[The amused, smug smirk dies away a little, and his brows draw together, knotted tight and curious. What he's heard and seen of the flames? Fine. Weird, but whatever. Understandable. The look, though? He's unsure. He's curious.]
I guess you don't fucking know your brother as well as you think then. [His eyes flick back and forth across Dabi's face, searching.] He can be a little shit. Drinks and then burns it away while you're left with the damn hangover.
[ It was a slip of the tongue, really. His own relaxed state and the alcohol he's downing to wash out his mouth making him forget for a moment who he was talking to. ]
Maybe. It's been a while since we last talked face to face. Texting only goes so far and all.
[ He leans against the kitchen island, finger dipping into the (unplugged) blender to scoop out a bit more of the milkshake for a second taste as his muddled head processes Bakugou's words. ]
He's always been a little shit, though, even as a kid.
[ The pause happens with his finger in his mouth licking clean the mixture. ]
You fucked up. [It sounds less like a jab and more simply a declaration of the obvious.] Stop eating that nasty shit before you get sick.
[His eyes drop momentarily to the blender, then to the vodka glass, then again to Dabi's face.] You're one of the Todorokis? I thought there were only three of them.
[Again, Bakugou's face pinches gently, perplexed and curious at the same time.] Twins. [It isn't a question. He's smart enough to put the pieces together.]
Does fucking Halfy know? He thinks he's texting his long lost brother, but really he's texting the fucker shacked up with the League who caused the whole mess at the camp. Not the mention the rest of what went down.
[He's not frothing, but it does seem like he's getting a little more irritable the more that's unraveled.]
[ He pointed a finger from the hand lifting his glass to his lips. ]
Yup. That's the word.
[ Dabi is thoroughly getting drunk by this point, both to ease the pain of his own slip up and because he just damn well felt like it. Feeling a bit unsteady on his feet, though, he grabbed the bottle and moved more like hobbled into the living room to flop down onto the piece of shit couch that came with his piece of shit apartment. ]
I'm pretty sure he knows. Even if he hasn't fully pieced together shit, he had that look on his face the night we took you that made it seem he recognized me. But maybe that's just a big brother's stupidly naive hope.
[ Hope for what? That was a question left to be seen. Mostly, though, Dabi told himself he hoped for Shouto to recognize him so that it would hurt him. Cause him pain to know how far one of his own family's fallen thanks to their father's hand. ]
Why the fuck not? You think the League would like it if they knew whose ballsack I sprang from? The rest of the public wouldn't even believe their number one hero produced a dangerous monster. They don't even believe that he put my mother into the asylum.
[Shit. This freak is one of Endeavor's kids, Bakugou realizes with full understanding. And Shouto, while maybe not being aware of it initially, is at least suspicious of the fact now.
Still without saying a goddamn thing.
Narrow his eyes, he watches Dabi stagger into the other room with the bottle of vodka. After a moment or two, he rounds the door and comes into the living room, too, but crosses his arms rather than having a seat.]
That hand freak would be using you like throw-away bait if he knew who you really were. [And why is that, he wonders. The reason Dabi isn't letting them know.] You have your own fucking agenda. Right?
You know, I really shouldn't leave here with you alive.
[But his bluff is that he's all bark and no bite--he's trying to be a hero.]
[ It's no surprise that Shouto hasn't brought up the subject of his eldest brother who ran away a decade ago with people. Even his friends and classmates. Talking about family abuse that led to many nights of fighting and hurting just wasn't something one talked about in polite company. Not here in Japan.
Dabi looked over at the boy and gave a slanted, drunken smile. ]
That's one of the reasons I haven't told him. He just thinks I'm some Stain follower freak that hates Endeavor's guts for some personal vendetta. [ Shigaraki was partly right, at least. ] My agenda is similar to Stain's agenda. Get rid of the corrupt heroes like my father. Right now, the League is my best chance of doing that since he's so high up the totem pole that I can't reach him without a bit of a boost.
Well... you got an advantage on me. I'm drunk as fuck and I'd probably combust if I used my Quirk right now so....
[ Regardless if the threat was real or fake, he tossed back another swig of the vodka, right from the bottle this time. ]
[Ugh, dammit. Bakugou's arms lower slowly, and both hands squeeze into fists without any of the usual fireworks. It's not him. Abusing an unfair opportunity, it just isn't him. The fight wouldn't be fair.
And he's all about testing himself against an opponent, all out, full strength, when the playing field is even.]
