A/N: We made it to chapter 20, woo! More on this below but just wanted to say to those I've not replied to reviews on yet for last chapter, I'm sorry, this week has been chaos for me in real life. I'll message you in the next 48 hours.

Also, this chapter starts with a shout out to Cottonmouth25, whose patience and wit I admire and whose company I enjoy. Some scenes in this come from Cotton and I talking and Cotton deserves a shout out. Go send some love- if you like Pokemon content as well (I do, first fandom I ever wrote in) Cotton has done some supreme work there. Forgiveness is a beautiful one-shot.

Anyway, enjoy!

(***)

The blood dripped slowly into the sink full of water as he fiddled with the staples, and the red bloomed in the water like a flower in spring.

Dabi had gotten used to the need to do this the more time he had spent living independently, and the more he had overstretched himself with the use of his power. Cremation had tremendous power and tremendous backlash, as he had learned one fateful day under his father's tutelage, and he had long resigned himself to the knowledge that he would bear the scars in the burned skin of his arms and neck for as long as he lived. But every now and then, the crude staples he had used to stitch burned and peeling skin back together needed replacing, and one thing he hadn't gotten used to was administering this care to himself; no matter how many times he did it, the stitches and staples left more marks, added to the scars he wore.

He was a patchwork man, of his own making and because of his Quirk. So be it.

It hadn't been long since their group had agreed to the heist on Uraraka Construction Limited, robbing the company who had picked up the tab to repair so much of the damage done by Endeavor, and all their preparation had gone relatively smoothly; despite this Dabi still found himself a little out of his comfort zone. The company's head office was in some newly-developed city in Mie Prefecture, one of the backwaters of the Kansas region, and Dabi was already sick of the local accent. Mercifully, Gentle had taken to the task with good grace and had found them a temporary base in an abandoned apartment block, with separate flats for all of their crew, and Dabi couldn't have been more appreciative of this.

While he was grateful that Shoto had come to him all those months ago, the opportunities he had been presented with to tend to his scars and to replenish the dye he drowned his head in had been limited. Shoto knew the truth, and so the fact that streaks of white had started to appear in Dabi's hair hadn't phased him- there was still a time he remembered his older brother's natural hair, after all- but Dabi hated every moment he caught sight of a hair like that. The sooner he could hide that from the rest of the world, and the sooner he himself could eliminate that callback to his life as Touya, the better.

So Dabi stood and dressed his arms, making the most of having the room to himself and replacing what needed to be replaced. He was so used to it at this point that he didn't wince at all when cold water splashed over the raw skin around the staples, and he was practically numb to the coarse feeling of rubbing the water over the burned skin of his neck and jawline. It was a fact of his life now.

The TV had been playing in the background, and Dabi had been grateful just to have some background noise besides the slosh of the water, now stained fully red with the aftermath of his own DIY-surgical work. The news headlines seemed to reflect the situation across the whole of the rest of Japan, growing crime rates, local Heroes being attacked, questions around shady underground deals which some locals turned a blind eye too. Gunhead was by far the most well-known Pro Hero in the region, but Dabi made a mental note of some of the other names that had cropped up; when all was done here, they may be the sort of people he and Shoto might have to visit.

He stared into the mirror above the sink, sunken eyes staring back at him and a shine to some of the newer staples in his jawline. "Too much work to do and too little time."

As he let the water out, gurgling away down the drain, he caught a brief snippet of build-up of the last story of the news report, from the TV behind him. "- despite not being willing to answer questions, the Number One Hero found himself a spectator as his new Apprentice made his thoughts clear on the Hero Commission and-"

"New Apprentice?" Dabi asked aloud, turning away from the sink to glare at the TV. "You moved quickly, father."

He shook his head, irritated at the reminder of the fact that Endeavor continued to operate as the supposed pinnacle of their society, the Hero everyone should aspire to. However as he moved over to try to grab the remote and shut off the noise, before Endeavor's awful voice could get under his skin, the Apprentice opened his mouth, identified as Katsuki Bakugo.

What followed was the most incendiary piece of television Dabi had ever seen, and he couldn't take his eyes off the screen.

