Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was hot, so scorchingly hot that Keigo could feel his skin blistering and bubbling, bursting and popping. The sound of invisible flames became increasingly loud, loud enough that his head felt as if it would burst. Darkness encased him, and the smell of his own flesh burning assaulted his senses. Distantly, he felt his heart hammer in his chest as emotions rushed over him in aggressive waves, threatening to drown him. Guilt, sadness, fear, desperation, love, need, hurt, pain, guilt, guilt, guilt . The darkness slowly turned to a bright, blazing blue, that dissolved into the color of the sky. And then-

And then he was falling. 

Wind rushed past him as he plummeted towards the earth. It whistled in his ears, louder than he thought possible, and whipped away his emotions, leaving his stomach and chest feeling empty. And emptiness that he was accustomed too, one that he took comfort in. His head felt clouded, his thoughts hazy, and when he finally realized how quickly the ground would be reaching up to meet him, he moved to snap open his wings, and catch himself. His wings disobeyed. They didn’t open, they wouldn’t catch him. All he felt was a strange numbness, as though he couldn’t feel completely. It was something akin to having your head under water.

He turned his head, trying to find the problem- why couldn’t he feel his wings? Where they tied up? Why wouldn’t they work? A pathetic mess of downy fluff, quickly being consumed by blue flames, greeted him when he glanced back. But why couldn’t he feel the flame? Why did it feel as though his wings were fake? His heart pounded harder, trying to free itself from his chest. Panic coursed through his veins at the sight of his flaming feathers, unable to save him as he fell to his death. It made him want to vomit, empty his stomach as he watched his wings flutter uselessly.

Like some kind of sick Icarus parallel.

Darkness rushed up to greet him, he couldn’t see an end, and his stomach filled with a sinking feeling so low, so filled with dread, that he snapped his eyes shut, but no impact came, only more wind rushing past him. Faster.

When he opened his eyes, the darkness had consumed him and the guilt was back, taking the dread’s place. It made him heavy and tired, and so regretful. It made him wish that the falling would suddenly stop, along with everything else. The blue flame eating away at his feathers spread to the darkness around him, until the only thing filling his vision was dancing plumes of blue heat.

The flames whispered a single word, chanted it over and over.

Traitor.

Traitor. Traitor. Traitor.Traitor.Traitor.traitor.traitortraitortraitor-

Impact.

~

Hawks’ eyes snapped open, this time his senses were not greeted with blue flames and the stench of burning flesh, but sterile white and the smell of disinfectant. His skin was cold, despite the thin blanket thrown over the lower half of his body. Thin, rough material covered him. A hospital gown, he realized.

A quick glance around the room told him that the room was empty, no flowers, ‘get well’ cards, or even people waiting for him to wake. The barren room had a chill to it, and the antiseptic smell became overbearing. A quiet and repetitive beeping filled the room, making his feathers-

Where were his feathers?

His wings- Where were his wings ? He couldn’t feel them. It was like the dream again, as though he was underwater, blocking out most of his senses. Fear flooded his chest and he vaguely registered the heart monitor speed up. It wasn’t unusual to wake up without feathers, they were damaged in fights often, but he always had the wing stubs, so the feathers would be allowed to regrow.

The door opened to reveal a nurse, who walked calmly towards Hawks. “Takami-sama, I need you to calm down.” She spoke quietly and watched him behind square glasses.

Hawks stilled. “Takami?”

The nurse hesitated and glanced at the clipboard Hawks hadn’t noticed earlier. Next to it was a small, crisp note. It didn’t look like a normal get well card, or a card at all, for that matter. It was a simple slip of paper, just out of reach. Its swooping letters, written in blue pen, were illegible from the distance.

“Your name is Takami Keigo, is it not?” The nurse’s words startled Hawks out of his thoughts.

He grimaced slightly at the name, before smiling casually. “Well, sure. I’m more used to being referred to as Hawks though. It just threw me off.” He chuckled, but it sounded choked. It wasn’t a sound of humour, but one that sounded forced, and horribly so.

The nurse smiled as well, worry written in her eyes. “Of course. But we’ve been asked not to call you by your hero name, Takami-sama.”

Hawks blinked. Everyone had always just called him Hawks, hospital workers, commission agents, civilians. Takami Keigo was a name ripped from his very bones as a child, and no one had referred to him as such in years.

His confusion must have been clear, as the nurse continued. “The Hero Commission is telling the people that Winged Hero: Hawks died in the battle, killed by Dabi. I assume that your handler will fill you in more, later. As for now, I had good and bad news.”

Killed by Dabi? The memory came back to him suddenly. Twice, his blood, fire, Dabi, guilt, so much guilt. His wings, going up in flames.

The nurse didn’t stop speaking, and Hawks- Keigo?- refocused. “I’ll start with the good: You will recover from this incident, and you will most likely go on to live a long life. However, the recovery will likely not be full. Your wings suffered a lot of damage from the flames, and we doubt that they will regrow. It’s unlikely that any of your feathers made it out either.”

The news sunk deep into Hawks’ chest, making his heart heavy and his stomach fill with dread. He couldn’t bring himself to speak, or continue listening to what the nurse was saying. The world faded to white noise as the information echoed through his head.

His wings won’t grow back .

The woman’s words started registering again, “-been cleared for several weeks in which the commission will pay your expenses and-”

“I’m basically quirkless.” Hawks’ words were dry and desperate, making the nurse fall silent. She stared at him, her eyes wide and her mouth opening and closing uselessly. Hawks would say she looked like a fish, had he not still been trying to wrap his head around the idea that his wings would never grow back.

She took a breath and said, “Yes. Dabi’s flames have rendered you quirkless. Were  there any of your feathers left, it’s unlikely that you would even feel them anymore, without the connection to the base of your wings.” Her eyes were downcast and she looked sorry for him.

Hawks didn’t want her pity. “So, what? My life as a hero is over? Of course it is, with Hawks apparently dead. What am I supposed to do? I trained my entire life to be a hero, and now I’m just supposed to accept that an ugly bastard ruined my life? All of that training was for nothing?” The steady beep beep of the heart monitor sped up again, blood pulsing in his ears. His voice was strained, angry.

“Takami-sama, please calm down. I’m not the person to talk to about this, all I know is what’s on those charts, and that you should expect a call from your handler soon.” She stood by the bed as if she was unsure how to call him down from the sudden anger that tore through Hawks.

But she wasn’t at fault, it was unfair of him to be angry at her. He closed his eyes and breathed for a moment. “Hand me that note.” He said, looking at the note on the bedside table when he calmed himself down.