Forget it. [He'll just kick Dabi's ass when they're on equal footing.] You know he's saved people, too, right? Where are you gonna draw the fucking line? What exactly makes someone a corrupt hero to you?
Hey. [Stepping forward, he snaps his hand out and grabs the end of the bottle to keep it from being lifted and drank from.] Answer me before you're too fucked up to do it.
[ Dabi is... genuinely surprised that Bakugou backs down from the threat of turning him in. Though part of him worried earlier that he was going to end up running from his home with cops and heroes in hot pursuit, he was glad and... frankly proud that Bakugou wasn't stooping to that level. ]
Much obliged.
[ The question makes him pause as he tries to process the words in his muddled head. By the time the blond's yanked the bottle away from his mouth, he's looking up at the boy with hard, turquoise eyes. ]
He only saved those people to better his own career. He stepped on their backs and used them in order to get his numbers higher and higher. Heroes who do that shit are where I draw the line. When you just want more power or more fame or more money for yourself... that's when you're corrupt. When you don't actually fucking care about the lives you're saving and you're just doing it to be the greatest. And especially when you go right home to your family and smack them around putting so much fear into them that your children can't fucking sleep and your wife sits in the kitchen crying with an icy hand held to the newest bruise on her cheek.
[It's a great conversation to be having with him, of all people. Slowly, his fingers slip away from the bottom of the bottle, and he relinquishes it again to Dabi's consumption.
There's more to the heroes they're running after than he's realized. Until now. All Might, Endeavor... They seem so perfect, on television in the news, on billboards, on posters, and yet here they are, as human as the rest of them. Making mistakes. Making bad choices. Being selfish.
Doing things not unlike Bakugou is doing now, scratching his way through the academy. Classmates are stepping stones to reach the peak, to be the best. He's having the worst time with the tests involving compassion and sympathy. But his quirk isn't support. It's offense. He destroys everything, and he feels useless doing anything else but that.]
He did his job. He does his job. Stopping villains and keeping others protected. He worked to get where he's at--not the first spot, but the second. Whatever fucked up shit he did to you and the others doesn't mean he's a terrible hero. He's a great hero.
He's just a shitty fucking person.
[Like... him. Exactly like him. He's great at what he does--scores, fighting, stopping criminals. But he's shit at everything else.]
[ Hopefully... this is a good slap of reality to Bakugou. About what can happen when shitty people become heroes and are held up to be the pinnacles of society. Dabi hated it, personally, more than anything in the world he hated turning on the news and seeing his father being praised as the new Symbol of Peace in spite of the things he's done in his personal life.
With the bottle now back in his control, he takes another swig before holding it out for Bakugou to take. Silently asking for the boy to make him stop before he downs the whole thing and is fucked over sooner than later.
Dabi may be a villain and one of the bigger monsters out there, but he does care for the innocent in his own twisted way. He doesn't want people hurt when they don't deserve to be hurt. The only people he's killed were all thugs and other villains that did things more vile than he'd care to think about. Though he'd never consider himself a hero in any way, shape or form, he did like to think of it as thinning out the competition. ]
Shitty fucking people don't deserve to be heroes. That's the point I'm trying to get at. And if you feel like you're gonna end up like him, fucking do something about it. You got plenty of time to do it, kid.
[ Dabi heaved a sigh and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, head tilted to the side as he looked at the younger. ]
Look, kid. Even though we tried to recruit you, the fact that you spat in Shiggy's face and told us all to fuck off proves you're a step up from my old man. You're still young.
[A moment or two passes, and then Bakugou reaches out to take the offered bottle, frowning.] I'm not Endeavor. I'm my own fucking person, and I'm going to be my own fucking hero. [He's done a hell of a lot of shitty things, especially to Izuku, things he doesn't deserve forgiveness for in the slightest.
But being an U.A. has definitely dropped him down several pegs. It's slow, painful, but he's changing. He's understanding. He might not ever lose the crude mouth or shitty attitude, but his heart is in the right place.]
I'm not going to roll over and become a villain just because some fuck with a hand over his face wants to get rid of All Might. He may have retired, but what he stood for isn't fucking dead.
What he's capable of doing, you haven't seen the last of, so don't you fucking forget. Maybe you should just stay in and keep drinking blended cookie dough. Stay out of trouble.
You better be. We've got enough shitty heroes in the world with just my old man. A kid like you with potential to learn from those mistakes is the kind of kid we need running the shit show. All I fucking want is for no more people like me to be made. Even if I have to be the one doing this shit to get that done.
