Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 53

I froze in place - the natural instinct within me was screaming at me to activate my quirk and get the hell out of there - it was a fight of twelve against one, I was weak with hunger, and there was no way I could win against them. I forced myself to stay calm and keep walking after Dabi. I'm one of them now. They won't hurt me. I'm a villain, too. Still, when all of their eyes turned to me, I had the very strong urge to wipe myself from their sight and run away at the speed of light, or to at least hide behind Dabi.

Dabi. He had a hand on my shoulder, though I couldn't tell whether it was to remind me that I wasn't alone or to keep me from bolting. Either way, it didn't matter. I swallowed nervously and took a step to the group, raising a hand in an awkward wave. I recognized some of the villains before me - there was the blonde girl with the buns that I'd knocked out before, with the other tall one beside her. Another one with short pinkish-red hair and a shirt with ripped sleeves stood beside them, arms crossed over her chest as she eyed me up and down. Then there was that one villain that I'd fought so long ago - was his name Muscular? I almost giggled at how uncreative he was but managed to compose myself.

The one with the black-and-white mask over his face, Mr. Compress, stood near the back next to one of the many tables within the room with a small group around him, among which I only recognized Spinner. Their eyes followed my every move, and I tried to muster up some confidence as I gently pushed Dabi's hand off my shoulder. I needed to do this alone. I needed to earn my keep, so to say. I took a brave step forward, facing the villains before me, and with one last deep breath, I stood up straight, forcing myself to relax as best as I could. 

"Hiroko Kira," I introduced myself once again, not bothering to go by the name Vizion any longer, though I probably needed to come up with an alias now that I was a villain. "Pleasure to meet you guys, and I look forward to working with you." Silence met me in response, and I flinched inwardly. They probably weren't too happy to have an ex-hero among them. "Um, before we continue, I just wanted to apologize to everyone that I'd fought before." This caught some of their attention, and I walked up to Spinner first, who took a small step back. "Sorry for beating you up that one time a few months ago."

"Uh... it's alright?" The villain replied, throwing a confused glance to those beside him as I bowed slightly before him before turning to the two girls that I'd knocked unconscious during the bank heist.

"I'm sorry I knocked you out while you were robbing a bank," I told them, bowing once again. I apologized to every villain I'd ever fought in the room, leaving them all a little confused, but if I was going to be a villain, too, then I wanted to have a clean slate with everyone. Only when I was done did I return to Dabi's side, feeling somewhat proud of myself - apologizing had never been my strong suit. 

Dabi waved to the others before leading me to a door on one side of the room, and I pushed it open just to find a pretty big kitchen complete with an oven, a stove, a microwave and a large fridge. As soon as the door closed behind us, Dabi pushed me against it with a large smirk on his face. "Do I get an apology too?" He whispered sweetly into my ear as he leaned close, and my internal compass went completely haywire.

Maybe I was still confused and seeking comfort, or maybe it was the fact that he looked too damn cocky right now, but I dove forward, pressing my lips against his almost in an attempt to shut him up before pushing him away and ducking to the fridge instead. I just kissed Dabi. I just kissed a villain that burned down half a neighborhood all on his own. I just kissed Dabi, and I liked it. I couldn't even face him now, instead focusing all of my attention on rifling through the fridge and trying to calm down the heat in my cheeks. I snuck a glance at him out of the corner of my eye, only to see him still standing in the same place that I'd pushed him to, two fingers gently touching his lips as a dumbfounded smile overtook him. Well, at least he wasn't being cocky now.

I tried to busy myself with getting food instead - it'd been a while since I had a proper meal - but I could barely think straight. It felt like my entire body was electrified, like I had too much energy coursing through my body, and I knew it was his fault. I hadn't felt this was in so long. I hadn't felt that beautiful rush of adrenaline that made me want to jump and scream with joy in months now. It was a different kind of adrenaline from the one that I got in battle. That kind of adrenaline meant death. This one, however, meant life. This one meant that I could still feel alive, even without Keigo. This one meant that I no longer needed to rely on him.

Still, my heart clenched as I thought of him. We'd been through so much together. Surely one small mistake from me couldn't have shattered the bond we had, right? Unless I never meant as much to him as he did to me... Then that must mean that the better part of my life had all been a lie. A horrible, horrible lie, but it had been so beautiful, too. But it was broken now. It was broken, all because of the fact that instead of shutting up and being grateful for everything I've ever done for him, Keigo decided it would be better to crush me instead. Just the thought of him now made me angry, so damn angry, that I had to force myself to think about something else.

At least I didn't feel guilty about kissing Dabi. If Keigo rejected me, then I rejected him, too. We were over, we were done and gone, so kissing Dabi wasn't wrong. In fact, kissing him felt more right than the past three months with Keigo had. It's like I was never meant to be with Keigo, I thought. It's like I was meant to be here, meant to be a villain with Dabi by my side. That sent another blush to my cheeks, and I was grateful that the door of the fridge was blocking me from Dabi's sight - he would've teased the living hell out of me for it. Giving up on trying to calm myself down, I settled for leftovers of what looked like stir fry and busied myself with heating it up for myself, still not wanting to look at Dabi.

How long had we been silent now? Another quick glance at him showed that he was still stuck standing there, electric blue eyes wide and fingers barely ghosting over his lips as if he couldn't quite believe it. I didn't blame him for that, though. I'd been half tempted to elbow him in the gut instead, but now, I was glad I decided against it. I dumped the leftovers into a bowl and put it into the microwave, back still turned to Dabi, not wanting him to see how red I was. It wasn't fair how much power he had over me, to make me not even able to think straight and turn every thought I had upside down.

"Well then, apology accepted," he finally stated, trying to act as cool and collected as usual, but I could still hear the smile in his words. "But hey, princess, if you wanted to kiss me so bad, you could've done it before."

"Be grateful it even happened," I huffed back, crossing my arms over my chest as I silently willed for the microwave to speed up. What would happen between us now? I tried to shake that question away, but it still lingered at the back o f my mind. It was just a kiss, right? Dabi saw it as an apology for me fighting him before, so it surely didn't mean anything. The beep of the microwave broke me from my thoughts, and I almost pounced at the machine in hunger. The savory smell wafted through the air, and I, leaning against the counter, immediately dug in. 

Any thought of Dabi immediately disappeared as the food melted on my tongue - I'd forgotten how good it could taste if it wasn't cheap ramen bought at food trucks. I ate like I was starving to death, not even bothering to be neat with it, and I was completely oblivious to the fact that Dabi was staring at me again, the softest hint of a smile tugging at his lips.