eternally yours

Four

You almost drop your plate. "Brother?"

There's a 4th Todoroki sibling?

She nods, a faraway look in her eyes. "Years ago he ran away from the hospital he was being treated at and we haven't heard from him since. We think he might be dead."

Might be dead?

What was he being treated for?

"Oh. I'm sorry." You mutter and she offers you a little smile. "No, it's alright."

The two of you drop the subject but it still hangs over the air awkwardly as you finish up the dishes. Enji calls for Fuyumi just as you're finishing up and you thank the heavens for this opportunity and sneak over to the shrine to get a better look as soon as she leaves the room. You snap a couple of pictures and hurry back to your spot in the kitchen so you don't look too suspicious and as you're putting our phone away, Fuyumi comes back. She looks tired.

"I'm gonna head out." You say, catching the look on her face and she smiles apologetically. "Yeah, that may be best."

If either Fuyumi or Enji knew you were doing an investigation on him, they probably wouldn't have let you into the house. You felt guilty for this, but if Endeavor really is really covering up something morally degrading and/or less than legal, then you have no choice but to do everything in your power to expose him, especially with this new revelation of a Touya Todoroki.

But right now you have something else to worry about.

It hadn't occurred to you that Dabi could use Shoto, Fuyumi and Natsuo to get at Endeavor until you got into the car to go home and now you can't stop thinking about it. It's definitely possible, given how unpredictable Dabi can be and you whip out your phone to send a text.

Meet me at the warehouse at 11:00

why. just send me the pictures.

Just meet me at the warehouse.

You anxiously wait for it to be 11:00 and once the clock nears 10:45 you pull your hoodie low over your face and head to your meeting spot in the warehouse. The silence after you plop down on a crate to wait is deafening and you find yourself checking your phone every few seconds, your leg bouncing up and down. You had never been the one to initiate your meetings before, so this should be fun.

Once again, you check the time on your phone and while you're putting it back in your pocket, you hear a faint scuffling sound near the entrance you use. You can't see anything through the shadows and you almost jump out of your skin when a rough voice from the darkness says, "Boo."

Dabi emerges from the shadows like a ghost, his hands buried in the pockets of his pants as he smirks lazily. "Did I scare you?"

You don't answer and stand up, not liking the idea of him looking down at you.

He stops not too close, but not too far and looks at you intently. "You should be lucky I showed up at all. What do you want?"

There's no use in beating around the bush so you jump right into it. "We may be working towards a common goal, but I need to make one thing clear."

Dabi blinks slowly and you keep talking, not giving him a chance to interrupt. "It's us against Endeavor, and Endeavor only. His family has nothing to do with this and I will not stand for you putting any of them in danger just so you can get your revenge."

"Who said I planned on putting them in any danger?"

"You didn't exactly specify one way or another." Your voice sounds unnaturally loud in the emptiness of the warehouse. "If you so much as breathe too loudly in their direction, I will have no choice but to take you out."

"Ooh." His voice drops and he tilts his head back, looking at you down the tip of his nose. "Like, on a date?"

Your fist ignites itself at your side and you grit your teeth. "Watch it."

"I have to say, I'm quite surprised. I didn't think you'd have the balls to threaten me like this to my face. What's that one saying? How the turn tables, or something like that?"

You don't trust yourself to speak so you stay silent, the way he's looking at you making your skin crawl. "Relax, hero." He gets a little closer, obviously enjoying himself. "You make a very valid point, but you've got nothing to worry about. I'm not planning on going anywhere near them." He stops just out of arm's reach. "I'm a villain. Not a monster."

"Same difference."

"You're not exactly so straight laced yourself, Solar." He deliberately drags out your hero name, saying it in a way that feels much too intimate and it takes everything in you not to lose your cool and throttle him then and there. "At least I'm not a lowlife murderer living in Shigaraki's shadow." You hiss and his eyes flash as his lips curl into a sneer as he shoots back, "At least I'm not the Hero Commission's fucking whore."

As soon as the words come out of his mouth you feel the fire within you rage, itching to be released, and you rush at him. Dabi may be fast, but this time you're faster and you jump up, wrapping your legs around his neck and using the momentum to swing around to the other side of his body and flip him over.

He crashes to the floor and you waste no time in straddling him and pinning his wrists above his head with one hand. With the other, you form the fire on your fist into a blade you then point under his chin. You can see the orange glow of the flames dance across his eyes when you hiss, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just gut you like a fish and wear your entrails as a scarf."

His mouth stretches into that lazy grin of his and he looks up at you with lidded eyes. "What I'm hearing is that you want to rearrange my guts."

You don't have time to be dealing with his inappropriate jokes so you choose to ignore this comment, instead telling him, "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this little game we always find ourselves playing, but if you can't take me seriously you should be prepared to face the consequences."

"Show me why I should take you seriously, then."

Your eyes narrow. "What?"

"You heard me. Come on, hero. Don't tell me you're afraid. Show me why the pro hero Solar isn't just a pretty face."

By the look on his face you know he's referring to either a fight, something else entirely or both and you stare back at him, refusing to shy away from his gaze as you think this over.

Sometimes you make big decisions by asking yourself, what would Mr. Aizawa do? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and you ask yourself: Would Mr. Aizawa willingly fight Dabi in an enclosed space like this right next to your apartment building where another hero on patrol could see the mess of flames and rush right over?

The answer? Hard no.

The cons outweigh the pros, so it's therefore irrational.

Besides, you've already got Dabi right where you want him.

You extinguish the flames on your hand and your fingers dance lightly across his skin, tracing the staples across his face and making him shudder before you tilt his chin up ever so slightly. His eyes watch your face closely as your body relaxes against him and you can feel his heartbeat quicken under you. With that same hand on his face you grip his jaw and move his head to the side before leaning down, your mouth right next to the shell of his ear as you whisper, "I have absolutely nothing to prove to you."

His chest rises and falls under you as his breath catches in his throat. "Feeling bold tonight, are we?" He muses with a little chuckle and you pull yourself back up so you can see his entire face. "No." You say flatly. "You just got too comfortable."

With that you release him and stand up in order to rearrange your clothing, flipping the hood back over your face as you look down at him. He's propped himself up on his elbows and is staring at you with an unreadable expression, the only thing giving anything type of emotion away being the fire that dances in his eyes.

"I'll send the pictures and give you a rundown of what happened later." With a final sharp glare, you turn on your heel and leave the way you came in. "You have a good night, Dabi."