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Dabi glared at the clock through the store window, crossing his arms over his chest in frustration.
Despite what might be the assumption about him, it wasn’t like Shouta to be late. If they made plans, he’d be there on time, unless something came up. And even when something came up, he made an effort to try to let Dabi know, knowing that he couldn’t be seen in public for very long. Knowing that he couldn’t fucking wait for him all night, not without the risk of being caught. It was an entire hour past when they were supposed to meet, and Shouta was absolutely nowhere to be seen.
He didn’t even have patrol tonight! It was his fucking birthday. He should be here. He should have been here an hour ago, unless he forgot his own birthday (and his plans with Dabi, a part of his brain he was trying to squash down with anger supplied. Shouta had forgotten about him too).
He probably had better plans. Maybe his idiot friends from high school, Present Mic and Midnight, had made plans. Or the teachers, or his class. Or something had happened at the dorms, and he was just going to stay there.
But if he had plans, why hadn’t he fucking texted!?
Dabi glared at the clock for a moment longer, waiting, willing Shouta to appear in the alley behind him, to tap him on the shoulder and only stop him from lighting the entire building up with his quirk. But time kept ticking, the hand making its rotation over and over until Dabi couldn’t wait any longer.
It was getting dark.
He clenched his fist, shoving off of the building and walking back down the dark alley to their hideout. Why was he upset Shouta had forgotten his birthday? It wasn’t like it was supposed to be about him today. He stalked down the alleyway, walking up the rickety staircase and into the bar, slamming the door behind him.
He was so fucking done with today.
It wasn’t just Shouta not showing. It was Shigaraki deciding that they should train, figure out how to work together, now that they had stronger numbers. It was the awakening of old memories he pushed below the surface even as he stormed from the training grounds to his room, searching for the clothes with the least rips to wear to meet with his boyfriend. It was Toga, who had demanded he help her set something up and made him leave later than anticipated. It was the weather, the sky completely clear until he’d run out of the bar and then a downpour began. It was everything, and now it was Shouta not even remembering they were supposed to hang out for his own birthday!
The day kind of fucking sucked, so sue him! He was looking forward to seeing his boyfriend and celebrating his fucking birthday, and maybe staying over at his apartment, wrapped in his arms, in the single fucking comfort the world had ever bothered providing for him.
He stalked from the door to the bar, ignoring Toga laying across it to grab a bottle from the shelves, not bothering to look at what he’d picked up. Kurogiri would restock the shelves from god knows where, and he wasn’t in the mood to read all of the labels. He walked out from behind the bar, already screwing the cap off and taking a drink. Dabi shrugged his jacket off of his shoulders, moving too quickly, too hard, tearing at burns and staples that he should know better than to snag on. He hissed in pain.
“What’s got you so grumpy?” Toga jumped down from the bar, carrying one of Shigaraki’s sweatshirts in her arms. Dabi clenched his teeth, shoving past her to walk toward one of the few fucking rooms he could have the slightest sense of privacy! The last thing he needed was her in his space right now. “Dabiii,” she whined, following after him.
He turned on his heels, flames in his hands before he even took a second to think about his response. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Leave me the fuck alone.”
“C’mon! You looked excited when you left, and you never look excited! And now you come back grumpier than usual? Somebody catch you burning someone alive?”
“I’m not talking to you.” He rolled his eyes, but she rushed forward, wrapping a hand around his arm, the other still swaddling the sweatshirt. He didn’t even want to think about whatever the hell she might be carrying around with her right now – he had the feeling that would only add to the incessant pain in his temples.
“But I have something I want to show you!” she exclaimed, tugging him toward the bar. He shoved, his hands igniting to keep her off again. She pouted for a second before setting down her bundle, jumping up with a knife in her hand out of nowhere. She rushed forward and he ducked, making sure she was out of the way before rushing her back, snarling.
He ended up on the other side of the bar, Toga watching him from afar.
A warp gate in front of both of them.
“Could we please leave the fighting for outside?” Kurogiri raised his voice, if you could fucking call that raising your voice. Took him shorter than usual; Toga must have been in here being annoying to all of them all day. Dabi shoved at her again, pushing to the back part of the bar.
