Licensed Villains

Exposition

"So Midoriya isn't really your sibling then?" is the first thing Shouto says to Dabi the next day.

If it were up to him, none of the Todoroki's would be prancing around his flat like they belong there but unfortunately, things are almost always up to Izuku. That morning he'd blurted that they would be visiting this afternoon upon their own request. Dabi had half the mind not to strangle Izuku right then and there.

So his siblings wanted to talk to him. Great. As usual, Izuku pitted them against him while he danced away to school. When he came home, it was with him decked out in his Revite gear and all the Todoroki kids in tow. The worst part was that Izuku chose to shut himself away in his room to work on the Endeavor article, leaving Dabi alone. Not even Hawks, who was busy making a grocery trip, could help him out.

Scratch that. The worst part was that no one was saying anything. Minutes passed by in silence as the tension in the room only thickened. If they'd asked to come here, then why weren't they speaking? Didn't they have any questions? Opinions? What about non-verbal communication? Someone should definitely be either punching him in the face or trying to hug him by now.

Perhaps that's why he was so relieved when Shouto broke the silence with his ridiculous question.

"What?" he asked, baffled.

Shouto sighed and clarified. "If you're our brother, Midoriya isn't really your sibling then, right?"

When Shouto was younger, young enough that Dabi was still in his life, he'd ask all sorts of questions. At dinner, he'd ask how the cow felt about giving up it's beef for them. During the day he'd ask why the sky was blue. He'd ask Fuyumi why she got to be older and would ask Natsuo why he wanted to be a doctor. He asked Dabi and Rei the most questions though. Anything from how to make the colour purple to why he couldn't join Touya-nii in his training.

Dabi hears him ask that question now and wonders if he's still the same curious creature he was back then. Had Endeavor muted that part of him somehow?

"No," he answers honestly. "Izuku and I aren't brothers. One day he decided to drag my ass into his life as a big brother figure and it stuck. The kid's persistent."

Shouto hummed as if to agree. He mumbles, "Cool," before giving him the faintest of smiles.

Dabi knows it's not enough, that Shouto shouldn't have that forgiving look in his eyes like he's already made peace with who Dabi is. Of all the people in this room to accept him, he didn't think standoffish Shouto would be the first.

Suddenly, a hand is pressed to his chest and he's shoved back, stumbling. Eyes wide, he stares at Fuyumi's scowl as she pushes at him. She grits out through clenched teeth, "So you have time for some random kid but not your own family. Is that it?"

"Fuyumi, I--" he starts but doesn't finish. He can't. He doesn't know what to say. That Izuku came to him years later? That it started out as a business interaction? How could he explain that he didn't let Izuku in immediately while he blocked them out without revealing Revite?

"You what?" she snapped. She pinched her nose and shook her head. "Touya, I can't-- I don't know what you want us to say to you. You left us. We thought you were dead but turns out you've been gallivanting about playing vigilante this whole time? How are we supposed to react, Touya?"

As pin pricks prod at his skin, he grumbles, "My name is Dabi."

Her lips purse and only then does Dabi notice the wobble to them, how her eyes water at the edges to pair. He glances at Natsuo beside her. He won't even look at him, eyes trained to the floor instead. Shouto stays the same, expression blank and almost bored; oblivious to Fuyumi's fists tightening at her sides.