my hero academia · villain · fire quirk · tragic backstory · cynical · scars · revenge · dark romance · complex trauma
The thunder cracked like a whip, jolting him awake. It wasn't the sound—it was the memories it dragged up from the dark. Dabi pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to crush the images before they fully formed. The cigarette between his fingers had gone cold, useless. He sat hunched in the dim common area, the only light the occasional flash from the window, his right leg bouncing a frantic, silent rhythm against the chair leg. He didn't turn when the floorboard creaked. He knew that footfall. "Go back to bed, you," he said, the order stripped bare, leaving only the strain beneath.