She watched mostly. Toga seemed particularly close to the man who refused to take off his bodysuit; Jin is what the girl called him, though everyone else used Twice. He had a habit of saying contradictory statements, and Ayumu wondered if it was fallout from his Quirk. She knew all about that.
The way the teenager pranced around these people it was clear that she was at home with them. She called the large woman Big Sis Mag and prattled on about blood and knives and sleepovers. She seemed indifferent to Dabi's insults or Shigaraki's foul temper, which would have been impressive if it wasn't clear the girl was psychotic. More Quirk fallout?
Is it the Quirk that gives us these traits, or the traits that draw the Quirks out?
In her case there was no one without the other; she had had her Quirk at birth, and thus every trait had developed with it as a major influence.
"Can I call you Big Sis Ayu?"
Ayumu blinked out of her reverie and turned to find the blonde staring at her expectantly. "I—"
"I already told you she isn't a member of the League, Toga, so back off." Dabi approached, slinging an arm around her possessively.
Toga was pouting. "We are all here together; can't I just talk to her a little?"
"No touching," the flame villain reiterated.
Toga squealed. "Oh my gods, I'm so excited! Besides me and Big Sis, it's all boys here. And you're so pretty. We'll definitely be best friends, I can tell, Ayu."
"Nope," Dabi cut in. "Don't call her that either."
Ayumu watched the two like a ping pong match.
"I don't like fish, so you're not calling her 'sweet fish.'" That made her snort, though his burning blue eyes only flicked to her.
Toga rolled hers. "I'll write it differently, dumdum." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe like 'princess' or 'apricot. Or I could call her 'Aya.' There's no fish meaning with that."
Dabi ran his tongue over his teeth. "That's not bad, I guess."
The teen clapped her hands. "Oh, yay! I am so excited to meet you; when we heard that Dabi had a girlfriend—"
"Girl." His correction was automatic at this point.
"— we were all so confused, because it came out of nowhere, especially since you're living with us now. Or you were." She frowned, as though just remembering their home being overtaken. "You're still gonna stay with us, right?"
"She is."
Toga leaned forward as though to hug her as she cheered, but Dabi intercepted her with his long limbs. "I'm just gonna hug her," she complained.
"It's my Quirk. It's touch activated," Ayumu spoke at last. It had been amusing watching Toga have a conversation mostly by herself, with interjections from Dabi, but she did not want to set the wrong precedent. Toga was thus far treating her like she had any of the League. That was by far preferable to what the men were doing.
Toga's golden eyes widened with interest. "Oooo. What's your Quirk? I wanna know all about it."
Dabi leaned back and surveyed the two, mostly paying attention to Toga's movements.
"It's called Transference. When someone touches me, I get private memories of theirs that I might see in my dreams. They also can't use their Quirk as long as they're in contact." Ayumu smiled as the girl's mouth dropped open.
"That is so cool. I wonder if I could still turn into you, or if your blood would count." She looked to Dabi. "Can I maybe have a teenie tiny bit?"
"Of my blood?" Ayumu clarified.
Toga nodded. "Uhuh. That's my Quirk. I can turn into people if I drink their blood! And I would love to be you."
Her adoring eyes coupled with the way she fingered her knife did not bode well for Ayumu; but Dabi sat forward and shook his head. "Nu-uh. Absolutely not. I already told you you're not gonna touch her, knife-nut."
"I don't have to touch her to cut her a little," Toga insisted. "Besides, wouldn't it be good to know if her blood can stop people from using their Quirks?"
Thoughtfulness brushed the possessive gleam in Dabi's expression. "Maybe. But not right now. We gotta figure shit out." He nodded toward Tomura, who had been pacing and muttering to himself for hours now. Every now and then his voice rose, usually cursing All Might or the UA kids.
"Tomura!" Toga called out, bounding toward him. "Where are you gonna hideout now? I'm getting hungry and there's no food here."
Shigaraki froze, even the hand raking at his neck stopped. A rube red eye flitted over the gathered members and he transformed. She couldn't say what changed, only that, in the span of a breath, Shigaraki became their leader again. "Kurogiri, take us home."
Kurogiri turned and seemed to frown, if that were possible. "Are you sure, Tomura Shigaraki?" When the young man nodded, Kurogiri formed his portal.
The villains approached on tentative feet. But when Shigaraki walked through, they began filing in as well. Last was Dabi, his arm tight to drag Ayumu through with him.
