Incinerate

by KyuukaKoinu

Bakugou Katsuki is a workaholic hell bent on never dating because it's too much of a 'distraction'. Enter Midoriya Izuku: A walking contradiction that is giving Katsuki an actual lethal goddamn migraine along with a mysterious set of arson crimes that walked right into town with him. But the most frustrating part is that Katsuki can't seem to get his fucking mind off either.

21. Simmer

A/N: First off, Hello, I am so so sorry. I thought I updated this on this website and then realized I, in fact, had not for four chapters. The COVID-19 issues really made my life a little bit chaotic but it has calmed down a lot. I graduated from my Master's of Science degree recently and I am currently job hunting in this odd climate.

I am going to just consecutively post the last four chapters! So You'll be getting updates every day for the next four days! I hope you enjoy! Thank you all so much if you're still out there for reading! I really love you guys and all the comments that you leave.

Alrighty, let's jump into it! Please read the warning for continuing in this particular chapter.

Warnings: Stalking, obsessive behavior, dark thoughts, murder & minor character death, torture, unhealthy behaviors, gang violence.

Song: Simmer - Haley Williams

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Chapter 21 - Simmer

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Touya gasped awake to the smell of smog and the sound of police sirens in the distance. His eyes snapped open while his breathing was a harsh in and out, struggling for oxygen.

Burning.

Everywhere on his body burned and his eyes stared wide up at the night sky confused, startled and disorientated.

Where am I? He thought to himself. Wild blue eyes darted all around the dark sky as his whole body stung. He registered that he was laying on his back in the grass somewhere and tried to move. But when he attempted to lift up, a rough, broken yell was pulled from him as unfathomable pain shot all over his limbs.

The teal colored eyes of the red haired man then caught the sight of a black smog in the air coming from his right. Slowly, he dragged his eyes to turn his head to see off in the distance the building he was just in up in flames.

The building he and Izuku were in.

All the memories flooded in like a firestorm and Touya's eyes went wide at the realization of what happened. He recalled trying to speed on his motorcycle to Makinohara in order to beat the Shigarakis, running into the building and trying to get Izuku out.

Failing to get Izuku out.

"D-Don't leave me, Touya—"

He remembered the green eyes he loved full of tears as Izuku's small hands clung desperately to him. Now the building with the one person to ever show him true love was up in flames.

An indescribable feeling of fire simmered underneath Touya's skin as he stared in dread at the crumbling building. He thought about Izuku inside and all the warmth drained from his body, leaving behind nothing but rage.

"Ah, he's awake," a familiar sly voice from his left side spoke. "Jin, go see how he is."

Touya clenched his teeth when pain struck like lightning all over his neck and he tried to make a strained noise but failed. His throat felt like hands of fire were wrapped around it, squeezing. As his pain was the highest, that's when he finally looked and saw his arms.

They were red, skinless and bloody with deep scarring burns. The sight made another terror filled yell was pulled from Touya because it looked as if he had been dipped into the fiery pits of hell. His eyes shifted to look at his chest and found the same disturbing amount of damage.

Green eyes and hair flashed in his mind along with Izuku's soft smiling gaze. He stared longer at the fire and slowly his chest started heaving thinking about the Shigarakis. The fucking Shigarakis who gave the kill order to take out Izuku and his family.

A family that was going to welcome him in with the warmth and love he never had when he finally married Izuku. But now Izuku was dead and that family was gone.

The feeling inside his chest simmered stronger and his nostrils flared with anger. He heard footsteps approach and a figure kneeled down beside him to check his breathing.

"The bastard is kicking. Unsurprisingly," Jin spoke exasperatedly, leaned over his twitching body. Touya slowly inched his head towards the sound of the voice above him with crazed eyes and thoughts full of Izuku's beautiful laugh. "Tomura, what do you want to do n—fuck!"

As if the devil gave him a second wind of new life, the angry feeling inside of Touya violently boiled over. His rage erupted and he snapped his arm up to strangle Jin by his skinny breakable throat. The man above him startled with a strained choking noise as he was dragged down and tossed onto the grass.

Touya pushed through his searing pain, running only on adrenaline, rage and thoughts about the green eyed man he loved being burned alive. His bloody hands slammed Jin against the cold dirt and he rolled over on top of him pinning him fully.

Jin tried to grab his gun but Touya was quicker.

All of the red head's loathing made him ignore the burning and blood dripping off him as he snatched the steel gun out of Jin's hand and shoved the barrel all the way to the back of the man's mouth.

Jin screamed and Touya pulled the trigger.

The loud gunshot echoed into the night, and bright red blood sprayed all over the dark green grass.

The body underneath him went satisfyingly still.

Two more sets of footsteps came running towards him and Touya immediately used his sharp reflexes to point the gun in the direction of bodies approaching. He whirled his head around, teeth clenched and face covered in blood. His chest convulsed, unable to contain how much hatred was in his heart as he thought of Izuku being dead.

His ice cold blue eyes laid sights on Tomura and Magne who both immediately paused at the sight of the loaded weapon pointed towards them. The silver haired man's red eyes were emotionless and level headed. Always so fucking under control and Touya was so goddamn sick of it—

He cocked his weapon when Tomura tried to speak.

"Now, hold on one second Touya—"

"—Give me one goddamn reason I shouldn't fucking land a bullet in both of your skulls!" He spat in a threatening tone, ignoring the blood that leaked out of his mouth. His eyes began to sting with tears thinking about the bubbly, beautiful man inside the inferno.

"Izuku is alive," Tomura said steadily and Touya froze at the words. "The firemen dragged him out of the building and he's breathing. I saw it myself."

Touya felt a type of relief wash over him at the idea that Izuku was safe—but to what extent?

He glanced down at his hideous burns and thought about his angel possibly being disfigured and maimed. His murderous gaze returned, and he sneered at the kingpin, not lowering his gun. He picked himself off the ground, staggering to stay up right but his resentful fiery glare was unwavering.

"That's even more reason for me to fucking kill you where you stand," Touya hissed, not removing his gaze off of Tomura. "I told you to stay away from him and you didn't. You nearly fucking killed him—"

"—I can make you a permanent deal if you want," Tomura suggested and Touya shook his head, not caring about any more deals. "C'mon, you know you want to hear it. If you kill me then my father will just finish the job on you and Izuku. Then your precious angel will actually be an angel and you squandered his second chance at life."

"Another fucking deal?" Touya's upper lip curled up in disgust. "Is that why you pulled me out instead of letting me burn to death? To hold Izuku over my goddamn head so I can do as you say?"

"Yes," was the short answer and Tomua put his hands in his pants pockets calmly. "After I saw Izuku being saved from the fire, I thought maybe you're actually worth saving too. It's why you're standing in front of me now."

Touya tried to retort but a shock of pain slammed into his body when he opened his mouth.

The redhead struggled to keep his arm upright, all his adrenaline slowly leaving as his vision became weak. Without warning, his legs buckled from strain and the red head fell to his knees in pain when more ripples of agony flooded his nerves.

Tomura tilted his head at him like it was a game—it was always a fucking game to him.

"You're in no shape right now to debate with me, Touya. I suggest you listen to what I have to say before I instruct Magne to put a bullet in both you and Izuku and finish what I started," Tomura informed and Touya gritted his teeth because he was right.

He wasn't in any shape to do anything right now.

The Shigarakis were impossible to outmaneuver without meticulous long-term planning and Touya didn't want to squander his and Izuku's second chance at life.

He slowly collected himself and brought down his anger to a low simmer. It was a technique he learned how to do as a child to control his temperament problems. He let all the raging, violent thoughts sitting inside his head fester and boil quietly underneath the surface.

When he looked back up to Tomura, his eyes were as empty as he felt.

"What's the deal?" He snarled through his burned jaw. The skin was beginning to hurt and small specks of bright white dots were spilling into his vision. He knew he needed medical attention and he knew the Shigarakis had it.

"If you come back to us full time, I'll leave Izuku alone," Tomura supplied. "I will give him a trade: his life for his silence and then ensure that he takes it."

Touya glanced down at the ground at Jin's lifeless body. "...Why do you want me to come back to you so badly?"

"Because you don't belong to that boring, mundane type of life, Touya. Even you must know that by now," Tomura sighed tiredly and the red head stiffened because he wasn't...wrong.

Touya had always felt a type of restlessness stirring inside of him while he was inside the small apartment with Izuku.

He tried to push it down because he wanted Izuku to be with him more than anything. But still, undeniably, there was a sleepless urge inside of him that always beckoned for more after having nothing for so long. He never had a voice growing up and the Shigarakis gave him that voice, showing him the path on how to fully use it.

They easily gave him the full control over his fate that he craved.

Izuku had given him love—but he rarely easily gave him control unless Touya had to force his hand.

"There's a rare, ruthless fire in your eyes Touya that both my father and I recognize," Tomura continued. "It's the fire of power—the same one we have. If you let us, we can mold you into one of the most well-respected powerful men in Japan like we were trying to do for you before you got distracted with Izuku."

The red head furrowed his brow and remembered how Tomura had found him on the street burning flowers out of anger. It was something he used to do that calmed him. He found it satisfying to watch something so beautiful be stripped down to ashes and brought down to the same level as him: brought down to nothing.

The silver haired man took him in when Touya was caught doing this near their building overgrown with weeds.

He offered the red head income in exchange for one of his infamous deals. It was a deal to work alongside them in All For One and help them conquer underground territory—and he had aided by burning alive several of their rivals to help him harness his itch to watch things be incinerated down to ash.

When Touya didn't respond right away, Tomura 'tch'd and forcefully lifted the redhead's chin to look him directly in the eye. Touya hissed at the press against his raw flesh but Tomura didn't ease up.

"Listen to me and listen to me carefully. You need to let this false fairytale life you've been deluding yourself with to die," Tomura hissed, squatting down to his kneeling level. "Izuku is clearly a weakness for you and you need to learn how to control your weaknesses. Keep them on a leash so they can't hinder you going forward."

Touya said nothing, absorbing the words carefully. He shifted his blurry gaze to his burned limbs.

"Okay, fine," he finally whispered. "What now?"

"You start over, Touya," Tomura spoke. "When I mean die, I mean you die tonight. You're cutting off all ties with Izuku and stopping this pointless lovebird shit right now. You clearly need to be kept away from him so if I see you go near him I'm fucking shooting him dead. We're going to rebuild you from the ground up and this time you're going to stay loyal if you want your precious angel's life to be spared."

