꧁༒☬𝓨𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓸𝓾𝓵
𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮 𝓵𝓾𝓬𝓴𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽.
𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽 𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓭𝓸☬༒꧂
Now back at your mother's house, you were busy helping her set up everything for the party, running around frantically; Dabi and Jason having escaped the workload, by heading to a pub of some sorts.
"Stupid, lazy bastards", you angrily mumbled to yourself as you brought the plates outside, your bare feet leaving footprints in the sand. The whole thing was set up only a few meters from the house. You set down the plates into one of the cabinets behind the large, wooden bar that your mom had managed to organize out of nowhere. The grass roof that covered it, rustled every now and then as the soft, salty breeze from the waves just several meters away blew through it.
The soft wind graced your skin as you stood still for a moment, inhaling the familiar scent. You smiled a little to yourself, the aroma calming.
Back inside, you momentarily watched your mother try and make the snacks at the speed of light. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say that it was your friends who were throwing a party?", you mumbled, taking out the salad from the fridge.
You mother chuckled. "They are Y/N, but I offered to help".
"I don't see them helping though".
"They're coming soon. Claire and them are busy getting the music preparations and the others are all making food themselves. Oh, and the neighbour's down the street offered to go get more tables and chairs".
"The neighbour's?", you sent your mom a confused look as you washed the salad. She laughed. "Have you already forgotten how small the community is?".
You took out the salad and started chopping it up. You chuckled. "Maybe a little", you shifted the chopped pieces over to one side, "what about the fact that the party is being hosted at your place?".
"Well, I am the only one that owns a little bit of land here at the beach".
You pursed your lips. The reason behind that making the events from yesterday sting at your mind. It wasn't your mother who had bought this small area of land by herself. It had been an anniversary gift from him to her; back when everything had still been okay.
◇♧♧♧◇
The sun slowly started to descend, bathing everything in a golden-orange light and adding a mystical and festive touch to the whole thing. It looked stunning. The bar had been elevated onto a stage-like wooden pallet, with bar stools set up in front of it and shelves stocked with drinks and all sorts of cocktail glasses and seemingly endless rows of shot glasses behind it. Out in front of the bar were tables and chairs stuck into the sand, the water washing between the legs. Each table decorated with a small flower in a vase on it. Fairy lights were hung all around the bar and on wires supported by the occasional wooden beam, which surrounded the area with tables and large gas lanterns offering light which tinted everything with dancing shadows. You weren't going to lie; you were pretty much exhausted from the whole set-up.
"Hey sweetie, go and get dressed before the guests arrive", your mother called out to you from the kitchen. You nodded at your mom, leaving to go inside. You opened the door to your old room, walking over to the long couch and picking up the dress, as you did, the music outside started playing.
To be honest, you were surprised that your mom and her strange friends still knew how to throw a nice party. You grumbled, hoping that Dabi and Jason weren't going to ditch you and let you suffer alone. You didn't hold it too far from Dabi though, most of you was expecting him to not show.
You sighed, putting on the dress. It felt a little quiet without your sister here; apparently, she couldn't come because she was having a sleepover at her friend's house. You snickered to yourself. Smart kid.
In front of your mirror now, you quickly did your hair and finished up putting on light makeup, smoothing out the dress before going out. You hesitated a few moments before opening the door, feeling a little insecure about the dress. It was quite showy, and it's not like you really wore dresses a lot. Pushing away the self-doubting thoughts, you left your room, remembering that at least you didn't show up in lingerie.
Your ears were almost immediately drowned with chatter and music from outside. Good grief, the guests had arrived. You had to resist turning around and just locking yourself in your room.
You took a deep breath, walking to the back door and mentally prepared yourself for the horrors you were about to face. Peering out the door you saw a large bonfire had been lighted, its flames large and bright.
"Y/N?", you were about to step outside. "Hmm?", you turned around, a figure standing a small distance behind you. It took you a moment to make out the person who was standing there, your eyes having to adjust to the darker light.
Her eyes looked directly at him, in confusion. The light from outside danced off her, making her look like an angel of sorts bathed in golden light. His heart fluttered unwillingly, the captivating sight catching him off guard. Her dress softly swayed in the breeze; her face framed by the shadows cast from outside. Despite the loose structure of the dress, it still framed her body extremely well, making it almost irresistible to grace over.
Dabi stepped out of the shadows, your eyebrows shot up. He was wearing a simple long-sleeved white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a few buttons up top open, revealing part of his chest. To match that he wore plain, black shorts. It was the first time you had ever seen his legs really. They had the same wrinkled, purple, burned skin as the other parts of his body, yet what surprised you, was how muscular they were. You had kinda expected it, but also not. The brunt skin ran up along his well-built calves to just below his knee-pits. The pants covering the rest.
Despite the plainness of his outfit, he looked ... really, ... really good, the classic colours bringing his eyes out. "Dabi?", you whispered his name, his looks leaving you close to speechless. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks. He had his head down and glanced up at you, his hands in his pockets. His eyes lightly stained golden from the light outside.
To be honest, he felt out of place, and extremely unlike him he felt a little hesitant about everything. Y/N stared at him, her eyes large, her lips lightly parted and, he wasn't sure if he was just imaging it, but her cheeks were lightly tinted red.
You took a deep breath, regaining yourself. "Look who came", you mumbled, sending him a teasing look. He huffed, rolling his eyes and walked up to you. You turned to stare at the large amount of people out in front of you to avoid looking at him.
Neither of you seemed to want to go there, both of you unmoving and staring in silence. "Ah, Y/N! There you are!", your mother called out to you from the bar, "come over here".
"Well there goes our cover", you mumbled taking a step forward, Dabi following you. As you walked towards the bar, your anxiety became more and more prominent the closer you got. You subconsciously inched closer to Dabi.
You spent at least half hour, being forced to greet everybody at the party. Most of the guests were around your mothers age, but like your mother had mentioned, there were a few around your age too, but they seemed ... too different from you to associate with.
You and Dabi took a seat at the end of the bar, each ordering a drink. You groaned. "You know I'm starting to think that Dracula had it right, sleep all day, live alone in a castle and explode into thousands of bats to get out of social situations".
Dabi sighed in agreement. "Hey, what's up guys?", Jason spoke up from behind, throwing his arms around you and Dabi. Dabi glared at him. "Get your arm off of me", he grumbled.
"Relax man", Jason laughed, yet removed his arm from Dabi, taking a seat next to you. "So, how's life treating you?", you mumbled, looking over at him.
Jason stretched as your drinks were set down. "Mmm, so-so, the party isn't that bad and before I got here, I got a call, and guess who got a new job?", he grinned at you. His enthusiasm was infectious, making you smile at him.
"Really? I'm really happy for you", you grinned back at him. "Yeah, and to that, I'll order us a round on me", he waved at the bartender.
You shook your head. "I'm sorry, shots aren't really my thing, especially considering the fact that I almost died yesterday from doing exactly that".
"C'mon, just one, for me?", he pleaded. You sighed, there was no point in arguing with him anyways.
As if on cue, the shots were set down in front of you. You each picked up your shot glass, clinked and then with immense regret, you downed the shot.