Dabi had seen enough Heroes come in front of a camera and flash a glimmering smile even before he had given up his Todoroki name. There was a way in which they dealt with the media which was almost enshrined in their psyche, a copycat of All Might's way of reassuring the public that he was there, as he had learned from the great Heroes before him. No matter how crooked some of the private Heroes had got after Incident Zero, even they were able to flash a dazzling grin at reporters and pretend that all was forgiven, that everything would be fine. Either the true Heroes smiled, and lied that the world was all right in their hands, or the fake Heroes smiled, to cover all manner of blood that stained their hands.

Katsuki Bakugo did not smile- he screamed. It was clear that the kid had anger issues and short of painting it on a billboard behind him, nobody in the world could miss that of the new kid on the block. He fell for the snide tricks of the woman interviewing him left, right and centre, and he ranted like an animal off of its leash for the first time in its life, but it was clear he didn't care- he just bulldozed his way through the interview and let his sheer, unbridled fury bleed into every answer he gave.

"He's just like you, Endeavor," Dabi had muttered, as the most feral growl had come from Bakugo in response to one particularly vicious line of questioning. The anger was practically causing him to vibrate, and Dabi could tell the sort of Hero that Bakugo was going to be; one of rage and pride, one who valued the glory of the victory above anything else. "Finally you got someone who didn't break and liked the way you thought."

And yet... Dabi couldn't turn it off. Dabi couldn't bring himself to look away from the boy who had been chosen as a surrogate to both him and Shoto. As he watched and listened to what Bakugo was saying, he heard something different somewhere in the middle of the bile being spewed. He slated the Heroes, the Hero Commission, the idea that a vigilante was someone to be hunted and criticised. He attacked every concept of what their society had become, and the worst part of all of it was...

That Dabi didn't fully disagree with everything he said.

He should have done. This was Endeavor's chosen one, his third-time charm, the kid who he was projecting all of his misplaced desires for both him and Shoto onto. There was all manner of rage in Bakugo's nature, and Dabi should have been disgusted with everything about Endeavor's new heir. But despite this, this was the same kid who had got himself banned from UA and the Hero Commission for that fight at Tatooin Station. This angry young man had taken on a villain when the Hero Commission and private Heroes were too busy fighting each other to claim the credit, had risked everything and flew in the face of the law to do the right thing and protect people. No wonder he was angry at the world, and if he had been punished for his intentions while fakes were allowed to fail those they were supposed to protect, Dabi was with the kid on that one.

There was no hope for Endeavor; Dabi was certain of that and had been certain of that for a number of years. Bakugo looked like he shared so many of the characteristics he despised in Endeavor's nature, and Dabi vowed that if he turned out the same as the Flame Hero, Bakugo would have to go too. But maybe...

"Don't stop thinking like that, kid," he murmured to himself, as the questions concluded and Bakugo was hauled off by Endeavor and that damn annoying sidekick Burnin. "Maybe you might turn out alright in the end."

"Compelling viewing, isn't it?"

Dabi shook himself at the sound of that voice, and glared at the doorway at the sight of the newcomer. "You're supposed to knock, Compress."

"Yes, but as much as Gentle would disagree, sometimes there is benefit to catching people off their guard." The dramatic thief who had agreed to accompany him and Shoto did a little bow with a flourish, from where he had stepped through the doorway into Dabi's flat. "He's certainly rocked the boat, that boy."

"Still looks like the sort of guy who would sink the boat as well." Dabi jerked with the remote and turned the TV off. "These Heroes look more and more like villains each day."

"Whereas we vigilantes look exquisite as always." Compress was wearing a mask, so Dabi couldn't read his face, but his jovial tone dropped ever so slightly. "I wanted to talk to you about our youngest member of the party."

"Juhyo?"

"Please. There's no need for codenames around each other. As much as it's a clever name, Shoto is so much easier." Compress strode past Dabi, ignoring the glare he shot his way, and slid onto the battered sofa. "Do you honestly think he can cut it with us?"

Dabi paused, and felt his blood begin to boil. "... What are you asking?"

