Feathers and Flame // Dabi x Reader x Hawks

25: Denial

Neither of you said a word as you left that warehouse, placing a respectable distance between both of you and the gangsters left inside. Dabi let go of your wrist once you stopped walking, and began pacing back and forth across the narrow alleyway.

His anger was palpable, and the tips of his fingers formed licks of blue flame that were gone in an instant. He was fighting for control, and quickly losing. "I'm going back."

You reached for him, grasping his coat to tug him to a stop again. "No, you're not."

Dabi's jaw tensed. "Get out of my way."

Your own temper was beginning to flare. "Don't speak to me like that."

Dabi shook off the hold you had on him and attempted to step past you, which you stopped with a firm hand on his chest. "Don't, princess. Not now."

You placed your other hand on his chest, meeting his cold, brutal gaze. "Please. You have to leave it be for now."

His lips curved in cruel amusement, then. "Did you think that was going to work?"

The sting of rejection was a tragic accompaniment to the fear beating through you. You pressed your lips into a thin line. "Be a dick if you want to, but you're not going back in there. I don't give a shit if you're angry. Show some control."

"Show some control?" Dabi echoed with a cold, mocking laugh. "I think I exercised enough control when you were..." His jaw ticked. "When they had you."

"I am fine," you argued. "I have been in far worse situations before."

His gaze cut through you, right down to your vicious, lying heart. "That's not the point."

"Then what is?" You threw up your arms in question. "What could be gained by going back there, hm?"

He tried to push past you again, but you blocked him. "There'll be nothing left of them, that's what."

You shoved him back, hard enough that he stumbled. "Why are you doing this? I understand you're angry but there's six of them and one of you."

"Why am I doing this?" He ran a hand over his face, disbelief painted across his ruined skin. "Why am I doing this?"

There was a manic gleam in his eyes. A wildness that only came from villainy. From the warped, twisted, and dark emotions of someone cursed to feel nothing else.

"I don't... I don't know the depth of your feelings for me," you spoke slowly, heart hammering. "But I'm telling you that I don't want this."

"My feelings for you?" Dabi had stopped moving. Stopped protesting. His attention was wholly on you now, but his face was a mask of pure nothingness. "This has nothing to do with you."

You flinched as if you'd been slapped, but your own temper kept you rooted in place, your mouth curling into a cruel smile. "Liar."

Because you of all people knew what a lie was. What it tasted like. What it felt like as it brushed over your skin. You had lied and lied and lied until you couldn't tell what the truth was anymore. You would lie until you took your last breath.

One moment you were standing, and the next you were pressed against the brick alley wall, Dabi's fingers digging into your shoulders. His eyes held the heat of the flames he itched to release. "I cannot feel, so why would you think that I do for you?"

The words hit their intended target, carving your chest open slice by slice. But even so, you remained, your gaze as cold as ice as you stared at him. "You are a liar."