Featuring: A Really Bad Misunderstanding
When Katsuki comes to, it's to the sight of Dabi reclining in an old office chair, sitting by his bedside with his bare feet kicked up by Katsuki's pillow.
Gross.
He pulls a face. He hates it when people put their nasty feet near the pillow he freaking sleeps on. Grind his face all night in whatever you stepped in last? No fucking thank you.
It takes a full minute for it to register that his face doesn't hurt, despite the scowl.
Huh, the old lady is no joke, he thinks, trying to work up the willpower to test out his back. Given the extra damage it'd taken on the trip over, he's in no particular rush.
A sound near his temple draws his attention. Dabi is licking a finger and turning the page of his mangled sci-fi book. Katsuki is halfway tempted to ask what chapter he's on. If only to distract himself from the colossal task of moving.
It's weird, he thinks idly, mind slowly coming back online. Why is he still here? Thought he was going back to his League buddies. Getting back to being an actual fucking villain.
And there's a thought he didn't really want. Some part of his mildly drugged mind wonders if he could fight Dabi again after the insanity of the past 24 hours.
If he attacks the school again, Katsuki thinks vaguely. Or All Might. Or Aizawa-sensei. Shit, what if the League goes after our parents at some point? It's not like Shigaraki's going to leave us alone.
He closes his eyes and acknowledges that, yes, he could fight Dabi again. But he wouldn't really want to.
Really need to figure out what the fuck Dabi wants from the League, he muses. Can't be their med facility. A faint snort escapes him and the rustling of pages stops.
"Looks like sleeping beauty finally hit his quota," Dabi says over his head, interrupting Katsuki's musings. The teen drags his eyes up to meet the villain's.
He tries to say something witty back, but is beaten to the punch by his stomach's obnoxious growling.
Dabi smirks, "You hungry?"
"Could eat my mom's cooking without compl'ning," Katsuki grumbles, unusually candid. Dabi's eyebrows quirk at that.
"Not much of a cook?" He surmises. Katsuki groans again, closing his eyes.
"She either gets too impatient an' burns it, or gets too impatient an' serves it raw. No fucking in between," he admits, a shudder rolling down his back. A shudder that doesn't hurt.
Huh.
He flexes his hand next, and even the shifting of tendons up to his shoulder doesn't cause any pain. Dabi must see the surprise on his face, because he sets his book down and drops his feet to the floor.
"Yeah, morphine's a hell of a drug," he remarks, poking Katsuki in the shoulder. "Probably not going to feel much for another half hour or so. You up to standing?"
Sleepiness fading, Katsuki grins, "Hell yeah."
Dabi smirks back and helps get him to his feet. That part is still… a struggle, and Katsuki is panting by the time he's upright. Dabi nods to a nearby wheelchair and cocks an eyebrow at Katsuki.
"Hah? Go die," the teen scoffs, giving the wheelchair a sour look. "I've been dragged around enough."
"That's what I thought," Dabi says simply. He prods Katsuki out of the room, guiding him down the hall to the kitchen at the pace of an asthmatic turtle.
The teen lets himself be ushered into a seat at the table while Dabi moves around the kitchen with confidence, pulling miso out of the fridge, grabbing bowls, spoons and cups out of the appropriate cabinets without paying attention. He's even yawning throughout the process, lending even more evidence to Katsuki's ever growing hypothesis.
"You used to live here, didn't you?"
Katsuki blinks at himself, not exactly having meant to ask. Not yet, anyway.
Fucking morphine is a hell of a drug, what the fuck.
In the kitchen, Dabi pauses in his puttering, arm halfway raised to pull down a pan.
"Yeah, I did," he says eventually. He doesn't add anything and continues with re-heating the soup.
The silence that follows is… kind of awkward. But Katsuki doesn't pay it much mind because he's busy thinking.
Generally speaking, villains and moms of Pro Heroes didn't run in the same circle. As a matter of fact, hadn't he read something at some point about Recovery Girl coming from a whole family of Pro Heroes? If Yuko was retired, maybe it didn't matter as much who she treated. But still - hero and villain? Not usually the types who would call each other "friend".
And he did think that Yuko considered Dabi, or "Kasai", as much a friend as Dabi did her. She'd been ridiculously fucking sweet with the villain earlier. Even relying on him during the assessment of Katsuki's injuries. Like this was habit for them.
If Dabi had lived here with Yuko - maybe as a patient? - he'd probably helped her in the clinic. It'd explain the villain's ability to take care of Katsuki's injury, if nothing else.
Also, she knew Dabi's real name. Possibly? Dabi hadn't seemed too irritated to have it revealed and… fucking naming your kid "fire"? It took balls to name a kid for a quirk before it even manifested.