Compress shrugged, totally unfazed that Dabi was as incensed by this question as he was. "I'm simply concerned for our upcoming job-"

"We've been over the plans a hundred times, Compress," Dabi interrupted testily. "We don't need to be concerned. The kid knows what he's doing-"

"And yet he may not understand why he's doing it." Compress wagged a finger. "You've limited his role to one of supporting us and covering in case someone discovers us, a cameo in the grand scheme of things. The likelihood of anyone turning up that we haven't already accounted for is so low and yet you want him out of the firing line. Shoto Todoroki, with perhaps the strongest Quirk of all of our little quintet, relegated to a minor credit in this performance."

"Get to the point." Dabi balled a fist and let Cremation light a ball of blue fire in his palm. "Say what you've come here to say, or don't say it all."

"You want me not to sugarcoat? Fine by me. I'll say this once, and only once." Compress turned to look at Dabi, and despite the mask not having slits for his eyes Dabi could sense the older thief's gaze boring through him. "You're protecting him too much, Dabi."

That hadn't been what Dabi expected. "... Huh?"

"What we have planned is a heist on a large construction company with ties to Endeavor, the Number One Hero. This is a company which we suspects does contract work for some fairly shady private Heroes in the business, and may even have links to the underworld, to people like the Meta Liberation Army. This will make us powerful enemies, not least Endeavor, Shoto's own father." Compress shook his head. "You can't protect him from all of that. Nor can you protect him from having to do what needs to be done forever."

"You mean to kill," Dabi realised, thinking out loud. "To damage, to hurt, to kill people who get in our way-"

"It is... a potential outcome of our job," Compress replied, something hesitant in his tone. "Dabi, I know what you can do, I know what you have done. Shoto doesn't know your body count, but I have some idea."

"That's my decision and my burden," Dabi said, trying to keep his anger under wraps. "Shoto doesn't have to bear that too."

"Quite so. You and I are used to the darker side of this work, and I'm sure that's why you've planned for us to be the front line. Neither of us will shy away if we have to fight someone from going all out, while Gentle and La Brava will." Compress tapped his foot twice. "But if we need him to, then we need to be able to know that Shoto can back us up, that he won't hesitate. If he did, then he'd risk himself and us."

"I won't have him become like me," Dabi interrupted, bluntly, and he shocked himself with how forcefully it came out. "The kid still wants to be a Hero-"

"As he holes up with us, ready to take on a grand corporate theft?" Compress scoffed. "And you still think he can be a Hero."

"I gave up on that idea a long time ago." Dabi paced to the other side of the room, picking at one of his fresh staples which had started to flare up as his blood pressure rose. "He doesn't have to. He still wants to do the right thing, and I know that if he could, he wouldn't join us on this."

"Strong principles. You must be so proud of his character."

"He'll go far. If this is what it takes to take on Endeavor, then he and I will both do it, we just... we don't have to go to the same lengths." Dabi stopped picking at the staple and stared at Compress. "He can still be a Hero."

"If this were any other situation, I would call you unbearably naive to believe that."

"And why is this any different? Why not just come out and say it?" Dabi was aware that his flames had intensified in his palm now- he would need to dress this after Compress left.

"Why is this different? Oh, I'm far more forgiving when I see a relationship like yours." Compress clapped his hands, and something in his tone became almost smug behind the mask. "The bond between brothers can be thicker than blood, after all."

Cremation fizzled out in his palms out of shock. "... What did you say?"

"Oh my, did I strike a nerve?" Compress asked, leaning back and putting his booted feet on a coffee table. "I merely wished to state how much I admire your fraternal instincts. I didn't know you had this side to you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Please, let's not pretend as if I'm a fool, Dabi. Why else would Endeavor's son seek you out when he ran away from home? Why else would you, a hardened vigilante with a body count the length of my arms, take in a fresh-faced boy with no experience of our side of the world and let him tag along with you? Why else would you be so determined to shield him from the worst of what we have to do, and why else would you both share such an ardent hatred of Endeavor that can only come from blood?"

Compress shrugged, overly dramatic in his gestures, as if what he was saying were a pity. "Gentle is easy to misdirect, since he's so fixed in his ways and his own ideals. He'll overlook anything if you make it easy enough, but me? I'm a performer, so I can tell when there's something below the surface of a character, something I'm being led to not see. I do it enough to people myself."

