Chapter Text
Story Title: [don’t] Let it Snow!
Character: Dabi
Fandom: My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia)
OC: Reiko “Miira” Nokorino (appears in So It Goes)
Prompt:
Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Inspiration: actual Christmas prompts, but glued together to make one—snuggling in front of a fireplace, sharing a coat/scarf/hat to keep each other warm
~*~
The setting sun had brought the colder winds of the north, the type of winds that ran right through skin an bone alike, leaving most of those bundled in heavy winter ware trembling like a newly born fawn taking its first steps.
For those that weren’t bundled up warmly, well, they were struck blind, deaf, and dumb, and possibly paralyzed on the spot behind a notorious villain in hiding, spouting absolute nonsense by the second.
“We could always try our luck at Christmas caroling. You know, sing here and there, maybe earn us some cookies or a warm cup of tea, a night on a warm floor.” Miira snuggled into Dabi’s back as she spoke, her nose poking at his spine. “I can’t feel my fingers!”
He looked over his shoulder at the smaller woman, her golden eyes brightening the black and gray alley he’d ushered them into minutes ago. Her bronze skin had taken a slightly purplish hue as the winds picked up, her lips looked a painful red, as did her nose.
Her clothing was as minimal as his, with only a flimsy long sleeve shirt to protect her from the cold. Her neck was exposed for the most part, although she had tried to use her hair to block most of the wind from the back of her nape.
She had no gloves, obviously.
“Do we classify that as phantom pains,” he asked, nodding to her missing hands, and the missing fingers she claimed to have.
She nudged him. “Don’t be a smart ass! You know what I mean.”
“I can’t control the weather, princess. You’re gonna have to bear with it until the cops stop nosing around the area.” Miira snuggled closer to him as he spoke, his left arm coming up to wrap around her shoulders as she forced her way into the inside of his jacket. “Done burrowing, pest?”
“Not even close.” She unfurled beneath his arm, rising to the tip of her toes to whisper menacingly in his ear. “I want to crawl into your skin.”
He chuckled, looking out into the populated city streets. “You’ll rot the second you put on your impromptu leotard.”
“Why are rotting or freezing the only option? One of them has to come with a hot chocolate combo, or some sort of disgustingly sweet seasons latte.” She buried her face into his side, muffling her mumbling complaints of the lack of food and the excess of cold, and the unfairness of him being a walking furnace while she’s a barely-moving popsicle.
Dabi kept his eyes on the entry of the alleyway, darting from side to side to catch a glimpse of any police officers that might be loitering around the crowded area. From where he stood, he could see the very top of the Christmas tree, the star shining brightly from the point. They wouldn’t be making it there tonight. Too many couples. Too many police, and heroes stationed almost at every corner.
And Miira was dead in his arms, almost literally.
Her entire body was colder than ice, as cold as the dead bodies stuffed into the mortuary freezers. She was shivering so intensely that his own body began to tremble as he held her as close as he possible could. There was only so much of the weather her body could take, and he was an idiot to think she would fair better in the cold.
“Listen closely.” He wrapped an arm around her waist, dragging her further into an alley and placing he beside a large trash container. He motioned for her to sit down. “Lay low and don’t call attention to yourself. Wait for me.”
“You’re leaving me out in the cold?!”
Miira had jumped back up to her feet, stopping the moment Dabi turned to her. He said nothing, pointing at her and then pointing at the dark area beside the trash bin. His eyes clearly said, ‘Sit and wait’. And she did.
She waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Her ass was surely frozen to the concrete beneath her, her arms to the top of her knees, and Dabi would find her as a fleshy snowball behind a strange smelling store—oh God, what if it started snowing while he was out frolicking with the couples? What if she did turn into a giant flesh-filled snowball!
“Here.”
Amidst the start or her panic attack, Dabi had returned and thrown something into her lap, his hands forcibly shoved something on top of her head before she could make out what it was. Miira went blind for a couple of seconds as his hands messed with her hair and her face, pulling on her nose before moving to wrap what he had thrown into her lap around her neck before finally pulling the blinds from her eyes.
“That’ll have to do,” he said, taking her by the arms and pulling her onto her feet as he looked over his shoulder at the crowded street. “We can’t go that way.”
With his hand wrapped tightly around her arm, he began to pull her into the opposite direction of the city, further into the alleys until they came into an abandon building, a place he seemed all too familiar with. He managed to squeeze her inside through a pair of planks nailed to a window, telling her to stay put while he found a way in himself.
Miira listened out of shock, silently sitting on a crate and swinging her feet as she touched the scarf Dabi had wrapped around her, the hat that covered her frozen ears with soft warmth. She was still beyond freezing, but soon enough his gifts would work their magic on her skin, and Miira couldn’t help but smile.
“Laughing on your own.” A loud crack of wood came with Dabi’s voice, causing Miira to jump in her seat. “Wouldn’t be surprised if you were put in an asylum when they find you.”
“If,” Miira corrected, watching him break several crates and placing the splintered wood in a pile circled by concrete blocks. Dabi simply had to place a hand over the wood for it to turn into a blazing inferno. Miira gave him aa accusatory look, “You could’ve done this from the start and saved so many of my cells.”
“I’m not here to save anyone’s cells,” he grinned, offering her a hand, which she quickly took. He pulled her in close, turning her back towards him before hugging her to his chest and dropping to the floor. She landed between his legs, his arms around her, and hers trying their best to hold his forearms.
Miira was wrapped tightly in Dab’s arms and jacket, her neck and ears covered, his hands moving to play with the ends of her arms. The roaring fire blazed before them, licking on their skins, and he still had the nerve to ask, “Warm enough, pest?”
She leaned back into his shoulder, glaring at him menacingly as much as she could with a stupid, goofy grin on her face. “You’re making me rot.”
“The correct wording is, I’m making you melt,” he chuckled.