Shouto had been pacing back and forth for what felt like an eternity when his siblings finally came into the living room. Fuyumi and Natsuo, just fresh from work, had been surprised to receive his text asking them to come at home at once, saying it was important. Receiving this message had raised some questions that Shouto didn't answer, just saying it'd be easier in person.

Instantly, his dishevelled appearance put them on edge, surprised that their usually so calm little brother looked so… off. His UA uniform was messy and his hair was ruffled. He had a manic light in his eyes. Clearly, something was wrong. He stopped his pacing at once when he saw them. Fuyumi stepped closer to him, careful not to frighten him by making a brisk move. Who knew how he would react in this state? She glanced at a whiteboard behind their brother, full of scribbled papers, red strings and post-its. On the coffee table, several empty cups told her that her brother might have been in this state for quite a long time. What had her brother been up to? And where had he got that board from? She was sure that it wasn't in the house before or she'd have used it to train for her classes with the children.

… He didn't steal it from UA, did he? No, of course not, she berated herself. Her brother was rational and level-headed, unlike her other brother. He wouldn't do something that would put him in a bad situation. Right?

"Shouto? Are you okay? What's going on?"

Shouto looked at anywhere but them for a moment before taking a deep breath and staring straight at them. His hands, on his sides, were shaking uncontrollably and she was certain he was doing his best to not bolt out of the room, with his anxiety suffocating him. What had put her brother in such a state?

"There is something I wanted to tell you for a long time. I didn't know if you were ready or even if I was. Honestly, I'm still not sure if that's the right thing to do right now."

"Shouto, you're scaring me…"

"Touya is alive," Shouto blurted out.

A deathly silence fell.

What the...

Sure, his behaviour had been weird lately, as if he was hiding something from them and let's be real, he was doing an awful job of hiding his guilt. She had tried to pry the truth out of him a few times now, but he had always said he was fine, everything was fine and oh! Look at that! Midoriya texted me, I got to go! She had excused it as puberty and maybe the beginning of his awkward love life as a teenager. It was normal after all. She still remembered the time Natsuo had taken to introduce them to his girlfriend. How nervous he had been!

But to think Shouto would go and dig up that old and painful story… How had he come to that conclusion? How would anyone in their right mind think their dead brother was alive after attending his funeral all those years ago? Maybe that was the thing. With the crazy way he was acting now, it wouldn't be so illogical, but the idea was making her sick. Had Shouto been using some unhealthy stuff? Say… drugs? Fuyumi's vision blurred as her eyes began to fill with tears. Natsuo fidgeted, uncomfortable.

"Shouto… Touya is dead. He has been for many years now. Why do you say that?" Her voice wavered, as she was on the edge of losing her mind.

"Look, I-I know that sounds crazy, but sit down and hear me out. Please." He added when he saw none of them had made a move, too shocked for that.

Natsuo and Fuyumi shared a look and did as their brother asked. Fuyumi's mind was already racing to the reasons for Shouto's predicament. What had led him to do that? Was everything okay in UA for him to end up in such a state and saying things like that above all?

"Okay. Okay, how do I begin?" Shouto asked himself, a little lost.

Natsuo shrugged, trying to be helpful and not let the madness of the situation get to him. "By the beginning, maybe?"

Fuyumi elbowed him, earning an offended "what?". It was a genuine advice after all.

Shouto stilled, deep in his thoughts before nodding.

"I can do that." He cleared his throat, like he was about to tell the most epic tale he had ever told. "So, it all began when I followed Dabi alone into a dark alley."

Fuyumi blinked, trying to grasp the insanity of what her little brother just said. Her other brother was a little less speechless.

"You…what?"

"You know, the one responsible for father's scar? Well, turns out Dabi is Touya. Who would have thought, right?" He chuckled nervously, waiting for their reaction.

Her mouth opened in a silent attempt to voice her astonishment and her eyes were as wide as possible. Natsuo got up, making big and wide gestures with his arms, trying to make sense out of what his little brother just said. "Wait-wait slow down Shouto! That's insane! You're aware of it, right? Please, tell me that's a joke and… we'll just laugh it off and leave it at that, but that… that's just… Or you know what? I don't even want it to be a joke, because why would you even joke about that?!"

Shouto recoiled at the tone of his voice, fully expressing his brother's anger, his fear, his doubts… He's not used to facing so many emotions at once. He winced. Maybe it could have gone better.

