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mika-writes-fanfics · 1 year

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Healing Touch

Dabi x Fem!Reader fan fiction

Synopsis: You encounter an injured Shigaraki and offer your healing quirk to his aid. Little did you know, healers were hard to come by in the underground and Shigaraki takes a liking to your skills. To further his cause, he kidnaps you and holds you captive under the watch of the LOV. You play the role of the LOV's little healer while you think of a way to escape. Unbeknownst to you, the pyromaniac with a cold heart begins to melt in your presence. Your compassion and wit draw him in, all the while he swears it's only curiosity he feels toward you. But when your touch heals his burns and your personality soothes his anguish, Dabi begins to wonder, what exactly is he feeling for you? And why the hell does he feel so torn up when you slip away?

Warnings/Tags: stockholm syndrome, Dabi comforting reader, betrayal (by Hawks), mention of death (addressing Magne), mention of past injury (Mr.Compress), spoilers

Author's Note: I really tried my best, but I felt like it would be best to push the smut back a chapter. Though, I intend on making it extra spicy and long to compensate. Pls forgive me ;-;

Word Count: 5.4K

Link to AO3

Chapter Nine: Betrayal

You feel frozen in place, despite still being doubled over on the floor from coughing. Speaking of the floor, it takes you a bit by surprise to see your surroundings are so upscale. The marble tiles under your hands feel cold, and the ridiculously high ceilings of the foyer somehow give you agoraphobia. Judging by that and the grand staircase, you must be in some rich benefactor’s home.

Dabi chuckles a bit at your confused stupor, understanding that the League being in a place like this must be a bit jarring for you. He stands up from his spot on the grand stairs and walks over to you, offering a hand to help you stand. You hesitantly take it and the memories seem to flood in at the contact. As soon as you’re standing, your hand slips out of his and you wring your hands together, as if it will quell the flashbacks. You seem to be distracted by the nostalgic haze until a passing thought brings you back.

“Wait, where’s Toga?” You suddenly remember, starting to come out of your initial state of shock. For good measure, you look around the room only to see no sight of the blonde teen. “She was holding me with a death grip before I showed up here.”

“The brat had another mission to run, Ujiko transported her somewhere else,” he answers. Your brow furrows at the unfamiliar name. From the sound of it, Ujiko must be some new member. Judging by that and the extravagant room you’re in, a lot must have changed for the league. Just what all happened in the months you’ve been apart?

“So where are we?” You ask, anxiously.

“Deika city,” he nonchalantly answers. You sigh and rub your temples. You were hoping he’d give you a more specific answer, not some vague information about a city you’ve never heard of.

“Okay, but which part of Deika city is hosting a get-together for villains in a fucking mansion?” Your snarky comment earns a soft chuckle from him.

“You’re thinking too small, doll,” he says. “This whole city is ours. Deika City is filled with villains.”

You freeze.

He has to be joking.

But when you look at his slightly proud and smug expression, you realize he’s not. Your stomach sinks and your blood runs cold. A city filled with villains, a city filled with allies of the LOV is your worst nightmare. If you flee and are spotted in the streets, you’d be royally fucked. Though, if there are more people in their ranks, your possible openings are strangled. It’s unlikely you could manage to slip away, not with their numbers now.

“How exactly did that happen? You don’t just go from a villain club of eight to over a hundred overnight,” you ask, incredulously.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” he starts. “All you really need to know is that we’re called the Paranormal Liberation Front now, and this is home base. We’re a lot bigger than before.”

“I see…” You mumble, struggling to absorb everything. To say your situation is overwhelming would be an understatement, but if your experience is going to be anything like the last time, you have to keep up. So far, doing that is easier said than done.

“Eh? That’s not what I was expecting from you. You ran out of sarcastic comments or something?” He goads, smirking at you.

“I mean, I guess I could say ‘good job’ on not burning all the new recruits for once,” you offer, your playful jabs lacking their usual enthusiasm. “Guess you’ve changed a bit on that front.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but I did burn a few,” he admits. You’re not really surprised at the confession. “‘S not like I’ve changed that much.”

He’s right. Despite the time that has passed and all the changes the league has undergone, Dabi remains mostly the same, almost exactly as you last saw him. Though, there is one thing that’s a bit different about him. He’s not nearly as thin as he once was. The muscles in his arms are more defined, and judging from how some of his burns have started to slowly spread, you wager it's a result of fighting and using his quirk.

His voice draws you out of your thoughts before you’re able to think about it more. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying,” he says. He starts walking off down a nearby hall and passes an expecting glance at you over his shoulder. Not wanting to be left alone in an entirely new place, one filled with strangers and potentially unpredictable villains, you follow close behind.

All you can do is follow him through the halls, navigating around strangers as you go. It makes you uneasy, to see so many new people and to feel them watching you with mild interest. You find yourself staying closer to Dabi’s side, hoping that his presence would dissuade them from making some gross comments. After what happened with Muscular, you’re much more guarded around new villains and much more eager to stay close to Dabi. Even though you’re in this situation, at the very least, Dabi has your back. Remembering the way he protected you and cared for you makes facing whatever comes next a little easier. You can’t help but trust him. Though, even with him at your side, the fear of others doesn’t fully dissipate.

