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Dabi has two secrets. Well, technically, he has almost as many secrets as staples, but only two of them are relevant right now, since they’re the ones keeping him trapped in his shitty room while the rest of the League meets downstairs. If Dabi was listening closely, he could probably hear Shigaraki complaining about his absence and trying to delegate someone to go find him. Dabi is not listening, though. All of his focus is and, for the last ten minutes, has been locked on the absurdly large Daddy long legs camped out above his bedroom door.
Dabi’s first secret is that he’s afraid of spiders. Dabi’s second secret is that he’s an age regressor. Because the universe hates him, it just so happens that being scared is a surefire way to knock him into headspace outside of the strict times he usually tries to allot for it.
It’s been a busy month - lots of possible recruits to kill, petty theft to commit, abandoned homes to vacate when it turns out they’re not actually abandoned, and all of the other things that come with the life of a villain, and even though Twice is really the only one who would admit it, it’s been wearing the entire League down. Dabi can usually make time to slip into headspace and recharge his batteries, as it were, but as things stand currently, he’s either been big or asleep for over two weeks.
That means that Dabi should probably have expected something like this sooner rather than later, but hey, up until he made to roll out of bed a few minutes ago and noticed the thing just above the doorframe, it was a nonissue. Now it’s … very much an issue. As Dabi stares at the spider and the spider probably stares back, irrationally terrifying with its arched legs, he feels his brain start to get fuzzy and his limbs start to loosen, and he has to take a deep, steadying breath.
No, he tells himself firmly. There’s a meeting. You can’t slip.
The League would never let him live it down if they knew. Dabi would have to fake his death, disappear, and start a new life - again. He just has to kill the spider. If the spider’s dead, the problem is solved, and then Dabi can can go join the meeting without making himself look like a fucking idiot.
Alright. Yeah. He’s got this. He’s a goddamn mass murderer, he can take care of a single spider that, while large, isn’t even bigger than his hand.
Dabi sits up a little more, forcing himself not to latch onto the threadbare blanket he slept under and pull it up with him like a shield. He’s big. He’s staying big. He can regress later today, maybe, but just not now.
“Okay,” he mutters under his breath. “Okay. I just have to - “
Dabi falters at that. The obvious answer seems to be to blast the spider into oblivion with his Quirk, which would be effective until the shitty paper walls catch fire and he has to explain to Shigaraki what happened without sounding like an idiot that can’t control his own Quirk. A smaller flame could work, maybe, except that would require Dabi to get a lot closer than the solid two meters of distance he’s maintaining between himself and the spider. Besides, he’s always been a ranged fighter, and almost all of his attacks are sweeping bouts of destruction.
Which, to be fair, is kind of what he wants to inflict upon this stupid house, because he just knows that for every one of the eight-legged fuckers he can see, there have to be at least two or three more lurking out of sight. But, again, paper walls, Shigaraki, and the fact that he’s pretty sure the rest of the League would literally kill him if he burned down the first house where they’ve all had their own bedroom for the first time in weeks.
The point is that fire isn’t an option, which leaves … Dabi doesn’t know. He could throw his phone at it, maybe, but what if he completely misses? Or worse yet, what if he gets close enough to scare the spider into motion but still doesn’t manage to hit it?
Dabi realizes that his lower lip is beginning to wobble, and he catches it between his teeth like that’ll do anything. He can’t slip. But the spider is just there, seeming bigger and scarier by the second, and Dabi’s hands are fisted in the blanket and pulling it up to his chin before he can stop himself.
“No,” Dabi hisses at himself. He forces himself to drop the blanket and tells himself that he’ll just go. He’ll get out of bed and make a break through the door, fast enough that the spider won’t have a chance to decide to drop down onto him or anything of the sort, and then he’ll have at least bought himself more time to figure out a way to goad Shigaraki into dusting the fucker or something like that. He just has to make his legs swing out from the under the safety of the blanket and onto the floor, where there’s a non-zero chance that a spider will run across his bare feet.
… Yeah, that’s not happening. Dabi just can’t make himself move, and he can’t hold back a frustrated sound either, one that a more honest person would probably call a whine.