"It's all true Natsuo. I promise. I would never joke about it, I even waited a long time before telling you, just to be sure and not give you false hope."

They both stared at each other for a long time before Natsuo sat back down on the couch, his head between his hands. His eyes closed, struggling to retain traitorous tears. Fuyumi had yet to make a move and it was starting to worry Shouto. Had he broken his sister? When she finally snapped out of it, she just uttered a quiet "Since when?".

"Since when what?"

"Since when are you seeing Dabi in secret?" She said, in an accusatory tone. "He's probably faking it, he's not our brother. He can't be. Touya is dead! I mean… do you even have proof?"

That seemed to put Shouto back to business as well as the light in his eyes. He went to the white board and pointed at one end of a red string. A date, a quote. At another end, a picture. Another one, a ticket from a cat café? And much more scribbled papers, red strings and everything really. The whole thing was a mess, just like their brother right now. Or their life. It seemed like a recurrent theme lately.

"There, that day, the first may I add, he made a comment about Natsuo that no one, no one else really, could have said if they weren't in our family." He pointed at another paper. "Again, here he said he hated fish, like you told me." He showed them more and more evidence of his theory, clearly excited to finally be able to show his carefully crafted file of proofs." He also has the same eye colour as Touya, Endeavor and I, look closely. He also knows things about me no one else could know. He has the same blue fire as Touya, which is probably the cause of all the scars on his body. And I could tell you so much more."

Natsuo was amazed by all the evidence his little brother had gathered in secret, by being friendly with a villain of all things! However, he snorted. "What could you possibly add? It seemed like you have it all sorted out."

Shouto straightened, pleased with himself and his logical thinking. Clearly, it was foolproof and his siblings were starting to recognise it.

"Can you name at least one person who hates our father more than us then? Because I can assure you, he hates him plenty." Shouto assured.

Natsuo opened his mouth, only to close it. Opened it. Closed it. Just like Dabi had done at the cat café. Interesting. Shouto was pretty sure no one in their family had a goldfish-like mutation quirk though. He'd need to check later.

Natsuo turned to Fuyumi, his eyebrows furrowed.

"He has a point you know."

"You can't possibly be serious!"

"No, I'm Natsuo." He snickered, proud of his joke. "Eh, you can't blame me for trying to relax the atmosphere."

Fuyumi closed her eyes, exasperated by his behaviour. Why were her brothers like that?

"You missed something here Shouto. I'm sorry to say that, but it's impossible. Touya wanted to be a hero, he couldn't have become a villain."

"More like our dear father wanted him to be a hero to surpass All Might and he didn't have a say in it," Natsuo grumbled.

She silenced him with a glare (sisters are powerful that way).

"Okay, let's say you're right. Let's acknowledge that… that hypothetically Dabi is Touya." She took a breath, braced herself and then… "We need to tell our father."

"No!" Natsuo and Shouto shouted and then looked at each other in surprise.

"Why not?! He has the right to know! So does Mom, but I don't know if she's ready and it wouldn't be fair from us to spring it on her like that when we're not even sure, but-"

"We're not telling Endeavor. It's the last thing we need, it has taken me enough time to get a little close to him for our father to screw everything up. Again."

Natsuo nodded while Fuyumi silently admitted that it may not be the best decision for now. Natsuo approached them, beckoning Fuyumi to get up from the couch and hugged them both. Shouto flinched before relaxing at the touch of his siblings. He wanted to stay like this forever, but he hadn't told them everything yet.

"There's also something else."

"What?" Natsuo sighed.

"He hasn't admitted it yet." He added when they started to argue. "But don't worry I'll get him there soon."

"Shouto… if Dabi's really Touya… he needs us. We can't afford to wait." Fuyumi insisted.

Shouto nodded, relieved for having the burden he had carried for weeks finally off his shoulder. Now they knew and he wasn't alone anymore with his crippling doubts and guilt. He smiled softly.

"I know."

Even if their brother wasn't going to be happy about it.

The weekend after that had felt like a dream to him. He, Fuyumi and Natsuo had spent the evenings slumped comfortably on the couch, watching cartoons and eating sweets and pancakes, telling each other parts of their week. Fuyumi shared a story of one of the children, Natsuo complained about all the work one of his teachers kept giving as if it was the only class they had in this cursus and Shouto had told them his progress in his cooking lessons with Bakugou. During the day, they stayed together in the living room and studied together. They even called their mom on Sunday morning, keeping the revelation on Touya silent. Endeavor had remained all weekend in his office, when Fuyumi had told him all three of them intended to stay the weekend. He had a mountain of paperwork to check and sign anyway and would be more efficient there, he assured her. A perfect moment.

