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Izuku checked his watch for the fourth time since sending his last text to Kacchan. A simple Where are you? was left delivered yet unread underneath several other texts in the same state.
I’m here.
Are you running late?
You remembered the date and time, right?
Kacchan?
I ordered an appetizer. I hope you don’t mind.
It’s been an hour, are you hurt? Was there an emergency?
All his texts were left unanswered as he sat in the restaurant his childhood friend had chosen. He’d been waiting an hour and a half at this point and the staff and other customers were giving him pitying looks. The waitress kept looking sadder and sadder every time she stopped by his table until he finally caved and ordered something.
Kacchan was just late, that’s all. He was the one who picked the restaurant, chose the date and time, and even the one who asked him out. Why would he go through all that trouble just to not show up? Unless. . . Memories of middle school hit him, reminding him of all the love notes that led to humiliation and all the times he’d been asked out as a joke. No! He shook his head to clear the thoughts away. They were in their twenties now, Kacchan had apologized, they were past all of that. He’s just late.
Izuku pulled out his phone again, this time to call his date. He usually hated making phone calls in public, especially in restaurants, but he felt like this was an exception. He thumbed over the call button above their text conversation when he noticed the little read receipt next to his texts. Kacchan had not only gotten them, but he saw them and didn’t respond. His heart fell and tears threatened to do the same. Just when he was about to flag down the waitress, someone slid into the seat across from him.
“Sorry babe! Traffic was a nightmare and my phone died.” Izuku didn’t recognize the voice, nor the person who now sat across from him.
They had pitch-black hair, obviously dyed since his own hair was naturally black. Tattoos crawled up their neck and down their wrists, probably more he couldn’t see. They had three piercings on their nose, three! And so many more on both ears. Bright blue eyes stared into his own green and he felt a shiver go up his spine. Everything about the stranger in front of him was intimidating yet oh so inviting. Hit with a wave of curiosity, Izuku decided to play along.
“It’s about time you showed up. I was beginning to think I was getting stood up!” He flashed a smile that was always compared to the sun. He pushed down the hurt of actually being stood up by his real date. He earned a toothy smirk from the stranger.
“My bad, Sunshine. Why don’t we order? You must be starving. I’ll pay since I made you wait so long.” They played back easily as if they had actually been late in meeting with him.
The waitress showed up with a relieved look on her pretty features, clearly having overheard their conversation. She placed the appetizer he had ordered earlier down on the table and eagerly took their orders. A quick glance around showed the other staff and customers that had been keeping an eye on him also looked happy at the development. He must have looked really pathetic to garner that much attention.
After giving their orders to the waitress, she left. Izuku picked up the cheese stick from the plate in front of him and took a bite of the cheesy goodness. The stranger followed, grabbing their own. They took a small bite, wincing from the heat that poured into their mouth. They placed the stick back onto the plate with a pout. Clearly, they don’t like their food fresh out of the oven hot.
“I go by Dabi.” The stranger - Dabi - introduced. “Pronouns he/him. Sorry for just butting in like that but you looked really upset and you are far to cute to be stood up.”
“Izuku, also he/him. Thank you for stepping in. You really saved me there.” A red flush covered freckles at being called cute. It was one thing when his friends joked about it, but this was different.
“Well, what kind of hero doesn’t save the damsel?” Dabi joked, chomping down on the now cooled mozzarella stick.
“A pretty bad hero.”
Their conversation was easy after introducing themselves. They talked through their meals, laughing and smiling like they’d known each other far longer than just one night. They went from topic to topic, discussing everything and anything. Dabi was a twenty-five-year-old budding musician who worked in a photography studio on the side. He lived with his friends and bandmates. He loved plants and used to work in a flower shop before he found his current job. He wanted to own a cat but couldn’t because two of his roommates were allergic. His natural hair was white, a strange genetic condition that cause him and his siblings to lose all colouring from their hair. He was a vegetarian because as long as he could remember the smell of cooked meat made him nauseous. He hated car rides and fish. He thinks Izuku is incredibly cute and anyone who stands him up is an idiot.
In return, Dabi learned that Izuku had just turned twenty-one but already graduated college. He was incredibly intelligent and completed high school and college together. He planned to get a foster license as soon as he settled into his new place. He had originally wanted to be a detective but changed to a teacher because while he loved helping people, his passion was helping kids and he wanted to provide a safe adult they could turn to since that’s what he lacked growing up. Izuku did have a cat whose name was Bird because he thought it was funny and he loved birds but couldn’t have one. He had a teaching position lined up for him once he completed the necessary hours as a teaching assistant which he was working on with his old high school English teacher. He loved katsudon, especially chicken katsudon. He wasn’t a fan of car rides or fish either. He always wanted a tattoo but was too indecisive to pick one.
They found out that despite appearing so wildly different, they had a lot in common. Both estranged themselves from their family as early as they could. Both hated thinking about their childhood, yet recognized that it inspired their current path in life. They had a similar taste in music and even liked the same movies and shows. It was almost as if they were meant to meet.
They talked for hours, forgetting they were in public and were taking up a table. Dabi ordered a dessert that they split and stuck to his word in paying for everything. When Izuku tried to argue with him, he was stopped with;
“You can pay next time, Freckles.”
Even though they left the restaurant, they still lingered in each other’s presence. Eventually, evening turned to night and night to morning. Daybreak found Izuku and Dabi on a park bench with coffees in their hands and tired smiles on their faces. Eventually, they managed to say goodbye but not before exchanging numbers.
Years later, Dabi, becoming Midoriya Touya, would thank Katsuki for making the dumbest mistake in his life. The blonde had regretted his decision after his ex who had started the whole mess dumped him again but he couldn’t get Deku back. In standing up his childhood friend, he allowed Izuku to meet the man who would become his husband and all Bakugou could do was show up to the ceremony as their mutual friend’s plus one and watched the happily in love couple start their life together.
“And the biggest thank you to Bakugou Katsuki who decided to not show up to his date. If it weren’t for him, I would’ve never met Izuku, the love of my life!”