It’s not fair, is what it is. If the spider was in Shigaraki’s room, the idiot probably wouldn’t have even noticed it, and if he had, he probably would’ve squished it with his finger or something. If it was in Twice’s, the whole house would’ve known, but it still would’ve been killed with whatever heavy object was closest. Mr. Compress could’ve put it into a marble with no problem, Toga would probably make friends with it, and honestly, Dabi wouldn’t put it past Spinner to see it as a snack. But no, it just had to park itself in Dabi’s room, and not even in a nice, avoidable corner at that.
It’s not fair, and it’s not fair that Dabi has to do it on his own, and it’s not fair that he feels his lower lip slip out from under his teeth and start to tremble again. Being scared and unable to do anything about it knocks him towards his headspace like nothing else, and the sight of the spider inching just a bit closer to the ceiling with its horrible, spindly legs has a sob making its way up Dabi’s throat.
He chokes it down before it escapes, but even as he does, he knows that staying big is officially a lost cause. The logical, adult side of his brain is still freaking out about the fact that he’s expected downstairs and that he can hear everyone talking without and probably about him, but the little part of his brain is just scared, alone, and very, very upset.
The spider shifts back down to its previous spot, and Dabi sniffles, pulling his blanket back up to his face and curling his knees up towards himself so that his feet aren’t left exposed. Everything feels wrong and bad, and even though he doesn’t have a choice, he doesn’t think he can make it better on his own.
Just then, in a stroke of luck that could be good or bad depending on which side of Dabi you asked, the sound of the front door creaking open echoed through the entire house, followed by the sound of a cheerful greeting from none other than the number two hero himself.
Shit, hissed the last part of Dabi’s brain that was managing to cling to being big. He’d forgotten that Hawks was invited to the meeting today, and he doesn’t like it when Hawks, who is Dabi’s recruit and therefore Dabi’s responsibility, interacts with the League without him. His adult brain knows that this is a bad development.
Dabi’s little brain, though, is almost excited. No matter how much he distrusts Hawks and his carefully concealed intentions, he can’t deny - to himself, at least - that the number two has grown on him the more they’ve worked together. Hawks is competent, he’s funny, and he’s not like so many of the false heroes that Dabi has seen. He’s good, he cares, which adds an interesting flavor into his apparent loyalty to the League, but those are big Dabi thoughts. Little Dabi just knows that Hawks is good.
He also knows that Hawks likes to help people. Maybe Hawks could even help him with the spider! But no, no, that won’t work. No one, not even Hawks, especially not Hawks, is supposed to know about little Dabi. He has to stay quiet, even though he just wants to cry until someone comes to help him.
Well. Speak of the devil, because someone is walking upstairs, the old wooden boards protesting under their weight, and then there’s a knock on Dabi’s door.
Dabi freezes and doesn’t answer. Hs big brain is yelling at him to tell whoever it is to fuck off, but he’s just too little. Dabi has figured out that his headspace usually ends up somewhere between one and three years old, and right now, he definitely feels closer to the bottom of that range.
“Dabi? You in there?”
It’s Hawks. Of course it’s Hawks. Dabi wants nothing more than to tell him to come inside, ask him to take care of the spider that still manages to look bigger and bigger the longer he looks at it, but he can’t. He knows he can’t.
The doorknob jiggles, and Dabi squeaks as he tries to burrow further under the blanket, all while keeping an eye on the spider. What if all of the noise and the shaking from the door scares it and makes it move? What if it moves towards him?
“Hey, Dabs, I feel like I shouldn’t have to tell you that keeping your door locked at night is, like, a big fire safety no,” Hawks says.
The spider doesn’t move. Dabi tries to stay still too, but his heart is pounding and he can’t keep himself from trying to wrap the blanket tighter around himself, making the rusty bedsprings under him creak.
“I can hear you moving in there, so giving me the silent treatment isn’t going to work,” Hawks calls. His tone is casual and teasing on the surface, but there’s something in it that makes Dabi want to disappear. “Shigaraki’s pretty pissed, I’d, uh. I’d get going before he comes up and dusts your door.”
Oh, no. Oh, no. Shigaraki’s mad. Shigaraki’s mad at Dabi. But that’s not fair, because that means that Dabi was bad, and he wasn’t, he really wasn’t, he was just scared, and he’s still scared, and -
Hawks sighs. “Alright, I’m coming in. Please don’t have your dick out.”
