"Fuck." Dabi hisses out as the last medical staple clatters to the bloodied sink. He takes a moment to stare at himself in the mirror, the right part of his face looks like someone had tried to peel him. He pours some hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball and gingerly dabs it on his skin to prevent infection, his right hand clenches at the edge of the sink and he closes his eyes. No matter how clean he keeps his modifications- the life of a villain isn't exactly the most hygienic and cleaning with peroxide always hurts like a bitch.
He pauses and takes in a deep breath before holding his skin up and taking a new staple and piercing it through his skin. Dabi continues to loop several more staples into his cheek until his scarred skin is held up once more. He cleans it again, watching in the mirror as the cotton ball soaks up the blood- turning a dark crimson. He knows that he should probably check over the rest of his staples to see if any of them need replacing but ultimately decides that he'll leave that up for the future. Instead, he opens the medicine cabinet and with shaking hands- opens up a bottle of morphine. Tipping his head back, he dry swallows two pills and puts the bottle away and sighs at the bloody mess of the sink.
Another day, another shit show- he thinks to himself as he starts to clean the sink.
Toga plops down next to Dabi and throws her legs over his own and she snatches the remote from him.
"I'm tired of watching your lame old man shows!" He doesn't put up much of a fight and watches as she flicks through the channels with indifference. A sudden and nearly forgotten about figure appears in one of the channels and before Toga can change the channel again, Dabi rips it from her grasp.
"Hey!"
"Shut up. Just gimme a second." She pouts and crosses her arms before leaving the room. He straightens up and leans in closer, his elbows resting against his knees as he stares at his baby brother on screen.
It's a rerun of the Sport's Festival- he knows because he watched it live with the rest of the League.
Dabi feels a twinge in his heart as he sees Shouto stomp his foot down and encasing one of his classmates in a glacial behemoth without breaking a sweat. The last time Dabi had even seen his brother was the night after their mother was spirited away- to be locked forever away, like a bird forgotten in its cage.
That fateful night when the Todoroki household was forever changed.
The night where Shouto decided to- up until the Sport's Festival, to refuse to use his flames in battle. Where Natsuo swore to himself that he would become a doctor so he wouldn't have to live with the guilt of looking at the glaringly heartbreaking scar that Shouto would have to bear for the rest of his life. Fuyumi and her brilliant mind knew in her heart that her calling in life was to become a teacher- to catch signs of familial abuse. To prevent another tragedy that she has to call her family.
And Touya?
Full of nothing but his own regrets and disappointment, Touya left that night- never to come back. Touya burned away to nothing but a mere wisp and in his place stood Dabi. Hellbent in achieving his one goal in his new life.
To make Endeavor pay for the actions he wrought on his family.
Dabi senses someone standing behind him and doesn't bother looking over his shoulder to know that it's Shigaraki.
"Who knew that the great and infamous Dabi could be so pathetic?"
"We all have our moments. Some, more than others- like you." He hears a snort and Shigaraki walks around and sits down next to him, studying Dabi with his unblinking red eyes.
"Shut up you piece of over cooked shit." Shigaraki turns to the television and hums as he sees Shouto and Midoriya battling it out, "That kid really gets on my nerves."
"Yeah, yeah we all know. You have some sorta creepy vendetta against him."
"Creepy?" Dabi rolls his eyes and breaks his own gaze from the television to stare disbelieving at his boss.
"Yeah. He's like sixteen, kinda creepy. You're just fueling your hate against All Might onto the poor nerd." Shigaraki's eyes narrow and he starts to scratch at his neck.
"He is All Might's little disciple. What do you want? Me to play nice with him? Want me to invite him over for a cup of tea?"
"Holy shit, you are impossible."
"We're villains," Shigaraki pauses, "We can't have the simple pleasures in life that we desire. We left our families behind for a reason." Dabi honestly doesn't know if Shigaraki is trying to comfort him or remind him of the fact that he's supposed to be a familyness man. They sit in uncomfortable silence for what feels like hours and Dabi sighs.
"Since when did you decide to become my therapist?"
"When you decided to be a piece of dramatic emo trash." Dabi stands up from the sofa and hands Shigaraki the remote, taking one last glance at the screen- Shouto is no longer being shown and instead it's just All Might struggling to crown the victor, that annoying trigger happy Bakugou. Dabi can't believe that they even thought it would be a good idea to capture the most volatile student and none of them paused to think that he would try to kick all of their asses at once.
