Chapter Text
Dabi lounged on the couch, comfortably taking up the whole surface as Twice sat down on the floor next to him, prattling on about everything and anything. Joining Redestro’s group was shady as fuck, but with perks like this, Dabi could definitely live with it. At least the League had access to clean places to sleep and decent food, which was more than they had a few weeks ago. Even lost in his thoughts, Dabi nodded occasionally and hummed at the appropriate places, keeping only a loose focus on Twice’s rambling.
“And that’s why you and Shigaraki are the closest.” Twice finished his stream of thoughts, proudly patting Dabi’s knee. “Guy fucking hates you.”
Dabi blinked to attention. “What?”
Toga giggled from her spot on the bean bag, pointing one of her new knives in his direction. “Come on, Dabi, it’s so obvious.”
“Ya dude, it’s painful,” Spinner chirped in and laughed at the middle finger Dabi sent his way.
“You’re all nuts.” Dabi waved off their comments. “We tolerate each other at best.”
Twice poked him again. “Bet you a pack of smokes. He knows it’s you before you enter the room.”
“Don’t smoke. Lungs are filled with enough ash already. Try again.” Dabi swatted Twice’s hand away, ignoring the pouting behind his mask.
Dabi had no intention of getting more attached than necessary to the League, keeping his distance from them whenever possible. Groups like the League were doomed to either fallout or be crushed down. No way it would last, and Dabi would be the first to vanish with the wind when things started going south. Not to mention going after Endeavour wasn’t exactly the safest pastime. Chances were that Dabi wouldn’t walk out from his plan to bring down his father. And he didn’t doubt that when forced to drag his useless ass or save the League, Shigaraki wouldn’t take long to decide.
“Speaking of our esteemed leader,” Compress twirled a marble between the fingers of his new prosthetic. “Someone should go check up on him. Shigaraki has been under a lot of stress as of late.”
Dabi hummed, opening an eye to see which of the four were going, only to be met with expectant stares. “Hell no, pick someone else.”
“Aw, but Dabi, we’re eating,” Toga stuck out her lip in a gross imitation of puppy-dog eyes. It would have worked a lot better if half her face wasn’t covered in bandages from her fight with Curious. “And you don’t even want any sushi.”
“This is the third time this week you guys ordered it,” Dabi pointed out. Skeptic’s complaints were becoming louder about the frivolous waste of resources the League spent ordering top-grade Sushi every other day this week.
“Fuck you.” Spinner picked up another piece. “It’s still special.”
Having had enough of the petty bickering, Compress joined in on the conversation. “Go find the boss, Dabi.”
“No.” Dabi wasn’t going to get off this couch for anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary.
“Go find the boss, Dabi, please.”
“Still no.”
“Go find the boss, or I’ll let slip about—”
“You make a valid argument,” Dabi cut Compress off. Yeah, no one needed to know about that .
Carefully, he pulled himself off his comfy place on the couch and looked pitifully down at the light indent, already missing it as Twice claimed the spot before Spinner could make the same attempt. Screw all of them. Dabi slammed the door with more force than needed, placing his hands in his pockets and ignoring the burst of laughter behind him.
Striding down the winding hallways with a wide grin made the staples that lined his cheeks itch as they tugged against his dying nerves. Totally worth the ample space as the members of the liberation front moved out of his way with hushed greetings and hand rubbing coupled with glares of disgust. But most of them kept their thoughts silent, too afraid to openly challenge the League and getting reprimanded by Redestro.
Only the snobbier members made no attempts to hide their feelings about the League joining their ranks. Comments unhidden by flowery lies. Some of the harsher ones dulled Toga’s wild cheer and drove Twice to his room. It made Dabi’s smile turn nasty, scaring away the less determined. However, to higher members like Geten, who had seen Cremation at its fullest had it still not been enough, Dabi was yet another false illusion to be brought down.
If it had just been him, they would not spare so much of a glance in his direction. Another defective quirk that, to them, was the root of society’s weakness —just like Endeavour. Yet the threat of Shigaraki’s quirk and newfound blessing from Ujiko was enough to keep any one of them from starting things with the League. Because if Dabi was valuable to Shigaraki, then no matter what Geten and the others thought, he was worth more than their broken ideology.
Yup, surrounded by Redestro’s loyal followers, the League would be royally fucked without the boss.
Dabi ventured further and further down the tunnels Redestro constructed for the higher-ups to retreat if their hidey-hole ever came under attack. Cowards that they were, Redestro hadn’t deemed it necessary for the League to know about this particular area. Only Compress had the forethought to steal a copy of blueprints when he snuck into Redestro’s office right after the two groups merged; quick thinking and being the only member besides Spinner to stay conscious after the fight gave compress the advantage to snatch some of the documents that Resdestro would have kept hidden otherwise. The old man might not be good in a fight, but Compress was probably the only rational person in a group made from high school dropouts and weirdos.
And low and behold, on said blueprints, a small note of a bar in the side margins. Likely meant to house secret meetings, it was where Dabi knew he would find his wayward boss. Shigaraki never tried to hide his affinity for joints that reminded him of childhood under Kurogiri’s careful watch. Sad thing when being raised by a nomu-prototype was the best thing from your childhood, but if that was Shigaraki’s idea of reminiscing on happier times, who was Dabi to judge?
And who was he kidding? He missed the Shadow man too. Kurogiri might have thought that the sun rose and set according to Shigaraki’s whims, but he was probably the best father figure the younger members of the League ever had.
Reaching the door and pushing it aside, the dim light hugging Shigaraki perched on one of the high chairs that lined the bar top.
