Most of the women Dabi had the privilege of coming across in his life were incurably insane, or at the least were regretfully driven to the brink at some point or other. Dabi was self aware and sensible enough to admit his own actions and ideas may be what the public at large deemed as 'wrong' or 'extreme' or 'sociopathic'. Granted, Dabi didn't agree, but he also wasn't naive enough to think his ideals wouldn't be met with challenges; at least the things he did weren't justified with the flippant explanation 'I just want to' or 'it seemed like a good idea at the time'. Now those kind of people were the real freaks.
With this in mind, Dabi figured Chizue's parents must have been a bit scared of their daughter before they died. What kind of little kid, even a weird kid, thinks it's okay to fry up their friend's disembodied fingers? Of course, Chizue probably wasn't the variant of psycho toddler who tortured little animals in her backyard kind of crazy. That was just senseless cruelty.
If Dabi had to take a stab at it, Chizue would be caught somewhere between the 'accidentally cuddling a puppy so hard it suffocated' and 'strangling the puppy to death if it attacked her' type. When someone's impulsiveness and lack of foresight rivaled Shigaraki and Toga's, Dabi knew the best idea probably would have been to avoid Chizue at all costs.
One time as Chizue was trying to fall asleep snuggled into his chest, cheek pressing against the cold metal of his stitches, she took it upon herself to relay to Dabi one of her trips to the movies. Story time was one of the many occurrences that were becoming a part of their time together; not one for talking, Dabi didn't really mind listening on as Chizue rambled on this and that while she used him for a pillow. Dabi even managed to see the humor of the situation when a few strands of Chizue's hair had become caught in one of his staples; she had leaned in to blow a raspberry on his scarred cheek when she thought he wasn't paying attention.
During her latest tale, Chizue was watching a suspenseful mystery thriller, and during one of the films more tense, quiet scenes, someone had taken a call on their cell phone; if Dabi ever bothered to go to movies, and if he wanted to keep a low profile, his course of action would have been to either approach (wordlessly intimidate) the man himself or alerted a staff member. It just made sense.
Chizue had taken the phone, hung it up, and threw it outside the theater before returning to her popcorn; when the other movie goer confronted her, she punched him in the face hard enough to knock him out. And then Chizue kept eating, not sparing a second glance at the man slumped over in his seat with a nosebleed; no one there dared say a word. After a few seconds of silence excluding the dialogue on the screen, a young thuggish looking man sitting next to her had burst into hysterical laughing and clapped her on the back for a 'showing that asshole what for'. Chizue shared one of her boxes of candy; when the movie was over and the lights had dimmed, they made plans to go to another upcoming superhero flick they had both been dying to see. Chizue didn't know if anyone ever bothered to carry out the man she had struck.
Dabi didn't comment on the irony of a villain going out to a theater to watch a movie about superheroes; the voice in the back of his mind was too preoccupied trying to figure out if the man had been in her contact list while he fucked her into the mattress and scratched red lines onto her skin from the edges of the staples on his hands.
So, with his history of meeting insane people, Dabi certainly never expected to fall in love with anyone period.
"Where's my underwear?"
It must have been because she was cute. If Chizue was ugly, surely he wouldn't be so willing to handle all the insanity.
Right?
The hem of Chizue's new nightgown fluttered down to the tops of her knee caps as she spun in it; it wasn't strictly new, being from the same second hand shop Dabi had purchased the miniature rotating fan, but it was new to her. It was made of light pink cotton and sleeveless; Dabi had taken to heart her complaints to the at times sweltering summer heat that always made its way into his apartment. After all, Chizue recuperation would be hindered if she did indeed end up passing out from the heat and she really couldn't walk around the place in the nude, no matter how convenient it was.
They were getting to a point where Chizue was sleeping more regular hours, and even her appetite was showing signs of returning after a week straight of flavored water, soup, and nibbling on pieces of bread and crackers and asking for seconds. Chizue's muscles were still on the small side, but she had been thankfully able to put on weight due to not throwing up any of the food she consumed.
The most promising sign Chizue's overall health was showing improvement was the fact her attitude had been on a steady incline from occasional grins and jibes to making Dabi want to clamp a hand over her mouth to get a break from her chortling and snorting at every little thing.
But then, Dabi also couldn't help the smugness that leaked into his own crooked grins as Chizue smiled and joked and blustered. He knew a big factor in this development was because of his influence; Chizue had even said so.
Of course, right now she looked more confused, pulling up the skirt of her night dress and frowning as she glanced up at Dabi expectantly.
"Dabi?"