Dabi occasionally steals glances at you as the two of you walk through the halls. He can see the stress clearly written on your face. Dabi’s not delusional, not like how Toga and Twice can be. He knows you’re not too thrilled to be here. You didn’t choose this life, and to be pulled into the league’s whirlwind again has to be more than just frustrating. Not only that, but he can tell you’re on edge here. It’s gotta be terrifying to be around so many villains, to be around so many strangers at once. He’s good at reading you, and he can tell you’re worried about your safety.

“Nothing’s gonna happen to ya, you’ll be okay,” he assures. You cast him a look of doubt, unable to believe his reassurance.

“How do you know though?” You counter.

He wants to say, ‘Because I won’t let anyone hurt you’ or maybe even ‘Cause I’ll be by your side’, but he can’t seem to bring himself to open his mouth and tell you his feelings. You’re already spooked as it is. Besides the small part of him that fears your rejection, he’s afraid of scaring you off by saying something so sappy and soft.

“I just do,” he replies instead. You remain unconvinced, your disbelief still deeply rooted in your face. He doesn’t know what else to say, how else to console you. He guesses that the only thing he can really do for you right now is to get you to your new room. Maybe you’ll return to your old self after settling in. At least, he hopes so.

“Okay,” you softly respond, your voice sounding detached and empty. You don’t ask what’s next, silently surrendering yourself to whatever comes your way. He leads the way, and you wordlessly follow.

The gravity of the situation continues to weigh down on you as you pass more throngs of villains loitering in the halls. You’re starting to doubt you could ever get away due to the sheer numbers the PLF has amassed, not that you were able to escape before when there were fewer villains keeping you in check. With the league, just a handful of people with dangerous quirks was enough to dissuade any reckless attempts to run. Back then, you tried to methodically bide your time and plan around any weak links, but in the end, it was the heroes that got you out. But now? There are way more eyes watching you. If that wasn’t bad enough, you’re completely unfamiliar with your new environment. Any attempts to run would be an ill-advised gamble with your life, and you’re not really in any position to be making any bets.

Maybe it’s time to fold your cards.

Maybe… maybe you should just give up.

There seems to be a commotion coming from down the hall, causing you to pause your depressed spiraling and put your thoughts on the back burner. Your ears pick up on the sound of a familiar voice calling both yours and Dabi’s names, and you look up to see a familiar black and gray bodysuit approaching the two of you. It’s none other than Twice, happily waving at you as he makes his way over.

“Heya y/n, it’s nice to see you again,” he greets in an excessively cheerful tone, a hallmark of one of his more positive split personalities. In true Twice fashion, he immediately follows up with the opposite. “Ugh, why is she here?”

“Hey, Twice,” you greet. Instead of lying and saying you’re glad to see him again, because seeing Twice and getting kidnapped typically go hand in hand, you decide to make innocent small talk. “How are you and the others holding up?”

“I’ve been great ever since finding out I’m not a clone! I can make copies of myself again without worrying I’ll disappear, it’s amazing! The others have been doing well, and super busy too. Toga, Spinner, Dabi and I have a lot to do in the PLF now that we’re commanders of the PLF,” Twice answers, extremely enthusiastic.

‘Wow, okay. That’s a lot of information all at once,’ you think. You’re still reeling from the outpour of Twice’s hurried and lively words. Though through the jumbled facts and new changes, you noticed something. His omission of quite a few members has you concerned.

“What about Magne? And Compress?” There’s a sharp silence and a slight pause in his actions. His reaction makes you regret asking. Clearly, something terrible has happened.

“Magne,” Twice starts, trailing off. His voice is strained with sadness, and his hands seem to shake as well when he completes his sentence, “She’s… no longer around.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” you apologize, offering your condolences. Although you didn’t know her for long, and she was another obstacle in your escape, you still find yourself feeling a little shocked and upset. What’s more is you noticed how Twice avoided saying anything about Compress, serving to heighten your emotions. “Did… Did Compress also..?”

“Lost an arm. He’s okay though,” he explains. You sigh a little in relief, before catching yourself. Aren’t you supposed to feel indifferent about this? Since when have you grown to care this much? As you’re about to spiral into confusion, Twice bounces back from his previous bout of grief, changing the conversation to something more lighthearted. “You should see his new prosthetic, it’s super cool!” To which he immediately follows up with, in a much whinier voice, “No it’s not! It’s a big hunk of metal, how is that cool?”

“It’s good he pulled through at least,” you reply. Given what happened to Magne, you’re afraid to ask about Kurogiri, fearing you’d get the same answer. You decide to tuck it in the back of your mind and ask some other point in time. You’ve had enough grief for one day.

Twice’s tone switches, designating a switch, and he speaks once more, “You know, it’s great that you’re back, I was starting to worry about Dabi. The man was really mopey there for a while.” Dabi shoots Twice a glare, an interaction that you’d normally find funny.

“Hey Twice, didn’t you have to go meet Sanctum right around now?” Dabi asks in an annoyed tone. Twice instantly stops in his tracks.