[ He's not some martyr and he's especially not a saint of any kind. Dabi just doesn't want to run into people like himself that have been driven out of their homes because they were failures. He was tired of seeing people made into monsters because a hero looking for his own selfish gain decided to throw their lives away for the power. ]
I don't even give a fuck about All Might or what Shiggy wants. My old man, though... if you really think there's good there, I'm sorry to say it but you're very, very wrong there. No matter how many people he's saved, the reasons he saved those people are twisted.
So... sorry to break it to you but once my hangover clears up tomorrow, it's back to business as usual. There's no changing my mind about it. I've been in trouble the moment I was kicked out still bleeding in the streets and deemed useless by the man that was supposed to be my father.
Then I guess you'll just have to get your ass beat with the rest of those bastards. [The swig he takes of the vodka bottle isn't big or long. Just enough to burn going down, to make him cough gently.
He sets the bottle down on the side of the couch, out of sight and out of reach, out of the way. For both of them maybe.
Then he turns and drops down onto the couch closest to where he had been standing. His eyes wander the living room briefly, and it's surprising that someone so rowdy and mouthy can have such an intelligent look about them when it's time to be smart. There's not a lot here to describe Dabi as a person.
It feels more like a squatting place.] How come none of you have ever killed him?
We'll see. I'm not gonna tell you any of my ultimate plans to get rid of my old man, but even if I get my ass kicked and tossed into Tartarus, as long as he's out of the picture, I'll feel better.
[ Dabi slumped down into his couch, head tilting back as he heard Bakugou give the characteristic cough of a swig from the vodka before the couch bounced under the blond's weight. He doesn't move or say anything for a while, just closes his eyes to wait for the room to stop spinning.
His room pretty much is a squatting area. Just walls and a roof over his head, a place to sleep, to eat and to piss. When you're a villain, you don't really have the luxury of personal items unless you manage to keep a low profile so Dabi's lucky to just have a television and shitty blu-ray player from a local pawn shop. ]
Mmm... that's a bit more complicated. I dunno about Shouto and the others... but for me I knew I wouldn't ever be able to beat him. Once I was out of the house, he'd have kept his guard up against me coming back. Besides... death is too good for him in my opinion. I want him to suffer and have to face the consequences of the shit he's done. Let the world know about it all and make him live in that infamy for a bit before he gets to die.
[Damn, he really was sitting on the couch with a villain. As much as he huffs and puffs so bluntly about killing someone, he's sure he'd have a lot of regret if it had to happen by his hands.
Taking a life, even a bad person's life, isn't as simple as saying, Die, would make it out to be.
This is accounting for the prior torture. How far of a stone's throw had he really been from being a villain, after doing similar things for so long to Izuku? The reasonings were different, but he still did them. It plagues him. The idea the League thought he would be a good candidate for villainy. What does that say about him? How he acted?]
You're real fucked up.
Making an example outta Endeavor as a villain isn't going to do shit against his reputation. If everyone loves him, they're gonna love him ten times more when they feel sorry for him because he's getting attacked.
Whatever he did, if half the shit you're saying is true, then you should all go to the police. You just told me his career meant more to him than his family, right? Then ruin his fucking career. Legally. Publically. Everything else is null and void. You think he can't take broken bones? Burnt skin? Tch.
[ Dabi knew how hard it was to take a life. As easy as it is for him to do now, there was a time when it kept him up for days and fucked with his head so badly that he still remembered the man's face and screams of agony.
Which is where the vodka came in.
Dabi had had his doubts about whether Bakugou would accept their offer, but it wasn't as if he could voice those doubts. It was all part of Shigaraki's grand scheme and he hadn't even known about the existence of this sensei until he was watching the masked man floating over them after being forced to vomit what still tastes like sewage to him. Like a lot of things, Dabi just goes with the flow since the League is his best chance to meet his own personal goals. ]
Congrats on figuring that out. Only took, what? An hour or two?
As long as they just know the truth about him... know the type of man he is behind closed doors... that'll be enough for me. Even if I die because of it or get thrown away in some hole and the key's thrown away for good... it'll be enough.
[ He'll feel guilty about taking himself away from Shouto all over again... forcing the youngest Todoroki to grieve his loss hadn't been easy the first time, but it was beyond his control. ]
That's already part of my plan. But it's a little more complicated than just waltzing into a police station and showing them the bruises and scars he's given us. He doesn't look it, but the motherfucker is smart and he's got plenty of really fucking good lawyers. He's already gotten his way out of social services and a police investigation when my mom threw boiling water on Shouto's face.
