Chapter Text
'Life for Dabi, as he would say, is a complete shit show. He was twenty-one and a villain, living between an old run-down bar with his childhood friend, who was trying to start up a ‘Villain League’ in Tomura’s words and his boyfriend’s shabby apartment, who was trying to become a pro hero.
So yes, his life was completely shit.
He was walking down the dark and rundown streets that his boyfriend called home, when he heard the small jingle of a bell, which he assumed was just one of the dead beat parents that lived around the area child with a toy that had a bell attached as an accessory, he wouldn’t be surprised if it were a child, these parents never care about their child until they have no child, and the thought of that got his blood boiling. But he seemed to calm his boiling blood when he felt a small furry thing curl around his leg and a small vibration coming from it.
Dabi looked down and saw a black and white cat rubbing itself against his right leg, purring and making mewing noises, allowing the burnt man to know that it was pleased with his warmth. He nudged the cat way gently with the side of his foot and tried to continue his walk to Keigo’s apartment, but the cat seemed to want more of his warmth and followed the man, slipping between his legs as it tried to capture more of his body heat.
He sighed as he stopped walking and picked up the cat gently by the scruff of its neck, seeing that it was a female, and then held her in his arms as he looked at her completely and saw the belled collar on her neck and the name tag beside it, he gently picked up the name tag, seeing that the cats name was ‘Oreo’. Dabi looked over the cat, black fur covered the bottoms of the legs and the top half of the cat’s body, with white covering the rest.
‘Fitting,’ Dabi thought to himself as she meowed and snuggled up against his jaws skin grafts. He gave her a few gentle scratches under her chin, hearing thunder and saw a few specks of lightning light up the nights sky. Looking up at the coloured sky, he saw Ignis Avis, the Phoenix Flame constellation, appears once every 17 years.
Transformation. Reflection. New beginning.
Dabi scoffed, where was that for him when he was 4?
The cat in his hand noticed that Dabi wasn’t paying attention to her anymore and meowed, demanding attention. He scratched her chin more and pet her head, looked around the alleyways and saw a few cardboard boxes, walking over and made her a makeshift shelter as best he could with one arm before setting her down in the boxes and walking away, but she followed him like he was her new owner.
Dabi sighed and was about to pick up the cat again when a voice from above called out her name. Dabi looked up towards the voice and saw a dark figure crouched on the rooftop of a nearby building. The figure jumped down and started to walk towards Dabi and Oreo, who was sprinting straight to the figure and jumped into their arms.
The person, now close enough for Dabi to tell that it was a male, gently pet the black and white cat and made sure she wasn’t hurt. When he deemed her unharmed, he looked up towards Dabi who was just standing there awkwardly and inclined his head in a thanks before walking away with the happy cat.
Dabi watched until the man and cat walked around the corner before heading back on his normal route to Keigo’s. He kept his head down and hands in his pockets as he made his way into the barely surviving building and up the rickety and decomposing stairs to Keigo’s apartment.
And that’s when he smelt smoke.