Chapter Text
“Thanks,” Shouto said as they finally put away the last cleaning supplies, “I know it wasn’t easy for you guys to come here and help again.”
“It’s no problem, Shouto!” Izuku said, beaming as usual. Katsuki just grunted, wishing they were still on the trip. It’d been so fun - he’d climbed the mountain enough that even Tenya was starting to get sick of keeping up with him, he’d spent every evening dicking around with his friends and every night in Tenya’s room, sleeping with his head on Tenya’s chest. It was honestly Katsuki’s ideal life.
Katsuki’s phone buzzed at the same time Shouto’s did. Izuku glanced between them as they took out their phones.
“It’s from Mr. Aizawa, he wants to know where we are,” Katsuki said as Shouto started tapping out a reply, “he hasn’t added you to the chat. I’ll do it.”
“What’s going on?” Izuku asked, walking over to stand besides them. He was wearing a necklace, Katsuki realized, a small pink one that Katsuki was ninety-five percent sure came from Uraraka. He tugged out his own phone as they got the next message from Mr. Aizawa, tapping away at the screen.
“Stay where you are, stay together,” Shouto read out loud, glancing up at the two of them, “something’s wrong.”
“Class chat says no one else got a text,” Izuku said, “you think it’s - it’s Shigaraki?”
“Shigaraki would go for you, though,” Katsuki said, “he wouldn’t go for me or Shou- I mean, IcyHot.”
“Did you almost just call me by name?” Shouto said, smiling over at him. Katsuki flipped him off and didn’t respond.
Shouto wasn’t like those three assholes who used to follow Katsuki around. He cared about and relied on Katsuki, he’d proven it time and time again. So it was really unfair to not consider him a friend.
It’d taken a while for Katsuki to reach that decision, but he was here now.
“Go die.”
“Kill me yourself.”
“Mr. Aizawa will be here in a couple minutes, he says not to check the news,” Izuku said.
“So, obviously we’ll check the news,” Shouto said, raising his phone to start tapping.
“Mr. Aizawa said not to,” Katsuki said, leaning over to shove it back down, “I’m sure there’s a fucking reason.” Shouto sighed, but listened.
They didn’t have to wait long for Mr. Aizawa to show up in his car. He didn’t even get out, just unlocked the doors and waited for them to shuffle in and buckle up, all three of them in the backseat rather than sitting up next to him.
“Did you check the news?” Mr. Aizawa asked, beginning to drive like they were getting chased.
“Katsuki wouldn’t let us,” Shouto said. Katsuki glared at him, but didn’t contest the point. He hadn’t let them check.
“Good, keep it that way,” Mr. Aizawa said.
“See, saying that is making me wanna check more,” Izuku said. Mr. Aizawa glanced back at him in the rearview mirror. “I’m not saying I would! I’m just saying that the urge grows the more you say not to.”
“If either of you so much as fucking touch your phones, I will blow your heads off,” Katsuki said sternly. Both Izuku and Shouto rolled their eyes, but they stashed their phones in their pockets anyway.
“Thank you, Bakugou,” Mr. Aizawa said. It was almost as if he didn’t go on trip with them, to be honest, Mr. Aizawa looked just as tired and strung out as he usually did.
They finally pulled up at the hospital, people staring as Mr. Aizawa led them through the lobby and into the elevator. Katsuki glared at them, but didn’t do anything about it. People stared. It was normal.
It wasn’t normal to be led to a room with two police officers guarding it. Mr. Aizawa glanced back at the three of them, flashing his hero license to get them into the room. In the room was a police officer and -
“What the fuck?!” Katsuki yelped, jerking back and dragging his two brothers with him. “What’s he doing here?!”
Dabi’s head turned slowly, eyes half lidded and mouth twisting up into a smirk. Katsuki’s heart was about to beat right out of his chest. He couldn’t fucking breathe.
“Hey, kid,” he murmured. He sounded - he sounded drugged out and exhausted. He was bruised and battered and Katsuki hated that he could recognize exactly which burns were new and which he’d had since before they’d even met.
