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Dabi kicks off the thin bed sheets and fans himself with a hand. Summer nights are nothing more than sweat that clings uncomfortably to the back of his neck as cicadas scream from outside his broken window.
When he was a child, summer had held a magic to it. He had loved how the morning dew would drip off of long blades of grass and the gurgling of the creek near his house as him, him and his siblings would run barefoot down well worn paths all day long. Summer was a long stretch of a child's imagination- telling scary stories in the safety of their blanket forts and snacking of sweets, snuck in by a loving grandparent. Shorts muddied by wading through brooks, pretending to be jungle explorers and to rush back home to be be greeted with a glass of cold lemonade.
In the middle of summer, there was a very special day. His birthday.
His parties were always humble, never allowed to bring over friends but he didn't mind. Spending time with his family is all he ever asked for. He'd always be greeted with a large cake and presents and the smiling faces of his siblings and mother.
As an adult though, it only reminds him of the ticking of his mortality. He sees no reason to celebrate birthdays or any holidays for that matter, to him, they're nothing more that capitalistic propaganda and painful memories.
Dabi sighs and runs a hand through his hair that sticks to his forehead. He's been complaining to Shigaraki to install an AC in the hideout forever to no avail. Toga had been nice enough to lend him her small box fan that he's been running constantly.
Sitting up, he reaches over the chair next to his bed and grabs a cigarette, he's been meaning to quit for what seems like ages now but he always finds that June is the worst to deal with. Lighting up the cigarette, he checks his phone. It's nearing midnight and Dabi scoffs. The best thing about his mysterious aura that he keeps up is that no one knows anything about him. They don't know his true name, his heritage, his birthday. Nothing. They only know him by his alias and that's fine with him.
Dabi closes his eyes and drowns out his self depreciating thoughts with another drag of his cigarette. Cursing to himself, he extinguishes the cigarette and curls into himself, ignoring the uncomfortable tug of the stitches in his back. Through the darkness of his room, an alarm rings and he throws his phone across the room.
"Happy fuckin' birthday to me." Dabi mutters.
"Hey Dabi!" Toga chirps, poking him in the cheek. She beams up at him and rocks back and forth on her heels, "Are you busy today?" Dabi nods his head and counts on his fingers as he lists his schedule for the day.
"One o'clock I'll wallow in self pity. Four thirty, stare into the abyss. Five o'clock, solve world hunger and then tell no one. Five thirty, Jazz-ercise. Six thirty, dinner with me, which I can't cancel that again. Seven o'clock, wrestle with my self-loathing... Sorry, I'm booked." Toga narrows her eyes and opens her mouth to say something but closes it, tapping a finger against her chin.
"Did- did you really just quote The Grinch to me?" Dabi smiles down at her and ruffles her hair.
"No one will ever believe you." He walks away from her and she shouts after him.
"I'll let everyone know of your busy schedule then."
"Yeah, you do that." He shoots her a finger gun and continues to make his way outside to wallow in self pity in the sun.
Scrolling through Reddit, he finds nothing of interest but continues to scroll anyway. There's nothing to do, they've been on the down low for a month now. He grumbles a string of curses under his breath and wipes away at the beading sweat on his forehead.
"What'cha doin'?" Twice pops out from nowhere and Dabi glances over to him before shrugging.
"Y'know, just enjoying life."
"You don't look like you're enjoying life very much." Twice retorts, studying him carefully and Dabi chuckles.
"Thanks Sherlock, any other amazing breakthroughs you want to share with me?"
"Besides the fact that you're an asshole? Nah." Twice takes out a pack of cigarettes and nudges Dabi to light it for him, Dabi rolls his eyes but complies. They stand together under the burning sun, smoking in silence.
"I've been hella bored, it's not fun to just sit around. I like it, nice change of pace. Not really though, I feel like I'm going stir crazy." Twice eventually breaks the silence and Dabi looks back down at the masked man.
"Don't you just want to go ape shit?"
"Fuck yeah I do!"
"Then go ape shit somewhere else, you're throwing off my groove." Twice flips him off with booming laughter and extinguishes the cigarette underneath his boot.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"I'm not playing Super Smash with you."