Before Dabi can even think about a last-ditch attempt at calling something through the door, a red feather slides under the door and messes with the lock until there’s the sound of a soft click. Dabi wants to dive under the bed, but what if there are spiders under there? There probably are, lots of them, just as big as the one over his door, with long, scary legs twitching and moving around and lots of beady, scary eyes watching him, and he can’t make himself do it.
Instead, Dabi just tries to make himself as small as he feels. He lies down on his side, draws his knees up to his chest, and hides as much of himself as he can fit under the blanket while still trying to keep an eye on the spider as the door opens.
Hawks steps forward, completely oblivious to the monster just above his head as he folds his wings in to fit through the doorway, and his expression is amused when it lands on Dabi - raised eyebrows and a smile that’s more of a smirk. “What the hell are you even doing, man?” he asks. “Getting some cuddle time?”
Dabi thinks he might be hyperventilating. There’s a spider and he’s little and Hawks is here and Hawks is seeing him when he’s little. None of those things are supposed to be happening, but they’re happening all at once. Dabi knows he needs to just force himself to be big again, but he can’t, he can’t, he can’t. He just feels so small, almost as small as the whimper that escapes him when Hawks makes eye contact.
Hawks’ brow furrows at the sound, and his wings fluff up a bit. He nudges the door shut behind himself with his foot and steps over to the bed, crouching down so that he’s closer to eye level with Dabi. Dabi shrinks back, his eyes darting rapidly between Hawks and the spider that’s still over the doorway.
“What’s going on?” Hawks asks. Big Dabi hates the way his voice is instantly softer, but he’s not the one in charge right now. The sound makes little Dabi want to melt. “You’re not just being a shithead, are you?”
Dabi shakes his head, then realizes that he can’t explain what’s going on. It’s not even as if the words are on the tip of his tongue - they’re just not there, which means he’s probably even younger than he thought.
“Can you talk to me?” Hawks asks.
Dabi shakes his head again.
“Alright, that’s okay,” Hawks says. He reaches a hand up, and Dabi flinches away on instinct. He regrets it the minute that Hawks puts his hand back down, lowering it slowly so that Dabi can watch it go, because now that he thinks about it, it would be really, really nice to have someone touch him. He doesn’t remember the last time that it happened outside of a fight or a quick pat on the back from Twice that he quickly ducked away from, and it’s never, ever happened while he’s been in littlespace. “What are you looking at over there?”
Dabi bites his lip as he sneaks one hand out from the blanket and points up above the doorway. Hawks’ eyes follow the line of his finger, and his forehead smoothes out some when they land on the spider. “Yeah, that’s a big one, huh?” he says. “You scared of spiders?”
Dabi doesn’t want to answer. But he’s not good at holding back his impulses in littlespace, and, as he’s quickly learning, he’s not very good at hiding anything from people when he’s in it either. He nods once.
Hawks looks surprised - either at the fact that Dabi admitted to having a fear or that he has one at all, especially of something so small and stupid - but he doesn’t laugh like Dabi half expected him to. Instead, he just nods. “They’re pretty creepy looking, I get it. Why didn’t you use your Quirk to kill it?”
It takes Dabi a moment to remember what Hawks is talking about. His Quirk, right. He doesn’t usually think about it all that much while he’s in headspace, mostly because he didn’t have it when he really was a toddler and partly because his big self has tried very hard to ingrain into his head that it’s a bad, bad idea to try and use it while he’s small. Dabi doesn’t know how to explain not wanting to burn the house down without words and can barely grasp the logic of his older self as it is anyway, so he just shakes his head.
“Can’t explain?” Hawks says. “That’s okay, it was probably a good idea. It would be pretty easy for this place to go up, I think. Do you want me to get it?”
Dabi nods faster than he ever has in his life.
Hawks laughs a little, but the sound isn’t mean. “Okay. I’m going to use my Quirk to get it, then, and then I’ll put it outside of your room. Sound good?”
Dabi nods again, then watches with wide eyes as Hawks sends two of his feathers over to the doorframe, one of them neatly squishing the spider, then the other helping to slide it under the door and out of sight. Dabi stares up at the now empty wall for a long moment, almost unable to believe it. All of that fear, all of that worry, and the problem was solved in less than two minutes of Hawks walking in.