Of course, it had to go to hell at one point.

Before the first hour with Present Mic rang, someone knocked on the door. Every student turned to Present Mic, waiting for him to open it. Weirdly, it seemed like he already knew who was behind the door. His face was grim and the usually easy-going teacher was stiff. Silent. Not a great omen if you asked them. Present Mic opened it and let Aizawa enter, wearing one of his best suits and neatly combed, his hair up in a band. They shared a look and Mic nodded. His teachers then turned to Shouto and the expression on their face confirmed he wasn't going to like what was going to happen. Just his luck.

The ride to the police station was silent and awkward. Aizawa hadn't said a word since they left and Shouto didn't dare to ask why he was being brought to a police station. It's not like he did something illegal recently after all. Maybe something happened to Endeavor and they wanted to tell the family before the news went public. Or maybe they found out about Dabi and him and wanted explanations. That was probably that. Oh god. He started to sweat as his anxiety got the better of his rational sense. Lucky for him, he wasn't Bakugou and he wouldn't suddenly explode the car and his teacher. He fidgeted on his seat, uncomfortable. Fortunately for his sanity, Eraserhead, who noticed his behaviour, turned to him, put his hand on his head and awkwardly ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry, you've done nothing wrong. We just need more information about a case." He said in an almost soothing tone. "Everything is going to be alright."

It didn't really calm him, but he supposed that was one less worry. When they arrived, the police station was in disarray. Several policemen seemed to want to be anywhere but there, filing piles of forms after another for the new big arrest. Apparently, a heist turned wrong in a bank. Half a dozen men were lined up against the wall, waiting for their picture to be taken. Sours expression on their face and angry words thrown between them informed him that one of them had forgotten to take the phone from one of the hostages who had called a hero, hence the bruises on their faces. This guy won't hear the end of it, Shouto guessed. Shaking his head, he let Aizawa take him to a room at the end of the corridor. Inside, Naomasa Tsukauchi waited for them. He told him to sit on the chair in front of him. Eraserhead remained standing against the wall. If he wasn't in trouble, why did it feel like he was though? His teacher's grim face did nothing to relax him this time.

"Your brother Touya came to me with the strangest story. The thing is… with the more and more proof we collected, it wasn't so strange anymore, but… plausible." Aizawa explained. He then took a deep breath. "To be honest, I'm not sure how I didn't notice before."

Shouto froze. Shit. "It's not what you think I-"

"Don't worry, kid." The detective cut him. "You're a victim, you don't have to feel guilty for not seeking help or telling your teacher sooner. It's okay, everything is going to be okay now," Tsukauchi assured.

…

"What?"

"From the evidence we have managed to gather up till now, which is Touya's testimony as well as his medical record and the testimony of a few of your neighbours, it seems like Endeavor, I mean Todoroki Enji, had an abusive behaviour at home. Physical abuse against you, Touya and Rei, your mother. Moral abuse against your whole family. It all led to Touya faking his death and hiding for years and your mother Rei, being in a hospital for almost a decade. Today… we're here for your testimony."

"Starting from here, if your siblings and mother are willing to cooperate, we might be able to start a case against your father." Aizawa declared.

And just like that, Shouto's world crumbled.

We need to talk.

What? It's still early in the morning, can't you wait?

Wait, aren't you supposed to be in school?

Either way, I'm staying in my bed.

NOW

This is non-negotiable.

…

Fine. Where?

The alley of the first night.

Okay, I'll be there.

Dabi had guessed it wouldn't take long before his little brother would catch wind of what he'd done. From the tone of his texts, saying he was less than pleased was a euphemism. Dabi sighed and rested his head on the hard stone of the wall. Last Friday, he'd come to Eraserhead office and sat down for the better part of the day. He had told him the story of their family. The whole deal.