She obliged, and he read it quickly:

Takami,

Your mission is complete. Many of the members of the Paranormal Liberation Front were apprehended. However, the members of the original League of Villains have escaped. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.

Expect a call from your handler soon.

You are relieved from hero duty. 

The note was signed by the Hero Commission’s president, her scrawling blue lettering glaring up at him. Relieved from hero duty . The words tore at him, sending an almost physical pain through his abdomen. The nurse had said that he wouldn’t return to heroing, but seeing the words written on paper made Hawks want to gag.

‘ Your sacrifice will not be in vain. ’ Did she mean his wings, or his life as a hero? Perhaps both.  

He hadn’t expected the Commission to write him a ‘ Get well soon!’ card, so he wasn’t disappointed when it wasn’t that, but the words ‘ relieved from hero duty’ echoed pitifully through his head. He also recognized what they were doing. Your mission is complete . The wording was too careful. The note might as well have said, ‘You failed.’ He wanted to scream, to tear at the paper and yell. At the nurse, at his handlers, at the Commission’s president, at his parents for letting her take him, at Dabi for ruining his life.

The blue ink blurred and suddenly the card was wet. Hawks didn’t know when the last time he’d cried. His mind supplied an answer immediately.

A month ago. Dabi had wrapped Hawks in his arms and they’d cried together. It had been a soft moment, one that Hawks would give anything to go back to.

He’d wrapped his wings around Dabi, blocking the two of them out from the rest of the world, and creating a little bubble of their own, as they cried together quietly. His wings had offered safety then, safety to cry about the past, and the present, and in Hawks’ case, the future. The one he was living, where he’d betrayed Dabi and the League for the mission.

“You’ll be released tomorrow, your wounds healed well while you were unconscious, along with aid from healing quirks.” The nurse said quietly, distracting him from thoughts of Dabi.

“How long was I unconscious?” Hawks cringed as his voice cracked, sounding strained.

“Five days. I’ll be going now, if you don’t need anything?” He nodded to her and she left quickly, leaving him alone in the too white room.

Too white, too sterile, too quiet, too cold.

His thoughts wandered back to Dabi. He wanted to be angry, wanted to track the villain down and make him feel the pain that Hawks had to deal with now. But, a part of him knew that he wouldn’t even be able too. Heroes tracked villains, and he was no longer a hero.

And he knew, undeniably, that a part of him missed Dabi.

Ruined life or no, he’d never be able to kill Dabi-

Touya. He couldn’t kill Touya.

~

Cold wind ripped at his jacket as he landed softly on the roof of an abandoned warehouse. The moon was high and the sounds of the city surrounded him. A lone figure looked out across the city across from him on the roof. 

“What’s a hero like you doing here in the middle of the night? Here for a duel?” The figure called out, his voice mocking.

“Actually, no. I don’t want to fight you.” Hawks said as the villain turned to face him, his blue eyes glinting dangerously in the moonlight.

“Then why the fuck are you wasting my time, hero ?” Dabi’s voice had an edge, his words were venomous and they felt like daggers across Hawks’ skin.

Hawks held his hands up in surrender. “I want to join the League.” He said, keeping his tone serious and his facial expression emotionless. 

Dabi practically cackled into the night. “I’m sorry? And what makes you think I’d believe that? You’re the Number Two hero, anyone else would roast you right now.”

Hawks dropped his hands and regarded Dabi carefully. “So why haven’t you?”

Dabi sent him a predatory grin. “You caught me. I’ll bite. Why do you want to join the league, Hawks?” His eyes were cold and calculating.

Hawks took a deep breath. “Look, I’m the Number Two Hero, right? Life at the top- It's great. Or at least that’s what everyone wants to believe. But that’s it, life at the top isn’t great. I became a hero to make the world a place where heroes have more free time than they could ever dream of. A place where heroes don’t even have to exist. So that’s what I did, I climbed the rankings, did the interviews, saved people, and then I realized how flawed society really is. From the top, you know about everything that happens, the horrible misuses of power, the coverups, the amount of government funding that goes into keeping heroes on these perfect pedestals. It’s from the top that you start to see the cracks in society. It’s a society that needs to change.”

Hawks reminded himself to calm down. Of course, most of what he said wasn’t even a lie, and he did know that Society needed to change, but part of him was sick at the fact that he was even sitting here, talking to Dabi.

The villain regarded him coolly. Silence descended as a blue gaze met gold. They considered each other for a few moments before Dabi said, “There’s more to it.”

Of course there was more to it, there was enough to it that it genuinely filled Hawks with disgust, at the heroes, at the villains, at all of it. He knew the truths others didn’t, and whether this was a lie to get into the League or not, Hawks knew that most heroes aren't good people. However, he wasn’t about to tell a villain everything he’d been through. “Look, you don’t trust me, and honestly, I don’t trust you either. There is more, you’re right, but you don’t get to know yet.”

Hawks expected Dabi’s expression to darken, or for the other to at least be angry at the denial of information. Instead, the other man only smirked, dangerous and enticing. “So it’s personal then? Oh, this will be fun.”

Dabi told him to get a burner phone before even thinking about tracking him down again. “I’ll see you around, pretty bird.”  And the smirk was back, and if it didn’t do funny things to his stomach that Hawks refused to acknowledge.

~

Night had nearly fallen by the time the hospital released Keigo. The sun sank low, casting the surrounding buildings into tints of orange and gold. Car lights sparkled from below, and windows reflected back the warm colors that danced across the walls. Despite the warm light, the apartment felt cold and empty.

It hadn’t always been lonely here. Though loneliness was a feeling Keigo came to be familiar with, he’d never wished to go back to it, but here it was, seeping through him like cold tea. In the brief time he wasn’t lonely, the apartment had been filled with warmth, safety and perhaps even love. When the air was warm and smelled of homemade cooking, the comfortable couch and mediocre Netflix shows had felt like home. When laughter could be heard, and smiling wasn’t so hard. They’d felt safe here, the two of them. The apartment had turned into their personal bubble that guarded them from the rest of the world, and made them forget titles like ‘hero’ and ‘villain’.

When they were simply Keigo and Touya.

Of course it hadn’t lasted long, no matter how much Keigo wished he could go back and relive every warm moment for the rest of his life. He’d give anything, or everything, to go back to the early mornings with Dabi, the sun lighting up his features and the smell of coffee warming his lungs. Or the late nights in the cold, when they huddled together and Dabi smelled of cigarettes. What he wouldn’t give to go back and wrap them both in his wings, warm and safe from everything that would soon come to pass.

Except that time didn’t stop for anyone, and he could never go back. He could never wrap Dabi in his wings again, because his wings were gone, and Dabi was the one that stole them. 