Thankfully, this time, he wasn’t followed.
He set the bottle down onto the ground, sinking down the wall to cup his face in his hands, chill fingers taking some of the edge out of the headache that was already blooming. He picked up his phone, looked at the screen still empty of notifications, and clicked on Shouta’s phone number, holding it up against his ear.
The generic voicemail sounded, Shouta’s tired voice filtering through at the very end. He hit the off button before the tone, before he left some stupid desperate message on his boyfriend’s voice mail that he’d undoubtedly regret, even if he said nothing at all.
Jesus, he needed to stop acting so fucking pathetic.
He rested his head back against the wall, closing his eyes and considering just going to sleep, but the walls were too thin for that. Noise filtered in from the front of the bar.
“We’re keeping it right!” Toga’s voice was hard to miss even through the endless creaking sounds of a building so decrepit it shouldn’t be standing. “It’s so cute, we can’t not keep it!”
Great. She’d brought something else in from the streets. While it wasn’t a frequent habit, this was absolutely not the first time that Toga had brought a stray animal back to the bar. He just had to hope that it wasn’t another raccoon. The time she’d brought a raccoon back to the bar, it had taken more than just Kurogiri’s warp gate to get it back onto the streets. There had also been quite a bit of glass shattered that night.
He covered his face with his hands, standing up to listen better to what was happening. If Kurogiri was already being short with them, he doubted whatever creature Toga had brought back would help out with that.
“He doesn’t have a collar or anything, so I guess we might as well.” Spinner laughed. Great. So they were all involved in whatever they were doing. At least if the others were paying attention to her and didn’t sound… concerned, it probably meant that whatever she had brought back was safe. He crept to the edge of the room, leaning against the doorway to see what the hell they were talking about.
Spinner, Magne, and Toga were all sitting on the floor, a black cat wandering between their legs, seeming to try to find a way out. Every time it reached a possible escape, one of them pushed to get it back between them.
“What are you going to name it?” Magne questioned.
“Sushi!” Toga declared, holding the cat up in her arms, hugging it close. From the noise that it made, it was hardly enthralled by her affection.
“Why Sushi?” Magne asked, still sitting on the floor.
“Because Dabi hates it and he’s in a bad mood today.” She giggled, spinning around with the cat in her arms. “Kurogiri! What do you think of naming him Sushi?”
“Sushi?” Kurogiri asked, his voice… distant. His voice was always empty, but this was something different. It sounded softer, lighter. It broke past whatever fucking guardrails he had up to make himself act so proper all the time. “Maybe… a different name would be more appropriate.”
“That’s so boring,” Toga whined, setting the cat down. She sat back down in the circle, but she didn’t grab the cat fast enough. It made a run for it, running right into Dabi’s legs. The cat was cute, mostly black with a grey pattern around its throat, like it had something around its neck. Its eyes were a prying gold, yellowish speckles outlining their place on its face. It took a step back before looking up at him and curling around his legs, its tail wrapping around his ankle as it slowly blinked up at him.
It reminded him of the first time he’d met Toast, Shouta’s cat. Or, it would, if the cat wasn’t immediately loud. It started making noises, staring up at him like it expected him to know exactly what it wanted just because it was being obnoxiously loud. When he just stared it down, it quieted down, curling around his leg again. He looked out at the other members of the League, who were now staring at him, watching his response. He picked the cat up, scratching its head and walking forward, rolling his eyes. “Where the hell did you find this?”
“Well, I was going to follow you when you went out today to see why you were acting so excited, but then you were just standing around and then he appeared, so you were boring and I brought him home.” Toga walked up, grabbing at the cat, but he held it out of her reach. For whatever reason, it seemed much more inclined to say in his arms than their little circle on the floor.
“You can’t just keep a random cat you found on the streets.”
“We kept Toga,” Magne chimed in from the ground, and Dabi nearly choked trying to hold his laugh back.
“Didn’t want to keep her either,” he muttered. “Do you even know how to take care of a cat?”
“Do you?” Spinner asked, looking shocked at the implication that Dabi knew how to care for anything. He rolled his eyes, stretching out.