Dabi has a strange relationship with heroes as it is, and most of the time, it’s only stranger in headspace, to the point where he just tries not to think about it. Seeing Hawks take care of the spider like it was no problem, though, before turning back to Dabi with a comforting smile - it makes something in Dabi’s chest light up. He wants to say thank you, but he doesn’t know how to find the words.
Hawks watches him for a moment, then stands up. Dabi lets out a whine on instinct. Is Hawks leaving? The spider’s gone, so things should be better, but Dabi has a feeling that he’s not going to be big again for a while and Hawks has been nice and -
“Shh, I’m not going anywhere,” Hawks says, holding his hands up in a mock surrender. He sits down next to Dabi on the bed, stretching his wings out behind himself a bit, and gives him another one of those comforting smiles, the kind that reminds Dabi of people he doesn’t like to think of anymore. “Okay?”
Dabi nods.
“So, I don’t really know what’s going on with you,” Hawks admits, “but obviously, you need help. Are you - I know you can’t talk, but can you try to explain what’s going on?”
Dabi scrunches his face up, wincing at the resulting tug of his staples. He doesn’t know how Hawks hasn’t figured it out when he’s so obviously small. After a long moment of deliberation, he settles for pointing at himself, then holding up the same finger.
Hawks blinks at him, once, twice, before something seems to click together in his eyes. “Okay, you … you’re one? Was it a quirk? But that doesn’t make sense, you can still understand me, we’re still -”
Dabi holds the one out for him again, insistently, and shakes his head.
“Which part are you shaking your head at?” Hawks asks. “All of it?”
Dabi shakes his head again.
“At the Quirk part?”
A nod.
“Alright, so you’re one, but you can still understand me and everything, and it’s not a Quirk. Is that it?”
An emphatic nod.
Hawks still looks confused, but he nods back anyway. “Alright, you know what, we’ll talk about it later. Is that going to work for you?”
Dabi nods, and Hawks seems relieved. “Okay, then, let’s - okay. I’m guessing you haven’t eaten anything today, so we need to take care of that, and then the meeting -”
At the reminder of the meeting - the meeting with everyone, everyone who isn’t supposed to know about him being small, everyone who’s mad at him - Dabi shrinks back into his blanket and shakes his head.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Is it the meeting?”
Dabi nods. He’s sniffling again, because he forgot that the spider being gone doesn’t mean that everything is okay. He was still late, and that means that he’s still bad.
“Shh, it’s alright,” Hawks says softly. He reaches out a hand again, likely on instinct, then freezes like he expects Dabi to flinch away again. This time, Dabi catches himself before he does and wriggles closer to Hawks, and Hawks lowers his hand onto Dabi’s shoulder, gently, giving him plenty of time to move away if he changes his mind. “Why don’t you want to go to the meeting?
Dabi doesn’t know how to answer, so he just keeps sniffling.
Hawks starts rubbing his thumb in small circles on Dabi’s arm, the touch faint through the blanket and Dabi’s clothes but still very much there, and keeps his voice soft as he speaks. “Is it because you’re, like, small?”
Dabi nods.
“Has this happened before?” Hawks asks.
Dabi nods again.
Hawks takes a moment to process that, then continues. “But they haven’t seen it.”
Dabi shakes his head hard.
“Alright, easy, don’t hurt yourself,” Hawks says, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “They’re worried about you, y’know - Toga was pretty sure that you were dead up here - and I think you should let them know that you’re alright.”
Dabi gives him a doubtful sort of look and curls up into an even smaller ball.
“What, do you think they’re going to judge you?”
Dabi drops his eyes and nods. He’s still sniffling with small, hitching breaths, and he’s afraid that he’s going to start sobbing for real.
“Dabi,” Hawks says. “Look at who’s in this group. You really think any of us have room to judge you? Look, I don’t really know what’s going on here, but it’s obvious that it’s not really in your control and you need help. We might - we might be villains, but that doesn’t mean we’re evil.”
Big Dabi, in the back of his mind, makes a derisive snort at that. Little Dabi just stares up at Hawks with wide eyes.
“I know you think you’re some lone wolf type of character, but we all care about you,” Hawks continues. “You’re going to have to figure out how to deal with that sooner or later.”
