Author's Note: Some friendly fun and family fluff for the holidays. Some requests by readers get granted and some insight into characters is shown. My RL work shuts down in a few days until after the new year so I'm hoping to get a bunch of this done during that time. But this chapter and the next are my Christmas gift to readers. They're going to be very long chapters so I hope you enjoy them. Second chapter will be out tomorrow.
Disclaimer: I don't own MHA or its characters. Original characters are mine but that's it. Story is rated for sensitive subject matter and content both mentioned and written by the author. Includes but is not limited to child abuse, drugs, assault, rape, drugs and more.
Chapter 50 - Happy Holiday Miracles
Jin was released from the hospital 8 days after Recovery Girl and Madame Medic worked on him. Dabi visited him every night and Keigo came to see him a few times as he was able. Due to the physical therapy, Jin was moving back in with Sion until after the New Year. At which time his physical therapy would be more insular and he could return to his dad's to finish out his last year at Ketsubutsu Academy, minus the internship. Azumi introduced Mila to Sion, so Sion could babysit while Azumi was at work because both Soji and Keigo were busy away from home now.
Hawks was an overnight hero sensation. Sasha could barely keep up with the demands for interviews, photo spreads and more. He wasn't as famous as a top listed hero, but he was becoming a fast favorite. It was hard to blame everyone, Hawks was fast, reliable and practically flawless in his approach and handling of every situation he faced. He came swooping in with feathers in a blur of motion to resolve whatever problem or crime was happening. His feathers were truly life saving during natural disasters, hostage situations and major accidents. It didn't hurt that his golden eyes with black lined pointed markings gave even the most innocent glance a predatory look, and women loved it.
With Jin back in Fukuoka, Dabi traveled with Stain for most of the month of December, making a point to watch Hawks on TV or read about his heroics in magazines and papers, saving the pictures Keigo messaged to him in private for himself. When Keigo sent a request for Dabi to come to his house for the holidays and his birthday, Dabi read but didn't reply. Keigo played dirty and asked Azumi to send the same request from her phone, and Dabi agreed almost immediately.
By the time Jin got moved into his grandmother's he was struggling with the physical therapy. By the 20th of December, he hadn't regained much in the way of vision in his left eye, and he had begged Keigo to train with him in the laundry room or outside of the apartments. He had been hoping his quirk could be reutilized to help compensate for the blindness, but that didn't seem to be working. The more he spared and practised with Keigo, the more Keigo suspected Jin had lied about his vision. Despite Keigo asking repeatedly, Jin insisted his vision was improving.
Mila and Jin also got along great. Jin helped Sion watch her during the day, and while he didn't understand her chirps and whistles, he soon earned the title Nii san, because Mila said Keigo was Nii chan already. She also commented on his left eye a lot, but not in a rude way. Mila mentioned it and often asked if it would get better on it's own or if it needed help. It wasn't until a few days before Christmas that she found out how bad it was. She had started watching her brother and Jin spar and practise, cheering them both on with chirps and giggles. She tried to mimic the way Keigo moved his wings and even though her trimmed feathers were grown back, she didn't seem to be able to get off the ground with them.
/
Mila was sitting on top of a dividing wall around the ball field that Keigo and Jin were practising at. It was half a block from the apartments and cleared of anyone due to the time of evening and cold weather. Jin was positioned on the ground, a foam baton in hand as a substitute for his own electric baton he used as a hero, as he lashed out at Keigo aggressively. The winged hero dodged easily, he was unarmed because he needed the practise without having a weapon, but still seemed to be moving faster than Jin. The bat eared trainee tried to come around the left at Keigo. Mila covered her mouth to prevent herself from making a noise. Her trills and chirps were considered cheating because she had been trying to help Keigo with the fight. Keigo, however, noticed that Jin's swing was wide and un aimed, exactly like he couldn't see.