“I’ve had to take care of a few cats. Yes, I know how to take care of one.” He walked to the bar, setting the cat onto the counter (and promptly ignoring Kurogiri’s demands to get the animal off of the surface that they eat on) and grabbing some bowls. He dug through the fridge, managing to dig up a few cat-friendly foods, and dropping them into the bowl, filling the other for it to drink.
The cat ate without question. Must’ve been hungry, who fucking knew how long it had been on the streets before Toga had found it.
If she’d been following him, he was surprised she’d found the cat before he’d managed to see it. When he met with Shouta, any wrong move could lead to massive trouble for both of them, so he had a tendency of… well, paying enough attention that he’d notice there was a cat.
“Why does it like you best?” Toga whined. “It was screaming at me the whole time I carried it home and hasn’t stopped trying to run away, and then you walk in and it acts domestic!”
“Maybe it realized I’m safety from you,” Dabi retorted, rolling his eyes, reaching out his hand toward the cat. It focused on its food, though paused to walk forward, brushing against his fingers and staring up at him.
Its golden eyes were sharp, staring him down like it understood him. It was a look unlike Toast had ever given him, but Toast also didn’t bother paying attention unless she saw the opportunity of food imminently clear.
He looked away from the cat, petting its back lazily as he turned to the others on the floor. “We’re not keeping it.”
Toga opened her mouth to fight but shut it again when he fixed her with a look. He breathed out, turning away from her and back to the cat.
Oh, Kurogiri was gonna be pissed. In the few seconds he’d turned away from it, it had scratched the counter with its claws. Hopefully the scratches blended in with the rest of the scars and marks from even before they were there. He leaned forward nonetheless, brushing his fingers over them. The pattern was odd, like he’d scratched individual claws against the counter, tracing something out, not indiscriminately scratching.
“You’re luckily Kurogiri likes it when she brings back cats best,” he murmured to the cat, covering over the marks with his hand for now. The cat yowled and he scowled at it. “I’m trying to defend you here!” The cat hissed, nudging at his hand with its head and he shoved it back, shaking his head. “Done eating? Fine.” He grabbed the bowls, throwing them into the sink and picking the cat back up.
It fought for a moment but settled into his arms, relaxing in his hold. He rolled his eyes.
“Drama queen,” he muttered, stroking its fur gently before looking out to the rest of them. “I’m keeping it here overnight so we don’t throw it into the fucking rain, but we are not keeping it permanently.”
He turned from them, stalking back into the back rooms, claiming his space for the night.
“Do whatever you want over the night,” he muttered, scratching at the cat’s ears. “Not keeping you here, but guess it’s out of the rain.” Dabi set the cat onto the floor, curling up against the wall. “Stay if you want, though. God knows I could use the company,” he spoke quietly, careful not to raise his voice high enough for anyone to even risk hearing it. Not like the cat could understand a word he was saying anyway.
He closed his eyes, blinking them open when he felt it climb over him. He watched silently as it curled up beside him, pressing into his stomach, licking at its paws. He snorted in laughter, reaching out to scratch at its ears. “Guess you need some company too, huh? Alright. I’m still against keeping a cat here, but maybe Shouta would take you in if you aren’t gone by morning.”
His hand paused in the cat’s fur, sighing softly. “If he answers my texts. Forgot his own fucking birthday today, so maybe we shouldn’t be trusting him with a second cat.”
The cat made a noise that Dabi had to be reading into to call sad. He closed his eyes again, gently stroking through its fur as he managed to drift to sleep, not as warm as he wanted, but not as cold as he could have been. The cat wasn’t Shouta, but it was better than nothing.
He should’ve known better than to think he’d sleep okay after the fucking day he’d had. He tossed and turned, waking up with wide eyes and shockingly not in flames. He looked at the cat, which stared back at him unblinkingly, pressing closer, curling into his lap when he sat up. It looked up at him, nuzzling against his hand, and he sighed, stroking its fur gently.
