You squeezed your eyelids together tightly as you stirred awake. Though you'd slept plenty over the last two days, you were exhausted when you returned to Touya's temporary home. As soon as you made it back, your friend graciously set up a thin nest of blankets beside the wall underneath the massive metal shelves for you to snuggle up in. Shortly after you'd gotten settled in, however, he explained that he had some business to take care of, and left you alone in the warehouse to rest. Now that you were beginning to wake up, you found that the large room was a bit brighter than it had been. It must be morning. You raised your hand to rub the sleep from your eyes, and found that Touya's long black coat had been draped over your body. A few seconds later, you became aware of something else laying over your torso. You attempted to move yourself to get a better look, only to have the mysterious weight tighten around your stomach and pull you back.

"Mmngh…" A low voice behind you groaned its disapproval. Out of the corner of your eye, you noted spiky black hair as it brushed against your cheek. You felt Touya's cold nose press into the crook of your neck and he dragged you closer to him. A chill ran down your spine.

'What is he…? How long has he been here? How long has he been like this?!'

You'd never woken up beside another person before, let alone someone who had attached themselves to you. He hadn't been there when you fell asleep, and you weren't sure when he returned. After taking care of you for so long, you were sure he was tired, but being held like a stuffed animal was not something you were accustomed to. You swallowed hard.

'How do I wake him up? I don't wanna just throw him off me, but… this is a bit…' Your entire face was starting to turn a brilliant shade of pink. This man was going to be the death of you. '...embarrassing.' You took a deep breath in. Admittedly, having Touya hold you close, even if he was only doing it in his sleep, felt quite nice. Even so, you were anxious.

"Uh… T-Touya?" You stammered.

You pulled your arm out from under his jacket and reached for his head. As slowly as you could, you ran your hand through his hair. It was rather thick, and felt rough between your fingers.

"Hmng?" Touya's sleepy voice hummed. He stirred against your neck before lifting his head. Your hand slipped out of his hair as he pulled away. Finally, he released you from his embrace and stretched his arm out with a big yawn. His white t-shirt was wrinkled and sat lopsided on his shoulders. You breathed a sigh of relief.

"Morning." He said casually, placing his hand back on your side. You stretched your back before replying. Was he really not bothered by the position you'd woken up in? How were you going to address the elephant in the room without flustering yourself?

You cleared your throat and spoke hesitantly, keeping your eyes on his coat rather than his face. "You… gave me your jacket?" You questioned.

"Yeah." He said, sitting himself up against the wall. "You were shivering, and I didn't have any more blankets."

'Alright, cool. That's a reasonable enough explanation, right?' You tried to accept his simple answer. It was likely the only thing keeping you from melting into a puddle at the moment.

You sat up as well, and let Touya's coat fall off your shoulder and into your lap. It was very kind of him to lend it to you, but you couldn't help but a bit frustrated that he may have disregarded his own comfort.

"Ah, but… weren't you cold?" You asked.

Touya smirked. "As if. My body's built for an ice quirk, remember? Besides, I had you next to me the whole time, so even if I wasn't adapted to the cold, staying warm wouldn't have been an issue." Great. Just as you were bringing yourself to look at him, he went ahead and openly acknowledged it out loud. So he wasn't just hugging you in his sleep. The tender thought brought butterflies to your stomach, but the embarrassment caused you to become defensive.

"Well aren't you cocky." You said a tad more spitefully than you meant to. Touya just rolled his eyes.

"Cocky? How was that 'cocky'? I can be a bit cynical, sure- but I don't think I'm confident enough to be cocky. Although, the way you keep looking away…"

'Shit, stop acting like a child, (Y/N).' You couldn't give him the chance to tease you. It would only further your humiliation. Before you had the chance to look him in the face, Touya stood and offered his hand to you.

"Come on."

Apparently, Touya made it a point to never stay in one place for long. Once you'd gotten up, he immediately began packing some of the crate's contents into a backpack. Most of it was first aid: gauze, antiseptic, pain meds; things you assumed he "borrowed" from somewhere. After shoving some clothes into the bag as well, he turned to hand it to you.

"Take this. We've already stayed here too long, we're gonna have to get going soon." He said. You took the backpack from him and looked over its contents curiously.

"I can't imagine being a villain gives you many great housing options." You stated, though it came out more like a question. Touya shook his head.

"I usually stay with the League wherever they're hiding out, but I couldn't exactly show back up with a hero." He noted, nodding to you. You chuckled nervously. It seemed like you caused him all kinds of trouble.

"Heh, yeah. I'm… really sorry about all this. I must've been-"

"If you call yourself a burden one more time, I swear to God." Touya interrupted with an exasperated tone. You sighed apologetically and slipped the bag on over your arms.

"I'm sorry, I just-"

"And stop apologizing so much. None of this is your fault. It was my nomu that bit you in the first place." He pointed out as he pulled on his tattered black trench coat. He spoke so nonchalantly about the creature. It was strange. Despite them once being human, you considered the nomus to be fairly terrifying monsters, but Dabi was so casual about them.

You raised a brow at him. "You talk about it as if it were a pet or something" You said with a small laugh. Your comment was meant to be more funny than anything, but Touya simply shrugged.

