Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They have a new apartment.

It's the best they've ever had, but Tomie still deems it shitty. She doesn't have any standards, has never lifted a finger to improve any of their homes or make sure they have one in the first place, but that new decorating show is getting to her head.

Yes, the yellow walls are ugly, the paint faded and stained, but Keigo will change that soon. He has enough money now to buy paint. He might keep the yellow, just choose a brighter shade. Maybe add some green highlights.

Plants. They need plants. The apartment is sunny and big enough. He can put them outside on the balcony when it rains. One of the older workers at the factory suggested it, to save water.

The idea of bright yellow walls and plants is enough to lift his mood.

Keigo puts his meager belongings in his bedroom. For the first time ever he will have his own space. He sets up his mother's TV in her room, with a secondhand couch covered in red velvet, and a coffee table, so she won't watch TV from her bed all the time. It still feels like giving up, because he knows she'll never leave her bedroom again; having her watch TV in the main room allowed him to include her in his life, or at least pretend he could. But she can't sustain a rhythm and will sleep at odd hours and he can't stand it anymore, not when he has a full-time job. Their social worker has pointed out that trying to help his mother was admirable, but that the endeavor was pointless if she didn't want to be helped.

So Keigo grits his teeth, and lets go of that fight. Tomie doesn't care either way, and he can use the living room with the open plan kitchen as he wishes, without minding the noise he makes, and the only reaction he elicits from her is a flying eyeball making an occasional round in the apartment. He feeds his mother, reminds her to shower when the commercials are on, and lets her go back to her shows when the bare minimum is taken care of.

He swallows down his frustration. He tried. She won't pick herself up and he can't carry her. There's nothing more to say.

At least her behavior is dysfunctional enough to obtain a smaller, subsidized rent for her quirk disorder. Keigo told the social worker the input from her quirk might be too overwhelming for her cognitive abilities. It's bullshit, of course. Probably. She has less eyeballs than he has feathers so he knows some stuff about overwhelming input, but quirks do evolve in one generation. He wouldn't put it past her. Tomie is cunning enough to let the health professionals believe she's close to braindead. Keigo's exhaustion helped sell the act. So he gets money from the government for her. He's the official caretaker of his own mother, and gets her money sent to his account. Added to his salary, it's enough to let them live.

So the rent is cheap, especially for what they have; he couldn't have afforded such a big apartment in another area. The main reason is that the building is the last one standing from before the terrifying void left by some huge hero fight that destroyed the area months ago. It's all hush hush, so Keigo doesn't know which hero and which villain were involved, but the facts remain. He can see a huge crater from his bedroom's balcony and the other side of the street is gone. It's a terrible sight and enough to make most people uneasy. But Tomie doesn't see the devastation from her bedroom, and Keigo can fly. He's not afraid of heights.

He has already reconed the area. The crater is slowly filling with rain water. One day it's going to become a nice lake, and Keigo hopes he will be able to buy the apartment by then, because the lake might increase its value. A tiny ecosystem is developing down there, known only to him - there's no way to access the bottom safely without wings. He's found grass, water plants, frogs. He likes to perch on a concrete slab and watch. The tiny lake attracts herons and cranes.

He observes the other birds observe him.

Nobody else gets to see him with his wings nowadays. Keigo was subjected to so much harassment in their previous places for being an heteromorph, he chose to hide them entirely upon moving in this new area. He doesn't need them at work: they would only get in the way and end up smelling like fish. So he keeps the feathers he needs to protect himself, and the others stay at home. He keeps an eye on Tomie that way. It's not far, and he's able to focus enough to map the apartment, pick up the lunch he made for her, and deposit it in her room so she doesn't end up eating nothing until he comes home.

If he perches on their building's roof, he can see the waterfront, the lighthouse, the warehouses, the harbor and its fishing boats, and the factory he works in sorting, gutting, and boxing fish all day. Once in a while he has a drink with the other workers - alcohol-free for himself. They live in the confines of their tiny horizon, swallowing down their dreams with a gulp of sake, but he's not ready to settle for this life.

Nights are for himself. For flying unseen above the city, knowing he could get arrested for daring to use wings that are a part of him. They're for hunting. Keigo knows what being an heteromorph entails. He's not going to repress those urges, just direct them purposefully. He can help in ways heroes never do.

Once, Keigo was a kid convinced that heroes were make-believe. Once, he was a kid worshipping one hero for arresting his abusive shitstain of a sperm-donor. Then that kid had ended up in the street and no hero helped. After months surviving on garbage in a subway station, a social worker came along. The dance of paperwork and half-assed solutions started. School, too. Then Keigo had trouble performing there on top of the jobs he had to work to keep himself and a useless Tomie afloat.

He's eighteen, now. He hasn't been a child in a long time.

-------

All Dabi is able to feel nowadays is hunger. He has spent three years on the street since leaving that creepy orphanage, barely surviving. He lost three years of his life to coma and had the emotional development of a thirteen year old when he rashly decided to not come home to his family. He regrets it sometimes, and absolutely loathes that feeling. The void in his stomach silences his ever growing anger.

