𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 (𝐃𝐚𝐛𝐢 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

20

He tilted his head back and released a breath. There were so many things to worry about, one of which, he checked the clock again, would be arriving in the alley below within the next few minutes.

Dabi grimaced as he stood up from the couch. The pain relievers he'd taken were just barely enough to keep him fully functioning. He lifted the hood of his jacket over his head and reached into the bag he'd placed beside him. There was a low chance of you going through his stuff in the few minutes that he'd be gone, but he couldn't be too careful. After tucking the envelope in his back pocket, he went to zip the bag closed, but his hand caught on something else. Huh, he'd forgotten that he'd put that in there. Dabi put the pack of Seven Stars into the front pocket of his hoodie and walked to your door. "You got my text, right? I'm stepping out for a minute," he said.

The sound of your muffled voice came through. "Yeah, and try not to walk into an obvious trap and almost get yourself killed this time." Dabi rolled his eyes before turning away. Apparently, you were only nice to him whenever he was halfway down the road to death.

He walked back to the living room and debated taking the key to the apartment with him, but he would only be gone for a brief time, and he'd be just below, so he left it where it was on the kitchen counter.

Dabi stepped out of the apartment into the dimly lit hallway. It was fine, he preferred you like that anyway. Too much kindness from you would have been unnerving, especially after the things he'd said. Honestly, he was surprised you hadn't tried to kick him out yet. If your kind attitude had continued he would've had to check that you hadn't been replaced by some shapeshifter while he wasn't looking.

After making it down the stairs and slipping through the janitorial exit on the side of the first floor, he walked outside. Standing further ahead against the wall, underneath the cover of shadow, Hawks watched as Dabi approached. "Glad to see you made it out of that alive."

He stopped beside the hero, who looked to have come here straight from the scene of destruction. His brown jacket was stained and the hair that he usually spent much time preening over was disheveled, even his wings were drooping a bit. "Yeah, no thanks to you."

Dabi reached into his pocket and grabbed the pack of cigarettes that he'd found in his bag. It had been a while since he'd smoked, probably over three months now, but after today's events, he figured it was deserved.

"I didn't know that the heroes were planning that today," Hawks said. "I wasn't supposed to be involved, apparently, just Endeavor, Jeanist, and Edgeshot."

"Then why did you show up?" Dabi lit a small flame on his index finger and held it below the cigarette he'd placed between his lips, then took a long drag before looking at Hawks expectantly.

The hero's face remained firm, even as a wisp of smoke was blown in his direction. "I arrived back from an assignment early and spotted the scene. It was difficult to see what was going on, so I didn't know that you were involved." He paused, "Even if I did know, it would've looked suspicious if I hadn't stepped in." This time, he wrinkled his nose as the smoke passed over him once again. "You know those things could kill you, right?"

Like that mattered. Thanks to his quirk, Dabi's body was destroying itself from the inside out. His scars were proof of that. He doubted that smoking a cigarette once in a while was going to be the thing that did him in, but he didn't say any of that, only smirked in response to the hero's statement. "Fine, I guess I can believe you."

A lie, but what else was there to say? From the moment Hawks had approached the League and offered his aid, Dabi hadn't trusted him, he'd made that distrust clear. But Hawks had proved to be useful, even if he was working as a double agent as he expected. The League had taken precautionary measures so that when they were eventually betrayed, it wouldn't cause their operation to fall apart. But what Hawks had witnessed during the incident earlier that day, if he were to report it, it could cause Dabi's operation to fall apart. He needed to tread carefully.