It's On You

Hello, hello! Mimmy here (again, a little late but I got carried away) with my Day 9 entry for the challenge! I had no idea which one to pick for today, so I kinda winged it (pun not intended)

#WritingMatters

Word count:

1602

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“And you thought wewould just... what? Take you in like a wounded bird?” Dabi scoffed, although the hatred in his voice was obvious to the rest of the League and Hawks. “You've got some nerve coming here after what you pulled, Hawks. you're either brave or an idiot, and I don't think you're the brave type.”

Hawks forced himself to stay quiet as Dabi shot cutting word after cutting word at him mercilessly. He supposed he had it coming, but it still hurt to hear. Despite that hatred and the words themselves, Dabi's tone was cold, an underlying threat beneath every word, simmering under the surface. But Hawks refused to stand down. It didn't matter how bad he wanted to run, he knew he couldn't allow himself to.

“I'm sorry.” The words that came from the hero threw the League off, confusion flickering in everyone's eyes. The apology left everyone wondering why he was apologizing, and, furthermore, how he dared to apologize like that, like he hadn't done what he did.

“Sorry?” Dabi scoffed, holding a hand up a bit as he saw Toga about to intervene out of the corner of his eye. He could also feel Spinner ten just behind him. He had to act fast or someone would take the satisfaction of killing Hawks away from him, and he would not allow that.

He lunged forward, shoving Hawks back and pushing him against the wall harshly.

“You will be sorry, Birdbrain,” he hissed his flames slowly coming to life as he met Hawks' eyes. “You think you can get away with what you did?”

Hawks' eyes flashed with a hint of fear as he looked down at the flames before meeting Dabi's eyes again. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“Touya, enough!”

Dabi froze, almost against his will, at the sound of Endeavor's voice. He didn't turn, not wanting to show weakness by doing as told.

“Step away from him,” another voice he didn't recognize said. It sounded like a kid, but Dabi knew it wasn't one of Shoto's pitiful friends.

He glanced back at the kid. “Make me,” he hissed. As soon as the words left his lips, something snapped in his mind like a switch. His throat closed and his chest immediately tightened. And, before he could realise what was happening to him, the kid repeated himself and he stepped back, releasing Hawks, who watched in shock as well.

“Dabi?” Toga's voice came softly, almost faint to Dabi's ears as he tried to get a grip, unable to react to her.

Endeavor took a step closer as everyone in the warehouse, both heroes and villains, held their breaths. “Touya...” he started after a couple of seconds of silence. Dabi looked at him, but there was no emotion in his eyes, no anger or hatred. “Why didn't you come back?”

Dabi didn't hesitate. “I did.” That answer seemed to shock everyone, but no one more than Dabi himself, who wasn't sure why he was just standing still, answering shitty questions. “You were all to busy to notice me, as usual.”

Hawks' expression filled with a mix of shock and sorrow as he listened to Dabi's confession, but he didn't say anything, letting Endeavor and the U.A student, Shinso, do whatever they had to do as long as they didn't fully break him.

Something changed in Endeavor's eyes and he took one more step. “You don't get to say we were too busy when you didn't even try to make me see you. That's on you.”

Hawks' gaze dropped to Dabi's hand and he frowned, quickly glancing around for no more than a second for a safe place. He could almost sense what was coming, and he couldn't let anyone get caught in it or hurt.

He spotted an open door and, just then, a flicker of flames ignited in Dabi's hand. He had freed himself.

Hawks had to act fast. He spread his wings and shoved Dabi through the open door, shutting it as Dabi fell into the room. As soon as the door closed, the fire flared up out of control, blue flames surrounding them and quickly taking up the oxygen in the room.

Dabi stumbled back, further into the room until he bumped against the opposite wall. And Hawks could see in his eyes that what was happening wasn't just anger at Endeavor's words or even his presence.

Dabi's throat was tight, and his chest heaved with labored and erratic breaths as his hands touched the cool wall behind him—which was becoming hotter each second—and his gaze focused on the fire around him, the blue flames flickering as erratically as his breathing were the only thing he could see through his tunneling vision.

