Chapter Text
Pain… All Touya could feel was agonising pain. His nerves stung like blades piercing his skin. Phantom hands still clawing at his neck. The ground he laid on felt like glass. There was no relief. None. He wheezed, his throat raw, every breath was torture. Touya didn’t have the energy to move, even as a figure came into his faint field of vision… Maybe it was a killer... Or worse yet a hero who would probably send him back to his father. His father would most likely finish the job that he started. The shadowed figure moved closer, they were blue... All he could see was blue. Then finally, blissful nothing.
Beep…
Beep…
Beep…
Touya recognised that noise, it was faint like he was underwater but he recognised it and his heart seized in terror. No, no! Has he been taken back?! He couldn’t go back! He tried to move but his limbs didn’t respond, he choked around the tube down his throat. He saw that blue again surround his vision again before yet again, he fell into blissful nothing.
The beeping was there again as he slowly became aware, still sounding far, out of reach. His limbs also didn’t feel so heavy and the tube no longer sat down his throat. Instead, a plastic oxygen mask was placed on his face. Touya sluggishly blinked as he took in his surroundings, this wasn’t a hospital. He was laying in a hospital bed though, the walls tiled, there was a small window near the ceiling with filter light streaming in from behinds it blurred glass. Old yet functioning medical equipment surrounded him, tubes and wires attached to his body. Touya twitched his fingers, his mind slow as he processed what he was seeing. He wasn’t in a hospital. He didn’t know how long he had been here. Or where he even was.
Before Touya could get any further with his thoughts, he heard soft footsteps, then the door to the room opening. He couldn’t move his head to see, but the person moved into his line of sight. The blue feathers, that what he first sees, the person smiles at him softly. Touya has only seen such a smile from his mother before she couldn’t stand the sight of him anymore. Touya took them in, thoughts were still hopelessly sluggish. The person was a woman, young, but way older than him... Maybe? Blue feathers mixed between her hair of similar colour. Her eyes were pure black with blue irises, a baggy blue jumper hung off her very short frame. Touya blinked slowly.
“Hey, lo- finally awake.. name- Akimoto Chika,” She spoke softly to him, yet it was extremely faint. He could barely hear what she was saying. Touya opened his mouth to speak but his throat was too dry. He started to cough, a hand touched his back and he flinched. This just made his coughing worse. He was sat up though, a straw was pressed between his lips. Touya opened his mouth and drank the cool water to soothe his sore throat. It worked and he took a deep breath, the hand laying him back down. The woman looked at him with furrowed worry, and sympathy.
“...you-ok?” She asked. Touya made a small gesture to his ear and then shook his head.
She gained a look of understanding before she went over to a set of draws and pulled out some paper, pulling a pen from her pocket. The feathered woman came back over while quickly writing on the paper. She then held it up with a smile.
‘ Hi, I’m Akimoto Chika. .’ The characters are sloppy but readable. Akimoto then started to write again, using the bed’s rolling table before she held it up again to show him. ‘ I found you in an alley near the woods... You were burned up pretty good... I did my best to heal you up. I don’t have a healing quirk, but I do know a fair amount of medical knowledge. How are you feeling? ’
Touya took a while to take in this information, his eyes distrustful, yet... He couldn’t help but be a little thankful. His fingers shakily reached for the pen on the table. Akimoto pushed the table forward so he could reach it. Touya’s hand shook as he wrote on the paper, the characters coming out even more sloppy than Akimotos. He hesitated at his name, but she hasn’t given him up to the heroes or his father yet. Maybe... Touya continues writing before setting the pen down. Akimoto leaned over to read.
‘ ..Touya... My name... I feel numb, tired.. ’ He watched her face for her reaction, but she just nodded at him. Huh. Not what he expected at all. Akimoto started to look at the equipment, checking the IV’s and tubes before she took the pen from his hand to start writing again herself.
‘ Touya... I like it. ’ He snorted softly, a small smile creeping on his face when he read that. She continued writing after shooting him an amused smile. ‘ Well, Touya, ready for a damage report? ’ Touya caught her blue eyes and nodded. Her smile had turned grim.