"What? You were the one wanting to go around naked before, what's the big deal?"
"I don't get it though; why buy me pjs without underwear?"
Chizue either didn't notice or didn't care how her pebbling nipples stood out, dark in comparison to the pastel pink and just visible through the thin cloth. She had been gaining back some of her weight, but the dress still managed to hang a bit on her frame; the straps were loose and threatening to slide down her shoulders.
Strike that. It had to be because she was adorable.
"An adorable cannibal. I sure know how to pick 'em." Dabi inwardly drawled as Chizue waited for an explanation. "Without panties I can just flip up your skirt for easy access. It takes less time."
"Hey you're right!" Chizue clapped her hands together. "Okay, then I guess there's no real need for it until I leave. Dabi, did you get any of my clothes from my room in the base?"
"No time, had to be in and out."
"Oh okay. What's happening over there? I hope Shigaraki isn't mad I'm still not feel so great. Does he know I can keep down bread now?"
'Who gives a shit what he thinks' was on the tip of his tongue, but Dabi cleared his throat and opted to answer her questions.
"He understands you'd be more of a liability at this point if you stuck around there. Don't sweat it, they're fine."
Actually, the second Dabi stepped inside the decrepit building, all hell broke loose. Toga and Twice were pestering him with questions about her well being, Spinner was bugging him as to why he hadn't gotten Chizue a new phone if hers was broken or at least a walkie talkie, and then Mr. Compress had mentioned how Shigaraki was actually trying to reach her through her cell phone and was pissed he only heard of the sudden arrangements through Mr. Compress instead of Dabi himself. In fact, according to Shigaraki, Dabi should have gone to him directly before taking Chizue off on his own. Mr. Compress was devoid of any witty remarks for once, but Dabi could have sworn he was being studied behind that black and white mask as he went to talk with Shigaraki on what had happened.
It wasn't really anything that personal, but at the end of the day, Dabi had only so much loyalty to their new leader, and that didn't include making him informed on what Dabi considered his own private business. Why the hell did Shigaraki need to know where Chizue was exactly or the specifics of how she was doing? There was no practical reason for Dabi to give out his apartments location and no need for Shigaraki to be so concerned, for any of them to be so quick to question why he hadn't been keeping in touch or at least why he hadn't allowed Chizue to.
They were acting as if Dabi was personally seeing that they didn't have contact with her and that simply wasn't so. He was busy taking care of her and making sure their newest member was back to her full strength. Besides, they were all being so damn loud and he already had to stop by on another errands run for Chizue before returning to their apartment.
Dabi chuckled and allowed Chizue to hog the blanket to cocoon herself for a nap.
"What's mine is ours. But she knows it goes both ways."
"Are you just gonna laze around all day?"
Chizue nodded her head eagerly. "I did stretches while you were gone though and they didn't upset my stomach."
"Well that's good, no need to make yourself sick."
Before he knew it, Chizue would be well enough to stick close to their base once more, which is what Dabi wanted. He didn't want her to be sick and miserable and he knew she needed to regain her prior strength to stay part of the League.
Earlier at the convenience store, Dabi had noticed a bottle labeled syrup of ipecac that induced vomiting while he browsed the shelves for aspirin; this particular medicine was meant to be used when someone had ingested poison or the like. Just a dose of it in someone's food or drink might be enough to cause said individual to throw up like they had the stomach flu. If one wanted to really be sneaky, they could use cherry flavoring and disguise it as cold medicine.
"Dabi?"
"Huh?"
"What are you thinking about?" Chizue turned her face upward; she was lying halfway on his chest. Dabi thought it was odd that despite how often she complained about overheating, she would not hesitate to jump into bed with him and his body that was perpetually warm.
"You."
Chizue beamed wordlessly and Dabi brushed her hair back from her face; the fan was on her side (she claimed the spot next to the window) and the artificial breeze was making the ends up her hair tangle a bit.
"Wait, good or bad?"
"A little of both, I guess."
"Oh okay." Chizue's smile fell. "Um, hey…"
Dabi blinked; it was not often Chizue actually stopped to consider her words before speaking.
"I just...well, I was actually wondering lately if…"
Suddenly, Chizue was sitting up straight as Dabi lay back. The view was nice to be sure, though it was somewhat diminished by the nervousness Chizue was emitting as she grasped the hem of her night gown, compulsively twisting the fabric a she struggled to express herself.
"I like your eyes."
"Um, okay…"
"But sometimes they...you look tired and like you're thinking of something. Something sad." Chizue frowned. "Something sad."
