When Shouto had seen his brother's text, he had been so relieved he hadn't screwed everything up that he hadn't thought about looking up the place where Touya wanted to meet him. Now that he was standing awkwardly in front of the coffee shop, he thought that it could have been a good thing to do. He checked one more time the address. It was really here. His brother actually wanted to meet him in a cat café. Surprising, but why not? Maybe he believed that nobody would think the villain Dabi would be here, which… okay, was pretty logical when you think about it. Or maybe it was because of one of their earliest conversations and he wanted to make a pun?

He shrugged and pushed the door. As soon as he stepped inside, a white cat came and rubbed himself against his legs, purring loudly. Startled, Shouto froze before crouching and petting the demanding animal. Then, a waiter arrived to give him a table. Shouto informed him he was waiting for someone and asked to be seated at a rather concealed table. He was pretty sure Dabi would appreciate the thought. Now seated at a table half hidden by plants, all he had to do was wait for him.

When Dabi finally arrived, Shouto's left leg was claimed by two happy cats who were purring to their heart's content. Indeed, his left side was radiating heat so he supposed cats loved that part of him. The right side, a lot less, which was… unusual for him. Cats love his left side better than he did. That's poetic in some way, he thought. Cats will love even the worst of you, as long as you're hot and comfortable.

"Hey brat. I see you're popular."

Shouto looked up from his new friends to glance at his brother.

Well, that was new.

He was wearing what Shouto thought to be a white wig. That or he had dyed his hair. Make-up on his face hid the scars. His staples, though, were still there, reminders of what his brother suffered. It's not like he could remove them after all. Without them, his skin would peel off and Shouto didn't even want to imagine the pain he'd feel. He had put on a black long-sleeved shirt and fingerless gloves.

The white hair reminded him of the person Touya had been so many years before. When he was born, their parents had thought that his white hair and his blue eyes meant that he could use both of their quirks. They couldn't have been farther from that. Instead of being able to use fire and ice in an equal capacity, he could create the hottest fire they'd ever felt and his body was built for an ice quirk, which meant that it burnt more and more each time he used his fire. Everything for him to be in pain in conclusion. He remembered Touya always said he was glad to have a part of their mom's quirk and her hair colour. The shape of his face, his eyes, his quirk, that all was their father's, but at least, he didn't have this. He deeply loved their mother. They all did, but Touya was different. He imagined it was because he was the oldest and they'd been through so much together. Shouto shook off those memories out of his head. Thinking about those wouldn't help them right now.

Dabi took off his jacket, put it on the back of his chair and collapsed on his chair. He looked like he was ready to bolt out of his seat and run for his life if need arose. If Shouto wanted to have a nice afternoon with his brother, he needed to calm him down first.

"I'm pretty sure you'll have fans as well in no time," Shouto deadpanned.

While only a half of Shouto was warm, all of Touya was hot. And if Shouto knew something, it was that cats loved heat, so his brother was doomed.

Dabi scoffed, only to catch the interest of a cat, soon followed by more. Silence fell as his knees were slowly covered by cats. Shouto smirked while Dabi flipped him off. He sneakily shot a picture of him while his brother was paying more attention to the cats, stroking them behind the ears. He put his phone back in his pocket.

"I didn't know you liked this kind of place."

Dabi sighed.

"I was as surprised as you. Kurogiri talked about it so much some time ago that I thought it was a good idea. However, he forgot to mention these guys," he said, nodding at the not so small cats on him. "He said this place was relaxing. Calming. Soothing even. I can see why now."

The waiter noticed that Shouto wasn't alone anymore and chose this moment to make an appearance and ask them their order. After a quick look at the menu, they picked a black coffee, a milkshake and two pieces of cheesecake. Once they were only the two of them again, well… They both looked as if they didn't know what to do, or rather what to say. Pretty awkward for a meeting between brothers if you'd ask him. Dabi opened his mouth only to close it immediately after, choosing to keep his attention on the cats napping on him. All of that was pointless if they couldn't communicate when they were physically together. Shouto took a breath and began.

"Why?"

Dabi's relief at not having to be the first to speak didn't escape him.

"Why what?"

"Why did you not reply?"

"I guess… it was too much and too soon." Dabi shook his head.

It made sense. He was not sure it was a good idea himself at first, but now that they were together, he knew that they made progress. It was better. A new step.

"You know, I was surprised last time when you kept your cool in front of two villains," he mentioned.

