Dabi had been volatile and ready to go off at the smallest inconvenience for days. In one way or another he'd found himself trying to drink away his problems. But instead of the problems leaving his mind the drunker he became the more they nagged at him. 'stupid fucking mouse' he took another drink, she was stupid so inconceivably stupid. It drove him insane how much he cared about her. 'It doesn't matter, she doesn't matter. The end goal is still the same as it ever was, destroy the name Todoroki, make Enji suffer, and then I can die happy.' as much as he thought it he wasn't sure that the end goal was still the same. He threw his glass at the wall at the realization he'd started to, without his consent, picture a future with Raye. A future where maybe he let his goals slip away, where he merely stuck it to his family by being exactly who the fuck he was. He could destroy them without killing them, he could be free to live his life as he wanted. He could be free to live his life with her, it infuriated him that no matter what he decided to do she was ultimately in the picture somewhere. If he stuck with his goals he wanted her to be beside him when he did it. Wanted her to tell him he was doing the right thing. She would understand better than anyone why he was doing what he was. But she wouldn't want him to die, she would beg him to stay with her. He would do it too, if it was what she wanted. Maybe they'd even have a few kids, that would be a great way to stick it to his old man. Her quirk had the potential to balance out his own. Enji would hate that, the disregarded son coming back with a better bloodline than his own. He could also just tell the world exactly who he was, destroy them from the inside out, and then just take his win and go home. Live content for the rest of his life with her, live a life in a world he'd bettered. Before he knew what he was doing he'd send a message to Kurogiri, a warp gate opened in front of him a few minutes later and he stepped through. Her apartment looked a lot messier than he remembered, clothes were scattered about, she was laying in bed still in her work clothes. 'Why am I here?' Dabi had to ask himself as he looked at her sleeping, her fluffy blonde hair was a mess and she was drooling slightly on her pillow. He took a step towards her and stopped when she moved a bit, letting out a few small sleepy noises as she snuggled into the pillow she held in her arms. 'what the fuck am I doing here?' another step, and another until he was right in front of her. She was still entirely asleep, her hair was a fluffy mess of blonde, her mouth hung open the slightest bit as she snored softly. 'stupid little mouse. I could just kill her right now and be done with it.' Instead he sat down slowly on the bed and laid next to her. He watched her face carefully and she showed no signs of waking, just made a contented little hum in her sleep. A moment of hesitation, he should just leave she'd never even know he was here. She was fine, she was home, she wasn't with the Hero. But the desire to be close to her was strong, he'd been apart from her for so long. He missed being close to her, holding her, her light flowery smell, the sound of her heart when she held him close. Before he could even think to move she had moved her arms from embracing her pillow to wrap herself around him pressing her face into his chest. "So warm." She rubbed her face against him and he froze, she was still entirely asleep. There was no escape now, not until she let him go anyway. He didn't really want to escape that much anyways, his body relaxed into her embrace. So Dabi watched her sleep, his mind quiet for the first time in days. A part of him wanted to wake her up and talk to her, the more rational part of him knew he should just wait for her to move and leave. She snuggled into him further and let out a small sigh. "I love you." He said it quietly, he didn't know why but having her this close pushed the words out of him. "Mmmhmm" he had to wonder for a moment if she was entirely unconscious or not regardless of if she was or wasn't he spoke again. "A lot more than I should." She made another noise of contentment but her next words took him totally off guard. "Mmmm maybe a baby…sounds nice." He felt hot, stifling in fact, was she seriously dreaming about that right now? Was that something she actually wanted? This had gotten very real very fast and his thoughts from earlier came back to him. 'Could having a future with her redeem me somehow? Could having a family with her be a good way to destroy Enji?' he shook off the thought as quick as it came, he didn't have the time for that now. Raye still had him entirely pinned, though her grip had become a bit more slack he was still fairly drunk. Normally he could slip out of her embrace undetected but he wasn't entirely sure he was capable of it at this current moment. Still he made his attempt, though it ended with him laying on the floor he had successfully slipped away. She let out a little grumble and he heard her squiggle around trying to get comfortable. He didn't risk moving until she had been quiet for a few minutes. He lifted his phone to send a message to Kurogiri and thankfully a warp gate opened up very quickly and he made his way to it cautiously casting one last glance at the still sleeping mouse who was none the wiser to his intrusion. 'Maybe I am just a monster searching for redemption.' he thought and he made his way through the warp gate and back to the base. He would try and talk to her tomorrow, maybe he would just show up and surprise her.