"That's an odd observation." Dabi didn't deny or confirm her words, but he did allow her to take one of his hands in hers.
"And I know I'm not very smart but, even someone like me can...well, have you heard of magic conch shells?"
Dabi stared; for once, he was the one not really following the conversation. "Magic...shells?"
"Yeah!" Chizue nodded earnestly. "You get a shell and you tell it a secret or a wish or something, and then you throw it into the ocean so it never gets out."
"So?"
"I want you to use me that way. Except for the throwing me in the ocean part. I can't swim." Chizue added. "You've been so good to me and I feel better because of you. I just really hope you can trust me to help you when the time comes, or you can even just tell me things or really anything you want. If you're mad, or upset, or frustrated, it's fine by me. I want to hear it all."
"Why?"
"Because I just want to."
"Is that really a good reason?"
Chizue shrugged. "Works for me."
Dabi patted the space next to him and Chizue immediately laid back down; her eyes had never wavered once from his face.
"You'll accpet anything I say?"
"Yes."
Dabi chuckled. "Alright then. Fine."
Chizue's eyes went wide as Dabi pulled his shirt over his head and let it fall to the side of the bed; with a brief glance in her direction, he shimmied out of his pants, but kept on his boxers. He settled down next to her, hand holding up his head, heart hammering away deafeningly loud in his own ears.
"Well?"
Chizue began slipping out of her dress, but Dabi grabbed her hand to make her stop.
"Hey, why'd ya do that?" Chizue pouted.
"Don't ignore me. You said anything, so own up to-"
"Oh!" Chizue lightly smacked her hand to her forehead. "I thought we were going to do it. You don't want to?"
"I-" Dabi paused and thought for a moment, hand still holding her wrist. After some thinking, he made her pull her dress back down. "No. Not yet anyway."
"Okey dokey." Chizue didn't look the least bit disappointed, but Dabi knew it wasn't out of relief. She was just generally okay with basically whatever he wanted to do.
"Now I mean it, don't throw me in the ocean." Chizue reminded him.
"I'm not done yet."
Chizue was at attention. "What else? Is there something wrong?"
"What if I never told you my real name? What if you didn't know anything about me from before we met? Does it really not bug you?" Dabi looked down at her seriously. "I don't need you pestering me about it in the future, you ask enough questions as it is."
"Well, I want to know, but that's okay. Heck, I don't know all that much about the other members lives before I joined either. And besides, as long as you don't mind it, I don't either. What matters is right now and right now, I like you." Chizue grinned cheekily. "And I really like seeing you naked, so that's pretty awesome too."
Dabi didn't say anything and Chizue's smile fell slowly.
"Uh, sorry."
How could she? How could Chizue tell him this now of all times? Wasn't it enough he was dreading the day they'd have to return to the real world together? Wasn't it already bad enough he'd have to go back to sharing her? And sure, it's not like with their duties Dabi would be able to spend as much time with her as he was now when his duty was to oversee her condition. He had his own plans and dreams he wanted to see come to fruition more than anything else.
At least, that was how it used to be. All Dabi's concentration and effort, the thing keeping him moving forward was this drive of his to change the world and make people see things the way they actually were.
But now there was this annoying, nagging little itch that kept reminding him that in a week or so Chizue would probably be all better and then she'd have to return to her own life as opposed to being holed up in his crap apartment and waiting for him and talking only to him and only touching him.
"No. You're fine Chizu."
Dabi made up his mind. Everything would be just fine. Now that they were together, nothing would keep them separate. Chizue wanted to be with him and was no longer fearful or anxious; in fact, Dabi felt it safe to say she was happy, even if she did want to go back to the League and go to movies and be able to stuff her face again.
As long as Chizue returned to him at the end of the day and kept him in her fondest thoughts, Dabi could handle that. Besides, he wanted to avoid doing anything to make her health or her peace of mind around him waver.
Chizue really could be cute when she was in her element, even when she was yammering away and hacking up water when she laughed or giving him grief for being so warm, despite it being she who refused to move from his side in bed; Dabi knew if she still felt the same way about him as before, she would have never felt so comfortable interacting with him as she did now.
When Chizue looked at him now, there were no far off memories of gore and fire or lingering bad dreams in her eyes. All she saw was him, just as he was, and for some inane reason it made her radiate happiness. Dabi already knew she was crazy, but he supposed she was his kind of crazy.
With a faint smile, Dabi gathered Chizue in his arms, giving her a light squeeze before telling her to take a nap with him before dinner, a silent thank you he hoped she could hear over the whir of the electric fan and the throbbing in his chest.