"Wow. Okay, mister party pooper. That wasn't even what I was gonna ask anyway for your information!"
"I'm not going to play-"
"Oh my god, Dabi shut the fuck up! Sorry. What I was going to ask was if you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?" Dabi pulls back and raises an eyebrow.
"Are you so bored that you want to play Million Dollars But?"
"There's no but, I was just curious. Toga and me were talking about what we would do with that much money and wanted to know what everyone else would do with it." Dabi slowly nods and looks up to the fluffy white clouds floating lazily in the blue sky.
"Dunno. Maybe get a bike."
"You'd get a bicycle?" Dabi chuckles and shakes his head.
"No, a motorcycle. I'd get a black one and maybe put some blue flames on it or some shit. Who knows, maybe even have the licence plate say 'heroes can eat shit and die'."
"I don't think that would fit on the plate, buddy."
"One can dream Twice," Dabi continues to watch the sky, "One can dream."
"Hey asshole." Spinner takes a seat next to Dabi at the bar and he inwardly groans. Why is everyone so hellbent in talking to him today? If there was one thing that he could ask for his birthday, it would be for everyone to leave him alone. How can he keep up his brooding and mysterious persona if everyone is talking to him? A question that can't be answered.
"What'do you want?"
"Nothing, just wanted to share a drink with my favorite edge lord." Dabi stares at Spinner before pouring him a glass of whisky.
"Is this all that you drink?" Spinner balks at the strong kick from the cheap alcohol.
"Well, it's not the good stuff, but it gets the job done."
"And just what is the 'good stuff'?"
"Macallan Valerio Adami."
"What did you just call me?"
"It's the brand." Dabi answers flatly, "Apparently it was sold for only a few thousands of dollars."
"Just for some alcohol." Spinner shakes his head and swirls the liquid around in the glass before finishing the drink.
"Well, rich people love to just throw their money around, makin' it rain and all that shit." Dabi lazily waves a hand around before throwing back his head and finishing his own drink.
"... I see." Spinner watches him closely before he excuses himself, much to the indifference of Dabi.
A knock at his door breaks him away from his day dream and before he can tell whoever it is to go away, the door opens and Shigaraki leans against the frame.
"We're out of food." Dabi glances up from his hands and quirks up an eyebrow at Shigaraki's statement.
"Okay."
"It's your turn to stock up." Shigaraki turns to leave and Dabi stands up, grumbling to himself about how he didn't join The League just to be some grocery boy. Nonetheless, he throws on a hoodie and a face mask to hide his identity from the prying eyes of the public.
He paces up and down several aisles at a convenience store, throwing packages of food into his basket without much thought. If they want to complain what he got, they can all shove it and get their own damn food.
Dabi waits until the cashier is preoccupied with a customer before he slips out of the door with a basket full of food.
Mr. Compress greets him outside of the store and quickly encaptures them with his quirk.
"So Shigaraki sent you out too I see." Dabi thrusts his hands into his pockets and lets out a grunt, not in the mood for more talking. Mr. Compress continues to chatter away happily, oblivious or just flat out ignoring Dabi's sour mood.
Soon they reach the hideout and Mr. Compress opens the door for him with all of the grandiose gesture of some old time Hollywood movie scene.
Inside, all of the lights are turned off and there's not a noise to be heard. Mr. Compress flicks the light switch a few times before humming to himself.
"I'll have to check the breaker box." Dabi watches as he disappears into the darkness and he takes a moment to peer around the strangely quiet bar. Shrugging to himself after a moment, he heads down to the kitchen to see what's taking Mr. Compress so long.
Entering the kitchen, the first thing he sees is the soft flickering light of burning candles before the lights overhead flip on- momentarily blinding him. Behind the counter, Twice and Toga are holding up a poorly made cake with dripping purple frosting. Shigaraki is leaning against the fridge with a hint of a smile while Spinner is clapping Dabi on the back with a wide smile. Mr. Compress stands by the breaker box and spreads his hands out.
"Happy birthday!" Everyone is shouting and Dabi looks at each of his friends and shakes his head in disbelief.
"How in the hell?" Toga hops over the counter and gives him a rib crushing hug.
