Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 33

"Yeah, and whose fault is that, genius?" I shot back, stalking forward until we were both leaning against the railing. "Or did you forget that I have no way of reaching you?"

"Oh? Are you asking me for my number? I didn't know I left such an impression on you," Dabi slyly answered, and I elbowed him in the ribs, to which he winced in pain, rubbing the spot. "Fine, fine, I was just kidding. But hey, I went from 'asshole' to 'genius'. That's some progress, if you ask me."

"Did you call me out here just to flirt like an idiot or is there an actual reason?" I demanded, keeping my tone even as I stared down at the street below, arms crossed on the metal, but still tense enough to quickly grab my knife if need be. "There are things I'd rather be doing now, so hurry up."

Dabi only raised an eyebrow. "Don't rush me. Last I checked, I have the upper hand on you. But, yes, you're right. Let's get right to it. You ask a question, I'll do my best to give an honest response, and then I ask you one."

I nodded in agreement. Last time, I'd blown my shots away with stupidly selfish questions that gave me nothing but a feeling of dread that still didn't completely leave me. This time, I'd be wiser with them. I'd ask about the League, and find it's weaknesses. I'd be the one who came out on top this time, and I'd make sure that I got more out of him than he got out of me. It was only fair - this information could help me bring justice and punish evildoers, so I absolutely couldn't waste my chance. Besides, Dabi already had the advantage - information about the agency was everywhere, from the internet to literally less than a kilometer away from where we currently were, but all we knew about the League was that it used to be lead by All For One, but the role was now passed down to the one with the quirk to kill anything if he put all his fingers on it, Shigaraki. 

"Right. I want you to tell me the exact number of villains in the League," I ordered, trying to look as intimidating as possible, which was a little hard, considering the fact that next to Dabi's extravagant quirk, my knife and poison, along with the weak excuse of a quirk, seemed pathetically useless. Then again, they'd gotten the job done before, so they surely would manage again if they needed to, right?

Dabi furrowed his brows, holding up one hand as he slowly started unbending fingers, counting the members until he gave up, shaking his head with a sigh. "I don't know the exact number. Maybe seventy, eighty members? There are a few that keep coming and going, and I just lost track of them, sorry."

My shoulders slumped slightly in defeat. So they're stronger than I thought. Dammit. But if there's really that many members, then how come their attacks rarely have more than five villains?  Before I could spend any longer thinking over it, I realized that the other members were probably doing missions similar to what Dabi was doing now - no wonder the League always seemed to be a few steps ahead of us - and they probably acted on their own, not just at Shigaraki's command. I'd have to sacrifice another question to ask Dabi about it. "Fine, that's a good enough answer. Ask."

"Tell me, princess," Dabi started, turning to face me and forcing me to look up at him, too, as he leaned in a little, his electric blue eyes piercing into mine. "Just how far would you go for your little boyfriend?"

"Far enough," I retorted, smiling and blinking innocently. 

Dabi raised an eyebrow, tilting my chin up with one finger, and he somehow managed to get even closer, staring at me from above, and only now did I realize how often I'd been in this exact position with Keigo, except with him, it had been by choice, while with Dabi, I wanted nothing more than to push him away. "Would you go as far as to stab someone with that little knife of yours?" His hand pushed away a strand of hair that fell in front of my eyes as I stayed silent. "Maybe far enough to torture someone?" Now his fingers were caressing my cheek, the gentle touch and tone of his voice being worlds apart from his words. "Or perhaps even kill someone?" That cocky smile returned to his face as he pulled me a little closer, his lips millimeters from mine. "You do know you have to answer, right?"

"Trust me, Dabi, by the time I'd be done with them, they'd be wishing for death," I leered, my oh-so-happy expression not at all matching what I'd just said, and thankfully, Dabi seemed to get the underlying threat as he drew back a little. "Is that a good enough answer for you, or would you like for me to go into detail?"

"No need." Dabi raised his hands, taking a step back. "I know what you mean."

Now, it was my turn to look at him in surprise. "As in you don't need me to explain, or you have someone like that, too?"

"Had. They left me behind."

"Oh. Well at least we have that in common," I tried to sound cheerful about it - I knew what it was like to be pushed away like that, and if I had to choose between feeling that again or being tortured by every weapon known to mankind, I'd choose the latter without a moment of hesitation. 

"You're awfully happy about that, aren't you, princess?" And suddenly I didn't feel as bad as I did for him before. God, I hated that stupid nickname of his, and the way he always dragged it out whenever he said it. "I thought you'd hate the idea of being even slightly similar to me."

A few seconds of silence passed as I turned away from him, placing my hands on the railings again and finally letting myself relax a little. I wouldn't need to fight just yet. "I hate the idea of being similar to the ruthless arsonist that I had to deal with two weeks ago. Right now, I'm talking to an overly-cocky depressed guy who uses flirting and bad nicknames to cope better. Don't get me wrong, he's horrible too, but better than a crazy pyromaniac."

I didn't know why I said that. I should've just stayed silent, or asked my next question instead, but for some reason, I felt bad for Dabi. When he wasn't busy trying to set the entire city on fire, he almost seemed decent. He had that strange aura around him that made me want to punch him in the face and give him a tight hug at the same time, and I couldn't even explain why. Maybe I'd seen some of myself in is overconfidence and the way he acted as though nothing could touch him, but for whatever reason, being next to Dabi made the two halves within me clash even more, with the raging one telling me to make Dabi wish he were dead for every crime he's committed, while the other side was pushing me to give him a shoulder to rest on. I forced both away, trying to focus on the barely-audible voice of reason in my mind.

"Wait a second. Is that your way of saying that you, a hero, tolerate me, a villain?" Dabi's arrogant grin only grew wider when I rolled my eyes. There it was again, that urge to kick him right where the sun didn't shine.  "You know, princess, you really need to get better with your flirting."

"I'm in a happy, stable relationship. If you think for a second that I would flirt with someone that isn't Hawks, then you're delusional." Saying his hero name felt strange, but on the small chance that the League didn't know Keigo's real name, I wasn't going to accidentally let it slip

"And I'm still wondering how anyone could fall for you," Dabi ventured, choosing to ignore the insult, but the way he spoke was so casual, that we could've been mistaken for old friends, and I didn't know whether that angered me or not. "I mean, I know I've only spoken to you a few times, but you aren't exactly the most pleasant person."

Out of habit, I wacked the back of Dabi's head, only realizing that he could take it as a genuine attack instead of a more-or-less friendly action and I felt myself go cold for a brief second until Dabi responded with an elbow to my ribcage that I narrowly managed to avoid. "That's 'cause you're a villain, dumbass. Of course I'm not going to be pleasant with you."

Dabi shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Now, don't get me sidetracked," I stated, standing upright to stretch out my back a little as I locked my eyes with Dabi's. "I'm ready to ask my next question. That someone you mentioned earlier - were they the reason you joined the League?"