I won't bite.
Not unless you ask.
*
Ren healed completely within a matter of days after her brother stabbed her in the side. She spent most of her time out of commission knocked out on pain killers or the occasional icy back and forth with Dabi. He visited her more than she liked, and she often caught him reading a book in the same dark leather armchair when she was phasing in and out of a doze.
At least it gave her something to do when he was around but as she got better, and spent less of her time sleeping, his visits became less frequent. She guessed it was because of her returning strength, and he no longer had to oh so nobly "watch over her" and "keep the real unwanted visitors away".
After Ren had very quickly blazed through the small selection of DVDs they had available for her to watch on a portable player, and she was well enough to begin wondering around, she explored the small area she was confined to of the mysterious mansion. There was a dining hall and the living room she was stabbed in that other members of the league filtered in and out of, as well as a recreation room with a pool table, some books and a slightly larger selection of DVDs. There was also a gym and a training hall but she hardly ever saw anyone use either.
None of the rooms had windows and no one really spoke to her other than the occasional minion updating her on the mission to locate her father. She'd occasionally spy her brother but as soon as he'd catch her eye he'd disappear into a room she wasn't allowed to go into or through a set of doors she couldn't access.
If she didn't have a reason to be there, she'd regret her decision purely based on how bored she was.
One night after her wound had almost closed, Ren managed to pry the location of Dabi's room out of Toga. As much as his watchful eye had bothered her, he was probably the only person she mildly enjoyed speaking to. Or maybe it was because he was like, the only person who spoke to her.
Ren couldn't tell if it was day or night when the living quarters grew quiet. The false lights, lack of windows and any connection to the outside world made her prison feel like it lived in its own dimension. She tapped on a door Toga had described to her when the hallway was deserted, and hoped that it wasn't the crazy blonde who'd answer.
After a few seconds, the large door was peeled open, and she was shocked to be greeted by Dabi.
Well, not just Dabi.
Dabi with his face painted by a dark grey face mask, his hair sectioned and pinned with dye at the roots and a dark fluffy robe tied at the waist.
"Can I help you?" He asked with a forced polite tone.
"Ah..." Ren glanced him up and down. "Self care evening?"
"If you haven't noticed, I'm covered in these big patches of burnt skin. If I don't hydrate, the skin tightens and constricts against my muscles. It's not exactly comfortable."
Ren nodded slowly. "I'll come back later." She turned away and hastened down the hall.
"What do you want, Arakawa?" Dabi called after her, making her skin crawl at the name. She paused.
"I'm- bored." She said turning back to him.
Dabi glanced behind his shoulder into his room. "Want a sheet mask?" He asked pointing at his painted face.
This can't be real.
"Yeah, okay." Ren mumbled as she walked back to his door.
Dabi stepped to the side, holding the door wide enough to let her pass. She expected a mess, a room half destroyed with clothing strewn across the floor, furniture pulverised or burnt to ash, cigarette butts littering the carpet and crumpled up takeaway bags.
What Ren was met with was almost boring in comparison. Like all rooms in the building, the furniture was built from dark carved wood and laden with luxurious fabrics. The theme in this room was obviously green, reflected in the bedding, patterns in the rug and wallpaper.
There wasn't anything overly personal about it. His bed was haphazardly made, there were a few books laid out on the dresser as well as a box or two of snacks, and a faint smell of cigarettes hung in the air.
"You look disappointed." Dabi mumbled as he closed the door behind him.
"You're surprisingly neat." Ren muttered back and he simply shrugged as he journeyed to his dresser.
"Pick one." He pulled the top drawer open. "Most of them are like, hydrating."
Ren peered into the top drawer of his dresser, her jaw dropping as she did. "Jeez, did you rob a Sephora?" She marvelled at the neatly stacked variety of face masks and treatments, all colour-coded and organised by brand.
"I'll have you know I bought that with my own money. Stolen money. But still bought."
