Happy Birthday to me! This is honestly pure, self-indulgent parental Dabi/Touya & Eri bonding drabble fluff that got a little long and didn't fit in the outline for any of the outtakes but I wanted an excuse to post it somewhere, so here you guys go! (It's not quite in the right place chronologically, but it is canon for this AU.)
When Dabi walked into the dark little bedroom for his first day as a nanny, it was to the sound of a terrified little whimper. He paused just inside the doorframe, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room, where he could barely make out a tiny, trembling bundle huddled underneath the covers of the bed.
"Eri? You awake?" he called softly.
Another small sound and the bundle shifted slightly, tightening and growing even smaller than it was.
"Can I turn on the light?"
No response this time. After waiting several minutes, Dabi sighed and flicked the switch, revealing unopened boxes of little girls' toys scattered across the floor like so many worthless land mines. He curled his lip in disgust as he stepped around the mess-Endeavor had tried this on him for a time, plying him with gifts as though it would make up for the endless days of abuse-to perch quietly on the edge of the little girl's bed, then set aside the little bag he'd brought with him.
"Hey, now," he murmured, gently resting a hand on the top of her head, stroking the small patch of white hair that he could see poking out of the covers.
Eri twitched slightly, then, slowly, lifted her head enough for him to see her watery, crimson eyes and the sweat catching in her hairline. She was pale and visibly shaking, her breath hitching every now and then even as she sank her upper teeth into her lower lip to keep herself from making any noise, and yet she leaned into his touch, desperate for physical affection in a way that seemed eerily familiar and for a moment, all Touya could see was a little boy with white and red hair and multi-colored eyes, one storm gray, the other as blue as his own.
He quickly shook such thoughts from his mind. This wasn't that bastard's castle, and he wasn't some caged bird anymore. He'd changed, chosen his own path, been reborn, in a way.
He wasn't helpless this time.
"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked, keeping his voice as gentle as he could, although a part of him wondered if speaking softly were actually the way to go considering Overhaul's treatment of her, but remembering the way his father screamed and yelled until it looked like that ugly vein in his forehead was about to burst warned him against any other route. Eri's thin little shoulders rose up to her ears as ducked her head again, her tears and her shivers redoubling. "Hey, you're not in trouble, kid," Dabi soothed, gently lifting her sweaty hair from the back of her neck and brushing his scarred fingers through it. "I get nightmares too, you know."
That seemed to take Eri by surprise, her crimson eyes widening as she lifted her head once more. It seemed she didn't dare open her mouth to ask the obvious question, but the fact that she made eye contact at all was question enough.
"Someone hurt me a long time ago," the young man confided quietly, still gently tugging the tangles out of her hair, "and sometimes I still have nightmares about the ways I was hurt."
Eri's eyes dimmed, darkening from a luminous curiosity to a grim understanding. Slowly, the little girl shifted, turning onto her back and lifting her small hands-so small; his hands were small, too-to grasp his and delicately trace the edge of his burn scars. She glanced towards him, sad and compassionate, and the twenty-five year old nodded. He couldn't tell her everything, but if sharing even that little bit of information helped her to trust him, then he was glad to do it.
"Do you know what I do when I have nightmares?" he asked quietly, and when Eri shyly shook her head, he continued, "I draw them. I draw all the scary things out of my head, and then I put them away, and draw happy things instead. Things that I like." He'd definitely captured her attention with that idea. Her expression remained blank, not even a hint of a smile tugging at her lips, but those ruby eyes of hers had regained a little bit of life as she gazed up at him. He smiled faintly, feeling the movement tug uncomfortably on his scars. "Would you like to try that, Eri? Would you like to try drawing?"
Slowly, the little girl nodded, and with Dabi's encouragement, she climbed out of the covers and sat down on the floor while he pulled a stack of paper and a big box of crayons from his bag and dumped them out for her to see. Her eyes blew wide, enthralled by the dozens of colors rolling across the floor, and for the first time since she'd told him her name, he heard her speak.
"Pretty…" she whispered.
"Yeah," Dabi grinned. "Which color do you want to use, kid?"
It took awhile, but eventually Eri picked a dark purple and began to draw with shaky, uncertain lines. Dabi chose orange for himself, using the color to trace the outline of the figure that haunted his nightmares. After all, that was the purpose of this exercise, right? To make the scary stuff less scary? They passed the time mostly in silence, Dabi occasionally humming one of the songs Soma was fond of under his breath. Eri seemed to like it when he hummed, pausing in her drawing and looking up at him with wide ruby eyes until she realized he noticed, then turning quickly back to her paper. Dabi just smiled, making a mental note to clear out all of the junk in her room and bring a CD player and some music instead.