He darted to his own left, his wings flapping fast to lift and drop him behind Jin as he came out from Jin's left to grab his arm holding the baton and disarm his friend. Because he didn't see it at all, Jin lost the baton and was unable to stop Keigo from flipping him onto his back and putting a knee into his chest, the other planted on the ground next to him. Laughing between coughs because he was winded, Jin tapped the ground playfully tapping out. "I give! You got me!" Keigo didn't look happy. His eyes were hard and glaring, the gold irises big as his pupils were slits and stared down at his best friend. "Why didn't you move your arm out of my way? I've used that move on you before and you always dodge it."
Jin shrugged as Mila hopped down from the wall to wonder over. "I'm thtill recovering from my injury, dude. My brain hathn't been reacting as fatht ath it uthed to." Keigo narrowed his eyes. "Or you can't see as well as you're letting me believe." Jin blinked at him and didn't reply as Mila walked over, bundled in a coat, scarf and hat. "Nii chan, you need to let Nii san up. You won already." Keigo frowned and didn't move as he crouched over Jin. "You're blind, aren't you?" Jin shrugged, eyes looking back at Keigo's with no hint of shame or sorrow for stretching the truth. "Tho what if I am? It will get better."
Keigo snarled and climbed off of him, his wings puffed up and angry. "Is there a plan to help, at least? Or were you going to lie to me until I got my agency and then you wouldn't be able to have you as my sidekick?" Jin shrugged and sat up as Mila walked over to him. "I'm doing the therapy and everything the doctorth thay to do. It will get better or it won't. I'm not letting it thtop me from being your thidekick." Keigo threw his hands up as Mila looked between them both. "They won't let you take the Hero License Exam if you're blind in one eye. You'll never be able to be a hero." Jin smiled and put a hand on Mila's head, ruffling her hair as she chirped. "Nii san, you need your eye to feel better?" He grinned at the chirp, ignoring the way Keigo turned around to watch them. "It already feelth better chickie. Promithe." Mila shook her wings that were poking out of her coat but let it be.
Grumbling, Keigo walked back over and offered Jin a hand up. "Now I'm gonna have to spend my time looking for someone to help heal it." Mila latched onto Keigo's free hand after Jin stood, a grin on his toothy face as his fangs poked out. "Aw, you have no faith in me. I'm hurt!" Keigo snorted and threw his free arm over Jin's shoulder as Mila held his hand. " Let's go back inside. No more training today." As they walked, Mila kept looking over at Jin, her wings flapping quickly on her back as Keigo watched her. "Worried about Jin?" Mila nodded. "I want to make his eyeball feel better."
Jin skipped forward and scooped her up, holding her in the air at arms length before swinging her around. "Maybe later tonight after dinner, you can play doctor when I have to put my medithine on my eye." Keigo smirked as they all walked inside, unable to stop the half smile at how giggly Mila was. Jin was spending the night since it was the weekend before Christmas. Keigo had patrol tomorrow morning and a few days after until Christmas Eve, then Dabi had said he would be coming over. So Keigo traded with another hero to have both days off and into the new year. Aside from emergency calls, he could spend the time with those he cared about the most, and he needed that.
They got upstairs in time for dinner, Mila helping Azumi to clean up dinner as much as a 4 year old could. Afterwards Soji pulled out a chessboard and played a few games with Jin and Keigo alternately. As the boys took turns getting beat or trying to beat Soji, Mila came running into the living room and grabbed Jin's hand. "You promised I could play doctor!" Jin blinked at her and glanced at Azumi who was tilting her head. Normally Mila wanted to play with dolls or her dollhouse after dinner. "Mila sweetie, Jin had to have special medicine on his eye. It's not a good idea to play around with it." Jin was sitting on the sofa and scooped up the skinny 4 year old, sitting her in his lap. "If you want to hand me thingth like a nurthe, we can do that. But Auntie is right, you-"
Mila interrupted him by grabbing his cheeks gently, her eyes intent as she looked him in the eyes. "I want to help your eyeball feel better. You said I could." He blinked at her and grinned. "Ok. Let'th go sit at the table." He stood and took her hand to lead her to the kitchen table as Keigo started a new game of chess with Soji. Azumi got settled on the sofa to watch as she listened to Jin explain what the antibacterial numbing gel was for, how to put it on and how to prep his eye for it. She imagined Mila paying attention to every step, trying to make sure she did it right, which was how the four year old handled anything she didn't know about from baking to the hero reports on TV.
