"Are you ready?" Touya asked calmly, standing just a couple of feet away from you. You took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly through your mouth.

"Let's do it." You said with an affirmative nod.

You watched intently as Touya raised his arm and held his hand palm-up between the two of you.

"We'll start small."

A pale blue light was cast isotropically around Touya and yourself as he produced a small flame. You stared at it for a moment, silently studying its attributes. It was a bit strange; unlike most flames, which would flicker and twitch sporadically as it burned its fuel, the one before you now was unwavering. It pointed straight up and continued to burn steadily as Touya fed it with his power. The simplicity of it calmed you- a flame that was already being heavily controlled should be a breeze to manipulate. A gentle smile spread across your lips. He'd likely never admit it, but it looked as though Touya were holding back his own giddy grin upon seeing your eagerness. You pulled back and cupped the air around the flame with your hands. The intense light left dark spots in your vision the longer you stared into it. It was becoming rather annoying. Touya cleared his throat, catching your attention.

"Any day now, (Y/N)." He urged.

"I was just about to- you're distracting me." You huffed with a smile. Touya simply rolled his eyes.

You focused your attention on his ignited palm once more. Of course- it must have been uncomfortable for Touya to hold his flame so long. Targeting the hottest bit of fire near his skin, you gently pulled the energy up and away from him. Touya let out a relaxed breath as the tension visibly left his hand. Excitement brewed inside of your tummy- you were helping him! Your calm smile transformed into a broad grin as the exhilaration encouraged you. So wrapped up in your joy, you unwittingly and rapidly put more effort into extracting the energy from Touya's hand. Suddenly, the flame was gone. Its light vanished nearly instantaneously, leaving you standing, dumbfounded, in the dimly lit factory.

"Huh- I- wha? Ahw, man!" You groaned, dropping your hands into your lap and throwing your head back. You'd nearly had it! Your excitement had tragically caused you to lose focus.

Touya furrowed his brows. "Come on, (Y/n), this should be nothing for you." You were sure he was only trying to be encouraging, but his comment made you feel inept.

"It takes more focus to keep the flame going than it does to put it out. See, thermal energy has a tendency to flow to areas of lower concentration until a kind of kinetic equilibrium is reached." You explained.

Touya blinked, clearly confused. "And… assuming I knew what that meant..."

You rolled your eyes, the corners of your lips curved gently upward. "Hot likes cold. Heat only flows into things that are colder. The air around the fire is colder, so without you constantly giving heat to the flame, the energy disperses, the temperature drops too low to ignite oxygen, and the fire goes out. I can keep the temperature high, but..." You sighed defeatedly. "It doesn't help if I can't keep it together."

Touya sighed upon seeing the discouraged look on your face. "It's alright. You did it before, you can do it now. Try again." The next second, a new flame popped up from Touya's hand. You sat up straight once again and went to work moving the energy away from his skin. Again, Touya's muscles relaxed, and again, a feeling of accomplishment settled over you; however, you wouldn't allow yourself to celebrate so soon. You raised your hands steadily to the flame, cupping the air around it as it heated up.

'Alright. Fire is self-sustaining. The key to this is to just keep the energy together- the temperature needs to be high enough to ignite the oxygen in the air.' You reasoned with yourself. You gently began turning your palms upward as you concentrated on moving the flame away from Touya's hand. As you'd demonstrated the night before, this wasn't typically such a difficult task, but somehow, being put on the spot like this left you feeling nervous. Just as you'd hoped, the small blue flame began to rise into the air away from Touya's hand. You leaned back and allowed it to float towards you. Touya's eyes shown with curiosity and fascination as you held his fire suspended between your own hands.

'I got it!' You beamed at your accomplishment. It was so tiny. It wouldn't be hard to control. You slowly moved your hands away from one another and forced the thermal energy into a straight line connecting your palms. The flame obeyed, transforming from its traditional teardrop shape to more of a small, elongated bonfire. As the energy spread out, the flames cooled and took on a typical orange color.

Touya leaned in for a better look. "Wow…" He breathed, face illuminated a soft yellow. "...can you turn it back?" He asked. You looked up at him for only a moment, not wanting to break your concentration.