The arranged marriage. His birth. Fuyumi's. The discovery of their quirks. The short joy of their parents. Natsuo's birth. The trainings. Fuyumi and Natso being left aside. Mom being beaten when she tried to prevent Enji from training Touya when it was too much. His first broken leg. The medical appointments to see what was wrong with him, why he couldn't withstand his own fire. Shouto's birth, the hope of the family. The golden boy. Fuyumi crying. His skin burning at first, then falling off, little by little as years passed by. Medical appointments, again. All the nights spent crying against Natsuo's shoulder. Shouto getting his quirk. Him being replaced by Shouto, after everything he had suffered and sacrificed. Shouto experiencing the same treatment he did: trainings, loneliness and pain. The bruises on their skin. Mom spilling boiling water on Shouto's face. His red part, always reminding her of her husband that she couldn't bear to see on her son anymore. He and his siblings slowly drifting apart. Him saving Shouto from an exercise and a beating too hard for him to bear. Him ending up in hospital, patches of burnt skin from head to toe because of his and his father's quirk. A doctor coming to see him, saying he could make him disappear. Him agreeing. Another burnt person being shown to his family, this one dead. Surgeries implanting skin graft. Pain, again. Life on the streets. Drugs. Addiction. Him trying to get away from it. Trying and trying and finally getting it right. Odd jobs after odd jobs. Trying to find a new start in life. Making new friends. Finding the love of his short life. Finally reuniting with Shouto. Being suffocated by guilt and worry as he's the only one who'd managed to escape from his father's grasp after he'd seen his brother hurt after a training. His resolve to save him this time. To save his whole family.

He knew the man cared about all his students, but somehow, he still expected him to scoff at him and call him a liar like all the people he had told when he was a kid. But the hero wasn't like that. Eraserhead believed him. It was a new kind of nice thing happening to him he was still trying to savour. When he had left, he wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. He hadn't wanted to go back to check. If it was a dream, he had wanted it to last a little more.

He had kept silent everything linking him to any criminal matters of course. No word about the League, the PLF, the crimes he had committed or even Hawks.

He put his hand in his pocket and looked at the entrance of the alley. The passers-by spared him no look, too busy by their day-to-day life. No one would think to look in this dark and narrow street if you had a normal life.

Suddenly, a familiar silhouette came from the left and furiously ran towards him.

"You!"

Oh, great! Shouto's here. And in a good mood as it seemed. He'd never seen him that angry though. Not even in the forest during their attack.

"You son of"

"We have the same mother," Dabi interrupted him before Shouto said something he would regret later.

"I was talking about our father." Shouto rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right, that's fair." Dabi shrugged. His brother had a point after all.

Shouto's furious eyes morphed into an incredulous stare. "Do you really think it's the best moment to admit it? I'm trying to be mad at you!"

Dabi tilted his head and shrugged. "Well, after what I did, it's no use trying to deny it anymore."

"Oh please, I knew from the beginning, you had plenty of occasions to tell me before. And you know what? I told our siblings about you this weekend. Happy?" Shouto informed him, pettily.

"You told them?! I can't believe you did it without telling me beforehand!"

"Oh really? Because you obviously asked my opinion before telling our family story to my teacher!"

"It was for your sake!"

"So was it! They want to help you too!"

Dabi scoffed. "Oh really? Then why do you need him? Our family would be a hundred times better without him. But you're defending him even now." He drawled.

"I need him to learn flashfire! I need him to become stronger. That's all." Shouto tried to defend himself.

"No, you don't, you're just being hypocritical!"

Silence. Shouto fidgeted, uncomfortable and avoided Dabi's eyes. The two of them were right in their own way, he knew it and he hated it.

"I'm using him like he was planning to use us, that's all."

Yet, Dabi could see it was not the only thing holding back. He gritted his teeth.

"And? I know you have another reason Shouto. Don't think I didn't notice."

Guilt crept on his face. "He's trying to change. He regrets what he's done, I think. After what happened with the Noumu, things have been really different at home. He promised to be better and to give us space."

"Oh? So, if I had never sent the Noumu to kill him, he might never have changed? Poor old Endeavor, right?" Dabi drawled.

Shouto's shoulders slumped. At that moment, he looked like a kid who had seen too much for his young age. His eyes were old and weary.

"Why… why did you do all of this Touya?" Shouto asked, tired. "You were gone, you could have chosen to start a new and better life. Why choose to be a villain?"

For Dabi, it was the final straw.

"Why you ask? I became who I am to save you! To save Mom, Yumi and Natsu!" The dark-haired man yelled. "He needs to pay! So, what? All is in the past and everything's forgotten? I don't think so! At least with this, even if I haven't killed him yet, there will be consequences."

"I've never asked for you to do this! I still don't. They didn't either." Shouto reproached.