He pushed the villain out of his thoughts and made his way to the bathroom. The tiles were cold under his bare feet and the image his eyes met in the mirror made him flinch. A scar stretched across the left side of his face, his hair was a mess, and he looked sad, and tired. The scar wasn’t bad, and it would mostly heal, that’s what the doctors said. But, seeing it himself was different.

He took a deep breath and pulled off his shirt. His mind screamed at him to just put the shirt back on and never look, but he had to. He had to see for himself how bad it was. Bandages wrapped around his chest and back. Most of them were clean, only a few with blood smeared on them. Carefully, and gently, he unwrapped the bandages. Underneath, the burns had nearly completely healed over, leaving a mess of twisted scars in their wake.

The sight of his wings, completely gone, made his eyes sting with unshed tears. Everything was different now. Hawks the hero had died, his wings were gone, even walking felt wrong with the extra weight removed. 

He allowed himself this moment to mourn over his wings. He weeped and sobbed openly, hidden in the privacy of his bathroom. The tears flowed and he couldn’t seem to stop them, not that he tried. Grief filled his chest, weighing him down and tying him to the ground, and he realized he’d never leave it again. Of course, he knew that losing his wings meant he could no longer fly, but he hadn’t realized until now. He’d never be able to swoop through the sky, the wind rustling in his hair and tugging at his clothes. He’d never get that free feeling again.

Another sob tore from his throat. He felt sick, like his stomach wanted to empty itself over and over until he was no more. He wished he could curl into bed and stay there until morning, and perhaps he would, but something told him it wouldn’t make him feel better, but he refused to acknowledge the thought.

A sharp ring from another room cut through his sounds and he forced himself to quiet, to wipe away his tears, walk into the other room and answer the phone as if nothing had happened.

His voice cracked when he answered but he forced himself to ignore it in hopes that the other person would too.

His handler’s voice filtered through the speaker. “Takami. I was told the nurse briefly spoke to you about what’s been happening with the media. Correct?”

Hawks- Keigo cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am. She told me some.”

The woman- Nakamura Kenji, Keigo recalled her name- blew out a breath angrily. “She was out of line. She was only supposed to speak to you about your wings. As you know, the public has been told that Hawks has died. And as far as even the Commission is concerned, he did. Hawks died with his wings, and you are no longer of use to us as Hawks. Very few people know that Takami and Hawks were one in the same, among those are a few select Pro Heroes and Commission agents. Without your wings, we’ve decided to give you a new mission.” Her voice was cold and professional.

He knew what kind of mission she meant. Black Ops. The Commission had spent too much time and money training him, they weren’t about to let him go free. They planned on tightening his leash and keeping him out of the public eye.

“It’s not often that a situation like this comes forth, but we don’t want to put your training to waste.” She explained, despite Keigo already knowing exactly why she was doing this. The Commission wasn’t done with him, they weren’t done using him. They never would be, they owned him, after all.

“Of course.” He replied simply.

“I’m sure you’ve been wondering what happened to the League, as it was Hawks’ Mission. As you know, Twice died. We were able to arrest most of the Paranormal Liberation Front’s members. Those who escaped capture scattered and we’ve heard nothing from them since the battle. As for the League itself, they all got away. Sightings of the League have continued, but it seems that Dabi is nowhere to be found, not with the League or otherwise. It’s as if he disappeared. We’ve got new heroes on the mission. The mission you failed. The League was not captured, despite the Front’s dissolution. That was your goal, and you failed . You’re not worthless yet, though.” Her words tore through Keigo. They were nothing new, he’d been expecting punishment for failing so harshly.

The Commission had never shied away from punishment, and they certainly wouldn’t now. Now, his consequence was not only the loss of his wings, but also suicide missions with Black Ops. He would be sent into dangerous situations until he didn’t make it out.

“I hope to be as much use to you and the Commission as I possibly can be, without my wings.” Keigo’s voice sounded robotic, his responses automated and only what Nakamura wanted to hear.

“You’ll be given a year to recover and spend time for yourself before you join Black Ops.” Nakamura’s words made Keigo blink. A year? Surely it wouldn’t take that long for his wounds to heal?

“A year? That’s very generous of you, Nakamura-sama.” His voice didn’t expose any of the emotions rattling through his chest. He’d always been good at acting, it was one of the skills that made him so qualified for the infiltration mission.

Keigo heard a hum. “We’re hoping that by then, the public won’t remember you anymore. You’ll have less chance of being recognized.”

Because of course the Commission wouldn’t do something purely for his benefit. No matter what they told his mother to get her to sell her only child, nothing they did was ever for his benefit only.

Keigo cursed himself for thinking like that. He knew what his handler would say. She would tell him to be grateful they took him in, she would tell him that Dabi had gotten into his head and messed with his thoughts. She would tell him that he wasn’t being good, and she’d hurt him for thinking like that, no matter how true it was. 

And maybe she was right on some level. Dabi had gotten into his head. More than that, the villain had gotten into his heart . He’d shown Keigo what it was like to be free from the Commission and how horribly they had truly treated him. He’d been through years of abuse and manipulation from the Commission and he’d believed them when they told him it was for his own good, until Dabi.

Keigo barely acknowledged when Nakamura said her goodbye and hung up. The silence of the apartment suffocated him, closing in around him and making wish for nothing more than to throw open the window and fly. Of course, he couldn;t, the thought made his heart heavy once again.

A glance out the window told Hawks that the sun had set, bathing the world in darkness. He crawled into the bed that was too big, and too cold. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn’t get comfortable. The thought that something was missing tugged at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away. 

Lack of warmth made him shiver and curl up, hoping to keep thoughts of the past away. The last time he’d been here was before he lost his wings, before he’d lost his life as a hero, before he’d lost everything .

Of course something was missing. 

Touya .

~

Coming home and finding the villain on his couch had become a common occurrence as months passed. It had started when Dabi showed up one night, his own blood soaking his jacket and t-shirt. Hawks still had no idea how the other had found the address, but here they were.

Hawks dropped his shoes by the door and barely spared the other a glance as he made his way to his bedroom to change out of his hero suit. 

A part of him wondered why Dabi hung out at Hawks’ so often. Another part of him didn’t mind the company. His apartment had never really felt like anything more than somewhere to sleep, but recently it had started to feel like maybe it was a little more. 

Maybe Dabi had even started meaning a little more than just the occasional fuck and his contact to the League. He made Hawks feel a little better whenever he was near, and they’d started becoming more casual in their affection.