“Oh crap, you’re right! I gotta go! See ya later,” he rushes out. His tone switches as he’s hurrying past the two of you and he jeers, “Yeah! Have fun with your girlfriend, Dabi!” Twice quickly runs down the hall, leaving the two of you alone together once more.

“Tch, that fucking guy,” he grumbles. You can tell Twice’s teasing embarrassed him. He shoves his hands in his pockets and averts his gaze, his cheeks still painted pink. “C’mon, let’s get outta here.”

The two of you start walking off together, headed to some unknown destination to you. He leads you through the halls, passing by people conversing along the walls. From what you can tell, the PLF is made of very diverse people. You’ve seen several interesting, unique mutant-type quirks within their ranks. But you can’t help but wonder, amongst all these people, surely one must have a healing quirk. If that’s the case, why would they want you?

“Hey, Dabi, can I ask you something?” You ask suddenly, breaking the silence. He glances over at you from the corner of his eye as the two of you continue to walk on.

“I guess,” he answers. He can’t help but feel a little uneasy at your random question. Just what are you wanting to know?

“I can’t help but wonder… Why have I been brought here? There are other healers out there, surely there’s at least a couple around,” you confront. He stops in his tracks.

Your movements stall and you swallow thickly, nervously waiting for his explanation. He’s not really sure how to go about this, hence his stalling. There are a lot of things he knew you wouldn’t be too happy to hear. Besides Magne and Compress, this is one of them. He just didn’t think you’d ask about this so soon. But then again, you’ve never been one to hold your tongue and suppress your curiosity. You’d bring it up eventually.

“Again, it’s a bit of a long story,” he avoids.

“It’s not like we don’t have time,” you urge. He sighs. Your insistence forces his hand.

“The short bit is that before we joined forces with this group and became the PLF, they had some weird ideas. They only really accepted strong, offensive-type quirks, anything that can be used tactfully, ya know? So there aren’t many healers around, if at all,” he explains. As much as that’s an acceptable answer, you can just tell there’s more. Yes, you understand that they need healers, but it still doesn’t explain why you were wanted specifically. You look at Dabi expectantly, encouraging him to continue. “And, well, to be honest, Shigaraki is still a little pissed over the hideout raid and losing Kurogiri. Getting you back was a win for him.”

“So what, I’m a part of some revenge plot?” You scoff.

“In a way. Taking you back was a mix of wanting to make sure our informants were trustworthy and wanting to test the competency of the heroes,” he clarifies. There’s a smug look on his face when he adds, “And it looks to me the heroes failed, but who’s really surprised there?” Your face drops.

“What do you mean?” You interrogate. “How have they failed?”

“They haven’t launched an attack to rescue you,” he points out. “Which means they either don’t know where we are yet, or they have bigger plans and won’t risk exposing their advantage over someone they deem ‘expendable’. You know, all that ‘greater good’ bullshit.”

It felt like a punch to the stomach, to hear him so bluntly state that you’re viewed as sacrificial. The worst part is, the logical part of your brain can’t even formulate a counterargument. Dabi knows tactics. What he says is true. But even so, you still hold onto a bit of irrational hope. You continue to deny the idea that the heroes have left you to the wolves. You’ll survive and find your way out of this forest. You’ll be saved and put this all behind you, right?

“How do you know? How can you be so sure?” You argue. Your rebuttal sounds unsure. The shakiness of your voice gives away your lack of confidence.

“Well, to start,” he begins. The conversation seems to fade into the background as you see a flash of color in the nearby crowd.

No.

There’s no way.

Your stomach sinks and your breath gets caught in your throat upon seeing crimson-red wings. You desperately hope you’re mistaken, and that when you blink your eyes, you’ll realize it was all a trick of the light, a sheer hallucination. Only, it never happens. Your fears are confirmed by the sound of his carefree laugh. Hawks is here, happily conversing with other PLF members like he belongs. What’s worse is you recognize a few of his friends to be heroes as well. You even see that Sliding Hero in the group, the one that Toga disguised herself as.

You can’t believe you trusted the heroes.

You regret trusting Hawks.

How could you have been so blind? How could you have felt at ease around him? How could you have believed the heroes were on your side? How could you ever have thought you’d escape from all this? Seeing him here makes you realize that you were never safe. The veil of safety was a lie.

Hawks’s feathers seem to stiffen and quirk up, as if he can feel you staring daggers in the back of his head. He glances over his shoulder and locks eyes with you. Your eyes start burning upon seeing his face. His eyes widen and his eyebrows raise, almost imperceptibly so. He doesn’t stare for a moment longer and tears his gaze away from you, directing his attention back to the group of PLF members in front of him. You can’t seem to look anywhere else while your mind spirals out of control, filled with endless thoughts of self-blame and despair.

With the grim realization that the PLF is everywhere and the lack of viable escape opportunities, your future seems completely out of your control. You’re now nothing but a passenger in your own life. The tides of change have already swept over your life, and now it is time for you to sink or swim. But how are you supposed to keep going when you have this anchor tethered to you? The weight of hopelessness is slowly drowning you. You’re sinking down to rock bottom.

A couple tears fall over your lash line as you silently cry. You’re completely defeated.

There is no getting away from here.

Escape is foolish.

A hopeless pipe dream.

