𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 ⟢ 𝘁. 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗶/𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶

𝟏𝟖

𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫
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𝐯

𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐢
i felt the weight of the moment crashing down on me, a torrent of emotions i thought i'd buried long ago. for a brief second, i forgot about revenge, forgot about the years i'd spent in darkness, carving out a path that led to nothing but destruction. in that moment, i was just touya, standing in front of the only person who ever really mattered.

she pulled back slightly, her breath warm against my skin, her eyes searching mine with an intensity that made my heart ache.

as i looked at y/n, her question hung in the air, tension weaving itself through the silence. "did you hear anything?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. i knew what she meant—she wanted to know if i'd heard the argument with her parents, if i'd heard the raw pain in her voice, the way she stood her ground about me, about touya.

i nodded slowly. "yeah, i heard everything." my voice came out softer than i intended. i wasn't sure why, but the thought of her defending me, even after everything, made something in my chest tighten. it wasn't guilt, not really, but something close. it was the realization that she had in fact never really moved on.

"i haven't been with anyone else, you know," she said, her eyes locked on mine. "i couldn't... i didn't want to."

that hit harder than i expected. i felt the weight of her words, the loyalty she'd held onto for so many years. and suddenly, i was the one who felt unworthy. "you've been very loyal," i murmured, my fingers brushing against the faint scars on her forearms—my marks. they had healed, but the reminders of my anger, my loss of control, remained. "you did everything i told you to. even when it hurt."

i could feel the guilt creeping in, the way it gnawed at me, but i pushed it down. i couldn't afford to dwell on it, not now. but the thought of her unwavering loyalty, her constant belief in me, made me question everything.

why had i been so blind? why had i hurt the one person who had always believed in me, who had waited for me, even when the world thought i was gone?

but something else stirred in me—a strange, unfamiliar desire. for a moment, i wondered what it would be like to leave it all behind. the league, the revenge, the endless cycle of pain. what if we could just... run away? forget about everything that had torn us apart and just live. the future we were supposed to have, the one that was stolen from us, maybe it wasn't completely lost.

i looked at her, really looked at her, and i saw a future that could have been. a future where we were just touya and y/n, where the world didn't matter, where the past didn't hold us back. "y/n," i said, my voice barely above a whisper, "what if... what if we just left? all of this—endeavor, the league, everything. what if we just ran away?"

her eyes widened, surprise flickering across her face. "dabi..."

"call me touya, i'm serious," i continued, my voice gaining strength. "we could go somewhere no one knows us, start over. maybe we could have that future we were supposed to have." i could see the possibilities, the life we could build together, free from the chains of our past.

but deep down, i knew it wasn't that simple. i'd done too much, gone too far down this path. but for a brief moment, i let myself imagine it—escaping with her, leaving all the pain behind. maybe, just maybe, we could be happy.

"i want that, too," she whispered, her voice filled with longing. "i always have."

and in that moment, as i held her close, i allowed myself to dream. to imagine a life where we weren't defined by our pasts, where we could just be together. but reality, as always, lingered in the back of my mind, reminding me of the darkness i'd embraced, the vengeance that still burned in my veins.

but for now, i let the dream linger. because in her arms, in that fleeting moment, it felt like it could be enough.

as we lay there in her bed, her body nestled against mine, i could feel the tension slowly melting away. it was just the two of us now, no expectations, no plans, no revenge—just a boy and a girl, tangled up in each other. but as the silence stretched, i could sense something weighing on her mind. i looked down at her, waiting for her to speak.

"you know..." she began, her voice soft and hesitant. "i had a dream about you this morning."

my heart skipped a beat at her words. "a dream?" i asked, my curiosity piqued. "what kind of dream?"

she shifted slightly in my arms, her gaze distant as if she was recalling the dream. "it's been a while since i last dreamt of you," she admitted. "but this one... it felt so real. we were together, you and i... and we had a son. it was like we were living in another universe, maybe another life. everything was perfect. we were happy, touya."

her words hit me. a son. a life together in some alternate reality. i couldn't help but imagine it—what could have been if things had turned out differently. if i hadn't burned, if i hadn't become dabi.

"a son, huh?" i murmured, trying to keep my voice steady. "sounds like a good dream."

she nodded, her fingers tracing patterns on my chest. "do you think... do you think there's another version of us out there? somewhere in the universe, where everything went perfectly?"

i stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about her question. i hadn't really thought about other versions of us, about what might have happened if things had gone right. but as i looked at her, i couldn't help but wonder. "i haven't thought much about it," i finally said, my voice low. "but... it wouldn't be so crazy, would it? maybe there's a version of us out there where we got the life we deserved."

the words hung in the air between us, filling the space with a sense of longing. i could feel the weight of all the "what ifs," all the possibilities that had slipped through our fingers. and for a moment, i let myself imagine it—us, together, with a son, living a life far removed from the chaos and destruction that had become my existence.

as i looked down at her, i didn't see the adult scientist, the designer who had built a life for herself. no, in that moment, i saw her as the small, fragile girl she once was—the girl i had promised to protect, the girl i had loved before the world had torn us apart. it made my heart ache, the way she clung to this dream of us, of a life that could never be.

but even as the ache settled in my chest, i held her close, not wanting to let go of this moment. because for the first time in a long time, i felt something other than anger, other than the burning need for revenge. i felt hope—hope for a future that could never be, but that still lingered in the corners of my mind. maybe in another universe, we were happy. maybe, just maybe, there was a version of us that had found peace.

"you know," i whispered, my voice rough with emotion, "i'd like to think that somewhere out there, we got it right. that we're together, raising that son of ours. and maybe... maybe they're happy."

she smiled, a small, bittersweet smile that broke my heart all over again. "i like to think that, too," she replied, her voice trembling slightly. "it makes all of this a little easier to bear."

i nodded, feeling a lump in my throat that i couldn't quite swallow. "yeah... it does."

we stayed like that for a while, wrapped up in each other, lost in the dream of what could have been. and as we lay there, i let myself believe—just for a moment—that maybe, somewhere in the vastness of the universe, we were living that life. the life we had always wanted, the one we had been robbed of. because in that moment, it was the only thing keeping me from falling apart.