NOTE: Now THIS chapter will be the humor one. It'll most likely be done mostly by catrabit (she's so good at the funny parts((not really))((yes you are don't undersell yourself)) but I'm hoping that you guys appreciate the small angst break. The real plot is going to be starting up sort of soon, so we're getting the last of this fun stuff in before shit hits the fan.

Opposed to what one might assume, the rest of the morning had gone pretty smoothly; at least in comparison the how it had begun.

Breakfast had been served in all of its glory as shittily warmed up leftovers, as per usual, and they had eaten quietly together on the pull-over.

"Saw a good-looking sofa-couch-chair-thingy over at Dagobah beach a while back. Decent condition too, not even that dirty; probably hasn't even sat there for that long. I can take you there to check it out tomorrow, or even today soonish, if you're feeling up to it," Dabi asked through a mouthful of noodles that were surprisingly good, even after being left uneaten all night and warmed up in the most primitive way possible (his Quirk). He chalked it up to a mixture of the takeout place actually being okay, and his potent hunger.

Izuku shrugged mid-chew,

"Mmughhh, maybeh tomurah?" he answered through a mouthful of food. He too seemed to be enjoying said crappy meal far too much, so making sure the kid was eating well was just something he'd have to watch more closely. Maybe he could buy some healthy ol' nature energy protein granola bars from a supermarket for them to snack on. Anything was possible, now that he actually had a job.

Speaking of said job, that was in—Dabi checked his phone—about an hour now. Izuku's night-terror had actually woken Dabi up around the time he was going to get up anyway (which Izuku had frowned at, saying that that wasn't normal for them to happen at that time), so no harm done in the sleep department. Not that Dabi particularly cared anyway, but it was nice having a good nights' rest when he had to work again. And again. Fuck, he had work almost every day. For a really long time. That was how work, uh worked. This was going to suck.

Dabi's first day hadn't been too bad, all things considered. One of the managers had shown him around and introduced him and yada yada. It was mostly unnecessary because he'd been required to read the place's handbook in advance to even be considered, but whatever. He'd gotten exhausted enough anyway from just meeting new people in general, something he hadn't done in such large quantities in a very, very long time. Or ever. Probably ever. Another paper in the literal room full of file cabinets marked 'things you should probably try and fix but realistically never will' his life was becoming.

Overall, the job was shit, but it was shit Dabi was almost sure he could handle. Plus, whenever he had even the slightest will to quit, all he'd have to do is think of Izuku and he'd be back at it in no time, easy peasy.

If only it could actually be that easy.

Dabi grabbed the kid's plate and stacked it over his own to 'clear' them in their bathroom/washroom/washing machine/kitchen/storing area. He tried to tell himself that he'd take care of washing them when his shift was over, but he knew he would be lying to himself. If he had been tired yesterday, he was going to be absolutely wiped doing real work.

"Hey, Izuku, mind washing the dishes while I'm gone?" Dabi called from across the room.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, sure," came Izuku's slightly delayed reply.

Dabi went about getting his stuff together to prepare for work. His formal apron was kept at the workplace to prevent him from losing it or stealing it or something, so there truly wasn't much in the prep-work. A thought came to his mind as he was brushing his mop of dark hair to look less thug-like,

"Oh, by the way, how'd you manage yesterday?" he turned his head towards the kid's general direction, regarding him, even though his back was turned away.

"Fine, I guess."

Well that was a pretty dry answer for as big of a deal as it allegedly was.

"Better question, what'd you manage? Assuming you didn't sleep it through." he teased lightly.

Izuku took a second, and came back with,

"I just read and drew is all, why?"

He sounded peeved and...defensive, almost. To what, Dabi couldn't piece together. He didn't think he'd sounded rude or invasive or pesky when he'd asked at all. Dabi shrugged it off; probably just the beginning of teenagerisms coming around. He wasn't looking forward to edgy, rebellious, 'it's not a phase' Izuku in the slightest, but he'd deal. Dabi loved the brat too much not to.

…..that sounded so weird to say out loud, or think out loud or—whatever! It sounded weird. Not necessarily in a bad way but just, just weird. Hmm.

