𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 | 𝘵. 𝘬𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘰 [𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘴]

𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 : the call

　
　
"Hello?" Dabi's low hum of a voice entered my ear through the phone.

I froze up momentarily. "Um, hey, where are you?"

"Babe, you know you can't ask those kinds of questions."

My nose twitched in annoyance. "Okay... then, where were you an hour ago? Because it wasn't the sushi place."

"[Y/N]," he scoffed, "I had to take care of some last minute League stuff. It's not like I wanted to do it or had planned on it. You understand, don't you?"

I wasn't sure if I did. "You couldn't even send a text?" My throat strained to make any noise, my voice threatening to break at any time.

"It was sudden, and I didn't even think about it. You know I would've."

"But you didn't." Hopelessness draped over me as I sat in the driver's seat of my car. "You didn't, and I waited for so long."

"I don't know what to tell you, doll. When there's—"

"Do you have any idea how humiliated I was?"

His end was briefly silent. "[Y/N], I know you didn't just talk over me." Tears began to flow freely from the corners of my eyes, rolling down my cold cheeks. I bit my lip to keep from whimpering aloud. "As I was saying, when there's something in the League that has to be done, I do it because I know it'll keep both of our asses from getting killed. This selfish thinking of yours can't keep me from doing what I have to."

I didn't know how to respond to his lecture. My nose began to run more so than it had from being out in the chilly night, and my whole body felt like lead. In my despair, I thought of only one thing to tell him.

"Hawks came."

"...What?"

"Hawks texted me, and he showed up at the restaurant." I began to regret speaking as soon as the words left my mouth.

Silence again. "Are you serious?"

This time it was my turn to remain quiet.

"You can't treat this lightly. You're supposed to be getting information on him, not flirt with him when you're bored."

"I wouldn't have been 'bored' if you didn't stand me up! I don't see how I'm at fault here," I seethed.

"I was out keeping us safe! You can't tell me that that wasn't more important than just eating sushi somewhere." His voice rose to a level that struck terror in me, practically spitting his words at me. I'd seen what he could do to people, and if I wasn't careful...

A deep breath escaped his mouth and sounded through the speaker. "I wish I could've been with you tonight," he admitted. "I also wish you didn't replace me."

My eyebrows pinched upwards in melancholic surprise. Was he... jealous? In my weeping state, I said nothing.

"Will you let me make it up to you?"

I hesitated. This seemed almost like déjà vu; I realized he essentially said the same thing as Hawks at the diner hours before.

Dabi and I had a history, and as much as he frustrated me, I knew the power those blue eyes had on me. Saying no to him now would be saying no to everything we had; the past four months I spent making memories with him would just go down the drain. A rush of romantic yearning flooded my senses, and my thoughts were once again consumed with Dabi. The tone of his voice now made me suddenly miss being in his arms.

"...Mm-hm," I quietly responded. The car was silent as we were in each other's virtual presence.

"That's my girl. I'm gonna head over to your place right now, and I promise I'll be there by the time you get there. Don't wait up for me."

With that, the call ended, and I sat in the stillness of quiet for a moment. I looked down at my hand, seeing that the burned area was still red since I hadn't treated it at all the whole day.

I needed to get my thoughts in order. Dabi was a lover. Hawks was a mission. I had to keep the two separate, or I would make things more complicated than they already were.

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