You were helping Dabi dye his hair again when you gathered the courage to ask him about his scars.
He seemed pretty peaceful with his head hanging over the edge of the bathtub, his eyes closed as you work your gloved fingers through his hair.
He kept yawning, which told you he was pretty sleepy, too, so hopefully those two things together meant that you'd be able to ask him without upsetting him too much and avoid an argument.
"Dabi?" You ask, your voice small.
Dabi hums an acknowledgement at you, not opening his eyes still.
"I lied to you earlier." You admit, scratching his head a little bit. You'd noticed earlier that he seemed to relax a little more when you did that.
His eyes shoot open, and he looks up at you as you continue rinsing his hair with your lips pressed into a tight line.
"Ya did?" He asks, an ever so slight hint of amusement in his voice. "About what?"
"What I was thinking about." You reply quietly.
He chuckles, rolling his icy blue eyes before closing them again.
"Yeah? What were you thinkin' about then?" He asks with a smirk, opening one eye to squint up at you again, his grin widening. "Spinner?"
Your face begins to burn immediately.
"Nuh-uh! Why would I be thinking about Spinner?" You deny fervently, fixing your eyes on his wet hair and hoping that your face doesn't look as red as it feels.
Dabi chuckles, closing his eye again. He looks pretty smug, like he usually did whenever he was being playful.
"What were ya really thinkin' about then, little Star? Enlighten me." He asks, still smirking away.
You scratch his scalp a little again as you rinse the black dye from his roots, eliciting a happy little 'hm' from him.
"Your scars..." You reply slowly, gauging his reaction.
His lips twitch downwards a little, but he still manages to keep his eyes closed and his lips curled upward.
You assume this means he's not mad about it, or unwilling to talk about it.
"Oh yeah?" He replies. "What about 'em got ya lyin' to me, dollface?"
The use of his silly little nickname for you makes it seem like he's not too mad, but the mention of you lying to him overrides it into making you feel guilty.
"I'm sorry for lying to you..." You mumble, wringing his hair a little. "I didn't want to tell you the truth and upset you in front of everyone."
Dabi goes quiet for a moment as you pat his head twice, signalling that the water was running clear. He turns off the tap, and takes the towel you reach towards him.
He scrubs his head a couple times, his azure eyes focused to the distance. You wonder if he's beginning to get mad the longer you're in silence for.
Eventually, he does speak up again.
"Well, ya know lyin's bad, Star." Dabi shrugs, leaving the towel on his head. "I appreciate why you lied, an' it wasn't about anythin' serious, so I'm not mad, 'kay?"
You nod and apologise again for good measure, although he waves you off dismissively, returning back to towel drying his hair.
"What about 'em?" He repeats, a little gruffer than how he'd usually talk to you.
It's almost enough to put you off asking, but you perservere. Dabi had promised he would always love you, and never punish you, and you needed to be brave and give Dabi a chance to prove it.
"How did you get them?" You ask, puffing your chest a little as you straighten your back, hoping that if you hold yourself a little higher, then you'd be braver.
Dabi cringes, ruffling his hair with the towel in a way that hides his face from you.
His hair's only short, though, so his hair's dry pretty quickly, and he holds the towel in his hands with a little sigh.
"Dunno kid, it's not for little ears." He replies, looking up at you with apologetic eyes.
"I have big ears!" You insist, plopping yourself down next to him on the floor, pressing your back against the bathtub too.
He chuckles, ruffling your hair.
"Dork." He laughs, using the palm of his hand to push your head towards him, pressing a quick kiss to your temple. "What I mean is, it ain't suitable for you to hear. You're a worrier, an' if I tell you, you'll end up havin' even more nightmares."
"Was it scary?" You ask, already invested in what little he'd let slip.
"Well..." Dabi seems thoughtful again. "Yeah, I guess it was a little scary."
"Please tell me!" You whine, leaning against him and thumping your head into his shoulder.
He groans, leaning his head against yours. "You'll just end up worryin' and fawnin' over me."
"Uh-uh!" You deny. "Pinky promise I'll be brave!"
There's a short silence, Dabi rubbing his stapled cheek against your head slowly and rhythmically. He'll probably end up having to untangle your hair from his staples, but you don't mind too much.
"Alright. I'll tell you. But if you end up havin' nightmares..." Dabi sighs.
"I won't!" You promise immediately.
You hear Dabi take a deep breath, one of his arms wrapping around your shoulders.
"Alri'." He breathes. "Here goes."
