You'd managed to hold off texting him the first night, even though you had really wanted to ask when he would be back. You'd, a little embarrassingly, slept on the sofa that night just in case he came back while you were asleep.
But he never showed.
The morning after, you woke up with a sore neck, as well as a sore back, rubbing your eyes as you plodded towards your bedroom to see if he'd just gone straight in there after seeing you asleep in his usual spot.
But nothing.
You'd flopped back onto your couch, staring at your phone screen for far too long while debating whether to text or not.
Eventually, you'd decided to take his advice and leave the house. For a second you even forget yourself and almost consider not taking your phone with you to avoid temptation, but soon picked it up, just in case.
You'd considered going to Fourfold to see Sota, but decided against it on the off chance you couldn't stop yourself from thinking of Dabi. You also didn't want him learning of the fact you'd been drugged, because you just knew it would really upset him, and you didn't want him rallying around you while he was trying to take care of somebody else's business by himself.
As well, neither of you had tried hiding something from the other before and you weren't feeling too confident in your ability to succeed.
In an attempt to make the most of Dabi's advice, you'd taken a long walk around one of your local parks, before sitting on a bench, admiring the scenery for a while, only to pull your phone out, open up a blank message to the number Dabi left behind and just stare at the screen trying to think of something worthwhile to say.
You wonder if he hadn't come back yet because you'd made him uncomfortable. He'd always pretended to snap at you to cut it out whenever you touched him softly. Maybe you'd crossed a boundary without thinking about it.
The thought of that is enough to make your stomach turn, a palm raising to your mouth as you look down at your phone. You genuinely feel a little sick from the stress left behind from thinking you'd pushed him into something he didn't want.
This pushes you to send the first text.
'I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable.'
You want to say more. You want to ask when he'll be back. You want to ask if he's safe, and also to demand him to be safe and to just not get in trouble.
You realise afterwards he probably had no idea who it was who'd sent it, so you send:
'It's Y/N.'
Only to receive no response for the rest of the day.
Determined to not let it bother you too much, you buy yourself a drink from a nearby vending machine once it hits late enough to justify getting dinner, and head towards a ramen bar you sometimes frequented alone, just because it was next to a busier food chain, and was usually a lot quieter.
As long as you're buying something there, they don't seem bothered by the fact you'd brought in a drink from elsewhere, and so you sat at the bar, trying to ignore the other few patron's thoughts as they projected themselves into your mind.
You lay in bed staring at the ceiling for some time that night, spinning through all the events that had happened within such a short span of time that had changed you so fundamentally as a person so quickly.
***
The next day, you consider calling him after you manage to peel yourself out of your bed for long enough to go out for another walk around the town.
As you walked, you'd heard snippets of conversations and thoughts of a League of Villains attack on some kind of human trafficking ring. From what you'd heard, the victims had left safely, which put your mind at ease slightly.
Briefly, you find yourself wondering if that was Dabi's way of letting off steam about what had happened. You hadn't remembered him showing you anything to do with whether your attacker had been part of a ring, and a shudder racks through you as you consider the possibility that he had.
'Heard you've been busy. Are you okay?'
You found yourself sending, rather pathetically, later on that night.
You'd put your phone down, not really expecting an answer. When your ringtone sounded, you basically dove for your phone, hoping it was him.
'still busy.'
Had been the response.
Two words, but still enough to make your heart lift.
'Just try not to come back injured.' You responded, actually watching and waiting for his response, even though one wasn't guaranteed.
Eventually, a simple thumbs up emoticon comes through and you find yourself smiling like a schoolgirl about it.
Really you should have been embarrassed by the way you were behaving. It wasn't like you had much experience with men, but you'd certainly never acted so giddy with Junichiro. And you'd met him on a lot more normal terms than you had Dabi.
Again, you consider the words Dabi spoke to you before leaving, only to shake them off again. You'd been attracted to him from the moment you saw him, remembering how he looked like art to you. The burn had thrown you off, and the empty threats had definitely scared you. You find yourself running fingers over the small scar left behind on your wrist.
The further the night goes on, the more you think about the entire situation as you lay restlessly in bed.
For some reason, you find yourself thinking of the time you'd accidentally groped him while trying to sneak your phone from him. Your whole body seems to flush from the memory, remembering how he'd spread his legs wider on the sofa and stared at you with gorgeous cold eyes as he felt himself through his pants, his light pink tongue poking out slightly to wet the dark skin of his bottom lip.
The memory gets you hot and bothered for the first time in, well, months, and you find yourself rolling the baggy shirt you were sleeping in up to reach down to your pussy.
As your fingers swipe over yourself, you shudder. You were almost embarrassingly wet.
You hadn't done this for a while, but found yourself quickly picking it back up again, rubbing your clit with slick covered fingers as you steal his previous perverse thoughts about you to use for your own material.