The villain was still on the couch when Hawks finished changing, boredly watching a nameless TV show. He let himself fall onto the couch next to Dabi, making him shift at the added weight. 

“Hey.”

“Hey, hotstuff.” Hawks grinned, and Dabi snorted at the nickname.

They fell into their usual banter, the light teasing and casual insults that did no harm. Eventually, they ended up with their limbs tangled together, lazy kisses exchanged between them. Hawks was situated on top of Dabi. It felt comfortable; the warm atmosphere, the easy conversation with someone Hawks didn’t have to hide from. Not really, at least.

Hawks realized for the first time in years, that maybe he felt whole. It was easy, it was right, it was perfect. In that moment, he felt safe and maybe, just maybe, even loved. Hawks took a second to lean back and just look at Dabi. 

“What are you doing, pretty bird?” Dabi raised an eyebrow and looked amused.

“Pretty bird?” Hawks grinned, refusing to take his eyes off the man under him. “What I’m doing is admiring you. Is that so wrong?” He felt his heart fill as the healthy part of Dabi’s cheeks flushed slightly.

“Your flattery will get you nowhere, birdie.” Dabi looked both unimpressed and amused, his eyebrows raised and a tiny smile playing at his lips.

Hawks smirked down at him. “Are you sure? My flattery has already gotten me places.” He wiggled his eyebrows and Dabi scoffed, smacking his arm lightly.

This, Keigo finally realized, this is what home meant.

~

The quiet room filled with sound suddenly, pulling Keigo from the depths of sleep. He groaned as he sat, and reached for his phone. The screen lit up with a call, but he didn’t care to check the ID, assuming it would be his handler calling with more information about something. The time read 7:08 a.m.

“KEIGO!” The voice on the other end of the phone screeched as soon as he pressed the green ‘answer’ button. “Or should I call you Takami? Can’t exactly call you your hero name anymore. Speaking of, that’s why I called. How ya’ doing, man?”

Keigo’s thoughts were still sluggish from sleep, and it took a few seconds for him to process the loud, fast voice on the other end.

“Rumi?” He croaked, his voice hoarse.

“Man, you sound like shit.”

“Haha, you woke me up, carrot-face.” Keigo blinked warily as she laughed.

“The nurses told me you checked out last night! Why didn’t you come see me? You’re a rude chicken-man.” She stopped herself, the laugher in her voice fading. “I guess I shouldn’t call you that anymore, huh? I’ll have to come up with new nicknames. Man, this sucks.”

Keigo let out a laugh. “Yeah, it kind of does. You’ve got it worse than me, though,”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Keigo.” The woman interrupted. “Yeah, I got a few limbs torn off, but so did you. Hell, your boyfriend was the one that did this to you. You didn’t just lose your wings, you lost everything. So don’t you dare go saying that I have it worse because I will not let you turn this into a competition.”

Rumi’s words silenced him. Of course he knew that he shouldn’t have said that, he knew that this was a shitty situation for the both of them.

The silence stretched for a couple of seconds before Keigo cleared his throat. “You’re a good friend, Rumi. I’m honestly a little surprised that they even let you know I’m still alive.”

She laughed. “Yeah, an agent came in and told me. You’ve been all over the news since the battle, no one will shut up about how you made such a sacrifice. How you were the one that made it possible for us to capture the Front’s members. But god , seeing your face everywhere is making me sick.” She had a teasing tone, and it made Keigo smile. It was easy to forget everything that had happened when Rumi was chatting at him.

“Overdramatic bunny.” He chuckled.

“Oh, speaking of news, have you heard the theories flying around about your boyfriend?” he heard rustling on the other end of the phone.

“He’s not really my boyfriend anymore. He tried to kill me.” Keigo sighed.

“Whatever. Anyway, he’s been weirdly quiet. There've been a few dead bodies tied to him, but they're not his usual victims. And he hasn’t been seen with the League since the battle. Other than the bodies, it’s like he’s dropped off the face of the earth.” She told him. She must have been catching up on the news during her time in the hospital, and spending way too much time on Twitter.

“Yeah, so I’ve heard. You said something about theories?” He pulled himself out of bed and shuffled slowly to the kitchen.

“Yeah, there’s all kinds of theories flying around on Twitter. Some people are saying he and the League got in a fight and he left them, some people think he realized he was doing something wrong. It’s all weirdly un-Dabi like. He hasn’t done anything flashy in the past two weeks.” she said as he started his coffee machine.

“Really? Flare is his thing.” Keigo said, leaning against the counter to wait for his coffee.

“I know! And he totally stopped going after Endeavor. He hasn’t gone after him, even when he was injured after the fight and went back on patrols. That would have been a perfect time for Dabi to go kill him, but he didn’t show.” Her voice crackled through the phone, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Dabi stopped going after Endeavor?

“And you’ll never believe who he started going after.” She continued.

“Who?” He responded, only half listening through his slight shock.

“The Commission.” The words snapped him back to the present.

“What?” Confusion seeped into his voice, and he didn’t care enough to try to hide it.

“He’s going after the Commission. Those people he’s killed over the past two weeks? There’s four of them, all Commission agents, mostly handlers. Some people on Twitter think it’s got something to do with you. Does it?” Something in her voice seemed almost harsh, but also worried. 

“I- I don’t know. It might. Maybe he’s going after them because of my mission? He can’t kill me because he thinks I’m already dead so instead he’s going after them, because they gave me the mission?” Fear spiked through him suddenly. If Dabi found out he wasn’t dead, would he come after Keigo, to finish the job?

“You think he wants revenge? Because you betrayed him? I mean it makes sense, he can’t get to you so they’re the next best option. I think someone on Twitter mentioned something about that idea.” She hummed thoughtfully.

“Knowing him, that would make the most sense. Uh- Hey, I’ve got to go. Talk to you later, yeah?” He said quickly. 

She paused, seemingly surprised. “Right, see ya later. Take care of yourself, Kei.” The call ended, and suddenly the atmosphere in the apartment became more suffocating than last night. It felt as though he couldn’t breath, silence clogging his throat and blocking his airways. 

There was no one groaning about how early it was beside him, or the smell of coffee floating in through the bedroom door. The apartment only smelled of dust and clean linen, even the smell of smoke that once clung to his sheets was gone after the week of vacancy. It struck him how much he missed the faint smell of smoke and strong coffee in the morning. Without it, his apartment just didn’t feel like… home.

He felt the sudden need to move, to go and to do something that wasn’t staying in the apartment, he couldn’t stand staying here for much longer. Usually, he would take this need and fly, soar into the open, boundless sky, but now- best not to finish that thought.

