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Dabi didn't really consider himself the touchy-feely type. Of course, he never tried to act that way, but that was besides the point.
What did matter was that he was, even by his standards, a smart mouthed bastard. He pushed people away from him with little more than a callous remark and a cold smile. He had to develop a tough exterior, growing up in the environment he did. His father wouldn't tolerate weakness, and so he never allowed himself to be weak. He was the oldest after all, he didn't have time to wallow. If there was one thing he didn't hate, loathe his abusive, worthless, monster of a father for, it was for preparing him for the real world. He was trained to be strong, to harness his power. What irony that he would use that training to kill that evil, awful, detestable man.
However, as much of a hotshot he liked to portray himself as, he did have a soft spot, a stupid little thing that he really had to get over. It was his dedication to people younger than him.
Maybe it was his subconscious linking them to his siblings (who are we kidding, that was exactly it) but the point still stood that when he was faced with a situation with a child, he felt the urge to protect them. Yes, it was dumb for someone in his line of work, but he supposed old habits died violently.
Or hard, whatever the dumb saying was.
He couldn't help feeling that affinity, that yearning to protect. As the oldest, he was always doing that with his siblings. He had to be the one to protect them from their crazy father. It was him who had to stand up to that shell of man, as their useless mother wallowed in misery.
(Thinking of it, he would love to kill that old hag.)
He never felt to bad when it came to fighting UA students, since they were for all intents and purposes, his enemies. They knew exactly what they were doing when they chose to be heroes, gallivanting around like show ponies. They knew when they decided to go down they same path as his dear old dad. When he reconstructed hero society, they would all see what it really meant to be a hero. In fact, there was only one time when it was a true weakness at all.
That was about every moment he spent around Toga.
the minute he met her, he knew she would be an issue. She was just so young. Why was she applying to the League of Villains? What had spurred such a sweet seeming girl to murder for kicks? Maybe if she were just a spy (her quirk was great for that after all), but no, she was good with a knife too. Where had she learned that? Dabi wanted to help her. He wanted to get her out of this situation, even if she was totally crazy.
Regardless, no matter how he tried to get away from her, they were constantly together. The worst part was, Dabi could even think of the little devil as a sister. He knew that if it ever came down to it, he would value her life over his.
That was not good for a villain.
Worse than that, it wasn't as if Toga wasn't inviting bad things to happen to her. She was dating a student form UA, for Christ's sake. He would bet his quirk that the situation wouldn't end well.
It was this catastrophe of a circumstance that caused Toga coming to him in the middle of the night, hissing loudly, "Dabi! Dabi!"
He opened an eye. She looked unwell, near nervous. That giggle in her voice didn't seem natural. He wanted to comfort her to find out was wrong. He didn't like to see her like this. So desperate. The same way...the same way his sister used to used to be.
It all felt too familiar.
He instead groaned, pushing her away from him, "What do you want, crazy? It's the middle of the night."
"Obviously!" Toga frowned, "I wouldn't be waking you up if this wasn't like, super important."
"Fine then. What is it?" he grumbled, cracking his neck.
She yanked at her hair, "Tsu and I were on the Ferris wheel and she...she..."
"Spit it out."
"She told me she loved me!" Toga pulled at her hair harder. Dabi wanted to tell her to stop. She would hurt herself.
He let out a low whistle, that was quite the event, "Wow. What'd you say?"
"I just...acknowledged it and moved on? Tsu said I didn't have to say it back if I didn't want to."
"Great. So what's the problem?" Dabi settled back, ready to doze off once more.
"What's the problem?" Toga repeated, "Are you joking? Gosh, you boys can be so dense! I can't...I don't even know if I feel the same. How am I supposed to go on with her if I don't even know how I feel?"
Dabi took a long pause. That was quite the mess. He wondered if Toga really loved Tsuyu at all. She hadn't stabbed her yet, so that was something, but not wanting to hurt someone didn't equate to love. Or rather, not going through with hurting someone, since he constantly heard her macabre mutterings. Dabi was a realist and really, this was going to end badly anyway. There was no way in hell this could end well. No way. He told her that. He always told Toga that but no, she would just smile and and point out his little fling with his 'bird boy.'
The fact that she would even try to use that was beyond stupid! Him and Hawks...whatever was being felt in between the flirty banter, he knew better than to expect any better from the relationship. Even calling it a relationship was a stretch. That was the difference between them. Toga was living in a la la land where love prevailed against all odds. Dabi, he knew that even if Hawks was going to play villain, that no good would come out of it. So yeah, what they were going through was different. He...he could pull himself out if he wanted. For sure.
