Chapter Text
This place was meant to be a temporary job for him, it really was.
He may not have had many other options when he first took the position, but he still assumed something more interesting that still fit his needs would eventually pop up. In no way did Dabi expect himself to still be here, a year and a half later. Waiting tables at the same shitty 50s themed retro diner, with the same stupid pastel uniforms, the same greasy ass food, and the same annoying late night clientele. But nonetheless, here he was.
Whenever his friends ask why he doesn’t quit if he hates it so much, he just shrugs and says, "It starts to grow on you."
Although, it would be more accurate to say one thing in particular had grown on him.
The company.
It hadn’t been a promising start if he was being honest. Dabi was only a couple months into the job Aizawa had forced him to take, and was just about ready to throw in the towel. Or wrap it around the neck of the next idiot who pissed him off. Either or. Then a new set of students from the university nearby had gotten hired on, and all the shifts got mixed around so the ‘veteran workers’ could help train the new ones. Ironic that he was supposed to be showing someone the ropes when he still fucked up nearly every order he made.
Dabi’s not too sure if he should thank fate, chance, some kind of deity, or maybe just the goddamn manager, but whatever it was had brought Katsuki fucking Bakugou into his life; a bombshell he’d never recover from.
It was obvious from the start that Katsuki was not the average ‘trainee’ (a term the kid hated, and therefore one Dabi made a point to call him often). Dabi had sauntered in from the back, late to his shift and slightly high (as usual), when the vision of an angel stopped him dead in his tracks.
Spikes of butter blond hair stood out against naturally honey tan skin that was dusted with freckles. Strawberry pink fabric stretching against wide shoulders and strong biceps as he darted around prepping orders, the red and white candy striped apron tied around a criminally thin waist that tapered into a pert ass, straining tightly against black slacks that looked painted on. The cherry on top was a pair of bright scarlet eyes that actually made Dabi’s heart pause when they finally locked with his own. He looked like he walked straight out one of those pin-up posters they had plastered all over the walls.
The bubbly daydream trance Dabi was lost in popped suddenly at the rough bark of, “Where the fuck have you been bastard! What are you just standing around for?!”
Before he could respond, his arms were loaded with trays of food and drinks, while instructions on who ordered what were being yelled in one ear and out the other. He somehow managed to deliver things to the right tables (after a fair amount of trial and error), but when he drifted back to his new shift partner he was only accosted with more directions on how to 'actually' do his job. There were also some choice words about his work ethic, or lack thereof. The blond hurled out these insults without losing focus of the flapjacks and bacon he was flipping on the griddle, but Dabi couldn't help but just feel more enraptured by the feisty pretty boy. It was like a fairy with a potty mouth. He did always have a thing for Tinkerbell when he was younger.
When the younger man finally turned around only to see Dabi’s signature lazy smirk fixed on him, red eyes narrowed and his lip curled into a snarl. Something told him that it was a signature look of its own. What caught his attention though was the looping cursive scrawl that read Katsuki on his name tag.
Dabi finally got control of his tongue, and for some reason used it to say “What’s got you so wound up Kitty Kat? Got a clock up your ass or something?”
That’s how he learned the kid had an impressive right hook.
He wasn’t allowed to ice his face until after the trickle of drunk customers subsided, and even then Katsuki remained even frostier; blatantly ignoring any attempts at conversation as he forcefully scrubbed down his station. Dabi was practiced in patience though, and waited for the boredom to set in.
It took two hours for the blonde to break.
“Where the fuck is anyone!?”
Dabi paused flicking through the jukebox menu for the thousandth time and raised a brow at him. “You do realize what working a night shift usually means, right?”
The younger man shrugs and grumbles, “Didn't think we’d just be sitting on our asses the whole time.”
“Wishful thinking kid. There’s not much to do between the mini rushes to be honest. Some nights are dead quiet and we have to entertain ourselves, I could think of a few fun things for us to do Kitty Kat.” He winked to punctuate his meaning.
Katsuki pretended to gag himself, “Try whatever you're imagining, and I’ll shove your face into the griddle perv.”
The threat made Dabi bark a laugh, “Aww, you need to get your head out of the gutter, love, maybe I just meant we could braid each other’s hair and tell secrets.”
The bombshell just rolled his eyes, “Tch, yeah right! As if I’d ever spill my guts to some asshole I don’t even know!”
Despite the instant interest he had for the kid, Dabi had silently agreed with that last sentiment. He hadn't talked much with his last partner, and in general wasn’t exactly an ‘open person’ either. He didn’t expect it to go much differently this time around, though Katsuki would surely be a fun distraction. Maybe even a convenient fuck buddy if he was lucky.
They ended up both being wrong.
Dabi still isn’t sure how to describe the relationship that blossomed between them from there. Despite the, admittedly desperate, attempts at flirting he piled on at the start, Katsuki made it abundantly clear he wasn’t interested in ‘messing around’ with some dumbass he didn’t even know. So Dabi had resorted to asking any question that came to mind, slightly motivated to see if getting to know him would make the blond more receptive to his advances, but also because he got bored as shit on the graveyard shift. Luckily Katsuki was a very interesting person.
At first the younger man dodged most of the questions thrown at him, oftentimes just telling Dabi to fuck off or eat shit and die. However, the empty hours eventually seemed to have gotten to him as well, and within a few weeks Dabi finally was starting to see more of what made the blond tick.