And hadn't Yuko mentioned something else about "Kasai"? Something about people confusing it for the area? Katsuki had noted they were entering the Kasai district of East Tokyo… but people wouldn't confuse Dabi's name unless he was well known in the area, right?
Why would people think Dabi, or "Kasai", was named for the location? Unless it was his code name at the time? Maybe his villain name? Like that guy who'd gone by "Kyoto-Man" a few years ago.
Or… Katsuki thinks, brow furrowing deeply, it wasn't a villain name at all.
"You're thinking about something really damn hard," Dabi says out of nowhere, setting a bowl of steaming miso in front of him. Katsuki blinks at the soup and back over at the villain, who is settling into the seat across from him.
It's on the tip of Katsuki's tongue to ask, but he catches himself in time because surely not. No fucking way the asshole across from him was a hero.
"I didn't poison it," Dabi drawls, looking amused. He digs into his own soup, as if to prove it. Katsuki is about to point out that he can't fucking lift a spoon to his face when he glances back at his bowl. There's a wide straw fitted to a little medical grade support sticking up.
"Huh," he says, taking a sip. Then he groans.
"Better than your mom's stuff?" Dabi asks smugly.
"This is fucking amazing," Katsuki says, again more candid than he'd like. But he can't fucking help it - he's subsisted off of two onigiri and a power bar for the past day. He's starving.
Katsuki barely catches the satisfied expression that flickers over the villain's face. It makes him wonder if Dabi was the one who made the food. Again, he doesn't ask.
He's got more important questions anyway.
"I thought you were going back to the League?" he watches Dabi carefully for his reaction. Dabi just takes another bite, unbothered.
"Not until tomorrow."
"Why the delay?" Katsuki pries.
"… let's just say there was a minor detail that needed to be taken care of first," Dabi says, and Katsuki doesn't understand the sudden chill in the air or Dabi's dark smile.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Only that you should be grateful I'm not a hero," the villain says with amusement, like he's laughing at a private joke.
"Aren't you?" the teen shoots back. "I mean fuck, rescuing a student from your own gang and consorting with grannies?" Katsuki scoffs to hide his unease. "Not really intimidating, even for a regular asshole."
Dabi's expression goes carefully neutral. But his blue eyes are burning.
"Don't call me a hero, kid," Dabi warns. Katsuki raises both eyebrows.
That's a pretty fucking strong reaction, the teen muses. The guy doesn't care that I nearly throw us into the laps of the police but gives a damn that I call him a hero? Knew he didn't like them… but this is different. He hates them.
"Alright, whatever," Katsuki says dismissively, going back to his soup. He watches from under his lashes until Dabi resumes his meal.
The silence that follows this exchange is… even more awkward. Katsuki isn't sure how to break it.
Isn't sure if he should, frankly. It's bad enough that Dabi's helped him this much. Not enough to make up for the initial kidnapping, of course, but still - in any other situation, Katsuki would start to feel like he owed the guy or something. He hates owing extras.
Getting to know the villain, though. That would probably be a mistake.
Unless he's willing to yak about the League's next move, Katsuki thinks, sipping his cooling soup. All this pussyfooting around was fucking annoying. Katsuki preferred it when people were just, fucking straightforward and easy to work with, if he had to work with them at all.
Dabi is the antithesis of easy to work with, at least on an informational level.
Which, in hindsight, isn't particularly surprising, given the fact that he's a villain going under one, possibly two, pseudonyms.
With effort, he lets it go for now, refocusing on the more imminent issues of getting home, getting healed, and getting back to goddamn work. Wondering about the villain's history isn't going to be much help, now that he's pretty sure Dabi won't harm and/or kill him.
Five to eight weeks. Fucking Deku is going to have such a head start now, he thinks in irritation, allowing himself to think about his return to normal life for the first time in twenty-four hours. Following that is thoughts of how his parents are going to react to all of this and burying a groan at how much his dad is probably going to cry.
"Freaking crybaby," he mutters quietly, wishing he could pinch the bridge of his nose. Across the table, Dabi looks up from his phone.
"What's that?"
"None of your business," Katsuki growls, taking another sip of soup. Fuck, it even had the right level of spice, and nobody ever thinks to add spice to miso. It makes Katsuki wonder if the upper cabinets in Dabi's old apartment had held the same kinds of chili peppers and powdered peppercorn as the Bakugou household.
Again, images of his parent's worried faces cross his mind and Katsuki pushes down the guilt and shame that accompanies them.
It's my fucking fault for getting caught, he thinks. Riding on that self recrimination is the hotly logical side of him, but they knew what they were getting into when I signed up to be a goddamn hero.
Still, there's a deep sense of discomfort in playing house with a healer while his parents lose sleep and possibly cause a bunch of property damage.