He threw on an old, worn out t-shirt- one that he would later realize once belonged to Dabi- and an oversized hoodie. He left as quickly as he could, practically flying down the stairs and putting as much distance between himself and the lonely apartment as he possibly could. After a while, he slowed to a normal pace and let his thoughts drift until he was wandering the city without truly thinking where he was going, or stopping to take in his surroundings.

He had never loved walking before, always opting to fly, but now, he couldn’t help but be soothed by the city sounds in the background and the repetitive movement of the steps he took. Distantly, he thought that the turns he took were somehow familiar, as if he were walking a path that he’d walked thousands of times before, but still unsure as to where that path led.

He allowed himself to be swept into the past, letting the recent memories take hold of him. 

  “I never believed anything from the start.” Dabi’s eyes practically glowed in the room lit only by flames the same color of those eyes. 

Those eyes , the ones that would go on to haunt his dreams and his waking moments alike. Every time he let his thoughts wander, or closed his eyes for too long, those eyes would glint at him from his memory, sometimes laughing at him, other times glaring- and the worst times were when they were soft and genuine, those times hurt the most.

At the time, he’d been more caught up in figuring out how to survive this, but now, he had time to think back on it. And honestly? The words that Dabi said didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Despite how he said that he’d known that Hawks was a traitor, and how his life and death meant nothing to the villain, there was something that didn’t add up. Of course, it was easiest to just believe that Dabi had known the whole time, and that he only pretended in those moments alone to play with Hawks- to make it hurt worse when everything went up in flames.

But then he thought about the moments where he knew Dabi’s expression and words were nothing but genuine, the moments when he showed Hawks who he truly was- under the scars and expressionless mask. Those memories hurt more than the raid, because they meant so much more, and to think that perhaps they were all fake, all lies that Dabi had planted to make Hawks lower his guard.

He wanted to believe that Dabi had loved him, at least a little. It wasn’t likely, but Keigo held onto the hope harder than he’d like to admit. He had lost so much in the past week, so sue him if he wanted to hold onto one childish hope that he refused to let the universe snatch from his grasp like it had done his whole life. 

He came back to the present when he realized he was climbing a familiar fire escape. He pulled himself onto the roof and glanced around, the view familiar and yet not painfully so, as most familiar things had become now. The surrounding area of the city was ruined, criminals were abundant here and no one asked questions. This particular building was known by being owned by a kind old lady that took in strays and runaways, so long as they kept their business away from the woman. 

It was the building that housed Dabi during his time with Hawks. There was no doubt that the villain had long since abandoned the place after living there for years- he’d told Hawks about the old lady and how she’d taken him in not long after he’d run from home, allowing him to stay for at least eight  years, but the exact amount of time remained unknown to Keigo. 

He breathed in a breath of air that smelled of cigarette smoke and mold. Dabi and Hawks had met on this roof often, usually before Dabi took him down to the apartment and fucked him senseless. Despite it’s direct connection to Dabi, the location only calmed him, without a pang of hurt that he’d been expecting.

He closed his eyes and let the sounds of the city encompass him. His thoughts didn’t drift to unnaturally blue eyes, instead thinking about the first time he’d learned to fly. He’d been four years old at the time, and the memory was hazy. His father had been there, encouraging him before he got impatient and gave the small boy a shove. At first, he’d been terrified, certain that he would die, but then his instincts took over and his wings snapped open. It was the first time he’d felt truly free, for just a few moments, he forgot who he was and where he was. For a few moments it was just the wind and the feeling of being completely weightless.

And then his father dove after him and he looked proud . The present pulled him back when he felt a sort of presence. It couldn't really be described as anything but a sort of distant tug that felt vaguely familiar and yet foreign at the same time. It was as if the tug wanted to pull him somewhere. He didn’t know where.

The tug was gone a second later, leaving him feeling strangely suppressed, as if someone had dropped one of those heavy blankets on his emotions and thoughts. The underwater feeling again.

He shook his head and dismissed the thought of the tug as something he’d imagined. He slowly climbed down the fire escape, his limbs clumsy and unused to climbing when he would have flown before.

His apartment welcomed him back with the same silence as before, just less stifling as before. He disposed of his shoes by the door and flicked on the TV. The channel showed the news, the boring, typical things that the daily news might show.

Keigo groaned as he flopped onto the couch, and quickly found himself dozing off to the background noise of the lady reporting on a car accident that blocked up a highway for hours.

He woke hours later- the clock read 4:34 p.m.- and he rolled over. The news still played, now showing a picture of Dabi on screen.

Why did everything lead him back to Dabi? Couldn’t he have a break without the scarred man pushing his way into Keigo’s thoughts?

The news lady prattled on about the villain and how he’d seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth in the past week.

“.. .of Villains attacked a group of U.A. students while on an outing as friends, however, the scarred villain, Dabi, was not a part of the attack, and the leader of the organization, Shigaraki Tomura, was reported to be, ‘more irritable and quick to turn aggressive towards his own teammates’.  A video taken by a civilian captured a video of Shigaraki yelling at a member about how they ‘might as well leave like Dabi’. Twitter user: Aphrodaisyacs made a suggestion that perhaps the flame villain had left the League to pursue another cause that no longer aligned with the League’s.”  

A screenshot of the twitter post showed on screen. The message was relatively short, providing the theory and some evidence, and had over a million likes and hundreds of thousands of retweets. The League had gained a lot of attention in the past year or so.

The woman continued talking about Dabi, the League and the tweet, but Keigo tuned it out. Rumi had already told him about Dabi’s strange disappearance. He shut off the TV, hoping to clear Dabi from his thoughts. 

He found himself reading a book he didn’t remember having it had been Dabi’s. It had a decent storyline and Keigo finished it before dinner.

Days went by like this, he would wake up to a call or text from Rumi, eat and then wander the city. He often found himself in places he’d met with Dabi, and he only felt longing, nothing more nor less. Sometimes, he stopped by the library, he’d discovered that he enjoyed reading in his free time- something he’d never had as a hero. There were a few times that the tug returned, only for a few seconds. Long enough that he registered it, but gone before he could think that maybe he wasn’t imagining it.

He was in his kitchen two weeks after being released, making coffee. The smell of coffee filled the apartment for the first time in ages, and Keigo found himself more relaxed as he breathed the coffee-scented air. It made him miss the domestic mornings with Dabi, but it didn’t hurt to think about the soft moments anymore.

He’d seen a therapist a few times, the Commission had offered her services, and Keigo actually enjoyed the woman’s company most days. Harumi Hada was a kind woman a few years older than him that had a sharp tongue and a fun personality. She made opening up easy, and she told him that while she did work with the Commission often, she didn’t report directly to them, and therefore none of the information they talked about would be given to them. 