"..." Dabi struggled to respond. "I knew you were a fantasist, Compress, but-"

"I'm also very astute," the older man interrupted, with a sound that could only be the huff of a smirk. "Let's not do this dance all day... Touya Todoroki."

Dabi couldn't help it, but the ball of flame in his palm from Cremation erupted, and with a cry he threw it across the room to incinerate a wardrobe rather than let the rage at the sound of that name on another's lips push Cremation to uncontrollable levels. "I'll show you how to dance, Sako-"

"Whoa, easy!" Compress displayed impressive reflexes to jump upright from the sofa and back away from Dabi as he advanced. "No need to take it out on me or any of the furniture, I don't mean harm!"

"..." With a titanic effort, Dabi quelled the anger burning inside him and clenched his fist to prevent sparking up Cremation again. "... Fine."

"Now, your reaction tells me all I need to know." Compress stretched himself as if he'd just woken up. "You don't need to worry. As far as I'm concerned, your name is your name-"

"Dabi is the only name I need," Dabi growled, aware how much anger was creeping into his voice now. "The only one who gets to call me otherwise is Shoto, and if anyone does find out I'll burn you where you stand."

"Code names only, strictly professional, I assure you," Compress replied, although some of the smugness at his discovery still lingered in his voice. "But I have to give you a reality check, in the interests of being professional with you. There's only so much you can do before you fail, Dabi."

Dabi folded his arms and huffed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that the world we're in is not kind. You may wish to preserve Shoto's kindness, give him every chance to become a Hero the other side of this, but the world might not let you." Compress clapped a hand onto his shoulder, and Dabi couldn't help but inwardly flinch that at any point the older man could activate his Quirk and turn him into a marble on a whim. "That might not be a bad thing for both of you, in the long run."

"How?" He glared at the thief. "Why shouldn't I try and protect him?"

"You both want to get back at the same man. You have become a scourge in the underworld to fake Heroes, and an ally to dangerous criminals. You could bring him so much shame anyway by the very virtue of your existence, but... Shoto could do it tenfold. If he became just like us, willing to perform a different role to the one Endeavor wanted for him, then the shame and agony that both of you could cause your father may destroy him anyway."

Dabi opened his mouth to reply but paused, as what Compress had said sunk in. He hadn't thought about it that way when he had agreed to take Shoto in, but there was at least some merit in what their co-conspirator for the heist had said. Maybe it would have been for Shoto's benefit to see things in that level, to not get the chance to shy away from having to make the tough decisions or do the dirty work. Maybe if he learned what it took to make it as far as Dabi had in a world like this, Shoto could be every bit as ruthless and efficient and dangerous. That really would hurt Endeavor more than anything.

But... this was Shoto. His brother.

"No."

Compress' mask gave nothing away, but if he could see the man's face (not that he ever have) Dabi would have put money on him raising an eyebrow at that. "You don't think so?"

"I think you're right. But-"

"Because it's your brother, you don't want me to be right." Realisation dawned on the well-dressed thief. "Or rather, you don't want to see it at all."

"Yeah. That." Dabi never felt nervous, or embarrassed about anything, but for a brief moment he looked out of the flat window over the city below, and turned his back on Compress. "I want to hurt Endeavor. He deserves to pay for what he did to us, let alone what he's done to the rest of Japan since he became Number One, what he's turned a blind eye to."

He picked at one of the older staples on his left arm, and realised he would have to do it again in a week's time. "If Shoto wanted to go that far to hurt him too then I... would be okay with it. But the kid wants to be a Hero, still, despite everything. He ran to me because he was tired of being hurt, and because he wants to get back at dear old dad, but y'know, he doesn't have it in him to kill someone, or hurt them like we can."

"He's going to find out the hard way, sooner or later," Compress warned, fiddling with a cuff on his hideous orange blazer and walking towards the door. "At some point he will be exposed to a choice he can't run from, and there's nothing you can do about it. Even as his brother, you cannot spare him from every evil in this world, or every dent to his morality."

"I know. But I can at least try for now." Dabi didn't say it but he left it hanging in the air. Whatever it took to keep Shoto on the cleanest path through life, he would do it. No matter how much hard work or what he would have to do himself, Shoto had the gifts and the desire to make a great Hero even despite his circumstances, and while Dabi would willingly accept his assistance as a vigilante, he knew he had to go to the ends of the earth itself to keep Shoto from crossing the lines he had a long time ago.