[It's no surprise when both hands squeeze into fists on his thighs and start crackling. Like crushing a handful of popping fireworks that go off when thrown against the ground. A little bit of burnt sugar with an edge of something sort of like the smell of gasoline, something dangerous.]
I'll kill you. [Which is about the only thing he can say as a rebuttal to being mocked.] You're... so fucking... stupid.
Throwing your damn life away! It's bad enough they ain't fucking seen you in however long! You think they're just gonna be happy over some stupid bullshit like that? "Our brother is dead, but thank fuck Dad's gone"?
[The swing is sudden, and there's no real wind-up other than him twisting at the waist. He socks Dabi in the cheek and jaw, completely lacking a lot of the oomph he usually puts into most things involving his fists.]
You dumb bastard! They're your family, and they'd give more of a shit that you're even alive over whether or not Endeavor is being punished for being a piece of shit!
[ He smelled the boy's hands firing off more than he heard them. A mere groan leaving him as Bakugou gave his usual phrase and called him stupid. ]
You don't think it'd be something like that? As if they'd want me back after all this time. Once Shouto figures out who I am and what I've been doing the past ten years... he's a hero. And he still lives under our old man's thumb as much as he probably tells himself he doesn't give a fuck about that fucker.
[ The punch to his jaw was the last thing he expected, even considering his guest was the most violent hero-in-training at U.A. Eyes shoot open to glare at the boy, his own reflexes just barely quick enough to grab his wrist and yank him closer even as he's still being yelled at. ]
My life doesn't fucking matter! Don't you get that, yet? I used to tell myself all the time that they cared. That one day they'd find me somehow and tell me it's okay to come back or that they've come to join me. But no. They fucking chose him. They fucking chose to let me fend for myself.
I'm already fucking dead to them. Don't you fucking get it?!
[The grab makes him off balanced; he throws out his other hand against the back of the couch to support him. The arm Dabi holds is rigid, taut, but he only jerks on it once. He’s not exactly scared; however, he can acknowledge the punch was brash, and he’s cautious about Dabi’s quirk. Being in a squat apartment or not.
Not taking any chances, he slides his hand off the couch and bunches it instead in the collar of Dabi’s shirt.
Unfortunately, the more Dabi talks, the more Bakugou’s brows come together. Theoretically, he gets it. But he hasn’t lived it. He doesn’t understand. How could he really?]
It’s fucking Endeavor! Number Two hero! Now Number One! You’re a dumbass if you think they’re all gonna react the same way you did! Just because they tucked tail doesn’t mean they fucking hate you, idiot! It doesn’t mean you’re dead to them! Stop being fucking dramatic!
[ He keeps his grip firm on the blond's arm, hand heating only slightly before he forces himself to stop. He was telling the truth that he didn't want to hurt Bakugou. Even the last time they met he hadn't wanted to harm him beyond following orders to capture him again. Dabi's anger comes easily, just as easily as Bakugou's anger comes forth.
Just so he's even with the grab to his collar, Dabi's own free hand fists in the front of the boy's shirt. Making sure that even if he thought he could get away before, there was no escaping now.
The more the blond shouted, the more Dabi's face grimmaced with both anger and pain. Soon, the hand gripping the younger's arm is shaking as he tries to keep his control and the vodka hits him in a way he hadn't intended. ]
My sister wants me to apologize to him. Me. Apologize. To him. After she watched me burn myself alive just to fucking please him. If they don't consider me dead, I fucking want them to. It's not being fucking dramatic when you don't know the fucking things he's done, kid.
There's only one person that understands my hatred for that man and it's Shouto. And if you can't then... just go the fuck home.
[ With that he finally let go, near shoving the boy away as he stood from the couch. With hobbling steps, he made for the refrigerator where he kept his cigarettes and slammed open the sliding door that led to a small balcony. ]
[It's enough of a warning. Bakugou still isn't afraid, but the hand in his jacket and the tinge of heat on his arm is enough to make him wary. Keep him stiff and tense.
When Dabi releases him and shoves him back, he rolls toward the other end of the couch and stares. He scraped by in this one, not that he'd go down without a fight. Luckily, Dabi doesn't seem to want to bother with him.
Frowning sourly, he watches Dabi leave for the kitchen, come away and to the balcony. For a moment, he simply sits up on the couch and tries to keep his heart from racing so wildly, full of adrenaline. His hand straightens out the hoodie, and he stands.
Considers doing what Dabi told him to do: leave. But... things feel unfinished. Unsaid. What business is it of his, though? Why does he give a shit?