Though he still finds it funny that the kid managed to rip Father off from Shigaraki's face.
What a day that was.
Dabi is nearly out of the room when Shigaraki calls out to him, he pauses at the doorway- waiting.
"I think it's high time to finally meet Hawks."
Dabi can see Hawks breathe an audible sigh of relief as he runs his gloved hand through his wind swept hair.
"I was starting to think I'd never get to meet the big dogs." Dabi chuckles and only tells him the coordinates of where the meeting will take place.
"Just make sure you're there on time, little bird. Bad impressions with Shigaraki can be fatal." His observant eyes don't miss the way that Hawks' wings flutter- a trait that he does when he's nervous.
"Noted."
He stands in the shadows behind Shigaraki. Dabi knows that his boss will amp up the theatrics just to get some sort of reaction from their renegade hero. Shigaraki didn't let anyone else come to the meeting, wanting a one on one with Hawks, even Dabi was told once Hawks arrives he's to make himself scarce until the meeting is over.
A small part of him hopes that Hawks is able to take whatever Shigaraki has planned. He's come to enjoy their meetings, it gives him a sense of being grounded. That he's not losing his mind and going crazy with the rest of the League.
When the door slides open, he melts further in the shadows until he finds his exit.
"Well, if it isn't Hawks." He can hear Shigaraki sneer before Dabi quietly closes the door behind him, leaving the pro hero and villain alone.
Dabi is standing outside the building, watching a raven hop around the ground- pecking around at the ground. He doesn't know why he's been so lost in thought lately but it's starting to irritate him, he hasn't felt like himself in a couple of days and generally just feels more angry than usual.
Kurogiri calls it survivor's guilt. Dabi calls it a pain in his ass.
"Well, that was certainly an experience." A sudden and chipper voice calls out and Dabi lets out a burst of flame in surprise, "Feeling jumpy, are we?" He glares over his shoulder at a beaming Hawks and looks him up and down- searching for any signs of decay on him.
"I could've melted your face off." Hawks stands next to Dabi and the raven peers at its invasion of peace before cawing and flying off.
"And ruin this handsome face? You could never." He doesn't have it in him to squabble with the winged hero and only grunts.
"I see that Shigaraki didn't turn you to ash."
"What can I say? My charming personality even works on the most hardened of villains." If that ain't so, Dabi thinks. He starts to walk away, he doesn't bother to look back at Hawks.
"I'll contact you soon."
"Let me get this straight," Dabi pauses- pinching the bridge of his nose, "You want me to live with him now?" Shigaraki doesn't even show a hint of a smile, the rest of their elite group however, mostly Toga and Twice, are giggling.
"I still don't trust him. I need someone to keep an eye on him."
"I already do keep an eye on him."
"Keep a closer eye on him then. Your shit is already packed." Kurogiri holds out a hand and offers Dabi a small black bag of his scarce belongings. He begrudgingly takes it.
"This house is a fucking nightmare."
"Guess it's a good thing that you don't live here anymore then." Spinner matter-of-factly replies, earning more giggles from the two asshats that Dabi just now decided to put on his shit list.
Dabi takes a look around Hawks' apartment, not at all surprised at the fact that Hawks is a generally messy person. He lets his bag drop to the floor and is about to raid the kitchen when the front door opens and a very confused Hawks stands in the doorway- his mouth opening and closing, looking for the right words to say. Or maybe he decided that gaping like a fish en vogue. Either way he still looks like an idiot, Dabi thinks.
"Heya roommate." Dabi deadpans and sees the seven stages of grief flash by in seconds on Hawks' face.
"No." Hawks crosses his arms and glares back at Dabi, "No way in hell; don't you live at that bar with the rest of your friends or something?" Dabi says nothing for a long moment and lets out a huff.
Author's Note
Have a slightly down in the dumps Dabi.
I have some exciting news! I'll be starting a new one shot series about the childhood of the League and how they became villains. So far, I have four one shots thought up of. One story each for Dabi, Shigaraki, Toga and Twice. Their one shots will definitely be longer and will take a longer time to be released but I have the first one shot in the series to be scheduled to be released on January 21st, 2019. That's it for now. Until then, fairwinds.
Reviews are always welcome!