"I did it for you. So that you don't become like me. A shadow of who I used to be."

Shouto shook his head, annoyed. "Okay, fine. You want to save me, us, but who'll save you?"

"I've been beyond saving the day I died. A part of me died and I've never been the same since. I've lived through horrors and I- I…I don't want you to do the same." Touya smiled weakly. "One of us has to take one for the team, right?"

Shouto clenched his fists, all his body was shivering. He kept silent until he seemed to have made up his mind.

"Alright."

"What?"

"You don't want our opinion. I'll act without yours. I'll save you. From father. From the Hero Commission. But most of all, from yourself. You can count on me. And you can be sure that now they know you're alive, Fuyumi and Natsuo won't let you go. You're stuck with us now."

"Seems like it," Touya said softly, but still rolled his eyes and asked, "Did you give your witness statement?"

"I did, but I asked them to wait before going any further. I wanted to talk to you, Natsuo and Fuyumi first." He had finally got back to his usual poker face. For unknown reasons, it calmed Touya.

"I see. At least, they know. They know and they believe us. That's nice, once in a while."

"Yes, it is." Shouto smiled.

He sat on the ground, his head resting against the wall and staring at the sky. Bright blue with a few clouds. Today was going to be a good day for most people, but he didn't know if that was possible for him now. So many things had changed in so little time. He glanced at his brother who had chosen to sit on the steps of the spiral staircase not far from him.

"Hey."

"What?"

"Do you know why I decided to be called "Shouto" as my hero name?"

"No idea, but please, enlighten me."

"It was because I didn't want to hide myself behind a pseudonym. It is I and I alone who decide what I do. Nobody ever believed us because they said Endeavor could've never caused any harm to his children, but they never stop to ask if Todoroki Enji would. Too many heroes get away with crimes like abusing their families and such and are never caught because of their status as heroes and their pseudonyms are another barrier. They hide them. I wanted to erase that."

Touya smiled, touched by the determination of his brother.

"You chose well, Shouto."

However, he still knew it may not make a big difference in the long run if society didn't change. People needed to realise the dark secrets of the world in which they lived happily without knowing. Blessed ignorance shouldn't be allowed anymore when so many suffered in silence. The world needed to wake up from that convenient slumber in which it had let itself rest lazily for so long.

"I'm not going to give up, you know. Neither my fight, nor the League's."

"I know."

The diner was drawing to an end. They had watched the news on the couch while eating and the evening had been surprisingly pleasant, which had led Hawks to be lost in his thoughts. It wasn't everyday that Dabi was so… cheerful? It wasn't the right word, but he didn't know how to describe it otherwise. It was weird, like when you see Toga happy, you should ask yourself if she was happy-happy or happy-stabby? Then you act in consequence. And you bring Twice to her in the worst case, he always calmed her. Maybe it was the same with Dabi? Should he hide the knives?

"You're in an uncharacteristically good mood today. What happened?" Hawks asked.

"Why? Am I so insufferable usually?" Dabi drawled.

"No, of course not sunshine," Hawks exclaimed, a big grin on his face.

Dabi rolled his eyes and decided that he could let a little information slip past his well-closed lips for once.

"I met with the Hand Crusher; it was…interesting." Dabi confessed.

"How so? He did something nefarious lately?"

Dabi snorted at the thought. Shouto committing a crime? Nothing more impossible. "Not more than usual."

Hawks froze, surely trying to imagine all the bad things the criminal had done in the last several weeks. He shook his head and got back to watching the news. A few more minutes passed before he tried directing the conversation to the Hand Crusher again.

"You never told me how you met him."

"Don't see why I would."

"Because I want to know about you? Because that's what people who are together do?"

Dabi sighed.

"I met him at the hospital. After my mom birthed him."

Hawks stared shocked at his boyfriend, before he swatted him playfully. "I had a chance to meet my brother-in-law and I didn't?! How dare you!"

Both of them started to bicker like an old married couple before beginning a pillow fight and he sometimes wished it would always stay like that. But that was just wishful thinking. He was here to do his job and if he got snippets of happiness in between? Well that's just something he'll keep tight against his heart so that no one would take the memory away from him. In the meantime, he'd managed to grab fistfuls of information at a time and he felt he was getting closer to solving the Dabi mystery with each passing day.

The Hand Crusher was Dabi's brother. He wouldn't have seen it coming.

Things were definitely getting interesting.