Midnight Skies - A DabixReader Story

Second Chances

You were unable to sleep well, thanks to Dabi refusing to let up his grip on you as he slept, making it so you were stuck next to his furnace of a body all night, sweat slicking the t-shirt you wore to bed to your back.
You only really get a few hours of restful sleep before giving up and wrestling your way out of Dabi's arms, surprised by how tight he was gripping onto you, even in his sleep.
You look over him, his arms outstretched across the bed too now from where you'd dragged him a little while getting away from him.
Sure enough, a light sheen of sweat covers his body too, and he doesn't look as peaceful as he did earlier on in the night as he sleeps, his face twisted up as though he's in a little bit of pain.
You sigh a little bit, turning to head towards the bathroom. You needed a shower desperately, with how hot Dabi had been overnight, your body felt generally grimy and unpleasant. You figure a shower may help you feel less sleepy as well.
You take potentially the worlds longest shower, standing under the water for way longer than needed.

It doesn't work though, and you're still tired when you step out of the shower. You splash your face with cold water, and still no improvement. So with a sigh, you put on a sports bra you'd picked up before leaving the bedroom and pull on some sweatpants, heading to the kitchen to make some coffee.
Waiting for the coffee machine to do its thing, you softly sing to yourself to try and fill the silence in the room. You stand with your head hanging back slightly, your eyes closed and your hands braced against the countertop.
...The same countertop that that happened on.
You pause as you remember, feeling your face heat up. And soon you find yourself singing a little louder to drown out your own thoughts. You were being a little selfish, but you'd been kind enough to ferry him around yesterday despite how he'd behaved the last time you'd seen him, and it was your home, as much as he loved to treat it like his own.
Nothing seems to work though, the memory of that one time bouncing around your head. You sigh a little. You really didn't want to let him win that easily, but your body would easily cave if you let it.

When the coffee machine beeps, you immediately spin around, grabbing your mug and heading to your bedroom.
When you pass the bathroom, the door's shut again and the shower's going. You grimace a little, at the fact you'd clearly woken Dabi up. He was probably feeling a little rough this morning. Internally you berate yourself for feeling guilty that you'd woken him up when he'd kept you up all night last night with his stupid Quirk. He'd easily gotten more sleep than you had, he'd even been napping when you'd been busy driving him around last night.
You flop onto your bed, setting your coffee on the side and ordering Alexa to play some music, deciding to just try to relax today considering how tired you were.
You're scrolling mindlessly through your phone when you spot Dabi appearing in your peripheral vision. You slide your eyes up, them going from half lidded to wide as you spot him in nothing but a towel as he walks through the door.
It's nothing you hadn't already seen before, but there was something so casual and homely about how he strolled in, rubbing his hair with a towel roughly on one side.

"Morning sleepyhead." You greet, trying to keep your eyes on his face.
His entire body freezes, and his icy eyes shoot to meet your own, in a look of shock.
Flashes of an empty hospital room, a hand-drawn card and flowers enter your mind from his.
"What did you just call me?" He asks, frowning a little as the look of shock passes as quickly as it came.
"S-sleepyhead?" You stutter a little, surprised at the reaction. Clearly that word was significant to him, it was unlike him to share anything personal like that willingly, so you must have caught him off guard.
He gives you a once over before giving a brief 'hm', returning back to rubbing at his head with the towel.
"Because you were tired last night." You clarify.
He's quiet for a couple moments before giving you a bit of a sheepish look.
"I didn't think you'd call, and..." He looks away again.
The walls go up so quickly that you can practically envision them in your own head, and he stiffens momentarily before releasing his tension, his body relaxing once more as he looks directly at you again.

"And... my body felt like it was dripping straight off the bones. So I hadta get something to sort that out." He says, the words clearly a struggle as they leave him, judging from the way he said it through gritted teeth and clenching his jaw as though he really didn't want to share that information, but felt obliged to.
You soak in the rare information he gave you, before nodding and putting your phone next to your coffee.
"How do you feel today?" You ask patiently, making sure to hold eye contact so he knew you were listening to everything he might have to say.
You were getting the feeling you had to approach this very carefully, lest you scare him off letting you in again.
"Eh." He says with a shrug, seeming to think about it for a second before adding: "Anxious."
"Okay..." You say, a little startled by the amount of honesty you seemed to be getting out of him today. Maybe he really was trying to hold up his end of the promise after all. "About anything in particular? Or...?"
He sits on the edge of the bed, looking down at you with a soft look, his usually unruly hair hanging straight down his face.

You stare back at him, waiting for him to say something, anything, but he doesn't. He just keeps his eyes on you, before looking down at the rest of your body and meeting your eyes again.
"Always get that way after percs." He says eventually, with a small shrug.
You mull that one over for a little while. You were pretty familiar with those, but not enough to lecture him. Instead, you tuck that one away for later, to research and to try and find some kind of alternatives for him. You could appreciate the damage done to his body probably was painful, but it scared you knowing he was out there being reckless. Not that you were going to tell him that... yet, anyway.
You pick up your coffee, sipping it thoughtfully as Dabi continues drying his hair with one of your towels.
As much as you hated yourself for thinking it, this whole situation felt so natural. Like this was something that had happened for years before today.
"What're you thinkin' about, doll?" He asks lowly, his back turned to you.
The question catches you off guard. No-one had ever asked you that before.

"About percs." You reply.
"What about 'em?" He asks, turning to face you with a small frown pulling his eyebrows together.
This bitch was about to lecture you if you said you were thinking about taking them, or if you mention you had taken them before.
You frown at him. "Just trying to remember what I know about them. No need to lecture me, you're not my dad."
He smirks, that signature Dabi smirk that only ever manifested when he was about to say something to wind you up.
"I may not be your dad, but I bet I could get you callin' me daddy."
"You're disgusting." You deadpan.
He chuckles, looking away again.
"Yeah, I hear that a lot."
His thoughts turn to you as he goes silent, clips of memories from previous meetings playing through his mind, some lewd and some innocent.
He turns to face you again, leaning over the bed to bring his face closer to yours. You brace yourself subconsciously, uncertain about what you expected him to do, but knowing something was likely to happen.
"Can't be that bad though if I managed to land myself a pretty lil princess like you though, huh?"

His voice is low and extra gravelly as he says it, his piercing blue eyes staring directly into yours in their usual half-lidded manner. His face is close enough that you can feel his breath fanning over your face.
The reaction is instant, too, your face heating up immediately and your eyes widening as his face gets even closer.
You close your eyes instinctively as he closes the gap between you both, your lips parting expectantly, before feeling his nose rub against yours gently, the action knocking you for six.
"Thanks for letting me stay." He says, his voice barely above a whisper as he moves away from you again.
You stare at him with wide eyes for a second, trying to remember if he'd ever thanked you before, and with a deep breath, you internally say 'fuck it', moving both hands either side of his scarred face, and pressing your lips to his.