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Magne finished closing up the small flower shop. Once winter hit, her boss liked to shut their doors at sunset. In the slums of Musatafu, their shop didn’t see much business, but just enough to pay the bills and keep going. Indeed most of their visitors came to buy cheap memorial wreaths for the loss of a loved one—no shortage of death when you lived in society’s underground. And with the arrival of the first snows, Magne didn’t doubt she would be selling more memorial flowers very soon.
Clutching the torn umbrella that did little to protect her from the light snow, Magne shivered into her thin coat. She was lucky that she lived close to her second job. It made the journey back to her one-bedroom apartment short, limiting the time Magne had to spend in the cold and the dark. In this part of the city, it wasn’t safe for anyone to be walking alone in the streets at this time of the night, even for someone like Magne, who had lived here most of her life.
Turning the corner, a huddled figure, grime-stained grey hair sticking out of a cindered jacket, caught her attention. Pity rose; the winter always hit the elderly and children the hardest. Too many times, Magne had heard of some of her older friends succumbing to the weather, and it always seemed awfully sad to her that someone lived their whole lives only to die alone because no one was kind enough to help out. “Excuse me, it’s dangerous out here for seniors.”
“Mmmm,” a dishevelled and surprisingly young face popped up over the hem of the jacket, “I’m not some old man, you know.” Deep purple scars snagged against the corners of the teenager’s mouth, and sliver caught the lights as hoarse words rose and cracked in the middle. Good lord, were those staples? Messy rows of metal seemed to be the only things keeping this child’s face together.
“You can just piss off. I don’t want whatever you are offering.” Blue eyes sat sunk beneath additional heavy scars, blank and devoid of emotions, more fitting for a corpse rather than a child.
Taking a second to compose herself, Magne bent over, using the umbrella to cover the both of them from the increasing snowfall. “Listen, the weather is getting worse. You’ll freeze out here. I have an apartment close by. You can stay till the storm passes if you like.”
The teenager let out a mocking snort, “sorry but ever heard of stranger danger. Do you think I’m stupid?”
Ok, fair enough. One of the first rules Magne had learnt on the streets was that blind trust was a sure-fire way of getting into a dangerous situation. On the other hand, it was terrific to see the incredible acts of kindness that happened when individuals society had thrown away did things to help each other out.
“You can call me Magne. She her pronouns if you would.” A reassuring smile graced her lips. “There now, we’re not strangers.”
The teenager’s eyes examined her, cautious and wary, waiting for some trick. At least the kid had the brains to be suspicious. “I still don’t know what you’re playing at.”
Magne shook the umbrella, the snow was now coming down hard, and there was nothing more she wanted than to be in her apartment. “No games, just,” she paused before organizing her words, “I just wish someone had given me the same offer when I was your age.” Magne stood. In the end, if this kid didn’t want to go with her, she wouldn’t force the issue.
Magne didn’t need to turn around to know who was following her.
Unlocking the door, she shook off the remaining snow “It’s not much. And I don’t think there will be much hot water, this area is the first to lose power during a snowstorm, but you get cleaned up while I make some supper.”
In the light of her apartment, the teenager’s scars looked ten times worse. But she didn’t comment. Lots of kids in this area were marked by the unkind homes they escaped from, and Magne wasn’t going to start digging around in somebody else’s past. Instead, she just grabbed some old clothes that didn’t quite fit anymore. The pants and shirt would be huge on the teenager, but they were clean and better than the threadbare clothes that did little to protect from the elements. She grabbed an old wide white belt with several holes throughout that a friend had given her for good measure. There that should do it.
Still standing in the doorway, the teenager hadn’t budged, watching Magne’s every movement. But as she neared, blue eyes pointedly locked the ground.
“He him,” the boy paused, and Magne could see his brain trying to come up with his next words. She waited patiently, no point in rushing, not when these were the first voluntary words the kid had offered. “You can call me Dabi, no point in looking up the name though you wouldn’t find anything.” Dabi spat the name as if it were a defensive shield, waiting for Magne to contradict him.
“Ok, Dabi, the bathroom is the second door on the right. Feel free to use anything in there.” Magne pressed a clean towel into Dabi’s scarred arms. He mumbled a quick ‘thanks’ before darting away.
Magne watched a moment longer before heading to the tiny kitchen and nearly empty fridge. She didn’t want to overwhelm Dabi with too much, and Magne knew from experience that sometimes too much generosity had the opposite effect and only resulted in extreme awkwardness. Grabbing the things she needed to make a quick bowl of Miso soup for the two of them and set some water aside for some tea. It didn’t take long for Dabi to join her, hair still dripping icy water but cleaned of dirt. Dabi’s hair flowed in soft waves of snowy white and framed the rough edges of his scars, and Magne wanted nothing more than to pull him into a comforting embrace. The world had not been kind to Dabi, that much was easy to see.
“Was there any hot water?”
“No, but that’s ok. I wouldn’t have used any even if there was.”
Magne set a bowl of soup at the second seat of the table and beaconed Dabi over. “There we go, I hope you don’t mind Miso at the very least it should warm you.” Dabi’s face twitched into a sneer, and Magne felt like she had missed a joke.
