I Loved You First (Dabi X OC X Hawks)

Chapter 30 - Time to Come Clean

Dabi's POV

This is getting awkward. She has been staring at me, without blinking for the past 5 minutes. How is that even possible?

I was still crouched down beside her couch, my eyes level with hers, staring back at her frazzled state. Has she gone into shock? I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I mean I did just show up after killing someone in front of her, but she has to know it's me. She has to know I wouldn't hurt her, right? Just as I was about to say something again, her lips began to move.

"T-touya?"

It was barely above a whisper but it cut through the silence like a knife.
How many years had it been since someone called me by that name?  How long had I even thought of myself as Touya Todoroki? I honestly don't know, but hearing her say it made my mind go fuzzy. My heart seemed to contract and the desire to hold her close almost overcame me.

Having waited for me to respond, only to be met with silence, she quickly dashed to the kitchen and grabbed a butter knife off the side of the counter. Part of me was impressed that she acted even if it was only a butter knife, but a larger part of me was heart broken. She knows it's me and she is still scared. I suppose I can't blame her. I don't exactly look the way she remembers me.
I quickly pursue her and in seconds I have pulled the knife from her hand, thrown it to the ground and pulled her back flush against my chest. My arms pinned hers in place at her sides easily as she thrashed against me. For a split second I was at ease, regardless of our current position. I had my girl back in my arms, her sweet vanilla scent making my head spin and her warm body contrasting harshly against my icy hold. It may not be a hug but it's the closest I've had to one in a long time.

But within a second she was gone again. A harsh blast from her force field knocked me off her and made me fall back against the counter, a plate of hazelnuts falling down like rain over my head and onto the floor.

"I've McFallen!" Squawked that stupid bird, who watched on angrily as his favourite food fell to the floor. I couldn't help but glare at him, but in that time, I felt my arms pinned to the ground by an invisible force and looked up to see Kimi staring down at me panting.

"What the hell did you do to Touya?!"

Kimi's POV

"What the hell did you do to Touya?!"  I shouted at the man now lying on my hazelnut covered kitchen floor. In any other case, the situation would have been comical, but I had watched him burn someone to ash in front of my very eyes and although he sounded like Touya, there is no way the boy I knew could have been capable of that. This had to be part of his quirk. Maybe he could see fragments of my past and use them against me. Touya's pet names, Touya's eyes. It could all be an illusion. As for the blue flames, I have two quirks and so does Shoto, what's to say this man doesn't either?

I have to think of something quick. My head was spinning and my arms had begun to shake with the prolonged use of my force fields. I honestly had no idea I was capable of such power but I was running on adrenaline, which would eventually run out. I need to get out and get help before he can try anything -

"I'm not going to hurt you doll." His low raspy voice spoke, breaking me out of my panicked thoughts.

"You can let me go now Kimi. You never were good with your force fields and exerting yourself like this will only hurt you in the long run." He began to move his arms slowly, feeling the resistance of my force field waver. We both knew I couldn't keep this up much longer, not whist maintaining consciousness anyway. I let my arms drop and felt a small trickle of blood run from my nose to my mouth, the metallic taste lingering against my lips, too on edge to raise my hand and wipe it away.

"Who are you?" I manager to ask, my voice sounding cold and emotionless.

"I think you already know the answer to that doll. Look I just - I just wanted to let you know I'm not going to hurt you, okay? You don't have to worry about me showing up to get rid of the witnesses or anything..."

He spoke quickly and one of his hands rose to rub at his ear, a long standing nervous habit of his.
So this is Touya.
I stared at him a little star struck, my throat suddenly feeling dry. His once red hair was dyed pitch black, though it maintained it's original messy shape. His body was littered in piercings, which he had once joked about getting, though seeing them now felt strange and unsettling. The biggest change however were the purple scars that littered his body. Dry, painful looking burns under his eyes, neck and hands, with undoubtedly more under the black coat he wore.

As scared as I was I felt my hand rise and my fingers brush against his face. Feather light fingertips running over the cool metal staples that were barely holding his skin together. Touya stiffened at my touch but closed his eyes allowing my fingers to dance across his skin. This felt so familiar and yet so different that my head began to spin. He's back. The one thing I had been wishing for, for years had happened and yet it was nothing like I had ever imagined.

I pushed his chest with a grunt of anger, his back colliding with the wall as his eyes sprung open in shock.

"No. You don't get to do that Touya. You don't get to run away and then show up like nothing happened!" I shouted bitterly. I clenched my fists tightly and stared him down in a rage. The boy I loved was back but that doesn't excuse him leaving in the first place and it certainly doesn't make me forget about the man he killed not 10 feet from my apartment complex.

"You're pissed I get it. But if you think I'm here to make things the way they were before you're wrong. I came to tell you I'm not going to hurt you. That's it. You can stop looking over your shoulder now. I'll leave." His words clearly were meant to sound harsh but his voice shook and cracked as he spoke. He turned away from me far too quickly and made for the door.

"No. I deserve an explanation here Touya!"

"Stop calling me that!" He screamed back angrily, his fists blazing in the familiar blue light I once watched him cremate someone with.

"I don't go by that name anymore doll. It's Dabi now. And you dont need to know what happened so let's just leave it at that."

I was still frozen on the spot gazing at the man before me. The man I once loved was now no more than a stranger. I had never been frightened of Touya, not even for a second. But now, fear gripped me so tightly I found it difficult to breathe. What could have happened in 3 years to make him what he was now?

"What happened to you?" I manage to whisper.

"Life happened. I'm leaving now. Go back to that feathered loser of a boyfriend you got and forget you ever saw me." He muttered almost bitterly. Without realising I went to clutch the back of his coat but stopped myself, fear holding me back more than anything.

"You left but you've been watching me all this time? And you-you never said anything." I started somewhat blankly, my brain still finding it difficult to grasp everything that was happening around me.

He froze at my words, the flames in his palms long extinguished. Although his back was turned I could tell he was contemplating what to say next.

"I never really left doll." He muttered in that low raspy voice, so unlike the voice I once knew.

"You- you can't just leave! What about Sho?!" I gasped feeling torn between the fear of him staying and the even greater fear of never seeing him again.

"He's better off without me ... you are too. Bye doll."

And with that, Touya Todoroki left me with a million unanswered questions and no sign of returning, for the second time in my life.