Chasing You

Chase Six: Two Can Play With Cuffs

"It wasn't Death the Kid," Dabi said.

"What wasn't Death the Kid?" Shota, clearly displeased, spoke.

"The building. He didn't blow it up. He was framed. By Medusa," Dabi explained.

"What kind of shit are you trying to pull?" Shota, even more displeased, dismissed the idea. "Why would one of the most famous people in this city want to destroy a building that wasn't symmetrical?"

"That's just it. It wasn't about the building. It was about what was inside the building. Do you remember the charges? Anyway, I'm busy, I can't talk about this right now. I'll call you back later. Just look into it. Okay? You'll see I'm right." Dabi hung up. He stared at himself in the mirror. Wow. He looked like shit. That was awkward. Whatever. Might as well go back to distracting himself with Tenko for the time being.

He returned. Tenko was folding napkins into various origami animals. He looked like a bored child. "Ah, you're back," Tenko stared up at Dabi. His eyes watched him as he sat down. "I was beginning to think I'd been ditched."

"I'm the one that invited you. Why would I ditch?" Dabi frowned.

"Maybe my scar throws you off or my hair color. I don't know. Probably not the scar, right?" Tenko gestured to Dabi's own scars.

"Your hair is unusual," Dabi agreed. "Unusual hair isn't a crime. It wouldn't throw me off."

"You happen to have a thing for criminals though. Was that a trick statement?" Tenko began folding a crane with the napkin.

"Correction, I have a thing for one criminal. Singular. And, it's not a thing. I just have to find him. It's personal."

"'I have a thing. It's not a thing.' Do you hear yourself? I'm losing to a guy you haven't even seen in years. It's definitely a thing. First love? Maybe?" Tenko sighed.

"I'm not in love with him," Dabi took a sip of his water. "I just have to find him."

"What are you going to do when you find him? Give him a kiss? That's called love, dearest Dabi," Tenko scoffed.

"I don't expect you to understand," Dabi began. "I've had these scars since I was a kid. He gave them to me. I need to know why. Why did he injure me and not kill me? He left me alive, screaming in the middle of a park, claiming it was to save me from something. Save me from what? I have questions. The only way to answer these questions is to find him, ask him personally, and then maybe I'll have some closure."

"Let's say you do find him, by some miracle, you catch him. Chasing him is part of the fun, isn't it? Part of your little hobby? What's going to be your next course of action if you find all of the things you're looking for?" Tenko frowned. He wasn't buying it.

"I'll bridge that cross when I come to it," Dabi shrugged. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. "No use worrying about it right now. My only priority is finding him."

"Why do you have to bridge the cross instead of crossing the bridge? You've said that before but I don't quite understand," Tenko's eyebrows furrowed in his confusion. People usually corrected him. No one had ever asked him why he said that saying in the way he did.

"Crossing the bridge makes it seem like someone has faced the same problem before," Dabi turned his gaze back to Tenko. "I don't like the idea that someone before me has walked the same path, done the same things, lived the same life. I'd rather bridge my own crossing. Not cross someone else's bridge."

"I thought a cross was that thing people were hung on," Tenko frowned. Religion clearly wasn't his area.

"Then why is it called 'Washington's Crossing'?" Dabi smiled. It was the first time he'd smiled in a long time. "I have to bridge the point where I'm crossing the metaphorical river of life. Problem happens to arise? Create a bridge for the crossing point. I can't be sure that I can cross a bridge someone else has made. What if there isn't one?"