All the while you’re on the downward descent into hopelessness, Dabi takes notice of your catatonic state, not that it was hard to, with how you froze and stopped responding. As long as he’s known you, he’s not seen you cry once. It amazed him, honestly, how you were so strong. He’s seen notorious villains crumple at the league’s feet, folding under the weight of their fear. But you… you held your head high. You hid your feelings behind a sharp tongue and a veil of sarcasm, always ready to quip back at Shigaraki, a man that can erase anybody from existence with a single touch. Seeing you like this, seemingly broken, is more than disconcerting.

Just what is going on in that head of yours? What happened to make you fall apart like this?

He follows your eyes, realizing they’re glued to the group of people in front of you. To him, there’s nothing out of the ordinary, just normal PLF members talking to each other. But it’s then he realizes why you might be upset; they’re heroes. This is your first time seeing their kind amongst the PLF. You're seeing his truth, you’re seeing the world as he sees it: a corrupt society filled with false heroes. False heroes that lie and cheat, with hands nearly dirtier than his. When he first became aware of the facade, when he was no longer blind to the propaganda, he reacted with hatred and rage. But you aren’t feeling what he felt. Your situation and his are not the same. You’re gripped with shock and despair. You didn’t willingly enter this life like he did. And unlike him, you can’t fight back against the injustices of society, not with your support quirk.

But there is one more thing that’s different; you won't be alone.

Like he was.

“Y/n,” Dabi calls, pulling you out of your stunned stupor. You’re slow to snap out of the daze, reacting much slowly under the weight of depression.

“Huh? What?” you reply. You’re careful not to turn to his voice, lest he gets an unobstructed view of you and realizes you’ve been crying. Unbeknownst to you, he already saw.

“You spaced out on me,” he says.

“O-oh,” you stutter. You turn your head in an attempt to hide your tears and wipe evidence away, subtly. Your voice wavers a bit when you offer a meek and quiet, “Sorry.”

“‘S fine,” he dismisses. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” you choke out. Your voice betrays you and cracks under the strain of your emotions. You swallow against the lump in your throat, determined to mask your feelings. “I’m fine.” He looks at you with doubt and disbelief, narrowing his shrewd, cobalt eyes at your pitiful effort at lying. His expression is telling; he knows you’re lying. You’re at least thankful he doesn’t press the issue.

He glances over back at the heroes, hearing Hawks’s annoyingly cheery laugh ring through the room. Dabi doesn’t want to stay here any longer, not when the reminder of your sadness is constantly hovering nearby. “Let’s just get out of here, yeah?”

You agree, all too eagerly, and the two of you continue on, this time, without interruptions. The silence that settles between the two of you as he leads you to some unknown location gives you a brief respite. You can breathe easier as you walk behind him, now no longer concerned with hiding your apparent emotional state. It helps to see the halls start to thin out as you walk by. From what you can tell, not many loiter around this wing of the building. You’re practically alone with Dabi, save for a few passersby.

He finally stops in front of the door and his voice cuts through the silence. “This is you,” he says, nonchalantly.

“What?” You ask.

“Your room. This is where you’ll be staying,” he clarifies. He opens the door and allows you to walk in first. He shuts the door behind him, careful not to let it shut too loudly, in an attempt to not overwhelm you more than you already are.

The lavish interior of the mansion extends into the room as well. All things considered, your living situation is far from terrible. The room is nice and spacious, with high-quality furniture and a large bed to match. It seems you even have your own bathroom, making sharing one with the league a thing of the past. You wander further inside, running your fingers along the pieces of furniture as you pass by until you mindlessly find your way to the bed. The events of the day are catching up to you, and you can’t help but want to just take a moment to rest. You sit down on the bed, testing the softness of the mattress. A sliver of optimism creeps into your mind. At least you’ll be sleeping in a much more comfortable place than before.

“Not too bad, am I right?” Dabi asks you. You silently nod, feeling too devoid of energy to say much more.

You lay back fully on the bed and kick off your shoes, haphazardly discarding them on the floor next to the bed. Silence creeps into the room, but despite the awkward lapse in conversation, you can’t find it in you to care. The feelings are racing back to the surface, much to your dismay. You stare at the ceiling as you border on breaking down again. The half-assed facade is already cracking, and with each passing thought, the mask begins to shatter, piece by piece, along with your will to fight.

“So what’s going on with you? You’re too quiet,” he finally confronts. Dabi leans on the wall and crosses his arms, confronting you with a stern expression.

“What are you talking about?” You deflect. Your voice gives you away. You sound unlike yourself, as if you’re devoid of life. Robbed of your hope.

“You can’t fool me, y/n. I know you were crying back there,” he —. Dabi won’t buy into your lies. Besides the fact he can read you all too well, he’s a villain. In his time with the underground of society, he’s seen far more convincing liars than you. “What was it? What happened?”

“I-“ you attempt to strangle out. The words escape you, cut off by an impending crack in your voice. You close your mouth and give up on trying to speak. Your cheek feels like it could bleed when you bite down on it, distracting yourself from the burning you feel in your eyes.

“Go on,” he urges. He has an inkling as to why you were upset, but he wants to hear you say it.