"Uhuh." Ren mumbled as she picked a light blue packaged sheet mask from the drawer.
"Good choice." Dabi said with a nod. "You should wash your face first. I'm sure it's been a while since you've used a decent cleanser." His eyes darted around her face through the sheet mask. "There's a range in the bathroom."
"Thanks?" Ren said with a quirked brow.
Was that an insult? That kinda felt like an insult.
A collection of various cleansers lined the bathroom counter, also organised by type, colour and brand. Ren's eyes darted over a few but after she read the label of three or four she couldn't be bothered to keep comparing and settled with the first one that sounded good. Judging by Dabi's surprising obsession, she assumed they'd all be at least decent.
The cleanser she chose left her skin feeling a lot better than when she'd entered, so she must've made a good choice. She peeled the mask from its sachet, unfolding it delicately before laying it over her face and adjusting the holes over her mouth, nose and eyes.
Ren stared at her masked face in the mirror. If her past self could see her now...
"What's next?" Ren asked as she exited the bathroom. "Are we gonna paint our nails?" She asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, I just have to rinse first." Dabi said monotonously as he pointed at his head.
"I-I was kidding." She stammered as she walked over to the armchair in his room that was placed identically to the one in hers.
"I wasn't." He muttered back. "I'll be a few." He waved at her behind his back as he disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Ren scratched at the corner of her sheet mask as she settled into the leather armchair.
Seriously, can't be real.
The shower hissed on as Ren glanced around the room a few times for anything of interest. But Dabi left his room so generally lived in it could be anyone staying there. She tapped at the mask on her cheeks a few times before she kicked herself up from the armchair.
She sauntered around every piece of furniture, peaking and poking about on the off chance she'd find a phone or something, anything. She pulled open cupboards and drawers, finding most of them empty aside from the occasional pile of manky t-shirts or a variety of moisturisers.
Ren ducked back to the chair when she heard the shower squeak off, quickly readjusting a book on the side table before the bathroom door opened again.
A cloud of steam puffed and dispersed into the room as Dabi appeared in the doorway.
"Woah." Ren said as she averted her eyes to the floor. He stepped out of his bathroom with nothing more than a white towel wrapped loosely around his waist. "A little warning."
She could feel him smirking at her, remnants of the hot shower water dripping onto the carpet with a hollow plat.
"You wanna take it off?"
"Excuse me?!" Ren snapped her attention back to Dabi, eyes wide and bewildered.
He pushed his wet hair from his face. "The sheet mask, sweetheart."
"Oh. Yeah." Ren stammered before she swallowed uncomfortably. "Duh." She peeled the mask from her face and folded the wet sheet up. The still, cool air in his room clung to the wet patches on her skin, making it tickle.
"There's a trash can in the corner." Dabi muttered as he pulled clothing out of a few of the drawers. Ren glanced behind her to the corner her was referring to, getting up out of the chair to drop the used sheet mask in the trash.
"But I don't need to tell you that right?" Dabi asked as the sheet mask dropped with a plop. "Seeing as you've already snooped through everything I own."
Ren froze and glanced back to him.
"You should moisturise." He held out a small purple tub. "Otherwise that mask'll just be a waste."
He threw the tub to her and she caught it, still awkwardly peering at him from the corner next to the trash can.
"I'm gonna change in there." Dabi stepped back towards the bathroom. "For your discretion or whatever."
Ren stared at the closed bathroom once Dabi had disappeared behind it. She tapped at the purple tub a few times before she returned to her seat to blindly apply the moisturiser. Her skin did feel better, so much better.
Dabi returned as she screwed the cap back on. His shirt was slung over his left shoulder, dark wet hair mostly slicked back as a few little pieces drooped in front of his eyes, and he was opening a larger white tub.
He sat on the edge of the bed, sticking a few fingers into the tub and massaging them in an orange tinted ointment.