Angry red eyes looked into cold blue and Touya kept his anger stirring low.

At that moment, Touya realized he didn't have a choice in this deal he was presented with. After all these years—he still wound up with no say over his own life.

The Shigarakis were just as bad if not worse than his own crooked cop of a father. They both lied and manipulated people to do their dirty work for them while sitting up on a false throne of praise. His hands itched so badly to tear them down from their fabricated kingdoms and expose them all for who they really were.

It made Touya sick to think about how vile the Shigarakis were—but he felt sicker at the thought of someone as pure and loving as Izuku in a body bag.

All Touya wanted was a say in how his life was going to be but he knew while staring eye level at the powerful kingpin in front of him, that he needed to wait.

He wanted his power and control and he wanted Izuku in his life as well. He wasn't going to settle for a half baked ultimatum.

"Okay," Touya spoke slowly, settling in his resolve. "You have a deal. I'll come back to you full time as long as you let him live."

"Perfect. I knew you'd make the right choice." Tomura flashed his greedy smile and turned to Jin's cold body next to Touya. "Now, let's hurry and get to work. Todoroki Touya dies tonight."

Blue eyes stole one more glance back at the burning building and he saw an ambulance rush off loudly with a blaring siren. He trailed it as it sped off in the opposite direction, taking whoever inside far away. Suddenly, Touya felt his tear ducts sting painfully with their burns as he held back from crying in front of Tomura.

His eyes started to swell with tears at the thought of being apart from the one person he loved.

. . .

After Makinohara, Touya had learned to have good patience.

He learned to have it after having so many outbursts in his life that resulted in negative outcomes. Outbursts with his mom. His dad. Shouto—fucking Bakugou. Even with Izuku, he learned to control his anger whenever the greenette wouldn't listen.

However, like Tomura had pointed out, he easily lost control around Izuku. There was something about the beautiful green eyes that made him easily unhinged whenever Izuku didn't do what was asked of him. It caused Touya's rage to violently snap quickly in order to get Izuku to behave.

But now, Touya had learned his own lesson when he emerged from those flames that were meant to consume him. He learned he needed to be more in control over his actions and that he needed to plan several steps ahead.

So he stayed quiet after the deal with Tomura was made, brain studying every move he made carefully.

He allowed Tomura to transport him back to Ground Alpha in downtown Yaizu while Magne took care of staging his death with the help of Jin's body and their endless connections.

Tomura confined him in a small comfortable room in the basement for two months after the fire to recover fully with the help of a private in-house doctor. They easily kept him a secret from the other members, only a handful of essential people knew of his survival. Tomura decided it was of the utmost importance that he bury his old life behind him and this was a part of the process. Touya was happy to do so.

His old life held nothing but pain and misery. He shoved the memories of it all the way in his heart and let them freeze over with the last of the warmth in his soul in order to survive.

The thought of not being able to hold Izuku again any time soon hurt more than his third degree burns but it was also what kept him going. He knew they would be reunited, he just needed to remove the Shigarakis from the picture and Izuku would be back in his arms.

But despite everything, he was happy Izuku was alive. The greenette was listed as the sole survivor of the 'Makinohara Tragedy' and Touya wished with his heart that he could comfort the younger male for the loss of his parents.

He felt more guilt than one could imagine for being one of the sources of Izuku's pain. Touya knew he had to make it right—he knew he had to fix the situation by uprooting the Shigarakis completely so they could never destroy people's lives again.

During his time in recovery in the small room he worked out constantly, watched the news and paid attention to the outside world he wasn't allowed to see.

It made him seethe with loathing however because every time he turned on the television, he suddenly saw Bakugou fucking Katsuki flying through the police ranks to the point even Yaizu was reporting on him.

The title of 'Symbol of Victory' was bestowed upon the man and he was deemed as the second coming of Yagi Toshinori because he worked under the man. Hearing Bakugou's name so much made Touya clutch the remote to the point it snapped in half. He wished it was the fucking blond's neck because it wasn't fair.

It wasn't right that Golden Boy always got everything—even after Touya put his pride aside to take him from the streets just for that asshole to suggest he get thrown out on the streets like a lowlife.

Touya sneered every time he saw those red eyes and blond hair.

Bakugou got everything.

He had gotten the praise from his father. He got along with his family easily and they never looked at him as if they were afraid. He got into the top college in the country and fell into a job easily. But above all, he got the comfortable life Touya used to dream about when he was cold and hungry, living in an abandoned building because of him.

But now, looking at the blond decorated in badges and a solid, stern look on his face, Touya didn't doubt that the man was probably as corrupt as his father to move that quickly to such a high status.

Touya decided he loathed Bakugou. When he got the opportunity, he would tear him down too just to feel the satisfaction of watching Shizuoka City turn on him and weep over the loss of their Golden Boy.

Why was it that Bakugou's life was glowing as bright as the sun while Touya's was stuck in the dirt, wallowing over the separation from Izuku? The red head ground his teeth as his rage spiked.

During these two months alone, Touya made a short list of people to expose for who they really were:

The Shigarakis.

Todoroki Enji.

Bakugou Katsuki.

And anyone that got in his way would automatically be tacked on as he went.

While he was plotting his revenge, sometimes Shigaraki Senior visited him in his lonely grey room.

The man always regarded him with a different level of respect than other members, it was almost kindred. He could tell the kingpin pitied him and even mentioned how he was homeless as well in his youth. It's why he took Tomura in. He saw himself in both Touya and Tomura and declared both times he could make something out of both young adults.

But as time went on, Touya didn't exactly fall into line easily with people giving him commands like Tomura had in the past and this made Shigaraki Senior displeased.

The elder kingpin mentioned several times that Touya needed to be broken in, just like Tomura to learn his place. But unlike the silver haired young adult, Touya would sneer at this. He didn't like the prospect of being molded and fixed up like some broken doll to just fit in some skewed hierarchy.

But after Makinohara, Touya played along as if he learned his lesson.

He made them believe he understood exactly where he belonged.

The silent elder man would come into his isolated room after the fire and always set up a game of chess. They both enjoyed it and would always play before Touya's departure from AFO the first time.

"The doctor said it should be another month or so until you can speak again properly," Shigaraki senior said as he moved his white chess piece. Touya said nothing as he stared at the checkered black and white board in front of him. "Same for your body burns. You should be up and ready to go and then I have an assignment for you specifically."

At this Touya tilted his head and strained his voice from underneath the bandages covering his mouth and nose. "What assignment is it?"

"We lost all connections in Tokyo recently which means a third of our monetary gains have been severed," the elder haired man sighed as Touya moved his black pawn.

"How did that happen?"

"Our allies, Shie Hassaikai, had an unfortunate passing of their leader suddenly and his son stepped in as the new Yakuza leader. Apparently, the young man is named Chisaki Kai and isn't at all fond of us. Wouldn't give an explanation, just said that if we stepped foot in Tokyo again he'd have his men put a bullet in us faster than we can breathe."

Touya cut his eyes up at the familiar name.

"Chisaki Kai?" He mumbled and Shigaraki senior nodded.

"We need someone to go down to Fujieda and claim the city to counterbalance the loss of territory. We're nowhere near as strong as the Shie Hassaikai and I'm not a fool to think otherwise."

Touya paused his thinking while staring at the intricate chess game in front him.

The name dug up a familiar memory of Izuku casually talking about his chemical engineering teaching assistant one day. He recalled how the beautiful greenette mentioned how aloof the man was and how he was always busy with his 'family business'.

Touya clicked the pieces together when Shigaraki moved his queen.

"Do you think you could go to Fujieda and overturn the small gang down there for us, Touya?" Shigaraki said, pitch black eyes looking up at him. "Most people in the area know our faces and affiliates by now but, luckily for us, you're technically dead. You can assume a new identity and infiltrate easier."

Blue bore into the man he resented more than his own father, carefully shielding his contempt.

"Are you going to try to take Shizuoka City as well? It's denser in population than the countryside of Fujieda. You would make up for the loss of Tokyo easier and possibly make more meaningful connections."

"Like I said Touya, I'm not a fool," Shigaraki Senior retorted with a tight, serious look when the young adult moved a knight. "Yotsubashi Rikiya is still angry with me from years ago when I stole his woman and he is just as powerful as us. You get too confident and you risk exposing yourself to the police easier. Too many members and too much land to cover makes it easy for sloppiness."

"Sorry, sir," Touya apologized and while thinking about his next move. "I'll be more than happy to go over to Fujieda and establish territory for you."

"Thank you. In the meantime, start preparing yourself for a new identity. Pick out a name and I'll get the papers and ID."

Touya nodded emptily but his thoughts started reeling.

All For One losing their connection with the Yakuza was a huge opening, meaning they only owned Yaizu and Makinohara. They were vulnerable and Shigaraki deciding to settle for tiny Fujieda only reinforced what Touya thought.

An intricate plan birthed inside of the emotionally scorched man's head.

"Ah, checkmate," Shigaraki said and he moved his queen again. "I got you again. Sorry about that. Maybe I should start letting you win some chess games."

"Ha, don't worry about it," Touya chuckled and put on a charming gaze through his blue eyes. "Maybe one day I'll checkmate you, but otherwise I just enjoy the company."

Shigaraki senior smiled at him and Touya returned the gesture underneath his bandages for an entirely different reason.

. . .

One month went by and Dabi was born from the ashes of Touya.

He spent a lot of time thinking about the name. He wanted a name that would symbolize his rebirth and thought it was perfect. It symbolized how Touya died and how Dabi was forged in the inferno of Makinohara.

Dabi-ni-fusu — Cremate the body

Blue eyes looked directly at the first two characters and carefully circled them in red.

Dabi

Dabi. This would be his second life and he was going to ensure that Dabi never made the same mistakes as Touya.

Touya was impatient, Dabi wouldn't be. Touya only thought about the next day, Dabi would think about the next year out. Touya lost control of his temper while Dabi would harness his rage righteously.

The red haired man buried Todoroki Touya six feet deep in the ground with everyone else and locked his old self away in his mind. He locked away all his sympathy, empathy and the last bit of warmth he had in his heart as he chiseled his new soul out of coal.

One day during the isolation, he took a good long look at himself in the mirror—something he always hated doing because of how much he resembled him. Cold teal colored eyes studied the purple burns covering both of his arms, the skin under his eyes and completely covering his neck, chin and ears.

But despite the jarring sight of his burns, that's not what he hated seeing.

He leered at the visual of his father still staring directly back at him after all these years.