At first, he walks to the door, stops halfway there, turns around and goes back. His footsteps are loud enough to be heard at the sliding door, and they stop on the inside.]
[ His hands find his hair, raking through dyed dark strands as he skulked about grabbing his smokes and tapping one out to light up.
It doesn't help at first, but with each puff the nicotine calms his nerves and the stiffness in his shoulders loosen up from their bow taut posture. Dabi expects Bakugou to storm out of his apartment with a bit more shouting and cursing. Instead just when he thinks he's about to hear the front door open and slam shut, he picks up the sound of socked feet approaching as he leans against the balony's railing. ]
See him? And say what? "Hey, Shouto. Long time no see. Sorry about kidnapping your buddy over the summer."
He doesn't need to ever see me. As far as he's concerned I'm in South Korea eeking out a living on some fishing trawler.
You're the fucking one who said he understood more than anybody else.
[Stupid bastard.
Bakugou's not good at this side of hero work: talking to people, comforting people. Hell, he can't even admit and compartmentalize his own goddamn emotions without throwing some kind of punches, yelling. Everything comes out in his fists, his quirk, how he feels. Fuck.]
You know, he got all the way to the fucking festival without using your shitty old man's quirk, right? He was garbage, thinking he could get away with just ice. Then that goddamn shrimpy nerd had to be the one to put his stupid head on straight.
[Both fists crackle gently when he squeezes them by his sides. Something vividly etched into his memory, the fact Todoroki wouldn't fight him with everything, and his win was a sham. That's not the point, though.]
Maybe it isn't about you talkin' to him. Maybe it's about him talkin' to you. Whatever Endeavor did to him, he's not gonna let it keep him from becoming the hero he wants to become. I can fucking respect that, at least.
But here you are, letting him make you into a monster even now. You ain't never escaped it. Running with the League means you're as much Endeavor's little throwaway plaything as before.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I guess you don't fucking know your brother as well as you think then. [His eyes flick back and forth across Dabi's face, searching.] He can be a little shit. Drinks and then burns it away while you're left with the damn hangover.
[He pauses.] What do you mean, "your brother"?
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Maybe. It's been a while since we last talked face to face. Texting only goes so far and all.
[ He leans against the kitchen island, finger dipping into the (unplugged) blender to scoop out a bit more of the milkshake for a second taste as his muddled head processes Bakugou's words. ]
He's always been a little shit, though, even as a kid.
[ The pause happens with his finger in his mouth licking clean the mixture. ]
Ahhh... shit....
no subject
[His eyes drop momentarily to the blender, then to the vodka glass, then again to Dabi's face.] You're one of the Todorokis? I thought there were only three of them.
Who the hell are you?
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[ His eyes roll as he puts the lid back on the blender and downs another gulp of the vodka. ]
It's only nasty in texture. Once you wash it down with something, it's really not bad.
[ Still, to resist his own temptation, he pushed the blender aside and covered it with a dish towel so that it was out of sight and out of mind. ]
Nope. There's four of us.
....
I used to be called Touya. I'm twelve minutes older than Fuyumi.
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Does fucking Halfy know? He thinks he's texting his long lost brother, but really he's texting the fucker shacked up with the League who caused the whole mess at the camp. Not the mention the rest of what went down.
[He's not frothing, but it does seem like he's getting a little more irritable the more that's unraveled.]
Why the fuck are you hiding who you are?
no subject
Yup. That's the word.
[ Dabi is thoroughly getting drunk by this point, both to ease the pain of his own slip up and because he just damn well felt like it. Feeling a bit unsteady on his feet, though, he grabbed the bottle and moved more like hobbled into the living room to flop down onto the piece of shit couch that came with his piece of shit apartment. ]
I'm pretty sure he knows. Even if he hasn't fully pieced together shit, he had that look on his face the night we took you that made it seem he recognized me. But maybe that's just a big brother's stupidly naive hope.
[ Hope for what? That was a question left to be seen. Mostly, though, Dabi told himself he hoped for Shouto to recognize him so that it would hurt him. Cause him pain to know how far one of his own family's fallen thanks to their father's hand. ]
Why the fuck not? You think the League would like it if they knew whose ballsack I sprang from? The rest of the public wouldn't even believe their number one hero produced a dangerous monster. They don't even believe that he put my mother into the asylum.
no subject
Still without saying a goddamn thing.
Narrow his eyes, he watches Dabi stagger into the other room with the bottle of vodka. After a moment or two, he rounds the door and comes into the living room, too, but crosses his arms rather than having a seat.]
