Surrounded By Flames

I Think He Is Going To Stay

Days had turned into weeks, two weeks to be exact since the incident. After some very persistent pestering Dabi talked me into going to self-defense class after spotting the business card I had on the counter. He insisted that I needed to know how to protect myself since I did stupid things like invite strangers over.

Dabi had stayed with me every night, even if he wasn't there when I got home from work he would be there before I fell asleep. We no longer tried to separate ourselves as we fell asleep, in fact I had gotten used to falling asleep in Dabi's arms.

Slowly more and more of Dabi's clothes began appearing in my apartment along with his undergarments in my loads of laundry. I had cleared out some space in my closet for him and emptied out a drawer. He even started stocking some of his favorite food in my cupboards. He claimed a favorite coffee cup that my brother had bought me a few years back. Most importantly I had made him a key.

After the first week of him constantly interrupting me while I was taking a shower after work, I decided a key was needed. He was reluctant at first saying that I barely knew him and this was as stupid as inviting an stranger in to heal their wounds. I told him if he didn't take the key, I was going to leave it outside my door for anyone to take. After a few choice words he took the key which now sits around his neck.

By the middle of the second week Dabi gave me his phone number. I was ecstatic. I felt that this meant he was going to stick around for good. As much as I wanted to check in on him throughout the day, I didn't want to suffocate him with my clinginess, but to my surprise he was the clingy one.

'How is work? You get off in an hour, right?' I smiled down at my phone rereading the message. Dabi messaged me multiple times throughout the day to check in on me.

'Good, pretty slow. Yes I get off in a hour, would you wanna meet somewhere for supper?" I messaged back quickly and tucked my phone back in my pocket.

"You've been smiling a lot lately Y/N. Did you find a nice man perhaps?" Shino, my head nurse, asked.

"I have met someone, and I think I really like him."

"Oooo, spill." Shino hastily pulled up a chair and waited for me to continue.

"Well, we met about three months ago and he said I would never see him again but he just keeps popping back into my life. He saved me from a really bad situation," I cringed at the thought of it, "and he has been in my life since." I spared Shino all the gory details.

"That's great, as long as he makes you happy...oh god room seven is throwing up again..."

"I'll order some more meds for them." I turned back to the computer and began entering the order.

"Thank you." Shino huffed as she stood up to go retrieve the medication from the machine. I checked my phone to see a new message from Dabi.

'Sorry princess I can't, but I will meet you back at the apartment.' I let out a gloomy sigh, he always turned down my offer to go out. Maybe it had something to do with his scars, was he self-conscious? I did tell him that I could fix his scaring, maybe I should talk to him about it tonight.

I stepped out of the shower to dry myself off before putting my clothes on. I wasn't sure when Dabi would show up, but I learned my lesson about bringing clothes with me to the bathroom the hard way. When I left the bathroom, I found him sitting on the couch flipping through Netflix. I took a moment to steady myself and build up the courage I needed to confront Dabi about his scars.

"Dabi, I wanna go out." I stated sitting on the couch, facing him.

"Then go out..." He stated, confused by my statement.