Pyre - (Dabi X Reader) BNHA Fanfic

~ Part 42 ~

꧁༒☬𝓦𝓮'𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓴𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓻𝓼.
𝓦𝓮'𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓴𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓿𝓮.
 𝓦𝓮'𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓰𝓸𝓽 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓸𝓷 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼.
𝓢𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓲𝓮 𝓼𝓸 𝔀𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂 𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮.☬༒꧂

You swallowed hard. "Okay so", you started again, unable to tear your eyes away from Dabi, "you guys should wait out here. I'll go in and try to sort it out". You could feel Jason's eyes on your face. They were sharp, borderline glaring at you. You managed to move your eyes over to him, sending him a reassuring nod before turning around and making your way across the street.

You could feel both of their stares on your back. Time seemed to slow down as you crossed the street, every step heavy. It felt like, as you were walking there, you seemed to get further and further away from Dabi; and not physically. A feeling slowly started making its way through you, a creeping sadness that made you feel as if though you were trapped. You were stuck, in a dark, lonely, scary, desperate place. Your chest felt heavy and tight as if some one were sitting on it and you couldn't breathe. Time froze you in a place where nobody else was to be found. You stepped onto the other side of the street, turning around. It was like time itself was fighting against every one of your movements. Your eyes searched, but they found nothing. Dabi wasn't looking at you anymore; he stared at the black tar-road. His eyes were void of emotion and you could feel it – it was gone.

Then it hit you. It hit you like a huge tidal wave. Numbness. It came crashing down so hard, it left you breathless for a few seconds. You turned back around, facing the store. Everything felt hazy, nothing felt right anymore.

You swallowed hard once again, taking a deep breath. To say the least you preferred numbness over sadness. In a futile attempt to distract yourself, you walked towards the convenience store, pushing open the door. The small bell rung through the half-empty store that was only filled with a handful of customers. You walked up to the counter without hesitation. "Tiffany", your voice sounded unfamiliar to own ears. She looked up, her waist-long hair shining softly in the light of the convenience store, her sandy blond bangs falling into her hazel eyes as she did. She stared at you for a few seconds, unmoving, before she sucked in a sharp breath, jumping out of her chair. "Y/N?!", she called out, stumbling back and clutching the chair in order to steady herself. "Shhh!", you hushed at her, motioning for her to be quiet. "Am I hallucinating? Is this some sort of withdrawal symptom?", she mumbled to herself in disbelieve, leaning to the front to peer at you. You chuckled uneasily, shaking your head. "I don't think so", you stared at her, "would you mind if we go and talk outside?". She stared at you for a few seconds longer, before slowly nodding. You motioned for her to follow you before stepping out of the shop and taking a stand next to one of the benches, unease not letting you sit.

She sent you a bewildered stare, her eyebrow arching in suspicion. "So, uh, are you gonna explain?", she sent you a wary look, "cuz you're supposed to be missing".

You let out an awkward laugh, scratching the back of your head. "Well, you see, about that . . .", you started, mentally preparing yourself for the onslaught of questions.

Dabi tried not to noticeably stare at Y/N, but it was like he couldn't help himself. He watched as her lips move to from the words as she explained to that Tiffany girl. Even though they were standing plainly open on the sidewalk, people bustling all around, he couldn't take his eyes off Y/N. She was just talking, but it was as if though he was watching a universe unfold. She nervously grabbed the hem of her shirt, playing with it as she explained. He never thought he could envy a piece of fabric, until he saw the way the shirt intertwined between her fingers the way he wanted to intertwine his own fingers with hers. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to look away. This was getting out of hand.

Tiffany stared at you with large eyes, her mouth parted open in shock. "What?", her voice was pitched and barely above a whisper. "Yeah", you sent her an awkward smile, "and now I'm here, because I need Penicillin". She closed her eyes, rubbing her face furiously. "You're joking right? Like this is a prank?", she asked in disbelief. You shook your head. "No, I'm not". You had told her the same story you had told Jason, not for the same reason though. With Jason, something had to told you that it would be a bad idea telling him that Dabi was the one who kidnapped you – with Tiffany it was plainly because it would be too much to take in, in one setting.

A single tired laugh escaped Tiffany, the dark circles underneath her eyes now somehow more visible than before. "I need to sit down", she mumbled, taking the closest public bench. You took a seat beside her. She turned to stare at you. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?", she asked, her tone more serious than you'd ever heard it before. You were taken back, stunned into silence for a few seconds. This was different from the assaulting interrogation you had expected. "Worried? About me?", you asked her, sending her a perplexed look.

"Yes!", she threw her arms in the air, "you just suddenly disappeared off the grid after I let you walk home alone, in the rain, in the middle of the night – because I was wasted again". Her eyebrows were scrunched up in frustration. You didn't hold it against her for not walking you home, you couldn't imagine what she would've done to protect you anyways. Shove lipstick up Dabi's nostril? "I thought you were dead", she mumbled quietly. You were so surprised by her words it left you close to speechless. "Tiffany", you started, grabbing her shoulders, "why on earth are you blaming yourself for this? I'm even more confused by the fact that you were worried". Your words sounded a little harsh, but there was no other way to get the point across. "Y/N, why in the name of god, wouldn't I be worried?! You might not consider me a friend, but I really did consider you a friend! You were the only person who treated me like an actual human being", her voice wavered, "I knew I was doing shit by getting drunk every night, and smoking and doing drugs, but I couldn't help myself. I had to make the pain go away, and you never even asked, you never judged. I knew you didn't like what I was doing, but you didn't just throw me in the trash like everyone else did. You were nice to me, you tried to keep me up to date with schoolwork. Hell, you even made me want to try! I even showed up for the final the next day – on time – but you didn't". You didn't know what to say, having heard this for the first time. You had never even realized any of this. You felt partially ashamed by the fact that just because you didn't seem as close as you did, you never considered her a friend. It made you realize that small things you did could really mean the world to another person.

"I know I'm probably just another person who was in your life, but", her lower lip quivered, "Y/N, you really helped me. I haven't went to any parties, or smoked or anything since you disappeared. I thought the first day that maybe you'd gotten really sick from the rain, and the same went for the next two days, but after that it got weird. I know you work hard, so I was even surprised when you didn't come to work or school the next day. I went to your friends and asked them where you were, but they just said they didn't know and it didn't really look like it was that big of a deal, so I didn't report anything because I thought that maybe you had moved or something without telling me, but it didn't feel right. Not for a second. And – and – I'm sorry, Y/N", tears streamed down her face as she shook with each cry. You stared at her, completely stunned. Never for a second had Tiffany crossed your mind since you'd been kidnapped, yet Tiffany had been worried sick about you. The only person who had even noticed your disappearance. She had blamed herself for everything – thinking you were dead. You rubbed her back softly. "Tiffany, I-I don't even know what to say", you really didn't, it was so much to process for your already non-functional brain which felt like it was drowning, " ... thank you". You stared at her as she tried to stop herself from crying. "But I'm fine now", you continued, "and ... and Tiffany, it doesn't make you a bad person for the ways you tried to kill your sadness".

She stared at you, her eyes red and puffy, visible exhaustion written all over her face. "You think so?", she mumbled quietly. You sent her a gentle smile, nodding. "You were never a bad person, Tiffany. The things we do to make the pain go away are not what make us bad people, especially if all we do is try to cope. Sometimes it gets too much, we are just human after all".