Chapter Text
At the age of 16, Dabi was dying of pneumonia.
Tough shit.
Happens.
If he was being honest, he wasn’t even upset or anything. Why would he? He hadn’t expected to live past the age of maybe… 10… 14?
So 16 was a pretty good age to die at in his opinion. And apparently people agreed with him. Because no one stopped when they walked by, no one tried to help the skinny feverish boy lying in the corner of the street.
One dude even had the fucking audacity to come up and steal his knife and last coins. In the night Dabi thought he would finally die, a heavy rain was raging and there was thunder in the distance. He didn’t find the strength to open his eyes and watch the lightning.
He was tired. So incredibly tired. And he felt like shit, so he actually did hope it would end soon. At least then his lungs wouldn’t feel like they burned anymore.
The wind picked up and Dabi shivered. The tremors took over his whole body and it hurt, so badly was he shivering. He couldn’t control his body anymore and his mind started to slip away as well. Finally. He heard the thunder quieting down. Either the storm was moving away, or his conscience was. He honestly preferred the second option.
Even though his eyes were closed, he could see and feel the darkness around him becoming thicker and drag him under, pull him away. He wasn’t sure if the voice he heard was in his head or outside or maybe it was just a memory of his old man. He had always yelled. Just like the voice now.
Dabi didn’t know if he only formed the words, or if he actually said “Fuck you” out loud, before the darkness finally wrapped him up into a warm embrace and pulled him away from the cold, wet stone floor. He smiled, then all sensation disappeared and his mind got lost in the darkness surrounding him.
-
When he had said “Fuck you” and had let the darkness take him, Dabi most definitely had not expected to ever wake up again.
But he did.
And he hated it.
With a wet cough that seemed to rip his lungs and lips apart, he came back to consciousness and his head lolled to the side, while his eyes opened just enough to get a blurry picture of his surroundings.
He wasn’t exactly sure if it really was that bright or if that was just his fever playing a trick on him. Although… he didn’t exactly feel like he had a fever anymore.
He didn’t feel fine. God no. Far from it. But he also didn’t feel like his body was on fire while simultaneously freezing to death. His lungs still hurt so much that tears welled up in his eyes, and his head felt like it was about to explode, but he didn’t feel like he was dying anymore.
And that was the worst fucking part of this whole situation.
“Ah…. She’s awake,” A voice next to him said, hushed and mumbled and he barely managed to understand her, but he still shook his head, because this was wrong. He felt like shit but this was still very wrong.
“H-“ He started, but his voice broke and he curled up on his side when the following cough seemed to rupture his body.
“No! Don’t speak yet. One moment,” The voice continued and then he felt the pinch of a needle, before something cool started to spread in his left arm. He wanted to jerk away, but his movements weren’t controlled enough for that to actually work.
Dabi wanted to speak again, but his lungs didn’t like that at all. They just closed up, causing him to cough so badly, mucus dripped past his lips. An elderly hand reached into his line of sight and wiped it away with a tissue. Dabi didn’t even register her fast enough to move away.
Then he suddenly felt like he had just drowned seven cups of coffee in one go.
His eyes widened, his heart rate picked up and the shivering set in again, this time less like tremors and more like vibrations.
“Do you think this is safe?” A different voice asked behind him and Dabi jerked his head around in fear to stare at a tall man, dressed in black. Wasn’t that… this weird hero he kept forgetting the name of?
What the actual fuck?
Dabi’s breathing picked up and he tried to scramble away on the bed, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He looked over to see an elderly woman standing next to the bed, keeping him in place with the soft gesture. He was definitely starting to freak the fuck out.
She nodded towards the hero-dude, seemingly indifferent to Dabi’s panic.
“Yes. She would choke if I don’t heal this right now.”
Dabi opened his mouth again to protest, but the old woman stepped closer.
“Ah. One moment my dear. You can speak after I’m done,” She said, then she leaned in and before Dabi even had the chance to scream and run off, she pressed a strong kiss to his cheek.
And suddenly the world blurred again.
Exhaustion set in his limbs and his mind and for a moment he couldn’t manage anything else but blink and breathe. And breathe. And suddenly that became a lot easier.
Dabi took a deep breath, before slowly raising a hand to run it down his face, feeling himself shake. He didn’t know how long he was just laying there and breathing, but the next time he properly became aware of his surroundings, the old lady and hero-asshole were standing next to a small desk in the corner, seemingly deep in conversation.
What the fuck was going on here?
He allowed his eyes to move across the room. It was white. Sterile. Definitely a hospital or doctor’s office of some sort.
He had to get out of here. Fast!
