Sleep was relief in its purest form. For any normal person, it could be the cure to a day long headache or muscle pain. For me, it erased the stolen emotions from the day before, leaving me with my feelings alone. I lived for mornings, they were when I felt most myself.
I stretched out from my curled position, fingers and toes cracking as I shook off the night's stiffness. Sheer curtains let in the morning light, dancing across my room, bringing a peaceful glow. My room was quite simple and small, but I made it work with a bunk bed, the bottom bunk turned into a desk area rather than another bed, allowing me to have a larger mattress up top.
Repurposed from my sister and I's old bedroom, she took the mattress from the bottom bunk for her first semester at UA this year while I moved out for my job on the other side of the city.
I hopped down from the bed, landing with a loud thud, waking my cat, Momo. She stretched and basked in the streak of sun falling between my curtains, her calico fur glowing like my own matching hair. She reminded me of my sister, Mora, recharging her quirk in the sun's glow.
I gave Momo, and the memory, a bittersweet smirk before padding over to the kitchen to scrounge for something to eat before I start my newly-jobless day. I grimaced at the reminder. Family was a sore spot, with our brother leaving for a less than savory lifestyle, and my sister having the sunshine disposition and power of her quirk, I was left to keep everyone happy. While I held their relationships together, I was marked as standoffish and a constant downer.
The price I paid for using my quirk behind their backs, I guess.
Opening the fridge to find nothing but a cherry seltzer water and condiments, a plan for the day was set; groceries first, then figure out where I was going from here. Luckily my boss was kind enough to give me the rest of the week's pay before she let me go. While what I did was wrong, she still had empathy for me, which I'd always be grateful for. This would sustain me while I searched for another job, even a simple barista job would do to keep me afloat.
All I knew, was that I wasn't going back to soliciting my quirk.
I quickly got dressed in my go-to easy outfit; high ankle black baggy jeans, a cropped white tee and a pair of canvas sneakers. I gave Momo a pat on the head, snatched my keys and grocery totes from the hook next to the door and trotted out into the sunny day.
My usual grocery store was much more quiet than normal, likely since I used to shop with all the other people with regular full time jobs.
Sighing, I tossed the last of my groceries into my basket and walked up to pay. Despite the change in my schedule, my usual cashier was there. We made small talk, him remarking on my odd choice of time to shop, me explaining my lost job, and his kind apologies. As you would expect. I waved goodbye behind me, leaving the store and heading back for my bike. I heard about how often things got stolen in America, it made me grateful that I could leave my bike unchained for almost an hour and it would stay exactly where I left it.
Playing my own personal game of Tetris with my groceries, I strategically placed them into the back basket of my bike. As I was finishing up, I heard yelling in the alleyway to my left.
Abandoning my bike, I moved to the corner wall to get a better look at the commotion. A shaggy black haired man was standing, hands in his pockets, completely bored of the scaled man in front of him, who was yelling in his face.
"Don't fuck with me man." The man who resembled a human-piranha hybrid, with scaled skin and pointed teeth, spat the words at the bored one, getting closer to his face. "Ya' act so tough, I could kill ya' too, ya' know." Piranha shoved the other man into the wall when he didn't back away initially, the shaggy haired man lazily stepping back from the force, leaning casually against it, angering the other more.
The scaled man pulled a knife from his pocket, flicked it out and approached the others throat. Despite his calm disposition, and my fear, I had to act.
My sights locked on the Piranha man, I balled my fists and walked straight down the alley towards the pair, he noticed me instantly.
"The hell do ya' want, short shit? This is between me and this fuck, so scram." He had one hand on the other man's shoulder and the hand with the knife swung around to point at me just as I came into range. Swiftly reaching up for his hand, he stood considerably close to my 5'0, I caught his knife hand by the wrist, instantly transferring our emotions.
My fear and anxiety melted out of my palm, leaving me with a blissful numbness before the full force of this man's rage hit me like a train. His face fell from murderous to fearful and the knife dropped from his hand. I caught it with my other and pulled him away from the man, his knees buckling and falling to the floor. I held the knife to his throat.
"No no no please! Please don't! I-I'm sorry okay, I didn't mean it." The man begged me, hands in the air and quivering in my grasp. I was murderous, jealous and scorned, it coursed through my veins, permeated every thought.