‘ Most of your body is covered with third-degree burns. The wounds are healing… slowly. You had also broken several fingers... Your nails are gone. When I know you can handle it, I’ll apply skin grafts over your burns, but right now I’m more focused on making sure you don’t get an infection. You were so dehydrated, I was worried about your kidneys and liver. Your throat and face were burnt the worst. It’s most likely why you're having trouble hearing, as for your voice, well you were speaking in your sleep sometimes. So, I think your voice will recover easily. Any questions, Touya? ’ Akimoto stopped writing and visibly sighed before looking at the teenage boy.
Touya swallowed when he finished reading, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but tears started to fill his eyes. A sobbed ripped out of his throat and suddenly he was engulfed in soft warmth. His world was filled with blue again. Soon exhaustion overwhelmed him and he drifted.
When he woke again the room was darker, he was laying on his side covered with more blankets, the oxygen mask no longer digging into his face. Touya shifted, Akimoto was sitting next to the bed, seeming to be reading between a stack of files and her phone. She looked annoyed. Touya must have made a noise as she looked up at him quickly. Akimoto smiled, her feathers seeming to puff up with her body. The woman sat up, grabbing the paper, already having prewritten something.
‘Hey, how are you feeling? Any ache, or pains?’
Touya shook his head gently. Akimoto looked satisfied, before grabbing the pen to ask more questions.
‘ I understand that earlier you had a lot to take in, but do you have any questions? ’ Touya clenched his jaw in thought before Akimoto helped him sit up so he could write a response.
‘ Why... Why did you save me? ’ Was his first question, eyes burning as he held back the flood of negative emotions. For years, it was drilled into his head how much of a failure he was. Why would anyone go out of their way to save him? His fragile heart couldn’t cope. Once again he was swept up in blue. Akimoto hugged him carefully, yet tightly. Her feathers were soft against his exposed skin. She was… warm. Like his mother had been. Touya was mortified as his tears rolled down and started to soak her jumper. Yet the older woman seemed to take it in stride as she eventually pulled away, holding his shoulders as she stared at him with big eyes. They weren’t filled with disgust or anger... Just, something unrecognisable. Touya felt his heart stutter. It was similar to how his sister would look at him after helping him take care of his burns from training . His throat clenched up again.
Akimoto though, just seemed to be able to take it all in stride, her left hand wrapping around the pen as she rushed down characters.
‘ Why wouldn’t I save you? I don’t know your past, though I know who you are, yet my instincts screamed at me to protect you. A bit weird for a bird trait, huh? Whatever has happened to you, you didn’t deserve it. You're a child, don’t scoff, you're a child, you are supposed to be taken care of before you fly from the nest. ’ Akimoto hoped she was getting her thoughts across, her eyes projecting how much she cares for the young man in her care.
‘ Your life is worth living, Todoroki Touya.. ’
That gets him. He starts to sob again, letting Akimoto wrap her arms around him again. His bandaged fingers grab at her jumper, as he seeks that warmth she emits. Touya’s fragile heart gained a little strength that day.
His recovery wasn’t easy, after weeks of laying in bed healing and resting, he finally got his new skin grafts. That leads to more resting and recovery. Akimoto would help him exercise his muscles every morning and night. Leave him books to read, mock-up school pieces, even going as far as to learn Japanese Sign Language with him. Akimoto didn’t reveal where he was, letting Touya decide what he wanted to do. She even offered her home to him.
Akimoto told him more about herself as time went on. She did mainly two things, created and customised clothing for people with mutation quirks like herself. Yet she also ran an underground doctors surgery for low-level villains or just for people who couldn’t go to a hospital for one reason or another. Sometimes she would get Yakuza members, but that wasn’t very often. She hadn’t finished her doctorate due to the fact that she got overwhelmed by the mutation/quirk discrimination at her university. It didn’t stop her from helping others. She used this knowledge to help him too.
Touya opened up a little about his past, he would mostly talk about his siblings, yet hinted enough to Akimoto that she knew it was bad back at the Todoroki household.
The months passed, Touya finally could walk around without getting tired. His hearing didn’t improve and his voice was deep, raspy but at least he could talk. There was a visible difference between his healthy skin and the skin grafts Akimoto gave him but, it was something he could live with. Akimoto had moved him upstairs by then, above her shop into her flat. He had the bedroom next to hers, and he filled it with soft things that were gentle against his sensitive skin. Akimoto even helped him turn his bed into a nest-like her own. Her bird-like tendencies were endearing to the young man. She would make sure he was eating regularly, preening his hair as it grew longer. Even helping him dye his once red hair, which turned white from stress into the midnight black he now rocked.