(Dabi didn't give the slightest care about stupid Hawks and his ash blond hair, or his gorgeous red wings. He didn't care about how Hawks looked at Dabi like he was someone good, someone worthwhile. When Hawks finally flew too close to the sun? Dabi wouldn't care the either.)
He looked at Toga once more. She was staring at him with these big huge eyes. She looked so hopeful, like he would say something and suddenly her whole life would just be perfect.
He really hated breaking her heart.
"I honestly don't know," Dabi sighed, running hand through his hair, "I can't determine if you really, really care for her. I'm not your therapist, lunatic. Just...reflect on it. If you really care, I think it'll click for you. You just have to be careful. You have to know you're playing a dangerous game. I don't want you...I can't have you getting hurt."
Toga stared at him a long moment, before her face twisted up, "That's not helpful, Dabi dearest!"
"I think it is. Seems like you just don't want to listen to the truth."
Toga turned to him, murder in her eyes, and for the first time, Dabi thought he may have been able to empathize with her victims.
"I'm heading out," she grumbled, stalking out the door.
Dabi laid back down, wondering if he made any difference at all.
That night he dreamt of blood red wings.
Toga could not for the life of her, shake off her annoyance at her conversation with Dabi. He spoke like he knew everything, like he knew her. She didn't even know herself. Her own feelings were constantly flip flopping and he thought a bit of reflection would help at all. Fool.
Whatever, it wasn't like that mattered. She had someone much better to ask. A bit of a gal pal if you will. Honestly, she regretted putting her that far out there but it was too late to change it now.
"Hana baby," Toga called, entering the warehouse. "You will not believe the day I just had!"
Hana struggled against her restraints, screaming muffled.
It really had been a shame to kidnap such a cute girl, but she had to have someone to disguise herself a when she met Tsuyu's friends. Of course, she had to lie to her darling about the girl being alright, but she couldn't allow Tsuyu to have that on her mind. She had to make sure that she had enough blood to last for who knows how long! It was fine, not like she had to know about it.
Toga removed the duck tape off the girl's mouth, to which she immediately started wailing, "Please, please, please, please, please. I wanna' go home so bad!"
Really, Toga didn't get why Hana got so upset all of the time. She had a pretty sweet deal. She was regularly fed, hardly even stabbed, and she even got to watch cartoons sometimes. So what if she was tied to a chair? There were times in Toga's life were that would have been bliss. Then again, Hana was also left severely out of the know. As far as she was concerned, Tsuyu wasn't even aware of who Toga really was. It wouldn't reflect well if Hana got out and went to the cops. Oh, thank goodness for her being so smart. The mere thought of Tsuyu getting in trouble was awful beyond compare. Then again, the pure girl's quirk was producing glitter! How would that be used to escape.
Really, she just enjoyed the way Han' blood sparkled when she was cut.
"You're so silly!" Toga plopped into Hana's lap, playing with her hair, "I just need some advice."
"I-If you like it, will you let me go?"
"Meh, maybe," It was almost funny how desperate she was to escape, "So, I was out with my lovely girlfriend and...she told me she loved me. I don't know what to do!"
Hana bit her lip in consideration, "I, uh...do you love her too?"
"Well, clearly I don't know!"
Toga almost got whiplash from how quickly Hana backtracked, "Oh, uh, of course. I-I just wanted to m-make sure. Well, I used to have a crush on this boy. I think I realized I loved him when...we were talking and I just re-realized, I wanted to spent the rest of my life with him..."
"What'd you like about him?"
"He was just so...bright. H-He always knew what to say, what to do. he was amazing...I miss him."
The blonde leaned in closer, engrossed in the story, "What happened?"
"He, he moved away," Hana was shaking even harder now, "I th-think you should act before it's too late."
Toga thought about it deeply. She wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life with her Tsu. In fact, every minute she was away from her burned. She needed her. That was love, right?
"Thank you, Hana-bear!" she spun around, "I think I really do love her!"
"Awesome!" Hana's face contorts into a strange smile, "So...can I leave? Please?"
Toga thinks a moment, "Um...no!"
"B-B-But you said...!"
"I said maybe!" Toga almost felt bad, just not really, "How about we have one of our girl's nights instead?"
"No," Hana mumbled, Toga pulling out one of her many knifes, "Please! Please no more! It hurts so bad! Please!"
Toga shushed her, eyes ablaze, "Honestly hun, you're so squeamish."
"Please! Please don't! W-We're friends! Right? Please! I want to go home!" Hana continued to struggle against her restraints, face pale.
"Oh, and by the way? Thank you. You've given me a lot to think about."