"I think so… hang on." You brought your hands closer together, forcing the energy back into a smaller space. The flame flickered erratically before resuming its calming blue hue. You chuckled breathily. "The fire is smaller, but it's hotter." You waved your hand lightly from side to side, moving the flame with it. Your eyes sparkled joyfully as you looked up at your companion. This could really work! You stood up abruptly, dispersing the fire as you did. You beamed down at Touya, allowing your giddy nature to get the better of you.

"Alright, again! But put more 'umph' behind it this time! I wanna try some defensive stuff." You ordered cheerfully as you readied yourself. Touya shook his head with a smile.

"You sure you can handle that? It's kind of a big jump, don't ya think?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow. You responded with a confident nod. Perhaps you were getting ahead of yourself, but you'd never worked with flames so intimately before. The idea had always petrified you as a child, but now, perhaps just because it was Touya, you were feeling overly-assured of your abilities. If Touya felt any hesitation at all at the idea of hurling fireballs at you, he didn't show it. He got to his feet and took a few steps back, raising his arm defensively in front of him. His flames shot up, engulfing his scarred arm and obscuring it completely from view. You readied yourself as well, bringing your fists up in front of you. Touya's expression was unchanging as he critiqued your stance.

"Punching it isn't gonna help you." He pointed out. He swiftly launched his attack forward, sending a blue wave of heat in your direction. In a moment of quick thinking, you placed a thick air barrier between you and the incoming flames. The attack landed to the top left of your invisible shield, just above your head.

"You're supposed to move it, remember?" Touya called out again. Another fast moving fireball wizzed toward you. Again, it landed off to the side, this time to your lower right.

"Come on, focus." He instructed. You shook your head roughly in an attempt to force yourself to concentrate. You stared hard at Touya's ignited skin. Your quirk was well within range to help him. While keeping your own protective barrier up, you pulled the energy away from Touya's forearm. His flames intensified almost instantaneously, and he pushed his arm forward again to send out another blow.

"I thought you wanted defense practice. Why are you helping out your enemy?" He had a point. This really did seem to be a weakness of yours. Or, rather, he seemed to be a weakness of yours. You had to make yourself think of him as a villain- after all, that was exactly what he was. His attacks came so suddenly and with so much power that they gave you barely any time at all to react. Something about the thought of being charred was slowing down your reaction time. Even after belting out all that confidence, was it possible you were actually scared? Touya let out a low grunt as he thrust another blast your way. One again, it landed near the edge of your barrier. It was curious, you thought; even without your shield, not a single one of his blows would have hit you. The realization comforted you.

'He's… not aiming for me.' You couldn't help but smile at the thought. It wasn't even an insulting notion. He wasn't holding back his power because he didn't believe you could do it- no. He was giving you all he had while purposely missing! Of course he was. It was Touya, after all. Despite his harsh exterior and his new villainous attitude, the only thing shining through to you now was that same caring boy you'd known. The knowledge that you wouldn't be hurt soothed your nerves. You watched carefully as Touya raised his hand high above his head. For the first time, you saw it- the silent cue that he was about to strike. For a brief instant, the flames around his wrist intensified.

'That's it- now!'

Sure enough, as he brought his arm back down, a sickle-shaped arc of flame hurled forward. It would be difficult to take control of so much energy at once while keeping your barrier up; besides, you didn't really need it. You released your invisible shield and focused all of your attention on the fire careening toward you. You pictured your power weaving a stitch-like pattern all throughout the flames, ensnaring the energy within completely. Using your arms as a visual aid, you commanded the energy up into the ceiling. To your delight, the fire obeyed, curving unnaturally upward from your unseen influence. It didn't hit you. It didn't even come close. Stars sparkled in your eyes as an overwhelming sense of pride settled over you. It seemed that your accomplishment had stunned even Touya, who was now, too, gazing in wonder as his diverted attack crashed into the metal beams on the factory ceiling.

"Alright! I did it! Did you see that?! I totally fucking blocked it!" You hopped up and down childishly, pumping your fists in the air. Touya brought his eyes back down to your celebrating figure. In your excitement, you almost didn't notice him charge up another attack.

