Glass Heart

Glass Heart - Chapter Sixty-One

Shoto sent a 'congratulations!' text to Izuku about the offer of him becoming a teacher, before pocketing his phone, and beginning to walk down his usual path to Izuku's home, as he'd been invited over for dinner and games.

After a few minutes, he got the sneaking suspicion that someone was following him. He turned around, to try and spot his stalker, but couldn't see anyone. Maybe it was Endeavour? Or his secretary? Either way... he didn't want Endeavour to know about him... about Izuku.

He picked up the pace slightly, deciding it would be a better idea to hide in a store for a while, so his apparent stalker would get bored and leave. If it was Endeavour, then he'd just think Shoto was buying some food - and not going to see his friend.

However, he didn't get that far before his stalker caught up to him.

As Shoto was walking along, he suddenly felt a hand tightly grip his arm, and drag him into an alley. There wasn't many people around anyway, and the position of the hand looked friendly, so Shoto couldn't expect anyone to help him from that alone.

He opened his mouth to yell, but the attacker covered it with his mouth. "Shut up! I need to talk with you."

Shoto didn't care, and simply licked his hand in return. The attacker gasped in disgust and loosened their grip slightly. "Ew, are you serious?" They sighed. "I'm not here to hurt you."

Yeah right. Shoto took the opportunity to break out of their grip, turning around to get a good look at them, so he could describe them to the police later.

"It - it's you!" Shoto exclaimed, looking into Dabi's eyes.

Dabi sighed again. "Yep." Shoto backed up a couple steps, and Dabi stepped back as well, raising his hands in surrender - although as someone who wields fire through his hands, Shoto appeared to be more inclined to run away than before. "I'm serious, I don't want to hurt you, I just wanted to talk."

Shoto stared into his eyes for a few moments, trying to decide whether Dabi was being serious or not - he may say he was... but it could be a trap.

However... Shoto didn't see anything threatening in his eyes. Dabi appeared to be genuine, and more than that... Shoto felt like he should talk to him - that he needed to talk to him. For some reason, Dabi felt sincere - and desperate. But then... why was he - Shoto - so important to Dabi?

He wanted to know. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?" He asked, crossing his arms across his chest with a defiant look. His legs stayed tense, ready to run if things turned for the worse.

"I wanted to talk about you." At Shoto's confused expression, Dabi continued. "How have you been?"

"How have I... been?" This conversation just kept getting weirder. But as he glanced again at Dabi and stared into his serious expression, Shoto realised this conversation was important to Dabi. "I've been... okay."

For some reason, that seemed to make Dabi look incredibly happy and relieved. "You're... you're okay?"

"... yes? I... I am doing well in school... I know some nice people, some friends..."

Dabi noticed Shoto's small flush in his cheeks. "Someone you like as more than a friend?" He teased, stepping closer as Shoto relaxed, Shoto allowing him to do so. Once he reached touching distance of Shoto, he reached over and ruffled his hair. Shoto froze, not entirely sure what was going on, but he didn't feel in danger, so he stayed still and allowed Dabi to do so. It felt... strangely familiar. "Oh, is it that green haired broccoli boy?"

Shoto's cheeks grew redder at the thought of Izuku. He knew he probably should be withholding information that could tell these villains of his weaknesses - he tried to ignore the fact that Izuku was his biggest weakness - but yet... Dabi felt... safe. He wasn't sure why, but he trusted him. So Shoto simply nodded and stared down at the floor.

Dabi's eyes widened in shock - that Shoto had willingly told him that information. "So, when will you confess?"

"C - Confess?!" Shoto said, jumping in surprise, and shooting his head back up to meet Dabi's teasing gaze. "I - I'm not sure I... can do that, I mean... he probably doesn't even-"

He got cut off, as Dabi gently slammed his hand back down onto Shoto's head, ruffling his hair again. "Of course he does - have you seen the way he looks at you?" At Shoto's confused expression, Dabi just sighed, and let go of Shoto. "Anyway, I have to get back to the others. Don't worry - your secret is safe with me. Hey, giving a thoughtful gift would be a good way of confessing, people like new things, right?"

Shoto's face flushed again, and he decided the floor suddenly became more interesting than the conversation. Dabi laughed. "No worries, kid! I'm sure it'll all go well. Anyway..."

He turned his head away from Shoto's, and as Shoto lifted his head back up from the floor, Dabi decided he wanted to find out what made the floor so interesting - glancing down and scrutinising it. "... I'm happy you're doing well."

He slipped Shoto a small piece of paper, and turned around, heading out of the alleyway with a wave. "Text me if you need anything, okay?"

Shoto stared after him until the wave of strangers enveloped him, and Shoto could no longer see him. Once he was certain Dabi was gone, Shoto glanced down at the piece of paper - Dabi's phone number. Next to the number was a smiley face and thumbs up.

Shoto scoffed lightly at the image, smiling, before pocketing the number.

He wasn't sure why...

... but he trusted Dabi.

New chapter is out! Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Dabi's helping Shoto out with his confession XD - oh yea, and Dabi is here too! That's nice, Shoto has some more friends! Of course this friend is a wanted criminal, but ehh, they're nice, so that doesn't matter XD

Also - I passed 200 followers! Thank you all so much, this is a huge milestone for me! Your kindness and support really does mean the world. I should probably stop before I start rambling though, haha!

I'll see you guys again soon!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