Shoto deserved a way back, and a hopeful future. If he could at least give that to his brother, then it would all be worth it to Dabi.

Mr Compress stared him up and down for a second in the doorway, before nodding, a gesture which threatened to dislodge the obnoxious top hat he wore. Dabi still didn't understand why he was fully dressed up in smart clothes, mask and hat around the rest of the crew, but he didn't waste energy questioning his eccentricities. "Alright. Warnings aside, it's clear you would do whatever it took for Shoto. I trust he does the same for all of us when the chips are down."

"He will," Dabi replied, convinced. "Shoto really hates losing. Trust me, he won't hold back."

"I'm rather glad to hear it." Compress beckoned. "Come now, my friend. If we are to do this tonight, I'm sure one last run through our plans can't hurt anyone."

He had a point. The plan had been something which had been examined, reassessed and amended consistently for over a week, but it was one Dabi was proud of for its simplicity and for maximising the potential of all of the members of their little crew. The one thing it needed was certainty, certainty that everyone understood it- Shoto had never done anything like this and he had never worked with Gentle and La Brava before. It couldn't hurt to ensure they all went over their roles one last time. "... Fine. Lead the way."

With a nod, Compress bowed out of the apartment, holding the door just long enough for Dabi to duck out and let it click shut behind him. "The last I saw when I left them, Gentle was trying to educate young Juhyo. I'm sure he's been in good hands."

"Compress?"

"Dabi?"

Dabi nodded at the use of the correct name, and tried not to let his satisfaction show. "I meant what I said."

"Which part?"

"If you tell anyone that name I will turn you to ash."

"I don't doubt it. Although..." There was a hint of mirth in the rogue's voice now, and if Dabi could see his eyes he knew they would be twinkling. "I would like to see you try and get the drop on me. We both know I'm faster."

Dabi rolled his eyes, trying not to let the small smirk escape onto his face. "Don't think you want to test that any time soon."

"Perhaps not." They rounded the corner at the end of the hall and slid through the door into the apartment Gentle and La Brava had claimed as their own, only for Compress to come to a complete standstill. "Oh. Well. This is not what I expected."

"Huh?" Dabi asked, confused. "What do you-"

When he looked into the apartment, the site that he was met with was something that would never leave his head as long as he would live.

"I'm... not sure I get this," Shoto said, hesitantly, holding a fine china cup of steaming hot tea out in front of him, holding his ring finger out and looking completely nonplussed.

Gentle's moustache quivered, a look of agony on his face as La Brava rolled on the sofa laughing her head off. "Pinky finger, Juhyo, not ring finger! How do you even manage to hold a cup of tea and drink from it with that finger out?"

"I just... Why?"

"What do you mean, why?"

"Why do we raise our pinkies if we're drinking tea?"

"Class, my dear boy! Class is everything!"

"... Sure." Shoto put his tea down and stared into its contents as if searching the universe for its soul. "... But why the pinky finger?"

"GRAH! La Brava, help me out here for goodness sake!"

"What the hell is going on?"

Gentle jumped at the sound of Dabi's voice in the doorway, and Shoto nearly spilled his tea as he tried to pick it up again. "Dabi! Capital timing, I'm trying to teach Juhyo some proper manners but he just can't get the hang of it-"

"I just don't understand." Shoto took a sip of his tea, ring finger still pointed out. "And why is it called Earl Grey?"

"Ah, you see-"

"I'll help both of you out now," Dabi interrupted testily, snatching the cup of tea from his younger brother before any further damage to his sanity or Gentle's could be done. "We're not talking about tea now."

Compress chuckled behind him. "As much as I was enjoying it, Dabi is right. We came to talk tactics. We're going over the plan again."

La Brava groaned like a petulant high schooler from the couch. "Seriously? We've done this ten times in the last few days, our roles haven't changed a bit! You're the one who we're all counting on anyway, Compress-"

"Do you doubt my performance capabilities, young lady? I feel offended-"

"Please," Dabi groaned through gritted teeth, staring at the madhouse that was their little crew and his bewildered little brother. "Not the time. Okay?"

