Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 68

I made an attempt at giving Dabi a stern glare that said 'no way in hell are we staying up here', but my resolve crumbled into dust as I sighed into the embrace. "Fine. We can stay. Just... not too long, okay?"

Dabi's expression made him look like an overgrown excited puppy that was desperately trying to stay calm, and I attempted to hide the laugh that was threatening to bubble over. It was very hard to do, especially as Dabi dragged me to the wall of the small room that stuck out on top of the roof like a sore thumb and forced us both onto the ground. He leaned his back against the wall and sat on the ground directing me to sit between his legs so that my back lay flush against his chest. I was about to pull away from the somewhat intimate position, but the comfortable warmth that surrounded us coaxed me to stay. There's no way Dabi was just naturally this warm, especially not when it only got colder and colder. Maybe he used his quirk somehow?

Either way, it didn't matter as Dabi wrapped his arms around me and traced gentle kisses over my neck that left me with wanting more than I was willing to admit, but I forced myself to ignore the overly-pleasant feeling and watch the rapidly setting sun instead. I had a feeling that the makeshift 'date' would've been a lot more romantic if the echoes of Hawks' panic from below us as he discovered the letter wasn't so loud, but I couldn't exactly complain since it was my fault. I distantly heard him yelling about how "of course it's Kira's fault" and I didn't know whether I should have felt proud or angry with myself. I decided on a mix of both. 

The shouts only got louder, and I found myself wondering about the female voice. Who was she to make Hawks so head-over-heels in love with her? Who was she to make him completely forget about me, as if I'd never existed, to make him hate me even though we'd loved one another for almost as long as I could remember? It wasn't fair - I thought he and I had had a bond that no one could break, so who was this new girl that made the bond shatter? After all, he'd been seeing her since before I disappeared, so she must've captured his heart even when I thought he was mine.

I didn't even notice my eyes were watering until the tears started to pour down my face. He was supposed to be mine and we were supposed to be together so what the hell went wrong and made us fall apart? We were supposed to be happy together, and it was his damn fault that we broke apart, and it was all because he couldn't stay loyal and because he couldn't see how much I cared for him and because he was somehow repulsed with my good intentions and because he couldn't handle the fact that he had meant the world to me and more and because he just had to freak out and fly off the handle when something didn't go his away and because he hurt me so fucking much and he couldn't even see how much pain he brought me and because he-

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" The whisper that rumbled from behind me brought me back to Earth from the shaking pain of my mind blaming everything on the person that was supposed to be my everything but became my nothing. "Do you... do you regret leaving him behind?"

"No," I shook my head, burying myself even further into Dabi's chest. "He hurt me. I would've been an absolute idiot if I had tried to stay."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two? One day you were all over him, and next thing I know, you're begging me to take you to the League. That isn't exactly a small change." I ignored his question for a bit, instead watching as the sun finally disappeared and the red sky started to take on the dark of the night. Dabi's hand was absentmindedly running through my hair, and I pulled down my mask for now - there wasn't exactly anyone to turn me in, and it started to get a little uncomfortable. 

"He decided that I wasn't right for him," I finally answered after several minutes of thinking it over. "Apparently he doesn't like it when I kill people that hurt him."

I felt rather than saw Dabi shift behind me, and he pulled me a little closer into the welcoming warmth that was his chest. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd be over the moon if you killed someone for me," Dabi offered in that usual cocky tone of his, and I didn't know whether I should've elbowed him in the gut or laughed. I decided to settle for the latter. "But, uh, princess? What's up with that other girl down there with him? Do you know her?"

I immediately tensed up - I'd hoped Dabi wouldn't mention her, because frankly, I wasn't in the mood to commit a crime heavier than breaking and entering. "I don't. I guess she knows Hawks better than I did, though," I said, the softness of my voice replied by a stone cold lack of emotion. 

"What do you-" It took Dabi a few seconds to understand what I meant, but as soon as he did, the temperature around us immediately rose by several degrees. So he was using his quirk, then. Good to know. "I swear to God, I'll murder that bastard," he growled, trying to stand up, but I forcefully leaned into him to keep him from rising. That, however, didn't calm his anger - somehow, he seemed almost as enraged as me.

"I promise I can do that just fine on my own," I reassured him. "Let's just forget about him for now, okay?" 

A long silent pause dragged on for what felt like forever before Dabi seemingly gave in. "Fine." I leaned my head back to rest against him as his arms wrapped around my waist and he gently placed his chin on my shoulder. When was the last time I'd felt this safe and comfortable? Definitely more than a month. The last time had probably been back with Keigo on the night of that carnival, when he'd still been Keigo and not just Hawks. How many things had changed since then? He'd been my savior, my love, my everything, and now, I was more than ready to kill him. After all, he'd hurt me worse than anyone else - physical injuries, I could take in stride, but he'd wounded me deeper than just skin. He'd betrayed me and abandoned me, and that was something I couldn't handle as well as a broken bone.

But did that really mean I could kill him? Yes, yes it did. He'd led me on, made me believe a perfect lie that only ended up tearing my heart out and ripping it into shreds. He'd called me a psychopath, a monster, a crazy bitch that wouldn't hesitate to slaughter him in cold blood, and maybe he was right. If that's how he saw me, then that's what I'd give him. If that's what he wanted from me, I'd be more than happy to comply - he'd hurt me, made me go through hell and ripped away everything that had made me happy, so it was only fair that I could hurt him back, wasn't it? And what better way to hurt someone than to kill them? I'd be able to do it, I knew that for sure. Hawks had hurt me too much for me to not do something about it, and if all else failed, I could rely on Dabi to get the job done. I'd felt the murderous rage in him that promised he wouldn't hesitate to kill Hawks if I failed to do so. I knew he'd be right beside me if I needed him.

Dabi...

"What are we?" The question left my lips before I even noticed I'd been thinking about it, and it hung loosely in the air for a few seconds. I pulled away from Dabi, turning to face him instead as I waited for an answer that I wasn't sure I wanted.

"What do you mean, 'what are we?' Isn't it obvious?"

"Well, uh, not really?" I looked away, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly as I felt everything start to bubble over. "I mean, we've known each other for less than half a year and we've barely talked before I joined the League, but now we're sitting here and you're being, well, you, and I just- I just permanently ended anything I ever had to do with Hawks and now I'm here with you and I feel so good here but we're both villains and we just burned down an agency, for fuck's sake, and I have no-"

His lips pressed into mine in a hard kiss that left nothing to the imagination, his tongue pushing through the breach of my lips and swirled in a dangerous dance that left me wanting more, more, more, but he pulled away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I hope that answered your question."