You also think about the kiss you'd shared as you dip your fingers between your folds, arching your back against the mattress and whimpering into the empty room.
It takes a little time, thanks to your lack of recent practice, but you do eventually come, a feeling of relaxation and peace washing over you for the first time in days.
You find your whole body going limp and heavy due to this and finally, you manage to get to sleep.
***
You wake up around midday, having slept solidly through the night for the first time in a while. Your head is unusually silent, no negative thoughts clouding your mind. You stretch, giving yourself time to readjust to being awake for a moment before getting up, and repeating what had become your morning ritual of plodding around your house to see if he had returned overnight.
When you see the house is empty for a third day, you silently accept it. Thinking about what you could do to keep yourself busy today that didn't push you too far out of your comfort zone.
You call Sota, only able to have a short conversation with him before he had to return to work. It was nice to talk to him since everything had happened, but with the safety of not having him intrude on your mind, and vice versa.
You drop Kai a text too, exchanging a few brief messages before he disappeared too.
You watch the news, learning of what the League of Villains had done. It just seemed to be images of the burnt down building, pieces of rubble all over the floor and jagged pieces of metal protruding from the collapsed walls.
Naturally the press barely mentioned the rumours of it being a human trafficking ring, and emphasised the destruction, as well as covering the deaths caused during their raid.
When it hit late afternoon, you allowed yourself to check your phone.
Nothing.
Instead of letting it get to you like you had been, you choose to order food, deciding to have a comfort movie night.
You wrap yourself in your blanket on your sofa, laying across it with snacks. You even toy with the idea of cracking open a bottle of wine you had in ones of your cupboards. The idea of drinking now filled you with fear, but you felt like while you were at home, you'd be safe, with no-one around to harm you.
Unfortunately, the fear beats you this time and you opt to stick to soda instead.
When you find yourself slowly battling to keep your eyes open while watching the second movie, you force yourself off the couch and move yourself to your bed, sleepily wrapping your blanket up and tucking it between your legs as well wrapping your arms around it.
Your sleep doesn't last long, however, something rousing you from your sleep in the middle of the night.
You grumble a little to yourself, cuddling the blanket tighter to your body. You nuzzle your face deeper into it, begging your brain to not start whirring.
But it does. You go over what you could do to keep yourself busy later when day had broken. It wouldn't hurt to go and look for jobs before you quit your current one. The bills still needed to be paid one way or another.
A slight thump from within your home makes your body freeze in place for a split second before you throw the blanket from yourself and leap out of bed.
You're unable to hide your glee as you burst into the living room to see Dabi shrugging off his jacket.
"You're back." You breathe, your eyes probably sparkling as he turns lazily to face you, his blue eyes shining even in the dark.
"Hey." He replies, carelessly throwing his jacket over the couch. His face isn't too clearly visible, but you swear there's a slight pink hue dusting his cheeks.
"I thought I'd scared you off." You say with a relieved giggle.
His eyes roll away from you again.
You hear his thoughts as he tries to find something witty to say in response. He gives up relatively quickly though as he turns around to face you, mentally voicing his irritation at having to return to the League when he last saw you.
A small smile settles on your lips and you launch yourself towards him, trapping him in a hug.
"Careful!" He snaps as your body thumps into his.
The warmth you feel coming off his body feels comforting instead of something to be feared now.
He simply pats your head a couple times before letting his arms limply cross over your body. Not the best hug you'd ever been given, but you consider the potential of him being wary about his burns and the sutures holding his skin together as well as his potential inexperience. He definitely didn't seem the type that would give hugs often.
"So a trafficking ring, huh?" You ask.
"I dont want to talk about it." He replies relatively quickly, and you raise your eyebrows and move away from him finally. This seems to egg him into recovering the situation. "The boss had business there."
"Business?" You query, frowning slightly.
"Pick up duty." He clears up. "They took someone important to us."
You cock your head at him, maintaining his lazy eye contact.
"You're hiding something." You point out. The wall in his mind had gone back up. You wonder why you even care for a moment. Of course he was hiding something. He was a villain, and probably didn't trust you still.
"Sparing you the grisly details." He says with a smile tugging on one side of his mouth, one of his hands moving to capture your chin and tilt your head up to emphasise his height over you. "It even got me feelin' a little sick."
You both stare at each other silently, his grip on your chin and cheeks not wavering.
"Have you thought about this?" He asks after he briefly revisits the kiss you'd shared in his mind.
You feel your cheeks heat up at the question. It was as though he'd seen right through you and knew exactly what you'd done the night before.
"Yes." You admit sheepishly, moving your eyes away in embarrassment.
"And?" He asks, tilting your head back further to ensure your eye contact and dipping his face closer to yours.
You don't answer him verbally, instead closing the small gap between you both and pressing your lips to his.