"Alright, well I'm going to head out now, take care." Wow now Dabi was starting to sound like a mom; what the fuck.

"Don't uh, like burn the place down please?" And that sounded like an insult, didn't it? What the fuck was he doing?

Dabi cringed a little at his words and Izuku just gave him a look that just said 'please go already', so he did just that. Shutting the door he skirted through hallways, up abandoned staircases, and back into the public.

A quick ten minutes or so had Dabi standing in front of one of the most cliche and cringe-worthy item on the block. The green and white logo practically mocked him, so Dabi accordingly flipped it off with both hands in a double-bird.

Star-fucking-bucks.

He lets out a sigh that was worthy of being documented as a soundtrack in a sitcom, and promptly made his way towards the back door. He ran into another nameless co-worker on his way and they go in together, not sparing any pleasantries. Evidently, he wasn't the only one working there who didn't like to go through the hell of socializing; especially since his shift up ahead would be full of it.

Hanging up his coat and tying his apron around his waist, he mentally prepared for a long day of suffering.

Since he was a newer employee and had never worked an espresso machine, he was on the register full time. That meant he dealt with customers all day, with very, very few hiatuses. Fun. The worst part was that his very first break was three fucking hours away, and he had no escape from talking to people who don't know the definition of an easy order with no foreseeable leisure time in the near future.

Sure, he was briefed and told to memorize the menu to make checking people out easy, but why the fuck does someone need to order a 'skinny vanilla latte with 35 pumps of caramel sauce plus matcha and whipped cream'? Do they have any idea how long it takes to ring up all that shit via a tablet with lettering so small he would accidentally delete entire orders through a single slightly misplaced tap? What the fuck is that person's everyday life if their coffee order is that complicated? All completely valid questions that Dabi fretted he would never have the answers to.

Getting his mind back on track, Dabi clocked in and replaced the girl who was previously at the register, ending her morning shift. She looked like she hadn't gotten sleep for three days, and if he was being totally honest, she probably hadn't. Even through the dark complexion of her skin and what was likely several layers of makeup, her heavy bags stood out like black on white.

As she passed him—looking already quite zombie-like—her half-lidded eyes met his for a moment, but their message was read loud and clear; 'get out while you still can'.

And so forth began the eight words that would haunt him for the next however long it took him to get fired, and maybe even to his grave.

"Welcome to Starbucks, may I take your order?"

When it was close to the time of his long-awaited first break many agonizing hours later, Dabi was ready to lay down on the dirty, sticky floor and fall asleep right then and there. He wasn't even half-way done yet, and his legs were already sore just from standing for so long, his brain already running on reserves from having to remember and record so, so many orders.

It was in this stage of just counting down the seconds until he could just sit in a chair and nap for a bit, when one of the higher-ups on the coffee hierarchy approached him. Despite the drained mood that seemed to emanate from every employee in the building, this guy seemed completely unaffected with a spring in his step and a real, but annoyingly large, smile on his face.

"Ey yo! New kid!" Dabi cocked his head to pay further heed to the guy. He'd introduced himself earlier on in the day, but Dabi had entirely forgotten his name; probably because his brain was trying to clear space to keep the orders somewhere. He looked like a Chad though.

At the acknowledgment, the dude only seemed to glow more, bothering Dabi further. Yep, definitely a Chad.

"Yeah, you! There's a much-needed cleanup in the bathroom, can you take care of it before you go on break? Restock the soap while you're in there." he ordered as he turned to leave before Dabi could so much as mutter a word of enraged protest.

Dabi physically refrained from screaming, and prayed to all that was holy that he would ask someone else while he finished up this customer.

To add to his list of suffering, the customer he was dealing with had been deciding if they should get their friend a cake-pop or a brownie for far too long along with two already fixed coffees starting to get cold. And yeah, Dabi had wanted to tell them to kindly screw off because if they had wanted to get something along with their drink, they should have said so before, but his polite inclinations had no effect.