That hand freak would be using you like throw-away bait if he knew who you really were. [And why is that, he wonders. The reason Dabi isn't letting them know.] You have your own fucking agenda. Right?
You know, I really shouldn't leave here with you alive.
[But his bluff is that he's all bark and no bite--he's trying to be a hero.]
no subject
Dabi looked over at the boy and gave a slanted, drunken smile. ]
That's one of the reasons I haven't told him. He just thinks I'm some Stain follower freak that hates Endeavor's guts for some personal vendetta. [ Shigaraki was partly right, at least. ] My agenda is similar to Stain's agenda. Get rid of the corrupt heroes like my father. Right now, the League is my best chance of doing that since he's so high up the totem pole that I can't reach him without a bit of a boost.
Well... you got an advantage on me. I'm drunk as fuck and I'd probably combust if I used my Quirk right now so....
[ Regardless if the threat was real or fake, he tossed back another swig of the vodka, right from the bottle this time. ]
no subject
And he's all about testing himself against an opponent, all out, full strength, when the playing field is even.]
Forget it. [He'll just kick Dabi's ass when they're on equal footing.] You know he's saved people, too, right? Where are you gonna draw the fucking line? What exactly makes someone a corrupt hero to you?
Hey. [Stepping forward, he snaps his hand out and grabs the end of the bottle to keep it from being lifted and drank from.] Answer me before you're too fucked up to do it.
no subject
Much obliged.
[ The question makes him pause as he tries to process the words in his muddled head. By the time the blond's yanked the bottle away from his mouth, he's looking up at the boy with hard, turquoise eyes. ]
He only saved those people to better his own career. He stepped on their backs and used them in order to get his numbers higher and higher. Heroes who do that shit are where I draw the line. When you just want more power or more fame or more money for yourself... that's when you're corrupt. When you don't actually fucking care about the lives you're saving and you're just doing it to be the greatest. And especially when you go right home to your family and smack them around putting so much fear into them that your children can't fucking sleep and your wife sits in the kitchen crying with an icy hand held to the newest bruise on her cheek.
Does that answer your question?
no subject
There's more to the heroes they're running after than he's realized. Until now. All Might, Endeavor... They seem so perfect, on television in the news, on billboards, on posters, and yet here they are, as human as the rest of them. Making mistakes. Making bad choices. Being selfish.
Doing things not unlike Bakugou is doing now, scratching his way through the academy. Classmates are stepping stones to reach the peak, to be the best. He's having the worst time with the tests involving compassion and sympathy. But his quirk isn't support. It's offense. He destroys everything, and he feels useless doing anything else but that.]
He did his job. He does his job. Stopping villains and keeping others protected. He worked to get where he's at--not the first spot, but the second. Whatever fucked up shit he did to you and the others doesn't mean he's a terrible hero. He's a great hero.
He's just a shitty fucking person.
[Like... him. Exactly like him. He's great at what he does--scores, fighting, stopping criminals. But he's shit at everything else.]
no subject
With the bottle now back in his control, he takes another swig before holding it out for Bakugou to take. Silently asking for the boy to make him stop before he downs the whole thing and is fucked over sooner than later.
Dabi may be a villain and one of the bigger monsters out there, but he does care for the innocent in his own twisted way. He doesn't want people hurt when they don't deserve to be hurt. The only people he's killed were all thugs and other villains that did things more vile than he'd care to think about. Though he'd never consider himself a hero in any way, shape or form, he did like to think of it as thinning out the competition. ]
Shitty fucking people don't deserve to be heroes. That's the point I'm trying to get at. And if you feel like you're gonna end up like him, fucking do something about it. You got plenty of time to do it, kid.
[ Dabi heaved a sigh and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, head tilted to the side as he looked at the younger. ]
Look, kid. Even though we tried to recruit you, the fact that you spat in Shiggy's face and told us all to fuck off proves you're a step up from my old man. You're still young.
no subject
But being an U.A. has definitely dropped him down several pegs. It's slow, painful, but he's changing. He's understanding. He might not ever lose the crude mouth or shitty attitude, but his heart is in the right place.]
I'm not going to roll over and become a villain just because some fuck with a hand over his face wants to get rid of All Might. He may have retired, but what he stood for isn't fucking dead.
