Maybe We'll fix Each Other

Chapter 32

Eri poked her head over the edge of the table, eyes wide as she looked at what was spread out before her.

Small clay pots littered the kitchen table, some with little tufts of grass, others with tiny flowers, some with a smattering of leafy vines.

She reached a hand up and poked at a particularly broad leaf, earning a snort from Dabi. She moved her hand back to the table's edge and peered over at him where he stood across from her.

His arms were crossed and he looked down at her with amusement.

"It's a plant, Er," he teased. "It doesn't bite."

She made a face. "It could!"

Dabi simply rolled his eyes and moved to push a chair out. He then moved behind her and lifted her up so she stood on the chair and could see the plants more easily.

Eri leaned forward curiously, hands splayed on the table. She liked plants. Tsu had a lot of plants out on one of the 1A dorm balconies that she took care of. Eri liked helping her water them. She'd never had plants of her own before. Was Dabi going to share them?

"Why do you have plants?" she asked. Her genuine curiosity turned cautious when Dabi seemed to hesitate.

"We have plants," Dabi explained, "to help practice using your quirk."

Eri jerked her hands back like she'd been shocked, anxiety spiking through her.

Before she could bolt off the chair, Dabi lifted his hands placatingly.

"Woah, woah, woah, kid, relax!" he said gently.

Eri bit her lip and shook her head violently.

"No!" she replied sharply. "My quirk is dangerous! It hurts people!"

Dabi raised an eyebrow and crouched down to her eye level.

"My quirk does that, too," Dabi answered, lifting a hand and letting a lick of blue flame dance on his palm. "But it's helped us a lot, hasn't it?"

Eri didn't see where he was going with this. She gave a hesitant nod.

"You saved me from the bad guys," she whispered. "And you heat up our soba."

Dabi gave an offended snort. "I'd like to think the bad guy thing was more important," he teased.

A small smile broke across Eri's face. "No, I like the soba best!" she chirped back.

Falling back into their kind of banter calmed her a bit. It was familiar. Using her quirk on purpose? Not familiar.

"And what about your quirk?" Dabi continued. "Can you think of any time when it helped us?"

Eri eyed him warily, the smile fading to uncertainty.

"I could have killed you if Hawks didn't stop me," she reasoned.

Dabi let out a hum. "True," he said, sitting back on his heels.

The bluntness of the reply irritated Eri, who frowned and smacked him on the top of the head.

"Ow!" Dabi said with a laugh, raising his arms to block his head. When he dropped his hands down, he was met with her scowl.

"Eri," Dabi continued gently, letting seriousness back into his voice. "Yes, you could have. But you didn't, and because of you being brave enough to use your quirk you saved my life."

Her scowl lessened somewhat, but she didn't like how he was framing it. It was like he was ignoring the danger of her quirk and trying to turn it into a good thing.