"Right, got it!" La Brava responded, almost a little sarcastic with how chipper her response was to him. "So, Juhyo, want to start us off?"

Shoto blinked at the use of his name, seeming to come back into the room. "Right. Okay. So if I'm right on this, the whole plan starts with Compress..."

(***)

Shoto blinked, pacing the corridor he had been assigned to patrol within Uraraka Construction Limited, and tried to make sense of the blur that had been the execution of the plan that had got him to wear he was right now.

Touya had introduced him to the thief Mister Compress as an old acquaintance, but Shoto knew of his powers even before reuniting with his long-lost brother. Atsuhiro Sako was renowned for a series of high-profile thefts carried out with bombast and glee by a man who loved the spotlight, and his Quirk (as Compress called it, his "finest magic trick") had been finally cracked by some of Endeavor's sidekicks, who had fruitlessly pursued the thief before losing him off the grid completely. His power had been the key to all of it.

Compress had the ability to turn whatever he touched into a little blue marble-like sphere. It turned out this power worked on people pretty well. Compress could turn marbles back into people by clicking his fingers and snapping them back into reality immediately. Breaking into Uraraka Construction Limited had been child's play when using a power like that.

Shoto had helped the nice girl, La Brava, track the security guards in the week before they planned to strike. Working out a rota of who started when had been very easy even without the analysis training he had received from Kido and his fath- Endeavor when he was growing up. One of them who Compress said looked very similar to him (Shoto had never seen under the mask, so he had no clue if this was right) had been easy to track to his home, a solitary apartment where Gentle and Touya had ambushed him and taken his uniform and key card.

From that point it had been easy. For a company so large and with such substantial turnover, their security detail was tiny; Shoto found himself asking why they thought they were so safe that they only needed three guards in the whole building on the night shift. Ambush had not been a difficult task even for him, with no field experience of this sort of thing, and it had made their job ten times easier when they executed their plan that night.

All he had needed to do was let Compress's hand came down on his shoulder, and all of a sudden with a click of fingers Shoto suddenly found himself inside the building with his brother and their crew half an hour later. It was as easy as that. His brother and Gentle had taken a guard each and knocked them out cold, and he had watched intently as Compress had stashed them away as marbles. Best to keep them away until we're done, the older thief said, and Shoto could almost hear the wink.

It was okay though, Shoto reassured himself. Compress would let them out when they were done, so that was good. The guards wouldn't be harmed.

The plan from there had been simple. Touya had accepted early on that La Brava and her computer knowledge would be the lynchpin of their plan; getting her into a secure location was the most important thing, so that she could act undisturbed and hack the company networks. By sheer luck, the large vault for the company and their central computer link terminal were on the fifth floor, the same floor; that made the next bit even easier.

As La Brava wormed her way into the camera feeds and shut them off, Gentle had used his Elasticity Quirk to turn the stairs to some form of slippery rubber, effectively creating slides which couldn't be climbed up. Compress had used his Quirk on the one elevator that ran up the office block, blocking off that route to get to the fifth floor, and then they had presumably got to work. Gentle was to protect La Brava as she downloaded data from their files, while Touya and Compress made their way to the vault to break it down. That was the plan, anyway.

Really, Shoto didn't know what was going on up there. Touya had told him to patrol the downstairs after the stairs were elasticised and the lift stopped, and alert them if any guards came to check on their colleagues, or if the police had been called. He didn't know why patrolling an empty building was necessary when they had Compressed the two remaining guards, and he couldn't get the earpiece they'd given him to work, but Touya seemed to think it was important he was down there, and that he had iced up the bottom of the elasticised stairs. If it was important, he was doing it.

At least he was out of the way here. Touya and the rest could get on with what they needed to do.

Shoto grunted as he walked along a long corridor on the third floor, and scratched at his scalp. There was still a bounty on his head, so Touya and Compress had insisted he wore something to hide himself- Shoto found himself in a white mask left spare by Compress which covered his face, and a ragged black hoodie over the top of his hair. The mask didn't fit his face properly, being made for another person's features, and the hoodie itched like nothing else. Shoto was not comfortable.