Eventually, Eri set down the crayon she'd been working with and sat up, staring solemnly down at her project. "Did you finish, kid?" Dabi asked quietly, straightening up himself. When the girl nodded, he asked to see it, and she hesitantly nodded again, biting her lip worriedly. Curious, Dabi took the paper, glancing over it.
The oversimplified crayon drawing depicted a man with a bird-like face-Overhaul, most likely-standing next to a gray chair on which a small figure with long, grayish-white hair-Eri-sat. The man had something in his hand, which upon closer inspection appeared to be a goddamn knife, and the wall that Eri had added was covered in a disturbingly cheerful shade of red.
Somehow, Dabi doubted that the color was meant to depict a fireplace.
He forced his voice not to shake as he turned a small smile on the girl. "You did a great job, Eri. Would you like to see mine?"
Slowly, the little girl nodded, and the young man handed over his own sketch. It wasn't a scene like Eri's was, but rather a depiction of Endeavor standing alone, blazing orange mustache, blue 'hero' costume and all, with flames filling the background. "Is…" the little girl began hesitantly, her little voice trembling. "I-Is this…?"
"Yeah," Dabi nodded quietly, grimly, a weight settling in the pit of his stomach as he frowned at the scars on the tips of his fingers, thinking of those that he hadn't been able to protect. With a low sigh, he curled his hand into a fist and shook his head to clear it, shooting a solemn Eri a slightly rueful smile. "Now, how about we put these away and draw something a little more happy?" The child timidly agreed and took the lightest blue crayon and a fresh sheet of paper while Dabi took the 'scary' drawings to the little bedside table and tucked them in the empty drawer. When he returned, he took a sheet for himself and the lavender crayon to sketch the star-like shape of the Rindou flower.
They had always been Mother's favorite.
"M'finished," Eri whispered as Dabi completed the gently curling leaves of the flower in dark green.
"Oh? Let's see," he smiled, setting his own picture aside for the moment. Eri's drawing was mostly a combination of dark blue and purple, stretched across one half of the paper, scattered with small, light blue and yellow circles and clumsy stars, while the bottom half was shaded with spikes of dark green. He could already guess what the drawing represented, but he prompted her to speak again anyway, asking her to tell him about her artwork.
"U-Um," she mumbled shyly, ducking her head as her fingers curled in her plain white dress. "I-It's the sk-ky. And… th-the st-tars."
"Why did you draw the stars?" Dabi asked curiously. Eri's cheeks suddenly burned red and she ducked her head, her shoulders hunching up around her ears, although whether it was in fear or embarrassment, he wasn't certain. Either way… "That's alright, you don't have to tell me," he smiled gently, and the little girl almost immediately lifted her head, crimson eyes wide. Dabi wished he could say he was surprised by her reaction, but honestly he doubted that she'd ever been offered a choice like that before. "Would you like to sign it?"
Eri simply blinked at him. "S-Sign?"
"Would you like to write your name on it," her caretaker clarified, "to show that you made it?"
"I… I d-don't…"
"You don't know how?"
"…Mm-mm."
"That's alright. I can teach you," Dabi smiled, taking a new piece of paper and a black crayon. "Although first, we need to decide how to spell your name."
"Sp-pell?"
"Right," Dabi nodded distractedly, beginning to write out a few symbols. "See, these markings are called 'kanji'. Almost every kanji symbol has multiple meanings and pronunciations, so you can look at those meanings to decide which ones you want to use to spell your name. For example," he began, turning the page so that Eri could see it, "this kanji here?" he began, tapping on the first. "It means 'destroy' or 'break' (壊), while this one means 'wise' (慧). However, both kanji can make the 'e' sound, and those are just a few examples. Meanwhile, this kanji sounds like 'ri' and can mean both 'logic' or 'prize' (理), and this one means 'person' (人), but it can be pronounced as 'ri' or 'to'. So we could combine all of these in multiple ways with multiple meanings, but they could all be pronounced as 'Eri'."
Dabi paused; he could already tell that Eri didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but he did see a sort of sadness in her eyes as she traced the kanji for 'destroy' with her fingertip. "What are you thinking, kiddo?"
"This is why I'm 'Eri'," she whispered sadly. "Because I'm cursed."
The man blinked at her. That… that was not what he was expecting her to say. "What do you mean 'cursed'?" he frowned.
"I'm cursed, b-because… because ev-ery action I t-take… results in p-people dyi-ing," she whispered shakily.
She sounds like she's reciting a line from a goddamn book, Dabi growled internally, a newfound hatred for Chisaki bubbling up in his chest as he remembered the way Endeavor had repeatedly told him he was a tool, the one who was going to surpass the Symbol of Peace-and then when he told him over and over again that he was defective. Trash. Worthless.