Raye woke up the next day and laid in bed for a while, she didn't know what she should do with her time off today. It was already noon so she had at least gotten to sleep in much later than she would have normally. She rolled over stuffing her face into her pillows, a part of her just wanted to try and go back to sleep. 'That's weird…I swear this pillow almost kinda smells like Dabi…I must be losing my mind.' she kept her face in the pillow for a moment longer regardless, before everything that had happened between her and Keigo happened she'd been feeling more than a little touch starved. That had kind of taken the edge off for a little while but she could feel it bubbling up to the surface again. Moving out of bed and throwing down the pillow she'd buried her face in as she stood. Her apartment was in moderate shambles, she hadn't bothered to clean it since everything had happened which had led to piles of clothes all over her floor, her bathroom counter was a mess of makeup and hygiene products, the sink was blessedly empty but that was only because she hadn't been eating. Subsisting on canned coffee and whatever the vending machine at her work had to offer. Picking up was a slow process but eventually her floor was cleared of laundry and her basket was full, stripping off her work clothes she got dressed in new clean clothes. In order to clean the clothes though she would need to call the HPSC and see if someone could come with her. When she called they told her she could just go herself but to go straight back home when she was done. Raye never thought she would be so happy to do laundry in her life, a small part of her had been worried they would try and send her with Keigo and at that point she would have just washed them in her bathtub. She didn't want to see him and as far as she was concerned he probably didn't want to see her either. Making her way onto the street to go somewhere other than work felt nice. Though it was odd that she felt a sense of nostalgia, it took her a moment to realize why. This was the second place she'd randomly encountered Dabi and she looked across the street half expecting to see him but no such luck. Stuffing her clothes into the washer she started it up and walked out of the laundromat. 'they told me when I was done I had to go straight home…they never said I had to stay there while the clothes got clean.' she knew there was a potential for her to get in trouble but she didn't really care that much. Making her way into a small convenience store she grabbed a pack of smokes and a large case of canned coffee, as well as a few little snacks. She hadn't really had a chance to spend her money from working yet since she was mostly cooped up in the house. Carrying her bounty back outside she looked around and finding no place to sit she put her canned coffee against a building and sat on it lighting up a cigarette and smoking it. While normally smoking was a social habit she'd started to smoke occasionally by herself, there were a few nurses at her work who smoked and more than once she had bummed a smoke from them or given them the money to get her a pack. "Aren't you supposed to be on house arrest Raye?" She didn't even bother looking over at Keigo as she took another drag, it felt weird to hear him use her name instead of something like kid or chicky. "I got permission to do my laundry unsupervised, I was just told to go right home when it was done. No one said I couldn't walk around while it was being washed." She took another drag as she noticed people were noticing him speaking to her, and therefore noticing her. "Always bending rules to suit your needs huh?" She rolled her eyes at that and blew a bit of smoke towards him. She wasn't even going to dignify that with an answer it was a shallow dig. "Shouldn't you be working instead of harassing me? Gotta be a kitten stuck in a tree somewhere who requires your help." She made her own shallow dig, he should be doing something other than bothering her. "Part of my job is making sure you aren't getting in trouble. Go back to the laundromat Raye, and this time stay there til your clothes are done and go home." The use of her name bothered her but she ignored it standing up off her makeshift seat and picking up her bounty she made her way to walk off. "Great work as always, Hawks. Always the HPSCs golden boy huh?" She didn't bother waiting to see if he would respond to her jab. Quickly crossing the street and heading back to the laundromat, luckily her clothes were pretty much done being washed and she moved it to the dryer. She couldn't help but feel annoyed, he was treating her just like he used to when they were kids. Like she was a part of the job and he was just forced to deal with it and he'd prefer to be doing anything else. Not like she cared that much, that's basically exactly how it was, exactly the way it used to be. A part of her wished they'd never changed that, it would certainly make things a lot more clear cut and concise. Another part of her really wanted things to have gone as they had but without the added complications.
Eventually she lugged her basket back into her apartment and dumped it on her bed and began sorting and putting it all away. When she finished that task she decided she needed music for the next, digging around in her closet for a moment before she found her old MP3 player. Happy to find it had the littlest bit of charge despite it feeling like eons since she'd last used it. She flipped through her old songs until she found a good one and made her way to clean the bathroom, making quick work of it she was left with only basic tasks like sweeping and making her bed. Once those were done she was left to admire her work, at least it didn't look like a depression apartment anymore. She collapsed into her bed music still thrumming through her headphones and closed her eyes, there was still a lot of time between now and when she would be able to go to sleep. When she opened her eyes she jolted