Burnt Out (Dabi X OC)

Chapter Six: Painstaking

     So much for that normalcy Dabi found himself craving. He brushed the feeling off, convincing himself it was nothing more than a fluke. When he met Akari that night in the alleyway while he was bleeding out, it felt like a switch flipped inside of him, and he needed to turn it back on. He couldn't keep wasting his time pretending with her. It was tell her now, or tell her never. Surprisingly, the girl seemed to take the news better than he thought she would. Even now, the two sit quietly beside one another in the League's hide out. Akari looked so uncomfortable and nervous, but a gentle hand on her thigh seemed to untense her muscles. Popping a cigarette between her lips, she leaned forward, hinting to Dabi that she wanted him to light it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Spinner, a man who resembled a humanoid lizard questioned aloud as Akari exhaled smoke. "Gotta light that shit in here, can't take it outside?"

"Are you trying to tell me the League of Villains doesn't allow smoking inside?" Akari raised an eyebrow to him in disbelief, taking another drag before pressing the end of the stick onto the bar top, extinguishing the flame. "Just funny, is all."

"What the hell's taking him so long anyway?" Dabi questioned the group, his temper growing the longer he had to wait. "Said he'd dust us if we were late. Does that mean I can burn him alive for making us wait?"

"Chill out, fire fingers." Akari chuckled, brushing the ashes of her cigarette to the floor beneath her. "Could always fix you a drink if you're bored? Seems like Kurogiri keeps this place fully stocked, wonder what the hell for."

"Think you could fix me a drink, Akari?" Toga's amber eyes sparkled as she held her head up with her hands, that signature smile of hers present as always.

"How old are you again?"

"Sixteen."

"Absolutely not."

"Hah, so you're willing to join the League, but won't even serve a minor an alcoholic beverage?" Spinner crossed his arms as he shook his head side to side with a chuckle. "Just funny, is all."

"Why does everyone gotta be such a smart ass all the time?" Akari muttered beneath her breath, glancing over to Dabi with a small smile. "The more we're around them, the more they remind me of you. Think you're all picking up on your each other's behavior. Including mine. Not sure if I like it or not."

"Best get used to it." Dabi sighed, dropping his head to rest against the wood counter. "Feels like we're all about to get so much closer to one another very soon."

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"Well that was nothing but a huge waste of time." Dabi shouted, kicking a near by rock as hard as he could with a huff. "Got us all together for some important meeting, and all it is him telling us they're planning an attack on Hosu, but they don't want us to be any more involved than that."

"M'sure they've got a reason, Dabi." Akari sighed as she unlocked her car, jumping inside with a shiver, running her fingers through her half damp hair from the rain that trickled outside. "Stain sounds like he usually works alone. He hasn't even tried to meet us yet, would you be okay with sharing your plan of attack with five other strangers?"

"Just starting to piss me off is all."

"I know, I know." Akari hushed the man, placing a gentle hand against his cheek. "But now we're out of that place, which means it's back to normal life. So, you know what you want for dinner?"

"Normal life." He scoffed at the word. "Would you call what we're doing normal?"

"You know, I can't say joining the League of Villains with my boyfriend of a couple weeks was how I imagined my life going for me, but here we are." Akari tried to joke with a shrug, gesturing to the area around them. "Supposed to be on my way to becoming a nurse, I was going to help people. Now, well.. I wanted to help people and make some kind of difference, but - "