Work Text:
“Hmmm? What’s this?” Toga holds up an old model of a smartphone, letting it dangle between her fingers, “This is such an old phone, who would still carry this around?”
Dabi glances at it, snatching it away from her hands faster than anyone at the bar can process it as he shoves back into his pocket.
“Don’t touch what isn’t yours” he snaps, curling his bony fingers along the edges of the old phone. The rest of his drink is drunk in one shot, stinging warmth blooming in his throat and along the tops of his ribs before he storms out of the room.
Toga pouts, pretty pink lips jutting out from her chin as she whines about how rude you’re being! How was I supposed to know that’s your phone?
It’s short, only the briefest of seconds when she tapped the screen so it lit up but the picture of a boy with hair as red as fire and sparkling blue eyes grin into the camera as a girl hangs off his back, is burned into Toga’s memory and she wonders who they are.
12:26 am: hey, it’s been a while. how are you? I hope you’re doing okay. Are you having trouble sleeping?
The phone rings and you know that you shouldn’t hold out hopes that maybe he’ll pick up because it’s been what, four years now since his disappearance but you are a sucker for miracles so you can’t help but wish that Touya will somehow answer.
“Hello?”
You hold your breath, tears beginning to well up in your eyes at the sound of his voice.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
You inhale deeply through your nose until your lungs burn as you try to relax, to open up your mouth and utter something, anything but before you can do so-
“Ha! Just kidding, you totally fell for this didn’t ya!”
A single tear glides down your cheek as you slump back into the chair.
Right, this was his old voicemail, the one he had made and you had been there to watch the making of. If you strained your ears, you could hear your soft laughter in the background.
“Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you when I can”
Beep
You clear your throat, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Did you have anything you wanted to say? Maybe you should just hang up, feeling a little silly talking to an answering machine that was probably full of messages that will never be heard, but something pushes hard against your gut and before you know it-
“Hey Touya, it’s me”
You wince at your own voice, since when did you sound so…. Stilted? You could practically imagine him snickering at your voice.
“I uh-” You swallow, “How have you been?”
Bitch, i’m dead. What do you think?
You laugh nervously, “Actually don’t answer that question. That’s kinda dumb. Uh, I hope you’re doing okay wherever you are. It’s like 12am right now, i couldn’t sleep. Remember when you used to text me at 4am because you couldn’t sleep? I really miss waking up to read them”
A small puff of air escapes your lips as you remember the texts you’d wake up to- chickens do not deserve rights, if you ever call me daddy i will not be disappointed- and the ache in your heart grows deeper.
You sniff, the base of your palm rubbing into your eyes until you see purple stars dance in and out of your vision, “Um… I guess that’s really it. I hope you’re doing well. Miss you, bye”
The phone call ends with a soft press of the screen and you are left staring with your own reflection.
Dabi glances at the old smartphone he always keeps charged for no reason other than it being a habit when it vibrates, a single notification popping up on the screen.
You have 1 new voice message
1:07 am: i really miss frozen yogurt, not you and no, i’m not drunk. I just really, really miss froyo
“Hello?”
The sound of his voice message rings in your ear and you’re too ashamed to admit that you’re so desperate to hear Touya’s voice again that you’ve resorted to listening to his outdated voice message again and again.
“Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you when I can”
Beep
“Um… hi, it’s me again”
You vaguely hear your own consciousness telling you that if Touya were alive, he’d tell you to stop spamming him.
“You know, I haven’t had frozen yogurt since you’ve left,” you admit, “I still can’t walk past that frozen yogurt spot we used to hang out at without crying a little bit”
“I really miss frozen yogurt” you sigh, “it’s all your fault I can’t get any unless I wanna cry in public”
You’re stupid, how is that my fault?
“It’s totally your fault,” you hurriedly say, vaguely recognizing how crazy you look talking to the Touya voice in your head, “if you didn’t leave or disappear or whatever, I could get froyo without crying in the middle of ordering”
“Anyways,” you continue, “I’m not drunk, if that’s what you’re wondering, I just….. really miss frozen yogurt. That’s all. I’m gonna go now, bye”
I really miss you
You let your phone drop onto the bed as the clock by your bedside table changes numbers.
What a long fucking night.
The old smartphone vibrates again next to Dabi and he blearily opens his eyes to peer at the screen.