"What's that?" Ren ask as he retracted his fingers, massaging the ointment between his hands rhythmically.
"Scar cream." He mumbled as he massaged over his wrists. "My own concoction."
"Does it work?"
"Does it look like it works?"
Ren's lips formed a flat line.
"It's the only thing I've found that keeps me... Comfortable." He said as he dug into the tub for more. "It works pretty well on other scars. Cuts and scrapes, stuff like that."
He massaged the ointment into the large patch of scarred purple skin on his chest.
"You wanna try it?" He handed the tub towards her. "Got any hideously ugly scars?"
"N-not really. I uh- don't really scar." Ren mumbled. "Oh, except this I guess."
She hoped out of the chair, rolling back her right sleeve as she stepped towards the bed and presented her arm to Dabi. The mild and scattered remnants of her burn having left a few patches of dead paled skin.
"This is the only thing that's scarred."
"Ah." Dabi took her arm as he inspected the light scarring. She watched as he turned her arm over, his bright eyes scanning over every twist of gnarled skin. He traced a finger over the largest of the light scarring and Ren winced at the awkward numb tickle. "Endeavour, huh?"
"Y-Yeah." Ren furrowed her brow. "How did you-?"
"Burn patterns." Dabi said casually as he retracted his hand and she dropped her arm.
"Burn patterns?"
"Yeah. Every flame user has a unique burn pattern. I have 'em, Endeavour's got one, even you have a burn pattern that's unique to you."
"Like a fingerprint?" Ren asked.
"I like to think of it more like a palm." Dabi explained as he gestured for her to raise her arm again. "Cause you can read them. You can tell a lot about a person by the marks they leave."
Dabi traced his fingers over the scars again. "For example," He stopped on one of the splotches. "This one shows Endeavor has a strong sense of justice." He rotated her arm, tracing the pads of his fingers over her skin and making a tingle travel down her spine. "This one says he's determined, ambitious." He traced his fingers up. "This one says he's a piece of shit."
Ren snorted before she rolled her eyes. "As if any of that wasn't general knowledge."
Dabi chuckled before he scrapped his fingers over his purple chin. "It's all in the burn patterns. I could tell a lot about you from yours."
He dipped his fingers into the scar cream, keeping a hand on her arm as he massaged the gel between his fingers.
"If this is even legit, when did you see mine?" Ren asked as she watched Dabi smear some of the healing goo over her skin.
"That Nomu you took down in Okinawa. The patterns were a little hard to read. They were mixed in with that Todoroki kid's cause you used his flames but I could read that you're angry. Hateful. Maybe even a little dangerous."
"Shocking."
"But you have a lot of love." Dabi paused, glancing up between his wet black hair that drooped over his eyes. "And that makes you more dangerous."
Dabi's intense and unwavering gaze made her legs suddenly weaken. He half smirked when he noticed her throat bob from swallowing, hard, before he turned his attention back to her arm.
"If you still don't believe me, try it yourself." He shrugged as he wrapped up massaging the burn cream into her arm. "Read mine."
"Where would I get a copy of your burn patterns?" Ren asked with a little eye roll.
He leant back and patted his bare chest. "You're looking at them."
Ren swallowed again.
"How did you-?"
"Just look at the shapes." He said quickly cutting her off. "The repetition or lack of, and what you think it all means. At the end of the day it's your interpretation."
"I'm in interpreting that you're full of shit."
Ren bent down, peering intently at the scaring along Dabi's cheeks and jaw. She held her hand out tentatively, hesitating just as she was about to touch the skin.
"I won't bite."
Her finger grazed his cheek.
"Not unless you ask."
Ren dropped her hand, staring at Dabi blankly until he chuckled.
"Relax. I'm mostly joking."
She gently held his chin between her index finger and thumb, pivoting his face from side to side as she reviewed his scarred skin. Her hand travelled down to his neck, fingers gliding over the bumpy rough skin. She felt his neck bob as he swallowed.
