Maybe We'll fix Each Other

Chapter 45

He had to admit: he was at the very least curious.

Moving around the workshop, Dabi inspected the various contraptions and parts that were strewn haphazardly across the room. There was tons of random tech laying around, but he didn't trust them one bit. Hence keeping his hands to himself even as he leaned in close to look at everything.

He idly ran the fingers of his left hand across the bandages on his right as he wandered the room.

A loud clang jolted Dabi out of his wandering, and he turned sharply towards the noise.

His expression fell flat at what he saw.

"You're kidding, right?" Dabi drawled.

Hatsume pouted and crossed her arms.

"You haven't even tried 'er out yet!" she quipped, tapping her foot impatiently.

Lifting an eyebrow, Dabi looked back at the monstrosity on the workbench.

If he could compare it to anything, it would be a large metal backpack of sorts. The main body of the device was a metal box with various tubing coming in and out of it, and there were two large straps coming out of it.

In a couple of places he could see some frayed wires covered with electrical tape, and there was a bottle of some sort of blue liquid sitting next to it. The part that he guessed was made to rest against his back had some metal offsets that looked like they were going to dig into his skin.

"It looks like a piece of shit," he replied.

"Dabi," Eri scolded from her place at his side. "Be nice!"

Dabi didn't answer, but did roll his eyes.

Hatsume pushed forward into his space and looked up at him with her face pressed up close to his. Dabi scowled at her but refused to back away. He looked down his nose at her.

"It's a proof of concept!" she explained excitedly, clearly taking no offense to his insult. Hatsume lifted a single finger close to her face as she kept going. "For a problem like yours, the first thing you gotta do is figure out the mechanics! I stayed up a lot looking at those–"

She gestured to the side of the room, where he could see piles upon piles of disassembled quirk suppressors.

"--to understand the basics. But the problem is, while they'd protect you from your body's heat, you wouldn't be able to use your quirk at all," she finished.

Hatsume leaned back and put a finger to her chin. "This is frankly one of the most fun parts of support gear, since it's so individualized. Take, for example, someone who–"

"Yeah, yeah," Dabi cut off with some irritation. Maybe agreeing to do this was a massive mistake. It wasn't even going to work, a fact he was even more certain of after laying eyes on the ugly ass metal box she was trying to sell him on.

He didn't have time for this, nor did he care. "Still doesn't change the fact it's big as shit and would be fucking insane to wear around."

Hatsume grinned at him and patted the device fondly. "Like I said: proof of concept. Once I tweak this to make sure it works, I can get to working on condensing it into a smaller frame! But the only way to know if it works is to test it!"

With another over-excitable look, Hatsume pushed the device closer to him.

And fuck. Dabi hesitated. She seemed so sure of herself. But he knew it wouldn't work. Nothing ever worked.

"You don't have to," Shoto said quietly, drawing Dabi's attention over to him.

Shoto was watching him with knowing eyes, and Dabi came to the realization that maybe he wasn't as good at hiding his doubts as he thought he was.