Dr. Harumi was a fierce woman and Keigo doubted she would spill anything to the Commission if it meant breaching her client’s privacy. He felt safe to talk about his relationship with Dabi, despite the Commission being unaware of his full feelings about the villain.

It had been hard at first, he was scared that she would tell the Commission about Dabi and that he’d be arrested for consorting with the enemy for anything other than the mission. Then, he told her a little about how he had felt about Dabi in the beginning.

Dabi had been a mystery, a puzzle that Hawks wanted to solve, and that drew him in like a moth to a bright blue flame. The villain also had an unconventional attractiveness to him and they were both lonely. At first, it was just about the sex, but eventually feelings screwed them over.

He told her about how Dabi had seemed genuine at times, and how confusing it was now. Harumi never judged him, only hummed and wrote on her clipboard, asking questions now and again.

Harumi told him that he was doing well, considering everything he’d been put through. They planned on talking about his past with the Commission soon, and Keigo drowned in anxiety in the meantime.

He was worried that Harumi would hear about what they’d done to him and get pissed- she seemed the type to act in anger if it struck her- and confront the Commission. He also worried about how the conversation would go. The Commission had done horrible things to him as a child, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face that trauma head on just yet.

Keigo frowned and picked up his mug of coffee. The bitter taste kept him from his thoughts about his childhood, and he let himself gaze into space, looking at nothing in particular and his head empty. He allowed himself to simply be.

He wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but when he was literally pulled back to the present by the tug, his coffee had grown cold. This time, the tug was harder, less distant, and it stayed for a while longer. It made him itch to follow it. 

He emptied his cold coffee into the sink and made a decision in the moment. He had never been spontaneous, but Harumi suggested it would be good for him, and he had all the time in the world now that he didn’t have duties as a hero.

He dropped the mug into the sink and walked quickly to his room. Grabbing a bag from the back of his closet, he packed enough clothes to last him a few days, as well as his wallet and other things he might need. 

The tug was still present when he left his apartment, though not as strong as before. He focused on it for a minute before turning down a street he thought might bring him closer to the general direction of wherever the tug was telling him to go. 

The thought crossed his mind that perhaps it had something to do with his instincts, like how birds migrate, but he dismissed it. No bird migrated south in the spring.

~

Laboured breaths mingled together, and the smell of sweat and sex lingering in the air. The sun had set not long before, and nights with Dabi had become a sort of routine. 

Hawks would find himself looking forward to leaving work and returning home. Before, he’d work long hours when it wasn’t necessary and his sidekicks were glad for the change. His apartment had never really been a home to him, just a place to sleep before getting up and going back to hero-ing. But now, more often than not, Hawks would come home to the smell of food and Dabi in his kitchen. 

It wasn’t the food that made his apartment home, or even the sight of Dabi in a shirt that had two long holes cut into the back. No, what made the apartment a home was Dabi himself, offering Hawks a small smile before continuing to cook, and wrapping himself around Hawks after dinner when they were on the couch, just talking with the TV playing in the background. It was how Dabi made Hawks feel when they were alone together.

Safe. Warm. Loved.

And of course, there was now. Dabi curled closer to Hawks, resting his cheek on the other’s chest. They both wore content- and exhausted- smiles. The hero pulled Dabi closer, wrapping their arms around each other.

“If I had known you were this good, I would have fucked you sooner-” Hawks joked, earning him a light slap on the arm from Dabi. He chuckled as Dabi wiggled closer. It was moments like this, where the villain was shameless in his want to be close to another, that made Hawks really fall for him. Of course, the fantastic sex was a plus.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are when you’re here, in my arms?” Hawks’ words had a serious tone, despite the smirk that played at his lips.

“I hate you.” Was the only muffled reply, making Hawks laugh.

“Nah, you love me.”

“I do.” The words were quiet, and the moment seemed casual, just banter between lovers, but time seemed to stop for the two of them. It was the first time Dabi had verbally acknowledged that he loved the other. They both knew it, but it had yet to be said. 

Hawks hugged Dabi closer, tucking his nose into dyed black hair.

~ 

The dark and dirty motel that Keigo checked into wasn’t where he had been hoping to spend the night, but it was the only place he could find. 

The smell of old cigarettes smoke and mold filled his lungs, making him gag. He fell onto the bed, and sighed. The tug had become stronger over the past few hours, and by now it seemed so familiar that it gave him a headache. It was like an itch that he needed to scratch.

A shiver involuntarily ran up his spine as the tug became strong for a moment. It painfully reminded him of his feathers. But it couldn’t be a feather, they’d all been destroyed. Unless-

Unless one had survived.

No. No, that wasn’t possible. Besides, the nurse told him that he wouldn’t be able to control his feathers even if they had survived. 

Then again, she hadn’t said anything about feeling them. And now, it was almost as if he could feel fingers brushing along a feather through the tug, ghost touches that reminded him of late nates and the smell of cigarettes.

The feeling was almost there, like there was a thin barrier in the way. And then it wasn’t, and the tug was gone. It left him feeling almost empty. Emptiness became something he was well acquainted with, in the long hours alone at his apartment, or while he was wandering blindly through the city with the tug as his only guide.

Perhaps it was a feather he was feeling, but that would mean that someone had it, and he couldn’t think of anyone Dabi that would have a feather of his . Perhaps it was a civilian who found it in passing and held onto it.

The tug pulled sharply suddenly, creating and almost physical pain. It was soothed over as quickly as it had come. It had to be a feather, there wasn’t an explanation. He wanted to find whoever Dabi had the feather, and figure out how they got it. Maybe he’d ask for it back, so that he could remember his wings as more than just the scars on his back.

The soft touches to the feather continued, and he could nearly feel fingers twirling the feather around, almost playfully. He found himself falling asleep concentrating on the feeling of someone running their fingers along the vein of the feather.

Keigo could feel it more clearly now, as if the realization that it was a feather had broken through some of the barrier keeping him from fully sensing it like he would have when he still had his wings.

He fell asleep not long after, lulled by the soft feeling of fingers playing with the feather.

~

A clock ticked somewhere far away, perhaps reminding them of the time that might soon run out, but Hawks’ mind was on the man resting in his arms. With their legs tangled together and arms wrapped around each other, it was comfortable, and safe. Here, in an apartment that used to mean nothing, the company he kept was good enough for him. For the first time in years, he felt loved.

Dabi’s face was serene, his eyes closed as he rested somewhere between consciousness. The rising sunlight streamed through the window, painting the villain in quiet oranges and reds. His lashes cast soft shadows onto the scarring under his eyes, and Hawks couldn’t look away from the picture in front of him. 

