come in with the rain - dabi x reader

2. wasted years, wasted youth

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the wasted years, the wasted youth
and the day has come where i have died
only to find i've come alive

╚═══════════════════════.✾. ═╝

"So," Dr. Sato begins the appointment (can you call it that if it's mandatory?), cheery as ever, "Have you given the journal any thought?"

Touya glares at the man, eyes threatening to shut themselves and force him back into another bout of restless sleep. "No," he answers. "Do I look like a twelve-year-old girl to you?" He blinks hard.

In response, Sato gives a tight-lipped smile, one that doesn't meet his eyes at all. "You seem a bit more agitated than usual." Touya rolls his eyes. "Why do you think that is?"

With a sigh, he tips his head back to stare up at the paneled ceiling. "Well, I've got no clue," he says slowly, exaggeratedly. "The quality of life here is just stellar."

Something gets quickly scribbled down on a clipboard. If he had to guess, Touya's putting his money on it being his attitude—he'd been told a while ago that his mood seemed to be improving. So much for that. "Did you sleep well last night?" Asks the shrink.

Touya's lips twitch into a sneer. The answer is obvious, but he's still got the nagging feeling that Sato's been watching him on the security tapes. That, or someone in security is filling him in on what to probe him with. He considers sarcastically asking if Sato's been stalking him, but he doesn't have the energy to joke around. "No," he says instead, "Slept like shit."

"Was it difficult to fall asleep, or to stay asleep?"

He blinks tiredly again. "Staying asleep."

Sato hums. "Any reason why? If it's a physical issue, like too much noise or the room is too hot, we can fix that. Otherwise...."

Touya scoffs, then swallows thickly, looking down at his lap. "I had a bad dream," he says in a mocking tone, though it's not the joke he hopes to play it off as. He did have a nightmare last night. It's nothing new for him, honestly; he'd been dreaming it pretty often since little Touya's death. Burning alive, alone in the woods, with that dry, hot, suffocating air. The pain of frying from the inside out. The fear that he'd never prove himself to that bastard Endeavor—a stupid fear, but it had been the thing on his mind all the same. He'd felt pure terror that night, and it haunts him even now, as much as he loathes (and refuses) to admit it.

"Really?" Dr. Sato asks, eyes widening slightly. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No." He doesn't even have to think about that response.

The man laughs quietly, visibly disappointed. Not that Touya cares. "I expected as much.... Ah—Your youngest brother visited, yes? How was that?"

Touya stares off at the wall on his right. "Was fine," he answers, eye twitching. He can feel the stapled skin going taut as he grins. "Little shit told me to move on. Sounded like some shit you'd say."

Sato inhales deeply. "Well, yes, that is generally the goal," he explains, "To get you into a place where you're not always angry. Of course, that doesn't always mean you'll be one hundred-percent happy all the time, but we want to make you stable enough to return to—"

"Yeah, cut the crap, doc. Did ya tell him to say that shit, or not? He your puppet, too?"

Touya hates the way Sato looks at him, skin crawling all over. He hates that look of pity, the kind he'd wanted to see during his big reveal, back when he was Dabi. The grin borders on painful, face twitching and faltering. And is it a trick of his mind, or does it feel like something wet has trickled down his cheekbone?