Touya’s healing continued, yet it was several months before he wasn’t so much of a walking health hazard that he could venture outside. His disappearance and death have long since gone from the news and possibly people’s minds.
He was about to go on a walk when he faintly heard Akimoto cussing out someone as she dragged them up from the basement. He peered around the door frame, raising an eyebrow as she swatted a homeless looking man with a newspaper, over and over again.
Touya snorted quietly, catching the duo's attention. Akimoto looked at the stairs towards him and smiled, the man just looked exhausted. The short woman had grabbed the man and pulled him upstairs, gripping his sleeve tightly so he didn’t get away. Yet he looked like he was just going with it anyway.
“Dabi!” Akimoto signed as she spoke, “I want to introduce you to one of my more troublesome.. clients.”
She then looked up at the man, both glaring at each other. Touya- mostly going around known as Dabi to those other than Akimoto, once again raised his eyebrow. His hands moved out his hoodie pockets to sign back.
“Well, if swatting him with a newspaper didn’t give that away…” He spoke low, his voice was raspy. Akimoto let out a soft laugh while the man just seemed to slump into himself with a heavy sigh.
“Name’s Eraserhead, kid..” The underground hero signed as well. Much to Dabi’s surprise, but not to Akimotos. Dabi looked down at Akimoto then back at Eraser.
“Hey... Nice to meet you, I guess..” Dabi managed to get out, now tense in the presence of a hero. His eyes diverted away. Akimoto reached over and gently squeezed his arm, Dabi was grateful.
Eraser just nodded his head, he looked indifferent but his eyes were thoughtful. He then handed Akimoto a box that he plucked from his scarf, “I’ll see myself out.. I’ll try not to cause too much trouble.”
Akimoto shook her head with amusement, watching the hero leave before she turned her full attention to Dabi. “Sorry about that, I didn’t want to blindside you with a hero, but he dropped in early with an injured man..”
“No, no, it’s fine Nee-san.. honest,” He gave her a small wonky smile. Akimoto pulled him into a hug, before holding the box up to him.
“Well, Eraser owes me a couple of favours, so I asked him to get these..” Akimoto watched as Dabi carefully opened the box, his jaw going slack as he saw what was inside. A pair of hearing aids.. yet they looked more like piercings. Dabi choked up as he stared at hearing aids, then looked up at the short woman in front of him. She just grinned happily. Dabi reached over and pulled her into a tight hug, sobbing into her. Akimoto held him back, cooing softly at him in comfort.
Eventually, he pulled away, Akimoto helping him set them in his ears, it took some adjusting but he could slowly hear more. He could hear the faint buzz of Electronics, the sound of cars. Dabi didn’t realise just how much ambience he had been missing out on.
“Thank you…” Dabi managed to say, his hands shaking as he signed still. Akimoto just smiled at him again.
“Anything for you, Tonya…” She replied, also signing, it was a habit the pair were not going to break. Akimoto took his hands into her own now just standing in silence as Dabi-Touya listened to the world again.
It was dark and Dabi had left via his bedroom window, using a pipe to make his way down to the street. He walked quietly through the alleys, long since memorising every path. Akimoto seemed to know that he was leaving at night, often leaving him fresh ice packs in a cooler and a thick milkshake on his desk for when he got back. He had caught her staring in concern several times but this was something he had to do. Dabi has had a lot of time to think as he healed, he might not be strong enough to save his siblings. He might be a coward for wanting to stay away, but he couldn’t go back. His... Endeavor would most likely attempt to finish what he had started. It was best that he stayed away for now.
What he could do though, was help others in need. Like how Akimoto has done for him. Dabi let himself gain a small smile before that smile was ripped around by a soft cry and there was a faint banging noise in the distance. Dabi pulled a black mask down from his head over his face, pulling up his hood over his hair before rushing down the nearest alley.
There across the street, a woman had pinned another woman to the wall with her quirk. Dabi moved closer. He was going to help people, not for fame... Not for money, but because people deserve saving. That’s what Akimoto taught him.