The good side of this life is that it made him grow up really fast.

The harbor area is filled with hiding places, but all he finds in the trash is rotten fish. It makes him heave, but he still gathers some of it in a sandwich wrapper. Seagulls like them.

Seagulls are tasty.

The trick is to blast them very carefully with fire, so the feathers burn, but not the meat.

Killing the birds after cooking them makes him feel like a monster. But according to the looks he gets in the street, he is one. He grins. The staples newly set on his face sting. He doesn't think the gang that was harassing him into joining will look for him in Fukuoka. They want a heavy hitter, but he has better plans than burning himself to a crisp so others can make money.

After eating three birds, he feels a little bit more clearheaded. He washes his hands in seawater, even though the seams on his wrists burn like hell, and the salt turns his flame yellow for a second when he lights his hands up to dry them. He watches the sunset, sitting next to the lighthouse he broke in to find shelter, and tries to find peace in the sight.

Beside the gang, a man named Giran offered him work, back in Tokyo. If Dabi accepts his offer, he'll definitely turn to organized crime. If he doesn't, he might not survive long enough to go after his father. It should be an easy choice.

But it's not. A part of him, burdened with regrets, wants a place to call home.

He's nineteen, now. And he's so exhausted.

-------

Keigo likes the little pebbled strand next to the lighthouse. He dislikes finding seagull carcasses strewn everywhere. He understands nature, but this isn't a predator. Whoever did this is sick. Or maybe desperately hungry, he tempers, turning the dead bird on its back. It's been partially eaten, and some parts are charred. The bird hasn't even been gutted, smelly innards still intact, more or less. It's disgusting.

This is the deed of a clumsy hunter, then. He snorts. Letting a feather loose to scout the area, he looks for a heartbeat.

He finds it inside the lighthouse. Through the feather, he listens to the raspy breath of a chain smoker. The person is asleep, their temperature abnormally high. Are they ill? What kind of sorry soul would be hiding in a lighthouse, feeding on messily killed seagulls? Keigo leaves the feather to monitor them, and goes back home. He doesn't work tomorrow but he still needs to sleep. He'll come back in the morning with some food. He can afford it now.

He knows how it feels to go hungry. If the person sleeping here is a poor guy down on their luck, he will help them. If they're killing birds for laughs, though, he'll kick their ass.

He comes back to a quiet apartment. Blue light indicates Tomie is still in front of the TV, but he finds her asleep. He turns the device off, and gathers her dishes. She ate all the miso soup he gave her, but didn't bother with anything else. Her eyeballs rest in a dish filled with saline solution for the night. Keigo is pleased she at least took care of that herself. She tends to just leave them on the bed and then complain they're dry and itchy. Maybe the social worker was right, and babying her too much is counterproductive.

He washes the dishes quickly before going to bed. In the lighthouse, the person is still sleeping.

The feather detects a change in the early hours of morning. Keigo gathers some simple food. Miso soup in a thermos bottle, bread, a couple of mikans. He leave the same array of food for Tomie, should she decide to get up before he comes back. Putting some feathers in a backpack, he leaves the apartment.

--------

Dabi stirs in the early morning, hungry again. He doesn't feel rested and everything hurts. Sleeping on piles of rotting paper on the floor will do that. He wonders if there's a market somewhere near. He might find some fruit or veggies for free when the vendors pack up.

The lighthouse lacks the most rudimentary equipment. The single tap works, though. Dabi lets the water run for some time until it clears. It's the color of rust, but he can boil it with his quirk so it's at least safe to drink. He rummages in the closets, and mostly finds old paperwork and rusty tools; a cup with a broken handle, but better than nothing. He rinses it with the mostly-clear water and carefully heats it up. Leaving it to cool for later, he keeps searching.

He drinks the water after giving up on his search, and steps outside. There's not a single soul in sight. For some reason, tourists avoid the area, probably because of the hero fight that killed so many people not far from the harbor. Not that people really think the place is haunted, but it's a dead end, and the most depressing sight. Dabi had a look at the crater when he first arrived. He found a pile of dead flowers next to the hastily built safety barriers. This is where the road stops, cut in two by the disaster, and there's nothing more than a rotting reminder, and fading farewell messages.

The tourist area is on the other side of the hole, so naturally all traffic was redirected to other roads. Nobody has any reason to come here, next to the industrial harbor and its fish stench.

Dabi sighs. He still has some fish innards left. Time to see if he can catch more seagulls.

He carefully opens the sandwich wrapper containing his bait, and waits. The damn birds won't come near, though. Some of them circle in the vicinity, but fly away, as if frightened by something. It takes a long time for one of them to approach. Dabi sends a blast of flame at it, but misses. His wrist stings like it got slapped.

"What the hell," he swears.

"So that's how you kill them. Why the fuck would you do that?"