“Don’t you dare make me tempted to keep you or I’ll never live it down.” He laughed, his voice a little weak as he tried to push the memories down, as he tried to feel normal. “This is common, you wouldn’t want to be here for me every fucking night.” He snorted, scratching at its ears, rubbing a tired hand down his face, a staple tearing, pulling, bleeding. He tilted his head back against the wall, letting out a soft pained noise in frustration.
“Some people are just… shitty, y’know?” he muttered, looking down at the cat with a nearly empty expression. “Some people just don’t know… what’s worth it. Some people think their dreams of being better than everyone else, they’re worth losing everything. Or maybe we weren’t worth anything to begin with.”
He set the cat down, standing up and running a tired hand through his hair, cringing when a loose strand came out, falling to the ground with far more white showing than he dared care to reveal.
“I need to dye my hair again soon.”
No wonder his dreams were getting bad. He hesitated only long enough to check his phone before walking out to the main part of the bar, grabbing something to eat and laying some food out for the cat. He rolled his eyes as it wandered the building, walking over to one of the booths and sitting down, stretching out his legs to take up the full booth, picking at the food he’d chosen and watching the cat.
It wandered around, scratching at the walls and trying to climb up, trying to get out. After a while, it managed to find a pen, dragging it over to Dabi and laying on the table. It batted the pen around in its paws and he watched, tiredly letting it do whatever it wanted. He reached out to try to take the pen before it blew it up, but it hissed at him, picking the pen up in its mouth and pawing at the cap.
“Are you just aiming to make a mess?” he snorted, turning back to his food, one hand loosely reaching for the pen just to get swatted away again. He rolled his eyes, letting it do whatever it wanted. Wouldn’t make this place more of a mess than it already was.
The cat managed to get the lid off and climbed over to Dabi, dragging it against his hand. He swatted at it to try to keep it away from him, but it pinned his hand down, dragging the tip of the pen over his hand, seemingly trying to focus.
He laughed, shoving it at it and looking down at his hand. A few swirls and loops decorated his hand, no purposeful pattern, but plenty of ink rubbing off. He pried the pen out of its mouth, getting the lid back on and shoving it into the pocket of his coat.
“I’m going to have to get rid of you tonight. Maybe we’ll go over to Shouta’s to try to drop you off. Long as he’s home.” He sighed, scratching at its head.
He finished his breakfast, glad to see the cat actually eating its food. At least it seemed healthy enough, other than a few scars littering its fur. A particularly nasty one stretched across its face, reaching from one ear nearly to its nose, like its face had been nearly torn open. It walked with a slight limp on one of its front paws, too, a large patch of fur missing from its leg.
Compared to Shouta’s perfect little Toast (who was a rescue, but at a much younger age than this one), this cat looked like it had been through some shit. Long as it got along with Toast, he doubted Shouta would have any problem taking it in.
He always seemed to have a certain fondness for strays.
He abandoned his dishes, tugging his jacket back on and picking up the cat. He looked through the bar, making sure that no one else was awake before slipping out the door, hiding the cat under his coat. It squirmed and he rolled his eyes.
“I’m bringing you to my boyfriend. He’s better off taking care of you than I am. Not really the ‘caring for other people’ kind of person.” He walked quickly, ducking into alleys until he was on his normal path to Shouta’s apartment. He climbed up the fire escape, careful not to drop the cat. He cursed under his breath when the window was locked – Shouta only locked the window when he was out and not expecting Dabi to be around.
Which meant that he wasn’t fucking home!
He set the cat down, praying that it didn’t try to wander off now as he dug through his pocket for a pin, carefully picking the lock. He set the pin back into his pocket, pushing the window open and shoving Toast back into the apartment when she came to investigate why it had been opened. He snorted in laughter, reaching down to grab the cat sitting obediently by his feet.
Dabi set the cat into the apartment, hoping that they weren’t going to immediately fight before he got himself into the apartment. He climbed into the window, closing it behind him to keep both of the cats inside, then he sat down on the couch, watching the cats carefully.
Toast had come immediately to investigate the new cat, sniffing at it and rubbing against it. The cat seemed to get along with Toast well, so Dabi breathed out and stood back up, walking through the apartment.