That night, he emerged from the bathroom smeared in black hair dye from furiously blacking out every last inch of his Todoroki appearance. The black liquid stained his fingers and bled into his scar tissue. It didn't fade for nearly a week when he requested a needle and steel silver rings.

He sat alone on his bed with his hands blackened, watching the news coverage of Bakugou with spiteful eyes as he pierced his face.

He sunk fully into his new identity as he watched the man he hated so much for tilting his life off balance. The black haired man ignored the excruciating pain as he sunk the needle into himself resentfully over and over again. He was hellbent on distorting his features to the point he could no longer see his father, and he could finally be free of being a fucking Todoroki pig.

He ignored the blood as he pierced the needle directly where his burns stopped and four down the center of his chin. He gave himself three new nose piercings, completely abandoning his old snake bites.

When he finished disinfecting and decorating himself in all the silver hoops, he looked in the mirror at his work.

A sly smirk twitched its way on his face at how menacing he looked—how powerful he seemed. Dark joy filled his heart because there wasn't a single damn trace besides his eyes of being connected to that family anywhere in his physical appearance. His scars hid his features well and he embraced them as if they were just a new identity.

After his full transformation in Dabi, Tomura had shown him a photo of the grave that read 'Todoroki Touya.' Ice cold blue eyes noted the white and red roses sitting in front of them that made his heart clutch at the thought of Izuku out in the world alone.

Soon. He told himself as he clutched his fist tight enough that his nails dug into his skin. We'll be together soon.

"Thought you might want to see these as proof we haven't touched him," Tomura had hummed one evening while visiting him. "Just ensuring you we've kept up our half of the deal."

Tomura flicked his thumb across the screen to another photo of Izuku that was taken from a distance. His head was down, headphones in his ears while he clutched the straps on his yellow backpack. The background was the familiar setting of the Yaizu University campus.

There was a distant, depressed look in Izuku's beautiful green eyes.

The blue eyed man didn't say anything at the thought of Izuku out there alone suffering—thinking he was dead.

"Why didn't you at least just tell him I was alive?" he rasped out in an even voice. "He's clearly hurting and I don't want to see him suffer like that."

"With his track record of snitching?" Tomura huffed and closed his phone. "Not a single damn chance. He probably would tell the police we were keeping you hostage or something. Your angel is better left out of our hair and off grieving you if you want him to keep his life."

Dabi worked his jaw back and forth when the simmering feeling of anger returned. He wondered how delusional Tomura was not to see how they were keeping him hostage by threatening to kill Izuku.

"You're right, sorry. That makes sense," he forced out in a fake apologetic tone with a charming smile. "Is there anything else I need before I head off to Fujieda?"

"Ah, yes. I actually have a gift for you, Touya—"

"—I told you not to call me that," he snapped quicker than he could control.

His barely contained anger spilled over, triggered by the name he no longer wanted to be associated with. The room turned silent and Tomura's face grew dark at the raised voice. The now black haired man cleared his throat and flexed his hands to control himself.

"...Sorry, Tomura. I just don't want to be reminded."

"Of course. My apologies, Dabi," Tomura gave a tight-lipped smile before pulling out two sheets of familiar looking paper.

His heart skipped a beat when he looked at it closer and saw Izuku's unmistakable handwriting.

"Like I was saying, I have a little gift for you. It's something I think you might find useful if you can build it. I'll send an engineer your way with you to Fujieda and you can begin the claim."

Dabi reached out his hands and slowly grabbed the paper with expansion upon the plans he already had.

. . .

Two years passed since Makinohara with Dabi fully settled into his new being.

It felt refreshing to finally shed the skin that he hated so much because he finally realized something: Tomura was right.

He wasn't built for the normal married life he wanted with Izuku like he thought. He was built for this. He had a ruthless flame of power in him that no one else had and he knew that was exactly what he needed to uproot All For One and take all that he wanted.

When he had arrived at Fujieda with other members who didn't recognize him anymore, it only took them two months to fully establish the city as All For One territory because he burned fear into anyone that dared object.

Or more specifically, he burned a piece of their body.

Seeing them squirm and beg underneath his hand was more than satisfying. He watched coldly as the flames would eat away at parts of them, consuming the person. There was always something so powerful about fire that spoke to him and he knew if he could harness it properly, he could have it all.

The henchmen that were assigned on the mission with him soon came to respect him for his merciless tactics and how savage he was about getting the job done. After Fujieda, the Shigarakis were more than impressed by him and started sending him on other missions to straighten out other deals or claim more land to make up for the loss of Tokyo.

Dabi did this all willingly without making a sound of objection to fully earn their trust again. In the back of his mind was always Izuku because he knew that's what he was working towards.

He checked Izuku's social media accounts every morning and night from ghost accounts. The first year there was nothing, just a sad photo of a rose that read 'thank you everyone for your condolences.' Then after a full year post Makinohara, Izuku started posting again. It was mostly just his art, and some of it had taken a sad, sullen turn. There were a lot of sketches of Izuku's parents and an equal amount of him.

It pulled on his heart to see but it was strangely reassuring. Izuku still cared about him after everything.

Despite the last night they were together when he lost his temper, Izuku still regarded him with love.

There were more posts documenting his senior year of college. They were filled with him smiling with friends. One of his favorites was of Izuku's beautiful freckled face bright and unblemished laughing as he made a peace sign hugging some red haired woman.

Izuku was still as sweet as he remembered, and heaven's light still shined brightly around his pure personality.

He curiously made note of the location tagged that photo because it kept reappearing.

Outside of checking Izuku's Instagram, Dabi realized a pattern the more territory and missions he went on. It was more than easy to slowly stir resentment inside of the members of All For One when he probed the topic of the Shigarakis.

"They killed my wife," one member spoke to him one night with a blue look. "I took money from them thinking they wouldn't notice to pay off my son's tuition, but I was wrong. They told me if I wanted my kids to live, I would work for them full time. Now I'm stuck."

All the members around him sympathized with the story and shared similar backgrounds. It wasn't terribly hard to plant the seed that both Tomura and Senior needed to go. Some people he knew were loyal to the end, like Magne, and brushed off the idea. But Dabi gauged each person carefully before poaching them so he never set off the Shigarakis' alarms.

But for the most part, there were an equal number of angry members as loyal.

And that's what made Dabi's plans possible.

When the ones they scorned turned to him, Dabi used alcohol and mimicked the emotion of care for each person. With their thoughts slicked up and dizzy, he was able to truly see who they were and if he wanted them on his side going forward. Not long after, they all started praising how quickly he got things done, how he gave efficient orders, and how he understood what it was like to get his hands dirty unlike either of the Shigarakis.

"You would make a good leader, Dabi," one mentioned off-handedly and Dabi silently fully agreed. "You're very down to earth and you know what you're doing."

They all regarded him with respect for not only the fact that he showed him kinship, but because he had The Incinerator blueprints in his hands. They all knew the man with the plans for this bomb could easily be more powerful than anyone who opposed him if done correctly.

And Dabi used it correctly.

He built The Incinerator easily thanks to Izuku's easy to follow sketches and he only used it as a threat or final consequence if someone didn't heed his warnings.

He silently thanked his angel when his rivals, now allies, cowered in fear at his feet and half of the All For One members commended him. Izuku truly was a blessing in every aspect of his life, and he had a plan for the green eyed man once his own kingdom was perfectly laid out.

Izuku would be his lover and his mechanical expert because despite Dabi taking to building the bomb easily, there were things he still didn't understand and by now Izuku should have graduated with a degree in chemical engineering.

It was perfect—he would help him build more powerful weapons that would allow Touya to keep expanding his land.

However, he knew he would have to break Izuku in. He wasn't delusional to think Midoriya 'I wanted to be a cop' Izuku would take to being in a gang easily. But, luckily for Dabi, he knew the freckled man responded to pain.

He could break Izuku down just like the Shigarakis had done to Touya and keep him by his side no matter what.

After the two years, Dabi returned to Yaizu more permanently. He had absorbed just about every surrounding city except for Shizuoka City for the Shigarakis, but more importantly, he had absorbed them for himself in the long term.

That aside, however, the first thing Dabi wanted to do when he moved back was see Izuku's smiling face.

He admittedly became mildly attached to checking Izuku's pages every day because of how rooted it made him. Izuku's Instagram stories became more consistent with short poems and it made Dabi smile knowing Izuku was still the same.

His freckles were the same, his eyes were still kind and not jaded like his. His love for art, life, and his reserved shy blush was still present.

He was still his angel.

But despite the pull in his heart, Dabi knew it was still too soon to tell Izuku about everything. But he just wanted to see the greenette and maybe check in on him after so long of being apart.

He imagined the green eyed man missed him and thought of him fondly. There was a part of him that was nervous about how Izuku might view him now. He looked at his burns and wondered if Izuku could love this version of himself that he liked more than the other because, for him, there was no else who he wanted to love.

Izuku was perfect inside and out.

There was no random man or woman that could ever replace the love Izuku had shown him. He had tried while going around to the different cities, to see if he could recreate what Izuku had given him, but he failed every time.

No one even came close to the green eyed angel.

Which is why when the beautiful man's 22nd birthday arrived, Dabi couldn't help but to slyly figure out a way to leave a red rose for Izuku wishing him a happy birthday.

He knew it was risky, but loving Izuku from afar through his social media was hard for him. Izuku still had control over him in more than one way and Tomura was right. Izuku was his weakness and most of his logical reasoning went out the window with just one look at those sweet, emerald eyes.

He took a guess on Izuku's location and went to the bar that was frequently in his posts and stories, Happidorinku. Originally, he didn't see him and figured maybe he got it wrong but then he caught sight of the ginger woman in half of Izuku's posts behind the counter and put the pieces together.

Dabi originally considered dropping off the rose to her, asking her to tell Izuku it was from a secret admirer and leave it be, but it all changed in several seconds.

The nightclub's doors opened, and the wind blew in the sweet-smelling scent of rose cologne.

He turned his head and approaching the bartender, sweeping his hand through his dark curls was Izuku. Beautiful Izuku who was still wearing his golden hoop earring and the leather bomber jacket with a rose embroidered on it—and he had somehow become even more irresistibly handsome than two years ago.

He was as pretty as the roses he used to pluck from the ground.

Dabi felt his hands twitch with deep want at the sight, but he quickly turned his head away when Izuku stationed himself one seat away from him.

Izuku was so close.

