Flames of Eternal Love (Dabi x Reader)

Chapter Twenty

...

The Next Morning...

You looked at yourself in the mirror as you got dressed to go sparring. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door, bringing you out of your thoughts. The door didn't open, but Aizawa's voice echoed from the hall. "Hey, I have something for you. Nemuri dropped it off." You turned and opened the door, letting him come in. "What is it?" He held out a small box to you. "Here. Come downstairs when you're done." You took the box and Aizawa left, shutting the door behind himself. You opened the box, thinking of what it could be, when a familiar piece of fabric entered your vision. Inside the box was your old UA costume that Midnight designed. You held it up to your body as you looked at it in the mirror. "Will it still fit?" You manage to get it on rather easily and look in the mirror. The material hugs your body in the right places but isn't tight enough constrict your movement. You slip on the shoes and head down to the living room. Downstairs, Aizawa is talking to Midnight. The two of them turn their gazes to the bottom of the stairs where you wait.

Midnight stood and approached you, smiling. "You look so good! I knew it was a good idea to bring this old thing out. You could be knocking out villains left and right looking like this!" Aizawa rolled his eyes and trudged towards the front door. "Alright, enough. Let's go, (Y/n)." The two of you leave the house and head to the old training grounds. The training grounds consisted of a large open field that had some dilapidated and abandoned buildings. Once you reached the center of the field, Aizawa turned to you. "Alright, today, we're going to focus on hand-to-hand combat. I hope you remember what I taught you because I won't be going easy on you." You smirked as you got into position. "Fine by me." At that moment, your mind only had one thought. 'Training with Dabi really came in clutch.'

The two of you begin to circle each other, waiting for the first move. The two of you spar for hours in both the field and the abandoned buildings. Eventually, you take a break. You dizzily make your way to some grass and plop down on the ground. Aizawa looked down at you, taking in your condition. "Are you alright?" You shrugged off his question. "Yeah. I probably overexerted myself." You closed your eyes, thinking of what could be causing your sudden dizziness and slight headache. It was most likely your quirk. You had absorbed a lot of bad energy from the league and pushed your limit. You would probably break down while everyone slept. Like you always did.

You opened your eyes to see Aizawa holding his hand out to you. "Well, we should be heading back." The two began to walk out of the field, unaware of the prying eyes that watched them leave...

Dabi watched the two from behind one of the buildings. He had been irritated when you didn't answer his calls or texts, so he decided to come see what you were up to. He had seen you and your dizzy spell and now he was slightly concerned. He mumbled to himself as he watched the two of you leave. "What's going on with her? I'll check on her tonight."

...

You and Aizawa head back to the house. Aizawa starts on dinner while you go upstairs and change into some clothes Midnight put in the closet. You headed downstairs when dinner was ready and sat at the table with everyone else. The four of you all eat in relative silence, the atmosphere calm. Shinso and Eri finish first, leaving the table and heading upstairs. You finish next, but before you can head upstairs, Aizawa grabs your wrist. "Have you been pushing your limit with your quirk? You tend to get very quiet when you've reached your limit." You pulled your wrist out of his grasp, your eyes on the floor. "I'm fine. I'm going to bed early." You quickly went to your room and locked the door before lying on the bed. Just like before, the voices in your mind returned, but with much more vigor this time.

**TW FOR NEGATIVE THOUGHTS, THOUGHTS OF INSECURITY, ETC!**

'What the hell is wrong with you?! Why bother Aizawa with parenting you?! He probably doesn't even want you around!'

'And Dabi only pities you. He doesn't love you. You're just easy!'

You rolled onto your side, curling into a ball as you tried to block out the noises. "Stop it..."

'It's the truth, isn't it? Can't handle it? Can't handle the fact that none of them actually love you?'

You gripped your forearms, barely wincing as your nails dug into your skin. "Shut up!" Tears begin to roll down your cheeks rapidly as your chest fell and rose rapidly. Each thought was louder than the next and they came without fail. Through your tears, you could make out the blurry light of the bathroom. You stood, stumbling into the cold, brightly lit room. You couldn't even look at yourself. Your hand gripped your right wrist, tracing the old, almost faded scars from your past.

**TW FOR SELF-HARM, GORE, ETC!**

You felt the familiar itching spread through your wrists, making you scratch at your skin in a feeble attempt to stop yourself from doing the unthinkable. A final thought entered your mind, making you collapse to your knees.

'Did anyone ever care?'

You rapidly searched through the drawers, looking for anything that would give you the release you desperately needed. You ignored the sound of your window opening, too absorbed in finding the tool that would quell the itching in your skin and the thoughts in your mind. You finally found it in the medicine cabinet. A straight blade men's razor.

...

Dabi slipped quietly into the room through the window. He immediately noticed the empty bed and it's messy state. He glanced around the room. 'She's not asleep. Where is she?' He paused as he heard shuffling, crying, and heavy breathing coming from the bathroom. He quietly called out. "Princess...?"

...

You sat slumped against the toilet, holding the blade with shaky hands. The voices were yelling, echoing in your head like a deranged choir. You lifted the blade, finally bringing it down on your wrist, a choked sob leaving your lips as you close your eyes. However, you were confused and scared when you didn't feel the familiar sting or anything at all. You opened your eyes. "D-Dabi..." Dabi had gripped the blade with his hand, preventing it from hitting its intended target. Blood dripped from the cut where the blade embedded itself, but he didn't react. "What the hell were you thinking?" You let go of the razor, your eyes falling to the floor as you tried to think of an explanation. "I...I..." Dabi used his quirk to turn the blade to ashes and dumped the ashes in the trash. His palm was cut all the way across, but he ignored it as he stared at you. You winced at his injury. "L-Let me fix your hand..." Dabi let you clean and bandage his hand, only watching you as your worked in silence. Once you were finished, he scooped you up, carrying you to the bed and hugging you to his chest as you laid together.

"Talk to me, princess. What happened?"

You swallowed the lump in your throat. You didn't know what to say. You'd never thought that you'd be in this situation; explaining your unfortunate habits to someone who supposedly loved you. "I...pushed the limit on my quirk. What you saw was one of the worst breakdowns I've had in years." Dabi sighed and pulled you closer, allowing you to hear his heartbeat as he spoke. "Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat this because you don't need that. You can always tell me when you think you've reached your limit. Even if I'm not around, you can call me, text me, anything. Because this sh*t...is not the answer." You stared at the wall as you tried to put your thoughts into words. "It's the only answer that works. The thoughts I have scare me, but I've also grown comfortable with their presence." Dabi's grip tightened slightly, keeping you grounded. "I know they do, princess. But no matter what those thoughts tell you, I love you, the league loves you, Eri loves you. Hell, even your old man loves you, even if your thoughts say otherwise. And I know you don't want to admit it, but I know you kind of care about him too." You took a deep breath as you willed the tears away. "It's just so hard...even after five years of dealing with it alone."

Dabi gently ran his hand through your hair, careful of his staples. "I know, princess. But you're not alone anymore. You have me, the league, your old man..." After a while, you managed to calm yourself down. "Thank you for being here tonight. That reminds me...why are you here?" Dabi looked down at you. "I saw you and Eraser out training and saw how weird you were acting. So I decided to check on you." You smiled and nuzzled into his side. "Well, I'm glad you did..." You yawned, making Dabi chuckle quietly as he pulled the blanket over the two of you. "Go to sleep, princess. You need it." You close your eyes, listening to Dabi's heartbeat as you fall asleep in his warm embrace, feeling calm and at peace for once.

"Goodnight, princess. I love you..."