A single, bright blue eye cracked open to peer at Hawks. “Pretty bird,” His voice was hoarse, and his tone close to a song.

“Keigo.” The word slipped before Hawks could think about it. Somehow, it was like he’d forgotten how to say it, or forgotten the meaning. Maybe both. It was foreign, that word, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but when it rolled off Dabi's tongue, it somehow sounded better than anything he’d ever heard.

“Keigo.” Coming from the villain, it sounded how honey tastes, and how the sunset looks. It sent something through Hawks that lit every nerve on fire, and made him acutely aware of everything around him. The feeling of Dabi’s fingers carding through the feathers closest to his back. The smell that he couldn’t quite place, but was so sincerely Dabi that it made him shiver.

Hawks hummed, and pulled himself closer to Dabi, resting his forehead on the other’s collarbone. A comfortable silence fell, and he found himself falling asleep to the sound if Dabi’s breath. 

“Touya.” Hawks could feel the vibrations the name sent through Dabi’s chest. 

He hadn’t expected Dabi to ever share something so secret as his name. No one knew who Dabi was, his files had Unknown marked where his name- Touya- would be, it was as if Dabi had simply appeared one day, scars and all. Not even the League itself knew who Dabi was. The trust Dabi would have to have to tell anyone- and yet he just did.

Suddenly his original mission flashed through Hawks’ mind. ‘ Get him to trust you, get the League to trust you’ The president of the Hero Commission had told him. Oh, how displeased she’d be now, to see him in bed with a villain.

He shoved the thoughts away and leaned up to kiss Dabi gently. 

It was content, it was warm, it was perfect. 

When they pulled away, a small feather floated into the space between them. Dabi took it carefully, and Hawks smiled. “Just in case.”

Dabi smiled and knocked their heads together. “This some weird bird thing?”

His words made Hawks’ grin spread. “I don’t know, maybe. I’ve heard that red-tailed hawks mate for life, though.”

Dabi snorted. “You’re getting ahead of yourself, pretty bird.”

Hawks chuckled. “They don’t call me too fast for my own good without reason.”

It was comfortable here with the other. At times like this, they were allowed to simply just exist. The lines between ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ blurred until they disappeared altogether. Dabi and Hawks didn’t matter here, because for the first time, they were simply Keigo and Touya.

~

A gasp tore through Keigo as he woke up. It wasn’t that the dream was unpleasant, in reality it was one of the best ones in a while. His chest was so full of emotion that he could hardly breath. 

The room was shrouded in dark, the glaring red of the alarm clock that read 2:56 am was the only light. He groaned and sat up, wide awake.

Maybe he’d check out early and go hunt down a 24 hour convenience store to get some coffee. He was cut off from his thoughts as the tug returned, hard enough that he took in a sharp breath. It wasn’t painful, just sudden.

The feeling of fingers was back, making shivers run across his skin. 

Keigo closed his eyes, and let himself focus on the feather. Distantly, he thought he could feel the vibrations of a voice. Focusing harder, he was able to make out a simple, choppy sentence.

“-m sorry, pretty bird.”

His eyes snapped open. ‘ Pretty bird’ ? His mind became a flood of memories- memories of Dabi calling him that.

“Come back to me.”

It was clearer now, and he definitely felt familiarity at the whispering voice through the feather. It was the feather he gave Dabi that night, the one from his dream. 

And then, the tug of the feather disappeared, just as soon as it had come.

He hadn’t spared Dabi’s feather a second thought since the raid, assuming it had burned up in their fight. He thought Dabi wouldn’t care. Was he wrong? Would Dabi have cared if the feather had been destroyed? Obviously he’d kept it, even after their fight. And he was sorry. 

Was he really? He had no way of knowing that Keigo had heard his words, he said them of his own accord.

Come back to me .

The words echoed in his head, sounding sad. Like the words of a man heartbroken at the loss of a lover. Perhaps that’s exactly what it was.

A part of him told him to just turn around, it wasn’t worth it to seek Dabi out. In fact, he would probably just finish the job. Another part of him told Keigo that he needed to go to Dabi, to find him and allow himself to have something he desperately wanted, no matter how much it might hurt if Dabi turned him away.

Or perhaps he was still dreaming. He’d wake up in the hospital, the League captured, his wings intact and his career in place.

No. No. He would take this wingless, League remaining uncaptured, Pro hero Hawks dead world over that one. If it meant he might still be able to reach Touya.

He grabbed his jacket, deciding that it would be better to just go find Dabi now. He wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore, and if he hurried, maybe he could find the villain by sunrise.

He checked out quickly, surprised that the clerk was even up at this hour, and left. He focused on the feather and felt out a vague direction.

He was getting closer, and the connection to the feather was stronger, when he stopped in his tracks. 

Dabi has been targeting Commission agents. Keigo remembered his original theory; Dabi wanted more revenge. That didn’t work with the words he’d heard spoken to the feather. Maybe he was wrong, maybe he’d misheard, maybe it wasn’t even Dabi.

The civilian idea popped up in his head again. Perhaps whoever had it had been one of his obsessed fans. If that was the case, was this really a good idea?

He shook off the thoughts, he’d find out when he got there. No going back now, he promised himself.

The sun had started to rise, lightening the sky, when Keigo came to stop at the bottom of an old, empty building. It might have been an apartment building in its use. 

The feather was here, he knew it. At the top, on the roof. The doubts of earlier came back, and suddenly every cell in his body wanted him to turn back, go home and watch TV for the next year before Black Ops. Maybe he could check out that new bookshop on his way back.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and started up the fire escape. The escape was surprisingly well-kept, not squeaking at all as he climbed. He got to the last step at the top and took another breath before stepping onto the roof.

Across the way, a lone figure stood, their back to him. The breeze made the figure’s long, dark coat swirl around their legs, and tugged at their hair. It was black, but Keigo spotted the tiniest amount of white at the root.

“Touya,” Keigo called, his voice cracking, and sounding far away. The figure stiffened at the sound of his name.

When he didn’t turn, Keigo took a few steps closer, now only a few feet away from Dabi. 

“Touya? Touya, it’s me.” He said, softer this time. Something close to sadness seeped into his voice.

“No. No, please, don’t do this to me.” His voice was broken, and he sounded more lost than Keigo thought possible.

“Don’t- Don’t do what? Touya, it’s me. It’s Keigo.” Confusion was evident in his voice. Thoughts swirled through his head. Don’t? Had he already done something wrong? Should he have turned around when he had the chance?