“Katsuki Bakugou,” the officer said, standing. Katsuki couldn’t even look at him, too busy glaring at Dabi. His palms were sweaty. “I need you to identify this man.”
“What the fuck?” Katsuki bit out. “You know exactly who he is, you motherfuc-”
“We don’t have any clear CCTV shots of him,” the officer said, “even the tv footage from his fights with Endeavor are unclear. You’ve spent the most time with him, to our knowledge. So. Can you identify this man?”
Dabi was still fucking smirking. Katsuki wanted to explode it off his face. Katuski wanted - Katsuki wanted to go away. Go back up to the mountains with Tenya and hide away.
“That’s Dabi,” Katsuki finally ground out, “one of the big guys in the Parahuman Liberation Front. Previously one of the members of the League of Villains.”
“Thank you,” the officer said, turning now to Shouto. “Can you identify him? As someone other than Dabi?”
“What?” Shouto said slowly. He looked over at Dabi. Dabi was watching closely. “I don’t know him.” Katsuki wanted Dabi’s eyes off Shouto, he wanted Dabi out of this room, Dabi was so much less terrifying when he was just vanished somewhere where Katsuki didn’t have to think about him but right now that he was in this room, right now that Katsuki knew what he looked like laying down and getting fluids pumped directly into his veins, he felt - he felt real.
“Are you sure? Think very carefully,” the officer said, stepping forwards eagerly, “you were the only Todoroki family member that we could get a hold of. You need to be absolutely sure you don’t recognize him.”
“Lay off him, you bastard,” Katsuki said, getting up in the officer’s face. He looked way too invested in whatever Shouto was about to say and anyone looking at Shouto could tell he was put on the spot. Katsuki popped off a couple explosions, relishing in the way the officer’s face reddened. A glance at Mr. Aizawa showed he had no intention of stopping Katsuki.
“Look,” the officer said.
“No, I fucking won’t look,” Katsuki said, getting louder, “you wanna order me to come in here an identify a known, easily recognizable criminal, fine. But you want Shouto to recognize someone he might know, you lay off with the fucking pressure, you two-bit beat cop. I’ll blast you into outer space, you hear me?”
“Is that a threat?” The officer said, hand moving down to touch the cuffs at his side. Katsuki narrowed his eyes.
“Are you really saying you feel threatened by some seventeen year old kid mouthing off?” Katuski said, raising an eyebrow. “Wow officer, you truly have nerves of fucking steel. I wonder how you deal with criminals, acting like a fucking two-year-”
“Katsuki,” Shouto said quietly. Katsuki turned to look over at him, finding Shouto’s eyes fixed on Dabi. “Katsuki, he - doesn't he look like - doesn’t he - the hand, Katsuki.” The hand?
Izuku seemed to get it immediately, horror flashing across his face as he turned to Dabi once again. Shouto looked over at Katsuki as Izuku rushed for the trashcan, the sound of him throwing up filling the room. The hand?
It had to be something they’d talked about before - Katsuki thought back on the last few times they’d hung out. Anything about a hand? Shouto had made a joke about being the Hand Crusher™ when they were in the mountains. . . When they were at Endeavor’s house, he’d held a hand up to Katuski’s -
Oh no.
Katsuki looked over at Dabi himself, imagining it. First and middle fingers under the eyes. Thumb and ring along the line of his mouth. Pinky under his chin. Katsuki’s heart stuttered in his chest, going numb.
It matched the fucking skin drafts.
“Fuck,” Katsuki said. Shouto looked back and forth between Dabi and Katsuki, right side of him frosting over while the left side began to burn, and ran.
“Shouto!” Izuku yelled, rushing after him, followed by the officer. Mr. Aizawa looked over at Katsuki. Katsuki nodded, and Mr. Aizawa ran after them, leaving Katsuki alone in a room with his kidnapper.
“It’s been a while,” Dabi rasped, “wanna catch up?”
Katsuki took a seat.