Feathers and Flame // Dabi x Reader x Hawks

35.5: Traitor (Dabi)

(The night before the battle from Dabi's POV)

Dabi was not a good person. In fact, he was quite the opposite.

He enjoyed inflicting pain, not receiving it. There was very little about him that screamed masochistic. His scars, though self-inflicted, were an occupational hazard. And yet, he couldn't stop himself from seeking you out. Every time, it left him with a very particular kind of ache in his chest that no amount of arson could fix. It pissed him off. A lot.

And then there were those doe eyes of yours that extinguished any flicker of rage within him as if it was as easy as blowing out a candle. He wanted to hurt you. He wanted to hate you. Sometimes, he thought he could. But all you had to do was look at him and suddenly he'd forget for just a moment every shitty thing he felt. It was fucking annoying.

He shouldn't be surprised you betrayed him. After all, you were far too perfect and he was far too fucking selfish. Since that first day, he knew you were different. It was in the way you moved—like you owned the very ground you walked upon. He wouldn't be entirely surprised if seas parted at your word or rain ceased because it made you frown. That particular thought amused him. You were a princess, after all.

You were too good at what you did. It was almost hard to hate you for it. Almost. Every saccharine smile and pout of your perfect lips was a strike he never saw coming. If only he'd known that not all of your weapons came with a pointed edge. Though it probably wouldn't have mattered, regardless. You were his perfect poison. Addictive and deadly.

You were wedged in his mind—an affliction that felt like obsession. For too long, he wanted you. To possess you. To ruin you. Maybe it was fate that he was the one ruined by you.

Dabi sought out that rooftop as a means to escape you. Though in the darkness, he found you everywhere. You belonged to it, just like he did.

He knew you were coming before you breathed a word. Maybe you didn't realise, but the shadows always seemed to bend and warp as if reaching out to touch you. It was the only warning he ever got. It still wasn't enough. "Princess."

Dabi only half-turned to face you. This time, he wanted to hate.

"I found you."

Your voice was as soft as a whisper, edged in something he chose not to acknowledge. For a moment, he thought you'd finally come to kill him. If he looked at you, would he find a knife in your hand? Would you offer him another pretty smile as you drove it between his ribs? Part of him craved to know. "What will you do now, then?"

He could hear the confusion in your tone. "Sit with you? Unless whatever brooding moment you're having is more important?"

You were close now. Too close. He loathed the way you toyed with him. He loathed your teasing comments and that innocent fucking look in your eye. And he loathed it even more when he felt his mouth curve into a smirk. Still, he gestured for you to take the spot next to him. "Be my guest."

You sat down, legs dangling over the ledge. "How long have you been up here?"

Ruin her.

Protect her.

Use her.

Protect her.

Destroy her.

Protect her.

Her.

Her.

Her.

Dabi only shrugged. "A while."

"Very informative."

Your frustration with him was evident in the way you pursed your lips. He loved it. He hated it.

Dabi stole a glance at you, his brow quirked upward. "Why are you here, princess?"

It would be easier for him to hate you if every thought in his head wasn't screaming at him to touch you. Taste you. Claim you. Keep you for later. It drove him insane. It didn't help that he knew exactly what you looked like pressed beneath him. How your skin flushed pink when his fingers brushed against the right spot or how you tasted like fucking honey. He knew it could kill him, but he also could not think of a better way to go.

"Do you remember that cabin in the mountains? Back when Shigaraki was trying to earn Gigantomachia?" He couldn't see your face, but there was a waver in your voice that suggested sadness. He didn't understand it. "I miss it. Everything is so... complicated now. I wish we could go back and stay there, if not just for a little while longer."

He didn't respond, but he listened.

"Everything is changing, I guess I'm a little nostalgic." You paused, drawing in a breath. "I never told you this before, but I never... cared for anyone before I joined the League. I just... killed who I was paid to kill and that was it. I was—am—a monster. But what I'm trying to say is... you made my stupid heart start beating again."

There it was again—that fucking ache. He needed to burn something. He needed to burn you. Why were you telling him this now? Could you not see you'd already manipulated your way under his ruined skin? Why lie again? Why twist your knife even deeper? Why did he still want to have you?

"Anyway..." you continued, filling the void his silence left. "I'll leave you alone now."

You moved to stand.

Dabi caught your wrist and tugged you back down.

He didn't mean to, but he was too fucking selfish to let you walk away. If it ended up being the last time you looked at him like he meant something to you, lies or no, he would have it. He would steal every lying smirk and dishonest smile. He would take and take and take even if it turned to ash in his hands.

He wanted to keep lying to you, and he wanted to pretend that he didn't know you were lying to him, too.

"Telling the truth now, are we, princess? And I didn't even need to coax it from you."

You exhaled a laugh, but it was bitter instead of sweet. "That truth is one I offer freely."

Dabi's fingers still held your wrist. "And what about my truth, princess?"

You were looking at him now, half-shrouded in darkness, smiling at him—and he hated you for it. "Willing to tell me something truthful? Maybe if nothing else, I managed to make your heart beat again, too."

"I never said anything about telling."

Touch her.

Kill her.

Touch her.

K-

Your brows furrowed. "Then what—"

Dabi leaned in and stole your words with a kiss. He wanted to punish you with it. He wanted to crush you to him and ruin you. He wanted to brand his name onto your soft, perfect skin. But instead, he brought his hand to your jaw, tracing the line, tilting your head back so he could take and take and take yet again. His desperation to hurt you softened into tenderness and he fucking hated it. He hated it so much he couldn't stop.

"Dabi."

His name tumbled from you as he pulled away. He despised how your lips glistened with the ghost of him and how it made him want to kiss you again. He loathed how beautiful you were in the darkness, most of all.

"We can't go back, princess." He could see you so clearly now, despite the dark. You were poison, and it only made him crave you more. "And we can't change who we are. There's no place in a world like this for us all."

Dabi knew he was right, but he fucking wanted to be wrong.

***

Okay, so it's not Sunday. In fact, it is Wednesday evening. But I am here with something to surprise/torture you with

I wanted to try something different and challenging. It was a lot of fun, I won't lie. I hope you enjoyed it. I promise I won't be torturing everyone forever... but at least we'll appreciate all the romance even more when it comes back around. Right? Right???

This is one for the masochists, and if you've made it this far, you most definitely are one

Happy Wednesday! 💜