Paper crunched underfoot and a stale mixture of sweat and doritos met her nose. The room was somehow filthier than Tomura's room at the hideout. It seemed he hadn't been there in some time.
The members of the League were all in various states of observation; Magne was standing by the door, the wrinkling of her nose making it clear she held the same disdain as Ayumu. Toga was on the bed like nothing was wrong, Twice beside her.
"Prepare someplace for them," Shigaraki rasped when Kurogiri formed. The shadow man nodded and swept out of the room.
"Been holding out on us, huh, Shigaraki?" Dabi grinned as the other's head snapped up to glare at him.
"She's gonna be staying here," he responded.
Her forehead wrinkled with the rising of her brows.
"Like Hell." Dabi's grip tightened on her waist. "She's gonna get lice or some shit. Nah, she'll stay with me."
Shigaraki approached, glaring at Dabi through the hand covering his features. "That wasn't a request."
"She ain't yours to keep here, if you forgot." The flame used was not backing down, their eyes meeting on an equal plane. "Just because I don't mind sharing doesn't mean otherwise."
"What!?" Toga had leapt over to them in a clear arc. She crossed her arms, glaring up at Dabi. "You'll share her with Tomura, but not me? That's no fair."
He glanced askew at her, rolled his eyes. "I shared her in bed, Toga."
"So?"
"I'm not into kids," Ayumu jumped in. She wanted to be very, very clear on that before anything else was said.
"But it's okay if I love you, right?" The girl's golden eyes shone.
What the fuck was she supposed to say to that. Ayumu looked around helplessly, but it seemed she was far less interesting than the staredown between Shigaraki and Dabi.
She pushed against Dabi's side and he surprisingly released her. "Can't you just have Kurogiri transport me?" It was probably a stupid thing to say, but it would get them to calm down. If there was anything Ayumu did not want to see it was the chaos that would ensue should cremation and decay choose to fight.
Tomura glanced at her; Dabi lifted a brow. "That work for you, boss ? Kurogiri picking her up whenever you want a turn?" She flinched at the casual objectification.
Shigaraki's visible eye narrowed, then he conceded, "Fine. But I want her tonight; you've been getting plenty of time with her."
"Works for me. How 'bout you, doll?" Dabi rolled his head toward her.
"Oh, I get a vote now?" she scoffed. "Could I possibly have my own room before the two of you wear me out completely?"
A hot hand wrapped around the nape of her neck. "What's wrong, dollface? Can't keep up with the two of us?"
"I'm older than you are, and there is one of me," she reminded him.
"Tch, you get plenty of alone time." Dabi returned to Shigaraki. "Anyway, I guess I'm gonna need a new place, since my landlord will probably recognize me from the news, huh?" He chuckled.
"You have a flat?" Ayumu had assumed they all lived full time at the hideout.
"Yeah. I stay at the hideout when there's a lot of planning going on, but otherwise I had my own place."
Shigaraki tugged out his phone, tapping away at it with a careful grip. "Kurogiri is taking care of it." He sighed and studied the members of his team. "There might be food in the kitchen. Haven't been here in a while, so I don't know."
Magne nodded and she and the others took it as a dismissal, all filtering out except the three of them, though Toga looked on with puppy dog eyes until the door shut behind her.
Tomura lifted the hand from its place and set it on a desk, then threw himself back onto his bed and wrapped a hand around Ayumu's wrist to tug her onto him. Dabi's grip left her reluctantly. He looked vaguely uncomfortable as the younger man wrapped himself around her, chin on her shoulder so he could nuzzle against her cheek, legs twining with hers.
"I'm tired," he said pointedly.
Dabi bent down and kissed her, tongue searing against her own, then patted her cheek. "Be a good girl."
And she was left along with a volatile Tomura.
Notes:
The original piece I've been working on hit 20k words last month! I'm so happy I'm trucking along on it.
Also, wanted to thank people for reading my stuff... Both Azael's Chains and To the Victors hit 50k views around the end of the month. I never expected people to start reading when I first posted fanfiction, or at least not much. It was just something I'd thought up and posted because someone might appreciate what I was writing for myself.
Deal with the Devil was my first ever shared fanfic, but I had actually written two before that: A Xena fanfic when I was in seventh grade, and a Final Fantasy 9 fanfic when I was in eighth grade. Both handwritten.
And here I am now considering writing a Tomione fic where Hermione goes back to the events in Deal with the Devil, and what kind of changes might ensue (such as Elena actually having a relationship with Dolohov).
Anyway, I wrote like 32k words last month. And looking to do similar this month.