"Sure, something like that. Few of 'em only listen to me anyway." He said. You were perplexed. Could the nomus be persuaded or trained to take orders from people? You had assumed they were just mindless monsters hell-bent on destruction. Being alone with Touya was definitely beginning to affect your behavior. Normally, you were very careful to keep your expression as neutral as possible to hide your feelings, but now, a look of curious bewilderment was painted all over your face. For the first time in a while, Touya displayed a cocky, yet genuine grin.

"You look cute when you're confused, y'know." He admitted, casually moving his gaze to the ground. You felt the hair on the back of your neck rise with the heat in your cheeks.

'W-when did he become so forward?' His compliment had completely erased the nomu from your mind and left you with nothing but T.V. static. Between this and your awkward wake-up call, your brain was fried. You were left staring at him blankly, but why? It wasn't like you were in love with the man. Sure, you'd had something of a crush on him back in the program, but it had taken you forever to admit even that to yourself. Besides, it had been years. He was dead for a decade. You felt ridiculous.

'Ignore it, (Y/N). He won't have anything over you if you just don't react.' With a rather violent shake of your head, you worked to reset your brain.

"So, where are we going?" You asked, successfully changing the subject. Touya looked back up at you with the same smile he'd complimented you with.

"You complained about getting out of shape, right? I know a secluded place we can work on that. We're headed there. Even brought some food for the trip." He told you, using his thumb to point at another bag by the door.

Leaving behind everything else, the two of you made your way out of the warehouse as inconspicuously as possible into the daylit street.

"Come on, slowpoke!" You teased cheerily from further up the mountain. Just as Touya had promised, your quirk returned with no issues. Having been bound to the ground "for forever", as you put it, you were overjoyed to be able to take to the skies again. With your newly recovered speed, you were thoroughly enjoying zipping uphill and weaving between the trees. The freedom of flying free without being tracked was just as exhilarating as you imagined it might be, and this really was a beautiful forest. The light that shown through the thick layer of leaves overhead dotted the mossy, root-covered floor. The greenery still sparkled with drops of morning dew, thanks to the protection the canopy provided from the sun. You gripped onto the side of a tall tree trunk and turned back to face your lagging friend. Unlike you, Touya was making his way up the path on foot, and at a normal speed. You heard him panting as he drew nearer.

"Listen- ugh… I'm glad you're… in such a good mood,… but do you think you could- huh… slow down a little?" With the way he kept pausing for air, his request sounded more like pleading. You laughed.

"Sorry, sorry." You apologized. Sliding down to the ground, you waited for your friend to catch up.

"I see you've gotten the hang of flying." Touya noted as he was finally able to catch his breath. You giggled and nodded.

"Yeah, Stiller kinda beat the basics into my head. After that, the rest was easy." You said. Touya's calm face held a hint of surprise.

"That guy can fly? I thought his quirk was those shield things."

"No, he can't fly. And his quirk is called 'Buffer', since you wanna be such a stalker." You admitted, giving Touya a playful jab in the arm. "Even though our quirks are nothing alike, he was a really good trainer. Guy learned the ins-and-outs of my quirk faster than I did. Taught me some new techniques, too." You were growing excited. Touya hadn't seen your improvement since the program; at least, not to the fullest extent. Though the two of you didn't share the same aspiration of becoming heroes anymore, you still couldn't wait to show off to him. You'd always considered him to be much stronger than you, but for the first time, you felt you may actually have the upper hand. Before you could go on about your new abilities, Touya spoke.

"Seems like you've got a lot of mixed feelings about that captain of yours." He said monotonically. You shrugged indifferently.

"He's a mixed feelings kinda guy. Not terrible, but he sucks; you get it?"

Touya huffed. "Oh yeah, I get that."

Truthfully, you didn't want to be speaking about Stiller. You'd just gotten your freedom from him. You knew, eventually, you'd probably have to go back, but for now, you'd rather just enjoy it. Besides that, you wanted to savor your time with Touya. You weren't sure how long it might be before they found you, and when they did, well… what would they do with your criminal companion? You had to ponder the possible reactions of your caretaker and commission workers.

'Explaining our relationship may be difficult given Touya's wanted status, but… is it really Touya they're after?' Of course, you knew the truth. Obviously, it was Touya who broke the law, but they didn't know that.

'They have no idea who 'Dabi' really is. Maybe if they did, he'd be granted some amnesty. Being the son of a top hero has got to mean something. Hang on, Endeavor thinks he's dead, too!' The realization brought nervous butterflies to your stomach. From what Touya had told you about his father as kids, Enji Todoroki didn't care much for his family. Would Endeavor even be happy to know the son he rejected was alive? The uncertainty was worrying.

'If Endeavor won't vouch for Touya, it won't be safe to try and bring him back with me. I need to figure something out…'

"So,..." Touya spoke up, snatching your attention back. "...how do you typically train?"

You snapped your head up to look at him. "Oh, well I usually start with some warm up exercises, then an intensive quirk-out."

"Quirk-out?" Touya questioned with a look of confusion.

"Yeah, y'know like a workout for your quirk." You explained.

Touya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me you didn't come up with that." He groaned.

"No, I think Stiller did, why?"

"'Cause it's stupid." He stated. You chortled at Touya's reaction to such a simple thing. The word was used almost daily, so you didn't find it so strange. Now that you thought about it, though, it did sound childish.

"Whatever, let's get started." You said with a smile.