"Hey," he says, before his brain catches up with his mouth. The villain gives him an exasperated look. Katsuki glares. Fuck it.
"I need to use your phone."
Dabi's eyebrows rise slowly and disbelievingly.
"No."
Katsuki grimaces. "The old lady's phone, then? I don't fucking care."
Dabi huffs, "Again, no. We've gotten cozy enough with the police today, don't you think?"
At that, Katsuki feels his face go warm. He'd rather not be reminded of that disaster, thanks.
"Not calling the police," he grumbles. "Or the heroes."
Dabi studies him for a full minute before saying slowly, "Okay, I'll bite. Who would you waste a phone call on if not the authorities." He says the word like it's disgusting.
Katsuki hesitates. But it's not like the villain doesn't already know it's a weakness of his. And… shit. Maybe he's starting to trust the fucker a little bit. At least not to be a totally evil son of a bitch.
"My parents," he says flatly. "They're probably flipping their shit right now."
That catches Dabi off guard, and Katsuki gets the odd honor of watching the villain flounder in total surprise.
"Uh…" the villain hesitates, spoon halfway to his face.
Katsuki's eyes narrow. "Did you forget I have parents?"
"No, I just assumed you sprang from the earth, fully formed of rage and idiocy," the villain snarks back. "You still can't use a phone. Not even if they promised not to inform the authorities. If they're anything like you, they're probably too fucking heroic not to give it a shot."
Lips thin, Katsuki snorts and jerks his eyes away from Dabi. It'd been a long shot anyway. One that he might ought not have mentioned, since Dabi would likely give Yuko a heads up about his goals.
Fucking. Morphine.
Still, Dabi's not all wrong. Even if his parents swore not to say anything, his mom would either get too frustrated waiting or his dad would get too amped up on dumb courage. They'd definitely take Katsuki's call to the police. Who would then track it and ruin whatever Dabi's plans were and yada yada yada.
The villain had inadvertently reminded Katsuki of something, though. His parents are a lot like him. If he can tough it out through this shit show, so can they.
Stewing over his slightly-less-shitty future, he barely notices when Dabi gets up to take their empty dishes to the kitchen.
But a light flashing across the table pulls him out of his musings. It's Dabi's phone screen, showing an incoming text.
Fucking cocky of him though - leaving it here when he knows I want it.
Katsuki leans forward as best he can, again noting how little it hurts, and reads the text upside down.
[Text from: The Nerd]
So, if Shigaraki doesn't come outside for Bakugou, what're you going to do? Roast the kid on camera?
Shock hits first. A sickening feeling of… almost betrayal. Terror, that he'd almost fallen for the villain's act. And on the heels of that comes rage.
That lying fucking bastard.
Then everything in Katsuki's body goes blazing hot, and he sees red.
—
The sound of a chair scraping against wood causes Dabi to pull his head out of the cabinet where he'd been hunting for a chocolate bar. Mildly alarmed, wondering if the kid had fallen, he looks over at the kitchen table.
Only to see a face he hadn't witnessed since the sports festival. Bakugou is snarling at him, likely yanking his stitches and -
A muffled boom registers before the pain does.
"AP Shot," Bakugou hisses out, fury radiating even as his arms shake, right palm smoking and braced against his thigh.
Dabi barely hears it, kneeling as he is in the middle of the kitchen trying very hard to stay conscious.
Fucking shit, his brain screams, left hand clutching at the burning hole in his thigh even as instinct takes over and he rolls to avoid any further shots. Hearing the cabinet door explode behind him lets him know this was a good idea. And then he's staggering upright, relying on his speed and Bakugou's injury to give him the advantage.
It does, to an extent. He gets a scorching hand in Bakugou's face, but not before another fucking explosive beam tears into his collarbone.
Bakugou shouts as Dabi slams him backward onto the table, the edge knifing into the kid's still healing back. Dabi would feel bad about it if he weren't so goddamn livid.
Hand gripped across the brat's face, Dabi keeps the heat just this side of scalding and snarls, "What the fuck are you doing."
Bakugou is bucking as best he can, trying to get his palms pointed at Dabi. Removing his hand from the kid's face, Dabi grabs both of Bakugou's wrists, forcing them to aim to at the floor.
The kid curses again and ignites his hands, blasting them out of the villain's grip. Dabi has approximately one second to register the loud popping emanating from the kid's palms before he's blown off his feet by another minor explosion.
Grunting, wind knocked out him, he sees Bakugou slide off the table. The kid's knees buckle the second his feet hit the floor.
Pissed beyond all reason, Dabi waits for the kid to hit the hardwood face first before he gets back up and limps over. Warily, because the kid is apparently fucking insane.
He only pauses at a tiny blast skittering across the kitchen floor like a fizzled out firework before he crouches down at the kid's side.