Azumi listened to the giggling from Mila, followed 0by the laughing from Jin and smiled warmly, happy that her house was full of smiles and laughter. Keigo was trying to get Soji into a checkmate when there was a thump like something fell over and Jin hollered from the kitchen. "Mila? Mila?! Wake up! Aunt Thumi!" Azumi jumped up and ran to the kitchen with Keigo and Soji in tow. Mila collapsed on the floor, her wings at odd angles from what appeared to be her having passed out and dropped to the ground. Azumi knelt and moved Mila so her head was cradled in her lap and checked her pulse, 5hen her eyes, a hand on her forehead.
"She's burning up. I don't understand, she was fine earlier." Keigo looked from Mila to Jin and paused, before pointing to his best friend. "Jin your eye." The bat eared teenager nodded as he absently put a hand to the space under his eye. "I know, it'th a meth. I jutht put rhe gel on it." Keigo shook his head staring. "No, it's not. It looks perfectly fine." Azui looked up to peer at Jin's eye. Ut focused on her daughter, gently picking her up. "Soji, I'm going to get her into bed." He nodded and hurried into the master bedroom to hrt little futon folded down. Keigo motioned for Jin to come with him and dragged him to the bathroom, pointing at the mirror.
Jin's eyeball was clear and dark, the filmy white color gone no matter what angle he looked at it in. The stitches and markings around his eye and cheek were still present, but the eye itself was fine. He even covered his right eye and looked around. "Whoah, you didn't tell me the had a healing quirk, Kei." Keigo shook his head listening to Soji grab a cold wet cloth from the kitchen. "That's because we didn't know. We thought her bird traits were her quirk. I mean, she mentioned her mom was a healer who used her hair. What exactly happened between you two?" Jin frowned as he continued to look at and around his eye.
"I put the gel on my eye and the athked to help. I told her to hand me a new bandage to layer onto it for awhile and the thtarted hitting me with her wingth. Flapping and bruthing them in my fathe. I laughed and the laughed and after a few timeth of that the collapthed." Keigo was thinking as Soji walked to the bathroom door. "Can I see your eye, Jin?" He nodded and stepped to the door letting Soji gently take his chin and look at it. "It doesn't look like anything but the eye got healed. You still have the stitches and such around it." Keigo's wings twitched. "Is Mila ok?" Soji nodded. "Yes, a bit feverish and asleep but otherwise she's alright. This does bring up some concerns that Azumi said you mentioned to her, Keigo."
The blonde nodded. "Yeah. If it is a healing quirk, the Commission tends to keep strict files on people who have those, but they also keep that information super secure to prevent villains and fanatics from getting to it." Soji nodded and glanced at Jin. "So if we never registered that she has a healing quirk. They wouldn't even know." The bathroom was quiet before Jin looked at Keigo. "I can keep my mouth thut. I'll pretend the therapy ith working and I jutht woke up to find the film on my eye gone. They thaid it wath a pothability anyway." Keigo bit his bottom lip and looked past Soji towards the master bedroom. All he could see was Azumi kneeling by a small futon that was out of sight.
"Guess we can attribute this to a Christmas Miracle." Keigo grinned and put an arm around Jin as Soji nodded their agreement to keep in quiet. "I'm sure your mother will talk to Dr. Seeks in the morning about Recovery Girl's sidekicks. Maybe we can learn more about this and how exactly it works from them." The teenagers nodded and Keigo offered to help finish dressing the rest of Jin's injured face as they listened to Azumi humming a soft Christmas song to Mila while she slept, the little girl gripping Azumi's hand in her fever induced sleep.
