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On that oh so disgraceful day, Toga had been ordered to run an errand consisting of getting rid of a couple mugs messing with the LOV’s recruiting deals.
Clouds in the sky threatened rain as the outskirt streets were infested with the grieved screaming of molested women, the fake moaning of hookers, and the honking sounds of cars messily making headway through the traffic.
The district the secret hideout lay in was the worst of the bunch, it seemed to never be sunny and she couldn’t tell day from night, all reasons why she had decided to rent a respectable studio with her girlfriend: Ochako Uraraka.
Her sweet other half, still a student at U.A., lived alternating the school dorms to her parents’ house based on where she was needed the most, it was on the weekends and weekends only that Toga got to be with her loved one, she’d invite her over as soon as she was done with school on Fridays not to let her go till Monday mornings.
Toga was initially supposed to be assisted by Spinner as her usual partner, Twice, had already been entrusted with another mission elsewhere and could not make it; but the lizard had apparently decided not to show up at the pre-established location and time therefore the girl had deemed raw dogging it on her own the only option.
She wasn’t worried though for, the previous night, she had earned herself what she liked to call her new trump card, only one of the many tricks up her sleeve but the most recent one.
That night Dabi had returned from a long and excruciating mission and was injured, which meant he had lost blood, and had taken care of his wounds in the hideout’s bathroom as he spent most of his off-clock time there with Shigaraki.
The guy was known for not being a good cleaner, actually not even a decent one, so Toga, aware of that, had snuck in the bathroom right after him.
That’s how she had filled a vial of the coworker’s blood without him noticing for at the time he had been too tired to pay attention to her little larceny.
Of course, Toga knew what she had managed to bottle up wasn’t a lot and that blood fresh out of the veins would have been better but she felt it could have worked the same, she would have still been able to feel his protection as if he were there with her.
Though Toga liked to see herself as an emancipated woman, she still liked the warm feeling of comfort and relaxation she felt when with him, he was like her big brother, and, while he seemed annoyed by it most of the time, deep down he enjoyed it too.
It was late in the afternoon and Toga had concluded that a sketchy-looking man such as Dabi would have been less likely to get attacked for no reason and so decided on trying out the vial right outside the hideout.
She thought even if she was to get attacked she’d be able to defend herself and devastate the adversary with the quirk she’d have.
She went on and drank half of the blood but nothing happened so she then swallowed all the remaining.
At that moment she was struck with such pain all she could do was fold in half and fall to the ground in the hope the quirk would quickly wear off.
It didn’t.
She felt as if she was being skinned alive by burning fire that consumed all the surrounding oxygen.
Toga felt sorrow so disrupting she couldn't breathe or at least she felt like it.
Her sight was blurred and she heard nothing but her own screaming voice in her head, not being sure whether her shrieking was actually being voiced.
When the burning sensation died down a little she felt her skin, which hadn’t actually been burnt off, dry as the desert and starting to tear her apart once more with grief.
Her senses shut off from overwork, all she could perceive was black silent emptiness.
When the girl woke up it was clear to her that at least 24 hours must have passed by, she soon realized that someone had brought her back into the hideout, she was laying on the couch as nobody was there to watch upon her.
Toga tried sitting up but, doing so, realized that the mere brushing of her skin against the fabric put her in such pain her head spun into oblivion and dropped back onto the couch.
“Toga? Earth to Toga. You good? - Oh my sweet little girl what happened?” the speaking voice’s tone got progressively more worried.
“You little shit, what did you do? I leave you for one mission and you do…this? Are you so much of a weakli-” the same voice was now rude and degrading therefore she understood it must have been Twice; he trailed off his insults when he saw Toga genuinely not able to even sit up straight.
He was now very worried but the other side of him took control and decided not to show it and walk away.
After what seemed hours of staring at the ceiling to the girl, someone else marched into the living room, it was Dabi.
He just strode up to her and showed her he had found the vial labeled after him by swinging it before her eyes.
Though that made him notice she couldn’t follow his movement for the life of her.
She started wiping both from physical and emotional pain as Dabi stroked gently her cheeks.
“S- sto, stop!” she said struggling to get the words out.
“Sorry.” he stopped.
There was a brief silence before Toga posed the other a question.
“Is that how you feel?” he nodded in response, “Constantly?” she continued incredulously.
“Yes Toga, constantly. I’m not saying being you is easy, but being me is more physically painful than you can stand. I warned you. This is why I never worried about you taking blood from me, I thought you’d listen to me.” he giggled to himself “Sometimes I forget you’re a teenager. I paid mind to no one other than myself at your age.”
“Now come on, hop up you need to shower, you’ve been out for almost three days, gravity girl must be dying with worry”
“I can’t, it hurts, so bad.” she cried even harder now.
“I’ll go get Kurogiri, don’t move.” he giggled again “Got ya, I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Excessive pain can cause your pain receptors to collapse or become hypersensitive. On which one you got we are certain. It could go fading back to normal in a few days as well as remain unchanged forever, either way, you’re most likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. You possibly already have, which explains your pain tolerance.”
“At the moment all I can do is provide you with painkillers. Here!” Dabi threw a box at her making her shriek in grief.
“Ups, sorry, didn’t mean to. I’ll go get you some water.”
It seemed to work nicely enough that Toga felt she could make it home to her darling and so she did but accompanied by Dabi till her step door for he had insisted on doing so.
“Sorry and thank you. I won’t do it again.”
“Bet you won’t.” he snarled. “Now go.”