What he's capable of doing, you haven't seen the last of, so don't you fucking forget. Maybe you should just stay in and keep drinking blended cookie dough. Stay out of trouble.
no subject
[ He's not some martyr and he's especially not a saint of any kind. Dabi just doesn't want to run into people like himself that have been driven out of their homes because they were failures. He was tired of seeing people made into monsters because a hero looking for his own selfish gain decided to throw their lives away for the power. ]
I don't even give a fuck about All Might or what Shiggy wants. My old man, though... if you really think there's good there, I'm sorry to say it but you're very, very wrong there. No matter how many people he's saved, the reasons he saved those people are twisted.
So... sorry to break it to you but once my hangover clears up tomorrow, it's back to business as usual. There's no changing my mind about it. I've been in trouble the moment I was kicked out still bleeding in the streets and deemed useless by the man that was supposed to be my father.
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He sets the bottle down on the side of the couch, out of sight and out of reach, out of the way. For both of them maybe.
Then he turns and drops down onto the couch closest to where he had been standing. His eyes wander the living room briefly, and it's surprising that someone so rowdy and mouthy can have such an intelligent look about them when it's time to be smart. There's not a lot here to describe Dabi as a person.
It feels more like a squatting place.] How come none of you have ever killed him?
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[ Dabi slumped down into his couch, head tilting back as he heard Bakugou give the characteristic cough of a swig from the vodka before the couch bounced under the blond's weight. He doesn't move or say anything for a while, just closes his eyes to wait for the room to stop spinning.
His room pretty much is a squatting area. Just walls and a roof over his head, a place to sleep, to eat and to piss. When you're a villain, you don't really have the luxury of personal items unless you manage to keep a low profile so Dabi's lucky to just have a television and shitty blu-ray player from a local pawn shop. ]
Mmm... that's a bit more complicated. I dunno about Shouto and the others... but for me I knew I wouldn't ever be able to beat him. Once I was out of the house, he'd have kept his guard up against me coming back. Besides... death is too good for him in my opinion. I want him to suffer and have to face the consequences of the shit he's done. Let the world know about it all and make him live in that infamy for a bit before he gets to die.
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Taking a life, even a bad person's life, isn't as simple as saying, Die, would make it out to be.
This is accounting for the prior torture. How far of a stone's throw had he really been from being a villain, after doing similar things for so long to Izuku? The reasonings were different, but he still did them. It plagues him. The idea the League thought he would be a good candidate for villainy. What does that say about him? How he acted?]
You're real fucked up.
Making an example outta Endeavor as a villain isn't going to do shit against his reputation. If everyone loves him, they're gonna love him ten times more when they feel sorry for him because he's getting attacked.
Whatever he did, if half the shit you're saying is true, then you should all go to the police. You just told me his career meant more to him than his family, right? Then ruin his fucking career. Legally. Publically. Everything else is null and void. You think he can't take broken bones? Burnt skin? Tch.
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Which is where the vodka came in.
Dabi had had his doubts about whether Bakugou would accept their offer, but it wasn't as if he could voice those doubts. It was all part of Shigaraki's grand scheme and he hadn't even known about the existence of this sensei until he was watching the masked man floating over them after being forced to vomit what still tastes like sewage to him. Like a lot of things, Dabi just goes with the flow since the League is his best chance to meet his own personal goals. ]
Congrats on figuring that out. Only took, what? An hour or two?
As long as they just know the truth about him... know the type of man he is behind closed doors... that'll be enough for me. Even if I die because of it or get thrown away in some hole and the key's thrown away for good... it'll be enough.
[ He'll feel guilty about taking himself away from Shouto all over again... forcing the youngest Todoroki to grieve his loss hadn't been easy the first time, but it was beyond his control. ]
That's already part of my plan. But it's a little more complicated than just waltzing into a police station and showing them the bruises and scars he's given us. He doesn't look it, but the motherfucker is smart and he's got plenty of really fucking good lawyers. He's already gotten his way out of social services and a police investigation when my mom threw boiling water on Shouto's face.
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I'll kill you. [Which is about the only thing he can say as a rebuttal to being mocked.] You're... so fucking... stupid.
Throwing your damn life away! It's bad enough they ain't fucking seen you in however long! You think they're just gonna be happy over some stupid bullshit like that? "Our brother is dead, but thank fuck Dad's gone"?
[The swing is sudden, and there's no real wind-up other than him twisting at the waist. He socks Dabi in the cheek and jaw, completely lacking a lot of the oomph he usually puts into most things involving his fists.]
You dumb bastard! They're your family, and they'd give more of a shit that you're even alive over whether or not Endeavor is being punished for being a piece of shit!