You let out a shaky breath in a pitiful attempt to stifle the oncoming tears. Your valiant effort fails. The tears start rolling down your cheek once more, now completely on display for him to see. He can’t help but feel a bit unsure of himself in this moment, seeing you falling apart in front of him. Even as a child and before becoming Dabi, handling emotions was never a strength of his, a weakness now worsened by his closed-off tendencies and diminished empathy response. His inability to cool down from overwhelming, heated emotions is his fatal weakness, and in this moment, this flaw of his becomes painfully obvious. He can hardly help himself sometimes, let alone someone else. What is he even supposed to do for you?

If his unfamiliarity with comforting others isn’t bad enough, he doesn’t even know what’s wrong. But, if it’s what he suspects, he can’t solve your issues by burning them away, like he always had with his own problems. He thinks about his brother and how his little brother, in the absence of other solutions, would show him support by just being a shoulder to cry on. Thinking of his brother brings back the many nights he spent clinging to Natsuo. It never erased his pain nor did it treat the root cause, but for a short time, even just for the night, he remembers how it felt like someone was shouldering some of his burdens.

He doesn’t want to be known for sappy shit, but he’s made up his mind. He’ll be a shoulder to cry on, but only for you.

He kicks his shoes off, something you don’t notice as you’re too busy burying your face in the pillows, muffling the world with the thick, downy plush. He makes his way over to you, walking along the other side of the bed. You feel the bed dip next to you, the movement finally gaining your attention. You lift your head from out of the pillows and turn to the source, finding Dabi casually laying on the bed next to you.

“C’mere,” he says, opening his arms and motioning for you to come closer. You’re a bit taken aback by Dabi’s invitation for affection. It’s a bit jarring to see Dabi attempting to initiate something like this, especially given the circumstance. Yes, he did hug you that one time, but that was more of a gesture for him. That embrace was sudden and out of the blue, this is something you’re given the choice to do. This is him attempting to comfort you, you realize.

Before, you’d deliberate back and forth in your head about what it would mean to willingly seek out his touch. But now? His arms seem safe and inviting, the perfect respite from the dark world that you’ve been sucked into once again. And so, you move over to him and rest your head on his chest. His warm arms wrap around your body as you settle in. He tucks his chin over the top of your head.

The moment feels so soft and comforting that you find yourself wanting to cry once again, your sobs now bittersweet. You never expected Dabi, the league’s most closed off person, to be someone you found solace in. The two of you seemed to connect over your captivity, and as much as you tried to deny it, that magnetism you feel towards one another cannot be rationalized away. You want to stop fighting it, you want to give into your feelings. And you think you will, now. After all, do you really have anything left other than him?

The realization that he’s all that you have left anymore sends a particularly heavy sob through your body. You bury your face further into Dabi’s shirt. The feeling of you crying in his arms has his heart twisting and guilt creeping in his mind.

He should let you go.

He should give you back to your old life.

He should allow you to move on.

He should let you forget about him.

But he can’t, and he won’t.

Besides the fact that Shigaraki would be pissed at his disobedience and betrayal, he wants you around. No, he needs you close by. With you gone, his burns started to spread again. He was becoming closer and closer to burning himself up with every fight he endured. Not only that, but his chest seemed to ache when you weren’t around, and he found himself wanting to hear you bark back snarky comments and feel your hands roam over his skin. The longing for you was so distracting, borderline frustrating too. You were just always there, in the back of his mind, taking up space he normally reserved for simmering contempt. His thoughts were haunted by the ghost of you. He felt followed by the memory of your presence wherever he went. Even when he wasn’t awake, you were there, creeping into his dreams. With you here now, he understands, losing you is not something he wants to experience again.

And so, the most he can do for you is not leave you alone and try to console you, in any way he can.

“‘S alright. ‘M here,” he soothes. Hearing Dabi trying to comfort you, especially when you know how Dabi isn’t the type to do that for just anybody, causes your lip to tremble. His thumb traces lines against the skin of your arms as he continues to hold onto you.

You’re not quite sure how much time passes as you cling to Dabi and let yourself softly weep against his chest. The light filtering in through the window of your bedroom has dimmed considerably, letting you know that the night is quickly approaching. But with the sun setting and the night creeping closer comes the fear of being completely alone with your own despair.

With considerable trepidation, you break the silence and whisper, “I know it’s getting late but… Can you stay a bit longer? I’m sorry I just… don’t really want to be alone right now.” You expect him to let you down, to say that he can’t and start to get up and leave you to the isolation of the night, but yet, he makes no attempts to rise out of your bed. Instead, he embraces you tighter. In a rare moment of softness from him, he presses a kiss to the top of your head as he soothingly runs his hands over your arms.

“Yeah, I’ll stay as long as you need me to, doll,” he agrees. You feel immense relief at his words, but the gratitude you feel to him makes you even that much more emotional. A tense, shaky exhale escapes your lips and a few more rogue tears break past your lashline.

Time seems to slow as you continue to wordlessly lie with Dabi and take all the comforting touches he gives you. Eventually, the exhaustion of the day catches up to you, and you fall asleep with his warm body next to you and his fingers soothingly tracing your skin.