He turns around, and his first reflex is to burn, but he freezes when something sharp presses against his throat. The boy holding the knife is around his age. He's blond, handsome, and his yellow eyes are pinning him in place. Dabi looks at the bright red wings. Being an heteromorph explains why he could sneak up on him so easily. Dabi tries not to fall prey to prejudice, and genuinely isn't convinced that heteromorphs have more of a violent streak than the general population, but he's heard it often enough to be wary. Whatever the truth is on that issue, though, this boy doesn't fuck around.

"I asked you a question," the boy says.

"To eat them..."

"Hum. Thought so."

Dabi stays still. The tone is less harsh, all of a sudden, and the boy looks at him closely, most likely assessing the threat he might pose.

"I've got food," says the boy. "I'll give it to you if you promise not to burn me. That's quite the quirk you have here. So?"

"Alright. Put the knife away, for fuck's sake."

The boy smiles, and takes a step back. Dabi doesn't have the time to even see the knife he was holding, it vanished from his neck so quickly; he felt the displaced air against his fucked up skin. Then the guy gives him a bag.

"Dig in. It's all for you. But I want my bottle and my bag back."

Dabi peers inside the bag, incredulous. Nobody just gives him food nowadays; it happened at the beginning, before the scars became so prominent, but now he only gets wary or even disgusted looks.

Who is this guy?

-------

Keigo watches the lanky boy fold his legs and sit on the rocky ground. He sniffs the food, like he's afraid it could be laced with something, before he starts eating it slowly. He's taking the smallest bites, and Keigo understands why when the staples closing his mouth start bleeding.

He sits down too, and tries not to stare. The boy can't handle his own quirk, obviously. He's covered in burn scars. Under all that, he has delicate features, framed with snow-white hair. His eyes burn a bright blue. He looks frail, famished, and desperate. He might be a runaway, but he doesn't match the descriptions of the currently missing persons. Keigo would know. Looking for runaways is one of his specialties, and he makes sure to stay up to date.

"I'm Keigo. What's your name?"

"I go by Dabi."

Keigo takes note of the hesitation. The guy isn't even sure he should give him that fake name, or he just came up with it on the fly. But his state says otherwise.

"Thanks for the food," says Dabi. "Dunno how to repay you though."

"You don't have to. I've never seen you in the area."

"I'm from Tokyo. Needed a... vacation, let's say."

Keigo nods. The guy is probably a small time criminal, or trying to avoid gangs. It makes sense, with a quirk like that.

"This is not the best place to squat," says Keigo. "There's a homeless shelter in town, you know?"

"No, thanks."

The blue eyes turn wary. Alright. Criminal becomes more and more likely. They ask for names in shelters. Keigo can't help but pick at it a bit more.

"Well I can't feed you long term, but there's a social worker I know. He's a good person. He could help you."

"Can't. I'm... I just can't." The boy seems mostly defeated. "They'll send me back to my family. I know they will. I can't go back there. My father will make me wish I was dead."

"So you can't give your real name. Means you can't work either."

"I'd need an ID for that."

"There are laws against abusive parents, you know?"

Dabi laughs. He sounds a bit crazed. "My old man has enough money to get away with everything he did."

"Alright."

Keigo ponders the situation for some time. Dabi, meanwhile, finishes the soup and gives the bag back.

"Thanks. It all tasted great. I'm... Thanks."

His shoulders slump.

"You're stuck, right?" says Keigo.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Well, this place is a dead end. And the lighthouse is moldy as hell. The first storm will make you wish you were anywhere else. You could still try the shelter. Ask for Daisuke, tell him I sent you." It's not the first time he has to do this. He has paper and a pen, and quickly draws a map, with Daisuke's number.

Keigo won't push it, though.  He has learned that some battles are not worth fighting. Tomie taught him that.

What Dabi does now is up to him.

Chapter Text

Dabi leaves the lighthouse the following day. What the bird guy said is true, the place is a dump. He doesn't go to the homeless shelter, though, and wanders through the city instead. He spends the night in a park, and wakes before sunrise with his clothes drenched in rain.

He dries them with his quirk, then smokes stolen cigarettes under a bus stop until the rain lessens and people fill the streets. Pickpockets a couple of wallets. He's set for a week, at least.

Usually, he avoids stealing. The risk of getting caught is too high and heroes love to make a show of roughing up pickpockets in the street. But he needs to stop moping, feed himself properly, and find a place to sleep and train. Would the crater work? People avoid it and it's big enough that his flames wouldn't be visible from the street...hm.

Afterwards, he finds an empty building to squat in. It's a pain to break into since it's supposed to be demolished - too close from the crater to be safe, it's one big storm away from sliding down into the hole, if the warning signs are to be believed. People have vacated in a hurry, leaving most of their belongings behind. Dabi does a spiteful little dance in the lobby, and chooses an apartment on the second floor, on the street side. If the building starts to move, he'll jump through the window. And if he dies...

...Well, fuck it, his life isn't that great anyway.

