Convalescence || Dabi x Reader

Chapter 7: Adulthood Sucks, Man

Warnings: exposition, single swear word,

___

Third Person Omniscient

Summertime, and the livin' is easy. At least, it's easy for most of Japan, but not for a certain couple of teenagers. Without any real family or friends to fall back on, (y/n) found a small two-bedroom apartment to rent on the edge of the city. That was one problem solved, but adulthood has a way of turning a single problem into a list. With the money she had stolen from her parents, they could afford a full month of residence + amenities, food, medicine, and wi-fi. Once they were through that, they would have no means for an average living.

There are several issues this brings up. Firstly, (y/n) would not be able to support herself for long enough to finish her studying at UA, so she needed to drop out of her 3-A classes. Second, with only a lower secondary school education and no work experience, finding a job that paid enough to cover their expenses would be difficult to say the least. Third, they had no means of transportation and their only access to the internet was (y/n)'s phone – which only happened to be in her pocket when they left. And lastly, Touya couldn't get a job to assist them because he was still healing, physically disfigured – which would deter any employer – and he was legally dead, a fact that (y/n) had not yet learned. This left the two of them with very few options and going home would certainly not be one of them.

(y/n) ended up working at some chain coffee shop during the weekdays, and on weekends she did housekeeping for the lovely old lady who runs a bed & breakfast just down the street. Sure, it was a lot of work, but it kept them alive and relatively comfortable.

On the other end, Touya would get sick every other week due to his almost non-existent immune system; however, with (y/n) gone every single day, he had to take care of himself for the most part. During this time, (y/n) would either pick up food on the way home or make dinner herself, which only made Touya feel guilty. He wanted to make sure that he wasn't being more of a burden than he already was, so he started making sure the apartment was kept tidy.

He never felt like it was enough though, so with the help of a cookbook that (y/n) bought at some point and watching her cook, he taught himself enough to make something edible. These actions seemed to give him a purpose, albeit a temporary one. One can only imagine the surprise (y/n) felt when she came home one day to two bowls of delicious chicken fried rice on the table – a few tears were shed that evening.

That shared routine – (y/n) maintaining their income and taking care of Touya's health while Touya kept the apartment a place that made coming home a pleasure – worked with only a few road-bumps. It still works fluidly now, but without the sense of urgency to survive that occupied their minds for those first few months, the brain will return to its bullshit. This understanding hit them like a freight train one afternoon in June.

___

A/N: It's short, I know, but if I added it to the next scene, the chapter would be way too long. I couldn't cut it out entirely because with a six month time skip, a bunch of changes were going to happen. And not including even a quick explanation of that time would make the rest of the story confusing, so I just made it it's own chapter. With this in mind, I am posting this at the same time as the next chapter – which is part of why this took a while to get out – so you won't have to wait for it.

And if you missed the Easter Egg I put in – not because I thought people would notice, but because it was stuck in my head – the first line of this chapter is a reference to an opera. What a weirdo, right? Porgy and Bess was an opera written in 1936 by George Gershwin; it is known as the "Great American Opera". The first aria (song), Summertime, opens the entire opera with the lyric "Summertime, and the livin' is easy".

I apologize for the info dump, but by now, you should know that I'm a nerd.

Word Count: 751