Shouta was… nowhere to be found. His capture weapon and goggles were on his bed, which meant that he hadn’t been patrolling last night. His shoes were gone, as was his jacket and phone, and his casual scarf, but – he was nowhere to be found. Dabi walked into the kitchen, picking up the colorful paper from the counter. Cards, from his class, from Mic, from Midnight. From everyone he might have been with other than Dabi.
Fuck.
Where the hell was he?
It hadn’t even crossed his mind yesterday that he might have not shown up because he was in some kind of danger, but suddenly it was the only thing he could think. He tore through the apartment, hunting for any signs, but only finding his calendar, marked in his neatest handwriting that he had a date the night before. Well, it only was marked with a “D”, his indication of when he was going to see Dabi, so that no one else would pry into their lives and discover anything that they weren’t supposed to.
He hadn’t forgotten their plans, at least.
“Where the hell are you?” Dabi muttered, some of the tension and upset from the day before bleeding out of him and turning into a new concern – where the hell was he?
It wasn’t likely a petty villain could have gotten to him, it had to have been something big. Of course, he was involved in the largest organization of villains in Japan, the ones who would have the most grudge against Shouta, and he would know if they had managed to capture him yesterday.
It would have been a much different welcoming call when he returned to the bar.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
He spun around, looking to the cats. Toast was curled up on top of her cat tree, but the new cat was nowhere to be found. He glanced at the window, still shut, before going through the apartment to try to find it. He threw the door to Shouta’s room open again and stared at the bed, blinking multiple times. The cat was curled up in his capture weapon, trying to butt the goggles onto its head. He watched it, raising his eyebrows.
“Wishing you were a hero? That’s not a bad one to choose if you’ve gotta be. Better than some of our top,” he muttered, walking forward to pry the goggles away from the cat. “If I knew where the hell he was.” He sat down on the bed, turning the goggles over a few times and glancing back to the cat. It rested its paws on the goggles again and he snorted, putting them onto its face and taking a picture of it, if only to show Shouta later.
Proof, that this cat should absolutely stay with them.
With… him.
Dabi didn’t live here, though he really should at this point. He snuck through the window multiple times a week, staying there almost more often than he stayed at the bar with the League. It wasn’t his apartment, but if he got past himself to ask, he figured that Shouta would probably say yes.
He laid back on the bed, closing his eyes and groaning when the cat immediately climbed onto him. He pet its back, staring at the ceiling as he tried to figure out what to do.
No one knew he was associated with Shouta, for obvious reasons. If anyone were to find out that they were connected at all, they would risk Shouta’s career, and they would risk Dabi’s identity. He couldn’t call his friends, ask if they’d heard from him. He was on his own.
As per fucking usual.
“Might as well feed Toast while we’re here. Maybe Shouta will find his way back.” Dabi sat up, rubbing at his face. He walked out into the kitchen, grabbing Toast’s bowls and filling them up, setting them back onto the ground for the clearly hungry cat. He was almost impressed by how easily the other cat stayed away, though it was batting magnets around on the fridge.
They were stupid magnets that Present Mic had apparently given him at some point that spelled out messages when you arranged them in different orders. Right now, they were kept on some dumb messages Dabi had left last time he’d shown up when Shouta was on patrol, a few spelling out some less than appropriate messages (that had come very, very well to fruition) and a few dumb phrases he’d managed to arrange while he was waiting for him to show up.
The cat was batting certain magnets out of the way, like it was trying to make a phrase of its own. Dabi watched it, leaning up against the counter. After a moment, the cat walked away, staring at the magnets on the fridge, flickering its eyes to Dabi, and then back to the fridge.
“Write something good?” Dabi asked, leaning down and looking at the message. He paused, having expected total nonsense on the fridge, but –
It was a coincidence, he wanted to say.
But… well, it would be a little dumb to ignore that one.
“IT IS ME” the first sentence read.
“A CAT OOPS” the next, right underneath it.
“I AM” the third line read, but the cat had dragged something to the end of the sentence. A picture of Shouta from high school, their arms thrown over his shoulder. Another picture dragged beside it, a card from Mic. A copy of a bill.
All of them showing something about Shouta.
He looked down at the cat, back to the fridge, back down, and breathed out.
