𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 (𝐃𝐚𝐛𝐢 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

20

"Alright, so I guess it's my turn to ask some questions now." Hawks looked up, where six stories overhead, the windowsill leading into your living room could be seen jutting out over the alleyway. "What exactly is going on between you and those two girls?"

"Are you talking about our work relationship or our sexual relationship? If it's the latter, I've only fucked one of them. I'll let you decide who it was."

Hawks' eyes narrowed. "Don't play coy with me, Dabi. Why were they both helping you escape from the battle today? What did Aya mean by 'I'm a part of your team now?"

Dabi took another drag. His explanation could mean life or death for all three of you. To make it sound believable, he'd need to incorporate bits of truth into the overall lie. "Well, I'm sure you remember the murders that occurred in this building just over a month ago."

Hawks nodded. "You were there, that night in the alley. You saved her life, and when I asked you about it you'd told me that you'd just happened to be in the area and had taken pity on the girl that you'd found."

"Well, you should know that I'm not one to take pity on some random girl who was so hopped up on drugs that she could barely land a punch." To be frank, you'd landed quite a few blows before the enemy had managed to inflict the poisonous wound on your arm, but Hawks didn't know that.

"So, why'd you save her then?" He asked.

Exhaling one last plume of smoke, Dabi dropped the cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with his shoe. "As you know, her friend, the vigilante, was the last known person to have had information on the weapon known as Izanagi. Shigaraki had given me orders to find her and force her to tell me what she knew. I'd planned on using the quirkless one as... motivation for her to talk."

Hawks didn't try and hide the look of disgust that crossed over his face. A good sign, meant that the story was believable.

"By the time I arrived, the murder had already occurred and I was seconds away from losing the only other lead that I could potentially use, so I made a choice, and I saved her life."

"That doesn't explain why the two of you are working together, or how the other girl is involved," Hawks said.

"I'm getting there," Dabi replied. "I told Shigaraki what happened, and told him of the new plan I had in mind. Instead of torturing her for information that I was sure she didn't have, I proposed that I could act as her ally. I would work with her to find the weapon, do everything in my power to keep her alive, and then discard her once I'd gotten what I needed."

Hawks raised his eyebrows. "And why would she want a villain as an ally?"

"She didn't. There was a good amount of blackmail involved." He was attempting to frame this in a way that made you sound as innocent as possible. That way, if Hawks were to report this, at least one of you had a better chance of making it out.

"Her friend had also asked her to find the weapon and destroy it as a way to continue her legacy. I simply made it sound as though I wanted the same thing. Since she didn't have much of a choice, she agreed to work with me. I doubt she would have done it if she knew that I was trying to get the weapon into the hands of the League. I'll admit, over the long period that we've spent together, she's started not to hate me quite as much. But the only reason she saved me today was that she knew that if I died, the information that I've blackmailed her with would be made public," Dabi shrugged. "I had to make sure that was a part of my deal, otherwise I'm sure she would have stabbed me in my sleep by now."

After taking a second to absorb the information, Hawks shook his head. "So you forced her into working with you?"

"Forced is such a heavy word. I only gave her strong incentives."