He was about to throw the register at them before they decided to not get any side-dessert, or coffee for their friend, at all. That's just a dick move. Who the hell does that? Who the hell enters a Starbucks to get their friend a motherfucking drink, waits in a twenty-minute longass line, takes five solid minutes to decide on said drink, orders, takes five more minutes to sneak in dessert, and then cancels half the order at the very last second? Have they no honor? No shame? No decency?

'Fuck you' Dabi mumbles lowly under his breath once his back is turned to the probably twelve or thirteen-year-old little girl as he tosses the perfectly good drink away. Age didn't matter in such things, such atrocities.

After ringing up the asshole in the My Little Pony shirt with a hissed, 'have a good day', he nodded at another worker to take his place and started a slow gait to the cleaning closet in the back. After getting the needed supplies and a pair of gloves and a face mask, he made his way to the bathroom and mentally prepared to block out the images of what he would inevitably have to clean up.

After nearly throwing up (twice), he put back the supplies with a shiver, washed his hands raw (even though he was wearing gloves), went to take his break, and grabbed a day-old pastry on his way out.

I wonder how Midoriya is doing. He thought as he finished up the final godly bites of his muffin. Maybe he's drawing or some shit. Or crying. Hopefully, he's not crying.

Dabi became suddenly pensive as he reminded himself that the brat truly was all alone back at home, nobody to comfort him and tell him that it was okay to cry, don't worry about it, okay? There's nothing wrong with you. He'd never even been told what the kid did to keep himself occupied, and he knew there was more to it than just 'drawing and reading'.

I really hope he's okay by himself.

He chucked his muffin wrapper at the trash bin and missed. Sighing, he went out back and leaned on the back entrance to get some fresh air.

After lazing about for the majority of his 45 minute-long break, relishing in the glorious sensation of being able to sit, he went back inside to continue his work among the satan spawns of the underworld he had to serve coffee to.

One thing Dabi actually did enjoy about this job though, was serving all the thots in highschool ordering their 90-syllable-long drinks to post on snapchat or some shit, and putting the receipt sticker directly on the logo of the cup. Seeing their aghast face that someone would dare mess up their instagram post was honestly the best part of working the register, but Dabi supposed it was the little things in life that mattered the most.

It was nearing fifteen minutes left of work when a middle-aged lady, around in her 30's, met the front of the line. There were two little boys who both appeared to be the same age or maybe a little bit younger than Izuku clinging to the pant-legs of the woman, who Dabi assumed was their mother.

Her order was prestigious, as most drinks usually were. Obviously, explaining to her that they didn't have one and a half percent milk fat on the premises was a hassle, but it otherwise went fine.

That is, it went fine up until she came back.

The lady, whom's name Dabi had already forgotten, was cutting the whole line; entirely oblivious to the disgruntled stares and mutters of disbelief.

"Excuse me—excuse me!" she shoved her orange-painted nails into Dabi's face to get his attention from the customer he was currently in the process of serving. Her two children behind her were now shoving one another, bothering the customers even further.

"Uh, ma'am, if you need something you're going to want to talk to someone who isn't—"

"Thank you, it will just be one second," she butted in, her arms now on her hips.

"So," she cleared her throat, and Dabi shared a glance of shock with the poor customer he'd been in a conversation with,

"I'll make sure to make this very quick, I have a PTA meeting to get to and it's very important that I'm not late. I have to be a role model,"

"Anyway, I ordered a 'Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato', and it has far less sugar than the last time I visited this establishment,"

Dabi wasn't exactly sure if he was hearing her right, and didn't really have a coherent response right away,

"...Sorry, but what exactly is it that you want?" he asked lowly, almost gaping at her.

"I want a refund for the trouble that this entire situation is putting me through! This ordeal might even cost me my punctuation, so I'm trying to come to an understanding with you…" she squinted down at Dabi's chest, presumably at his name-tag.

Her face went comically confused, and then judgemental. She had his name on her lips, but dissed the idea at the last second, mumbling something under her breath. Fucking bitch.