"Alright! Aaa-ooh shit…" You swore as another burst of flame came your way. Without thinking, you cast your arm out to the side, and the flame swiftly followed, scorching the concrete wall on the far end of the factory. This time, however, there was no time to celebrate your victory. Only a moment after the fire connected with the wall, another attack was upon you. It still looked as though Touya were purposely aiming off to the side; still, the stunning power behind his blasts was enough to frighten you into keeping all of your attention focused on them. This time, you only had enough time to nudge the energy to the left a bit, rather than completely deviate it from its path.

"Don't get slow on me, now!" Touya called, ready to launch another wave of flame. He wasn't giving you a chance to even catch your breath. He launched attack after attack; each time, you narrowly managed to change its course to keep it from reaching you. The adrenaline left you panting, and your muscles were tensing from exerting your quirk so much. You wouldn't let it stop you, though. As Touya threw his fire at you once again, you sucked in a deep breath and readied yourself. This time, instead of an interweaving string-like pattern, you imagined the energy of the fire reversing course entirely, curving upward and then back again, essentially throwing down an "uno reverse card" on your assailant. You stuck your palm straight out forcefully as the flames neared.

'Come on, come on…'

Just as you'd commanded it to, the fire followed your mental path, making a u-turn midair and circling back the way it came. Back to… Touya. The accomplished look in your eyes died quickly as you realized your mistake too late.

"Look out!" You shouted as the blue inferno roared toward its caster. For a moment, you caught a flicker of fearful surprise on your companion's face just before the fireball slammed into his gut. The force of the attack threw him onto his back. Your heart sank into your stomach. And you zoomed to his side in a panic.

"Touya! Shit- I…" Up close, you could see that patches of his frayed white shirt had caught fire. You wasted no time extinguishing them. Touya coughed sporadically as he began to sit himself up. You cupped his cheeks in your palms, examining his features closely before sweeping your hands over his torso in a fretful frenzy.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking- Jesus, your clothes are scorched. I really-" The words spewed out almost too quickly to understand. Touya's stomach began to shake slightly, jumping gently up and down as a chorus of chuckles came from him. You shut up quickly and looked over at his smiling face.

"That was great." He told you plainly with a mild grin. You were perplexed.

"I- but I… You're hurt, aren't you?" You whined guiltily.

Touya shrugged. "Eh, I've had way worse. Besides- it's not like it's the first time you've knocked me on my ass."

You huffed out a sigh. Sure, you were relieved that he was, for the most part, alright, but the way he'd always blow off his wellbeing was really starting to get to you. You shook your head. "You're not getting out of this one. Let me see." You demanded, folding your legs to sit on your knees. You didn't have any of your first aid supplies on you- that could be a problem if he were seriously hurt. Still, you wouldn't let that menial fact stop you from examining his injury. You reached for the hem of his burned shirt and hooked your fingers around it gently. Before you could pull it up, your wrist was seized by your "patient" and your hand snatched away from the fabric. You shot him a nagging and disapproving glare; however, upon seeing his expression, you softened your own. The look he wore wasn't angry or even protestful. It was soft- peaceful, even. The smile he flashed didn't look strained or forced; rather, it served to assure you. It was a stark contrast to the sudden yanking he'd just done.

"I promise, I'm okay." Sitting himself completely upright, Touya brought his other hand up to your chin and pulled you in for a small peck. You sighed; he really was such a hardass sometimes.

"Do you want to take a break?" He questioned as he pulled back. You shook your head.

"Are you kidding? I can't stop now that I know I can control your attacks." You sprung to your feet quickly and leaned down to offer a hand to Touya. "I wanna perfect it." You concluded with a determined smirk. Touya's feelings, it seemed, were reciprocated. With a chuckle, he took your hand.

Your little training session went on for hours before you finally conceded and agreed to take a break. You didn't do much more defense training; even so, in that time, you managed even greater fiery feats. The flames were much easier to manipulate when they weren't hurling toward you at thirty miles an hour. You toyed with Touya's fire like a child with a marker, forming them into polygons and sending them on a controlled flight path through the rafters of the building. It was only when your muscles felt as though they might give out that you decided to rest.