The following morning, Keigo was woken up briefly to a small warm body with soft wings crawling into his bed and cuddling into him. His alarm hadn't even gone off so he rolled over pulling her close and brought a wing down over them both. She cooed as he did in her sleep, the noise making Jin wake up since he was on the pull out secondary bed. He watched the two sleeping for a bit and smiled, a hand gently going to his left cheek. Jin had been prepared to relearn everything with half of his vision gone. He had been ready to give up the idea of ever being a hero, although he would always strive to be a sidekick worthy of Keigo aka Hawks.
As he watched them laying in bed, Keigo's alarm finally went off and his eyes opened slightly, locating Jin first before his wing curled more around Mila. The older teen grinned before motioning to the little girl curled up in his wing. "Five more minuteth?" Keigo mumbled an affirmative as he hugged his little sister close, protectively, as a strong deep trill came from his throat. Jin sat up and hit snooze on the alarm clock and left them to drift back to sleep as he took a picture on his phone, sending a copy to Dabi with the following:
'You aren't going to believe what happened last night.'
/
Mila's fever broke the following morning, and Jin took her to his grandmother's for babysitting while Azumi went to the clinic and Keigo did his patrol. When Azumi got to the clinic, she asked to schedule a sit down with Dr. Seeks about Mila's newly awakened quirk. She handled patients and cleaned rooms all day, her meeting set for before she would leave. With Christmas coming, there were a lot of new patients from visitors for the holidays to families who were now trying to get clean for their own family. As she was cleaning one of the exam rooms, another nurse poked her head into the room.
"Azumi, your son is on TV in the break room and waiting room. He's gotten handsome!" Azumi laughed and headed for the breakroom to watch. It was a small stand off with a villain who had tried to stop traffic and throw cars. Hawks was helping civilians out of their cars and trapped debris while he fought off the villain, a man with glue and rock cannons had formed on his arms. He was using his feather swords to keep the villain busy so he could evacuate people while supporting the police and paramedics. She smiled as she watched the TV, Hawks keeping an easy smile on his face as he finally subdued the villain, getting a pair of handcuffs on him
The nurse who was watching with her smiled brightly. "He's so fast. I didn't realize how much he had been training. And he already has his license?" Azumi nodded, a proud look on her face. "Yes, he hasn't stopped going for his goal to open his own agency, which he's well on his way." The front check in nurse, a lady named Mizu, came back looking into the break room. "Um, Azumi? That creepy guy with the staples is back. Dabi?" Azumi looked at the clock, surprised. "Oh! I'm supposed to have a meeting with Dr. Seeks, can you ask him to wait in room 3?" Mizu nodded and headed back to the waiting room as Azumi hurried to Dr. Seek's office.
Azumi took the time to explain what happened, and asked him about Recovery Girl's sidekicks. He didn't have much information, but promised to call Recovery Girl for information to help them with identifying what Mila's quirk could be. He told her to stop in ro see him before leaving to see what he had. When she stepped into room 3 with antray of sutures and disinfectant, she smiled warmly to see Dabi already sitting with a medical mask on and his hoodie. "We weren't expecting you here. I thought you were going to come to the apartment for the holidays." Dabi watched her with his bright turquoise eyes as he glanced at the sutures. "I wanted to get these tended correctly before coming over and this lets me walk you home."
Azumi smiled brightly as she set the tray down and gave him a gentle hug. "Well thank you. I appreciate that. Let's get these sutures cleaned and replaced, alright?" Dabi nodded and held still as she set to work. Azumi was the only person, aside from himself, that he trusted to take care of his sutures. She had been doing it since he first started using them to hold the last of his real skin to the burnt purple scarred flesh. She never made a gross face, or acted like it was horrible that she had to disinfect and clean up burnt and decaying skin between the seams.