"My face was masked and I knew you wouldn't tell him who I am. That helped. That and the fact that we both know it is crucial and important to stay in control of your emotions when you're not in control of the situation itself."

Touya recalled their father's words. Never show to anyone your true feelings when you're fighting someone. When you're doing your hero work. Even if you're hurt. Especially if you're hurt. Even in front of him. Especially in front of him. Never show, never tell. Anyway, even when they did tell someone - his teachers, their neighbours, the police - they never believed them, so what's the point?

"I know", he admitted.

"So you recognise that you're my-"

"No."

Shouto shrugged. Touya was bound to slip at some point, he'll get him to say it one day. Sooner or later.

At this moment, the waiter came back with their order. They thanked him and he left, clearly wondering who these two weird customers were. Dabi stirred his drink, not knowing how to proceed. He looked around them to find inspiration and settled on their cakes.

"So… How are the cooking lessons?"

"At the same time easier and harder than I thought. Bakugou is a great teacher, but he's… a lot to handle."

Indeed, their lessons had taken a rather … rocky start. Let's just say Shouto was glad Kirishima was there to act as a translator. And as a shield after Bakugou had caught him roasting the meat with his quirk. In his defence, he thought it'd be faster. He still did, he just needed to adjust the heat. (It could be a really good training, now that he was thinking about it.) After that, Bakugou had hovered over him to prevent him from causing another disaster. Shouto had to follow the recipe to the letter now, Bakugou was making sure of it… Well at least, now he didn't say any vague instructions for the recipe. Apart from that, he was slowly but surely learning to cook and, in a way, these moments were a welcomed peace in their busy and complicated everyday life. It was new for him. Creating something with his own hands, something other than ice and fire. Something that wasn't meant to harm someone, but to feed them. It was also a helpful distraction from his thoughts. He wasn't thinking about Touya, their (mess of a) family, and maybe he should feel bad for thinking that way, but it was relaxing. He never would've thought he'd associate cooking with Bakugou with peace of mind, and here he was.

Dabi snorted.

"Not a surprise. That brat was unbearable when we kidnapped him. The others thought he was brave, but I knew he was just an idiot. And fucking rude at that."

Shouto froze. The memories of that night were still fresh in his mind. The fear, the pain, the persistent thought of him not being strong enough, fast enough to protect his friend. Not being enough. Not the best moment to bring that up.

"Yeah, well it's pretty normal to be rude to your captors." He paused before adding, "especially for Bakugou."

"I'm not the one who wanted to capture him, kid. It was the mission, that's all. Would've picked someone else otherwise." He scoffed and sipped his coffee.

Well, he'd rather not argue with him about that right now. He didn't want to spoil the mood. He'd make sure they'd talk about all this mess, but not today. Today was about bonding and having a nice moment between brothers. So, Shouto changed the subject to one less… problematic.

"Did you read that book I talked to you about?"

Dabi's eyes lightened and he began to rant about the flaws of some characters while praising parts of the plot. Shouto congratulated himself. Both of them were less tense now that they had moved on from the sensible subject. They went on talking about random things, anything but their family, the League and the heroes. The cats were lounging near them. Unexpectedly, it was a good idea. The cat's purring was helping them. The calm setting was soothing. Another advantage was that it was a neutral place. It was what they needed.

Maybe now was the time to speak about something he'd been dying to talk about. His mind had been flowing with all the new theories he had come up lately. Shouto leant towards his brother, his eyes sparkling with interest. His hands were shaking with anticipation. He put his milkshake on the table before he spilled it everywhere.

"What do you know about that man with white hair from last time? He looked a lot like my mother."

"He's not part of your family," Dabi retorted.

"How could you know that if you're not my brother like you keep telling me from the beginning?" Shouto asked innocently.

Well, that certainly left him speechless. Good. Dabi opened his mouth, then closed it, opened, decided against it before finally saying "I just know it, that's all" like a petulant child. Who's the older between the two of them again? Clearly, that was a win for him. Shouto smirked behind his glass of milkshake. When he finally snapped out of it, Dabi rolled his eyes and tried to steal a bit of his cheesecake. A battle of spoons broke out and they only stopped when the cats began to eat the bits that had fallen on the floor. Not really the kind of food they should eat, you see.

Everything was going well.