You didn't get to sleep for a while that night. Your brain was just buzzing with exhilaration. You hadn't had a training session that intense since you'd first started with Stiller- it was incredibly refreshing. Touya, on the other hand, was beat; unsurprising, considering the thrashinging you'd given him. The man had practically torn up his arms giving you flames to play with. Still, he stayed up with you as long as he could. Most of the night was spent in your metal fort with you pressed close to Touya's side, bodies sore, burned, and somewhat bruised, as the two of you talked about irrelevant and nonsensical things: your favorite foods and colors, small trinkets you'd collect on your trips around the world, the best places you'd seen and the places you hoped it one day go. Although Touya would occasionally chime in, you did most of the talking. It was a welcome change of pace from the peaceless days you'd had. It wasn't hard for you to tell when Touya had begun to fight off sleep. He was just as stubborn as ever. As you spoke, his head would occasionally dip, and his eyelids would noticeably droop before he'd jolt upright once more. You couldn't help but smile at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I boring you?" You teased with feigned offense. Touya shook his head sleepily.

"Nah, I'm good. Keep going." He yawned. He never did like to admit when he was at his limit.

"I think it may be time for you to get some rest." You chuckled.

Touya pouted and let out a quick breath of air through his nostrils. "Sorry. I like hearing you talk; it's relaxing. Maybe a little too much." He admitted as he stretched his arms over his head and slumped down into a lying position. Your lips quickly formed into a loving smile as Touya's head took its place on your lap. You timidly began to stroke his dark hair. It was so different from the white locks you'd seen on him for so many years, and you quietly wondered when he decided to dye it. Touya gradually began to lean into your touch, and your pats became more confident. His breathing grew relaxed and heavy as your fingers worked the knots from his thick locks. In no time, he fell asleep. It would be a while before you followed suit.

You weren't sure exactly when you'd fallen asleep, but it must've been close to sunrise. The light that streamed into the entrance to your fort warmed your face, managing to stir you from your sleep in the process. Your limbs quivered as you stretched them out, and an involuntary whine snuck past your lips. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you turned your head to the spot Touya had been when you fell asleep. To your dismal surprise, he was gone. You swiveled your head, searching the immediate area, but still saw no sign of him.

"Touya?" You called out, only to be met with the echo of your own voice as it reverberated off the walls in the empty warehouse. Your heart sank into your stomach.

'That's strange, where did he go?' You got to your feet and dusted yourself off. The sound of your footsteps echoed in the empty space as you rushed from room to room in the large factory. You even went so far as to fly up into the rafters of the ceiling, but still, he was nowhere to be found. A disappointed feeling settled in your gut. Given everything that had happened, surely he wouldn't just leave you all alone like that. You perched yourself atop one of the metal beams and scanned the ground one last time, hoping your birds-eye-view would give you some insight to Touya's whereabouts. To your dismay, you saw nothing.

You kissed your teeth and sighed. "Really? Now isn't the time for a disappearing act." Sure, you understood that Touya was a busy man, but that didn't give him the right to run off without telling you- not when the whole of Japan was on your trail. You began to pace nervously atop the steel beam.

'Where could he have gone on such short notice? He would have woken me up if he was going somewhere… right? The least he could have done was tell me. He promised we'd work with his flames again today!'

Your thoughts were interrupted by the unpleasant screeching of the metal door to your right as it scraped against the floor. You shot your gaze to the only available entrance to the building. The slender-framed man waltzed in almost cautiously. His hood covered his face from your point of view, but it was plain to see he was scanning the area.

"Finally!" You mumbled to yourself, a sly grin forming on your lips. You crouched down and tiptoed across the rafters stealthily, now feeling a prankish mood settle over you. If this man was going to nearly give you a heart attack first thing in the morning, the least you could do was return the favor. You prepared to leap down onto him, but stopped short when he began to move. After one final inspection, he turned toward the entrance.

"See, I told you. It's been empty for over a year." A cold chill ran down your spine at the sound. That voice wasn't Touya's.