It Can’t Be

"You seem uncomfortable around me. Something up?" Hawks nudged the side of Dabi's shoulder.

The former only smiled, the emotions driving it unclear, "It's nothing. I suffered a pretty bad breakup lately and you just remind me of him."

Hawks gave him a sympathetic smile, one he knew all too well, "Just let me know if I'm doing something you don't like, okay?"

Dabi only nodded. 'The only thing you ever did that I disliked hasn't happened here.' he thought with a sigh.

___________________________________

At some point Hawks had left Dabi all by his lonesome to attend to… something of importance, supposedly. So the white haired man was left to his own devices at an event hadn't even planned on attending in the first place.

To make matters worse; he was being stared at by everybody he passed. A rabbit surrounded by hungry wolves, so to speak.

He'd been waiting in a corner for Hawks to return (while cornering himself wasn't wise, it was better than getting everybody's attention), browsing the internet for arson memes, when he'd overheard the conversation of some nearby people.

It was a group of around three girls, perhaps highschoolers, all dressed in… slightly provocative versions of hero costumes.

"Why do you think Hawks brought him here?" The girl in a cropped version of Hawks' costume with small (and obviously fake) red wings on her back asked.

"I'm not sure. Are we supposed to know who he is?" Another girl in an Endeavor leotard replied.

The third girl, dressed as Best Jeanist, sighed, "Obviously not. He's probably some slut that wiggled his way in here. I mean, look at him, nobody is that pretty without a fuckton of surgery and makeup." her response garnered a few laughs from the other two.

Subconsciously, Dabi put his hand to his cheek, caressing the skin in dejection. It didn't matter what he looked like, did it? People still disliked him all the same.

"Seriously, I could probably wipe away his entire identity with a wash cloth right now if I tried." The Hawks girl rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Chiyo, you can control small amounts of water, yeah?" The Best Jeanist girl asked the Endeavor girl.

"Hm? Oh, I see what you're getting at…" She snickered, the other girls joining in shortly after.

Dabi smiled to himself, figuring out they were going to dump water on him, so he started heating up his body so that it evaporates on contact.

The girls laughed as one of them floated a small portion of water he'd watched her syphon from the drinking fountain. He continued to scroll the web as if nothing was happening.

And then the water fell. It was unpleasant, but it evaporated from him pretty quickly. The girls laughter halted as the steam rose from his body and all he did was smile at them and wave.

"Wh- I-" The water girl, Chiyo, sputtered, the rest at a loss for words.

His smiled only widened, "Did you think you were being sneaky? I have ears, you know."

"B-but- the water-"

Before he could make a snarky and sarcastic comment, Buddha first sent him a bicolored blessing, "Touya-nii!" 'Shouto, I am terribly sorry for thinking you were annoying earlier. You're a great little brother.'

The already stunned girls froze as Shouto approached Dabi, "Hey, Sho, where's Endeavor?"

Shouto only shrugged, "Dad left in a hurry, I've just been wandering around to be honest. What about Hawks?"

Interrupted once again, the girls from before shyly approached, "Are you Endeavor's son?" they asked Shouto.

"Wish I weren't. Why do you ask?" Shouto looked at them confused.

"Ah- why did you call this guy your brother-?" The same girl, who Dabi now assumed to be the leader of the group, asked.

Shouto raised an eyebrow, placing his ice hand on Dabi's shoulder only to pull back instantly, "Why is your shoulder so hot?"

The snow-haired man flashed the girls a glare before smiling at Shouto, enjoying the fear in the girls eyes, "I accidentally tripped and fell in the center fountain, so I used my quirk to dry off." he chuckled at the surprised yet relieved face the girls made.

The heterochromatic boy only sighed, "Grace." he joked, rolling his eyes. Shouto could be a little brat sometimes, but he appreciated it.

"Uh- could you answer my question-" Chiyo reminded.

Shouto smiled, "This is my eldest brother, Touya."

The girls looked between the two boys, lines behind their eyes being drawn to form a picture.

"...That makes sense, actually." The girl in the Hawks costume finally spoke, "Though it doesn't explain why Hawks brought him here instead of Endeavor."

The younger male didn't have an immediate response this time, instead pausing to think, "When you went out last night- was he-?"

Dabi groaned, "Yeah." watching as some blush dusted Shouto's face though being quickly replaced by a grin.

"Ooooh, you're in loOoOOooOvEee~" He mocked, the fangirls being mere bystanders at this point, quickly deciding to leave.

The former smacked him upward of the head just light enough to not turn the skin red, but still hard enough to sting, "Want me to behave like that in front of you and blasty? Hm?" he threatened.

Shouto went stiff; pantomimed zipping his mouth, locking it, shredding the key into millions of pieces, and then throwing in the trash. Dabi smiled, "I'm glad you understand."

___________________________________

After some waiting and small-talk, Endeavor and Hawks returned to them, though they didn't look very happy.

"Something happen?" Dabi asked, raising an eyebrow to them in a mix of worry and curiosity.

Hawks sighed, "Briefing on a new villain. Said they're going to release footage of him here as warning to all attendees."

Endeavor smacked Hawks' over the crown of his skull, "No divulging of classified information."

Hawks only gave him a very overexaggerated look of confusion, "But they're doing a nation-wide broadcast in a few minutes?!"

"You should still know better, Hawks." The flame hero merely rolled his eyes as Hawks stuck his tongue out at him.

Just then, a voice came over the loudspeakers, "We apologize for the interruption, however, there is an important broadcast we urge you watch. Be it on your personal device or one of the nearby flatscreens, please tune in."

The four of them went quiet, approaching the center big screen to watch.

A newswoman dressed in rather formal attire spoke first, "There is a new member of the League of Villains spotted by camera surveillance assisting in what looks to be a supply hijacking. He has been deemed extremely dangerous and to be avoided at all costs."

She paused and a blurry freeze-frame photo appeared on the backdrop beside her, "He identified himself as Tadami Keishin, posing a striking resemblance to our beloved No. 2 hero, Hawks."

The freeze-frame image started playing as a video, showing a man that looked almost just like Hawks; the most noticeable difference being a surplus of thick scars all over his body and face. More minor changes included a decent amount of piercings and a slight change in wing color from scarlet to a pale auburn.

He was behaving on the video like a feral animal. Tearing through people and objects alike as if they were tissues. Fast and precise. A deadly combination. He was so different and yet Dabi couldn't help but wonder…

Did his Hawks meet the little girl, too? It has to be him. This man didn't exist in his own timeline. 'Why is he here? Why did he have to follow me? Why can't I get away from him?!'

Hawks nudged Dabi's shoulder, "Hey… is this the ex you said looked like me? It can't be… right? Touya?" His voice was quiet; soft.

Without a response, silent tears fell from Dabi's eyes, "Kei…"