Cactus Juice
This is for @doinmybesthere ATLA Collab the line up is amazing!!! I’m so excited to read all of them!
Pairing: Before Dabi and the reader get together (Reader is gender neutral)
Warnings: Slight angst, talking about abuse (dabi’s end, there’s not too much detail but it’s still talked about), brief mention of death, pining, becoming closer, Au, Dabi is the avatar and a water bender(basically if Zuko was the avatar but was a water bender before figuring it out), spoiler containing Hawks’ real name
Genre: Fluff and hurt/comfort
Word count: 2.6k
Summary: “Do you want to know the real reason I’m afraid of fire?”
You nodded.
“I’m afraid that when I wield it, it will bring nothing but pain and that I’ll be just like him.” His eyes held a familiar gleam to them. “I don’t want to be like him.”
“Again.” Dabi almost yelled in the empty arena. Crimson flowed from his lip, gliding down his chin but he only wiped it off with a huff. He wanted, no he needed to get this technique right. The lives of his friends all depended on it. He couldn’t afford to be a failure, not again.
From the other side of the arena, you hesitated before putting yourself back into a fighting stance. Even though you were far away the outline of his chest heaving for breath was visible. There was no doubt he was pushing himself. You gulped at the way his eyes took on an animalistic gleam. It wasn’t that Dabi necessarily scared you because he saved your life on more than one occasion, but when he got like this there was no telling what he would do.
It reminded you of the way he was when you first met, he was brash, distant, and above all cruel. It took a lot of time, but he gained all of your trust and changed from the boy he used to be to the man he is now.
Even though he was on your side, you were still hesitant towards him. You got along as well as expected considering you were a firebender and he was a waterbender who also happened to be the avatar. He made it known he didn’t like you and you weren’t about to go head to head with him.
“Why don’t we take a break for now,” you tried to reason, rolling your shoulders. “I’m getting pretty tired and after we can train again, how’s that sound?” It wasn’t a complete lie, after all the two of you had to have been training for a few hours now. You wouldn’t mind being able to relax.
Taking his silence as agreement you turned your back and began to walk towards the stands, where the water pouch was. It wasn’t until you opened it and went to hand it to Dabi that you realized he didn’t follow you.
Turning back around, you noticed he was still rooted in place. “Hey man, you okay?”
No response.
Slowly you began to approach him. You knew something must’ve happened to him in his childhood, having fire lord Enji as a dad of all people must’ve been more than difficult. He never told any of you what happened and you were fine with that: if he wanted to tell you that should be his choice.
Sometimes however, you wished you knew something other than the fact that the fire lord drove his wife to burn Shoto, the youngest. Part of you wished he was with you, he’d know what to do while you were left in the dark.
“Dabi,” you made sure to keep your voice even and soft. “Can you hear me?”
His head was facing the ground almost as if he wished it would swallow him up while his body trembled underneath the sun’s glare. You kept your distance, not wanting to startle him before you called his name again.
“You think I’m weak, don’t you?” He refused to look at you, his tone holding the same edge but there was a sense of vulnerability behind it.
You stopped in your tracks.
“What?” You choked out. Your eyes widening at his words. He wasn’t serious was he? Him, weak? There was no way.
“Don’t make me say it again.” He focused his gaze back on you and the sight made your heart drop. There were noticeable bags under his eyes as well as a scrape on his lower lip. He looked tired, defeated.
Taking your silence as agreement, he scoffed, mumbling out a ‘forget it’ before he began to walk away.
No no no no no no, you were just making progress too! Without hesitation you grasped his wrist. It wasn’t until he glared down at you that you realized what you did. He raised an eyebrow as you heard the sound of a nearby rock being lifted from the ground.
“Got it,” you said, “removing the hand, but that’s not it at all!”
The two of you were basked in silence until he smirked.
“Well?”
It wasn’t the same as his usual ones, but it was a start. You watched him for a second longer before he let out a sigh.
“I’m listening.”
“Oh,” you rubbed the back of your neck. “Right.”
He stood still, waiting for you to continue. On the outside you were completely composed, but on the inside you were internally screaming. Great, what were you supposed to do now? You better have one damn good speech if you want Dabi to stay.