Tags: @the-milk-anon ,@dabis-nipple-rings

#dabi x reader #mha dabi #bnha dabi #bnha reader insert #Dabi slow burn #slow burn #dabi #dabi x you #dabi x female reader #dabi x y/n #reader insert #dabi fanfic #Healing Touch #Mika's works

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chain-link-smut · 8 months

Text

Hello Beautiful Beasties!

Smut-tember 23, Day 5: Wild x Reader(GN) - Scars

Summary: Wild has pushed you and everyone else away for the third time in two months and you weren't going to stand for it any lomger, especially when you knew how to help him. Scars may have heald, but that doesn't mean they stop affecting you.

Word count: 1,936

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Blond, flowy locks passed between your fingers as you massaged Wild's scalp. His head was using your lower torso and upper hips as a pillow after wearing him out.

You had learned after traveling with the Chain that Wild normally had good or great days, but there were rare times that he would lash out and didn't want to be touched by anyone, including you. It stung the first time he did it towards you, hood up and signing that he wanted to be left alone. Typically he stayed within an arm's reach of you while traveling, but the rare days had him all the way in the back to where he was blocked from your view by the others. When he did it for the third time in two months, you had enough and were putting your foot down. You had figured out what was wrong and you were going to fix it. So when the next portal opened, dumping you in Hateno, you didn’t let him have a chance to escape you.

“Wild, house, now.” He looked at you with confusion, but kept walking in the opposite direction. The others, including Time, didn’t even budge from where they stood, watching.

You stepped into Wild’s path to stop him. “Wild, go inside now!” The look he gave back was a challenge. You had never been one to push authority and he was testing your patience with a hard stair, arms crossed and teeth bared. “If you don’t get your ass into that house in the next thirty seconds I will tell Time how you make a Fairy tonic.”

Wild’s eyes quickly looked at Time then back to you.

“And I will ensure that you are pulled from cooking duties and replaced by Hyrule and Warriors for a month due to you neglecting yourself.”

There was a collective, “Get in the damn house!” from everyone. Last time Hyrule cooked, everyone had food poisoning and Wars made the cooking pot explode.

“Okay okay! Fine. You didn’t need to get that drastic with it.” He turned and marched up to his house across the bridge like a pouty child.

No one followed you two into the small house, probably worried about meeting your wrath. Once the door was closed, you started to speak softer to Wild. You could easily mess this up if you weren’t careful. “Wild, can you take off your clothes?”

“What?” He pulled his cloak tighter around him, but hissed in pain.

“Wild.” You walked in front of him, slowly raising your hands so he could follow what you were doing. “I know what is bothering you and I want to help.” You removed his cloak to better see his face.

‘I’m fine.’ he signed.

“Please don’t lie to me.” you whisper with fire in your eyes, though your tone was still calm.

‘The others wouldn’t understand.'

You snorted a laugh. “You don’t give them enough credit. Legend has chronic joint pain that has made it impossible to travel before. Time has night terrors the night before, of and after a full moon. Could you imagine if he was here during a blood moon? Warriors has PTSD from the war that has nearly had Twilight skewered on a sword because Wars couldn’t see past what his brain was showing him. You really think they wouldn’t understand?”

Wild’s eyes were casted down, but you could see the tears building. You were careful not to touch him, but tugged gently at the bottom hem of his shirt. “Come on, take off your clothes and let me grab what we need from the slate.”

The slate’s inventory of Chus was low… that would have to change once you were done with Wild’s needs. You still took out three Fire Chus, three Ice Chus, one Fire Fruit, one Ice Fruit and a single bottled fairy. The Ice Chus and Ice Fruit were the first into the cooking pot, making them into a smooth mixture to apply to Wild’s scars. Once that was done and placed in a bowl, you did the same for the fire ingredients. Both mixtures in different bowls, you opened the fair, kindly asking her to give some healing elements to both mixtures.

Grabbing the final results of your work, you turned to go up the stairs to Wild’s loft. He was sitting on the bed, knees to chest, head pointed away from you, eyes on the wall. His shirt and trousers were off, but you could hardly see the scars you need to.

“Wild?” To anyone who didn’t know what to look for would have assumed he hadn’t heard you, but you knew to look at his right ear. It flicked once, letting you know he was listening. “Wild, please let me help you. I promise to be gentle and if it becomes too much, I’ll stop.”

Red rimmed eyes looked up at you. Gods… the things this man had been through. You swallowed the anger towards the Goddess as you placed the bowls on the nightstand. He scooted closer to the wall, allowing you to sit next to him. With him stretched out on his back, you could see the angry lines where he had been scratching and digging into the edges of his scars. Dried blood that he missed looked like red freckles against thin white skin. You would have been edgy too if you were going through this.

No words were spoken for some time as you scooped the cooling mixture into your hand, spreading it out against the inflamed area. When you covered the worst areas, Wild would sigh in relief, sagging into the comfort of his own bed.

While you extracted an empty jar from the slate to put the remaining salve into, Wild asked, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Look at me and it has no effect on you, like there isn't a single blemish? You look at me, how I wish I could look at myself."

That… that hurt to hear and your down casted ears would show it if he was able to look at you.