One hand clutched at his chest as he tried to get rid of the pressure of a thousand weights crushing him. His hands shook as he tried, not only to breathe, but to calm his mind as well, to quiet his clashing thoughts, those that were jumping all over the place reminding him of what he used to have as a child, before everything fell apart.

Hawks approached him cautiously. “Dabi... look at me,” he said softly, not getting too close to him to avoid pushing him further. “I need you to breathe.” He glanced around them, seeing the fire flare up aggresively. That wasn't good.

Dabi's gaze was unfocused, but he could feel the walls closing in around him, and Hawks—a hero who had betrayed the League—there wasn't helping. “Leave me alone!” he shouted breathlessly.

Hawks' chest clenched at the raw vulnerability and fear in Dabi's voice, but he needed to cut through to him if he didn't want either of them to die in a blue fire, as poetic as it could sound.

“Dabi, stop and listen to me! You need to breathe!” he snapped, gripping Dabi's hands when the other tried to push him away. Hawks had gone through his fair share of panic attacks as a child the first couple of years after he was taken by the Commission, and, even continued to have a panic attack here and there from time to time. “Breathe...” he whispered just over the sound of the crackling fire.

Outside, he could hear a fight breaking out between the heroes that were just them showing up and the League, but he needed Dabi to focus before everything got out of hand.

He bit his lip and pulled one of Dabi's hands towards his chest and the other to Dabi's. He didn't tear his gaze from Dabi's. “Feel that?” he asked. “Focus on that beat.” He spoke as gently as he could manage, not wanting to make Dabi feel any worse. “You're safe here, it's just us two, and, I swear, I won't hurt you.”

Dabi felt the heat clawing at him, the flames dancing just out of reach yet suffocatingly close. His heart raced, a wild drum echoing in his ears, drowning out Hawks' voice. Memories of his childhood flashed before him: laughter, warmth, and a family that was whole—a stark contrast to the chaos consuming him now.

“Dabi, please!” Hawks pleaded, his grip firm yet gentle. “I know it feels like everything is closing in, but I promise they're not. Focus on me. Just me.”

Dabi squeezed his eyes shut, fighting against the memories, against the fear that threatened to pull him under. “I can’t… I can’t…” His voice trembled, the weight in his chest feeling heavier than the flames burning the walls. The blue fire flickered dangerously, lighting up the dark corners of the room and the even darker corners of his mind.

“Breathe with me,” Hawks urged, taking a slow, measured breath himself. “In through your nose, out through your mouth. You’re not back there with them anymore, Dabi. You’re here with me. I won’t let you go.”

Hawks’ calm presence pierced through the haze of panic, offering a tether to reality. Dabi’s breathing stuttered as he forced himself to mimic Hawks' pattern, feeling the steady rhythm slowly bring him back to the present. The edges of his vision began to clear, and the suffocating weight started to lift—even if just barely.

But, just as Dabi began to find some calm, a loud crash echoed from outside the door, rattling him once more. The fight outisde was escalating. Hawks’ expression faltered, and he instinctively moved closer, his wings enveloping Dabi as if to shield him from the chaos outside.

“Stay with me, Dabi,” he whispered. “You can handle this. Just breathe.”

The warmth of Hawks’ body next to him, combined with the calming rhythm of his breaths, began to soothe the tempest inside. Dabi squeezed Hawks’ hands, anchoring himself in the present moment.

Hawks smiled a bit, noticing Dabi slowly coming back to the present, to reality. “There you go, see?” he said softly, recognising the hints of exhaustion that broke through the fear that lingered in Dabi's eyes. “You're already back. Just keep breathing.”

A few moments of silence followed and the fire around them began to dim out slowly.

Dabi looked at Hawks, he wouldn't thank him, ever; but the look in his eyes was enough for Hawks to accept it as gratitude. There was no hatred in them, no rancor, and Hawks appreciated that moment, however fleeting it could be. It was just two kids who had gone through hell back at home helping each other out, nothing more. Just two kids who looked up to Endeavor and dreamed of becoming heroes one day.