DC One-Shots

Flames (El Diablo x Male!Reader)

Over the months that you had known and started dating Chato Santana, you'd grown to love the tough but occasionally sensitive man. You' actually been surprised that he reciprocated your feelings during your confession and it had made you the happiest man alive.

However, you knew that Chato had powers as well as a dark side. He had only ever mentioned the flames once but you'd never seen them for yourself. It wasn't that you weren't curious. In fact, you had a hard time believing in such magic, especially within someone you were getting to know so well.

Since he never brought it up, you never asked nor questioned why he never used his powers. To you, it seemed like such a useful thing to have for everything from protection to cooking. Regardless, you didn't want to bring up any trauma of the past that may have been to blame for his reluctance.

Many more happy months passed but with each day, your curiosity grew deeper. You started trying to sneak glances when you thought he wasn't looking to see if he used the flames when no one was around. Of course, he never did.

Eventually, it grew to be too much. You just had to know. Upon asking, all he did was tell you it was nothing. You could tell otherwise from the saddened look in his eyes and that was all the answer you needed. Obviously, something had happened, something bad.

Wanting more than anything to help, you started to do some research behind his back. It didn't take long for you to find something. As you read through the article, your throat closed and your heart raced. There had been a fire. A large fire that burned down his home ... and killed his family, presumably started by him.

"What are you doing (y/n)?" His voice startled you, causing you to whip around to face him while frantically trying to hide the computer screen.

"Hey babe, it was, uh, nothing." He raised his eyebrow. "I swear." His expression remained unchanged as he stepped closer. You tried to block the screen with your body but that only prompted him to gently push you to the side and look.

When his eyes rested on the picture you had left on the screen, of his burning house, he froze.

"Why are you looking at this?" You sighed, knowing the cat was out of the bag.

"I just wanted to know what was going on with you. When I brought up your powers, you seemed so sad. I thought that if I knew what had happened, I could help." You got up and tried to wrap your arms around you. At this, he tore his eyes from the screen and pushed you away.

"How could you help? How can anyone help?! It's already done and there's no way to bring them back." He snapped.

"How could I have known it was something like this when you wouldn't tell me?"

"I didn't tell you because it was none of your business! Didn't you think that I didn't bring it up for a reason?!" He had started shouting and with the last word his hands ignited in flame. You stopped for a second, all anger fading from your mind. A simple sense of disbelief filled you as you finally got proof of his claims. But then as quickly as they had vanished, the anger and stress of your current argument returned.

"Well I'm sorry I cared enough to try. I thought you cared enough to tell me these sorts of things but I guess not." You stormed from the room, found your coat and quickly made your way outside.

The crisp evening air filled your lungs as you took a deep breath and thought about things. He was right, you realized. It wasn't for you to know. He would have told you when he was ready, even if that was years from now Too stubborn to go back you continued walking, lost in though. Besides, it's give him a chance to cool down before confronting you again.

"Hey there, where's your boyfriend?" A voice taunted from a nearby alley. You turned to see, a tall man coming out of the shadows, a smirk stretched across his thin face. You didn't recognize him but if you had a guess, you'd have to say he was probably from a local gang.

They often left everyone alone when Chato was around (since they had heard and seen footage of his flames) but they terrorized people when he was out of sight. You hadn't had the bad luck to run into them on your own before but it had only been a matter of time.

You sighed, if he was indeed from the gang, you could still take him on by yourself, it was just more than you wanted to deal with currently.

"Who's asking?" You responded, while preparing yourself mentally for the likely battle ahead.

"We all are." Another voice came from the alley.

Before you knew it, dozens of gang members had come out of the shadows and surrounded you. With this many, you knew there was no way for you to win. At least you could injure a few of them and put up a good fight for a while. If you could stall them long enough, you hoped another person might come along and possibly help.

The first one you had seen smirked again. "Get him boys." All at once, they jumped towards you and started pummeling you. You thrust your fist out and felt it hit someone's jaw. Unfortunately as predicted, they quickly kicked you to the ground. You were just satisfied at taking a couple down with you.

As you laid on the street, they continued to kick and punch you, leaving you aching. You heard a few cracks as another kick landed solidly in your stomach while another landed on your arm. The pain shot through your body, and you could feel your consciousness trying to slip away.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" The familiar voice echoed through the street and a small smile formed on your face. Chato!

"Just having a little fun." The leader replied. "Don't think we'll run this time just because you've won before. We more than outnumber you." A few of them kept beating you while the rest stood between their leader and Chato.

"Just leave (y/n) alone and we can end this without anyone getting hurt."

The leader laughed and gestured towards you. "It's a bit too late for that."

Chato looked at you, concern filling his eyes. Your pain kept trying to take your consciousness away but you managed to pick up your head and look him in the eyes as a single word escaped your lips. "Chato". Your head collapsed back to the ground as another kick struck your nose.

White hot rage filled Chato as flames exploded from his body and before he knew it, everyone there was charred. The smell of burning flesh drifted through the air as the standing corpses fell to the asphalt.

As the rage dissipated, he looked around as realization of what he had done sunk in. "(Y/n)!"

He raced over to your unmoving body. It was still smoking and he knew you were gone. Even so, he knelt on the street, cradling you until the cops showed up.

"Not again. Please, not again"

-THE END-