"Run." I spat, jerking him closer to me before throwing him away, watching him scramble to his feet and scurry out of the alleyway. I slowly straightened up, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath through clenched teeth. After a moment, I heard a chuckle from behind me.
"Now that's an impressive little trick." A deep, gravely voice chimed with the compliment of slow applause. I turned slowly and glared at him, my conscience screaming at me to be kinder to the person I just helped, but my borrowed emotions couldn't be contained. "Ooh, feisty." He teased, pushing off the wall to join me, shoving his hands into the pockets of his oddly familiar trench coat.
"I..." I took another steadying breath. " I don't mean to be rude. My quirk. I can swap emotions with people." I tried desperately to contain my rage, avoiding eye contact guiltily. "He... He was incredibly pissed with you. Jealous as fuck." I shook my head, pressing my fingers to my temple with one hand, flicking the knife closed with the other.
"Ah." I looked up at him, he had to at least be a foot taller than me, his brows furrowed in thought. "That was very dangerous, you little firecracker." When he finally spoke, his coy tone would have made me blush if I wasn't so pissed, eye contact was hard to maintain. He tilted my chin up with the hook of his index finger to look him the eye. They were a deep, bright cyan blue, contrasting heavily with the purple scarred skin underneath his eyes, chin and down his throat, stapled to his healthy skin.
Despite this, he was incredibly handsome. The perfect slope of his nose, the curve of his top lip and clear sense of style made for quite the package.
"I couldn't just let him threaten you." I muttered, my captivation by him just as strong as the rage from the swap, and that was all I could muster.
"Oh honey, that's cute." He smirked raising his hand from my chin and fanning his fingers next to his face as they burst into a wild blue flame. My jaw dropped. "I'm more than capable of handling myself." A smug smirk formed across his features.
"I... Can see that." I stated plainly, cocking a brow to him. "I wish I could stay and chat but, I gotta find a way to sleep this off." I moved to turn away from the handsome man, when he grabbed my wrist and turned me around again. "Oi, what?!" I snapped.
The man cocked an accusatory brow at me, before taking a steadying breath of his own. "I know you took this shit attitude from him, so I'll let it slide." He clearly was trying to be patient with me, which I appreciated and knew I'd be embarrassed later.
"Here." He grinned, letting go and holding his hand out to me. "Swap with me."
I looked at him incredulously. "What? You don't want this, man." I shook my head, not believing him.
"I ruined your day, and I've got some things to do that could use some rage." He pulsed his hand, beckoning me over. I hesitated, but finally slid my hand in his, feeling the lingering warmth from his flames on his palm. The rage faded to a relieving numb, then into quite the pleased emotion, impressed with a dash of intrigue. My heart fluttered and heat rose to my cheeks, seeing that the feeling was mutual.
As my rage faded, his smirk turned into a slack-eyed scowl - he was clearly good at hiding his anger. He pulled his hand away first, smacking his lips.
"Well, that certainly worked." His playful tone from earlier completely vanished, turned menacing and uncaring. He let out a labored sigh and strafed to walk away from me. Turning to follow his path, our eyes met as he looked back at me.
"You got any firepower behind that quirk?" He spat, his palms flexing as if readying his own.
Despite this, my stolen intrigue gave me a smart mouth. "I can make you hurt worse than any injury could, I just choose not to." I cocked a brow at him, making sure he caught my jist. While my quirk had no physical damage capabilities, and if I wanted to, I could keep myself consistently happy and leave misery in my wake, but my nature wouldn't allow it.
He considered this, running a scarred hand through his wild jet black hair.
"Just don't go sticking your hands into strangers business, one day you won't be so lucky." I guess this was his way of telling me to stay safe as he shoved one hand into his pocket, and the other giving me a familiar two finger salute.
"See ya 'round, firecracker." He called, turning the corner. I jogged after him, wanting to ask his name but, he was already far down the street, a can of cherry seltzer suddenly in his hand.
I stared after him, resting a hand on my bike, finally cluing in, my gaze darting to my basket, where a can was missing from my collection.
I turned the knife in my hand, a souvenir of this chance encounter, not being able to stop the smile on my face.
I doubted it, but I hoped to see him again.
Authors Note:
Ah jeez! This was a long one, thank you so much for reading it! So, Ko has met Dabi and put her quirk into work! I've always preferred a more sassy Dabi with grey morals, rather than the aggressive and empathy-less portrayal I've seen of him. I hope y'all are having as much fun as I am!