“No, it’s not. He’s dead. I- I killed him. You’re not real.” A harsh, broken laugh ripped from him. “I’m imagining it. I’ve finally lost it.” Dabi still didn’t turn. The words struck Keigo hard, making him wish that Dabi would just turn around to see that, yes, he’s here, and he’s not leaving again.

“I am. I’m real. Touya, I’m here. I survived.” He let himself smile a little. “Wingless, yeah, but I’m alive.”

“Wing- wingless? No, no- No this is wrong. You’re dead. It was me, I killed you. You’re not here. I’m imagining it.” His frame shook, like he was about to cry. “You can’t be here. Even if you lived, why the fuck would you track me down? I- I was horrible to you.”

Keigo took a step closer. “No, you weren’t. Not even at the raid. You were doing what I expected. I betrayed you, I didn’t honestly think that you would just accept it, I knew it was coming. Touya, you’re the only one that’s made me feel loved in a long time. Maybe even ever.”

Dabi stayed silent, shaking harder. No doubt tears fell now.

“You kept my feather, didn’t you? That’s how I found you. I heard you this morning.” He took another step, right behind Dabi now. “I came back.”

A sob choked Dabi. Keigo reached out and placed a hand on the villain’s shoulder and turned him so that he was facing Keigo. 

Blue eyes met gold again, and Keigo smiled softly. “I came back.”

Dabi’s expression became one of relief as he moved to hug Keigo, who wrapped his arms around Dabi and buried his hands in pitch black hair.

“You came back.” 

“I came back.”

Neither let go, and seconds turned into minutes. Keigo found his face wet, and he wasn’t sure if they were Dabi’s tears or his own. Dabi pulled him into a desperate kiss that tasted of salt.

When he pulled away, he stared at Keigo like he still couldn’t quite comprehend that the other was actually here. “I can’t believe it. Why are you here? I almost killed you.” The villain looked almost distressed.

“I know. But, you didn’t. Sure, I’m a little singed, but I’m okay.” Keigo smiled at him. It wasn’t Hawks’ smile, loud and charismatic. No, this was a small, genuine smile.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know how you’ll ever be able to forgive me. If you ever do. I underst-” Keigo cut him off with a finger against his lips.

“Stop. Look, I realized last night that you had the feather, and I still found you. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be here.” Dabi looked like he was about to break, it made Keigo want to wrap him up and take him home, and forget the rest of the world.

The villain nodded slowly. “I’m still sorry. I was trying to make up for it by going after the Commission, but-”

“What do you mean?” Hesitation came back to him quickly. Dabi has been killing Commission agents, and the motive was still unknown. He hadn’t walked into a trap, had he? He pulled away from the other.

“The Commission- I’ve been going after the handlers mostly, they’ve done horrible things. They deserve worse than the death I gave them.” Dabi seemed confident in his newfound hatred for the Commission, the fire in his eyes glinting brighter as he spoke about them. 

Keigo let his expression morph into something confused. “You weren’t trying to get revenge on me? For betraying you?”

“What? No, pretty bird, I wasn’t getting revenge on you, I’m getting revenge for you.” The words struck Keigo. For him? Of course the Commission had done horrible things to him, but it made him a better hero in the end. Keigo winced, he hadn’t had a thought like that in a while, ever since Dabi had shown him that maybe they weren’t doing anything for him. He’d always been a pawn.

Dabi didn’t notice how Keigo immediately buried himself in his own thoughts. “ You told me once, about how they picked you up as a child, and trained you. The things you’ve told me about, they deserve to burn in hell. I want to be the one sending them there.” Dabi’s eyebrows were creased, and his voice stern.

For once, Keigo didn’t have anything to say. His head raced at the reminder of his tie to the Commission, and his heart filled with warmth that Dabi decided Keigo was a good enough cause.

“They might as well have been the ones that killed you, by sending you on that mission. They put you in front of the gun and I- I pulled the trigger.” Anger. It’s an emotion that Keigo knew Dabi had become well acquainted with, and it drove most of his actions. It was the driving force of this new, self-assigned mission Dabi has chosen, anger towards the Commission, and himself. “They hurt you, and I’m doing this because I care for you. I know it doesn’t help much, and I don’t expect you to forgiv-”

“I told you to stop it. Stop saying I won’t forgive you. Look, I don’t forgive you right now, I don’t think I can. And you’re right, the Commission put me on that mission, it’s their fault too, but if they hadn’t given me that mission, I wouldn’t have met you.” They stood across from each other and Keigo was scowling at the other man.

Dabi scoffed. “If you hadn’t met me, you’d still be a hero, you’d still have your quirk .”

“And I’d still be a bird stuck in a cage with the illusion of being free. By taking my wings, you gave me more freedom than I thought possible. They can’t control my career as a hero anymore, and sure, they want to send me to Black Ops, but that’s why I want to help you.”

The words made a silence fall upon the two of them. Keigo hadn’t thought about joining Dabi until the words were already in existence, but he didn’t regret it. “I don’t want to be their pawn anymore. I would rather help knock them off their pedestals with you and have some real freedom for a change, than go back to them and die, nameless, to some undercover mission.”

Dabi’s lips ticked up in a grin. “You want a taste of real freedom, birdie?”

Keigo nodded, more serious than he’d ever been as a hero.

“That can be arranged. Actually, I have a friend that can probably help with the wing situation, too.”

Keigo frowned. “How?”

The villain shrugged. “Her name is Suzuki Maemi, she works with the Commission. She’s been my informant on who to target. She works with support items mostly, and she could probably make something if I gave her a feather. She’s a fucking genuis. An asshole, but genius.”

“Make something- like wings? You think she can recreate my wings?” The thought was a little terrifying. Sure, science was advanced, but that advanced? 

“Not exactly. Her team used to work directly with your handler to replicate your wings for whatever reason they might need that tech. Black Ops, maybe. The project might have been a success if they’d worked a little faster, or gotten their hands on a feather of yours before they burned up in the raid. The project was scrapped, but Maemi still has the prototype.”

“And you have a feather.” Keigo pointed out. The feather that led him here, the very last one.

Dabi smiled. “Yeah. I didn’t give it to her at first because it was the only thing I had of you.”

“Well, now you have all of me.” Keigo returned his grin. Scratch the terrifying thought, the idea of getting anything close to his wings back was exhilarating. He might be able to fly again.

Dabi turned and headed for the fire escape. “Come on, birdie. I was already planning on meeting up with her to exchange information today. It seems there’s just a little more information to exchange than I thought.”

Keigo followed happily.

He had Touya back, and now, maybe he’d get his wings again too.