"Do they hurt?" Ren whispered.
"It feels like nothing." He mumbled back.
Her hand left his throat and she took up one of his arms. Tracing her fingers over the skin and drawing the tips of her fingers over the shapes and lines. She took his other arm, doing the same, brow furrowing intently.
"You're lost." Ren muttered eventually.
"Lost?" Dabi asked, a tone in his voice that could almost be taken as offence.
"There's no pattern, no repetition. It's almost like there's no sense, no direction." Ren explained as she dropped her soft grip of his arm. "You don't know what you want."
"Hmph." He raised his eyebrows quickly before he slipped his shirt off of his shoulder. "I would say something like that sounds unhinged, out of control maybe."
Dabi roughly tucked into his shirt, rolling out the bottom when it bunched under his arms.
"At the end of the day it's your interpretation, right?" Ren repeated back to him.
Dabi pushed some of the wet hair that had been moved from putting his shirt on back into place. His tongue poked at his purple bottom lip as he stared Ren down.
"Nail kits in the second drawer." He muttered, gesturing his head to the chest of drawers behind her.
*
Ren jumped into consciousness when she felt a light cardboard box hit her lap. She was propped up on a pillow, leaning back on the wooden headboard, a book flopped against her chest. She blinked a few heavy blinks before she looked down at her lap.
"What's this?" She asked Dabi as he clicked her door closed.
"It was a gift with purchase."
Ren picked up the brightly colour box. The front of the box displayed a three mini sized eyeliners in black, brown and dark green, with two mini sized mascaras.
"Thought you'd be into this sorta thing." She peeled the box open, the plastic crackling as she dug into it. "Suits your edgy aesthetic."
Dabi chuckled as he dropped into the leather armchair, pointing to the scarred patches under his eyes. "Not with these bags, sweetheart."
"Any news?" Ren asked as she inspected one of the eyeliners.
"Nah." Dabi pulled his pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket before he shook one out of the pack and placed it between his lips. He patted his pockets a few times, looking for his lighter before he cursed under his breath and ignited a flame on his finger.
Ren glanced up from swatching the green eyeliner, watching as Dabi controlled the petite blue flame and lit his cigarette. She swallowed.
"C-can I try?" She asked quietly.
Dabi glanced over at her, exhaling a cloud of smoke before he held the cigarette up.
"You're not gonna like it."
She slid from the bed and stepped over. "I'm around you enough I think I've inhaled enough second hand smoke to handle it."
He smirked. "If you say so."
Ren took the cigarette tentatively, placing it between her lips and pulling a breath through it. She held the her breath for a second before coughing pathetic puffs of smoke, her eyes tearing up a little as she patted her chest with her free hand.
Dabi chuckled. "Don't take such a deep breath. And keep it in your mouth before actually inhale it." He hoped up from the chair, taking the cigarette from Ren. He drew in a breath, pointing at his lips to show it was still there before inhaling sharply. "Try again." He muttered with smoke pouring from his lips.
Dabi replaced the cigarette between her lips. Ren slowly raised her hand to take it from him but he kept his grip on the cigarette as it lay against her mouth. He watched her beneath half lidded eyes, almost as if to judge if she'd obeyed his instruction. She took a shorter draw, inhaling the puff sharply like he'd done before.
"Remember to breathe out." Dabi whispered as he pulled the cigarette from her lips and wedged it back between his own.
It made her cough a little but not as badly as the first time after she'd exhaled.
"Yeah, I don't really like it." She mumbled.
"I don't either but you know what they say about old habits."
Ren watched as he tried to take another draw but the ember had died. He relit the tip of his finger, holding it to the shortened cigarette and puffing a few times as it reignited.
"How do you that?" She asked as she watched him work.
"Didn't I just show you?"