Dabi would be lying if he said he wasn't envious of Keigo and his family. He knew Keigo had gone through some bad things until he was six, and then Azumi took over as his mother. She married Soji shortly after and even now had a little sister who didn't seem to judge based on appearance. It was a perfect family. Loving in that there was no fighting or abuse as he suffered in his own family. Caring because they took him in as one of their own by his second visit to their household. Even though Dabi faked his death, stole what he needed, killed people in the back alleys and did less than reputable business for whichever street gang paid the most, Soji and Azumi never asked any questions of him or judged him. They always gave him unconditional support and love.
Until Keigo's family, Dabi hadn't even realized a family like that was possible. His own father beat his siblings. The man ruined his mother and turned her on her own children. There was no comfort in that household, no gentle hugs and supportive help. If Dabi was honest with himself, he couldn't even call the Todoroki household his family anymore. Azumi's soft voice broke him out of his thoughts as she gently gave him something for pain so she could begin removing the damaged or open sutures and replacing them.
"You've gotten tall but you're skinny. Are you eating enough, Dabi?" He blinked surprised at her for asking about that, but he smirked to put her at ease. "Yes, Auntie. It's just my metabolism. How's Keigo? I've seen him on TV. Is he handling fame well?" Azumi smiled as she answered, the small talk and pain killer making the process much smoother than when Dabi did it himself. "He's a bit self conscious about the television fame, and he gets nervous when he's asked personal questions. But otherwise he's listening to the Public Relations woman he has."
Dabi nodded and watched as Azumi moved his hands gently to the work space to work on those sutures. "He's been talking about your visit non stop. I really appreciate you coming for the holidays and his birthday. As I said, you're always welcome." The flesh parts of his skin turned a slight pink as he swallowed and nodded, unable to say anything without giving away the emotions running through him. She finished her work and gave him a bottle of antibiotics and disinfectant cleaning solutions before gently kissing his forehead.
"I'll see you outside. I need to get something from Dr. Seeks." He nodded, face still pink as he put his face mask back on and pulled his hood up. Azumi led him to the exit nearest the donation center, as he normally slipped out before finalizing any follow up exams. Azumi put his file away and straightened up the exam room before heading to the doctor's private office. When she knocked, he called for her to come in and motioned for her to shut the door. "Doctor, someone is here to walk me home so I was checking in like you asked before I go for the weekend." He nodded and was printing papers as she moved to sit down.
"I'll make this brief than, Azumi. I called Recovery Girl and she told me she only ever had one sidekick with a healing quirk that used her hair. She went by Soothe and her quirk was cellular regeneration. It only worked on people who were awake and conscious and the wound had to be fresh, before the body began to heal it on it's own. She was often called in for infections, cancer and tumors. The kinds of things that are constantly eating away at a person. I looked up some information on my own." He handed her some of the papers he had printed and Azumi bit her lip as she looked them over.
"According to what I found," he continued, "Soothe retired a year after working with Recovery Girl because she wanted to start a family. Her husband unfortunately died two years after they were married, and Soothe was also killed in her own home, the victim of a burglary gone wrong." Azumi read part of the article noting there was no mention of a child. When she looked up, Dr. Seeks answered before she could ask. "It's believed her child was hidden away in the foster care system, and if so, it means she'll be safe with a different family. After all, children don't need to register quirks until they're 16."
Azumi smiled and stood, offering the doctor a deep bow of gratitude. "Thank you for all of your help. If I can return the favor, don't hesitate to ask." He smiled and waved her away with a chuckle. "Go spend the weekend with your family and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas." Azumi went to the break room putting the papers in her purse as she gathered up all of her belongings and presents. Once she got outside, she saw Dabi waiting for her, hands in his hoodie pockets. His bright turquoise eyes seemed to be asking, silently, if she was alright. Azumi took a deep breath in and let it out slowly as she looped her arm through the crook of one of his.
"Everything is fine. Let's go home and celebrate the holidays."