“I’m so lucky I’m alone right now because I’m either going fucking insane or you are my fucking boyfriend.” The cat jumped up immediately, throwing itself into his arms and brushing its face against his chest. Dabi breathed out. “Holy shit. Jesus christ. You’re Shouta?”
The cat nuzzled against his hand, and while it wasn’t an answer, it was answer enough for him. He breathed out, sinking to the ground and resting his hand against the cat – against Shouta’s back.
His hand which, if he looked at it now, did seem to have the very poorly drawn traces of Shouta’s name written on it from earlier.
No wonder the cat had decided he liked Dabi best.
“Guess you’re not getting another cat.” He snorted. “Happy birthday. Any idea when this quirk is going to end?”
But… wait. Shouta couldn’t talk back to him. Fuck.
“Right hand for yes, left for no.”
Shouta butted at his left hand.
“Any idea what happened?”
Shouta butted his right hand.
“Great. Well, can’t get much more information than that for this one, huh?” He stood up, leaving Shouta on the ground. “Come take a fucking nap with me. I’ll stay here ‘til you switch back, not like I’m doing anything better.”
He would just… not mention how poorly he slept the night before, and hope that Shouta didn’t bring it up either. He laid down in Shouta’s bed, shoving his hero supplies to the ground, rolling his eyes at the hiss from him.
“Deal with it later. We’re tired. Get your ass up here unless you’re not sleeping.” He closed his eyes, smirking when Shouta immediately curled up by his side again.
It didn’t take him long to fall asleep in Shouta’s bed, managing to sleep a little more soundly here than on the cold floor of the bar.
He woke up hours later to a falling feeling, and he covered his face as he hit the ground, groaning. He sat up, looking around the room in confusion for a moment before settling on Shouta, who was –
Very human on his bed. Very human and very much not wearing whatever clothes he may have been wearing when he became a cat.
Fuck he was hot.
“I’m going to need a new phone.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I was trying to drag it all to safety when Toga picked me up.”
“Convenient she managed to find you of everyone around.” Dabi climbed back onto the bed, stretching out and leaning against the headboard. Shouta shifted to sit up, pulling his messy hair from his face and looking Dabi over.
“She was following you around. I was hoping you’d hear me first.” He was quiet for a moment before glancing at him. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Bringing me here. If the cat wasn’t actually me, I would’ve taken it in for you. Could’ve been your cat; you’re here enough to take care of it. And I’d feel more comfortable with it here than with the rest of the League.”
“You’re just lucky I thought to and you’re not ass naked around a bunch of villains.”
“Only one, hmm?” Shouta smirked, leaning forward to meet their lips. “I suppose I wouldn’t want the majority of the League to see me like this.”
“Happy birthday,” Dabi murmured, leaning in to meet his lips. Shouta kissed him back. “Y’know, if you wanted to be a cat for a day, there’s better days for that. I had plans for you.”
“I’m sorry I missed them.” Shouta kissed him back, stretching out. Dabi let his eyes drift over his body, licking his lips with a smirk. “But – ” He laughed when Dabi kissed him again, shaking his head and pushing him aside for a moment. “I understood everything you were saying when I was a cat.”
Fuck.
His nightmare, what he’d said… while he hadn’t given any details, Shouta was too warm-hearted to let something like that go.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Dabi muttered, leaning in to meet their lips.
“Dabi.” Shouta eyed him, raising his eyebrows.
“I’m not saying never! I get it, I said some shit that you probably don’t know what to do with. But right now? This is as good as your birthday, and I don’t want to let it go to waste with my shit.”
“Fine. But – ”
“I know. Shut up and let me kiss you.”
They could talk later; he knew Shouta wouldn’t let it go.
For now?
He was going to make out with his boyfriend for a few hours and stay here, away from the League, for a few days. They were going to celebrate.
Dabi moved to climb on top of Shouta, meeting their lips hard.
“Dabi, wait,” Shouta murmured, though he didn’t stop him from pressing him back against the bed. He reached up to cup his face, staying silent for a moment. Finally, he opened his eyes again. “I love you.”
They could also talk about that later, too.
First, he had to wish his boyfriend a happy birthday.