𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 (𝐃𝐚𝐛𝐢 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

17

Dabi's POV:

It was nearly impossible to fight the urge to wake you up and demand the name of whoever you'd spoken of.  

Pushing himself away from the couch, Dabi walked into the kitchen and leaned back against the counter. A storm of violent thoughts swirled in his mind as he tried to remember anything you said that could lead him to the man that had caused you to have such an outburst. 

When thinking back, though, all he could remember were the tears that stained your skin and the broken look in your eyes as you'd spoken. In the near month that the two of you had lived together, not once had you shown such a display of vulnerability. Even when he'd had you naked before him. 

His first question when he'd seen you had been what could have caused such an out-of-character moment. It was obvious that you were drunk, which wouldn't normally be cause for concern, but whenever it was a Monday in the middle of work? That wasn't normal. You never allowed yourself any shortcomings when it came to your job. You were constantly staying late and taking on more responsibilities than needed. Half of the time, he noticed, you wouldn't even take a lunch break. 

But as you'd continued to speak, a clear image had been painted in his mind of the events that had unfolded between you and the man that had caused this. The constant flame of anger he carried inside of him had grown to insurmountable heights almost immediately, as though your words were gasoline, pouring over it in a steady flow as you'd spoken. 

Dabi pushed away from the counter, realizing how tightly his hands had been gripping the edge. If he wasn't careful, there was a chance that he would burn right through it. 

He closed his eyes, attempting to calm himself. This was a different kind of anger, one he wasn't used to. At first, the feeling had been shadowed by the typical possessiveness that often made an appearance whenever he would find out someone had touched the body he held claim over, but he'd quickly realized it was something different.

Ever since the night at your friend's house, he'd made an effort to distance himself. He'd let himself open up too much. You'd noticed it, but hadn't said anything until now. You believed that he didn't care about what happened to you outside of your mission, and he shouldn't... didn't.

That night there was no reason that he should have been treating your wounds or covering you with a blanket to make sure you slept in comfort. He shouldn't have been cooking with you or checking on you on the nights your nightmares invaded your sleep.

He shouldn't have felt that spark of hopefulness at that moment whenever you'd recognized who he really was.

He'd reminded himself that you were nothing more than a means to an end, and he should be treating you as such. The two of you could fool around as much as you pleased, but other than that there should be no other forms of interaction aside from working together to find Izanagi.  

That was the logical approach, and he planned on seeing it through, but why was it becoming so fucking hard to remain in that state of mind? It hadn't been mere possessiveness bringing about the overwhelming fury surrounding him. It wasn't the fact that someone had touched something he'd claimed, it was the fact that someone had touched you. Some man had drugged you and likely done something Dabi couldn't even think about without creating the risk of burning down the building surrounding him, and then somehow the man had gotten away with it. He'd turned people against you, made you a liar in their eyes. He'd isolated you in a world already designed to work against you.

And Dabi wanted to kill him for it. 

From his back pocket, the buzzing of his phone distracted him momentarily. He opened it and saw the flash of an unknown number on his screen. Interesting, Shigaraki didn't usually call during the day. Dabi glanced toward the living room to make sure you were still asleep before accepting the call.