The Quaintest of All (Dabi x Reader)

[11] One minute they arrive, next you know they're gone

𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌
𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓌.

He didn't stay overnight back then on that fateful day. Maybe the feeling of their connected hands had been a little bit too much for the wounded woman since it wasn't that easy to fall in love after a relationship like that. But she couldn't deny the soft feelings inside her chest when acknowledging the attempts of comfort by Dabi. In fact, she knew these feelings all too well, but she was hardly keen on experiencing them so soon again. Her trust in people wasn't really that shaken by the first relationship she was in and Dabi gave her a lot of new insights on society (for example by asking what her opinions on certain topics were and hereby opening the florist's eyes), but could she really trust him?

He, on the other hand, could only speculate about these emotions inside of him. In the beginning, when he had first stepped into Ranunculus and left the shop with a bittersweet feeling, it was just a natural wave of curiosity. Curiosity on a person his age that lived a life so very differently from his. But now it wasn't mere curiosity anymore - yes, even a cold villain like him could see that.

But what was it then? It was difficult to accept the certain idea that popped up in his head whenever he tried to come to a conclusion. He wasn't good at trusting himself.

✧ ✧* . . ✧ *✧ ✧

Soft (favourite genre) music resonated out of the grey loud speakers in the florist's shop. (Name) went silently from thirsty flower to flower and she wasn't sure if she just imagined their heads to hang ever so lowly. The female sighed out as she checked the time. "30 minutes before closing time...," she thought and instantly cringed at this way of thinking. Since when did she get so tired or even exhausted by her own job?

The florist almost didn't hear a new customer come in.

"Hello (Last Name)," a familiar male voice greeted her as the person strolled into her shop. The aforesaid female moved her head and smiled slightly as she saw a trusted dark-haired man in her store.

"Hello Aizawa!" the young woman exclaimed rather happily (much to her surprise). It's been quite some time since the Erasure Hero had last come here and she was always glad to see this certain man. He helped her parents in a troublesome night that happened a few years ago and since that, he's trying to frequently check up on the welfare of the family. Especially on (Name). After all, when they got attacked on the streets back then she was the one who was crying the most.

It may sound cliché, yes. Shota Aizawa isn't even the type of person that would come into other's lives ever so often, but one exception wouldn't hurt. (Name) also ran into him the evening she tried to break up with her former boyfriend. Both of the adults remember it very well: She was running and her face was as brought up as every other person's face was when they've almost gotten attacked. And so, Aizawa also got to learn about that particular situation.

"I'm happy to see you again!" the florist smiled. "How have you been?"

The man dressed in all black sighed before running his fingers through his hair. He didn't wear his scarf since he wasn't on duty at this time of day. "To be honest, it could be better. My hero class of this year has gotten attacked two times this year by villains. Doesn't feel that good." He narrowed his equally black eyes to slits. "They've for sure gotten more offensive."

(Name) mustered up an empathetic look on her face as she gazed at the male. "Yeah, I've heard about that. Especially the second encounter must have been so scary for these poor kids. At least they are more safe now in the dormitories, aren't they? Is that Bakugo-boy alright?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

Aizawa scoffed in an annoyed way as he moved his hands out of the pockets of his pants. "He is, but as troublesome as ever."

The girl snickered slightly at this as she remembered the boys' behaviour at the Sports Festival. He surely must be a difficult student. "But I didn't come here today to talk about some students of mine, (Name)," the Erasure Hero muttered before crossing his arms over his chest. The look he held before saying the next words had gotten rather serious. "I want you to be extra careful. It doesn't even have to be at night time, but... just be careful out there. The world became quite messy in the last weeks. Even we heroes have our problems with keeping up by now."

With that, the mood dropped quickly. The female stared towards the ground bitterly as she chewed on her underlip, not knowing what to say.

"Just... stay safe," Aizawa mumbled a last time before turning around on his heel. Processing these words, the florist grew even more confused. "Wait, why are you saying these things as if something really bad is going to happen?" She reached out to grab the fabric around his elbow, but he was quick to dodge - after all, Shota Aizawa wasn't the type for touching.

He glanced at her from the brink of his eyes. "Please don't think of this as some kind of goodbye. I'm simply telling you this because it appears the villains are more agressive than ever." His eyes darted towards the outside of the shop. "We just can't sit around and-," his voice trailed off as his gaze fixated on something on the streets.

"... And?" the female repeated quietly.

Without another word, Aizawa stormed out of Ranunculus, only for (Name) to keep the door open with difficulty at this sudden and harsh action. "Hey, what's up?" she shouted after the man who had now run on the other side of the road.

'Wait, did I just see an indigo coat...?!'

Repeatedly closing and opening her eyes in disbelief, the florist's eyes widened as she realized the current situation.

Aizawa saw Dabi on the outside and ... is chasing him?

Without even caring about her shop, the female darted out of the entrance door to outrun at least on of the two men. 'Please don't let this be true,' she thought frantically as she ran as fast as she'd ever run in her life before, not caring about the people that were shouting at her in the process. (Name) had always assumed some things about Dabi and being a villain was definitely one of them, but she didn't want it to be true. It simply couldn't be. After all, who would feel nice about discovering a person you kind of took into your heart to be the embodiment of evil?

Gasping and struggling for air, (Name) stopped abruptly as she caught sight of Aizawa who was bending down on a lonely sidewalk, his hands on his knees. The young woman walked closer towards the kind man she knew and intuitively searched for another one with her eyes. But there wasn't even a trace except Shota's left sleeve being slightly burnt.

"W-who did you chase?" the female exclaimed as she stared at the aforesaid piece of clothing. Didn't he use his erasure quirk?!

"A villain that was part of the group that infiltrated us in the forest camp back then."

And so, the fragile façade (Name) had put up in front of her mind's image of Dabi just shattered withing a matter of seconds. Everything she tried to hold together with plain tape simply crumbled into pieces and fell together in front of her. The pile seemed to be made up of ashes.

Too shocked to even cry, she simply let her arms fall to her sides as she stared into a distance far away.

"Too bad you didn't get him."

𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑜𝓌, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝑔𝑜
𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒.

✧ Song: Coldplay - O (lyrics in text: True Love)

Picture credit: This picture was painted by me!