"No, not the smoking." Ren rolled her eyes. "The control you have. It's- it's the best I've seen. Comparable to -"
"Don't finish that sentence if you wanna keep using my stuff, sweetheart." Dabi arched a brow.
Ren let out a short, exasperated sigh. "It was a compliment, you know?"
"Yeah. Thanks. And it's not about control."
"What do you mean?" She crinkled her brows.
Dabi was the one to sigh this time. "How do I..?" He muttered almost under his breath as he thought to himself. "There's training rooms here. Big, indestructible gyms nicely put together for the big destructive brutes."
"Yeah I think I've seen one off of the dining hall." Ren chimed in.
"Kay, glad I don't have to direct you then." Dabi made for the door. "Meet me there in a few. And I'll explain."
*
Ren waited only a few minutes in the floor to ceiling, starkly white and enormous room. A control panel sat close to the door with settings for training dummies and various terrain that would appear from the floor on large panels. She had seen a couple of the league's members use the room but never ventured into it or tried it herself. Her gruelling boredom had almost turned her to training but the idea of accidentally starting a fight with any of them deterred her majorly.
She heard the door open, and before she could turn to greet the entrant, a wad of cloth hit Ren in the back of the head, draping over her face as she heard the door click closed.
"Heads up." Dabi chuckled as she ripped the pile from her head and spun on her heel to glare at him.
Ren inspected what he had thrown at her, a black t-shirt and gym shorts that were clearly his, made from a fabric similar to, but not quite Lycra. "What is this?" She asked as he sauntered over to the control panel.
"It's for you to wear. Fire resistant." He gave her a quick up and down glance. "I've seen what happens when you burn up."
Ren rolled her eyes. "You couldn't have brought this to my room?"
"I'll turn around." Dabi turned his attention to the control panel, tapping his fingers along the metal top.
Ren kept her eyes on him for a little while, deciding whether or not to proceed.
"I'm a bad guy, not a piece of shit, remember?" He called to her, attention still kept by the control panel.
Ren quickly tugged off the shirt she was wearing, eyes fixed on the back of Dabi's head as she dove into the one he'd handed her. It fell loose around her shoulders, the bottom draping to the top of her thighs. She pulled her sweatpants off in a quick drop, stepping into the shorts and rolling the waistband a few times so it would stick around her waist.
"Don't tell me you're still watching me to make sure I don't turn around?"
"I'm done." Ren grumbled.
He glanced over his shoulder, fingernails scraping against the metal of the control panel. He cleared his throat. "Cool."
"I'm guessing you wanted to explain by demonstration?"
Dabi cricked his neck to the left. Blue flames erupted down both of his arms, pouring to the white floor and traversing across the room like a collection of streams spreading over snow. Ren froze as two lines of blue flames rocketed past either side of her, radiating heat she'd never felt.
Beads of sweat dripped down Ren's forehead and the shirt she wore clung to her skin within a matter of seconds as Dabi's flames crackled in the room. The heat in her body rose quickly and as she twiddled her fingers uncomfortably, flames of her own flickered into her palms.
"Is there a point to this?" Ren called out to Dabi over the roar of the bright blue fire.
He cricked his neck the other way before he sauntered to the control panel, lazily slapping his hand over one of the buttons. Sprinklers popped from the ceiling and immediately rained icy water into the flaming room.
The flames hissed like they were crying in pain as they dissipated under the shower of cold sprinkler water. The water sizzled and steamed off her skin as soon as it made contact. Ren sighed as her core temperature dropped, feeling to energy building up in her fizzle. The gush of droplets raining from the ceiling slowed until only a few pattered out of the taps and plopped into the puddles gathering on the torched floor.
"Still waiting for that point..." Ren grumbled as she wiped a stray strand of soaked hair from her face.
"Your turn." He nodded at her once.
"I, I can't do... I can't do that like that." Ren muttered, every word making her feel embarrassed as she said it.
Dabi rolled his eyes as he kicked one of his legs in front of him, letting his weight fall back onto the control panel as he waited.