Dabi's heart rate elevated for the first time in nearly two years and he felt an addictive wave of life washed over him. He fiddled nervously with the rose underneath the counter thoughtfully trying to think of how to give it to the green eyed beauty.

Then that's when it dropped.

Information that nearly made him see fucking red.

"Haven't seen you in a while, what's going on? Looking for some trouble to get into again?" The ginger haired bartender giggled and Izuku smiled leaning in towards her.

"Ah, I'm just dropping in," Izuku spoke smoothly and Dabi felt his heart jump at the sound of how smooth Izuku's voice was now. "It's my birthday and I want to celebrate starting my new job on Monday."

"You got the officer position and it's your birthday?"

Dabi nearly snapped the rose in two in his hand at the mention of Izuku's new job. He held his breath as the information sunk in.

Izuku was a police officer. Izuku went and became a fucking police officer.

After fucking everything—after he thought he died.

There was something sour about that fact sitting in his brain as he accepted the fact that Izuku had gone against one of the beliefs he knew he felt strongly about. His anger flared as he continued listening.

"I just want to have some fun and figure I'd get out of the house versus sitting around. Mirio was pretty pushy that I didn't spend it like my twenty-first, just by myself writing poetry."

"Ugh, that sounds god-awful, Izuku. Your roomie is right. You definitely should be out, whether or not that includes you trying to suck someone's dick like last time you were here."

"Hey! Language! Don't let everyone know my business, Itsuka."

"Don't let everyone know your business?" The woman now identified as Itsuka huffed. "Did you forget how we first met? This is gold coming from the guy who I found sloppy drunk on his knees about to blow some rando in this club's public bathroom stall—"

His mind instantly fed him the visual of Izuku on his knees, drunk in public ready to act like some goddamn common slut and it didn't add up to the man who was a virgin angel when he first met him.

He stood up immediately when he felt something inside of him snap. Realizing he accidentally drew attention to himself, Dabi quickly turned away holding the rose low in his hand in the night club. The music pulsated through him with all the different smells of alcohol while he strummed his fingers on the countertop. He quickly took his leave with the rose in hand to get air. He could feel himself steadily coming undone.

Slowly, that dangerous simmering anger came back.

It sat at a low fire underneath his collar as he tried to process the new pieces of information he heard.

But that couldn't be right. After two years...that couldn't be right. That didn't align with the imagery of Izuku he had fallen in love with and watched from afar for two years.

Izuku wasn't like that—he never had been.

He was pure, shy and poetic. He saved stray animals, gardened, and cared for other humans deeply. He didn't fucking blow random guys in the bathrooms of dirty ass night clubs and he sure as hell didn't just say fuck you to his dead boyfriend's memory by becoming a goddamn cop.

After everything he opened up to Izuku about, it felt like a slap in the face. He had opened up to Izuku about his abuse only to have the freckled man completely discard what he said by becoming an officer just like fucking Enji.

Dabi ground his teeth together while he studied Izuku the rest of the night.

He watched from the upper level how Izuku flirted with the man next to him shamelessly and the stranger fed into it. Dabi didn't know how to feel as he kept his eyes on Izuku, unwavering.

The tornado in his chest picked up speed when the stranger made a move to slyly feel up Izuku and the greenette just fucking leaned into the touch.

This wasn't how he thought this day was going to go.

He felt his anger ignite as he watched Izuku leave with the man that wasn't him.

. . .

He carefully followed Izuku back to wherever he lived, trailing the loud obnoxious laughter of the scum whose hand was intertwined with Izuku's.

Every few minutes, Izuku would peek over his shoulder as if he heard something and it would make the stealthy gang member shift into the shadows of the alleyways. His blue eyes carefully watched how Izuku would glance around and pause his walking.

"Is everything okay?" The scum asked, looking at Izuku worried as he peered around as well. Green eyes flickered with paranoia but slowly it dissolved away. His angel looked back at the man with a so obviously fake smile and expression.

"Sorry," Izuku whispered, beginning to walk again and turned his head away. "I think I'm just a little naturally spooked when it gets late like this."

"Ah, don't worry, cutie," the strange chuckled, throwing his arm around Izuku's shoulders and Dabi felt his heart turn sour. "I'll protect you if anything happens and I'll keep you company tonight to scare off any ghosts."

Izuku gave a fake laugh and the stranger didn't think twice about it. Dabi felt his nostrils flare at the sight of them leaning into each other.

He followed them all the way back to what he presumed to be Izuku's apartment when the greenette pulled out the key and dangled it flirtatiously in front of the stranger. He waited several moments before trailing them inside.

Dabi didn't know what was happening or why he was doing this—risking being exposed like this. But the ugly feeling eating away inside of him made him carefully creep around the corner, following the intoxicating laughter of Izuku.

He heard a door slam shut on the first floor and the sounds of making out ensued from one of the corner apartments. He looked and saw that there was possibly a window and backtracked himself, following the squeezing feeling in his chest. When he came up to the side of the brown bricked building—he was right.

There was a window that gave a perfect view of Izuku's bedroom. He crouched low in the dark and watched angrily as Izuku happily let some random man push him backwards onto the bed.

All the thoughts of Izuku jumbled and rearranged abstractly as he tried to assess what he was seeing—what illusion he was looking at as Izuku let himself be undressed.

But when the last article of clothing fell off Izuku's beautiful frame, everything halted in his mind.

Izuku was full of scars—he was scarred all the way from his shoulders down and the sight made Dabi pause. He assessed how Izuku's entire left arm was wrapped up save the tips of his fingers and how the burns on his left shoulder were still visible.

Drinking in the sight, Dabi realized something: Izuku was just like him.

He watched closer, seeing past his anger and only then did he notice that Izuku wasn't fully into whoever was above him. Izuku's eyes stayed closed as he gripped the sheets, headily pushing back to meet the thrusts slamming into his body. His moans were loud but they lacked passion. Whenever his eyes did flutter open, they were distant—not fully there as if his mind was blank.

Dabi found himself staring longingly at Izuku's beautiful face twisted in pleasure. He carefully listened to the muffled moans and pleas that fell from Izuku's pink lips as the stranger took him from the back.

He wondered if Izuku was imagining it to be him, just like he imagined it to be Izuku with countless partners. He switched the random man with himself and imagined that it was himself taking Izuku roughly. He pictured himself pulling harshly on those silky curls like he used to as he mercilessly fucked Izuku into the mattress until that gorgeous voice was chanting his name.

His new name.

Then finally, when Izuku came, it reinforced just how beautiful Dabi knew he was. But it also made something obvious to him: Izuku was just seeking pleasure.

He wasn't looking for anything more than a cheap fuck for his birthday. It was so obvious compared to all the unforgettable times he and Izuku had made love. They would always make eye contact and Izuku would cling to him, touching him as if trying to memorize all the crevasses of his skin.

He didn't do that for this stranger.

Something inside of Dabi felt better after the conclusion, but he still found himself rooted in place, crouching low watching as Izuku fell fast asleep. The stranger fell asleep as well and soon it was just blue eyes open, studying all of Izuku's scars. He committed each one to memory because he loved all the new pieces of Izuku.

Within less than an hour the partner woke up again and looked at Izuku, eyes studying his body as well. Dabi watched as the man left out quietly, not even bothering to wake Izuku and it was then that Dabi looked down at the rose still in his hand.

When the man was far down the street, Dabi found himself in front of Izuku's door again. His heart was pounding knowing it was a mistake to go in but he couldn't stop his hand from lifting up and testing if it was locked—and it wasn't.

He pushed open the door and crept in slowly. The space heavily smelled like Izuku's rose cologne and a familiar surge of desire trickled into him. Dabi quickly noted that Izuku had a roommate at the sight of another empty bedroom and bathroom. He saw all the art sloppily tossed in the living room corner just like Izuku always did with his paintings.

Keeping his footsteps light, Dabi reached Izuku's bedroom door with the rose in his hand. He studied the way the delicate moonlight spilled all over Izuku's angelic sleeping figure and felt his heart do a flip.

He's still so beautiful he thought to himself as his eyes raked up and down Izuku's bare skin, stopping at every little new scar and all his curves that were on full display.

He loved them all. Izuku was truly perfect for him.

As he was staring, he saw Izuku shift in his sleep and he felt his adrenaline spike. He backed up, ready to duck and hide, but the next words Izuku mumbled in his sleep changed everything.

"Touya," the sleepy mumble fell into the air as Izuku rolled over, still fast asleep. His bandaged arm lazily felt the empty side of bed expectedly with his eyes still shut. "Come back to bed..."

Dabi felt his heart swell with warmth.

Izuku did still love him.

. . .

Another six months went by and Dabi felt his cold heart sparked to life again by what he witnessed that night in Izuku's apartment. He had left the rose in Izuku's living room after watching him sleep for a little while but of course, his angel was precautious.

If he had been thinking straight, not taken over by the sight of Izuku mumbling his birth name, he should've guessed Izuku would've thought of the rose strangely. Izuku wasn't stupid enough not to think twice about receiving a strange rose in his apartment of all places.

The greenette put all his social media on private instantly and began closing his window and shutting the blinds at night. It frustrated him initially because he couldn't check the social media pages he grew into viewing as a hobby, but he just replaced it with casually watching Izuku from a distance.

He learned Izuku's jogging route in the mornings and eventually it became his own as he loosely trailed him. He figured out his gym, favorite movie theater, shopping mall, art supply store and coffee shop. And he couldn't help himself but to keep buying roses to leave at the greenette's apartment door and leave poems he knew Izuku would love.

It was a good outlet for his bottled-up affections.

But then one day as he was leaving a rose, he heard very loud, rough sex coming from inside.

"H-Harder, Mirio—please—ah! Yes! Right there! Right there!" Izuku's high pitched voice keened wantonly and there was loud banging against what sounded like the nearest wall to the door.

"—I got you," a ragged out of breath voice groaned and the sound of Izuku's rough, desperate moans got louder. "I got you Izu, I'll take care of you—fuck—"

Dabi snapped the rose in half and crushed its beautiful petals in his fist.

Mirio. He remembered the name Mirio from Izuku explaining how close he was to Toshinori and his son. His damn law-school bound son Mirio. It took him a long time to accept that Izuku was fucking his childhood friend turned roommate—but it turned out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The more he followed Izuku, the more he found out how much of a slut he was. Was this how Izuku spent the last two years?

Then when he casually poked around, Tomura openly admitted that one of the drug leaders, Shindo fucking Yo, apparently had bragged about laying Izuku only three months after the fire.