"Not long now," he muttered to himself, hopefully. La Brava's only response when he asked how long she would take with the Uraraka Construction computer security was to laugh, so he assumed that was a good thing. Maybe that meant they would get out of there sooner rather than later. He hoped so.

Shoto didn't feel comfortable at all, and not just because of the mask. He wanted to get back at Endeavor, truly he did. He wanted to stop people from seeing Endeavor as some sort of pinnacle of Heroes, and see the scumbag he knew and had been raised by. And their plan was good, because it would help with that- if people knew the extent of damage which had been covered up for Endeavor, how much hurt he had caused by going overboard fighting villains, then Shoto was all for it.

He just didn't know how to feel about this way of doing it. Breaking in and attacking guards? Stealing whatever money they could get their hands on? He didn't want to talk back to Touya, because Touya had taken him in when he ran away from home and had kept him safe, but Touya was willing to go a lot further than he ever thought his brother would do. It was... complicated.

"Eurgh, dang it!"

Shoto's head whipped up as he heard a very unfamiliar voice coming from the large conference room on his right. He didn't recognise that at all, and nobody else was supposed to be in the building besides the security staff. He should probably check out the problem; Touya would not be happy if someone got in the way or stopped them from doing what they came here to do.

Shoto inched over to the door and tried to peer through, but predictably the mask he had been wearing preventing him from making anything out through its tiny eye sockets. He didn't know how Compress saw anything out of it, so Shoto lifted the mask off and clutched it to his side, his finger very briefly running over that all too familiar scar on his face. On the plus side, finally he could see.

He was very confused at what he saw though.

There was a girl in there, brown hair framing a wide face with big brown eyes gazing intently at a number of objects. These objects, Shoto realised, were a variety of bits and pieces of DIY equipment, and she had them all levitating in the air, hovering off the ground between four and six feet off the floor. There were paint cans, a full toolbox, individual tools and even a stepladder in amongst the cloud of objects. Was this a Quirk?

She had her hand outstretched, and Shoto could see some strange shaping to the end of her fingers, almost like pads, and was intently concentrating on the nearest object to her, a floating handsaw. "Okay. You can do this. You can make them float, so you can make them fly, right? How hard can it be?"

Her country dialect was thick, and Shoto found himself leaning into to concentrate on what she was saying. Her Quirk was making these objects float in the air? She was training herself after hours it seemed, and from what she said she wanted to see if she could do more than just float them- did that mean she was permanently able to leave them hanging in the air? Could she not apply force to them like some telekinetic Quirks he had seen? Curiosity at seeing this strange new Quirk puzzled him.

Shoto chose that moment to lean heavily on the door and unfortunately for him, it chose that moment to decide it was enough to open further. With a treacherous thunk and the creak of hinges, it slid forward to open more; Shoto tried and failed to not go with it, but found himself stumbling forward into the room with a crash. In response, the girl looked up and panicked, slapping her hands together with a cry- somehow Shoto caught that she slammed all of her fingertips together, an act which seemed to release the objects in the room from their hovering and send them earthbound with an almighty clatter.

Now he had her attention. This was not good. "Um... hi."

She giggled. "Hi to you too! Sorry, ya kinda surprised me there!"

"I... think I surprised myself too." What was he thinking? He had no idea what to say to her and shouldn't be speaking to her anyway- why was he carrying it on like a normal conversation.

"Are you one of the new guards here? I thought you guys were either supposed ta' be downstairs or on the fifth floor!"

Shoto hesitated. "... Yes. I am new. I am lost. This building is confusing on my first shift." He hated improvisation. "If you can point me to the stairs, I'll leave you."

"It takes some time! Don't ya worry. I still get lost trying ta' find the right department when we have meetings!" She blinked, and looked him up and down properly for the first time. "Wait, didn't ya say you were a guard?"

"I did?" Shoto asked aloud. "I mean, yes, I did."

"Um..." She trailed off, and the smile on her face seemed to fade, her flushed cheeks beginning to pale. "Then... where's your uniform?"

"I..." Improvisation really was not his strong point. "I left it at home in the wash. Yeah."

"You're, uh..." The girl's country accent was thick, and her eyes were wide now with fright. "You're not a night guard, are ya?"

"Um, no." Shoto shuffled awkwardly under her stare. "I'm..."