There's no running water, so he builds an improvised rainwater collector on the roof, using camping supplies he found in one of the apartments. He finds a bathroom whose drains still seem to be connected to the sewers, and spends some time cleaning it. He has a semi-functional kitchen too, now. That was the easiest part, since he's a walking stove.

He doesn't find much non-perishable food; maybe the place has already been gone through by someone else. But there are some spices, soy sauce, dried kombu, mirin, and a fair amount of rice stored in a wooden box...that's enough for a basic pantry. Spare clothes he finds in spades, enough to fill a duffle bag. He chooses a nice futon for himself, and a blanket. This crumbling building perched on the side of the void is the best squat ever.

The fact that it's empty speaks for how dangerous it is to stay here.

Dabi doesn't care.

-------

More than a few vigilantes operate in Fukuoka. The local heroes aren't flashy ones, but they take their job seriously, at least as far as the non-heteromorph population is concerned. Keigo is told the police and the local heroes work together more readily here than in Tokyo. Even so, he still finds enough to do in the industrial part of the harbor when he goes out. He doesn't make it a regular occurrence; he has a day job and his mother to take care of. Mostly, he will lend a hand, or a wing, when and if the more active vigilantes of the city ask him for help.

Tonight is such an occurrence. "Owl, have you heard about those muggings lately?"

"Can't say I have," says Keigo. So Kitsune tells him about the violent assaults going on at night. The perpetrator seems to have something like a strength quirk. Maybe. They might be an heteromorph but they don't know for sure.

This is a sore topic for both of them. Kitsune, of course, would like to handle this himself discreetly, because that kind of crime puts the whole heteromorph community in hot water.  But being a small arctic fox, he's not that strong. He's quick on his feet and he has a good fighting technique, but being slightly more athletic than the general population is all his quirk can do. Keigo's quirk is powerful and versatile, though even his fox friend doesn't know his full potential.

Keigo agrees with the principle of cleaning their own messes, to an extent. He's a part of the community but he hides his birds traits to avoid trouble. They don't make him ugly in most people's eyes, but he's quite tired of getting remarks bordering on fetishism, and he also used to get regular inquiries from gangs who saw wings and thought "delivery service". Kitsune complains that people treat him like a pet; Keigo thinks he's a handsome man and attention is a given, but there's a fine line that most people cross without thinking. They both know they're still some of the lucky ones, with animal traits but human faces.

"Mamba is too scared to go out. He thinks the cops are going to give him trouble."

"If they decide he's a suspect, they'll get him at home," Keigo replies. Having a poisonous snake quirk doesn't make you popular, even with a mostly human face. Mamba is a brawler with a rap sheet, but also the father of two young kids, so it makes sense for him to keep a low profile right now. But Keigo wouldn't mind having him by his side if they're up against someone strong. They could be a complete psychopath, for all he knows.

He takes off and spreads all the feathers he can spare. He doesn't fly too high as a result, and mostly sticks to the roofs. After three hours, the input is already too much, and feeling the onset of a migraine, Keigo tells Kitsune he has to call it a night.

He stores his feathers in his bag and walks home. He's not that disappointed with his fruitless patrol, because three hours before it got too much is real progress. But he has the feeling he could do so much more, with proper training...

The rain picks up again when he's close to home. It doesn't prevent him from noticing the faint light on the second floor of a condemned building, two streets from his own home. It can't be more than a few candles, but still. There's a squatter there.

Keigo swears. That building is empty for a reason. But he's too tired to investigate now. He'll send some feathers tomorrow.

He doesn't get to sending the feathers until the following evening, though, because he wakes up with a mild headache that he doesn't feel like aggravating just before his shift. The day is miserable and he puts in earplugs to lessen the stimulation - and old Kyoko, his favorite co-worker, gives him a painkiller. Their team makes good work, and their boss is a decent person. He gives them some of the fish, the smallest ones who get sold cheap but make a mean soup. Today, Keigo buys some tiny grey shrimps at the market. He can get veggies at low price from a damaged shipment, too. Working in a warehouse area has its perks.

Once home, he cooks the fish soup right away, and the shrimps as well (and if he eats half of them raw, nobody has to know). Tomie makes a pleased noise upon discovering the meal he serves her. He doesn't expect more, but he's surprised when she asks him:

"How was your day?"

He turns around. She's still facing the TV, but her floating eyeballs are watching him.

"It was fine, Mom."

She nods. The eyeballs return to the screen. It's not a conversation, he shouldn't even be grateful for this, but he still feels lighter.

Right until he sends his feathers to investigate the squatter in the condemned building two streets over, and discovers a chainsmoker rasp and a too-hot body.

"Dabi, you dumbass."

---------

It was the best sleep Dabi'd had in ages.

He wakes up when the setting sun hits his face, in a comfortable bed, feeling rested for once. He cooks rice and eggs for breakfast - or dinner, or whatever people who are lucky enough to have regular meals call this. He gets water from the makeshift rain collector he's set on the roof and boils some of it in a big pan. He sets some aside to drink, and uses the rest to wash himself. The new clothes don't smell fresh, but he'll find a laundromat somewhere. Clean clothes that smell good lower people's suspicions and make it easier to empty their pockets.