This must be a pretty hard story for him to tell. You'd never seen him have to prepare himself for a conversation before.
You lean against him a little more, offering grounding in the form of your weight against his.
"Yaknow I told you 'bout my old man? The big scary man?" He asks, his voice quiet.
"Mhm." You give a little nod.
"Well. He was dead set on us becomin' heroes." He replies, picking at the clothing on your shoulder anxiously. "So me an' him used to train every day, super hard. Till I was sick."
You frown a little. You didn't like the idea of Dabi working so hard he was sick. That didn't seem fair.
"But I had a good quirk, an' really wanted ta please the stupid fu-" He catches himself and send to rephrase what he was going to say. "Jus' wanted him to see me, yaknow? Nats and 'Yumi were no good cause they didn't have a fire quirk, y'see? And poor 'Yumi was screwed from the get-go 'cause the old man didn't want a girl on the field."
He huffs a little to himself in dark amusement, and you hear him mutter 'sexist prick' under his breath. You know you weren't meant to hear that, so you stay quiet.
"'Nyway." He interrupts himself. "Got ta learnin' some cool stuff, even though they kept tryin' to stop me."
"Cool stuff?" You ask curiously. "Stop you?"
You'd never really seen Dabi use his quirk properly before, asides from lighting his cigarettes and accidentally manifesting pretty azure flames whenever he got too startled.
You wondered what he was truly capable of. Flames were a pretty cool quirk, after all. Way cooler than 'vertigo'.
"Mhm." He hums, rubbing his metal-lined cheek against your scalp again. "Told my ol' man to come meet me up at a peak near our house."
You remain quiet, soaking in his story respectfully.
"Man, I was so excited." He laughs humourlessly to himself. "Was gonna show him that he didn't need the newest addition to our hellhole of a family."
"Hellhole?" You repeat quietly, more to yourself than to Dabi. He ignores it anyway.
"But he never showed." Dabi says, shrugging a little, shifting your head in the motion. "An' I got mad. Real mad."
"Mad?" You ask, a little nervously.
You'd never seen Dabi really mad before. You'd seen him get a little mad at you before when Shigaraki tried touching you, and he also got a little mad at Imasuji when he spoke about your mom and your name. But that was it, and there had definitely been no flames then.
"Yup. Started burnin' up." He replies flippantly. "Lost control, an' ended up all burned myself."
Your mouth makes a little 'o' shape, your arms moving to wrap tight around him, your face burying into his side.
"That must have hurt!" You exclaim, squeezing him tight.
He sighs, shifting a little so he can wrap his arms around you too, and kiss the top of your head.
"I don't really remember." He replies, his voice rumbling through his body.
"Not even a little?" You ask quietly.
He's quiet, either not hearing you or deciding not to answer your question as he pets your hair.
You both sit on the floor like that together in silence for a little while, your arms wrapped around each other.
"I'm glad you're okay." You inform him eventually, still not releasing your grip on him. "If you got really really hurt then we might not have met, and then I wouldn't have a paw!"
You hear his breath catch a little, his arms tightening around you, and his face pressing into the top of your head.
He doesn't reply, just grips onto you like that for a while.
It's not until you feel something warm dripping on your head that you manage to wiggle yourself away enough to get a glimpse at him before he wipes under his eye.
"You're bleeding again!" You exclaim panickedly.
"Shh. It's fine." He hushes. "Promise."
He kisses your head again, frowning slightly at the crown of your head.
"Any more questions?" He asks, moving your hair behind your ear. His eyes and voice are back to being soft again, now.
You eye the blood smear under his facial scarring cautiously, shaking your head slightly.
He smiles slightly at you, petting your hair once more before beginning to get up.
"Alri'. If that's it, ya gotta get in the shower." He says, his playful tone back. "Y'stink, and you're still a little dusty."
"Hey! I don't stink!" You defend, crossing your arms over your chest.
He throws his towel at you, making you squeal.
"Heres the deal. You shower, an' I'll let you watch whatever movie you want. And I'll let ya have Ducky on the bed while we watch it. How's tha'?"
Your eyes widen in immediate joy, making Dabi chuckle, grinning down at you before turning to exit the bathroom.
"Wash your hair properly, 'kay?" He calls with his back to you.
"'Kay!" You agree, scrambling to shower, knowing that the sooner you got clean, the sooner you could settle into bed with Dabi, teddy and Ducky and watch a movie.
It was nice not watching TV alone anymore.