".

Shouto was doing his best to capture Tetsutestu with his ice long enough for the battle to be over, but he was breaking the ice bit by bit, relentlessly. Shouto then switched and used fire on his opponent, heating up the temperature as much as he could to try to beat Tetsutetsu's steel. Their fight ended when Tetsutetsu fell on the ground, soon followed by Shouto, both exhausted by the fight.

Once again, it had ended in a tie.

Shouto woke up at the sound of Recovery Girl's mutters. He was in the infirmary and from what he could see, so were Kaminari and Tetsutetsu. Monoma seemed to have already left the room. There was no one else around. That's surprising, knowing Midoriya's tendency to damage his body. The other fights must have been less eventful than theirs.

Basking in the silence of the room, he thought about his progress. Dabi replied to most of his messages, but each time he brought up his past, he clamed up and tried to change the subject or even stopped answering for a while. If he could meet him, maybe it would be different? But what would they do once they were together? He didn't know what brothers do together. Natsuo and him weren't interested in the same things. They tried playing soccer once, but it wasn't really to Shouto's liking. Touya was different from Natsuo, so his small experience wouldn't really be helpful. He needed help.

In his bed, Kaminari began to stir and put his hand on his eyes to shield them from the light.

"Ooooh… No yet, I want to sleep some more," he muttered. "Please, just want to turn off my brain and sleep…"

"I'm not sure a switch exists for our brain, but if it does, that would certainly explain a lot of things happening in the world."

"Holy fucking fuck!"

Kaminari sat up abruptly with his hand on his heart, panting heavily. His eyes looked frantically around until he found him.

"Warn me next time before talking, would you dude?"

Shouto didn't quite see how he could have warned him without talking but sometimes Kaminari acted strangely. It was better not to question it. He nodded; his face devoid of emotion.

"Sure, I will."

"Thanks man."

Kaminari moved on his bed to face Shouto.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hum?"

"Sorry that we lost."

Shouto shrugged.

"We didn't win, but we didn't lose either. You don't have to be sorry. We were a duo, we both failed so don't go blaming yourself," he replied, softly.

His comment made Kaminari brightened up as if someone had told him he had won the lottery. Or as if Bakugou had admitted he was one of his best friends. Which they all knew he was, but you know. That's a whole other thing, knowing it's true and having it confirmed by the guy in person.

Movement on his left caught his eye. Tetsutetsu was waking up as well.

"Why are you making such a fuss?" he yawned.

"Todoroki is having fun scaring innocent souls," Kaminari complained.

"I didn't do it on purpose though," Shouto frowned, completely clueless at his friend's joke.

"I believe you man," Tetsutetsu affirmed with a bright smile.

Kaminari didn't seem to mind as he was smiling as brightly as their friend. Then they both started to chat together. Shouto was still deep in his thoughts, wondering how he could get his brother to agree to meet him when Kaminari called him.

"Yes?"

"We've been calling you; you didn't respond. Is there something bothering you?" he inquired.

There was indeed something. He needed help, but he was thinking about asking Midoriya. However, he had already asked for his help before. He didn't want him to get suspicious of something. Midoriya was one of the smartest persons he had ever met, he would notice something didn't add up with his story at some point and he might not agree with his plan which was fairly dangerous. He knew it but still wanted to do it. He wanted to try to get his family back.

"I wanted to spend some time with my brother, but I don't really know what we could do together. What do you do with your siblings?"

"Ah, I can't help you, sorry," Kaminari apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm an only child."

Shouto turned to Tetsutetsu, his last hope.

"I have an older brother. Sometimes, we play together and I arm-wrestle with him. It's a great activity to do with your siblings! Nothing better to get close to them! You should try!" Tetsutetsu suggested enthusiastically.

Shouto frowned. He had never heard of arm-wrestling as a bonding activity but he wasn't an expert after all. Tetsutetsu knew better than him. Why not try?

"I'll do that, thank you."

Recovery Girl chose this moment to come and do his check-up. After a few prodding at some sore parts of his body, Todoroki left with a promise to come back if he felt under the weather. He wasn't really hurt, he'd fallen unconscious because of the exhaustion caused by his quirk and was feeling better now.

