Maybe We'll fix Each Other

Chapter 3

It was irritating that no matter how he slept, Dabi woke up feeling sore and bitchy. Spending the night on his crappy wooden floor didn't help either. When the pull of sleep faded away and left behind the dull ache that sat under his skin, Dabi let out an irritated groan and scrunched up his face. He rolled onto his back and pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes before dropping them onto his stomach and staring up at the ceiling.

The sound of shuffling off to his left drew his attention, and Dabi let his head drop to the side. He saw Eri back at the dingy little window, standing on her tiptoes with her face almost pressed to the glass. The early morning sun was streaming in, and he could hear the sounds of a busy street coming from outside.

He let out a fond huff before doing a sit up and pushing himself up to stand. He winced when the motion pulled on his still-tender stab wound in his shoulder, lifting his opposite hand to it and rolling the shoulder.

A soft 'hello' came from Eri, and Dabi turned his head and raised an eyebrow. She must have heard him get up, and now stood turned from the window with her hands together in front of her. She looked...happy to see him. Huh. Weird.

Dabi gave a small half wave with one hand while he ran the other down his face with a yawn, then moved towards the bathroom while absently scratching at the back of his neck. With the door closed behind him, he inspected himself in the dirty mirror. He winced when he realized the spots where his jacket had been sticking to the burns on his arms were still stuck in place. Muttering curses, he managed to peel the leather jacket off and tossed it into the bathtub, leaving him in just his pants and white tee. He scowled when he opened a jar of burn salve only to find it empty. Fuck.

He tossed the empty jar into the bathtub as well, and dug around in the cabinets to see if there was any left somewhere else. All he was able to find was an old facemask and some dark sunglasses--both of which he pocketed.

As he disappeared into the bathroom, Eri let the smallest of smiles ghost across her face. She was starting to be able to read Dabi a little better. His huffs and eyebrow movements had seemed stand-offish at first, but she began realizing that they were his little indications of approval or encouragement. He didn't talk very much, but that's okay. He was nice even if he said he wasn't.

Dabi came back out of the bathroom to find Eri waiting for him by the couch. She looked unsure of what to do, and chose to watch him as he moved into the kitchen and started digging through some drawers.

"Here, kid," he said as he pulled back, turning and tossing her a small granola bar he'd found. "That'll be breakfast for now. Don't have much else and figure we can save the cereal for dinner."

Eri caught the granola carefully, and moved to open it. She inspected it curiously before taking a bite and making a face. She held it a little farther away from her face and didn't take another bite.

Dabi hummed. "Don't like it much, huh?" he asked as he went over and kneeled on the floor in the corner. He reached down and wiggled a loose floorboard out of place. "You don't have to eat it if you don't want to." He stuck his hand into the opening and pulled out a small leather pouch, opening it to find his stash of yen was still there. Dabi let out a grimace–he'd been tapping into this a little too frequently. There was a lot less in there than he had been hoping for. But he hid his grimace from Eri, pocketed the cash, and replaced the floorboard.

He turned to see she had quietly snuck over to the kitchen and deposited the uneaten granola bar on the counter. Dabi returned her hesitant gaze with a shrug. He looked her over for a second, noticing that her hair looked pretty ratty and it reminded him of the dirty dress she was wearing underneath the big sweatshirt. He set his jaw, fished an old white tee out of a pile on the floor, and went back into the bathroom, pulling the shit he'd thrown into the bathtub out and tossing it out the door into the living room. Eri watched him curiously, poking her head around the doorframe to see what he was doing.