You have two new voice messages
1:23am: call me back, please?
“Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you whe-”
“Call me back,” You interrupt the recording, “I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing but it’s a little rude to be ignoring someone who’s been calling you, so you better call me back”
You pull the phone away from you, your thumb hovering over the ‘end call’ button before you press the phone back to your ear and add a single word for good measure.
“Please?”
In the dark of the room, Dabi’s old phone lights up with another notification.
You have three new voice messages
1:47 am: i hate the color blue, by the way. It’s the ugliest color out there
“Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you when I can”
Beep
“I saw this blue dress in the window the other day,” You talk into the phone and grip the edges of your comforter, “I didn’t buy it though”
Why not?, the Touya voice asks
“Because I hate the color blue”
You inhale, eyes closing. “It’s an ugly color and i hate it, hate it, hate it”
You used to love it, the Touya voice in your head teases you
“Well I hate it now. It-”
It reminds me of you
It reminds me of your eyes
It reminds me you’re missing
You shake your head, “It’s just an ugly color”
You hang up the phone with your thumb jamming into the phone screen with finality and throw your head underneath your comforter.
Dabi lets out a soft laugh as he hears your last message before letting his arm fall to the side, phone in hand.
“You hate the color blue?” he muses, “You used to love it. Said it reminded you of my eyes”
2:00am: i don’t miss you. i don’t know what i’m doing. I hate you. i don’t care.
“You know what?” You’re not quite sure where the anger is coming from, feeling the fire in your stomach burning as it licks the crevices in your body, “fuck you”
“Fuck you for leaving. Fuck you for ruining all my favorite dessert places and boba spots. Fuck you”
“I hate you” You fix the wall in front of you with a glare meant to kill as though it was Touyai and not just an innocent wall with sweaters and jackets hanging on hooks. “I hate you and I do not care about you at all. Like 100%, I don’t care about you at all”
You pause in the middle of your rant, straining your ears to hear something other than the static because god, you miss Touya so much you think you just might vomit but nothing greets you except your own haggard breathing and you let out a strangled groan, throwing your phone onto the opposite end of the bed.
The frustrated yell you let out makes Dabi cringe and hold his phone away from his ear. “Sorry,” he closes his eyes when he hears the phone tumbling down, “I hate me too”
2:03 am: this is the last time i’m calling you.
Beep
“Okay, this is the last time I’m calling you,” You talk into the phone but the message is more for you than for him, “Seriously, the absolute last time. You better call me back because this is the last time I’m the one calling you”
“Seriously,” You hang up the phone, resting your head against your knee. “The absolute last time”
Dabi laughs at your message and decides to time how long your resolve would last.
2:06 am: okay, this time really is the last time i’m calling you. i still hate you though.
3 minutes. Your resolve lasts three minutes.
You berate yourself in your head, angrily cursing yourself for giving in so easily but your fingers have already punched in the numbers you have engraved in your core and the dial tone rings in the room.
Beep
“Okay, so that wasn’t my last call but this time, this time is my actual last call. I swear on it” You hold your pinky up into the air as though he’ll see
You drop your hand, “I still hate you though. Just because I’m calling you again doesn’t mean I forgive you or anything. I fucking hate you”
Dabi laughs as your message ends, “Yeah, yeah. I hate me too”
2:15 am: i don’t hate you.
“Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you when I can”
“I don’t hate you,” You admit, the roof of your mouth sticky and dry like cotton balls were stuffed inside, “I don’t hate you one bit”
“I don’t hate you at all so please, please, please-” Your voice cracks a little, “just call me back. I miss you so goddamn much”
You hang up the phone and resolve to have a good cry in bed and fall asleep in the middle of it. Sure you might wake up with puffy eyes but that’s fine and you nod to yourself as you snuggle deeper under the covers. You can already tell you would wake up with a horrible headache.
Your eyelids droop lower and lower until they’re shut and the grips of sleep pull at your limbs until the phone suddenly rings and you shoot your hands out from underneath to covers to fumble for it.
“Hello?” You wince at the sound of your voice, since when did you sound like a dying frog?
When no one answers you, you frown. “Helloooo?”
“Hey. I heard you hate the color blue now?”
You freeze and sit up, heart hammering wildly in your chest. Was that…
“That’s a shame,” The voice continues, “you always said your favorite shade was my eyes"