He felt more pissed off than he thought hearing that.

At first Dabi assumed the man on Izuku's birthday was just being used for celebratory birthday sex, but he was wrong. Dead wrong. Izuku threw it around more than anyone he's ever seen and apparently, he'd been fucking Shindo Yo for two years straight. Starting three months after he thought he fucking died.

It made the jealousy in his blood simmer at a low boil knowing that the man he loved disregarded his memory in such a way.

Izuku wasn't even acting like he was grieving anyone. Just sex, clubbing, drinking, repeat. Then Izuku started his job at that god forsaken station and it didn't take very long for Dabi to see the switch in partners. He went from sleeping with random people at the bar to cops.

Izuku was letting the fucking police have their way with him.

He ground his teeth tightly as he tried his best to bring his anger down, but it felt impossible. Why would Izuku let dirty pigs crawl all over his body? Slowly, Dabi realized he needed to intervene in Izuku's life quicker than he thought. Being around swine wasn't good for Izuku.

They were doing exactly what he thought: they were corrupting him.

So, he kept a loose follow until further notice to keep tabs on Izuku and made sure he didn't stray too far away from his light.

And if he did, Dabi would rip him from that life earlier than planned.

It was a harmless loose follow and he was just...watching over him until he finished with the Shigarakis.

Which was a whole other issue.

He still didn't have enough fire power to strike and uproot them. Strategically gauging all the different members' stances took far more time than he thought.

Then he got an even bigger set back when the entire Yaizu police branch of AFO was suddenly uprooted and sent to jail.

Several people he had poached were arrested and interrogated while others immediately skipped town in fear that the entire All For One empire would come unraveled.

But Dabi promised to protect those who came over to his side. Some stayed, but a lot of them were becoming impatient.

"What's taking so long for you just to throw a coup?" One woman huffed one day, pouting during their discreet meeting. "They're vulnerable now and it's been two and a half years, Dabi. They're both too busy fuming over Toshinori and trying to recruit more members."

"Right now, the ratio is fifty-fifty," Dabi spoke calmly while scrolling through Itsuka's still public Instagram, admiring a candid photo of Izuku on her page. "If we strike when they have an equal number of members who are loyal to them, then we're going to have a war not a coup. Plus, we need to get Himiko out of jail now."

"How are you going to get more people then if we need more? That's just about everyone that I can think of that would want a full turn over. Plus, they're bringing in new people—it's going to be uneven again."

"I'll convince Tomura to send me to Shizuoka City." Dabi pressed zoom in one of the photos of Izuku and Itsuka laying in a bed of flowers and admired how gorgeous Izuku looked against the yellow daisies. "I can go under the ruse of telling them I can take down Yotsubashi Rikiya and then just join forces with him to overthrow them. Yotsubashi hates AFO enough that he'll jump straight to the idea with some persuasion once I gain his trust."

And while in town I can tear down both Bakugou and my father while I'm at it.

"There's no way they're going to send you to Shizuoka City, Dabi. They don't mess with Yotsubashi."

"Are you sure about that?" He questioned, dragging his empty blue eyes up to stare at the people in the room. "I've been demonstrating for the last two years that I can easily give them territory. I think if I ask now, they'll feel more confident about a bigger project. You just have to have patience. Trust me, I am more than twenty steps ahead of them."

The room grew hush with whispers when they all realized it could work.

Dabi smirked as he closed his phone to admire his lock screen.

It was a photo of Izuku in his bed, sleeping soundly on his 22nd birthday.

Soon.

. . .

It took five more additional months for Dabi to convince the Shigarakis to send him to Shizuoka City to 'claim' the territory for them. When he got the greenlight, he was more than ecstatic. The end was in sight for the Shigarakis and they didn't even know they approved their own dethroning.

Once he took Yotsubashi's gang from the inside out, it would be over, and he could drag Izuku out of that empty life he was leading and back to him. Because there's only one truth Dabi knew in this world after observing the greenette for the last year: Izuku belonged with him and no one else.

He just needed to learn his place after disrespecting him by sleeping with Shindo only three months after he thought he died.

Within those five months, nothing changed with Izuku and the behavior only reinforced Dabi's beliefs.

Izuku still slept around and went out to his favorite bar every other night. He was always so busy smiling and laughing with that ginger woman that Izuku never noticed him in the distance watching him from the upper levels in the dense crowd.

Until one day he was shown that Izuku needed him more than he thought.

He wasn't expecting Izuku to come, understanding his patterns a little bit better. But soon the smell of roses filled the bar area and light sobbing trickled in. The greenette looked distressed, body shaking, and his eyes were screwed shut, trying to stop the downpour of tears.

Dabi's heart dropped before he could take another sip of his drink.

He watched how Itsuka hurried over to the crying freckled man and deep down, Dabi wished it could be him. She comforted him in all the way he wanted to and Dabi was silently grateful Izuku had someone like her. But as the conversation progressed, he felt that rage inside of him boil.

"I broke his nose after he tried to force himself on me," Izuku explained hollowly in a whisper. "He said it would be my word against his, then called me a slut as he fired me."

"Are you shitting me? That sleaze bag of a captain tried to rape you?!"

The shattering sound glass filled the bar area in the club, and everyone whipped their heads around to him.

A stinging pain cut into his palm and tore open his biker glove before the black-haired man could realize what was happening. His thoughts swarmed because he was absolutely furious. He grinded his teeth together and tried to hold his hand to lessen the pain but he couldn't even focus on himself.

A fucking pig tried to rape Izuku. His Izuku.

He sneered at the thought and ignored how the ginger woman began rushing to get him first aid because all he could see was fire. He saw that precinct and the captain going up in flames and decided immediately that the pigs needed to be taught a lesson.

He had the right amount of power now and he was done with letting people hurt Izuku.

Not if he could help it.

. . .

"Are you sure about this?" One of the other All For One members asked him as he strapped the bomb to the wall. "I took out all the cameras in the area and jammed the lock on his door, but we didn't get permission from the Shigarakis to do this—"

"—You have permission from me," Dabi cut off coldly, glaring at the man questioning him. "I told you this is needed if we don't want the police digging deeper into us. The Shigarakis will thank me later."

The four other people with him all exchanged looks before finishing strapping a total of six devices in different places on the outside of the precinct. Frigid blue eyes calmly assessed his work before signaling to pour the gasoline all around the grass.

"Everyone discreetly get in the cars and drive off. I'm setting the detonation for ten minutes from now," he commanded without any hesitation.

All the gang members nodded and Dabi got on his bike but, instead of fleeing the scene like the others, he parked himself across the street at a safe distance. Then as the minutes ticked down the first explosion went off.

He smiled as he watched the building crumble with the sequence of other explosions. All the screams from the police officers inside sounded like music to his ears. They couldn't scramble fast enough, and it was beautiful. He watched without flinching at the sight of the flames and welcomed the warmth of the fire against his skin.

He took one last deep, satisfied inhale of the smell of grey smoke before turning his back.

. . .

"You moved without our permission," Tomura sighed looking at him unamused. "I thought you learned by now nothing gets approved before going through us, especially in Yaizu."

"It was the right move to do, they were digging deeper into us and I had to destroy the evidence," he lied easily. "I went out to a bar last night and overheard some drunk cops talking about new evidence on AFO at that specific station. It was a necessary thing to do right away because I understand approval takes up to two weeks."

The red irises of Tomura looked at him carefully, trying to catch a whiff of falsehood in his words but Dabi had built his mask tight. Tomura wouldn't find a trace of emotion on his face.

"...Good call," Tomura finally said with a smirk, falling directly into his ruse. "You're finally understanding how to use your head to make needed calls that protect us. I think you're more than ready to start moving up in the ranks."

Dabi paused, not expecting that. "What?"

"You heard me," Tomura gave a half smile and leaned back in his leather chair. "From here on out consider yourself a little more than just a lowly member of ours. It's been nearly three years, Dabi. You've earned yourself a raise and a higher status in AFO than just grunt work. If you're able to take Shizuoka City for us, I'm sure my father can make even better arrangements for you and even give you some percentage of the profits."

"Thank you," Dabi spoke slowly, trying to figure out if there was a catch. But there wasn't—he had finally fully earned their trust. But he still sneered at the idea of a percentage. He didn't want just a percentage. "That means a lot to me that you trust my loyalty."

"You're welcome," Tomura hummed, full of himself. "Now, go ahead and start selecting who you want to bring to Shizuoka City with you and we'll make it happen and be sure to take everything you need tonight."

So Dabi did. He name-dropped Himiko and Tomura worked his magic and got her out of jail. The blonde woman was more than ecstatic to see him and be free of prison. This only reinforced the members loyalties to him when they saw he never turned his back on someone and even more when the Shigarakis seemed to regard him in a future leadership position.

He packed all his needed weapons, Izuku's sketches and took one last morning visit to the green eyed man's apartment the day before he left—but Izuku's bedroom was completely empty.

His heart dropped and he felt himself panic nearly from having Izuku out of his sights.

He immediately ordered Himiko to track down the freckled man without letting either Shigaraki know. When she reported back to him, she apparently found out that he had moved to Shizuoka City that evening before to go work for Toshinori.

And who worked for Toshinori?

Bakugou Katsuki.

A dark look encased Dabi's face at the knowledge and he smirked.

"Well," Dabi spoke slowly while looking at the photo of Izuku sleeping soundly on his phone. "I guess it's time to go kill three birds with one stone."

. . .

When he arrived in Shizuoka City it felt bitter.

The sky was a bright blue that mocked him, and the summer was searing with heat. It had been over eight years since he left but he arrived a new man and Dabi wasn't as weak as Touya was and he had the one thing Touya didn't: he had power.

He had power in the way he planned to destroy Bakugou's reputation carefully through well thought out arson attacks. He chose the buildings carefully, inspired by the one thing he loved and made an impossible puzzle for Bakugou to figure out to fuck with his head.

He had power in the way that he was sent to the city with over twenty members who would listen to his command. Members who wanted to see the downfall of the Shigarakis just as badly as he did. They reported back to him and it felt like he was sitting on a throne.

He struck the first building on Kaze Ave with full intentions of making the Shizuoka City police look like fools and weaken the trust the public had in them. He also knew a large-scale attack of a bank like this would catch the attention of Yotsubashi Rikiya.

Slowly, both things fell into place.

The news articles rolled in and it was working, there was fear in the air and it was potent. Then finally he was approached by a gruff looking man with a scar over his face saying that the exact man Dabi needed wanted to speak to him: Yotsubashi Rikiya.

