An Hour Glass Of Memories

Restaurant

For the first time in a while they were going to somewhere special. Somewhere new and fancy compared to places they normally went.

It was a new restaurant that had just opened on the more polished-up side of town. It sold food from all around the world but mostly England and America as it was meant to be that kind of restaurant.

Dabi was not looking forward to it. It was for his birthday as a gift but they knew he couldn't eat much so he was confused at why they were going to a place he would have to eat.

Maybe an attempt to find something he could eat? He didn't know.

He was dressed in a slightly neatened shirt and trousers which made him look more formal then he actually was. He did have a tie but he could barely read, never mind tie a tie.

He struggled with it for a little while until he got upset with it and sulked on his bed dreading the evening ahead.

He heard a knock on his door and someone spoke up,
"Dabi? Are you ready?" They asked.
He stayed silent putting his head into his knees annoyed with the clothing he had been given since he couldn't do it.

They turned the doorknob and opened the door coming inside.
"Hey kid what's wrong? Why do you look so down all of a sudden?" Compress asked sitting down on the foot of his bed.
"Can't do it!" He whined lifting his head off his knees and handing him the tie.

Compress chuckled,
"Oh kid, I thought something was actually wrong. That's fine don't worry. Do you want it on? I can do it for you if you do." Dabi shook his head sighing and getting up.

He took a deep breath and smiled.
"Let's go." He said trying his best to look happy. The other took it as a good sign to see him smiling and followed him out of the room.

——————-

When they arrived at the restaurant Dabi was more nervous then before. He knew he probably couldn't eat anything they had here, and was inevitably going to have to rush to the bathroom and puke it up because his stomach couldn't handle it.

However he kept quiet. He was absolutely terrified about getting yelled at.

He had only been out to a restaurant once in his life and it had been with his father and siblings. He had gotten screamed at in front of the whole restaurant which did absolutely no favours for his social anxiety.

He was too scared to say anything to the rest of the league in fear of it all happening again and it causing a panic attack to be triggered.

He instead walked inside, shaking slightly, and sat down at their table.

He was sat next to Compress and was on the end and that helped a little. He could just run if anything bad happened he couldn't handle.

Compress noticed him trembling violently and gave him a worried look. Dabi looked back at him with a nervous and pathetic smile. Compress handed him a small piece of cloth under the table so no one noticed.

Dabi understood what this meant and took it gratefully. It was so he could identify three things he could see about two things it felt like and one noise it made. It was a little spin off of the 5-4-3-2-1 rule.

Compress probably have many of these on him at all times so nothing back happened and would probably give him another one when he started to get panicky again.

He found out that the fabric he had been given had yellow sunflowers on, a black background, a few white spots, it felt rough and scratchy, and it made a scraping noise.

It did actually calm his nerves a little bit.

That was until the waitress came over and he felt like he couldn't speak.

He stumbled over his words trying to choke some form of a sentence out of the jumble that was his mind.
"I- i would- would l-like-" he got ultimately frustrated and too scared to talk again after that and just gave up and looked at the table not speaking.

Tears filled his eyes from pure embarrassment and he felt his throat close up.
"Could we have some more time actually please?" Compress asked the waitress and they left. Compress put a hand on Dabi's shoulder,
"Hey, kid, it's alright. What do you want I'll order it for you." He said.

Dabi looked up with a rear running down his face and an upset expression.
"Hey, kid it's alright. No need to cry, your fine, your safe." He said carefully choosing his words, "now what would you like?"

Dabi wiped his eyes and face and pointed to a drink on the menu.
"You sure that's all you want?" He had that concerned look on his face again. "Kid you've got to eat something."

Dabi felt everything fall apart around him. He had planned just to eat at home because he couldn't eat anything in the menu and just enjoy the experience instead.

He took a look at the food stumbling over his words again,
"I- i dont-" he managed to choke out. He felt tears prickle at his eyes again. It was all too much. He quickly pointed to a meal that he thought was going to make him less ill in the long run and prayed to god it didn't make him get sick in a restaurant.

Compress nodded and waited for the waitress to come over and ordered for him. He kept his head down, staring and analysing the piece of fabric for what he thought it was from. 

When the food came he ate very slowly. Too much at once would definitely get him sick but if he ate a little at a time he might have a little less of a problem.

He got halfway through before anything happened but when it did he almost cried. He started to feel increasingly sick and his stomach wasn't handling the new food well.

He got up from his seat without a word and left to the bathroom.

He locked the stall and practically fell to his knees throwing up the food. He leaned over the bowl breathing heavily and wishing he was at home so much more then here.

He heard the door click and someone call his name. Compress knocked on the stall,
"Dabi? Are you alright?" He asked his voice gentle and calm.

Dabi muttered back a quiet response of 'no' and opened the locked door to let him in. Compress went into the bathroom stall and immediately realised what had happened when he saw him on the floor.

He knelt down as the raven vomited up another round of whatever he had in his stomach and carefully put his hand on the others back.

Dabi sat back when he had finished the last wave which seemed to be a bad idea because the room did a turn and he gagged and leant back over again.

Compress noticed him gag and quickly put one hand under his stomach supporting his body weight so he didn't pass out and the other keeping his hair out of his face.

Dabi finished puking up the meal and sat back almost in tears. Compress wiped the others eyes only for him to carry on crying,
"Kid it's ok, we forgot. It's our fault only yours." He let the other fall onto him tiredly.

Dabi listened to the rhythm of his breathing and the feel of the rise and fall of his chest as the other soothed him.
"Why didn't you tell us dear?" He asked running his back.

Dabi did a sigh of relief and confessed to what had happened,
"I was too scared..." he mumbled.

Compress realised and his face softened.
"Oh kid we would never shout at you." He started, "and if someone did they would be a target immediately."

Dabi huffed softly and smiled before blinking awake. Compress helped him clean up before they both left back to the dining area.

He was a nervous wreck and quite obviously trembling as he walked but once they got to the table they all left anyway.

They drove home and as soon as he got in he went to his room and flipped on his bed exhausted. He fell asleep quickly after.