"Come on Dabi! Did you really think that we wouldn't find out?" Out of reflex, he pats her on the head before pushing her away.
"Uh-" Shigaraki pushes off of the fridge and makes his way to Dabi, giving him a nod.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell them anything." Shigaraki speaks lowly that only Dabi can hear. He gives his boss a confused look but Shigaraki reveals nothing more than a knowing smile and then it hits Dabi.
Shigaraki must've dug around and found out more about him and his past. The fact that his boss knows exactly who he is gives him an unsettling feeling but he pushes it down and is brought back down to reality when Twice and Toga pounce on him to give him another hug.
"It's, uh, it's probably not the best- but we worked with what we got." Spinner mumbles and slides the cake closer to Dabi. He can definitely tell that it's homemade, from how the cake is lopsided and sunken in, in the middle. Globs of purple frosting is partially melted on the top and not at all spread very well. There's only five candles on the cake, their soft orange flames flicker as Toga and Twice shout at him to make a wish.
"Making a wish is for kids." He replies and Twice counts out the candles.
"Well, by my counting- you're turning five so make a wish dammit!" Dabi rolls his eyes but complies. As he blows out the candles, everyone around the room lets out a shout in celebration and Shigaraki hands Dabi a knife to cut it. Cutting into the cake, it gives out a little and deflates slightly but Dabi doesn't mind. Everyone digs into the cake and despite it's less than pleasing appearance, it doesn't taste all that bad. When everyone is done eating, Toga giggles and points to Shigaraki.
"Your whole mouth is purple!"
"I wouldn't laugh if I were you, you got frosting in your hair." Shigaraki points out and Twice hops up on his feet as Toga brushes her fingers through her hair to get the frosting out.
"Mr. Compress, release the kraken!" Mr. Compress pauses and looks up at Twice questionably.
"Oh, you wanted me to get a kraken? What a shame that I only got these instead." With a flick of his wrist, a marble lands on the ground and with a burst of light. A large bottle of Jack Daniel's Honey Whisky is packed snuggly into a wicker basket with a few new packs of cigarettes and a pack of golden surgical staples.
"There's another one but," A twinkle appears in Mr. Compress's eyes, "I think it would be safer if I release that one outside later." Dabi picks up the basket and stares at the gifts.
"I know it wasn't your mumbo jumbo fancy whisky but I've seen you drink this before." Spinner explains sheepishly.
"Also, now you can look cute with some new staples!" Toga pipes up, bouncing up and down excitedly. Dabi says nothing and bites his lip to keep himself from saying anything too embarrassing. Toga dances around the kitchen and drags Dabi towards the back door in the kitchen.
"Mr. Compress show Dabi the other gift!"
After filing outside, Mr. Compress takes out a second marble and gently sets it on the ground. Releasing his quirk, a brand new black motorcycle is in the marble's place.
"Holy shit. How did you-"
"Ah, a magician never reveals his tricks." Mr. Compress waggles a finger at him and Dabi chuckles, nodding his head.
"Right. Well, thank you. Really, you didn't have to."
"But we did!" Twice corrects Dabi with a wave of his hands.
"Yeah, we're family. Just because we're not related by blood doesn't mean that we can't be family!" Toga finishes and Dabi looks away from his smiling group of friends and up at the sky, blinking away at the forming tears in his eyes.
Dabi sits in front of the mirror in the bathroom and stares at his new sutures. Nodding to himself, he leaves for his room. A phone, deemed ancient by today's standards, is charging and lets out a soft ping.
Gently, he picks it up. This isn't any of his burner phones or the phone he uses daily. This phone is from before he had run away. He isn't sure why he's kept it after all these years but he has. Flipping it open, he sees that he has a message from his sister.
Opening the message, it's a grainy photo of Natsuo and Shouto with Fuyumi in the middle. Fuyumi and Natsuo are beaming up at the camera while Shouto can only be bothered with a peace sign.
happy birthday touya! we love and miss you so much! Dabi sadly smiles down at the old phone before he flips it back closed.
They're alive and well and that's all he can ask for. Knowing that they still think about him makes his heart feel heavy but he knows where he belongs and that's with The League of Villains, his family.