Living A Lie

Chapter 16

Raven is taking a drink of their coffee when the hospital door opens unexpectedly, and out of habit, they immediately change back into a wolf not thinking of the position they're in when they do so, cup still held to their lips, now snout, but the cup isn't held long, and was thankfully empty, as a red and white haired individual tackles them to the ground, hugging Raven and refusing to let go. It takes a couple seconds for them to realize that the "attacker" is Shouto, and as soon as they realize it, they return to human form in order to hug the boy back.

"Fur," Shouto demands the moment Raven's arms are wrapped around him.

Raven stares in confusion towards Hawks who they can see standing near the closed door in hopes that maybe he can understand what the boy means. He simply shrugs at their inquisitive expression, leading the human to sigh and ask Shouto what he means.

"I've missed you," Shouto cries into Raven's shoulder. "I've missed you, and my brain has been overwhelmed with what ifs, and I need your fur to ground myself. Fur, please."

Raven complies, whimpering while in the wolf form they've been in this whole time. They feel bad because they've left their child alone for over a week. He probably thinks they abandoned him. They didn't intentionally abandon him, but they can't leave their strays. Something bad will happen if they leave their strays, they just know it.

While the pair of wolf and boy cry on the floor, Hawks takes a picture that he will definitely be showing Shouto later before looking at the reason that Fuyumi had called him. Hawks had never seen Touya like this, having met him after he had already burnt himself to a crisp and dyed his hair, but it was nice, seeing him the way he used to look in a way that isn't the picture that Endeavor practically worships. He wonders, though, how everything is going to work now. Fuyumi had said on the phone that Touya has no memories past his "death" meaning that he doesn't remember him. How is he supposed to eventually tell him about the kids if he doesn't remember Keigo?

"What happened to him?" Keigo asks her. "A week ago..."

"Raven threw him at the girl that was saved in the raid Midoriya was part of while her quirk was still active." Fuyumi responds. "She rewinds people to what they were before."

Keigo nods sadly. "But he won't remember me?"

Fuyumi goes to respond about the fact that he might eventually get his memories back when the hero's words click in her head. "What do you mean by remember you?"

Keigo freezes. He didn't mean to say that out loud, and now he has to either explain to Fuyumi and Shouto about the fact that he's been secretly dating a villain and has two kids with said villain as well as the fact that he knew the whole time that the villain was their "dead" brother and didn't tell them that he was alive, or find a way around explaining all of that.

"About that..." Hawks rubs at the back of his neck nervously before explaining about how he had met Dabi long before the man had joined the League of villains and ended up having two kids with the villain. Hawks finishes his explanation with, "He's also the reason I agreed to the marriage without a fight. He asked me to protect Shouto, and I figured getting him away from Endeavor was the best way to do that."

"Wait! So Dabi was the one you were talking about that night!" Raven pops up from the floor, suddenly back in human form, having paid attention to the entire conversation between Hawks and Fuyumi. "IT WAS FUCKING TOUYA AND YOU DIDN'T FUCKING TELL ME!"

Shouto, who had also paid attention to the conversation, simply stares at Hawks in shock. He had thought it was weird that Kana basically looked like Fuyumi despite not being related to her, but now he understands that she looks like Fuyumi because she actually is related to her. The hero's story also explains the man's statement about him being Asahi's uncle.

"ANSWER ME CHICKEN NUGGET!"

Keigo holds up his hands in a placating gesture. "He didn't want me to tell anyone. I was sworn to secrecy."

Raven's yelling wakes Touya up leading to the boy blinking confusedly at his brother and sister who both look far older than he remembers them. He blinks a few times trying to right his vision only to find that nothing changes. He'd even assume that they were different people if it weren't for the fact that Shouto's scar is very hard to duplicate. Thinking of his brother's scar, he wonders where their father is. He would wonder about their mother, but he knows that she's in a mental hospital and which one seeing as he visited her what feels like a day ago. Touya panics then. What happened that he has no memories past that day? He doesn't remember watching Shouto grow up or fighting off the boys who were likely to have fawned over Fuyumi. He doesn't remember anything that an older brother should. He also wonders what happened to the guy in the black jumpsuit from earlier and who the two new people in the room are and where Raven is, but his main focus is on the years of memory that just don't exis... Smack! Was that a fucking sandwich? He looks around the room at everyone there only to see another wrapped sandwich in the hand of the brown haired... boy?.. girl?.. the brown haired person.

"What?" the person asks at the incredulous looks on the faces of Touya's siblings and the winged man. "He was going to start spiraling! His thoughts may have also been giving me a headache.... It worked for Aizawa! I didn't know what else to do."

Shouto gently takes the sandwich out of their hand, shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in your head, Raven."

The person, who Touya now knows shares a name with the family's weird cat, grins at Shouto. "I could tell you, but it might traumatize you, kiddo."

Shouto shakes his head, deciding that it's better not to ask, before finally looking at the boy on the bed, the only one in their family who could have ever understood what he went through with Endeavor. "Why did you do it?" he asks quietly. It's the question he's asked for most of his life. Why did his brother do it? Why did he die and leave him alone with their father? Sure, he's had Raven to help him, but Fuyumi and Natsuo only ever really encouraged him to follow Endeavor's orders knowing that he'd be safer if he did instead of standing up to their stupid old man to protect him the way Touya would. He needed Touya as much as he needed Raven, but he only had one of them when he could have had both. After Hawks' story about Dabi, though, he's even angrier than he was before. Why had his brother abandoned him? He pretended to die, let them all believe he was gone. They grieved for him! They grieved his death, and all this time he was out there! Alive!

"Why did I do what, Shouto?" Touya's confused. He didn't do anything to the boy that he remembers. But, he guesses he must have done something pretty stupid to be where he is now, not remembering his siblings growing up. Not remembering how that silver band made its way to his baby brother's finger.

"I can't do this!" Shouto growls, anger spiking at Touya's innocent expression, and storms towards the door. He can't deal with this right now. His anger is justified. While his brother pranced around free of their father, he was stuck being the man's puppet! He was stuck being forced to marry Hawks! He had to be the perfect fucking child!

Before Shouto can get out the door, Raven catches him, but before they can say anything, he whips his head around to face them. "I need to be alone!" he growls at them. "I can't look at his face right now, and he's obviously more important than me because you've been here being his fucking lap dog while I was alone! I had to endure that godforsaken nightmare of a wedding alone! Go be with your new favorite and let me be!" He jerks his arm out of Raven's grasp and storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"I don't understand," Touya mutters into the silence Shouto left behind. "What did I do?"

And with those words being uttered, memories of burning, searing pain enter his mind. Memories that feel like he's dying.