The Quaintest of All (Dabi x Reader)

[4] Feels like I made you up

Birds and orange clouds painted the outside in a beautiful mess. The free will of those little creatures would be recognized by anyone who heard their cries and the passing soft pink clouds made the sky look like cotton candy. But (Name) would only see this from the inside of her quaint shop. Everyday she was surrounded by her chosen variety of plants and somehow, she never got bored by looking at them. Even if she saw the flowers day by day, there was always something new - maybe a recently planted seed had thriven or some leaves had fallen down on the ground.

There was always something to do.

It's been four days now since the last time Dabi came here and unconsciously, the blue asters in the left corner next to the entrance slowly started to remind her of his eyes.

The woman sighed out loudly because of her thinking. She was quite aware of her behaviour and sometimes she regretted being such an empathetic soul. But maybe, in a world like this, it needs exactly these people.

And that's the very same reason Dabi found himself near the shop's entrance again. He couldn't put a finger on it and yes, even he was annoyed with himself, but something drew him closer to Ranunculus. Maybe it was the empathetic feeling that surrounded the store's atmosphere and it's owner.

"(Name)...," he repeated in his head. It was strange for him to know someone with such a nice and normal name. After all, every person he had ever known was either part of his family or the villains he came across after...

... well, you know the story.

𝒞𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒, 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒.

The familiar sound echoed through the room and signaled (Name) a new customer had entered the shop. The sun was already setting, so she was quick to recognize the silhouette of the person who had come in.

It was none other than Dabi. And somehow, she wasn't even surprised by this.

Both of them stared at each other without saying anything until the young woman spoke up.

"Coffee?" she asked, but the way of emphasizing made it quite clear she was already sure this was the only reason he had come here for. Dabi only nodded before he answered raspily. "If you have some left." He glanced towards the earlier mentioned blue flowers.

It may sound cliché, but in the exact moment (Name) had stood up from her wooden chair and went to unlock the also wooden café-door, rain slowly started to pour down and soaked the outerworld steadily. The woman gave the man with the dark blue coat an unsure smile as she opened the door and let him enter. This was the third time he had come here and it was still odd, but neither of them tried to make the strangeness obvious.

(Name) prepared the coffee (all black, of course), made some hot chocolate for herself and finally, both of them sat down in the comfortable armchairs. The silence wasn't too awkward since the sound of rain made the mood automatically more relaxed. The young woman, though, was a bit irritated by Dabi's behaviour and wanted to ask him her question right away.

"Can I ask you something, Dabi?" Her voice was soft, with no intention of starting an argument.

"Sure," was all he said before taking a sip from his cup.

"Why do you come here for drinking coffee? I mean," she sighed quietly as if she sensed her question could be taken as impolite, "there are a lot of good cafés in this city. It's not like I don't want you here or anything, but my coffee is nowhere near as good as one made my a professional barista." She tilted her head.

Dabi, on the other hand, thought of this question to be a clever one. If he was in her place, he'd surely be confused as well.

"I don't enjoy going to crowded places."

(Name) immediately regretted asking and bit her lower lip. The male opposite to her didn't seem upset or anything, so she quickly regained her posture. "I see..," she whispered as she clutched her mug a bit harder, „I'm sorry."

To her surprise, the ravenette chuckled slightly before answering. "As long as I'm able to get coffee here, you don't have to be," he looked up to her, "it's even for free, so - jackpot." His turquoise eyes trailed off towards the sky which could be seen a little from the inside.

It was unusual for him to break the silence, but both of them were grateful for that. Dabi had both his arms swung around the armchair, therefore he appeared quite open now. As the rain got heavier and the sun had set even further, the young florist also looked out of the large shop window and stared at bypassing pedestrians, each of them protecting themselves with a colourful umbrella. The sweet hot chocolate soon gave her the familiar feeling of home and the effect of soothing one's mind slowly set in. A perfect way of ending a day of hard work.

"I don't like people that much, either," the female remarked as she continued staring out of the window. Dabi turned his head and gazed at her, but there was something in her expression he couldn't quite understand. A feeling long time lost perhaps.

(Name) didn't strike him as the lonely type, to be frank. Sure, she appeared rather introverted, but she wouldn't own a whole shop if she didn't like people, right?

"Why?"

Dabi's question was very clear to understand, even the increasing stormy rain on the outisde managed to put a dramatic ambiance to it. But to his dismay, the store's telephone rang, so (Name) had an opportunity to succesfully dodge this question. „If you excuse me," she hastily spoke while getting up and exiting the room. All the male could do was stare at her and see her (favourite colour) dress flow along with the wind of her movements.

"Hello, (First Name) (Last Name), Ranunculus. With whom am I speaking?"

It was so odd for Dabi, soo especially odd. With all the swearwords he heard every day, it almost felt like he was trespassing into a different, forbidden world he wasn't supposed to be in. But the male had long grown sick of all the self-pity and thus, he drank up the rest of his coffee in one go.

It wasn't difficult to notice that the florist had fallen silent soon after her introduction. Suddenly, a loud impact could be heard, followed by her panting irregularly and quietly stomping towards the café-like room. The girl clutched the lateral doorframe, a small smile (which must have cost her all the strength she had left) on her pale face.

"Dabi, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but I think you have to leave my store now. It's getting late and I still have to tidy up everything.."

It was obvious as can be this was more of a lie, but the male didn't want to make a big deal out of this. After all, in the beginning he even questioned if he should come here again, so leaving early should be no problem as well.

"Alright," he answered, his voice as raspy as always. The male considered putting his porcelain cup away as he glanced towards the white form, but he quickly reckoned it would be better to leave as fast as possible.

(Name) wanted to say something nice for the finish, such as ‚I'm glad you enjoy the coffee so much,' but she just wasn't in the mood for anything like that anymore. But when Dabi almost exited the shop, and seeing him stand next to the blue asters, her ever so sweet heart couldn't stand the sight of leaving him without another word.

"You're always welcome for another cup of coffee."

The dark-haired male's eye widened. He just couldn't believe he really was open in somebody else's house. Life, even.

Having the word Thanks completely wiped out from his vocabulary, the only thing he could answer was

"Good to know."

And so, the mysterious man left Ranunculus once again, the coffee cup being the only visible trace of him having been here in the first place.

Sometimes, (Name) wished she wasn't so alone - especially after that distressing call.

✧ Song: VICTORIA - imaginary friend, also listening to some Schostakowitsch

Picture credit: ?