a bit when she noticed Dabi was leaning over looking at her. "When did you get here?" She asked, pulling out her headphones and sitting up a bit. "Just a moment ago, you cleaned up." He observed and she gave him a curious look. "How did you know my place was messy?" Realizing his mistake he tried to cover. "I just noticed the broom." He pointed at the broom which was in fact leaning against the wall next to her bathroom. "Mhm I'll pretend I believe that I guess. So…" she wanted to ask if he was still mad at her, she wanted to ask if he still loved her but she didn't say either. "When did you steal one of my shirts?" He asked and she looked down at herself, she hadn't even realized she was wearing his shirt but she was. "Oh I had this from when the hotel collapsed. Guess I just put it on without thinking." It was true she hadn't even thought about that when she put it on despite realizing in the moment the shirt was a bit longer than her own. "Missed me that much huh, little mouse?" Her face turned a very bright red, she had just entirely hallucinated his smell this morning. Not like she was gonna tell him that."yeah…did you miss me?" She was worried he was gonna say no but instead he sat down on the bed next to her and laid back. "A disgusting amount, yes." She laughed a little bit and laid back with him, he'd missed her, progress. "So are you still mad at me?" He shook his head and she almost felt relieved until he spoke. "Not at you but I've imagined all the ways I could roast that Hero alive a few times. Decided I'd start from the toes up." As much as she wasn't necessarily happy with Hawks, the thought of harm coming to him left her with a bad feeling. "I won't do it though, not yet at least. I understand he's someone…that you care about." Dabi hated to say it, he really did want to kill him and not just for being a hero either. He'd come to the conclusion a few days in that he had without a doubt taken advantage of a moment of weakness on the part of his little mouse. Considering Dabi had only known her for a bit over two years and was aware that Raye in her worst moments desperately needed affection, touch, and soft words. The hero had to also have this information and he had taken full advantage of that and she'd fallen right into it. Just thinking about it made him feel angry but he stuffed it down for the moment, eventually the time would come where work and his personal vendetta would align. "I appreciate that." She said the words quietly, she hoped the day would never come where they fought each other but considering they worked on opposite sides of the same problem it was only a matter of time. "But you, my little mouse." He moved himself to be on top of her pinning her hands to the bed. "Are not just going to get away with your part in this either. You certainly aren't blameless." Having him staring down at her sent a little shiver up her spine, she was more than a little worried about what he was going to do. "Now you probably aren't going to like this, but you aren't really getting a choice. Are you gonna be a good little mouse and listen to me?" It took a moment but she nodded and the smile he gave her was absolutely feral. He made his way off of her and looked around, quickly pulling a shirt out of her closet and wrapping it around her eyes. Now she felt nervous, her hands were put above her head and tied to what she assumed was her headboard, she felt her pants get pulled down her hips slightly but not entirely off. She didn't know what was about to happen but her anxiety was building up by the second. "Open your mouth." Despite being entirely confused she complied as felt him come to sit on her legs. "Now you're going to want to bite down on that." He took a moment to look at her, she was entirely helpless and it was adorable that she just let him do all this with zero explanation. 'such a cute and trusting little mouse' he lit his hand ablaze for a moment and watched her, he was going to make damn sure anyone else who ever tried to touch her knew she was his. That red winged hero in particular. He let the flames go out and grabbed her pale hip with his scorching hand. He heard a muffled little scream and she tried to move away, the bindings on her hands and him on her legs restricted her movement entirely. He gave it a moment and pulled his hand back, taking a second to admire his hand print burned into her flesh. "Now before I let you go you're not allowed to use your healing until this heals on its own. If you do then I'll have to do this all over again, understand?" A nod and a slight mhm from behind the makeshift gag. He pulled the gag from her mouth first, undoing her hands, then removing the blind fold. Her eyes were wet with tears from the pain and he cracked the littlest bit of a smile. "That really hurt." She sniffed and he laughed a bit. "It was supposed to hurt. After what you put me through you're lucky I don't cover you in them. But now no matter what happens you'll always be marked as mine." He liked the thought, he would have to find other ways to make her all his own. "I feel like there are better ways to go about marking me as yours." She complained and he decided to tease her a bit. "Oh yeah like what?" He got a little bit closer to her, curious to know what her thoughts were. She was breathing a bit rapidly, whether it was from the pain or his closeness he didn't care. He began giving her options, watching her reactions carefully. "You want me to put a ring on your finger, my little mouse? Or maybe." He let his hand move down her unburned side slowly relishing the little whimper she made. "You want me to give you something else entirely?" His hand moved across her stomach. She clearly knew exactly what he was getting at and her face was absolutely precious. All flushed