Well, that was until Shouto noticed the café's door opening and his teacher, Aizawa (aka Eraserhead), and Eri coming in. At the sight, Shouto choked on his milkshake. Seeing his brother's reaction, Dabi turned to see what was the cause of it only to duck quickly once he saw the teacher, effectively yeeting the cats out of his knees in the process. They hissed at him, clearly disliking being knocked out of their new comfortable hot cushion. He was hiding under the table, glaring at his supposed traitor of a brother. Why else would they be here?

"Really kid? That's low," he hissed, careful about not being too loud. If Eraserhead noticed him, he was literally dead. One glance from him and he'd lose his power, and then welcome to Tartarus! Shigaraki was going to be so pissed. At least, if his plan to get Kurogiri worked, maybe they'd be able to get him out of here too. Two birds with one stone. Not sure if Keigo liked that expression.

Shouto stooped to be on the same eye-level as him. He appeared to be as shocked as him.

"I didn't tell anyone where I'd be, you have to believe me. I don't know why they're here," he whispered back, frowning.

"Like hell you don't!" he half-yelled, half-muttered.

Shouto rolled his eyes, annoyed by his behaviour.

"Get back on your chair, you're being suspicious. And unreasonable," he added.

"No."

"This is stupid, you're disguised, he can't recognize you."

Shouto looked back at Aizawa who had been placed near the entrance. No chance of avoiding him then. Clearly, the teacher was a regular customer if the way the cats behaved around him was any indication. Eri was busy playing with them. He was happy the little girl could experience such happy moments after what she'd been through. He'd have rather it to be at another moment, but still. For now, they were undetected. Well to be fair, the plants behind Dabi were helping them a lot. Not that his brother himself was any help, crouched as he was under the table. Drama queen.

"Get out of here. They didn't notice us."

"For now."

"You can't stay here until they leave."

"Why not? Give me my coffee and I'll have all I need."

"Not until you decide to act like an adult and sit back on your chair. If you keep on doing that, that'll be weird and it'll attract his attention."

"Whose attention?" said a new voice.

The sudden appearance surprised Dabi and his head hit the table. Fuck. He looked up only to see the one he didn't want to see. Hooray. Aizawa was standing before their table, his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Eri had followed him to their table, having absolutely no clue to what was going on. Shouto was acting as if everything was normal.

"I was wondering who you were talking to, seeing as I thought you were alone," Aizawa said. "What are you doing down there?"

"Something fell on the floor, he was getting it back," Shouto replied, clearly displeased with him.

The little girl with white hair and big red eyes leant toward him.

"Can I help you?"

"No need, I got it."

Dabi got up and straightened his clothes, trying to behave as if everything was normal. For now, Aizawa was focused on Shouto and he'd like it to stay that way. It looked like his brother understood he hadn't sold him out, so it was at least good news.

"I've never seen you here, Todoroki," Eraserhead noticed.

"It's the first time I've come here. It's a nice place. Do you often come here?"

Aizawa shrugged. Shouto didn't mind, it wasn't his business what his teacher was doing out of UA after all. Eri then gestured to him to get down and once Dabi was finally crouched in front of her, she cupped her hands around his ear.

"Dad and papa come here since they were tall like you. Papa told me Miss Midnight and another friend often came here with them," she whispered.

"Oh really? Eraserhead's your dad?"

The little girl enthusiastically nodded, a big smile on her face. Adorable really, and the contrast with Eraserhead's tired face was even funnier. Who would've thought?

"My dads are very different," she took her eyes off Dabi and glanced at her father who was talking with Shouto, "but they love each other very much."

Sounds like a different relationship than his parent's.

"You seem to have a good family, that's really cool. What's your name?"

"Eri."

"Okay Eri," he patted her head, smiling softly. "You're very lucky."

She agreed and got on her knees to pet a cat passing by. Her smile was contagious. He was pretty sure her smile could cure any depression.

Deciding to let her play on her own for now, he sat back and drank a bit of his coffee to calm himself down. He tried his best not to glance at the pro hero. Ignoring his problems is one of his favourite things in the world after all.

Unfortunately for him, Aizawa was now staring at Dabi, intrigued by this white-haired guy he had never seen before.

"Who is he?"

"My brother," Shouto replied.

Dabi sputtered indignantly.

"I'm no-"

Under the table, Shouto violently stomped on his foot, stopping him mid-sentence.

That little shit.

