SLAM!
You breathed heavily after closing the warehouse door. You look up through your messy hair to a looming figure, sitting on a large crate, twirling a knife.
"Well, look what the cat drug in!" The figure hopped from the crate. His large boots hitting the ground with a thud while the metal accents on his clothing softly jingled with his movements.
"Now's not the time for games, Dabi." You clutch your abdomen as you feel something working its way in reverse through your body. "Oh, God." You groan as you fall to your hands and knees and vomit loudly. Dabi snickered slightly at your weak display as he continued to approach you. As he came closer to your shaking form, his gaze became more analytical. He scanned your frame, and his blood began to boil. Your torn dress, bruised body, and crying eyes sent a thorn to his heart. He kneeled close to your shoulders and talked in a more welcoming tone.
"All this from an undercover job? I thought this was supposed to be a discreet operation." He lightly ran his finger over a gash on your shoulder blade and wiped the blood onto the cold floor.
"It was originally. The Heroes Gala isn't exactly easy to get into." You coughed hoarsely while blood dripped from your cracked lips with raspy breaths. "It was all a blur...but...someone slipped something into my drink and when I went to the bathroom after it kicked in ..um... a red feather dragged me out, and next thing I knew I was ... in an alley with.." You closed your eyes tightly to envision your attacker. You clearly remembered a large pair of red wings and a sparkling gold belt. You sucked in a sharp breath through a wave of nausea. "Hawks." You say disgusted through clenched teeth and you attempt to swallow the bile rising in your throat.
Dabi sat up a little straighter at the mention of that name. He began seeing red as rage clouded his mind. His heart pounded angrily at the thought of that hero laying a finger on you and his mind was firing on all cylinders thinking of ways to get back at the bastard. He was pulled from his angry trance at the sounds of you gagging loudly. You threw up once more and as your body heaved, the seams of your tight dress continued to fray and snap. You fell you your side and cried softly after your stomach had emptied all of its contents. Seeing your visible discomfort, Dabi sat crisscrossed next to you and rested a hand on your back while slowly unzipping your dress.
"Let's get this sorry excuse for clothing off of you. That might make things easier." You didn't have the energy or physical ability to say anything as you felt the tight garment loosen around your ribs and hips, giving you the air you so desperately needed. As Dabi slid the last of the dress off, leaving you in your undergarments on the cement floor, his eyes traced a large indented bruise between your shoulder blades. The skin looked to be open along the edges of the wound and the remainder of the bruise was in the shape of a combat boot worn exclusively by the winged hero. Dabi could only imagine the pain of how that got there, and at what point your struggle began to feel useless against Hawks. He haphazardly tossed the garment to the side and kept his gaze respectfully up. He took off his own large sweater and draped it over your shoulders. Not wanting to let his 'tough guy' mask fall, he stood calmly and sighed.
"Alright, kid. Get up. 'Nuff of this 'injured' bullshit. You're breathing and that's plenty to be grateful for." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned on his heels to walk away. You tried to get up, but to no avail. Your shaky arms proved to be of minimal use as you attempted to push yourself to a standing position. They quickly gave out under your weight and sent you back down to the floor with an audible thud. You let out a pained cry as the impact revealed more internal pain.
It was as if Dabi materialized at your side as he carefully turned you onto your back while being sure to keep you covered. He sat down and placed your head on his thigh while you kept your eyes clenched shut while hot tears streamed down your face.
"I'm sorry, kid." He said as smoothly as he could muster but you were pretty sure you heard a slight tremble in his voice. His scarred hands traced your hands delicately as if you would combust at his touch. After you took several deep breaths to recover, you opened your eyes to meet his icy blue eyes staring into your soul. It wasn't a stare of judgement or pity, and it took you by surprise to see a look of such genuine care in his eyes.
"I really did try." Your voice trembling with emotion. "I thought I could pull off the mission, but in the end.." You averted your eyes from his. "I failed." You said the last words barely above a whisper as if it burned your tongue to say them.
"You didn't fail, kid. You came out of it alive and I'd call that a win." He brought you to a more seated position and scooted himself in front of you to look at you a little better. He wiped a bloody streak of hair off of your cheek and you shivered lightly at the touch. "You cold?"
"Maybe just a little." You said hoarsely as you tried to wrap yourself tighter in his jacket. Your bare legs started shivering from being on the cold pavement.
"C'mere." He said softly as he knelt before you and picked you up bridal style. Mindful of your winces and injuries, he walked at an accommodating pace and made sure not to jostle you too much. He'd freak out if he freaked you out. The two of you approached a door that you were always told to stay away from. He opened it with his foot and stepped inside. You were welcomed into a darker room lit by some old lamps. It was pretty bare but felt homey in a sense. There was a queen bed neatly made against one wall, a ratty old couch in the center, and shelves of snack food and supplied lining the wall opposite to the bed. Dabi set you down gently onto the bed, and pulled a trunk out from underneath.
"Here. Put these on." He handed you a pair of sweat pants to go with the sweater. He turned to another corner of the room and busied himself looking for medical supplies while keeping his back to you while you changed. When you were dressed, he turned back around and brought a box with him. He set it on the bed and gestured for you to turn around.
