Midnight Skies - A DabixReader Story

Bittersweet

Dabi ducks below the broken window, embracing the cold air outside of Y/N's home. Her home seemed to constantly have some form of heating on, and always seemed to succeed in making his body even more uncomfortably hot than it already was.
Even to this day, he never could understand why most women he had ever experienced (which admittedly, wasn't a lot) always seemed to run on the cooler side. He wished he was that lucky.

Pulling out his burner phone from his jackets pocket, he slowly lowers himself to the floor, leaning against the outside wall with his legs outstretched in front of him as he clicks on the brokers name, and brings the phone to his ear, tilting his head a little on the other side to make sure he'd be able to hear anything she could be up to inside.
He wouldn't be surprised if she decided to try to run for it for tonight. He'd never exactly been popular with the ladies, but the look of sheer embarrassment and shame on her face as he'd announced he'd keep her company for the night struck a nerve he hadn't even known he had.

She was smart though, he could tell that much and likely would go over all of her options. She'd probably assume that he'd sit around in her house until she returned. Probably thought he'd dish out some kind of punishment for her attempting to flee from him, too.
He sighs slightly, tapping his fingers impatiently against his leg as he waits for the old man to pick up his stupid phone.
He supposes he can't really blame her for thinking that little of him. He had burned her. That was on reflex. He regretted it immensely. He never wanted to lay his hands on a woman like his father used to, and he hated to admit that it had been playing on his mind an awful lot since he'd left the sanctity of her home.

"Hellooo?" A smooth voice calls down the phone, bringing Dabi round to reality again. The sudden reminder of where he was, what he was doing, draws attention to the feeling of warm liquid slowly trickling down his face.
Frustrated, he uses the heel of his hand to wipe the blood making its way down his face away, and likely only smearing it across his cheek even further.
"I need someone that can fix a window." Dabi says gruffly, his frustration with himself dwelling too much on the past unfortunately being taken out on Giran.
"Hello to you too." Giran greets sarcastically, his voice muffled slightly in a way that helped Dabi's mind clearly imagine the older man sat at his desk, rolling his eyes at Dabi's abrasiveness with a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth.
"You know someone right?" Dabi asks, ignoring the man's snarky comment entirely. Thinking of his old man had completely destroyed his mood. Foolish.

"Yes, Dabi, I do." Giran sighs, his patience for Dabi's abrupt ways clearly being tested, he was usually pretty good at remaining upbeat with all of the members of the League. "But your tab's beginning to run up, now."
Dabi rolls his lips together in annoyance, a habit he'd picked up once he'd learnt that the feeling of the rough skin on his lower jaw kept him grounded, his head level for a little longer.
"I'll send you the address." Dabi replies, deciding to ignore Girans hint about money owed for what probably was about the fifth tine now. "Thanks."
Before Giran can speak another word, Dabi hits the red button to end the call and slides upwards, the staples on his jacket awkwardly catching on the building and immediately snapping the last nerve he'd been holding onto.

With an annoyed hiss, the hand clenching his phone tightens, blue flames beginning to lick at his skin without him even having intended to, and his arm raises as his body swings around to throw the stupid thing at the stupid building, but two piercing yellow eyes stop him right in his tracks.
The quick flinch she gives as he almost launches his phone in her general direction makes his stomach drop, a nauseating feeling immediately setting up in his bones. His hand falls, his body loosens, and he doesn't miss the look of relief that passes over Y/N's face as it happens.
"Sorry, I just wanted to give you-" She begins to mumble, coming closer to the open window.
"It wasn't yo-" Dabi snaps, but catches himself quickly when he realises in her slightly shaky hands, she's carrying a plate of food.

Dabi rolls his lips together again, his eyes darting to the side as he tries to take a hopefully subtle collecting breath through his nose.
"That for me?" He asks, which comes out more abrasively than he'd really wanted. His stomach still felt gross from the flinch she'd given earlier. He was beginning to get a bit pissed off about that, too.
She nods silently, her golden stare avoiding his own. "I tried making it as cool as possible..."
Dabi stares at the plate in her hand, processing her words, before letting out a small snort and lifting himself up through the window again.
He feels her eyes tracing his every movement as he hauls himself back inside her home, brushing off his clothes and straightening up to his full height in front of her.
Her yellow eyes pierce straight through him again as she makes eye contact with him.

"Window should be sorted soon." Dabi huffs, taking the plate from her hands, a lot gentler than he would have had Kurogiri been handing him the food.
"Oh. Okay." Y/N responds, shifting a little awkwardly.
"They shouldn't be any trouble." Dabi adds, assuming that her uncomfortable shuffle was due to the lack of faith she likely had in him.
"It's just..." She begins to say, her voice fading behind him as he makes his way to the sofa, flopping onto it carelessly and stabbing a chopstick into one of the vegetables on his plate.
He hears her quiet steps follow him, her legs in his peripheral vision.
She clears her throat.

"It's just, I don't earn that much." She says, the confidence in her voice wavering. "I couldn't really afford this expense right now."
Dabi pauses, his second mouthful of food halfway in his mouth as his cold irises roll upwards to look at her.
He fights back a smirk as he takes in her face, a look of assertiveness resting in her features. She was cute.
"Listen, I got the guys out didn't I, princess?" He drawls, not dropping his eye contact with her as he motions down at his stapled together clothes. "Ain't like I got much either."
Her confident expression wobbles a bit as she seems to soak in his words, her arms folding over her chest.
Suddenly a idea crosses Dabi's mind, a sly grin pulling upwards on one side of his mouth.

He hadn't actually intended to make her pay for the window. You break, you buy, he figured.
Not very villainous however.
She did, however, have something he wanted. Something he could sway her into giving him if she felt she owed him.

"Tell ya what, princess." He says, the cockiness in his tone audible even to him as he lays the still nearly full plate on the table his feet rested on previously.
Slouching back against the couch again, he looks up at her lazily, barely registering her suddenly wan expression.
"I'll cover the bill if you do me a little favour." His tongue runs over the marred remains of his lower lip.
"If you get what I mean."