"He's definitely my brother. We haven't seen each other in a long time and we're trying to reconnect. It's a work in progress," Shouto said bluntly.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know Endeavor had four children."

Dabi rolled his eyes.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about him," he snickered. "And if you knew… oh boy…"

Aizawa frowned. He didn't know how he was able to do it, but Shouto's eyes were clearly telling him to shut up while his face was still as expressionless as ever. An incredible feat.

"We're three brothers and a sister. It's complicated," Shouto explained, his face blank as ever.

"I'm practically sure our family name is besides 'complicated' in the dictionary," Dabi quipped.

Shouto kicked him, but it was worth it.

Back from playing with the cats, Eri, while being on her tiptoe, tried to take a closer look at him. Her mouth opened in surprise.

"Why do you have staples on your face? That must hurt."

Trust a kid to be blunt. Even Shouto was looking at him with interest. Dabi turned to watch Eraserhead, but his face was hidden by his long hair. Somehow, Eri's sentence had awoken something in him and…

Oh fuck.

Who is the only person with staples on his face to Eraserhead's knowledge? Yep, good old Dabi. If he hadn't been suspicious before, now he definitely was. Great. Thank you very much Eri.

"First of all, rude. Second… That's my Halloween makeup."

Good lie Dabi.

"We're in January," Eraserhead said firmly, seeing through his bullshit.

Bad lie Dabi.

Eri frowned, confused. She began to count on her fingers all the celebrations she knew. He heard her mutter "Easter, April. Christmas, December. New Year's Eve, December? Or is it January? When is Halloween then?" He toyed with the idea of letting her be confused a little more, but the pro hero's death glare made sure he fixed his mistake.

"…I'm a goth."

Not true but more likely. Not his fault his black hair and his purple skin made him seem that way most days. Okay, maybe his clothing choice had a role in it, but still.

Stop laughing Shouto, it's all your fault.

On their way back home, Shouta Aizawa and Eri passed by the park. She was walking slightly ahead of him and was constantly pointing at beautiful flowers and cute animals. He took several photos and sent them to Hizashi. He could already hear him praise their adopted daughter's cuteness. Even though something was on his mind, Aizawa smiled each time she showed him something.

Todoroki's brother (Touya, he had learnt after he had asked Shouto, the older brother not being the slightest cooperative) was not who he was pretending to be. Or at least, he was hiding something. Well, at this point he was pretty sure the whole Todoroki family was hiding something. The obvious uneasiness each time they interacted together showed as much.

With his cold blue eyes and the staples on his face, Touya Todoroki bore a striking resemblance to Dabi, the infamous villain. The original of the clones he had fought at the training camp. He had been one of the many things featuring in his nightmares for weeks after that. Aizawa could remember those eyes anywhere. In addition to that, during their short meeting in the cat café the man had been weirdly wary of him the whole time. Why so? If he wasn't Dabi, they had never met each other after all, he should have no reason to be nervous around him. Was it because he was a hero? Eraserhead was an underground hero, not many people knew him. Something was off with him, whether he was Dabi or not.

Shouto probably didn't know if he is Dabi or if he is doing any shady business. As a hero in training, he surely would have talked about it to someone at least. Unless… he was threatened? No, that didn't appear to be the case, both of them had seemed quite comfortable with each other.

Still, he had no proof of his theory and without proof, it was just that. A theory, an idea, nothing tangible. He needed to investigate secretly. If this guy was a danger to his student, he had to know.

Hey

It was cool this afternoon

It was, until your teacher showed up, but yeah.

Don't lie, I know you had fun playing with the cats and Eri.

Better than talking with a pro hero

…

You really didn't tell him?

I didn't.

Okay.

That's it?

She told me they are regulars, I trust her.

Kids don't lie.

Even Big Bad Dabi thinks she's cute, right?

…

I will ignore what you just said.

Eh.

Yeah?

She kind of made me think of me.

Sometimes she had that look in her eyes when she was watching my staples.

Do you know what I mean?

I do.

The same I have sometimes when I look in the mirror and see my scar.

So?

What?

When are we seeing each other again?

Between tomorrow and the end of the world.

Okay, and seriously?

I wouldn't mind going to that soba place next to the station next week.

Say a day and it'll happen.

Even if I say a school day?

Yes

I would do anything for soba.

Shouto put his phone down on his futon, a tiny smile spreading on his face. He had a feeling he would be sleeping soundly for the first time in two weeks.