Silently, with every fiber of my being, I willed my heart to relax back into a calmer, more mild mannered rhythm. However, this task had been deemed close to impossible, due to the fact that Dabi had managed to pull me into his lap. His strong, gnarled arms had fixed themselves around my thin frame. And while the embrace was firm, it was not smothering. More protective then damaging.
My arms wished to remain fixed around his neck, and in a rather courageous move, my hands wandered their way to tangle themselves within his jet black locks. It was as if the body parts belonging to the upper half of my being retained minds of their own. With how his half scarred face began to absentmindedly borrow itself into the crook of my neck, it seemed as though he did not mind in the slightest.
For those several moments of strong silence that had been birthed by my pitiful thanks and sudden physical advances, I began to take in the many features I'd seem to miss before. He wore several cartilage piercings in both of his ears, which also seemed to lack earlobes. Those piercings were also accompanied by a triple nostril piercing that resided in the right side of his slim nose. Moments before his face became buried in my neck, I attempted taking note of just how many hoops and staples held his perfect face together. Whether it was the fact I'd lost count or if I was just too enthralled by his appearance, I'd no idea. But never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that my savior would be someone like Dabi. Not someone this attractive, this mysterious or intriguing. This entire night only caused my urge to learn more about him to grow.
After what felt like eons of wonderful silence, Dabi managed to tear his face from its home in the crook of my neck. Unexpectedly, however not unwanted, his forehead united with my own. This caused whatever free space between our noses to disappear as our eyes met and danced together for what felt like the millionth time that night. The gentle, crimson dusting resurfaced across my cheeks once more. Thankfully, this time, my anxieties seemed to have left town; my eyes remained comfortably transfixed with his.
"How did you-" Before I could even continue uttering my question, the same small smirk made an appearance from his lips. But another emotion seemed to join it. Possibly relief?
"Hawks," Dabi gently answered, one of his hands reaching upwards to brush aside a stray tress of my brunette locks. "His connection through your friend was pretty useful." He explained, returning his hand to reunite with his other along my back. Searching his eyes for the sincerity, a small smile greeted his own from my lips.
"Seriously, though. Thank you," I repeated my earlier words, this time removing the pathetic, half sobs from the undertones. His already heavily lidded turquoise eyes squinted slightly at my words as his head tilted slightly in questioning. "I like to think I did what anyone else would've done, considering I was one of the ones that noticed." Dabi's response caused a mildly confused expression to grace my facial features. Keeping his strong hands level along my back to maintain my balance, Dabi's eyes briefly shifted downwards before reuniting with my own. "Several others passed that alley... Saw what was happening." Dabi broke the news after shifting somewhat underneath my thin figure. At the sound of his words, a sizeable lump formed down the middle of my airway, threatening to obstruct my breathing at any given moment. Oddly enough, however, that realization meant very little to me after several seconds. And upon that thought, the lump began to slowly disintegrate back into nothingness.
Despite having been so bold only moments earlier, my hands seemed to have been rendered nervous. Was that the correct word that could be used to describe this feeling? No, actually. With the sudden urge that now drove them, 'eager' was the more fitting adjective. My left hand found just a bit more balance for my upper body, pressing gently into his lower abdomen. Said tender touched was born from the fact that I was not aware of the full extent of his scarring. I did not wish, whatsoever to harm the man that now sat so comfortably underneath me.
Cautiously, as if not wanting to startle a young fawn, my right hand reached up and forwards. Those same dazzling turquoise eyes I had become enamored with over the course of the night watched intently as my thin, pale fingers connected with the left side of his chin. Even though he watched as my hand drew near, an ever so slight flinch resonated through his near perfect features. As my four fingers guided my thumb along the left side of his jawline, my dark eyes studied his every expression; every slight wince, the smallest of shudders whenever my short nails met the scars, and the large gulp that squeezed its way down his throat at one point. Through the entire few moments, my touch remained as gentle as I could manage, with the only comparison coming to my mind being that of a delicate feather grazing a newborn child's skin. After what seemed like several long, painful minutes for the young man, his broad shoulders and neck visibly loosened, allowing his head to tilt and further connect the scarred tissue with that of my smooth, tiny hand. By then, my right hand had already made several drawn out strokes along the lower half of his face. Starting with the left side beside the vertical row of staples connecting his chin, my fingers rounded around his near perfect, chiseled jawline, tracing the surgical staples connecting his cheek to the scarring. All the while, grazing just underneath where the staples held the scars together as gently as I could.
However, the exact moment that my fingers traced along his lower lip, included in the scarring, my stomach performed somersaults that were so foreign. The crimson hue gracing my cheeks darkened and would thankfully lighten once my index finger cleared his lower lip. And during my fingers' entire trek across his lips, Dabi's piercing eyes would once again fixate themselves onto my face.
Thankfully, his tilting head, connecting his cheek with my hand halted my touches. As if Dabi knew exactly how to make the moment all the more intimate, his left hand raised slowly, his palm connecting with the back of my hand and pressing his cheek and my palm tightly together. The heat radiating through his skin managed to melt its way through my arm, into my chest. This sort of warmth, this was what I always wished I would feel around someone I had feelings for.
