𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐔𝐒 , 𝐁𝐍𝐇𝐀

34 | echoes of yesterday

HEARTS TAINTED BY THE GRIMS of pain, anger, and resentment exacerbated by the newfound perplexities upon meeting each other.

"Just another fucking miserable day on the clock," Dabi sighed, puffing out a cigar. The issued smoke reached up the dark sky and below the wrecked city of Deika. (Y/N), who was sitting on the floor below him, scrunched her nose in disgust at the smell, and fanned the air with a hand, "You're already fucked up as it is, do you really want to make it worse by smoking?"

Dabi rolled his eyes and threw his cigar away. "Speaking of being fucked up," he looked at her from the parapet that he has sitting on and gestured at her, "What the fuck?"

It was (Y/N) who rolled her eyes this time.

"Seriously though, I thought you were this shining inspiration for quirkless people to be heroes." Dabi added, "You went out your way building some robot suit or whatever the fuck that is just to prove that anyone can be a hero, and look at you now. You went from the brilliant, young genius: Iron Woman; to a fucking notorious villain: Black Widow."

(Y/N) felt her heart churning in pain and embarrassment, masking it with a stern look and a fiery glare desirous of blood.

"Tell me, what happened to you?" asked Dabi, sounding genuinely curious.

"Well, what can I say being on the top is lonely and boring so I decided to have some fun. Y'know bad guy stuff, the adrenaline keeps me going," Her facetious remark received another eye roll from Dabi. "And for the record, I am not a villain. I'm nothing like you or your little emo band."

"Yeah, sure," Dabi paused for a moment and ensured to look her straight in the eye, "Because you don't use violence to gain what you want."

(Y/N) went silent. She feared that whatever comes out of her mouth will only dig her deeper from the hole she hid herself in.

'Why do these flame people sass me so much?'

"Which reminds me... What do you want?"

"Are you always this chatty?" she asked, conspicuously evasive.

"Only when I'm talking to a double-faced, multi-billionaire inventor who aspires to be a hero but is actually a secret villain,"

(Y/N) involuntarily stood up and grabbed his collar, her eyes narrowed and her voice seethed with rage, "Stop saying that."

"Heroes don't threateningly respond to provocation," smirked Dabi, sadistically enjoying the fury he induced that radiated from her.

"You don't know what makes a hero,"

"I could say the same thing about you."

His words pierced like daggers, intentionally provoking a reaction from her. (Y/N) retreated away from him and took a deep breath, pushing down the desire she felt to rip his limbs off one by one. Dabi relished the sight of her clenching her fists and resting her eyes closed in an attempt to ease her anger.

(Y/N) sighed, turned to him, and calmly said, "I am not a villain. I'm a vigilante."

"No," Dabi contemplated for a second, "You're more like an antihero."

That struck a nerve in her. Face flushing red once more, she said, "Excuse me, I'll have you know that what I do is solely for the better of the people--"

"That is what you tell yourself," interposed Dabi, "Heroes, villains, whatever your status in this society is doesn't matter because, in the end, everyone's out for themselves."

There was a momentary silence. And in that silence, both were simply staring at each other as if examining the other; trying to unravel each layer of deception and piecing each other's fragmented identity together in an attempt to see the person in front of them as who they truly are and what they are after. (Y/N) stared at his turquoise eyes and felt a sudden rush of sentiment she couldn't name.