Letting the salve dry, you washed your hand off with a small bowl of water. Your eyes scanned over Wild's body, wondering how to help his mood return to the happy man you've grown to adore. Your eyes landed on his nipples… There was an idea.

You took the warming mixture, used both hands and massaged it in, starting with the burn scars on his left thigh, making it a point to go under the briefs that still clung to him. He didn't say anything, only closed his eyes.

"Do you know what I see when I look at you?"

"Don't say potential."

You both stopped and looked at each other, bursting into laughter. "First of all, Wild, you are perfect as you are." Your smile softened. "I see someone who is devoted to everyone he cares about. Someone who brings light into the lives of all the people around him. I may see the scars, but they are you. They don't make you, you, but it shows how resilient you are. You are someone to look up to because you don't let the scars and trauma control you. I know I do."

The right corner of Wild’s lips ever so slightly turned up. It was a start.

You rubbed the salve in your palms, massaging it along his ribs, abdomen and up to the middle of his chest. A little bit more was placed in your hands, carefully covering the scars on his neck, ear, jaw, cheek and left corner of his lips. He leaned his head into your hand, saying, “Thank you.”

“Always.” Washing your hands once again and letting the cooling salve dry, you watched Wild shiver. His scared nipple caught your eye again as it hardened into a bud from the cold. “Did you know that out of the scars, I have a favorite?”

He looked at you in his peripheral vision. “And which one is that?”

You knelt on the bed, asking with a gesture to touch again. When he nodded, you straddled his thighs, hand still in his line of vision. His hands cupped behind your knees, thumbs gliding over your shorts that you had changed into while making the Chu remedies.

You leaned down slowly while keeping eye contact with him. You parted your mouth open as you got closer to his skin and watched the slight blush appear across Wild's cheeks. You ghosted the words, "This one", over the scar that overlaps part of his nipple, then gave it a soft kiss.

Now Wild was fully blushing, making you smirk up at him. Just to the left of the mane part of his scar is what you wanted to tease next. You opened your mouth again and took his nipple in, enjoying the sharp intake of breath from the other. Wild was always more sensitive than the others, even more than Hyrule who also didn't have much contact with people. Wild had to trust you to let you be like this with him and you had it.

Your left hand oh so teasingly ran from his right hip, up his side, followed his ribs over to his chest where you made sure his other nipple had some attention. His back arched, air sucked quickly in before exhaling harshly and flattened back down to the bed. He squirmed, panting slightly as his hips began to roll against you.

Teeth grazed over the bud, then a kiss to sooth it. You worked your way up with your mouth to his neck, leaving a wet trail from it. You gave praises of how gorgeous he was, how strong he was, how good he always made you feel and you told him that you wanted him to feel good right now.

He moaned and exposed his neck more for you as you mouthed at it, leaving faint hickies and teeth marks. You let your hot breath blow across the fresh mark under his scared ear, asking, "What do you need, Wild? How do you need me?" You asked him these because you had learned that he needed to be in the right mindset to fuck you or you fuck him. You two easily switched based on who needed or wanted what that day.

"Mouth… please." He moaned again between the words.

"Just my mouth or do you want my fingers too?" His hips jerked forwards, shifting you over him.

He turned his head to look at you, stealing a kiss. "Both, please. I need you… please please- "

"Shh, I have you, Wild. Just relax for me, okay?" He nodded.

Trailing kisses back down to his hips, you slowly pulled off the only remaining clothing, tossing them off the bed. Looking back up at him, licking your lips, you laid yourself down high enough between his legs that you would fit just right. Two or three strokes were given before licking a stripe from balls to tip, then placed him in your mouth. Wild's head hit the pillow, mouth open and his volume wasn't something he was worried about, ever. Working your fingers into him would take some time, but there was no hurry and you had every intention on milking him dry.

He now laid boneless and asleep on you. Today was about making him better and letting him know how much he is cared for.

The rare bad days were not easy days to work through for Wild, but you now knew how to help him manage them and you would every single time.

Keep it Naughty you Beautiful Beasties!🖤

#loz smut #purely smut #smut-tember #18+ only #ST23 #wild x reader #scars #self love #healing touch

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bodyalive · 4 months

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When it comes to settling down young children, parenting advice focuses mostly on one tool: What to say.

If the toddler starts to have a tantrum, say this. If a child can't go to sleep, say that. And if you wind up yelling in the process, well, there's even a script for how to apologize.

But all around the world, many parents turn to another tool to soothe a crying child and settle them to slumber. And it's totally silent.

Instead of talking, many parents touch their child. But it's not just any type of touch. Oh no! This touch occurs at a particular speed and with a particular pressure.

After decades of research, neuroscientists are beginning to understand how our skin senses this specific type of touch and how that sensation lights up regions of the brain to alter our emotions.

Jose Grajeda and daughter, Victoria. "If I wanted to go to sleep as a child, I would go cuddle with my mom and she would give me piojito," he says — Spanish for "little lice." The late Peruvian linguist Martha Hidlebrandt described piojito as "gently scratching the scalp of a child as if he were being relieved of the itching of imaginary lice" — hence the name.