But he'll need to find other ways to make money soon. He attracts too much attention with his looks. It's a pity he's too ugly to sell himself. Three years ago, he would rather have died, but now? He's all for some easy job.

He's also curious to try the sex thing out. As long as it happens in his own terms, he should be safe. He knows how to burn roofies and he's never been afraid to inflict third degree burns on creeps trying to corner him. He's not prey. Not anymore.

Dabi examines his naked body in the full wall mirror of the bedroom he chose for himself, looking for weakening seams that need some help holding on. The ones on his back don't look like they're going to rip right away, but they'll need staples soon. If he doesn't go back to Tokyo, he'll have to find a back alley doctor in Fukuoka and he doesn't know anyone.

It sucks.

His thin, ruined body isn't an enticing sight, and he swallows around the lump in his throat.

He's definitely not using this to make money, whether he wants to or not. He knew that already, but he hasn't been able to get a good look at the devastation he is for a long time, and it's shocking even for him. The mere thought of someone else seeing this, touching him, commenting on his appearance fills him with so much dread, he...clearly won't allow any of those things to happen anytime soon.

Dabi gets dressed again with slow movements. His heart misses a beat upon noticing a red stain on his bedding. Did a seam bleed already?

But it's not blood.  It's a tiny red feather.

He picks it up and examines it. He doesn't know of any bird that would exhibit such a vibrant color except for a scarlet macaw. Maybe the old resident had one. Is that even allowed? He strokes the feather a couple of times; it's so soft and pretty. He ends up putting it in his pocket, for no reason at all.

First items on his to-do list: find a map of the city, go to the laundromat and wash his new clothes and study said city map, and then buy some food. Later in the night, he's going to hang out in a seedy bar and see if he can find some information on what's going on in the underground. The harbour area might be the playground of traffickers. They're always looking for new faces to be on lookout, play delivery boy, or, more likely in his case, be a distraction.

Maybe he should avoid flaunting his quirk for now. He just might need it to break into (or out of) somewhere. Right now the only person who knows about it is the blond boy who gave him food.

But he's not worried.  The boy looked like a nice guy. He probably won't rat him out.

-------

There's a reason Keigo doesn't allow anyone to touch his wings.

They're sensitive. Why did he leave that feather in Dabi's vicinity? Now he's found it, and he's touching it with too-hot fingers.

It's overwhelming, and not in a good way. Like a stranger tickling you without asking for permission on a bus ride (though a stranger asking for that kind of permission would also be creepy).

Then Dabi pockets the feather, and Keigo's sensory plight ebbs to simply a warm feeling at the back of his mind. Slowly, Keigo exhales to calm himself.

Silver lining of the situation: when the building goes down on the white-haired boy's head, he'll at least be able to find his body.

Though, he'd really rather convince him to move out. He doesn't want to have his feather on someone when they die.

For now, he has to go out for a second night in a row, because Kitsune texted him that he was tailing someone suspicious, and there's no way Keigo is going to let his reckless friend endanger himself. He's tempted to go to bed anyway, just to make a point, but he knows he won't be able to sleep.

So he picks up the duffle bag he keeps his feathers in, and leaves Tomie to her movie. When he sees him, Kitsune remains largely unfazed by Keigo's annoyance. He has a one-track mind when he's focused on prey. Following their scent, listening to their footsteps...Keigo's bitching elicits nothing more than a single flicker of a white-furred ear.

Keigo is a predator too, so he understands. He's not in the mindset right now, but he might be. He's not the one making the calls; his instincts will kick in, or not.

He sends in some feathers, and catches sound. A raspy breath, not like Dabi's but deeper. The low rumbling gives him an idea of the individual's size, and he worries. The guy is huge.

"He smells like blood," Kitsune whispers. "And weird. Like someone sick? You know. When meds change the metabolism. But I don't recognize the kind of stuff he's on..."

Keigo shrugs. He'll trust the fox, he's mostly clueless on the topic of scents. They follow the guy at a distance, and stop when he enters an alley. They both know it's a dead end.

They're two against one. "Let me talk to him," says Keigo.

Kitsune sends him a doubtful look, but nods.

Keigo realizes quickly that there's no talking to whatever is going on here. This guy is huge indeed, and he looks feral. Like heteromorphs-are-getting-bad-press-again feral. His mutation is a black wolf, animal head and all, and Keigo is hit by stench. No wonder Kitsune was able to follow the guy so easily. Keigo is grateful that birds of prey don't have such a developed sense of smell.

The wolf's eyes settle on the fox, and he licks yellow teeth with a huge dark tongue.

The color...doesn't look right to Keigo.

The guy utters one word that vaguely sounds like "pretty", and lunges.

Keigo first thinks the wolf is dumb to ignore him, but soon realizes that it makes no difference whatsoever. He's abnormally strong, and Kitsune has a hard time dodging him in the narrow alley.  Keigo's feathers barely slow him down, and he's not strong enough to fight him head on. He can't cut the wolf, because he's quite sure that nothing short of a deadly blow would stop him.

