"Huh. S'pose that wasn't too bad." Dabi watches the screen as the credits roll for The Princess Bride, Hawks smiles down at Dabi whose head is resting in Hawks' lap. He's always been the type to have to constantly fidget and was pleasantly surprised when Dabi had allowed Hawks to play with his hair. Halfway through the movie- Hawks only then realized that he had subconsciously braided half of Dabi's hair in tiny braids. He's moved from braiding Dabi's coarse hair to rubbing small circles on his scalp, relishing in the thickness of the hair. Hawks feels a twinge of jealousy, he's always had really fine hair and would kill for even half the hair that Dabi has.

Dabi gently brings his hand up to his hair and plays with a braid.

"I haven't had braids in my hair since-" He trails off haltingly and the soft smile that was present a second ago slips off, "Since Fuyumi would pretend to be a hairdresser when we were kids." While thankful that Dabi trusts him enough to show his vulnerable side, it still tears at Hawks' heart to see this man continue to shy away from his family. Surely they wouldn't turn him away?

"Why not try to talk to them? How long has it been?" Dabi meets Hawks' worried eyes for a second before turning back to the credits with a huff.

"It's better this way. They don't need someone like me in their life." Hawks' fingers freeze and move down to cup Dabi's cheeks, the scarred area more warm than the rest of his face.

"Don't talk like that." Dabi leans into Hawks' touch but refuses to make eye contact.

"It's the truth though. You know it, I know it, they know it. It would just open up more scars for them. They don't deserve that kind of shit. 'Sides, they probably think I'm dead." Hawks knows that arguing with Dabi will get him nowhere so he stays quiet and goes back to playing with Dabi's hair.

He knows that reconciliation with his siblings will help Dabi but he tells himself that they are making progress. Small, progress- but progress nonetheless. After all, Dabi from two months ago would have never even opened up this much to Hawks.

He knows that they all need closure for what happened.

Maybe not today. Or tomorrow, or even next month.

They'll get there one day.

Maybe it's time to pay Fuyumi a visit.

Okay, Hawks thinks to himself, this is just a touch awkward. He sits across from Fuyumi in a small cafe near her work. She runs her finger along the rim of her chocolate iced latte, opening her mouth to speak but she seemingly thinks better of it with a shake of her head. Hawks isn't so sure what to say either- he's so grown used to Endeavor's headstrong and Dabi's blunt attitudes. Looking at Fuyumi, she looks like she's one step away from bolting out the cafe like a frightened deer.

Just another product of the abuse she suffered most likely.

"I'm surprised that you want to talk to me. I'm nothing special." She finally looks up from her drink and Hawks finds himself blown back by her words. First Dabi with his thoughts of being a monster and now Fuyumi and her self esteem. Hawks can only wonder how the other two Todoroki siblings fare. Hawks smiles warmly at her before taking a sip from his Italian soda.

"Of course you're special. Everyone is special in their own way!" It's not the best thing to say probably but it puts a small smile on her face. Fuyumi bows her head and takes a long drink of her latte. Wiping away the froth from her lip she sets down her drink and takes in a deep breath.

"How may I help you, Hawks?" If Hawks is to be honest, he never even thought that Fuyumi would agree to a meeting with him. Now he finds himself wondering where to even go from here.

"I just wanted to know how you're doing." Ah, there's the fire behind her eyes that he's grown accustomed to seeing in the Todoroki family. She eyes him curiously and much to Hawks' amusement, quirks up an eyebrow.

"You came all the way across Musutafu just to see how I'm doing?" He sighs, of course there's no beating around the bush with a Todoroki. Diffident or not.

"Well, that's part of the reason I guess," Hawks pauses, gauging her reaction, "I'm actually here for something else." Fuyumi's face masks over. They both find themselves waiting in silence and Hawks decides that he's already here and might as well follow through with his poorly decided plan.

"What happened to your oldest brother." It wasn't a question and the second the words slipped from his mouth, Fuyumi slumps into her chair and pushes a stray red hair strand behind her ear.

"Why?"

"I, uh, well." How can he even say 'I'm here to ask about Dabi because you all need to sort out your past with each other and all of you need the other. If only you could see the hurt that I saw in his eyes when he talked about you yesterday. If only he could see the pain in your own eyes. Damn Todorokis and your poor communication skills.' without outright saying that?

"I'm conducting my own investigation on the disappearance of your brother." Hawks waits with bated breath and mentally high fives himself when Fuyumi nods and takes another drink from her latte- looking slightly less pensive.

"His name was Touya." Her voice is soft and Hawks leans forward to hear her better.

"Was?" She shrugs, taking another drink.

"I don't know what happened to him. He went to bed one night and in the morning, he was just gone."

"And no missing child alert was sent out why?" He gets another shrug from her.

"Hawks- my family is... not the average family. I don't know why there was never a case filed. This happened ten years ago, I was only twelve." Of course she wouldn't know why, Hawks does though.

Touya's disappearance would only addle Endeavor's oh so pristine reputation. If Hawks recalls, he hadn't even really seen anything in the news when Shouto gained his scar and Rei was sent away. This poor family, they deserve much more than what they've been given. He thinks sadly.

"What was he like- Touya?" The name sounds foreign to him, Dabi had never even told Hawks his given name. Not that Hawks can talk- he hadn't revealed his own given name either.

Fuyumi's frown flickers into a nostalgic smile and she sighs.

"He was my hero. He was only a year older than me and before our quirks came in, we were very close. When Natsuo was born a few years later, Touya would parade around with him proud to have a little brother." She giggles softly, "Touya was always a little trouble maker though. He would always sneak into the kitchens to steal extra dessert for all of us. After getting caught the first few times, he would come up with more and more ridiculous ways to get into the kitchens." Hawks laughs at this, he can definitely see a younger more brazen version of Dabi breaking into a kitchen in the middle of the night like he's a secret agent. She continues to share some childhood memories with Hawks- to his pleasant surprise. He also learns a very interesting fact about Dabi's quirk.

His flames may be hotter than Endeavor's but his body can't even handle the heat. Images of Dabi as a young child being forced to push his quirk to being more and more powerful while consequently burning himself alive makes Hawks see red. this new information is just another strike against Hawks' previous role model. Shigaraki's question echo through his mind. He's finding the line between hero and villain awfully blurred lately.

As they stand up to go in their separate direction, she takes a hold of his arm. Instead of warmth like from her brother's touch- Fuyumi's hands are nearly ice cold.

"Hawks," She looks up at him, her eyes full of determination, "I may not be special and I may not have a very powerful quirk but." The grip on his arm tightens.

"I can tell when someone is holding something back. I work with children for a living. You don't have to tell me why but, just- just tell him that we miss him." Fuyumi's eyes start to water and she blinks the tears away, "And that we're sorry."

Author's Note

This chapter is a little shorter because things are going to start amping up and I feel like the contents of this chapter wouldn't fit in with what I have planned. Also, I didn't want to take the spot light away from Fuyumi. I love her.

Fuyumi can totally see when people are bullshitting her. I was always a trouble maker back when I was a teenager, a hell's spawn to be honest, but I'll be damned if my teachers didn't catch me on my own bullshit lol. That's it for now. Until then, fairwinds.

Reviews are always welcome!br /