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Dabi had been absent from the base for about three days when Kurogiri got the call. Kurogiri was cleaning the bar when the phone rang. Seeing Dabi’s name on the screen he quickly picked it up.
“Hello?” There was no response for a while, the sound of ragged breathing coming through the phone.
“Dabi?”
“‘Kiri,” Dabi’s voice was slurred and barely coherent.
“Dabi what’s going on?”
“‘M sick.” Kurogiri waved Compress over to the bar, he’d be the best one to help deal with this.
“Can you share your location with me? I can send Compress to get you through a portal, no one else has to know where you are.” A moment later the phone pinged with a location.
“We’ll be there soon Dabi.” Dabi hung up the phone after that.
Moments later a portal opened into a cozy looking living room. Mr. Compress stepped out of the portal, looking around a nicer room than he was expecting. The room was small but tidy and homie. Blankets in a small basket near a lounge chair, a small tv mounted to the wall with the news playing. A subtly bright rug sat under a coffee table that held tissues, adding colour to the room. His vision panned to the couch. Dabi was sprawled on the couch in as close to a starfish position he could with the limited space. One arm dangled off the couch.
Compress could hear the strained wheezing breaths coming from the scarred man, heat radiating off of him. Making the room around them hot. Compress felt his skin burning when he lifted Dabi, skin sheened with sweat. Looking closer he could see small puffs of smoke coming from his mouth when he breathed. Looking around once more, he judged that he wouldn't need anything from the apartment at the moment, and pulled Dabi back through the portal.
They stepped out into what the league considered to be their living room, a tv sat on the floor in front of a large couch. Most things in the room were dirty or old. Compress laid Dabi down on the couch. He let out a groan of pain as he was sat down, but stayed asleep. Compress glanced around the room, noticing the distinct lack of it’s usual chatter, he guessed that Kurogiri cleared them out to give Dabi space.
Magne walked out from the hall, arms full of ice packs, a thermometer, fever reducers, and a garbage can in case of vomit. She set down all the supplies on the coffee table, giving Dabi a pitiful look before leaving to run a cool-room temperature bath. Compress ran the thermometer from his forehead to his temple, leaving it there. It beeped, displaying a temperature of 104.5. Not good. Really not good for an average person, but Dabi ran hot. This high temperature was still a cause for concern and needed to be dealt with.
Magne came back a moment later, helping Dabi up and supporting him between the two. He let out another groan of pain, staples pulling on his skin. Dabi was set on the toilet, Compress holding him up while Magne helped him out of heavy boots and dirty clothes. Leaving Dabi in just his boxers, they lifted him once more, lowering him into the room temperature tub.
Dabi's eyes sluggishly opened, glancing around the room in a panic before seeing Compress and Magne, relaxing a bit. Small amounts of steam was wafting off of him. His extreme body temperature cooling off in the water. His whole body felt like lead, weighted down and sluggish. His stomach was rolling, head pounding. He could feel the fire burning below the surface, making his own skin more uncomfortable than usual. The cool water felt nice on the outside. But it still burned inside.
"Hot," his voice was raspy, smoke puffing out in his breath.
"Want some ice cream dear?" Magne's voice was kind, she knew cool food would help but she didn't know if the sugar was a good idea.
"Chew ice," Dabi's voice was slow, forming incomplete sentences. Compress left the room to get some ice cubes, leaving Magne to watch after Dabi. When he returned he popped an ice cube out of the tray, helping dabi get it to his mouth. The first 2 ice cubes melted in his mouth within a few seconds. The next couple didn't melt as quickly, allowing him to chew them easily. A while later the tray was gone and the water in the tub was warmer from Dabi’s body heat.
Checking Dabi’s temperature showed that the bath helped significantly. They sat him up on the couch, refilling the ice for later. Dabi was soon asleep, Magne volunteering to take the first shift watching him while Compress slept.
Around 2:30 AM Dabi groaned awake, stomach rolling. He pushed himself up slowly, sweat rolling down his forehead. Panic swelled in his chest as he heaved, nothing spilling yet. He sat upright heaving with his head down for a few moments before a plastic garbage can was shoved into his lap. A few moments later everything he’d ingested, which wasn't much, came right up. He threw up for a moment before things stopped coming up. He continued to heave for a few moments.
When Dabi gained some clarity he could feel a comforting hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles.
“Let it all out hun,” Magne’s words were soft, a blessing to his pounding head. The clarity also allowed him to feel the pulled staples on his face, two on each side popped from the strain. He turned to look at Magne, blood welling at the edge of his scars. She reached her hand forward and wiped the blood from his face.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?” He nodded sluggishly, allowing Magne to wipe up the blood from his face. Soon after Dabi fell back asleep, Magne running her fingers through his hair to soothe him.
When Dabi woke the next morning the rest of the league was back in the shared space, Shigaraki and Spinner quietly playing video games, the sound all the way down to give Dabi peace. Toga was whispering, as loud as she could without being a disruption, to Twice, who sat letting her do his make-up. Magne was glancing fondly around the room when she spotted Dabi’s opened eyes. The latter sat up slowly, drawing the attention of the rest of the league for a moment before they continued to ignore him.
“Can I have some water?” His voice was raspy and dry, both from the vomiting and how hot he was running the night before.
“Of course.” Compress stood to get Dabi some water, passing it to him, observing as he took small sips, as to not upset his stomach. He continued to sip the water, watching the game on the tv. After about ten minutes Toga was getting antsy. She hopped up and bounded over to the couch.
“Dabi, where do you go?” She was rocking on the balls of her feet. Dabi stared at her for a long time.
“Out.”
“Yeah but why!” Everyone's attention was on the two of them, the game paused on the tv and conversations halted.
“You got sick and we couldn’t help because you were gone!”
“I leave because I'm sick,” He admitted reluctantly. “I’m almost always sick.”
“Oh…But we can help you!” The rest of the league stayed silent. They knew the scars undoubtedly caused issues, but they never considered how sick he could get.
“I usually burn the sickness off, this time was just a lot worse than usual.”
“You can still leave, we can't do anything about that, but please keep us updated from now on. We care, Dabi,” Compress’ voice was comforting, assurance that they did care. As he glanced around at the rest of the league he realized, maybe they weren’t so bad.
“Yeah. Okay.” Maybe getting help wouldn’t be that bad.