#the guilt of being the oldest and escaping an abusive household knowing you’re abandoning your younger siblings to the same fate

[ocymoron]

And there he stands, Dabi—his big brother— wreathed in flames every shade of blue with this strange look on his face.

His lips downturned and pressed together tightly, trembling. His furrowed brows and scrunched nose. It’s an unfamiliar face, one that he only remembers through cracked doors. No tears fall— they don’t even form, they can’t— but his older brother still looks like he’s holding them back.

“I’m proud of you.”

The air is heavy between them. It feels weighed down by emotions too complicated to name— grief, it’s grief— and he doesn’t know how to respond so he doesn’t.

But it’s fine because his older brother— Touya-nii— keeps talking, voice choked.

“I wish I could’ve known you.”