"Okay, okay." Ren let out a quick breath as she rolled her shoulders back. Closing her eyes, she pictured heat building up inside, energy rising until she could feel it build within her body. She focused, hard, concentrating on building the energy until sparks appeared around her arms and hands.
She slapped her hands together, the sparks zapping violently in her palms as she did. After a few attempts, flames erupted around her palms, travelling up her arms. She pushed her hands down, sending the plumes onto the ground and making the puddles of water splatter from the force.
Ren's flames didn't travel as far Dabi's, not even close, and her usual orange flames looked dull in comparison to his. She glanced over at him and almost winced at the contempt he wore for her pitiful display. She clapped her hands back together and the flames in her hands disappeared.
"It's so obvious you were taught by Endeavour." He muttered as he pushed himself off of the control panel, kicking a puddle of water as he approached and making the small remaining flames screech as they died out.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ren furrowed her brow. "And I wasn't really, it was his son who-"
"Who was taught by..?" Dabi quirked a brow.
"Where is this going?" Ren asked, exasperated.
"You take too long." Dabi waved a hand at her. "My guess is you've been taught to oppress that hot little quirk of yours so you don't go burning your classmate's faces off. But I've seen what you look like when you let loose, and that's what you gotta do if you wanna be at this level."
Ren scratched at her forehead. "Okay, how do I do that?"
"What triggers it?"
"Anger."
"How often do you find yourself trying not to get angry?"
Ren smirked.
Dabi chuckled. "Right, of course. All the time, right?"
Ren gave a half nod.
"Just let yourself get angry, start drawing from that rather than keeping yourself in check and powering up. You know how to use the quirk now so, use it. I'm sure you have a lot of pent up... Frustration."
Ren took a deep breath, rifling through the thoughts she tried to shove away on a daily basis. The way her father had treated her, the trial, his escape, her training with Endeavour, her words on the roof with Hawks in the winter. She let everything flash through her mind, building up anger and within her in a matter of seconds.
She clapped her hands together, flames erupting in her palms and seething down to the ground to surround her. Her eyes blazed with a strong glow, hair flying wildly behind her as the room filled hot orange flames.
She let more thoughts travel through her mind, dumb arguments with Bakugo, her entire frustrating time here, the idea that she had to leave Bakugo in the first place...
The fire built to beyond anything she had conjured up before, plumes licking up at the walls and filling the space with an almost deafening roar. It was hot, not as hot as Dabi's fires but enough to make her let out a deep sigh and call it enough.
She wrapped her fingers into her palms to stop herself from building anymore fire. Nodding once at Dabi to hit the sprinklers.
As the water rained from the ceiling, Ren fell to the floor, landing awkwardly on her butt and using a hand to keep her stable as she tried to catch her breath and calm down.
Dabi approached her as the water died, little droplets once more plopping into the puddles around then and echoing in the room. He wiped his wet hair away from his face, crouching down so they were level.
"That was better. How'd it feel?"
"Good." Ren muttered back almost immediately. "Tiring."
Dabi smirked. "That thing you do, that's like a flint and stone," He clapped his hands to their a few times to mimic her. "Think you could do it one handed?"
"How would I do that?" Ren asked as she crossed her legs in front of her, wiping her own wet hair from her face and tapping under her nose for any sign of blood.
"We'll work somethin out." His eyes darted around her. "Shit, sorry." He lazily pointed to just behind Ren.
She glanced over her shoulder, a small pile of singed blonde hair lay in a wet heap behind her. Her hand shot up to her wet hair, feeling for where her hair had been burnt off.
"Must've been me, can't burn yourself." He explained as he stood up. "Didn't know I could burn you."
"It's cool." Ren mumbled. "I can't handle too hot." She held up her slightly scared arm. "He called it the 'cremation phase'."
Dabi rolled his eyes.
"So, you do cut as well as colour?"
*