Dabi mumbles under his breath, nothing more than incoherent babbling for the sake of making sounds, and Hawks laughs quietly.
“You shouldn’t be allowed to be this cute when you’ve killed, like, a shit ton of people,” he says, and then, before Dabi can even start to process that, Hawks pulls a granola bar out of one of the pockets on the inside of his jacket. “Alright, well, I still think you should go down, but you’ve at least gotta eat something first, so do you want this? I know it’s not much, but it’s what I’ve got.”
Conveniently, Dabi’s stomach chooses that moment to answer for him with a quiet growl.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Hawks says, giving Dabi a quick grin. He unwraps the bar, and before Dabi can even start to think about whether or not he’s expected to reach out for it, Hawks breaks a small piece off of the top and holds it out to him. “Wait, hang on, you should probably sit up so you don’t choke to death.”
Dabi knows that Hawks is right, and he knows that the danger of the spider is gone. However, that doesn’t keep him from crying out as Hawks reaches down and tries to uncurl him enough to sit up.
“Dabi,” Hawks says. “It’s okay. You can keep the blanket around you if that helps, but I need you to sit up so that you can eat something. Alright? I promise that the spider’s gone, and if I see another one…”
Hawks launches one of his feathers across the room like an arrow to demonstrate, and Dabi can’t hold back the excited babble the sight pulls out of him. He doesn’t let himself admire how cool Hawks’ quirk is when he’s big, but now that he’s little, that filter is gone.
“You like that?” Hawks asks.
Dabi nods and babbles again, nonsense syllables that don’t even mean anything to him, and Hawks’ eyes are bright.
“Alright, bud, you’ve still gotta eat something, and then maybe I can show you some more tricks later today, how’s that sound?”
Dabi still doesn’t want to sit up, but this time, he lets Hawks’ hands guide him to do so. Hawks feeds him the granola bar bit by bit, and when he’s done, Hawks ruffles his hair. “Good job, Dabs.”
Dabi closes his eyes and leans into both the touch and the praise. He did a good job. Hawks said he did a good job, and because Hawks is good, that means that it’s true.
“We can’t take too much more time up here, I think,” Hawks says after a moment. “I’m kinda surprised they haven’t come up to drag us down there.”
At the reminder that he’s still expected to go meet with the rest of the League, Dabi whines. He doesn’t want to. Hawks tells him that he’s good, Hawks doesn’t mind that he’s small, and Hawks takes care of him. No one else.
Without really thinking about it, Dabi lifts his fingers to his mouth. He’s just slipped his pointer and middle fingers inside, trying to soothe himself, when Hawks catches him by the wrist and tugs his hand back down. “Hey, hey, let’s not do that, okay?” Hawks says. “Germs and stuff, I’m pretty sure. Don’t want you getting sick.”
Dabi pouts and tries to pull his arm out of Hawks’ grip, but Hawks doesn’t let him.
“Calm down,” Hawks says. His voice is nowhere near actually stern, but the slight hint of an edge in his voice is enough to make Dabi stop fighting against him. “Thank you. Do you have anything else you could use for … that?”
Somewhere far in the back of his mind, big Dabi shrivels up and dies of embarrassment. Little Dabi is unfazed as he uses his free hand to point at a pile of clothes in the corner of the room.
Hawks looks to where he’s pointing and raises an eyebrow. “Is there something in there you want to wear?”
Dabi shakes his head.
“Okay, is there something over there that you want?”
Dabi nods and lifts the blanket that he hadn’t even noticed falling back up over his shoulders.
“Okay,” Hawks says. He gets up from the bed, holding one hand out to show Dabi that he’ll be right back, and crouches down by the pile. He sifts through the dark clothes for a moment before holding up an old, beaten-up cardboard box. “In here?”
Dabi nods again and reaches out for the box. Big Dabi, wherever he is, is reincarnated just so that he can die of embarrassment again, but Hawks doesn’t so much as snort under his breath at the sight of one of Japan’s most formidable villains making grabby hands.
“Alright, alright, hang on,” Hawks says. He brings the box over to the bed and sits down next to Dabi again, this time letting one of his wings unfurl and wrap loosely around Dabi. “Let’s see what we’ve got in here.”
He opens the box to reveal a few pacifiers and a light blue elephant plushie, and he picks the latter up first. “Oh, who’s this?”
