32 - Fireworks

Silence. Even the fireworks exploding in the distance stop. The night is cold, and black, but all I can see are the bloody tears rolling down his face, and all I can feel is the heat of his hands pressed against my face. I can't breathe. He loves me.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I've never felt happier than I have when I'm with you. I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to hold you when you're cold, or sad, or scared, or lonely, or anything and everything. I want to make you smile every day for the rest of my goddamn life. I love you. So don't you dare tell me I'll be happier without you, because I've never known happiness before you, and I'll never know it if I have to live without you. I don't want to live without you.

"But if this is all in my head. "If you don't feel the same way I do. "If you don't love me...

"Then I'll let you leave."

Now we're both crying. Dabi... Dabi loves me. I can't breathe. I can't move. I can't think.

"Don't ever leave me," I whisper into the darkness. His eyes shine with tears he can't properly shed and he moves his hand to grip mine.

"I swear I will never leave you."

"Tell me you love me."

"I love you, Tomura Shigaraki."

"Tell me if we go to hell, we're going together."

"Nothing can stop me. I'm not leaving you, Tomura. I'm not leaving you."

He won't leave me. He won't leave me. When he leans forward to kiss me, I kiss him back, and the salty taste of our tears mingles. He won't leave me. He won't leave me.

Bang.

A firework goes off in the distance, making me jump. Dabi laughs under his breath and lets go of me just long enough to take off his coat. He drapes it around my shoulders, and grins at the surprise in my eyes.

"What? You're obviously cold."

I nestle into his side, resting my head on his shoulder, and we sit on the edge of the building. Down below, there's a drop into the darkness that we swing our legs over. We could fall into that darkness... or we could look up at the sky and watch the fireworks explode with colour. Hope.

In all of the reasons I gave to myself for our breakup, I forgot about that one vital thing, the light amid the darkness. Hope. There's still hope for us yet. I pick up Dabi's arm and drop it over my shoulder. I need to be close to him, close enough to feel his warmth, close enough to smell his aftershave, close enough to hear the promise of I will never leave you echoing between us.

There's one more thing I need to tell him. One more scar I need to show him. One more reason for him to leave me before I can truly believe this is forever.

"I killed my father."

He looks at me steadily, waiting for me to continue. I take a deep breath.

"I killed all of my family. And I'm scared. Every night, I'm scared that I'm not capable of proper love. Or deserving of it. Or that even if I did find it, I'd end up destroying that too. I'm scared, all the time, that I'm just the worthless... the same worthless boy I was who killed his father. I'm scared that he was right. The last thing he ever said to me... You're not capable of goodness. Look at yourself. You... you destroy everything you touch.

"I- I'm scared that that's t-true. That if I ever let myself love somebody, I'd just destroy them and break all over again. I'm scared of being alone. Of being broken and having nobody left to put the p-pieces back together..."I'm crying again. You destroy everything you touch.

Then there's a warm hand on my face, wiping my tears away with his thumb.

"I will never leave you, Tomura Shigaraki. No matter what, I'm here. So you can try and push me away, you can try to scare me and destroy me all you want, but it won't do shit. I will never leave you. I'll follow you into hell. I'll follow you into the fire. I'm yours, and you're mine. I will never leave you."

I'm crying so hard I can barely say the words.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Through the tears in our eyes, we look up at the fireworks, at the hope for us and our future, and we welcome the dawn of a new year. Together.