“Don’t need to worry much about that.” Dabi’s finger extended to light the candle Magne placed nearby for when the power went out. A spark of blue fire shot out of the boy’s finger, and for a moment, Magne felt a flash of heat so intense it wiped out the lingering chill in the room. The candle dropped thick goblets of wax as the blue flame danced hungrily on the wick.
“My my, that is some fire quirk.”
Magne knew a few people on the streets with some flame-related quirk, and during the winter, she used to envy them. However, those with a flashy quirk often ended up being the first to be targeted by the gangs or heroes. Magne didn’t see most of them after that.
“Do you see now? I didn’t need your help.” Dabi’s lips curled back in a hiss. “I’m strong enough, I’m not weak, I can take care of myself.”
She hummed thoughtfully. Somehow Dabi’s words lacked conviction. “You know your quirk doesn’t determine your value, right? You’re a human being first, Dabi, and we all need somebody at times.”
For that first time that night, Dabi looked like the child he was. Blue eyes turned wide in shock, and his shoulders dropped, a hushed ‘huh?’ escaped from Dabi’s open mouth. Magne knew nothing about Dabi’s backstory, but she had met enough people broken by expectations from their quirks, good or bad.
“Just because you have a strong quirk doesn’t mean you don’t need help occasionally.”
Harsh clouds of steam rose from Dabi’s still wet hair, with a sizzling sound as the water evaporated. “Look, lady, I don’t know what you want. I don’t need a substitute mom if that’s what you are aiming for.” Dabi’s body shook. The kid looked ready to burst into flames.
Without letting Dabi’s outburst get to her, Magne raised a cup of now stale tea to her lips, a gentle smile curling around her mug. “How about a big sister?”
Dabi’s angry resolve crumpled. Eyes trained themselves on her face as she simply continued to smile at Dabi over the rim of her cup. A hysterical laugh escaped, Dabi rushed a hand over his mouth as if that could stop the sorrowful sound. “You know what? I’ll take it if you want to deal with a shitty little brother like me, that’s on you.”
The rest of the meal passed without incident, other than Magne’s prediction of the power going out coming true. Dabi had been kind enough to go around and light the other candles. Extraordinarily careful, every time Dabi placed a finger to the candle, he would turn back and glance at her, searching for some reassurance. To which she returned a quick nod or hum, watching as the fire cast away lonely shadows. The whole apartment glowed in soft blue shimmers, swallowing the home in a companionable warmth. Easy chatter filled the small space, where Dabi mostly just listened to Magne’s stories. Though his interest peaked when Magne mentioned she worked in a flower shop in the afternoons.
“Do you have any Rindou flowers?”
“That’s an unusual choice. I can check in the back, and if not, I’ll put in an order we restock on Sundays. You can come to pick it up then.”
Eventually, Dabi settled on the couch, and even though he had been adamant about not needing anything warm, Magne left one of the softest blankets she owns folded neatly over the armrest. It was nice to have someone else around. Even though when Magne woke up the next morning, the apartment was once again empty, the space didn’t seem quite so vacant anymore. Clean dishes she hadn’t used the night before filled the sink, and on the table, a small bento sat innocently with a ‘thank you’ written neatly on a napkin. Gingerly, with a smile that would last all day long, Magne tucked the note carefully away, oddly touched that the teen had left anything behind at all.
— much later half gloved fingers would replace it in the large magnet before allowing the dust to carry both into the wind.
Over the years, Dabi never failed to stop by the flower shop and pick up the single Rindou flower, where Magne greeted him a cheery “welcome old man.”
On rare occasions, Dabi asked Magne to drop the flower off at the front desk of a psychiatric hospital, telling her only to leave it with the receptionist, and they would know who to give it to. She never pried, but Magne could guess who the flowers were for.
Sometimes Dabi stayed for a visit, sometimes not. However, Magne had been the one to help dye white hair to black for the first time and listened patiently to the vague reasons Dabi gave as to why he wanted specifically a triple nose piercing. And through his visits, Magne watched the surly teenager change into an even grumpier adult, but one who bloomed in confidence and determination. A real force to be reckoned with, Dabi blazed through the underground like a raging inferno if rumours were to be believed. But when the power went out, Magne could count on Dabi passing by to gently light the candles. Dabi’s eyes still held that eerily blankness, but at least now Magne could see the flicker of that unbreakable resolve, and she couldn’t wait for the day when Dabi finally completed whatever it was that held him back.
The night the phone with only one number rang, Magne didn’t hesitate to answer Dabi’s call. She didn’t even try to hide the smile as Dabi introduced her as “Big Sis Magne” to the mismatched group of villains. It didn’t take long before Magne became the whole group’s big sister, and Magne loved every moment she spent with them. Now settled between Toga and Twice watching Shigaraki and Spinner battle each other in a video game, Kurogiri and Mr.Compress overlooking them while sipping on drinks at the bar, and Dabi perched on the other end of the couch.
Magne finally found the family she would die to protect.