They can't win this fight. They need to get out.

Kitsune tries to climb the wall to escape, and Keigo calls his feathers to build his wings again, but he already realizes that he's going to be too late.

The wolf catches his friend by the ankle and slams him on the floor.

Kitsune howls in pain.

Everything seems to slow down in Keigo's mind.

Kitsune is hurt. 

This is not supposed to happen.  They do this vigilante thing safely, dammit.  And Keigo -

Keigo is useless.

Unless he goes all out and kills the wolf. But that's a line he can't cross. He can't lose everything now.

But he can't watch whatever the guy's going to do to his friend either...

None of them notice the third (fourth?) party approaching until a dry chain-smoker voice snarks:

"Sloppy, Birdie. I'm not impressed."

The alley lights up with blue flames, and the wolf recoils so fast from the fire, Keigo has to get out of his way. The air smells like burnt hair.

But Dabi doesn't use his fire to down the wolf. The guy charges him thoughtlessly, and Dabi sidesteps, trips him up, and hits him behind the head with a metal pole.

Keigo replays the move in his head.

Okay, that was smooth.

The wolf doesn't stir when Dabi kicks him. He looks smaller now that he's down. The fire wielder turns the guy on his back to have a closer look. He's so much smaller that Keigo can't help asking, "Is your quirk making huge enemies look non threatening? Because I could swear this guy was bigger five minutes ago."

"He was. He was on Trigger. Look at his tongue. It's all black. You didn't notice?"

"Trigger?"

"Okay, I know this isn't Tokyo but you don't know about Trigger? It's a quirk enhancer. It gets messy when used on a mutation quirk, I don't recommend it."

Keigo has to admit he has never heard of Trigger, and he wonders if this is how Dabi got his scars. But he has bigger concerns right now. He turns toward the fox.

"You alright?"

Kitsune looks pissed. Well, if he has enough energy to be pissed, his injuries are probably not that bad.

"There's something broken, probably, but I can move my legs. Thanks for asking."

"Could have been worse."

"Don't tell me."

Kitsune sits up, with Keigo's help. He sends Dabi a wary look. "Thanks for your help. You smell like blood, are you injured? Or did you kick another ass before?"

"I'm not... Fuck, a seam broke."

"Seam?"

"My healthy skin and my scars tend to split. I need stitches."

"No hospital, I guess," says Keigo.

"You're guessing right."

"I can patch you up at my place. I know how to suture wounds."

"Cool, if that's taken care of, I'd like to get my ass to the ER," says Kitsune. "My God-damn scapula is grinding."

Keigo hoists Kitsune on his back after dismantling his wings, and Dabi follows them, still carrying the iron bar. Keigo tries not to get distracted by the practiced reels the guy absent-mindedly makes with the weapon. He makes it look so easy.

The fox calls their main hero contact to give them an account of tonight's events, and gets an earful for his recklessness. The hero hears Keigo's laugh and tells the fox to relay some choice words to him. Keigo sobers, but only a bit. Dabi looks at them like they're idiots. It's a recurring pattern tonight.

"You just...happen to know a hero and trust that they won't arrest you for picking up a fight?"

"They're a friend, and a heteromorph too," says Kitsune. "This isn't Tokyo, as you love to remind us. We have hero contacts and we work together. As long as we don't step out of line."

Dabi seems doubtful, but Keigo doesn't resent him. Tonight was one of those situations vigilantes dread, where stepping out of line is necessary, and still unforgivable.

Without Dabi's involvement, Keigo would have been forced to kill someone. And he never, ever wants to be in that situation again.

Chapter Text

The night didn't go like he expected, but Dabi doesn't mind. Nothing like a little fight to improve his mood, even if he had fucked up his back ahead of schedule. They leave the fox in front of the ER. Then he follows Keigo to his place. They pass his own squat on the way and he stops.

"Mind if I get some clean clothes at my place?" he asks the bird. "I can feel blood dripping down my back."

"You should get all your stuff. Or rather, I'll get it for you."

"What?"

Keigo turns around to look at him, sternly.

"This building is one wrong move away from crumbling. I'm not letting you go back in there."

"But it's fine if you go inside yourself?"

"I'm not going to." Keigo opens his bag and feathers fly out. "Where are your things?"

"...The room other there. I've got a duffle bag."

In awe, Dabi watches as feathers swirl away and open a window, working together like a set of extra hands. It takes a while, but they deliver his bag.

"Anything else?"

"The futon was nice..."

Keigo grins. His feathers bring back the futon, and the blankets, and all the things Dabi can think of and doesn't necessarily need, but asks for anyway, just to see what the blond boy can do.

"How do you even manage that without seeing ?"

"Proprioception," says Keigo. "I know where my feathers are even if I don't see them. The same way you know how to scratch your butt without looking."

"That's impressive."