“What do you want, Dabi?” The boss didn’t even bother to turn to see who had entered. Fuck him. If Toga or Twice were here, he would owe them both. Too bad neither of them had seen it.
Dabi shrugged and gestured vaguely at the open bar. “I hear this is Redestro’s private stock.”
Shigaraki waved at the empty seat next to him like it mattered when it was just the two of them. Still, Dabi pulled the chair on the opposite side he signalled to, ignoring the glare Shigaraki sent his way. Before passing it over, the boss held up a bottle he had been examining, the motion unusually clumsy as he tried to make up for his newly missing fingers. “Way fancier shit that we ever kept.”
“Damn, that’s Pappy Van Winkle.” Dabi poured a generous amount in a glass he knew for a fact cost more than anything they had back in the bar of their first hideout. Gently swirling the drink before taking a sip, “bet Redestro is going to love us after this. That’s a two thousand dollar bottle.”
“Oh, I only opened it because of the name.” Shigaraki’s face contorted into a grimace as he placed the glass to the side. “Tastes awful.”
Tipping the glass back with even less class, he down the drink, revelling in a different kind of burning as the harsh alcohol strung the permanently exposed areas of his cheeks and throat. “You just don’t know the finer things in life.”
“Says the guy with cheap ass hair dye.” Shigaraki nudged the nearly full glass towards him. “Just wait till Redestro starts bitching about that too. That stuff gets everywhere.”
Dabi waved a hand airily, this time sipping his drink. It would be a waste not to enjoy it. He highly doubted that Redestro would make the same mistake of leaving such fine things out in the open again. “All part of my plan.”
“Can’t forget about your mysterious plan. It’s your defining character trait.”
Dabi grinned at the dry sarcasm, shrugging innocently as Shigaraki leaned forward, trying to catch any clues if today would be the day he finally got Dabi to crack and reveal his secrets. But as his lips curled around the rim of the cup, Shigaraki’s glare narrowed before shrugging it off when it became clear that Dabi wasn’t giving anything away.
Dabi had signed away his service to the League, and by extension Shigaraki, on the one condition that he could continue to orchestrate his own plan, and Shigaraki wouldn’t use All for One’s resources to find out more about his past. True to his word, outside of the day they met, Shigaraki never pushed the issue. Even as the League raced towards their goals and every piece on the board became more crucial, Shigaraki didn’t break their agreement from day one.
That unspoken respect and quiet trust, more than the scary as fuck quirk or the army of nomu, had sealed Dabi’s fate with the League and its leader.
Even if good things weren’t meant to last for people like them, Dabi wanted to stay by his side.
At least until he did what he had always done best and created a storm of hellfire that burnt down bridges to all the good things he ever had. Dabi joined the League, knowing that it would end with him leaving them or them leaving him eventually. But now, he found himself wishing that the outcome could be different.
He could ask now with the boss sitting quietly next to him. But memories of Endeavour shutting down pleas kept the question locked behind scarred lips. No, Touya had been refused too many times to risk Shigaraki’s answer.
Instead, Dabi reached around and poured another glass. Some answers were better left unknown.
Red eyes traced his movements, scarred lips with their own question. “I’m getting levelled up.”
“The fuck does that mean?”
Shigaraki refused to meet his eyes as he leaned forward to rest his chin on his uninjured hand. The tiny shift drowned his presence, making Shigaraki seem smaller and younger all at once. Dabi trained his attention on the glass in front of him, giving the boss some privacy as Shigaraki sighed heavily, composing himself before explaining.
“Ujiko thinks he’s found a way for me to come stronger than All Might, and I’m gonna take it.”
A spike of heat rushed through his fingers, blue flames nearly lashing out in response to the flash of anger. Leave it to Ujiko to try to destroy something perfect for their idea of broken progress. “A quirk that disintegrates people isn’t enough?”
“You know it isn’t.”
Dabi shut his mouth, did he ever. If that were the case, then Cremation would have gotten him further. Quirk ability could only get you so far. It was why Dabi needed the League in the first place.
But he also knew that as promising as Ujiko’s sweet whispers of power were, and well, the nomu spoke louder to the horrible success of the Doctor’s experiments. Shigaraki sighed, and Dabi knew he was just as equally aware. As much as Shigaraki served as a force of nature, a terrible hungry god of destruction, Decay wouldn’t be enough to crumble away from the towering structures of corruption and hero-worship their society was built upon.
Shigaraki continued trudging forward. “Four months.” Red eyes locked on his with uncanny focus. “The League needs a leader.”
Will you do it?
Even after all this time, he knew Shigaraki would never ask. They were villains – in it for themselves. It was why the creation of something like the League didn’t happen before. Yet here, Shigaraki asked to pass over the responsibility that hadn’t existed until he created by giving a band of outcasts a goal.
Fuck.
“Four months is a long time. How do you know I won’t just leave?” Dabi rested his head on his hands, giving Shigaraki a sidelong look. With his hand still bandaged and leg cast and propped to the side, Shigaraki didn’t radiate the awe-inspiring and fearsome leader he had when playing the role on stage. But in the setting shadows of the bar, away from the prying eyes of outsiders, the person buried by the expectations of spearheading the collapse of this corrupted hero-society finally began to emerge.
“Because you need the league to win your boss battle.” Shigaraki paused for a moment, red eyes staring at the drink in his hand. “And I would like it if you stayed.”
Dabi snorted. “Getting soft now?”
Shigaraki wrapped his fingers around the glass, letting the dust fall to the table and matching Dabi’s grin. “Just make sure everyone is still alive when I get back.”
“Setting the bar a little low there, boss.” Dabi rolled his eyes and gave a lazily wave of dismissal before jokingly sticking out a pinky. “But it’s a promise.”