“Zō,” Dabi says softly.
“Zō?” Hawks repeats. He holds the plushie out in front of himself and uses a feather to make it look like they’re bowing to each other. “It’s very nice to meet you, Zō.”
Dabi makes a sound that would be called a giggle coming from anyone else, and Hawks smiles at him as he passes the plushie over. Dabi grabs onto it and hugs it firmly to his chest.
“Alright, you want one of these, too?” Hawks asks, nodding towards the pacifiers.
Dabi nods. It doesn’t matter which one, they’re all the same dark blue and he actually remembered to clean them the last time they had a house with hot water.
Hawks takes one from the box, dusts it quickly off on his shirt, and holds it up to Dabi’s lips, not pressing, just waiting for Dabi to take it. He does, and the feeling of having something to focus on instantly calms some of the anxiety that’s still keeping his heart pounding.
“Yeah, we should go ahead and get going down there,” Hawks says. “You gonna be okay?”
Dabi squeezes his plushie and considers the question. The part of him that says that no one can find out is distant, and besides, he thought that Hawks couldn’t find out, but then he did and it was actually okay. So maybe, then, it’ll be okay if everyone else finds out too. And either way, Hawks will be with him.
Dabi finally nods, and Hawks ruffles his hair. “Alright, cool,” he says. “I think it’ll be good for them to know. I don’t want you alone if this happens again, y’know?”
Hawks stands up from the bed, carefully closing the box and putting it down on the floor, and he’s at the door before he turns halfway around and realizes that Dabi isn’t behind him. “You coming?” he asks.
Dabi squirms. He knows he agreed to, but he feels … really, really small. The floor feels like it’s a million miles away, and even though Hawks said he’d take care of any other spiders, he probably couldn’t get to them fast enough if they were on the floor running towards Dabi.
“You want me to carry you?” Hawks offers, carefully, and Dabi nods.
“Alright, c’mon, then,” Hawks says. He walks back over to the side of the bed and leans down, wrapping his arms around Dabi’s torso and hoisting him up so that Dabi can wrap his legs around Hawks’ waist and his arms around Hawks’ neck, holding tightly onto his plushie the whole time. One of Hawks’ arms stays wrapped around Dabi, and his wing does the same.
It feels really, really good to be held. Hawks is warm, but not too much so, and even though he’s not obviously muscular like most pro heroes, he doesn’t show a sign of strain under Dabi’s weight as they leave Dabi’s room and make their way to the stairs.
Hawks is about to step down onto the first step when Dabi suddenly loses his hold on Zō. He whimpers around his pacifier immediately, and the plushie hasn’t even hit the ground before a bright red feather is catching it in midair and lifting it back into Dabi’s hand. He squeezes it tight, then snuggles his face into Hawks’ neck as a thank you.
“Be careful there, bud,” Hawks tells him lightly, and then the voices of the other League members are making their way to Dabi’s ears as he and Hawks walk downstairs. His brain is a little too fuzzy to piece the conversation together, but he knows that it stops the minute that Hawks steps into the kitchen. Dabi peeks out from the crook of Hawks’ neck, sees Toga’s eyes on him, bright and curious, and immediately hides his face again. Hawks must notice, because his wing fluffs and spreads out more, like a shield.
He takes a seat - Dabi’s usual one - and arranges them so that Dabi’s safely on his lap and half hidden by his wing, correctly assuming that Dabi does not want to sit alone.
To no one’s surprise, it’s Shigaraki that breaks the silence. “What the fuck is he doing,” he says, his voice flat and exasperated, and Dabi squeezes Zō tighter.
“He looks kind of cute like that,” Twice says. “He’s like a half-dead koala. Gross!”
Toga scoffs. “He looks super cute,” she corrects. Her chair scrapes across the floor, and then she’s leaning around the barrier of Hawks’ wing and waving at Dabi. Dabi lets go of Zō with just one hand to wave back, and she squeals. “Cute, cute, cute!”
“I wasn’t aware we had an age regressor on our hands,” Mr. Compress says. Hawks’ wing shifts lower, letting Dabi watch with wide eyes as the magician takes his mask off and gives Dabi a soft smile. “How old are you, Dabi?”
Dabi holds up one finger.
“Wow,” Mr. Compress says, nodding and pulling an impressed face. “That’s very big.”
