Word for Love

Chapter 13 - Safe Return

Dabi had stolen kisses from Hawks, but he'd be damned if he went any further than that when he was drunk. The villain, as much as he was cruel and dangerous, didn't tolerate the idea of taking advantage of someone when they weren't in their right mind to properly consent to him.

So, he managed to have calmed the hero down enough to manage to slip off into a peaceful sleep.

Bliss, huh?

Dabi never, never, in his life even considered that a word to describe love. Maybe the birdie was more naive than he thought, immaturely clinging to fairytale dreams and stories. True love was bliss, sure, but true love existed in the realms of fiction, it didn't extend into reality.

No, love was ugly and morbid, it dehumanized you between your highest and lowest levels of self worth, sweet and sour, bitter aftertastes.

Love had many words to describe it, "bliss" certainly was not one of them.

And yet, Dabi couldn't stop thinking of those golden eyes that stared at him with such certainty, even through the drunken hazy of zero sobriety. He said the word with such conviction, genuinely finding gospel in that simple belief.

Fuuuuuck.

Bliss was a product of Hawks' choked childhood, the ache to be a child since he could never before. That's what the villain assumed, it was the easiest truth to tell himself.

He huffed lightly, breathy sigh of amusement filling the silence of the room. He picked the hero up and brought him to the bedroom, placing him gingerly onto the sheets, making sure his wings didn't bend at uncomfortable angles.

He then started to lean a bit, bundling up the trash bag with the bloody bandages and plaster wrappers, collecting the now-empty whiskey bottle and other stray trash. He put the whiskey glasses in the sink so he could wash them after taking the trash out.

He opened the front door and slipped out, taking a look out a window when he eventually passed one. It was probably late afternoon at this point. Man, his and Hawk's sleeping schedules were so fucked. They slept at day and woke up at night.

He stepped at a janitor closet where they had bigger trash cans at so they could get rid of it in bulk later, grabbing a spare bag while he was there to replace the last one.

As he walked back, he heard manic giggling from his flat which he definitely did not leave the door open to.

"Toga." He called, tone calm, but there was a threat hidden in the solemness of it.

"Daaaaabiiii!" The blond girl squealed, poking her head out of the front door just as he reached it, grinning widely. "Ya miss me!?"

He sighed, glancing further into the flat. His bedroom door wasn't open, so there was no reason to be mad. He opened his arms with a dry expression on his face, but Toga's grin only worded as she lunged to hug him.

He patted her back, shuffling into the room with the younger teenager attached to his hip.

"What did ya want, little psycho?" He tried to force annoyance into his voice but it was more endearing than anything. "Yer home a few hours early, too. Wha' happened?"

"Oh! Shiggy let me come back tonight instead of the morning because the beds at that place were hooooribleeeeee and I just couldn't take another night there! Ughhhhh!" She groaned dramatically and flopped on the couch before giggling again.

" 'ere, flip over." The villain sighed. He was in a good mood and frankly, he missed Toga's dramatic ass.

"Why?" She hummed, squinting at him suspiciously.