His thigh absolutely rejects that action, but he shoves the pain down. Pops sound again, but he snatches the kid's hands, pinning them behind his back and holding them there with his good hand.
After all, he knows the kid's obsessed with becoming a hero. Any quirk activation now will only destroy the kid's back more.
Not that he seems to care anymore, goddamn, Dabi thinks viciously, clenching Bakugou's wrists in a death grip. He glares down at the enraged teen.
There's silence ringing outside of their pants for breath, and Dabi's positive that Yuko heard the commotion. He only hopes she stays back until he can make sure the kid is better restrained.
"Again," Dabi grits out, anger and pain adding a dangerous edge to his voice. "What. The. Fuck."
"Like you don't know, you goddamn liar," Bakugou seethes. Blood is leaking through his face bandages.
"I don't, or I wouldn't be dicking around asking," Dabi sneers. He can feel blood leaking down his own cheek like some kind of twisted mirror.
Bakugou just glowers, eyes pinpoints of fury, and Dabu tightens his grip until the kid winces. He grinds his teeth, but lets up.
"If I let you go will you fucking control yourself?" the villain asks.
"T- Kasai?"
Yuko's alarmed voice comes from across the room and Dabi takes her in peripherally. No way he's taking his eyes off the kid until he gets confirmation Bakugou will back off.
Lips pressed into a thin, white line, Bakugou nods his head against the hardwood. He still looks furious, but Dabi cautiously lets his grip relax.
The kid still can't sit upright without help, not being able to move his arms (and had probably shot off all his blasts from waist level - not that Dabi'd been paying attention in his attempt not to be turned into gory confetti).
Still, he sees Yuko coming over to help and he resigns himself.
Grabbing the kid by the collar of his hoodie, he hauls him back into a sitting position. Yuko makes a distressed sound at the rough handling and the kid curses, but Dabi doesn't give a damn.
"Explain. Now."
Bakugou growls, "Fucking die. I don't have to explain jack shit if you're just planning to kill me anyway."
Dabi pulls in a deep, calming breath and counts to ten.
"We. Have been over this," he says, enunciating each word like he's talking to an idiot.
"What makes you think Kasai wants to kill you?" Yuko interjects, dragging over the overturned chair to join their impromptu floor circle.
"Hah, he didn't fucking clue you in?" Bakugou spits out. "He's planning on setting me on fire for Shigaraki."
There's several beats of silence after that proclamation. Yuko just looks mildly concerned, but Dabi is completely done.
He rises from his place on the floor and stalks as best he can out of the room. Kicks open the door to the garage, ignoring the sharp stab of pain it sends up his leg. Grabs up a heavy bundle from the floor, and stomps back into the still-silent kitchen, where he throws the bundle at the kid's feet.
"That's you," Dabi says coldly. Bakugou looks at the rolled up carpet and blankets held together by bungie cords in a roughly human shape, uncomprehending.
"What?"
Yuko sighs heavily, rising from her chair.
"Kasai, you explain while I see to both of your injuries. I swear…"
"He doesn't need to know," Dabi objects acidly. Yuko reaches over and pushes his hip, and Dabi barely keeps himself from staggering. The charred hole in his thigh throbs.
"Indeed," she says, unimpressed. "You need not get into specifics - I'm assuming this is part of you and… your friend's plan?"
Dabi runs a hand over his face and Bakugou pipes up.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
Dabi scowls, wondering if this day could get any more fucked, when his phone goes off with another obnoxious ring tone that was definitely a concerned Daiki.
Fucking hell.
Haaaaah, the last last bout of big distrust, I promise. Bakugou now has to face The Guilt™. Kinda. Not really.
Also! Aljfhdlajfh kudos to Spring_Leaf for the spicy bros idea! Knew I'd read it somewhere XD
Poor Dabi, all relaxed in his safe place and finally getting some food after an intense murder planning session with Torrent. He just wanted a chocolate bar tbh. Also, he forgot caring parents existed there for a bit, which is just. Sad.
But! We finally get to see angry!Dabi. Hint: this is a bit of a precursor to uhh... the next arc. Which is going to be slightly more lethal. (Torrent is there too, and I am like, itching to write those chapters).
Also poor Bakugou tho - was actually starting to think he was safe. Let me know what y'all think of his reaction!
I'm sorry it took a while to get this chapter out - still playing catchup on the chapter buffer side ^^;
Gahh, I'm so excited tho! The next chapter marks the end of the Trust Your Enemy arc, which probably won't be out until later next week. Then we hit the Everything Goes To Shit arc in chapter 16. It's going to be great lmao (I say, as I still iron out kinks in it, whoops)
PS: I'm gonna be really real - Bakugou's hate of feet on pillows is 100% from my hate of feet on pillows