"Well, I also happen to know that building very well. There was a lot of food left inside. I gathered everything I could find and gave it to the shelter."

At this point, Dabi is mostly wondering what stopped this guy from defeating the wolf man. His quirk is overpowered. A small part of his brain screams "top ten material!" but he ignores it. Some people, who weren't bred by an egotistical hero to uphold a legacy, don't let their quirk define their whole life. More power to them. He wishes he could do the same.

"I hope it's all you need, because I'm getting a headache."

"Really? Fuck, yeah that's fine. Thanks."

They roll the futon up with everything inside and clumsily carry the bundle to Keigo's apartment. Dabi doesn't know where this is going; Keigo is just allowing him into his place with all the stuff he (technically) stole, and, well, Dabi is homeless right now. But is this just for tonight? Is Dabi out the door in the morning? He'd like to know so he won't get his hopes high, or something.

Climbing the stairs is a pain, but they make it to the apartment and drop everything in the living room. Dabi catches his breath. In the meantime, Keigo gets a look into one of the rooms, then carefully closes the door.

"We're going to share my bedroom," Keigo whispers. "My mother is asleep and I'd rather not have her in my business right now."

They pick up Dabi's bedding and set it in the bedroom, and Keigo unrolls his own futon. He disappears briefly in the bathroom and comes back with a basin filled with hot water, a towel, and a med kit.

"Right now I'd rather get your sutures done before I'm too tired for it. You can shower in the morning but you should avoid wetting the sutures for a couple of days. Could you remove your shirt?"

Dabi complies and lets Keigo wipe the blood from his back. The sutures sting, but he refrains from complaining. Keigo seems to know what he's doing.

"Where did you learn?" Dabi asks to distract himself from the sting.

"Watching nurses patch me up. I used to cut myself quite often with my feathers."

Dabi is reminded of the knife at his throat on their first encounter. So that was a feather? He can't wait to learn everything about this fascinating quirk. "Is that the reason why you didn't know what to do back there? You were afraid to maim that wolf dude?"

Keigo pauses briefly. Then he resumes his work. "My quirk is dangerous. But I guess you know all about dangerous quirks."

"I do."

"But you also seem to know how to fight without it. Would you... teach me?"

"What's in it for me?"

Keigo sighs. It sounds heavy for a guy that young.

"We need to talk about this tomorrow. No decision after nine pm."

"Where the hell does that rule come from?"

"Hard-won experience."

"Darn. With my usual sleep schedule, that leaves me like, five hours to make decisions."

Keigo snorts. When he's done with the stitches, he desinfect the whole area again and bandages Dabi's torso. They go to sleep shortly after. Usually, Dabi would have trouble falling asleep next to someone he doesn't know all that much. But he feels safe, for once. He lets the rare and precious feeling envelop him like a blanket.

‐-----------

"Mom. We have a guest. I have to leave for work and he might stay here today, so try to get along, okay?"

"Boyfriend?"

"What? No! He's a friend. Anyway, gotta go! See ya!"

It makes sense for Tomie to think Keigo would bring a boy home and not a friend, because he usually doesn't bring friends home. But he wouldn't bring a boyfriend home either, so it makes no sense at all. She's just messing with him, is all. His cheeks are burning. What the hell. He would never have time for a boyfriend anyway.

Keigo leaves a note for Dabi, hoping he will read it and not leave before he comes home. This isn't a charity case anymore; this guy can fight. He made quick work of an adversary that Keigo didn't know how to handle, because he's too inexperienced with his quirk, and too afraid of hurting people the way he used to hurt himself when he started experimenting with the consistency of his feathers.
How the guy learned to fight is a mystery, but he waltzed into their brawl with so much certainty, Keigo can't help but feeling envious.

Maybe there was a lot of cockiness involved. But Dabi knew what he was doing. Keigo has good sight, and his raptor brain is able to analyze movement and slow it down. He picks up his broom and tries to spin it. He gets dirty water in his face as a result and he swears. Let's just focus on work for now.

At lunch break, he calls Daisuke to discuss the situation at hand. He explains to the social worker that he's housing a runaway who is scared to be sent home.

"He's a minor?"

"I'm not sure," says Keigo. "He's around my age but I didn't ask."

"So if he's a minor he might turn eighteen soon anyway."

"Is there any way to give him some sort of protection so his family doesn't find him?"

"I have to discuss his situation with him. I can't have any restraining order issued without notifying the family, obviously. Do you think he'd be willing to speak with me?"

"Dunno. I'll ask, but I'm afraid he will make a run for it if I push too hard. I'll think about a way to spin it."

"Alright. Tell me how it goes. In the meantime, I'll prepare a bag for you. Will you be able to pick it up at the shelter after work? Giving a little something might convince him we're here to help."

"Thanks a lot, Daisuke. I will do that. He has clothes, we mostly need food. Toiletries, too."

"Alright. See you later!"

Keigo is pleased, but also anxious. He's going to bargain with Dabi in a selfish way so the fire wielder does something to help himself. It's twisted, but they should both benefit from it.