Dabi shifts and hides his smile in Hawks’ neck. It’s … okay. They don’t hate him. They’re not calling him weird. Mr. Compress understands what he’s doing, and Toga thinks he’s cute, and -
“What the hell is an age regressor?” Shigaraki asks, at the same time that Hawks says, “Wait, you know what’s going on with him?” which is also the same time that Twice says, “Dabi, I think your math might be a little off there. You’re totally wrong!”
“One at a time, please,” Mr. Compress says, sounding very pleased to be able to explain something to everyone else. Dabi likes the sound of his voice. It makes him feel safe, kind of like Hawks. “An age regressor is someone that reverts to a younger state of mind, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes involuntarily, for a variety of reasons. It seems that Dabi regresses to quite a young age, and judging by his absence earlier, I have a feeling that this wasn’t a voluntary regression.”
He turns to Hawks next. “Hawks, I’m surprised you didn’t already realize, especially since you appear to have earned his trust.”
Hawks shrugs, the movement gently jostling Dabi’s head. Dabi makes a soft sound in response, but he’s not uncomfortable. In fact, despite the questioning gazes he’s still getting from around the table, he thinks this might be the safest he’s ever felt while in headspace. “I mean, I didn’t know what was going on, but - he’s part of the League, and he needed help.”
“Wait, hang on, so you’re telling me that he thinks he’s a baby?” Shigaraki cuts in. “Is that not weird to anyone else in this conversation?”
“Dude,” Hawks says. “You can make shit turn to dust with your fingers, and you’re dating a lizard. Don’t judge.”
Shigaraki’s chair scrapes loudly across the floor as he stands up, the motion and the sound of his palm slapping against the table drawing Dabi’s attention. “We’re not-”
“Watch your pinky!” Toga yelps.
“Can we just get this meeting started?” Spinner says, pinching the bridge of his nose and disturbing the mask he insists on wearing even when they’re all just hanging around the base, then quickly fixing it.
Mr. Compress holds up a hand that goes ignored. “Can we keep things quiet for the little one?” he suggests, even though Dabi is actually enjoying watching the conversation bounce across the table like a ping pong match.
“Wait, wait, Spinner didn’t deny it,” Toga points out, clapping a hand over her mouth.
“This meeting has officially started,” Shigaraki says quickly, his tone stern enough to leave no room for argument. He lifts his hand from the table and sits back down, all the while glaring daggers at Hawks, who huffs out a quiet laugh that only Dabi can hear. “Unless, wait, do we need to wait for the burnt idiot to be normal again?”
“Shigaraki,” Mr. Compress says, warning.
“No, I’m not - if he wants to act like a baby, I don’t give a shit as long as I don’t have to take care of him,” Shigaraki says, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. “I’m just saying, should we wait for him to be himself again before we do this?”
“Dabs?” Hawks asks, tilting his head down. He gently pulls the pacifier from Dabi’s mouth so that he can answer if he wants to. “What do you think?”
Dabi just shakes his head. He can still listen, and even big Dabi seems to like the idea of a meeting where he’s free from having to keep up banter with Shigaraki the entire time. Without realizing what he’s doing, he starts inching his fingers toward his mouth again, but once again, Hawks catches him and pulls his hand away almost instantly, popping the pacifier back into his mouth instead.
Toga squeals again. “Oh my god, Hawks, you have to let me babysit sometime,” she says.
“Hey, I’m not in charge of him,” Hawks says, holding one hand up. “Be my guest.”
Dabi is not a fan of that, actually. He loves Toga like a little sister, even if he’d never admit it to her face, but he’s not sure how instantly comfortable he’d feel with anyone but Hawks. (Which is a thought for big Dabi to unpack later.) He squirms a little closer to Hawks and feels Hawks laugh quietly in response.
“Well, okay, you might have to take it up with him,” Hawks says.
“Aw, that’s so cute!” Twice exclaims. “Fucking weird!”
“Can we please, for the love of fuck, start the meeting?” Shigaraki asks.
Spinner starts talking about a new idea he had for recruitment, and Dabi lets himself rest his head on Hawks’ shoulder, suddenly sleepy now that everything seems to be resolved. He knows that his big self is going to freak out later, but for now, he’s small and safe.