"Man, you sure that's something normal people do? What is even your brother's quirk?"

"It's the same as mine, why?" Tetsutetsu replied, completely oblivious to the problem.

Denki was pretty sure Todoroki was heading for a disaster.

Hello Touya.

What do you think about seeing each other this week-end?

Saturday, 3 p.m. in the parc near the mall?

We could play together at games like arm-wrestling and other similar games.

I was told it's something fun to do as brothers.

Dabi has been laying on his bed for a while now, ignoring Toga and the others who wanted him to play to that new game they just bought. He had received these messages a few hours ago and he hadn't answered yet.

What was he supposed to say to that?

Texting was safe. This was not. He didn't want anything to change. He would rather keep on hiding behind messages than go see him in the open. Out there, Shouto would probably try to dig up his past (more than he already did) and he wasn't ready to see his brother yet. Was he being a coward? Maybe, but it was for everyone's safety. Looking at his family from afar was enough for him. He knew he couldn't have more and he shouldn't. He didn't deserve it.

And what was with arm-wrestling? How was this considered fun? Was that a hidden threat? Dabi looked at his arms. He was pretty sure Shouto's were twice their size. The kid was really brawny for someone of his age. If their quirks weren't involved, he'd beat him in no time, which was really something he'd like to avoid. He still had his pride, thank you very much.

Anyway, why did he suddenly want to see him? Was it a trap? Had he talked to someone about him? To his teachers? To his friends? Did he talk about him to their family? What did they think? He thought everything would be okay if they never knew he was alive and what he was doing, but if they did… If Fuyumi, Natsuo and mom knew… If their father knew… if so…

As his thoughts spiralled in a vicious circle, his breath accelerated and he found himself unable to breathe. Why couldn't he even do something as basic? He sat up and grasped at his bedsheet, his jacket, his shirt, something… He needed air… His throat was burning him… What did Keigo always tell him? He tried to remember his voice, speaking softly and reassuringly just like he usually did when he was with him.

In.

Out.

Come on, you can do it.

In.

Out.

I'm with you, I'm not leaving you.

In.

Out.

In his agitation, he had fallen from his bed. Somehow, the cold surface helped him to get his head cooled down. He had his head between his legs, his hands on his ears, trying to hear nothing but Keigo's voice.

In.

Out.

Come back to me please.

In.

Out.

Everything's going to be okay, I promise, just calm down.

In.

Out.

Little by little, he calmed down, but he still couldn't stop shaking. He sat against his bed, his arms around his knees and his head against the edge of his bed. Dabi sighed. He rubbed his sore eyes and lightly touched his throat. Great. In his panic he had managed to burn himself more. He'll need to apply more ointment later or it was going to hurt like hell. Just his luck really.

He grabbed his pillow and held it tightly in his arms. Now that he was feeling better, he was able to ponder over the situation. You know, rational thoughts helped sometimes.

No, Shouto couldn't have told them, he would be in trouble otherwise, having followed a villain without backup and texting him for weeks after that. They couldn't possibly know. Shouto wouldn't make that mistake. That boy was smart after all. If he truly wanted him back, he wouldn't do that and Dabi (Touya) knew his brother genuinely wanted his whole family back. Why else would a hero in training follow him and not attack him? Speak with him for all this time and not try to get information about the League? No. Shouto was really trying to get along with him.

Nevertheless, Dabi couldn't go see him. He should even stop talking to him right now. He'd been stupid, believing that he could be a villain and still be talking with his little brother at the same time as if it was normal. Nothing ever went the way he wanted in his life, so why would it be different this time? He was putting his brother in danger by behaving like that, by talking with him. Just being who he is was putting his family in danger. How could he ever forgive himself if he was the reason why his family was hurt? The only one he wanted to hurt (kill) was their father. He shouldn't meddle with his brother's life. Yet, there he was, putting a crumb of hope in his brother's heart. How cruel could he be? It'd be better to cut all ties now, when he still could. For both their sake.