The greedy ginger man had a pointed nose and wicked smile that stretched across miles. He was heavily decorated in gold chains and always wore a suit and ring as green as the cash flow he received. Yotsubashi had sought to see him after the burning of the Sekai Bank to find out who he was and why he was burning banks in his town.

"You can't just come into my city and go around burning down buildings I need," Yotsubashi sneered after Dabi had been dragged to his office. "Who even are you? I've never seen a face as hideous as yours in my life."

"My name is Dabi, but they call me The Cremator," he spoke smoothly ignoring the ropes binding his wrists behind his back. He kept a completely level head as they all looked down on him at the table, smoking their choice of poison.

"Big talk for a young guy," Yotsubashi laughed and his men all laughed as well. He took another swing of his whiskey and a long drag of his cigar. His dark eyes looked coldly at Dabi and unimpressed. "And why exactly do they call you The Cremator?"

"Because I burn people alive who get in my way," he spoke confidently. A spark of bloodlust flickered in his eyes when he saw one man's face twist with discomfort. He slowly dragged his eyes towards him, sensing the fear and fed on it. "And I invented The Incinerator."

The entire room went silent and looked at him with wide eyes. It was a lie he knew would allow people to easily respect him and see him as more than valuable. Or at least that's what he learned from the Shigarakis' treatment of Izuku.

Slowly, just like he thought it would, Yotsubashi's face twisted with disgust yet respect as he leaned into Dabi's face.

"I've only seen that weapon in association with the fucking Shigarakis," the drug lord hissed, aggressively blowing smoke out of his nostrils. "Tell me, are you All For One scum?"

"No, I'm not," Dabi spoke confidently and leaned back in the chair he was in. "But I am their downfall. They made the mistake of not killing me three years ago and I fully plan to rip them down from their thrones."

There was a long pause as the ginger assessed him, and this time Dabi took off his emotional mask. He let all his hate and spite spill through his eyes to show the man the truth: he hated the Shigarakis ripping his life with Izuku apart.

Seeing his blue eyes ignited with a dangerous, undeniable fire made the red haired man grin.

"A fellow Shigaraki hater I see," Yotsubashi smirked darkly, reflecting his loathing on equal par. "Well then, we might get along. You must understand I can't just have you running around committing arson willy nilly. I have to keep my people safe, so, please. Tell me what you had in mind while in my town."

"I have a checklist and if you could help me with that, we can make a deal of sorts," Dabi spoke calmly. "I want to make a statement to the police about my presence here. I have unfinished business with the Symbol of Victory and the Chief of Police."

"Ah, those arrogant bastards. Well, you're in luck," the kingpin chuckled as he put out his cigar. "If you like burning people alive how about I offer you something to quench that thirst in exchange for those bomb plans? I just happened to catch an undercover cop in my rankings recently and I need to dispose of him."

Dabi's smirk twitched onto his face at the thought.

"You have a deal."

Or at least that's what they thought.

Later that week when they scheduled the exchange, out of all people, Bakugou fucking Katsuki undermined his plans. He sneered at the news articles that praised him for another victory and doted over their precious Shizuoka City hero for rescuing the police captain that was in Yotsubashi's clutches.

It pissed him off and it pissed Yotsubashi off even more.

The ginger kingpin wanted the plans for The Incinerator more than Dabi thought he would, so he used it at leverage going forward. He was able to strike a deal with Yotsubashi because of it. Since he didn't get his cop, he wanted more leeway to make arson strikes. Five minimum.

"Deal," Yotsubashi agreed, "You get your five terrorist attacks in the approved areas I give, and I get the blueprints. Also, while we're at it, I have to say I like you." The man smirked while pouring Dabi a glass of whiskey. "What else is on your checklist?"

"I need help taking down the Shigarakis. I want to replace them in the hierarchy but right now I just don't have enough people on my side to take them down. I need more men."

"Oh, that can be arranged," Yotsubashi chuckled. "Once I have the blueprints of course. I'll throw in as many men as you need with the five attacks in trade for The Incinerator. Is there anything else?"

"I was hoping we could have a partnership going forward once I come into the position of power," Dabi declared. He waited for a response and saw the ginger man just laughed and shook his head.

"Sorry. I don't do partnerships, but I can give you a percentage of my earnings every month as a thank you."

Dabi resisted sneering at the low ball. He wasn't going to settle for an unequal partnership—if that was the case, he would just take Tomura up on his offer and call off the coup.

"Is there anything else I can offer you?" Yotsubashi asked casually. "Wine? Women? Men? Anything of your tasting?"

Dabi started up at Yotsubashi and green eyes entered into his mind.

"Do you think your men would be able to locate the home address of a man named Midoriya Izuku for me? He just recently moved into town."

. . .

Quicker than anything he's seen, he was given Izuku's home address on a small piece of paper, but it made his eyes grow cold to see where it was located.

Yotsubashi had been kind enough to give him a map of the different districts in Shizuoka City for where he could operate and where he couldn't. Green for clear, yellow for at your own risk, and finally red for police tight districts that even Yotsubashi didn't cross.

And Izuku was directly dead center of a red district.

He tried his best to pick up his habit again and follow the man, but it was hard. Izuku still kept his social medias locked up tight, and his apartment was now on the 11th floor. He worked his jaw in frustration from being cut cold from his angel because he itched to make sure Izuku was alright.

He scouted out an apartment across the street that gave him a perfect view into Izuku's living room from his balcony with the usage of binoculars.

That night he felt himself grow calmer when he got the full sight of Izuku just lying lazily on his couch, curling up cutely with a fluffy blanket watching a movie.

He jittered his leg in an antsy manner when he watched Izuku fall asleep, alone for the first time in ages. He looked so peaceful and he wasn't laying up in bed with a cop.

But then Bakugou came into the picture again—and not in the way he was expecting.

It wasn't before long one day he came back from working for Yotsubashi and earning his trust that he looked to check in on Izuku.

And sitting there in the flesh was Bakugou, on Izuku's couch.

He lowered the binoculars in his hands and felt his anger start to slowly simmer again, but this time he couldn't contain it. He tried to tell himself there was no way that Izuku would sleep with him of all people—and he was right. Nothing happened.

But that didn't stop the thoughts from spinning in his head.

The next morning, he lit three houses on Ichirizuka street on fire and sent Bakugou a note to keep him running in circles and his mind off Izuku.

But then as time passed on, he just kept appearing. Fucking showing up everywhere near Izuku.

Dabi tried to ignore it, but an emotion stronger than the firestorm of jealousy ignited within him the day he saw Izuku wrapped around Bakugou on the man's motorcycle. Perfect golden locks swayed in the wind while Bakugou made Izuku laugh wearing that arrogant smirk on his face. The angelic greenette was flirtatiously pressed against the elder man, resting his head against the blond's frame.

His mind flashed a vision of all the times Izuku would ride on his bike and he felt anger boil until it reached an uncontrollable temperature.

He snapped.

All he saw was fucking red and wanted nothing more than to land a bullet in those annoying blond locks because he didn't deserve to even be close to his Izuku. But considering Izuku's rap sheet of fucking course he was Izuku's type now that the green haired man acted like such a goddamn slut.

It made him hate the sight of the two together in front of him. He nearly hated them both for it. He wished he could hurry up the attack on the Shigarakis so he could just fucking drag Izuku by his hair away from this empty life already.

But he controlled himself the best he could when he heard sirens. He quickly put his gun away and he left the scene of the two officers cowering on the ground.

After nearly killing Bakugou, Dabi tried to stay on task. He focused on winning Yotsubashi's trust from the inside and slowly he was able to absorb some of the man's assets as well.

Right before he was planning his next arson attack, he was approached by a man who called himself Nine one day in his own private headquarters in Makinohara.

There was a cool, calm air around him as he wore suits as silver as his hair. Nine originally planned on warning Dabi about working with Yotsubashi, saying that the man never followed through on his deals and just took but never gave.

Apparently, Yotsubashi had unknowingly scorned Nine in the past, and the purple eyed man was bitter about it—just like him with the Shigarakis. Dabi smirked when he felt like he finally found his right-hand man.

"I have no real plans on working with him in the end," Dabi informed Nine privately. "I just want his members and his assets. I'm building my own group and I'm planning on taking him down as well as All For One. He doesn't want to work with me as equal partners and I don't settle for less."

"Oh?" At this Nine's purple eyes sparked with interest. "Well, tell me more about your real plans then, We might have similar goals."

Dabi enlightened him about his plans of using Yotsubashi to take down AFO and then taking Shizuoka as well. Nine seemed more than happy to hear this idea, and his eyes were sparked with the same fire as Dabi's.

"I can help you, if I can be your second in command," he offered, "I've been in the undergrounds of Shizuoka long enough to know how it works and who to talk to."

They made a deal as partners that day, and Dabi learned that he could trust Nine, a man as equally ruthless as him. The AFO members he brought with him into the city liked the pairing and were more than welcoming of the silver haired man who could help them control Shizuoka City.

He kept a distant eye on Izuku from the watch apartment and continued to watch baseball whenever needed to help himself unwind. Every now and then, he wondered if Izuku thought of him, sitting in his apartment alone because some nights he found the greenette crying privately to himself at night on his couch.

Dabi wanted to rush over, to tell Izuku the Shigarakis were almost out of the picture and could no longer threaten either of them.

But then he showed up again.

That godforsaken blond was in Izuku's apartment for a party with a bottle of wine and it was so goddamn obvious they were flirting—especially when they came back from wherever they went that night. Izuku was drunk, hanging all over Bakugou and from his angle it seemed like the greenette was trying so desperately to kiss him.

He snapped again and found himself hastily making a plan to try to grab Izuku quicker than he originally scheduled.

He had to get Izuku away from Bakugou before the freckled man opened up his goddamn legs like he always did. He wasn't thinking straight because he knew if Tomura found out he was going insane over Izuku again, they would kill the green eyed man. But Dabi rationalized that he could just hold Izuku safe in hiding until they made a move to strike down AFO.

—But getting to Izuku was harder than he thought.

The greenette was rarely alone and he was always escorted home by Toshinori or some other officer in the evening. He never walked out of the police tight zones and he no longer went to sketchy public bars anymore.

Growing desperate, Dabi took the extra step and informed Nine privately about Izuku being the real person to invent The Incinerator. He explained how Izuku was a key asset for their success in the long run due to him being able to tinker and fix the device if it went wrong and build more arson weapons.