Cursed.
"You are not a curse," the fire-wielder growled vehemently.
Eri startled, staring at him with wide, teary eyes, her breath hitching in shock. "But… I-I h-hurt people. Th-that's what… what O-Overhaul says."
"Eri, do you want to hurt people?" he asked, holding her ruby gaze with his own.
"N-No…"
"Have you ever attacked someone? Have you ever hit someone else?"
The little girl seemed to shrink into herself, her shoulders lifting to her ears, her upper teeth sinking into her lower lip as she drew her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees, the earlier tears spilling over her cheeks.
Dabi wasn't sure if that was good or bad. "Eri?" he prompted softly.
She flinched, cringing away from his cautious touch. Still, he waited patiently, watching the fear fade to grief and guilt before she weakly whispered, "I… I made P-Papa disap-pear."
Made Papa disappear? Didn't Chisaki claim that she was his daughter? Goddamn bastard. "Eri, what's your quirk?" Dabi asked softly when he realized he'd been quiet for too long.
Eri stared at him, still teary-eyed, slowly cocking her head to one side, like a puppy or kitten. "Qu…ir…k?" she repeated slowly, sounding the word out.
"Do you know what a quirk is?"
"Mm-mm."
Of course she doesn't. "A quirk is a special ability, different for each person."
"Like… Like when you m-made stars?"
"They weren't actually stars, they were sparks," he explained, holding up his hand and allowing a few small tongues of flame to dance across his fingertips. Eri stared at the fire with wide eyes, reaching slowly towards it with an air of fascination. Dabi smiled, carefully holding his hand far enough away that she wouldn't burn herself. "This is my quirk, my ability. I can create fire from my body. But I used to think it was a curse."
The little girl blinked, startled from her moment of rapture, staring at him with wide, confused eyes. "Wh-Why?"
The young man smiled sadly and let the flames vanish, pulling up his sleeve so he could show her the scars curling around his fingers and arms. "When I was little, I couldn't really control my quirk. I made the fire too hot, and it burned me. It hurt me."
"But it's so pretty!"
Eri clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide in shock at her own outburst, the tips of her ears burning red and her eyes shimmering wetly. Dabi blinked in surprise, then chuckled quietly, a little bit of a blush touching his own cheeks. "Thank you for that. But that's the point: you think my quirk is pretty, but it can hurt people too, even though I don't mean to. Whatever happened back then was the same for you. You didn't mean to hurt your Papa, did you?"
"N-No… But I-"
"Eri. Look at me for a moment?" Dabi prompted, carefully reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear, exposing her little ivory horn. Slowly, Eri raised her head, blinking the tears from her eyes. "You are not a curse," he repeated firmly. "You're just a little girl-a little girl that deserves the chance to be happy."
Eri's breath hitched as fresh tears spilled over her cheeks. She still didn't smile-Dabi wasn't certain she could smile-but her ruby eyes shone with a new, cautious life that made his heart twist in that way he wasn't sure he liked but tended to happen around little kids. Making a snap decision, the young man reached out to brush her tears away, then took her drawing, writing a pair of symbols in the bottom corner. "This is your name," he told her, showing them to her (絵理). "I'll teach you to write it later. It means 'blessing', because that's what you are, Eri. You're a gift. A kind and beautiful gift."
With trembling fingers, the little girl reached out to trace the pair of kanji, her lips moving slowly as she mouthed the word 'blessing'. Her eyes were wet when she turned to look at him, then all at once she launched forward, throwing her arms around his neck. Dabi managed not to flinch back in surprise, but he couldn't help freezing momentarily, a little stunned by the force of her reaction.
"Th-Thank you," the girl wept, her warm tears soaking into the top of his shirt.
Touya felt a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he shifted just enough for her little horn to stop digging into his neck, quietly wrapping his arms around her in turn. "Anytime, kid."
Eri: 絵 - 'e' (blessed) and 理 - 'ri' (prize). I realize that the actual kanji used in canon is 壊理 (destroy logic), referring to the inconceivability of her quirk, but I like the idea of Eri's name meaning 'blessing' better, especially where Dabi is specifically trying to help her understand that she is worthy of love and kindness.
Hope you enjoyed! And as an extra treat and as per the request of one of my readers, I have decided to make a Discord server! However for some reason isn't letting me post the link here...? Like it keeps deleting the first half of it. Anybody know how to get around that so I can invite y'all to join? If not, the link is posted in the story on my AO3 account, where the story is under the same name and I go by the same penname. Forewarning, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing on Discord, but I hope to see you there regardless!