Slowly, Dabi's fingers inched their way into my palm, his left hand squeezing my own tightly, but tenderly. The entire time, my dark eyes studied the man's face; for the kind of person he seemed to be, every single emotion that was being conveyed through his facial expressions were extremely uncharacteristic. Just before uttering a single word, his already half lidded eyes squeezed together tightly, as if he wished to forget about the world surrounding us, only wishing to focus on the moment we were currently sharing.
"You're very quiet," His words sounded more like a growl, as his hand continued holding my own firmly. My head tilted a bit more slightly, attempting to meet his now open eyes. As my fingers begun wrapping themselves around his own, my chest rose and fell heavily, as if a ten pound weight had been placed upon me to slow my breathing.
"Do you think I'm dumb?" I asked, the switch within me that allowed my emotions through to the surface switching off. No emotion whatsoever resonated through my words, and as my dark eyes continued studying his face, his brilliant blue eyes closed once more. Now, it seemed as though he was savoring in the physical contact that I continued gifting him, my hand remaining connected to his face. Giving my hand a firm squeeze, Dabi slowly lowered his mangled arm back onto the armrest before opening his eyes. When their gaze met my own, I found that he too was now void of all emotion.
"You seriously thought I had no idea who you are? You confirmed it yourself with the little display." My words spilled like venom from my lips as I referred to the now scorched firepit not even several feet from us. A slow exhale seethed through his nostrils as Dabi remained staring through my soul, allowing my pale hand to graze along the underside of his jaw to the center of his gnarled throat.
"So, the boss isn't the only one who's famous? That's nice to hear." His words seethed through his lips almost in a purr. The raspy undertones of Dabi's voice would never fail to make my knees buckle. Even now, when I knew he thought he could breeze by the very reason he was so well known.
"The league know of your little play date tonight?" My question just barely reaching a whisper. As I spoke, my waist rose from its comfortable seating arrangement atop the villain's lap. The action caused my to be kneeling in the chair, my bust becoming level with his throat, and my gaze being cast down into his eyes. The very eyes that refused to break their trance with my own.
"They don't know many things about me," Dabi uttered, his hands gliding from their home at the small of my back to new residences at either side of my waist. With the intense mix of emotions flooding through my being at that moment, my intense haphephobia had completely disintegrated.
"And honey, I intend on keeping it that way, for now." The unexpected pet name caused my gaze to falter for just a split moment. And that split second falter would prove to be the death of me.
In that small moment, where my gaze had failed me, Dabi and I had traded places; it was now my rear end that found solace in the warmed metal seat, whilst he was now the one in charge. His five foot nine and a half inch frame towered over my petite frame. The intensity of the shadows that cast against certain angles of his face gave a much more intimidating impression of the young villain, making the vivid color of his irises pierce through my soul like a stone cold steel blade, a stark contrast to the flame he was able to produce.
"I just find it funny how you seem to think I'm completely oblivious about you, dolly," The underlying purr radiated through his words sent small shivers through my spine. However, my eyes dared not give away how truly flustered I was made by this man, my dull gaze remaining trained on his own irises.
"You think I care?" My simple response caused Dabi to momentarily be taken aback, before regaining his composure, that same signature smirk revisiting my sights. Slowly doubling over, Dabi's moderately scarred hands balanced his being using both armrests of the chair, effectively trapping me within the seat. "You know I won't tell you shit and neither will any of my brothers, so you might as well get lost." I hissed, turning my head away and instead, attempting to my focus my attention on anything else. The low chuckle that rumbled from his chest slowly came closer, and closer until I felt his warm breath against the shell of my ear. "Hey, sweets," Dabi attempted to regain my attention, but I was determined to keep my sights focused on anything else, as long as it wasn't him.
"You couldn't get rid of me if you tried." His words only prompted the crimson haze to resurface across my cheeks. A small gasp escaped my lips as I felt his teeth gently nibbling my tiny earlobe. Attempting to swallow back the lump that had reformed within my airway, I continued remaining as still as a statue. What power did this man possess over me that caused my heart to race at the speed of light, I wondered. The wild thumping persisted as I felt those same lips travel along my jawline, gracing my chin for a mere nanosecond. No other part of my figure even dared to think of stopping Dabi. But oddly enough, as the space between our lips closed, the cloud of anxiety that surrounded my heart dissipated; the view of his eyes reuniting with my gaze accompanied the somewhat slow, gentle kiss.
From the slow, somewhat tender movements throughout the kiss, it seemed as though every ounce of brazenness had faded from the man's being. My head hadn't needed any guidance from anything other then his lips to turn back to face front. The vermillion hue across my cheeks enlivened as his hands drifted towards my own, firmly but not aggressively taking possession of them. All the while, his lips maintained dominance over my own, occasionally his teething grazing my bottom lip. Throughout the entire oral exchange, in the back of my mind, one question lingered; why was I not fighting back?