5 - Afraid of the Fire

"Twice."

At the command, the black-and-white-clothed man raises his hands and creates several clones of Dabi, Toga, Magne and Spinner. At first, they look around the dark forest we're hidden in, and then at the prestigious, proud school standing tall in front of us. U.A.. A chill wind blows at us from deep within the forest. I give them their instructions under my breath, and though they look dubious at first (the downside of Twice's Quirk is that the clones have independent minds and don't always take kindly to being bossed around), they agree to go in and perform their jobs.

"Everything going according to plan, Shigaraki?" comes a whisper from behind me, so close that it almost makes me flinch. Staples. My fingers flick with the temptation to turn him into a pile of soot on the damp ground, but I quench the urge to kill - the urge to kill him, at least. There'll be plenty of time and people for me to kill later.

"Yes. Thanks for your... interest, Dabi. It'll be your turn soon enough."

Another cold breeze wraps around me, nipping at patches of exposed skin. I fight a shiver. I'm not a weakling. Without warning, blue light flares next to me. I whirl instantly on Dabi.

"What the hell are you doing? You're going to draw attention to us-"

"You're cold though, aren't you?" I can't tell what he's thinking, if he's being serious. I search deep in his blue eyes, flickering in the bright firelight, but I don't see the usual arrogant smirk in them.

"No." I turn away, resisting the urge to draw my dark jumper further down my arms to cover my numb wrists. "A fire like that is dangerous. The guards are going to notice us, or you'll start a forest fire-"

The hand that isn't ablaze falls on my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"Don't you have faith in me, Shigaraki?"

The way he says my name... it's different this time, without any of the malice and rude glee he gets from annoying me. "Come here. You're cold. You can't think clearly if you're cold."

I don't move towards him, but I can't stop my eyes from darting to his iridescent blue flame. It's bright, sure, but the trees cloak most of the light, and I'd be lying if I said some part of me didn't long to feel tingling warmth spread over my numb skin. You can't think clearly if you're cold. Maybe he's right. All the same, I'm not taking the first step. As if sensing my thoughts, he takes a dangerous step, and another, moving closer and closer to me. With each step he takes into my space, my privacy, I feel some semblance of warmth seep into my bones. When he is close enough to touch, I can't hide my flinch when he takes another step.

"What? Afraid of the fire?"

"No." Yes.

"I made it so that it won't burn you. Here. Touch it."

His fingers slide over my wrist, and as if in a trance of trust, I let him guide my fingers closer to the fire, to the flames dancing in the night until my fingertips touch-

Shit.

I snatch my slightly burned hand back, swearing at him and slapping his chest with the back of my hand, but he only laughs, dark hair glinting in the firelight. Liar!

"Fucking bastard," I mutter. I should be killing him for this; but oddly, I don't feel the aching burn in my chest anymore, the ache to make him rot from the inside out. Even after he's played his stupid prank, the black-haired man stays close to me, blue flame twining over his darkened, scarred skin, and I don't make a move to leave. After all, it's cold, and I wouldn't be able to think clearly if I was too cold. Though I'm more wary of keeping some distance between me and the fire, I let Dabi stay close, and I let the fire keep burning in the shadows of the night. 

It's stupid, and ridiculous, and senseless, but rationality has gone out of the window. I stand close enough to him that if one of us breathed too heavily, we would touch. I put my slight dizziness down to the disorienting way the flames' heat distorts the air around us, like we're in a separate bubble from the rest of the world. It's definitely not because he's standing so close to me... Nope.