Blue Flame |Dabi x Reader|

an uncomfortable apology.

I woke up with a start, my face pressed against the cool, firm ground. I shakily pushed myself to my knees, my entire body trembling. As my eyes slowly refocused, there was a dim light at the farthest end of the hallway in front of me. I blinked rapidly in the dimness, rubbing my eyes hard with my palms. I turned around, looking around for Dabi, finding nothing but a dead end wall with a door on it behind me. I tugged on the big silver handle of the door and it rattled, but didn't open. 

Locked.

I turned back towards the dim light at the end of the hall, inhaling through my nose and trying to gather up courage. The hall seemed longer than it did a moment ago, somehow. 

My feet felt like lead. Each step was a battle, my legs threatening to buckle underneath me. "Dabi?" I called out, my voice echoing hollowly back at me off of the walls of the hallway. "Hello? Anyone?"

The only response I received was my own voice echoing back at me, almost mockingly.

I took struggling step after struggling step, my legs screaming for me to stop. The dim light at the end of the tunnel seemed to grow no closer despite how far I walked. I looked behind me and realized that the door behind me was not much further away than it had been when I started, either.

A grotesque, guttural growl emitted from behind the door as it rattled, the sound of the clanging metal reverberating off of the walls. A chill ran up my spine as my breath hitched in my chest.

"Mouse!" Dabi's voiced pierced the silence, seeming to come from all directions. "Hey! There you are!"

I spun around frantically, looking for him but seeing no sign of him. "Dabi?! Dabi! Where are you?" I called out again, my voice weak and raspy.

The crunch and crash of metal rang out behind me and I spun back around as a massive Nomu with several eyes came charging from out of the pit that had replaced the door. It opened its massive jaws, revealing a set of sharp, elongated teeth. It let out another horrible shriek as it scooped me up in its massive claws. I tried to scream, but no noise came out. 

It shook me violently, slinging me into the wall. I slid down and tried to get up, but I was pinned down by large, grey hands coming up through the floor. I let out another scream as the Nomu charged towards me again, propelling itself like a gorilla with its fists on the ground -

I bolted upright in Dabi's bed, screaming his name at the top of my lungs before I was quickly pulled into a familiar leathery chest, my face pressed into his skin. The smell of campfire filled my nose with each panicked breath. His hands burrowed into my hair, cradling my head. "Hey, hey, easy, mouse," he crooned in his low, raspy voice, "you're safe. You're safe." I took a deep wheezing breath, tears streaming down my face as I wrapped my shaky arms around his torso, squeezing him as hard as I could.

I didn't care that it was him, in that moment. I was relieved to not really be in the grip of another Nomu again.

I choked out sobs for a few more minutes as he continued to stroke my hair, squeezing me tight. He pressed his narrow chin into the top of my head. I could feel him grinding his teeth. I could still feel the grip of the Nomu around my neck. My head throbbed. My neck and spine ached terribly. The left side of my face felt like it had come face-to-face with a mallet. I felt like I was back to square one. 

Eventually, I began to tug myself away and he let me go, reaching to the side and clicking on the bedside lamp. In the dim light, his face looked sullen and haggard. The glow of his bright eyes had dimmed immensely, and despite the burnt and stapled skin beneath his eyes, dark circles pooled in the live flesh underneath them. His jaw was taut and his body language rigid. He pulled his legs up close to himself and reached out his hand towards my face, cradling my cheek and gently turning my head to the side. I watched as his eyes travelled from my stitches above my left temple down my once again noticeably swollen jaw. He slightly shook his head back and forth very slowly, grinding his teeth. "I'm so, so, so sorry," he started, "I'm so glad you finally woke up. I was worried." He made a small circle on my chin with his thumb as he continued to cradle my face, slowly turning it to the other side before gingerly letting me go.