cheeks, absolute surprise, and the littlest bit of embarrassment. "You can not just say things like that!" She brought her hands up to cover her face and he laughed a bit moving off of her. "It is something you want then, my little mouse?" She didn't answer him, just rolled over and hid under her pillows. She was far too cute when she was embarrassed he'd have to start doing this more often. He found making her flustered was rather easy but this was a whole new level he was quite enjoying. Moving his way over to her he lifted the pillow she hid under ever so slightly her face was pressed into the bed. "Maybe one day little mouse, once you prove you're as loyal to me as I am to you. You can graduate to a mommy mouse." The little scream she let out though muffled by the bed had him chuckling, she was far too easy. "Oh my God I hate you stop." She sat up and threw a pillow at him, which he caught easily. Her face was still just as red as it had been before and he grabbed her up quickly pulling her into his lap. "When your reaction to it so good? Absolutely not. I rather enjoy making you squeal and squirm, my little mouse. Besides you were the one that put the thought into my mind." Now she looked up at him curiously with the slightest tilt of her head. "When the hell did I do that?" She really didn't remember ever mentioning to him she wanted a baby, granted she had definitely said something to Keigo about wanting a family and she prayed that was not what he was talking about. She would have been beyond mortified at that point. "I may have stopped by at some point and heard you mumbling about it in your sleep." She was mortified regardless but also vindicated. "Oh my God you were here last night! I wasn't hallucinating my pillows smelling like you!" The grin he had on his face at those words had her dying internally, she shouldn't have said a damn thing. "So you noticed that huh? That's rather cute, my little mouse." He captured her lips with his and she wrapped her arms around his neck, she had almost forgotten how different it was to kiss him. He was far more aggressive with his displays of affection coming off more like displays of dominance over her. He pulled back and squeezed her face in his hand. "My little mouse you are…just the cutest little thing. You drive me crazy." The heat from his hand on her face told her just how crazy she was making him. "I need you." She whined and he kissed her again before quickly pulling back. "You're going to have to earn that back little mouse, maybe if you're a really good girl for me I'll come fuck you another time." Dabi let go of her face but maintained her gaze, he wanted to make sure she was well and truly his. He also didn't want to jump right back into fucking her either, not yet anyways. The thought of her little hero having his hands all over her, with her making the cute little faces she made just for him, would probably end in him being far too rough with his fragile little mouse. "If you want something you can do to…earn back a bit of favor though I'll allow it." She didn't respond, simply nodded enthusiastically and he undid his pants allowing the painful erection to pop free. He hadn't been being facetious when he'd said she was driving him crazy, and his desire to hold back was so very minimal. While Raye hadn't given a blow job before she wanted him to want her so she was damn well going to do it. Moving down to kneel on the floor between his legs she gently took him into her mouth and began sucking. Occasionally using her tongue to swirl around the head and shaft of his cock. Then as a little test she brought him as deep as she could and gagged, she felt his legs tense up under her hands, his hand came to wrap up in her hair. Dabi seemed to be enjoying her attempts and particularly her struggle to deep throat him. She did it again, taking him as deep as she could until she gagged and he used the hand wrapped in her hair to help her move up and down on his stiff cock quickly. He was careful not to push too deep into her throat, as much as he wanted to hear her choke on his cock more. His hand tightened in her hair and she made a noise of discomfort but didn't stop sucking him off. She felt his member start to twitch in her mouth and he pushed her head down hard and came directly in the back of her throat, she gagged a bit but once he stopped cumming he pulled her mouth off of his slick member and allowed her to take a much needed breath. His eyes were heavy as he looked at her, she looked desperate for his praise and he gave it to her. "What a good little mouse, maybe next time I come see you I can give you what you need." She bit her lip slightly but nodded and he adjusted his pants to put himself away and stood. "I think that's about all the time we have for now. But I can promise you I'll be back as soon as I can." She stood from her kneeling position on the floor and he wrapped her up in his arms tightly, placing a small bite onto her neck which made her inhale sharply. "Be good my little mouse, I love you." The warp gate opened, Kurogiri was right on time as usual. "I love you." Almost as soon as she spoke the words he was gone, a part of her felt so empty without him here. Deciding she didn't care how early it was she curled up in her bed, with her pillows and sheets still faintly smelling like him, and tried to relax. She wondered what their kids would look like if they ever did have them, it was funny considering their quirks worked so well together they would probably make a pretty tough and also very cute baby together. She squeaked a little at the thought, it wasn't something she'd allowed herself to think about before he'd said it. But now that he had her imagination ran wild with the endless possibilities as she slowly drifted off to sleep.