Despite explaining all this, the lonely raven haired man kept the privacy of his love for Izuku to himself—no one else needed to know. He didn't want to expose his weakness.

Nine understood, and completely agreed that Izuku needed to be in their possession. The silver haired man easily tapped the radio waves that day and they were able to track the reports about patrols. They heard Bakugou's voice through the intercom inform his squad about going on patrol in sector B and fixed themselves quickly to strike.

But when Dabi got close to having the green eyed beauty back in his arms, Bakugou once again undermined him by shooting out the kneecaps of one of the twenty men he had.

They were so goddamn close. They had almost taken Izuku successfully and it made him convulse with rage at the sight of Bakugou holding Izuku in his arms. The lieutenant was looking at him with wildly protective red eyes as Izuku clutched desperately on to him until he went slack.

Dabi was fucking furious.

But not as furious as when he turned on the television two weeks later and saw the exact thing he never wanted to happen. He saw Izuku kissing Bakugou, plain as day and there was a clear pink blush across his pretty freckles.

Dabi's nostrils flared uncontrollably because as he watched the kiss cam, he felt his heart start to break in two.

The way Izuku was kissing Bakugou wasn't the same way as he kissed all the random men who paraded in and out of his life in Yaizu—no. It was very much different yet familiar at the same time because it was exactly how Izuku used to kiss him.

A kiss with passion.

Blue eyes full of betrayal watched them break apart, panting, and fingers tangled in each other's hair. Bakugou's hand rested against the nape of Izuku's beautiful neck and lightly twirled his baby hairs. The crowd cheered loud but neither red or green eyes left each other.

He tried to tell himself that he was hallucinating, but he wasn't.

It was written across the television as plain as day: Izuku held passion for Bakugou. In Dabi's mind, he denied it at first. Izuku was just a slut for muscular men and Bakugou was right up that alley. He wasn't surprised by the fact—it made sense.

But his jealousy slowly transformed out of control when he found himself leaving rose after rose on Izuku's doorstep for the five weeks in his denial.

The first one he left he wasn't thinking logically. All the sensible reason was stripped from his brain at the mere thought of Izuku possibly falling for Bakugou. He couldn't. Izuku couldn't love Bakugou—he loved him. Izuku dreamed about him.

He envisioned years' worth of memories stockpiled in his head and it played back like a movie. He saw Izuku giving him the iPod at the home shelter, Izuku making his favorite food, getting him on his feet and taking him in. He saw Izuku smiling at him, kissing him, loving him.

Then finally he pictured Izuku doing all that with Bakugou.

Urgency to get to Izuku made Dabi leave a rose with the address of Izuku's local coffee shop on it when he felt himself come undone. Maybe he could convince Izuku—tell him who was and Izuku would come running back in his arms after so long—

—But Izuku never came.

His anger raised higher as he clenched his fist at the sour feeling that overtook all of his rational thinking. He tried to leave more flowers, but with each rose, they began to pile up at the door—something that had never happened before.

Izuku always accepted his roses but that's when he began to notice Izuku wasn't even at his apartment for an entire month.

With dreams plagued by green, the spiraling man stationed himself discreetly outside of the Uchimizu Ave precinct to see just where Izuku was going—but what he saw was the final blow to break his heart in two.

The green eyed beauty walked out of that station hand in hand with golden boy, gazing up at him in a loving manner. Those eyes Dabi loved were filled with the same delicate care that Izuku would stare at him with. It felt like a thousand needles stabbed their way through his heart at the sight.

Why did Bakugou get to bask in Izuku's light too? Why did he always fucking get to have everything that Touya—

...that Dabi wanted?

Part of his love for Izuku withered and died the longer he stared at the two acting like a happy couple as they walked to Bakugou's apartment together. All the spiraling thoughts in his head came to a complete halt for the first time in thirty days and only a cold, chilling one remained.

His face twisted in spite when the ache in his heart made his burnt tear ducts sting.

. . .

"Reports of the largest arson attack to date in Shizuoka City happened today as all buildings on Uchi Street were burned down to the ground in a frightening attack," the news reporter said from the television inside of the ground beta he was at with Nine. "Citizens are worried because the police have made no headway on figuring out how to stop these crimes as the death toll rises and the attacks seem to be getting more hostile."

Dabi remained silent as he took a long inhale of his cigarette and continued to build the next Incinerator to replenish their stock. He could feel Nine's purple eyes darting back and forth between his silent figure and the gruesome scene on the television.

"I thought you said we needed him to keep the bomb in order," Nine questioned with an indifferent look in his eye. "Why did you go and set his whole block on fire if that's the case? What if he had died? What would we have done then about our mechanics?"

Dabi blew the grey smoke out of his nostrils when a memory of Izuku's smiling face flashed in his mind.

"It was to knock him down a peg," Dabi muttered quietly. He continued melding together wires with purpose and didn't bother looking up at Nine. "He's been too happy recently and we have to make sure when we take him he's malleable. He can't be malleable if he would miss his old life so now he doesn't have any remnants of it."

"Ah, whatever you say." Nine shrugged and continued on reading the news reports. "I still think that was a risky move. Maybe relax with the death by fire when it comes to him. He's valuable to us in the long run."

The silver haired man turned around, completely unaware of the dark thoughts in his comrade's head that had distorted the image of Izuku.

After the month-long spiral, Dabi had realized that Tomura was right—yet again.

The green eyed beauty was a dangerous weakness for him. Izuku always caused the logical side of his brain to be drowned out and overrun with thoughts of his desire. The black haired man wished he could make it stop and possibly find a better way to control his love for Izuku. He was on track to be the most powerful kingpin in the Shizuoka prefecture and he couldn't have green eyes derailing him.

But as he was contemplating this, Dabi realized Tomura had given him a solution over three years ago on what to do with the man he was so hopelessly in love with.

"Izuku is clearly a weakness for you and you need to learn how to control your weaknesses. Keep them on a leash so they can't hinder you going forward."

Dabi took another long drag of his cigarette as he envisioned Izuku properly confined inside his future place in Kuromata. It was appeasing to think about because then his weakness could finally be tamed and no longer able to fuck with his head.

Then he thought about how satisfying the feeling of tearing Izuku away from Bakugou would be. Izuku was his and clearly the freckled beauty needed a heavy reminder of that fact.

Later that night, Dabi fed into his old habits.

Instead of delivering the next rose to Izuku, he went out onto his balcony and lit it on fire using his black lighter. He watched with satisfaction the way the red rose was consumed by the heat, petals quickly curling up into a burned, charred state.

As the fire flickered and swayed with the wind, Dabi thought his blue eyes were playing tricks on him. If he looked close enough, he would have sworn he saw a vision of Izuku dancing in the flames, beckoning to him.

. . .

More time passed and by the time he reached his six-month mark in Shizuoka City, he had silently converted enough members from Yotsubashi to properly take the land from underneath him like he had done so many times in other cities.

He knew it was his time to strike. He would absorb Yotsubashi first, then move to absorb the Shigarakis, and after all was said and done, he could grab Izuku in a final swoop.

He lied to the Shigarakis that he needed them to summon Izuku to upgrade something in the bomb because he couldn't figure out how to do it. Tomura was displeased, and slightly annoyed by the request but he agreed to figure out a way to do it anyways. Both Shigarakis' voiced their displeasure about him taking nearly six months to snatch the drug territory away from Yotsubashi but Dabi played it off easily.

"His system is just more complex than I thought," he lied. It's actually much simpler than I anticipated. "I just need a little bit more time and then the city is yours." It's mine.

"Okay," Tomura sighed. "No more excuses after this point. You've been there long enough. We'll get you Izuku but if I see you get that lovey dovey look in your eyes when you see him, I'm putting him down like a dog. He makes you do crazy shit."

Dabi nodded in understanding. It was true and he couldn't deny it.

He didn't understand why, but he still felt Izuku on his skin and heard his melodic voice in his head. The visual of the sun rays caught in dark, silky curls always made a hungry wolf awaken inside him.

Sometimes when he fell asleep, he imagined Izuku with him, lying in bed by his side in his new empire where he belonged. Often in the dream, Izuku would be crying, wearing a collar wanting to be let go and asking for his freedom. But he couldn't let Izuku go—not even in his dreams. He would hush Izuku and tighten the leash around his delicate neck, keeping him tethered to him.

When Dabi would wake up from these dreams, he would feel indifferent. The memory of his angel had distorted after he learned about Izuku's new life into something dark, and unspeakable. But what surprised him the most was how he didn't mind.

The thought of Izuku on a leash was appealing in a way.

His hands began to twitch with the urge to break the green eyed beauty down and rebuild him again and teach Izuku his place.

When the day came to close the deal on completely taking over Yotsubashi, him and Nine arrived at the man's mindless self indulgent costume party ready to land a bullet between his eyes.

But he would have never guessed that Izuku would already be there, sitting in Yotsubashi's lap, giggling and throwing himself around just like he had done in Yaizu. But instead of using his real name—he called himself Haru.

Dabi froze up, knowing Izuku would be able to recognize his voice so he kept his mouth shut.

"Nine, what's wrong with him? Is he in one of his moods again and not talking today?" Yotsubashi frowned while his large hand pulled Izuku in closer to his person.

All eyes turned to him expectantly and that's when he leaned over to whisper in Nine's ear.

"That's Midoriya Izuku, the engineer of the bomb." Nine grew quiet up as Dabi kept going. "If we deliver him to Ground Alpha as well then we have everything set to go. We take down the Shigarakis tonight. Get everyone gathered."

And that's exactly what happened.

They slaughtered Yotsubashi and his bodyguards and Dabi didn't blink once. He slid the man's power symbol off his cold, dead hand and into his pocket for safe keepings.

It was a simple silver ring with an expensive green gem in the center, but it held the power of Shizuoka City for whoever wore it.

Izuku was transported to Ground Alpha with him and there stood his angel, beautiful, beat up, and bloodied with a fierce look of hatred in his eyes for the Shigarakis just like him. A large part of him was still pissed off with the greenette for Bakugou but something about having the smaller man in his lap, looking like gorgeous eye candy made Dabi realize exactly how lonely he was.

He so desperately wanted Izuku back in his life with all his softness and the way he always smelled like roses. That's what all of this was for, right? To be reunited with Izuku?

The black-haired man calmed himself to stay levelheaded and not lose it like he had done several times when it came to things regarding Izuku. He knew it was just a matter of time before Izuku was in his possession again, he just had to be patient.

