The door of my mother's 24-hour cafe opens and my eyes rake over the figure walking in. The hair on the back of my neck prickles at his appearance. His skin is burned red, pierce at the seams as if to hold himself together. Oddly enough, it suits him.
He strides to the counter and I brace myself the same way I always do when men come into the cafe in the middle of the night. I've encountered far too many creeps to let my guard down.
"Hi, what can I get for you?" You ask while subtly trying to study him a bit more. The corners of his mouth raised in amusement. "I can tell you want to ask." You shake your head no not wanting him to give the place a bad rating because you were rude. Your mom would be furious.
"I do want to ask-- for your drink order and a name to write down." You answer and a smile finally overtakes his face. You'd call it cute if it didn't have that twinge of malice you can't quite understand.
His fingers tap the counter as his eyes sweep over the menu and he finds something with enough caffeine. "Dabi. And I'll get an iced Americano and a strawberry milkshake with extra syrup and extra whipped cream." You find the combination odd and allow yourself to overstep your boundaries a bit.
"I feel like you just ordered heaven and hell." You comment on the irony with a slight smile. Dabi has little time to humor people with the conversation but decides to indulge in this one.
"And which am I?" He asks while the cash register makes a sound prompting him to pay.
He hands you exact change while you look him up and down in a more obvious way than before while trying to determine where he would probably go.
"Heaven. No doubt." you answer and there's surprise evident in his eyes.
"Are you saying that to be funny?" He asks with a slight edge in his voice. You worry you've indulged in this conversation for too long. You know better than to do that when that cafe is this empty at night, yet you can't stop.
You move to make the coffee but keep talking regardless. "I'm notorious for being unfunny and lacking social cues so sorry if I offended you. But I do mean that. You have really blue eyes and blue reminds me of the generic heaven idea."
"You talking about Heaven it as if it's a faraway idea. Is it even something you believe in?" He asks, sitting at a stool near where you're putting the drinks together.
You frown. "I don't think I do anymore. I used to believe all good people would end up somewhere nice-- but I don't know what makes people nice anymore. Like heroes. I don't think all of them could get into heaven."
Suddenly Dabi is invested in the conversation rather than humoring himself. Two perfect drinks are presented in front of him and a regretful smile comes into view. "I'm sorry I shouldn't talk about heroes like that in front of people." He rolls his eyes. "No, I understand. I met a hero who was the worst human being but it's okay because he has a damn suit and ranking on the hero billboards."
Your nerves increase with wonder. Who could he have a vendetta against? Could it be the same man you do?
"Hey, if I were to tell you something would you take it to the grave?" You ask hesitantly and he shrugs. "Does it matter? If I told someone they probably wouldn't believe me would they?" You let out a sad breath as he reminds you of reality and you begin to tell your story unprompted because it's true, no one would believe him if he had a statement against a hero.
"My mom owns this place and I helped around here since I started high school. My mom told us to board the windows because villains were rumored to target the cafe." Dabi is slowly slipping his drink and getting sucked into the story.
"That night they did strike and we were prepared somewhat but stayed there because we didn't have money for a hotel and couldn't leave for safety. We called a hero agency just in case and they sent Endeavor to protect us." You say the word 'protected' with a twinge of spite and the guy with stapled skin stops sipping his drink.
"They sent the most powerful hero to deal with a D-class robbery and he used so much force that he blew a portion of the ceiling out. That ceiling was the floor of our apartment and the part he blew out was my brother's bed where he was sleeping."
"Shit." Dabi says with contempt. That damn bastard just screws up everyone's life, doesn't he?
"Yeah. He died instantly. And when I marched to the agency to confront him because my mom was too scared, he told me the death couldn't be helped and paid for our renovations and made us sign a nondisclosure contract. That was it." You finish explaining and apologize for the tears you just realized were falling down your face.
"I just, I guess he's saved a lot of people. Hell, maybe even the world. But I think it's possible to do all that and still go to hell. Endeavor is a prime example." You answer with finality in your eyes. Dabi feels anger course through his veins. He hates his father for many reasons but they all pertain to him and his immediate family. Suddenly he curious, how many lives has the oh-so-great Endeavor fucked over?
Finally, as Dabi stands he gives you a smirk so wicked you feel chills, but his next words catch you off guard.
"Wanna send him to hell with me?" Your lips part and you realize maybe you should have picked hell for him. "What, you don't think I belong to heaven anymore?" He chuckled with slight spite. You almost agree but neither devil nor angel can be used to describe him. He's both and none at the same time. "I think you're both. A fallen angel maybe." You answer and Dabi wonders how the hell you can say everything you're thinking with a straight face.
He almost laughs at the irony of his thoughts, doesn't he do the same thing?
"You have a plan?" You ask with interest redirecting the conversation to his proposal. Dabi almost can't believe you're considering this. "Me and a few others. We have bigger plans but I can't tell you anything about them just yet. But if you wanna join just to see Endeavor burn then you can join as my assistant of sorts." Your eyes widen.
This is insane. You shouldn't be considering this right? Doesn't this go against your morals? Then your heart clenches remembering your sweet brother burning to death a few feet from you because a hero decided to blow up your house in retaliation to a near quirkless villain. Where were Endeavor's morals? He never so much as apologized. Your internal turmoil is resolved. Maybe you can show the world his injustice through this, maybe you can get them to listen and realize how corrupt the hero system is.
Your fist tightens.
"I- I want to help." You answer with finality. "Just to seem him burn." You clarify and Dabi laughs. "You're a lot crazier than you look." You make yourself a cherry cola and take a sip of the sweet carbonation to mask your heart racing for the bubbly feeling in your throat.
"You're the one who happens to already have plans to take down the biggest hero."
"I have my reasons." Realizing he's not going to share his reasons you give him his money back. He carries the conversation.
"What's your quirk anyway?" You sigh. "Water manipulation but I accidentally controlled a person before and my city put me on a list of people not allowed to use their quirks, so I'm not the best at controlling it." Dabi feels so giddy his nearly sees stars. He ran into a girl around his age wanting to help him take out his father with a quirk like that? He's never been luckier.
"If I told you to meet me a the park across from here with a bag of your things in two hours, would you come?" He asks. Your throat runs dry. You can't say bye to your mom who's currently visiting family, but should you? She'd try to stop you and you're closer than you've ever been to getting revenge for your brother and bringing that situation to light. She's never even tried.
"I-I'll be there. Make it one hour." He nods and exits the cafe.