"Huh?" You exclaimed, slightly flustered at what that meant.
"Relax." He let out an exasperated sigh. "No weird shit. I swear." He grabbed some bottles from the box. "Those gashes on your back need to be cleaned and covered. I trust you can take care of everything else?" He lifted one eyebrow as if trying to find a response in your blank, exhausted stare.
"Oh...ok." You turned your back to him and jumped slightly at the feeling of his warm hands snaking their way underneath the hem of the sweatshirt. Dabi noticed your startle, and immediately removed his hands from you.
"Did I hurt you?" You had never heard him sound panicked aside from that question.
"No. I was just...surprised is all." You shrugged softly.
"Well, calm down. Jeez." He regained his nonchalant composure and cleared his throat. "I can't clean the wounds through the shirt so I'm gonna have to lift it." He said in a slightly demeaning tone as if he were explaining the process to a whiny toddler. "Just don't move, kay?"
"Got it." You said quietly as his hands moved back to the hem of the sweatshirt.
He lifted the garment and wanted to pull it back down immediately. Large bruises, deep cuts, burns from dragging against concrete, and that boot print adorned your body. You shivered slightly as the cold air stung the wounds as if it were made of needles.
Dabi, noticing your shiver placed a warm hand on the small of your back where there seemed to be no wound. "Better?" He asked almost like he genuinely cared. You melted into the slight warmth on your pained body.
"Mmmhmm." You closed your eyes as the heat seemed to fill your body.
"Good. The rest of this is gonna hurt like a bitch." He commented with a slight giggle in his voice as he found your sudden relaxed state slightly amusing. Over the course of his careful attention to your wounds, his heart stung any time you flinched or hissed in pain. He worked in silence so he wouldn't make any insensitive comments as he realized you really were in pain. As he secured the last patch onto the deep gash from the boot, he let out a deep sigh and ran his hands down his face.
"There." He said flatly as he put everything back into the box. You rolled your shoulders and sat up straight to adjust to the patches and disinfectant still working as you tried to pull the sweatshirt back down.
"Here. Let me." Said Dabi as he dropped the box and lightly tugged to sweatshirt back down. It was as if his 'older brother instincts' kicked in watching you struggle. You turned you head to look at him and you saw one of the softest expressions of care on his face you have ever seen on him as he made eye contact with you when he sat back.
"What are you looking at?" He said as he shook his head and stood up quickly to put the box back on the shelf.
"Thank you." You said sweetly. Dabi was walking back towards you and his eyes widened but he quickly looked back down and kicked a stray piece of clothing under the bed.
"What was I going to do?" There was a slight hoarseness in his voice as he swallowed whatever emotions arose when you thanked him. "Was I gonna let you do it yourself?" He sat down gingerly but rested his elbows onto his knees as he stared at his flickering TV in the corner. His defensive posture and responses didn't stop you from turning towards him and draping your arms over his shoulders in a soft hug.
"hm?" He sat up slightly straighter at the contact but didn't move away from you. He went back to his slumped posture after a few seconds and turned his head.
"What are you doing?" He raised an eyebrow like he had never heard of a hug.
"I don't know. I just really appreciate you helping me like this." You bring your arms back to your side as you try to sit up straight around your injuries but fall back into a pillow with a soft thud. The slight impact sent fire through your body and you hissed slightly through clenched teeth as you tried to move to your side.
"Dammit, kid. Try thinking for once." His insult didn't feel mean as there was care in his voice when he quickly stood up to help you move comfortably. He moved the pillow and put it under your head and draped a blanket over you.
"Rest." He said gruffly as he ran a hand through his hair and walked over to his couch and sat down with a sense of angry dramatic effect. He sighed, dug the remote out of the couch cushions and flipped through channels silently. You tried to stay up longer to see what he would watch but your body protested. Between being poisoned and beat up, you had enough. Your eyes fluttered shut and your breathing steadied.
After a few hours, Dabi stood up from the couch and walked to the bed to sleep. He turned on the lamp, and sighed quietly upon seeing you in the bed. He forgot you were there. He turned the lamp off and took off his boots so he wouldn't wake you up. When he had finished changing, he took the cushions off of the couch and put them on the floor next to his bed. As he let them fall to the ground, the sound they made woke you up, and you stirred yourself into a sitting position.
"Dabi?" You said groggily. "What are you doing?"
"Going to sleep." He said flatly like it was painfully obvious.
"Here, you take the bed. It's your room anyways." You move the blankets off of you and try to turn your body to stand but your body protested and forced you back into your spot.
"Nah." He answered while he adjusted the blanket to cover you again. "You need it more than I do." His response was almost husky as his voice was overcome with tiredness. Almost as quickly as you woke up, you drifted back to sleep.
Dabi would never admit that he wanted to kick you out of his bed and make you sleep on the couch cushions. He could feel the cold floor beneath him, and the bed squeaked right next to his ear every time you moved, but for some reason he wasn't bothered.
"G'night, kid." He said softly to himself, stealing one last glance at you before letting his head hit the pillow.