However, there was a small miscalculation.

The arrival of the members they needed took longer than the amount of time it took Izuku to fix the bomb than he had gauged. He thought for sure he had asked Izuku to do something that would take him a little over two hours and that would give everyone enough time to get into place.

But Izuku, being the genius he was, finished the adjustments in half of the time he anticipated.

Dabi cursed under his breath lightly when Izuku gave a too soon "I'm finished" to the room and Nine still was nowhere in sight with everyone else.

The small miscalculation blew his plans to take Izuku in the moment because there was no way he was going to have a shootout with the Shigarakis and the thirty men that were always stationed in Ground Alpha without proper gauge of when everyone else would arrive.

It was just him, Himiko, and the three men in the room at the moment.

Then he checked the upgrade on the bomb that Izuku had done and, of course, he did it flawlessly. But he also noticed a small detail that was not there before—and it wasn't attached to anything.

There was a strange piece of metal jutting out from the bottom that looked strange. Almost as if it was covering something underneath it.

Then that's when he clicked that Izuku was possibly on an undercover mission and not just out looking to get fucked like he usually was. He recalled his father always mentioning how detectives would be strapped with tracking devices to help keep everyone safe and located. Knowing Izuku, that would be a move he would pull.

Dabi quickly snapped the bomb's lid closed when time felt shorter at the prospect of police coming.

"We're good," he spoke quickly and nodded to Himiko in a knowing manner. "Everything is set to go."

Tomura then ordered his last few henchmen to drop Izuku off at some mystery drop site that Dabi wasn't allowed to know. He watched with clenched fist as his opportunity to take Izuku slipped through his hands like sand in an hourglass.

Ten minutes after Izuku disappeared blindfolded by Magne, Nine texted him that everyone was officially on their way in two vans now to Ground Alpha and would be arriving in five minutes.

Slightly off by fifteen minutes. He was always slightly off when it came to Izuku—but it was fine. He would circle back around for Izuku if all went according to plan.

Slowly, the arsonist took off his gas mask and set it down on the table to reveal black hair and blue eyes. He cut his eye towards Tomura before pulling out his phone.

[You]: We might have police coming. Get here quickly so we wrap this up and get out.

[Nine]: Alright, we're coming in now. I'm sending thirty men upstairs to tie up all the loose ends and me and ten others are coming down to you. Everyone else is stationed on their mark for the cleansing of the people who aren't on our side.

Dabi took a deep breath in. It was time.

He walked from behind the Shigarakis and took his stance in front of them with his hands behind his back like a soldier. Both Shigarakis paused their talking at the sight of him staring at them with nothing but malice.

He put his emotional mask away completely and out poured all the festering hatred that had overgrown throughout the years.

"Is there something you want to say?" Tomura pried when the blue eyes started gazing at him too intensely. "Do you want to write a love letter or something to be delivered to him?"

Dabi tilted his head like a feline who had just caught their prey and narrowed his eyes.

"Do you actually know what I want most in the world?" Dabi questioned as he stepped forward. "Like truly? Do you know what I crave above everything?"

"For your precious angel to be safe," Tomura chuckled and stepped forward as well. He folded his arms and gave an unimpressed stare. "What is this? This is a pointless question."

"You're only partially correct," the man with ice in his eyes and heart corrected. "This whole time you sat there thinking I only wanted one thing. But you're completely right—I do want Izuku to be safe but more importantly, I want him right by my side when I take the throne of kingpin for the entire Shizuoka province."

Both Shigarakis glanced at each other and Shigaraki senior stood up at the claim.

"What the hell are you talking about, boy?" He hissed, eyes burning into Dabi whose inferno-stricken eyes glared right back at him.

"I'm not a boy," he hissed harshly. "I'm far past being a boy at this point. You've been sitting so comfortably with your noses turned in the air that you didn't take a second to see the biggest threat that was right in front of you this whole time: me."

"Himiko...slit Touya's throat," Tomura hissed, giving a command.

The entire room stood still and Himiko did nothing. Red eyes whirled around at the golden-haired woman who just started laughing maniacally.

"Himiko! I said to cut this brat's throat out! What are you laughing for!?"

"She's laughing because they don't listen to you anymore," Dabi smirked, eyes sparkling with bloodlust. A wicked, satisfied grin slowly etched its way onto his face at the feeling of power that charged through his bones. "They all listen to me and the ones who listen to you are being slaughtered as we speak."

"You're going to pay for this if you don't back down right now, Touya," Shigaraki Senior warned. He turned to the three bodyguards at the door and pointed towards Dabi. "Kill this ungrateful bastard right now!"

But the room stood in silence.

Slowly, reality settled in on both Shigarakis' faces as Dabi stepped forward with an unforgiving leer and the elevator doors opened to reveal ten All For One members and Nine coming in with guns and thirsty looks like hounds.

Both Shigarakis' eyes widened at the quickly turning situation.

"Who do you think the people respect more: the king who sits in his throne with his nose turned up, or the one that's out in the battlefield fighting alongside them?" Dabi questioned quietly, and all too calm.

"This is foolish, Touya!" Shigaraki senior declared, his chest heaving up and down. "You're unfit to lead. You're too unstable—"

"—Oh?" Dabi cocked his head and snapped his fingers. Every single person in the room pointed their guns directly at the Shigarakis. "I think I'm exactly the right person to take over. Unlike you two who sit up barking orders that ruin peoples' lives without lifting a finger, I actually do the maiming myself. It makes a world of a difference when it comes down to who people respect."

"So, that's it then? You're going to burn us alive to get your little pyro kick?" Tomura glared challengingly at Dabi.

"No, I'm not going to kill either of you," Dabi muttered as he approached the two of them with a bitter, resentful expression. "That would be too easy. I want you to spend time in jail rotting to the best of your abilities, miserable for the rest of your life understanding what it's like to suffer. Then you'll know what it's like to be stripped away from what you love."

"If we go to jail, you're going to be exposed," Tomura challenged. Dabi chuckled darkly, grin becoming more unhinged.

"I know. Which is why I'm going to burn out your tongues and break your hands and feet myself."

Dabi held his glove hand out expectantly and Nine stepped forward to hand him a silver butane blow torch. The black hair man cranked up the dial on the fire spitting tool to the highest setting while staring at the raging blue flame that shot out from the mouth.

The Shigarakis stared in fear and immediately Tomura made a move for his gun and Senior tried to run, but the other members were quicker. Without hesitation, several immobilizing bullets were shot into their bodies.

Two sets of blood curdling screams spilled into the air as the once kingpins fell to the ground with a hard thud. Dabi's smirk grew wider as he stepped forward and dug his boot into Shigaraki senior's bullet wound in his knee, drinking in the yell of pain.

"This is such a sight, on the ground at my feet where you belong," the blue eyed man taunted and put all his weight into pressing on the wound before he squatted down to the elder man's level and held up the blow torch.

He smiled wickedly with his teeth as he let the threatening flames into the air when dark eyes widened with fear. Dabi chuckled in a crazed manner as all his simmering rage was finally unleashed into a full blown uncontrollable fire.

"Checkmate," he taunted before reaching down to yank open Shigaraki senior's jaw forcefully. "Now open wide for me."

. . .

Dabi stared down at the two Shigarakis bleeding out on the ground, bodies twitching with what little strength they had.

The smell of burnt flesh filled the air and the blue eyed man's blood hungry smile was more than satiated. He looked at all the new burns covering their mouths, hands, and throats as if it was a work of art. Their fingers were bent backwards with the marrow poking out and feet nailed to the bottom of the floor by rusted black screws. He could hear the muffled-tongueless cries of the vile men at his feet and Dabi couldn't stop laughing.

The sight in front of him was perfect.

Seeing them scorched down to the bone but still living in their suffering felt like it was a proper repayment for Makinohara and separating him from Izuku. Their blood leaked uncontrollable from their body and stained his leather boots. The beast inside of him was howling as he fed on the anguish of the men beneath him.

With droplets of blood splattered across his face, Dabi glanced down at the dark red liquid on his hands that was a mix of both Shigarakis. His mouth twitched with the urge to taste the blood caked all over his body. He wondered if it tasted as sweet as the revenge, he just exacted from fighting fire with fire and paying homage to the inferno that birthed Dabi.

He bent down slowly, studying the blood discharging from Tomura's tear ducts as his red eyes were wide with fear. Beautiful, delicious fear. Dabi reached down and slid Tomura's red ring off his disfigured hand along with Shigaraki Senior's blue ring off his hand that was already turning purple.

Nine sent the message for everyone to quickly exit the scene, finish killing off all the loose ends, and to rendezvous in Kuromata in the next forty minutes. As the silver haired new gang leader did this, Dabi slowly placed all three rings on his right hand and he relished in the weight of them—the power.

The power and strength that was finally his.

They all cleared the scene, but not before Dabi gave one last menacing smirk back to the men lying on the floor.

After that, it didn't take long for them to all meet in the new headquarters he had been putting together for three years now. It sat perfectly discreet directly between Yaizu and Shizuoka City and allowed both him and Nine to watch over all the drug trafficking territories they now owned.

When he walked into his building, there was a giant weight lifted off his shoulders. He was finally rid of the Shigarakis and now nothing stood in between him and his goals.

But most importantly, there was officially no barrier in the way of him going to retrieve Izuku.

When his selected close circle entered the conference room for debriefing, there was a low excited murmur amongst all the men and women who helped get the job done in an excellent amount of time. Basking in the moment, Dabi sat down in his new leather chair at the head of the long wooden table and lazily spread his legs thinking about the next move.

Sunlight poured into lavish office space and spilled all over the criminals in the room who were covered in the blood of hundreds of people. Dabi looked down at his bloodstained hands and felt a hum of happiness in his chest.

"You're officially in charge now, Dabi," Nine said through a smirk as he took his place on his right-hand side. "I just got confirmation that all those opposed to you stepping up have been put down like we planned. So, what now?"

A vision of beautiful emerald colored eyes appeared in his head and he thought about the last two people on his checklist to expose for who they really were.

Todoroki Enji.

Bakugou Katsuki.

He lifted up his right hand, flexing it as he studied the three different sizable rings on his fingers that each held a hefty level of meaning. He stared at Tomura's red one, Shigaraki Senior's blue one and finally the green one of Yotsubashi. All now sitting on his hand.

Dabi leaned back in his chair and smirked.

"Let's go finish what I started."

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Fun fact, it is this fic's one year anniversary today ^_^ Please R&R! Thank you so much!