He learned the kid was a swimmer on the university’s team and finished practice in the evenings before work, a visual Dabi was accosted with at the start of every shift from then on. That he’s a self taught cook with a penchant for experimenting with flavors and techniques, and the monotony of making the same 10 or so dishes offered at the diner drove him a little crazy. It also turned out that Katsuki was a huge nerd. Not just with comic books and straight As, which he also had, but an actual advanced understanding of mathematics and engineering. An understanding he used to build legit robots, and entered them into those competitions where they beat the shit out of each other. Apparently his favorite, King Explosion Murder, was still undefeated.
Dabi had met his friends, a group of loud hyperactive students that came in early on Friday’s to harass their explosive companion before going out for the night. They were the kind of table whose order Dabi would have intentionally fucked up out of spite for the grating noise, but Katsuki seemed to begrudgingly enjoy the company despite all the whining and teasing, so he held himself back.
It was harder for him to keep his mouth shut when he learned the explosive blond was unexpectedly a serial monogamist. He hadn’t seemed the type, but maybe that had just been wishful thinking on Dabi’s part. The first time he’d mentioned having a boyfriend, Dabi was disgruntled, but hadn’t thought much of it. Lots of Uni kids had flings their first couple years. He assumed they would break up in a week or two, and maybe the kid would even be on the lookout for a rebound fuck after.
But Katsuki seemed to have a consistent rotating cast of ‘guys he was seeing'; breaking up and making up with them intermittently. They never lasted longer than a few months nor ended pleasantly; the explosive blond’s volatile passion was near impossible to match, yet he seemed intent on trying to find someone who could. Despite the overtly hostile demeanor he put on, Katsuki seemed oddly adverse to being alone for some reason.
Dabi had his opportunities to make a move if he was being honest, but it was obvious they were looking for different things. He wasn’t enough of an asshole to lead the kid on with promises of commitment he would never be able to keep. That wasn’t the kind of relationship he’s had with someone before, and as much as he fantasized about the younger man being underneath him, Dabi wasn’t going to pretend otherwise just to make it reality. If Katsuki wanted a boyfriend he deserved a boyfriend; the problem was that in Dabi's opinion, none of these guys were worthy of being the kid’s boyfriend.
Which was bullshit, but Dabi held himself back from saying or doing anything too stupid. Like getting into a fight when one of the blond’s stupid flings show up running their mouth off (he seemed to have a type) and making Dabi’s fingers itch for blood. Or pushing Katsuki against the nearest wall and kissing him breathless, showing him what it really means to be taken care of for a change.
What worried Dabi was what would happen next. He couldn’t promise a tomorrow like the others did. And if it risked making things awkward between them, and Katsuki ended up changing shifts or quitting altogether, it wouldn’t be worth it.
As they got to know each other, Dabi had grown fond of his little Kitty Kat. Maybe even a little protective. More protective than he ever was of his siblings certainly. He didn’t want to see Katsuki get hurt by some fuckboy assholes, but he especially didn’t want to be the reason behind it himself.
It was a unique feeling. He wasn’t sure if he liked or hated it yet. And as much as it burned him to hear the kid gush or vent about his current flavor of the month, Dabi was willing to suffer through it rather than being kept in the dark about what was happening. His advice didn’t often go further than, ‘You should dump his ass’, but he liked that Katsuki trusted him enough to open up about things he didn't even tell his friends (who were apparently very judgmental about his love life).
Gaining someone’s confidence was never one of Dabi’s priorities, but having Katsuki’s felt...special. He didn’t want to fuck it up.
Sometimes Dabi felt like he had no way to relate to Katsuki’s life. His own had taken such a different path that it seemed impossible for them to end up in the same place at the same time. Maybe that’s what made the blonde finally start to open up; being around someone who wasn’t connected to any of the other shit in his life. Someone who didn’t have expectations about what he should act like, what they wanted him to be. Maybe that’s why Dabi started opening up in return as well.
Or maybe it was just the liminal space and sleep deprivation. Who can say?
Either way, after several months of half-assed answers about his own past, he finally told Katsuki how he had come to be there. How he’d been arrested on his 20th birthday.
He didn’t explain what he did or why, just the results of the incident. Four years in prison and two on parole.
That’s how he had eventually met Aizawa, the parole officer at the halfway house who had dragged his ass into becoming a semi-functioning member of society again. The one who called in a favor with an old friend and got him this job when everywhere else thought he was too volatile, too much of a liability.
Katsuki seemed to relate.
The younger man didn’t seem put off by his confession, expression more curious than concerned. It made Dabi even more interested in return. He couldn't wrap his head around why someone so smart, talented, and drop-dead gorgeous saw him as anything but a lowlife. Someone to avoid lest he managed to taint all the things Katsuki had going for him. But while the blonde had no qualms with calling Dabi out for being a dumbass and a fuck-up, it was with the same glint in his eye that he had when talking to his friends.
After more shifts and traded secrets, Dabi eventually realized Katsuki probably knew more about him than his court mandated therapist, his acquaintances from the halfway house, and probably even Aizawa. At some point it had become easy to be around each other, and he found himself sharing pointless thoughts and memories of times he hadn’t recalled in years.
Shifting through the rubble of his past unearthed things he’d nearly forgotten; good times that had been discarded because they were so wrapped up in the bad ones. But Katsuki was an expert at digging them out, dusting them off, and letting them sparkle; separated from the darkness that once clouded them. The kid didn’t even know he was doing it, but his mere presence seemed to stitch up wounds Dabi never noticed were still bleeding.
The bizarre trust that sprouted between them was unfamiliar to the former criminal. And he couldn't help but wonder if Katsuki was very brave or just naïve.
It turned out he was a lot of the first one, and a bit of the second.