Jessica Lutz /for NPR

How to give piojito

In Korea, parents call this type of touch yakson. In Taiwan, they say 秀秀(xiù xiù). In India: "we have different languages in different parts of the country, but in Delhi, it's called malish," says Dr. Sarika Chaturvedi, who studies infant massage practices at Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth College in Pune. "This type of touch is so ingrained in our culture. It's all about avoiding frustrations in the child and enhancing the pleasurable connection."

But in Latin America, parents may just have the best name of all: Piojitos, which literally means "little lice."

"If I wanted to go to sleep as a child, I would go cuddle with my mom and she would give me piojito," says Joe Grajeda, age 40, who was born in northern Mexico and now lives in Alpine, Texas, with his three young children (Joe owns a coffee shop in Alpine and is a good friend of mine).

"Now I love giving my children piojito," he says, smiling brightly. "My sons like to sit there and just kind of enjoy the moment. Victoria – my daughter – loves it when she's ready to go to sleep."

With piojito and other types of soothing caresses, the key is not to go too fast or too slow. And don't press too deeply. "You scratch someone's back, or their head, with the tip of your fingers. And you do it very lightly and softly," Grajeda explains. "You want to make the skin kind of crawl a little bit." (The late Peruvian linguist Martha Hidlebrandt described piojito as "gently scratching the scalp of a child as if he were being relieved of the itching of imaginary lice" — hence the name.)

Jose Grajeda gives his daughter the same kind of soothing caress that he got from his mom when he was a child.

Jessica Lutz /for NPR

How a gentle caress affects the nerves

When you give a child piojito, the gentle stroking turns on special nerves, in the hairy parts of our skin, called C-tactile fibers. So yes, that includes your head, back and arms.

These nerves are tuned to detect a specific speed of caressing, says Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, a neurobiologist at Columbia University. "If you rush across the skin surface too quickly, a person may actually perceive the touch as aversive," he says.

All mammals have these special neurons. And all mammalian parents use a stroking touch or licking with their young offspring, Abdus-Saboor says. "There's evidence these neurons also respond to maybe even warmth as well," he explains. "So these neurons have the ability to detect social cues between two mammals as they caress, touch and embrace one another, such as a mother with her offspring."

Of course, human parents have been doing this type of touching "forever," Abdus-Saboor says. "This rubbing and stroking is something that we do almost innately with children. And I think it's because our system is wired to tap into this network [in the brain] that provides soothing and relief."

For some kids with autism spectrum disorder, this type of touch might not feel good, Abdus-Saboor notes, and may even feel bad. "A cardinal symptom of autism is hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli, like auditory and tactile stimuli," he says. "The relationship between touch and reward can be greatly altered."

Back in February, Adbus-Saboor and his colleagues published a landmark paper in the journal Cell showing how activation of these special neurons, in mice, lights up the dopamine pathway in their brains. This pathway motivates animals to seek out the touch again – to seek out togetherness, cuddles or grooming.

Jose Grajeda and his daughter, Victoria, cuddling before bedtime in Alpine, Tex. "I love piojito," he says — that's the soothing caress his mother gave him when he was a kid. "I ask my mom now – and my kids – to give me piojito now," says the 40-year-old father of three. "I think it's my language of love."

Jessica Lutz /for NPR

In people, activating C-tactile fibers not only feels good, it reduces the perception of pain in adults and babies and lowers their heart beat rate, studies have found. There's evidence that activation of these nerves may also trigger the release of naturally occurring opioids in people's brains, such as endorphins.

"These endorphins relax you and cause you to feel at peace with the world," says psychologist Robin Dunbar at Oxford University. And they help to bond or connect you to the parent who's caressing you. "They make you feel very trusting with the individuals doing the gentle stroking."

Neuroscientist Helena Wasling isn't convinced by the studies linking caressing to endorphins. But she thinks, rather, this type of touch is critical for helping children's feel safe and as if their bodily needs are met.

"Being touched is just a basic need, like having dinner when you are hungry. You need to have this touch in order for you to reach a good, steady state in your body. You need it so you can feel safe enough to go out and explore the world." says Wasling, who has studied the neuroscience of touch for more than a decade and now is a physiotherapist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The dawn of the anti-touch era

During the end of the 19th century, many European pediatricians actually advised parents not to touch their children because they said it would weaken them and make them dependent. This idea hit a fever pitch in the 1920s when the psychologist John B. Watson wrote a parenting book, "even though he knew basically nothing about parenting," Wasling points out. In the book, Watson advises mothers to stay away, physically, from children: "You could give them a pat on the head if they did something really special, but when you greet them in the morning, you could give them a handshake."

Watson thought that lovingly caressing children – as parents all over the world have done for thousands of years – would prevent them from becoming independent, self-sufficient adults. By touching, parents would be "building up a human being totally unable to cope with the world it must later live in," Watson wrote in the book Psychological Care of Infant and Child, published in 1928.

Watson believed that by not touching young children and toddlers, parents teach them to be independent at an early age, Wasling explains.

"But then it turns out that the opposite is actually true," Wasling says. "Children who get a lot of touch, support and closeness from their parents are actually the ones that dare to go out and explore, as they grow up, because they have a basic safety that they can rely on. They have a solid foundation."

#touch #healing touch #children #Body Alive #bodywork #feeling #Structural Integration Atlanta

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