Dabi managed to gather himself and rein in his urge to fire off obscenities before he asked through his teeth,

"Don't you have those sugar packets at your table? If not, we can give you—"

The lady interrupted Dabi yet again with an exasperated huff. As if she had any right to be exasperated in this situation.

The line was justifiably getting outraged by her unbelievable antics, and her kids were making grabs at the tip jar. Dabi pulled it out of their reach,

"It tastes artificial when it's added in afterward. I thought you would know this, being a trained employee, but I guess anybody gets these jobs nowadays."

She had the nerve to sigh, before jeering back at him.

"Actually, I have had enough of this. I would like to speak to the manager please,"

A collective groan of disprovable and outrage came from the other people waiting; some of them were even out-right shouting at her. Whether she was flat out ignoring or them or had third-degree hearing loss from the direct blockage of horse-shit in her ears, Dabi would never know.

"Ma'am," he hissed,

"I really don't think—"

"I demand to speak to the manager right this instant! You have already wasted enough of my time, and I am going to be late to my PTA meeting!" she all but whined back.

Fuck it, he might as well rope somebody else into this ridiculous situation.

Dabi flagged Chad over, who was already looking like he was about to intervene anyway.

He met the situation with a plastered smile and a bounce to his step.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"The problem," she heaved, bewildered as to how he didn't have to ability to read her mind, "Is that my Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato lacks sugar, and this, this child, refuses to give me the refund that I deserve!"

Dabi's hands were shaking under the counter, clenched and pissed. The stress and absurdity of the situation was enough for his Quirks' reflexes to start up, but he shoved it down.

Chad seemed to be good at reading the situation, and it looked like he could tell that there would be no reasoning with this woman. He kept up his personality, and replied,

"Sure thing! Give me just a moment!" he went into the cash register and took out the money for the drink. He had the money in cash offered in one hand, and his other was outstretched to take back the drink,

"Oh nononoNO, I'm still going to drink this! We can't have you wasting food, now, can we?"

There were times in life when Dabi had to remind himself that homicide was illegal and therefore not publicly acceptable, and this was certainly one of them.

Chad's eyes twitched slightly and he took his arm back from where she was trying to take the money.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but for a refund to work, you have to exchange the purchase for the money,"

Her anger was clear now as she seemed to nearly be shaking with rage. Meanwhile, Chad was looking more and more uncomfortable, his smile becoming obviously forced.

"First, you don't allow me a refund, and second, you insult me?! You know, I wasn't going to say anything, but this employee you have here should really cover up, cover up those things he has all over his face and arms! They are frankly disgusting, and there are children here!"

Dabi's face went involuntarily red with shock, rage, and a bit of shame. Chad's reaction was similar, because although the man was a bit odd, he at least had the decency to recognize how out of line the statement was.

"Miss, I think we're going to have to ask you to leave the building now." he said with his brows furrowed and arms crossed.

"This is absolutely unbelievable!" her voice pitched so high that Dabi winced. His hands itched to let off a flame.

"I will have you know that I will be telling everybody at the PTA meeting about this! You will lose such a large percentage of your service that—"

"Please miss, don't make me call the police. You are causing a public disturbance." Chad deadpanned, no longer even trying to seem friendly.

She made a strange 'humph' noise in her entitled anger, grabbed her kids by the backs of their shirts, and stomped her way out of the building.

"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out," Dabi said under his breath darkly.

A sound of collective relief and cheer washed over the building, sharing his bliss at the woman finally being gone, and in mere moments everybody was back to their usual chatter.

Chad simply took a ten from the money he still had out from the lady's rampage, pressed it into Dabi's very overheated hand, and gestured him away with a quiet, 'you're excused'.

Dabi saluted him for his taming of the beast (in his head of course) and promptly got the fuck out of there.

'Some people' Dabi thought as he made his way back to Izuku.

'Some fucking people'.

Izuku would definitely get a kick out of this.

Sorry, after this, I'm afraid it will take longer than before. I lost my phone a week ago, someone took it from me when I was with my friends. So right now, I need to focus to save money for buy a new one. But I promise you, I will be back.Stay safe, stay healthy and have a good day everyone! Please wait for me!