Random thoughts. Could you imagine, though, if the first time Enji saw Dabi, he just blurted out Touya's name. Like it's not a conscious thought, but seeing those eyes all he can think about is his son. He doesn't like to think about him. Of course he doesn't. Who really WANTS to think about the fact that they drove their kid to overwork so much that they ended up accidentally getting themselves killed. But he sees Dabi, and he can't help it. He's not even particularly calling Dabi by Touya's name. He just wanted to hear his son's name out loud. And Dabi just Freezes cause fuck he did not expect endeavor to actually recognize him so soon. And he's just like, so you actually recognize me. And endeavor is caught off guard cause what? He was just saying dabi had the same eyes. But damn now that he thinks about it he does look like a weird older version of his son.
I just like thinking of an endeavor that wasn't a complete monster to his children for almost 15 years
i actually genuinely believe this is what dabi was hoping for when he first came face to face with enji after touya’s ‘death’ all those years later!! i think when he says ‘this is our first time meeting, right?’ / ‘well, endeavor, should i say…nice to meet you?’ there was a part of him that was hoping so desperately for his father to look him in the eyes and recognize his own, recognize his son, turn to rigid stone and go ‘…touya?’ or something of that manner. but then enji calls him dabi, and that HURTS, because that means enji knows who dabi is—has seen him before, has perhaps even scrutinized/studied him as a villain, but failed to put together the blue eyes + the flames. he’s looking right at touya and yet he is still not seeing him.
this is also the first time we see dabi lose his cool, and i think that enji failing to recognize him has something to do with it or at least adds insult to injury. i know i’ve said this a million and one times before, but touya’s family (especially his father!!) seems to be the one thing that sends his usually ironclad emotions spiralling out of control. dabi is an absolute master at masking his emotions…until he’s face to face with his father. i feel like there’s so much subtext in that first meeting aaah like !!! no one can convince me that he didn’t phrase things the way he did (‘none of this is how i planned, but that’s fine’) because he really was hoping, on some level, in some capacity, that his father would come face to face with his long dead son and recognize him.