Carefully, Dabi set up. His arms were shaking so badly, they barely managed to hold his weight up and when he looked down at himself, he realized his jacket and sweater were gone, leaving him in nothing but his t-shirt and jeans.
Oh great. Dysphoria was setting in. Yeeeaaaayyyy.
He slowly moved his legs, trying to untangle them from the sheets with trembling hands, while his upper body swayed dangerously.
“Oh no young lady, you’re staying right where you are!” The old woman said and started to march over towards him.
Dabi looked up and stared at her with as much hate as he could bring up in his exhausted state.
“Young man if anything. Got it you hag?” He hissed, his voice sounding so rough. For a split second, he was happier than he had ever been with himself, then the pain set in and he decided that just maybe, he preferred his old voice over this one.
To their credit, neither the old woman, nor the man seemed confused or disgusted or even paused in their approach.
“Then I repeat myself. Young man, you’re staying right where you are. You nearly died!” She threw right back at him and Dabi blinked. Oh wow she had an aura of authority to her which he had honestly not expected from this tiny woman.
He pulled a grimace. “Why the fuck would I?” He coughed, rubbing his hurting chest. “I can’t even fucking pay ya. Just throw me out.”
The woman blinked and hero-dude stepped closer.
“You don’t have to pay her,” He said, his voice sounding so incredibly tired and bored. Dabi blinked. MOOD.
“In fact, you don’t owe her or me anything. I picked you off the streets by the way.”
Dabi stared at him, then shrugged. “Am I supposed to say fucking thank you?” He asked, his voice still sounding terrible and to be honest, it also felt terrible. But he would not sit here quietly. He could deal with pain. He had learned to ignore it at the age of fucking five.
The guy shrugged. “I don’t really care to be honest.” Then he waved his hand awkwardly.
“I’m Eraser Head. Or Aizawa. Whatever, I don’t really care. This is Recovery Girl,” He gestured towards the elderly woman, who didn’t really show a reaction.
Then both of them waited, quietly.
Dabi blinked. “Uh. My name is none of your fuckin’ business.”
The man sighed, then rubbed his eyes. “Alright. Whatever. Listen kid. You’re what? 14?”
“16.”
Aizawa huffed. “Yeah no you don’t look like it. I’m not letting you back on the streets. Got it?”
Dabi blinked and opened his mouth to protest, but the hero-asshole raised one hand.
“How about you come with me and eat and sleep properly and we’ll make sure you’ll look like 16 soon.”
“The fuck?” Dabi laughed, then coughed and rubbed his chest, ignoring the frown the old lady was sending his way.
“Wanna be my sugar daddy or what?” He hissed and Aizawa actually had the decency to look offended and concerned. Dabi didn’t like that.
“No.” He said very clearly then and Dabi blinked, thinking for a moment that he might have said something wrong? It wasn’t uncommon that people offered him that concept as an option. So why was that guy so offended.
Aizawa cleared his throat. “No, I most definitely don’t want that. But you’re a kid. And you need to stay somewhere warm, eat properly, go to school, get medical help for those injuries and get a safe environment to transition,” He then explained and fucking hell, Dabi was 16 fucking years old, but he felt like crying.
No one had ever even acknowledged his gender identity before, nevertheless offered him help in getting where he wanted to be.
Fuck!
He needed to say no. He couldn’t trust that guy.
Eraser Head was a random dude who had found him on the streets. And he was a fucking hero.
He had to say no.
He couldn’t trust that guy.
Couldn’t trust anyone.
Especially not a hero.
“Dabi,” He mumbled, before he could stop himself.
The man smiled a little. “Is that your name?”
All three of them knew how fucking fake it sounded. But whatever. It was his name now. It was something he had chosen for himself. Something his family would never know. Something his family could never take from him.
He nodded.
“Yeah. Name’s Dabi.”
And without missing a beat, Aizawa nodded as well. “Alright Dabi. You need to stay in bed for now. Eat, drink, listen to Recovery girl, I know she’s annoying.” He ignored her protest and Dabi felt a grin tug at the corner of his lips. “But yeah. After she deems you healthy enough to leave… You can stay with me if you want to. Or I can find you someone else to stay with. But I won’t let you out on the street again.”
Dabi stayed quiet.
He could manage to stick around for as long as it took for them to get careless and let him slip away. Maybe he could gain something from this here for the time being. There was always an out. It probably didn’t make much of a difference if he left in a week or in a month.
So he nodded.
A month he could do.
Why exactly that month turned into 8 years and how Aizawa had managed to talk him into becoming a fucking teacher at fucking UA of all places… he had no idea.
But somehow it happened.
And he would lie if he said he regretted it all.