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You don't think it'd be something like that? As if they'd want me back after all this time. Once Shouto figures out who I am and what I've been doing the past ten years... he's a hero. And he still lives under our old man's thumb as much as he probably tells himself he doesn't give a fuck about that fucker.
[ The punch to his jaw was the last thing he expected, even considering his guest was the most violent hero-in-training at U.A. Eyes shoot open to glare at the boy, his own reflexes just barely quick enough to grab his wrist and yank him closer even as he's still being yelled at. ]
My life doesn't fucking matter! Don't you get that, yet? I used to tell myself all the time that they cared. That one day they'd find me somehow and tell me it's okay to come back or that they've come to join me. But no. They fucking chose him. They fucking chose to let me fend for myself.
I'm already fucking dead to them. Don't you fucking get it?!
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Not taking any chances, he slides his hand off the couch and bunches it instead in the collar of Dabi’s shirt.
Unfortunately, the more Dabi talks, the more Bakugou’s brows come together. Theoretically, he gets it. But he hasn’t lived it. He doesn’t understand. How could he really?]
It’s fucking Endeavor! Number Two hero! Now Number One! You’re a dumbass if you think they’re all gonna react the same way you did! Just because they tucked tail doesn’t mean they fucking hate you, idiot! It doesn’t mean you’re dead to them! Stop being fucking dramatic!
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Just so he's even with the grab to his collar, Dabi's own free hand fists in the front of the boy's shirt. Making sure that even if he thought he could get away before, there was no escaping now.
The more the blond shouted, the more Dabi's face grimmaced with both anger and pain. Soon, the hand gripping the younger's arm is shaking as he tries to keep his control and the vodka hits him in a way he hadn't intended. ]
My sister wants me to apologize to him. Me. Apologize. To him. After she watched me burn myself alive just to fucking please him. If they don't consider me dead, I fucking want them to. It's not being fucking dramatic when you don't know the fucking things he's done, kid.
There's only one person that understands my hatred for that man and it's Shouto. And if you can't then... just go the fuck home.
[ With that he finally let go, near shoving the boy away as he stood from the couch. With hobbling steps, he made for the refrigerator where he kept his cigarettes and slammed open the sliding door that led to a small balcony. ]
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When Dabi releases him and shoves him back, he rolls toward the other end of the couch and stares. He scraped by in this one, not that he'd go down without a fight. Luckily, Dabi doesn't seem to want to bother with him.
Frowning sourly, he watches Dabi leave for the kitchen, come away and to the balcony. For a moment, he simply sits up on the couch and tries to keep his heart from racing so wildly, full of adrenaline. His hand straightens out the hoodie, and he stands.
Considers doing what Dabi told him to do: leave. But... things feel unfinished. Unsaid. What business is it of his, though? Why does he give a shit?
At first, he walks to the door, stops halfway there, turns around and goes back. His footsteps are loud enough to be heard at the sliding door, and they stop on the inside.]
When you gonna get the balls to see him? Halfy.
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It doesn't help at first, but with each puff the nicotine calms his nerves and the stiffness in his shoulders loosen up from their bow taut posture. Dabi expects Bakugou to storm out of his apartment with a bit more shouting and cursing. Instead just when he thinks he's about to hear the front door open and slam shut, he picks up the sound of socked feet approaching as he leans against the balony's railing. ]
See him? And say what? "Hey, Shouto. Long time no see. Sorry about kidnapping your buddy over the summer."
He doesn't need to ever see me. As far as he's concerned I'm in South Korea eeking out a living on some fishing trawler.
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[Stupid bastard.
Bakugou's not good at this side of hero work: talking to people, comforting people. Hell, he can't even admit and compartmentalize his own goddamn emotions without throwing some kind of punches, yelling. Everything comes out in his fists, his quirk, how he feels. Fuck.]
You know, he got all the way to the fucking festival without using your shitty old man's quirk, right? He was garbage, thinking he could get away with just ice. Then that goddamn shrimpy nerd had to be the one to put his stupid head on straight.
[Both fists crackle gently when he squeezes them by his sides. Something vividly etched into his memory, the fact Todoroki wouldn't fight him with everything, and his win was a sham. That's not the point, though.]
Maybe it isn't about you talkin' to him. Maybe it's about him talkin' to you. Whatever Endeavor did to him, he's not gonna let it keep him from becoming the hero he wants to become. I can fucking respect that, at least.
But here you are, letting him make you into a monster even now. You ain't never escaped it. Running with the League means you're as much Endeavor's little throwaway plaything as before.
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