Deciding to wing it, you began to say whatever came out of your mouth in hopes it would be the right call. You told him about the countless times he saved you, the way he’d encourage Keigo, how he always gave into Toga’s antics and made her feel better, how good he was with Shoto, all of it. How strong he really was, and how after everything you’ve gone through with him there was nothing you didn’t think he could do.
“That’s why,” you concluded with a smile on your face. “I know that you’ll be able to firebend, and not just be able to, you’ll fucking ace it.”
You were breathless after the long winded speech, satisfied until panic took over. You glanced up at Dabi with wide eyes. That was probably way too much, what if you just overwhelmed him? What if he thinks your weird now-or even worse what if he hates you again.
A sharp laugh broke you out of your thoughts. Dabi’s head was thrown back revealing his forehead. The sound was genuine and full of life. If you weren’t so shocked by it, you would’ve been in awe. Alas, you were still prepared for imminent doom.
Once he calmed down he could only shake his head at you.
“You really are something.”
With that he started to walk away once more. Your expression fell. You must’ve messed up, until you heard the familiar nickname. ‘Cactus Juice.’
You gasped rushing after him. “That was one time!”
“Still counts!” He yelled, disappearing into the landscape.
You looked around the area, the vibrant green making a home in your mind as you tried to find him. “We were in the desert and I was thirsty!”
“Still did it!”
“You weren’t even there!”
“Keigo told me.”
You groaned. Of course he did. He was the first to bring Dabi in with open arms, he was an optimist that way. He believed anybody could change if they really wanted to which is why he was the group’s heart.
The two of you continued to race after each other throughout the day until the sun began to set. Collapsing in the shade of a tree near the arena you attempted to catch your breath while your heart beat tirelessly against your chest.
You focused on the way explosions of purples and blues and pinks as well as a vibrant orange colored the sky. It was beautiful.
Beside you, Dabi fell on his back, hitting the ground with a soft thud. You laughed slightly.
“Same,” was all you could say, but you knew he got the gist.
You didn’t know how long you stayed there, under the summer breeze as the sun was replaced with glowing stars. You would’ve stayed there forever. It was warm and for one moment you wished you could stay in the moment forever.
“Thank you,” Dabi’s voice broke you out of your thoughts.
You leaned up on your elbows and looked down at him. “For what?”
He gestured around, eyes still looking above him. “All of this, I haven’t uh-” he cut himself off with a cough. “I haven’t been this relaxed since I can’t remember when.”
Oh. You laid back down. “You’re welcome I guess, I mean I didn’t really do anything.” You laughed slightly.
“Believe me, you’ve done more than you give yourself credit for.”
Silence fell between the two of you like the summer breeze, only this time it was colder than before. Getting up the courage you turned to face him. His black hair was out of his face, an easy smile replaced the usual smirk. You gulped.
“I can hear you thinking over there,” he cracked an eye open. “You can ask me about my childhood, I’m not going to crush you.”
You snorted, the tension leaving your shoulders. You took a deep breath before you spoke, “Why are you so afraid of fire?”
He looked away once more. “A good question, look I don’t know how much you know about my dad, but he wanted the avatar, or at least he wanted one of us to be it. I used to want to do anything to make him proud,” his voice contained nothing but sadness.
You grasped his hand, your body moving on it’s own for the second time that day. You were about to remove it with an apology once more, but he beat you to it. He interlocked your fingers together. The small smile appeared once more.
He continued. “It wasn’t until Shoto had two quirks that my father believed he was the avatar, he tossed my sister, brother and I to the urb and began to “train” him. I couldn’t do anything, all I could do was listen to his cries and our mom screaming.” Tears began to fall from his face causing your heart to twist.
“Dabi-” You wanted to tell him that it was okay, that he didn’t have to continue, that you shouldn’t have asked, but he only shook his head.
“‘S okay. I want to tell you.”
With that you fell silent and instead opted to run your thumb over his in what you hoped were reassuring circles. He squeezed your hand in return.
“I remember being at the fountain, thinking I didn’t have any bending abilities, and that I was a failure just like the firelord said, but that’s when I realized I could bend water. I told my mom with a smile on my face thinking that I’d finally be worth something, but you should’ve seen the look on her face. She was terrified and told me to keep it a secret. I didn’t understand it at the time, but that decision saved my life. She saved my life.