"Wait..." The girl's eyes flicked down to the mask Shoto had been clutching in his hands, and Shoto only then realised he'd shown his face to the girl. The horror he felt then increased tenfold when her gaze flicked up to his face. "No way. I've... seen ya on the news. They ran all those stories about you. You're... Shoto Todoroki? Endeavor's son?"

Shoto knew with a scar like his he couldn't lie. Nobody would leave him. "I am."

"Oh help. Why is Japan's most famous fugitive breaking into our office, what is going onnnnn-"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Shoto asked, out of genuine confusion. He had no idea who this girl was.

"Ochaco Uraraka!" She announced, before clamping a hand over her mouth in shock at the fact she had answered him without hesitation. "Oh gawd, why did I do that? Some guy just breaks into our office and I'm gonna give him my name like it doesn't matter-"

"You're... an Uraraka?" Shoto asked, light dawning on him. "But you're my age... your parents, are they the chairman and chairwoman?"

"I..." Ochaco hesitated, but it seemed her honesty was unfailing. "... Yeah. Mom and Dad don't know I'm here but this is our company."

"... I see."

"Please don't hurt anyone, you don't have to do anything. If you want any of the blueprints or any of our archive data to take to sell, it's on the fifth floor-"

"I'm... not here to harm you," Shoto interrupted, trying to reassure her and stumbling over his words slightly. "Please, I... I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Then how come you're here? Endeavor's son, the one they have bounties out for, breaking into our office? This is so weird!"

Shoto's brain screamed at him that enough was enough. This Ochaco girl had already seen his face and identified him, which would be trouble for Touya and everyone else if she was able to get clear and call the Police. He had already made enough mistakes showing himself, engaging with her, letting his guard down; for all he knew Touya and the rest

Despite this and against all better judgment Shoto's big heart, the one that screamed at him how much he wanted to be a Hero, told him that she seemed nice. She seemed like she would be good to talk to. It screamed at him and made him sit down cross legged on the floor in front of the girl. "How long do you have to talk?"

"Huh?"

"I'll tell you everything I can." Shoto patted the floor and immediately questioned why in his own head. "If you tell me why you're here and what you're doing here, I'll tell you what happened to me and what I'm doing here. Does that sound fair?"

It was a stupid idea. It made no sense. He had no idea why he had suggested it when he had already told her enough, and yet, he found Ochaco sitting down hesitantly opposite him. "... Okay. Are you gonna go first or me?"

"Um..." Shoto hadn't planned that far ahead. "I can go but I just want to warn you. It's quite a long story..."

(***)

Dabi and Juhyo, Touya and Shoto Todoroki. Aged: 25 and 15.

Ochaco Uraraka. Aged: 15.

(***)

A/N:

Bet you all weren't expecting Uraraka to actually turn up, huh?

Shoto Todoroki is and always will be socially inept in my eyes. I'm trying to preserve that canon ineptitude here because ultimately Dabi is not a great role model, and he's not gone through any of the socialising/shell breaking he does in canon. I'm also trying to preserve his desire to do the right thing and be a good Hero, which bleeds through in him being so open with Uraraka despite it being a genuinely terrible idea. On the plus side, premium distraction techniques. He might actually be good at this whole vigilante thing,

But yeah, otherwise, work this week for me has taken away so much. I work in criminal law, and we've had two very needlessly complicated deadlines for witness statements and a chunk of interviews. It's meant I've not got round to replying to all reviewers so far from chapter 19- if you are still waiting, rest assured I'll reply as soon as possible. Irl is a bitch.

Otherwise, we made it to 20 chapters and the demand has been insane. There's nearly 800 of you following this now. Those kind of stats are what I dreamed of in the endgame, and never expected at this point; the fact you're giving me stats comparable to the likes of Torchbearer and Viridescent, two stories I massively idolise and aspire to be like, is ridiculous and I don't think I deserve it. I'm genuinely grateful.

Next chapter back to UA? More than likely. Although we're due some more villains so watch this space.

If you liked this one, then please give the story a review- I love to see them and they genuinely make my day. If you haven't already please consider a favourite and follow too- and tell your friends. Share the love, yo.

Ya boy, out.