Fast forward a bit and Shoto is still forced to train and one day the burns were so bad that I finally had enough,” his voice breaks. “I healed him, I didn’t know I could do it, but I just didn’t want to see him hurt anymore. Long story short the firelord found out and he knew it was Rei, he knew it was my mom who told me not to say anything and I-”
His body racked with sobs, you wrapped your arms around him and pulled him to your chest. Tears of your own were falling, but you refused to let him go. He kept all of that to himself, while you were traveling and taking the fire nation down he was carrying that too. You wanted to take his pain away even though you knew it was impossible. You wanted to try even if all you could do was stand by and support him. How did somebody so strong think they were so weak?
Once his sobs turned into sniffles he pulled away and stared into your eyes. “He killed her. Right in front of us, so that night I took all of my siblings and fled. Natsuo and Fuyumi are taking refuge in the Earth kingdom while Shoto and I went where we could. We couldn’t stay in one place for too long or else they’d find us. They had spies everywhere, firebenders who wanted the bounty he put on our head, That’s why-”
“That’s why you didn’t trust me when we first met, isn’t it.”
The silence was enough of an answer.
“Do you want to know the real reason I’m afraid of fire?”
You nodded.
“I’m afraid that when I wield it, it will bring nothing but pain and that I’ll be just like him.” His eyes held a familiar gleam to them. “I don’t want to be like him.”
“You won’t be.”
You could tell by the way his eyes widened that those were the last words he thought you would say. Wiping away your eyes you shrugged. “What? It’s the truth. You don’t want to be like him so don’t. He only uses fire to bring pain use it for something else. Find your own meaning behind your fire.”
He spluttered on his words. “It’s not that simple.”
“Sure it is, after all Shoto is a firebender and you don’t think he will turn evil, do you?”
He was about to speak before he closed his mouth once more, forming it into a pout. “No.”
“See! It’s easy,” you perked up and clapped your hands. “We’ve been going about this all wrong! Instead of training we should focus on what your fire means to you. Ooh, we can make a list or even brainstorm or-”
A splash of water snaps you out of your rambling.
“Alright! That’s enough, geez I forgot how annoying you are sometimes.” You would’ve been insulted, but the words didn’t hold any mirth and his expression was back to peaceful, only this time it looked like the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders.
“That’s fair.”
“If you tell anybody what I said-”
“You’ll skin me alive?” You looked in his direction snorting at the way he instantly stopped what he was about to say. “I got it, besides what happens between us stays between us. Thank you,” he raises a questioning brow causing you to continue. “For trusting me I mean, that was a lot and I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to tell me.”
You didn’t miss the blush dusting across his cheeks as he turned away from you. “Don’t mention it.”
You might’ve been crazy, but you could’ve sworn you heard a faint.
“Thank you for being somebody I could trust.”
-Bonus-
“So,” Keigo started with a grin at seeing the two of you come back to the site the four of you had set up. His blond hair was messy but blown back out of his face. He stood tall and from what you could tell was well rested. Good, he was going to need it for the ass kicking he was about to receive. “How was your field trip?”
He fixed his gaze to Dabi with interest. “Learn how to firebend yet?”
Dabi smirked and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Nope, but you might want to run.”
“Run?” He snorted, nose crinkling slightly. “Why would I need to?” His eyes lit up in recognition before he tsked. “Oh Dabi, you really want to try and chase me again? I’m not the fastest air bender for no reason you know.”
That earned a genuine snort out of the man. “It’s not me this time, you see I may have told a little somebody that a birdie told me about the Cactus Juice incident.”
Keigo’s expression fell from shock, to panic to utter horror in five seconds flat. “Oh shit.”
“Keigo!” You screeched, rushing towards the two men.
Dabi could only watch in mild amusement before leaning down and whispering, “I think you should start running.”
With that Keigo took off with you in toe shouting for him to come down from the air and fight you himself. He could only shake his head when Toga got involved, joining your side immediately while Shoto looked towards Dabi with furrowed brows until he gestured for his brother to join the chaos.
Eventually he’d be roped into it too, but for now he’d silently thank his lucky stars for having the friends he did and as he watched you tackle Keigo shouting about how you won and to taste defeat like the traitor he was he hoped the two of you could be something more in the future.
For reference: Shoto is 15, Dabi and Hawks are 23, Reader is around their age and Toga is 17
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