--------

Dabi wakes up at noon and starts stretching, before a sting in his back reminds him he shouldn't do that yet. The bird has left a note for him, saying he's left for work and Dabi is welcome to stay home and rest. Dabi gets stuck on the word "home". This place isn't just a place to sleep for the bird. He's paying rent; he intends to paint the walls if the pots in the entry actually contain paint. He owns quite the collection of potted plants. He's made an actual effort to decorate the place.

Dabi gets up and opens the balcony door. The sight is dreadful, a drop in the crater just beyond the road. Seen from the fourth floor, it's scary. Dabi loves it. From here he can see the building he was squatting until yesterday, precariously perched on the edge of the hole. He understands now why the bird didn't want him to stay there. He doesn't know how the building hasn't toppled over yet. Half of its foundations are resting on nothing.

The sight is sobering. Dabi smokes a cigarette on the balcony - he doesn't think he's welcome to smoke inside, and he's not a heaven to do so unless he's explicitly allowed to.

Then he puts his jeans on and goes to see the living room. He finds the same level of care there. Bright blue bowls sit on the shelves, next to tiny coffee cups in mismatched shapes and colors. The bird collects stones and seashells and pieces of glass polished by the bay waves until they're smooth and looking like candy. Dabi can't help his fond smile. Keigo is way too serious for a teenager, but this is cute.

After that, Dabi looks through the pantry and the fridge. The bird told him to help himself if he's hungry, but Dabi is no freeloader. He can at least cook dinner. He will just have a look at what he can work with for now. There's not a single bottle of alcohol in the cupboards, but all the basic necessities are there, as well as veggies in the fridge. The freezer is full of fish, so vegetarian it is. He can add omelette stripes to the dish.
He should ask Keigo's mom if she's alright with him cooking. Talking of the devil... the door of her room opens, and a single eyeball floats toward him. It stops well out of reach, and Dabi gapes at it. Keigo didn't say what his mother's quirk was. This is... freaky.

"What are you looking for?"

The voice belongs to a small woman with blond hair and sunken eyes. Her eyes are a light shade of blue, and she looks as faded as the paint on the walls, like the color washed out of her. She stays half hidden behind the door, obviously wary of him.

"I was looking for tea? Or maybe coffee? Whatever you have."

"We have coffee."

"Is it alright if I make a cup for myself? Do you want one?"

She seems to think hard on it. Then she nods. She lets him figure out the coffee machine, and he makes her a cup. She just shakes her head when he asks her if she wants sugar; it looks like she has exhausted her words quota for the day. She gets up to pick a box from the fridge and put it in the microwave. She takes another one and deposits it carefully in front of him. Dabi reads the sticky note on it. It says his name. Keigo must have prepared this before leaving for work.

They don't talk, and it's beyond awkward. She only nods when he asks if he can cook dinner. When she's done eating, she sets the dishes in the sink, goes to the bathroom, and retreats in her room.

Dabi feels like he has just met a ghost. Keigo's mother reminds him painfully of his own, on the days she was unwell to the point of dissociating. He wonders what kind of courage she had to summon to stay in the same room as him, a perfect stranger, and basically a stray her son picked up from the street.
He washes the dishes and puts some order in the room. There's not much to do and he's quickly bored out of his mind. The bird doesn't own any books. The only one in sight is a book about indoor plants borrowed from a public library. He reads about tropical ferns, naps for an hour, smokes another cigarette on the balcony and watches the crater, and when it's about time, he cooks dinner.

‐---------

Keigo comes home a bit later than planned, since he made a detour to the shelter. Daisuke prepared a bag of groceries and basic necessities, with added pamphlets from associations and from the library.
Even so, Keigo still doesn't know if he will be able to convince Dabi to accept help.

He comes home to a fresh, home-cooked dinner, and pauses, a bit confused in front of the unfamiliar scene.

"Hey," says Dabi by way of greeting. "I've haven't cooked in ages. Hope it's gonna be edible."

The stir-fry looks pretty decent, Keigo thinks.

"Thanks. It smells good. You didn't have to."

"Come on Birdy, you let me stay here last night, it's the least I can do."

Keigo can hear the question Dabi is too afraid to ask. He decides to clear the air right away. Letting the uncertainty linger would be cruel.

"You can stay here as long as you need to."

"You can't be serious."

Dabi turns off the stove and watches Keigo with a mix of fear, hope and incredulity. It's painful to behold, because Keigo understands on a deep level the fear of relying on someone when you're used to being self-sufficient, even if you're barely surviving. Asking for more is terrifying. More can be taken away and where does that leave you? Certainly in a worse state than you were at the very beginning.

"You helped us yesterday. Someone was going to die in that alley, you know this, right? Or at least be scarred forever. It was no joke. And you just... butted in and saved the day."

He doesn't say anything about the consequences for himself, because in the end, he would have saved Kitsune, whatever the price to pay. Keigo was once a very socially stunted kid who didn't know how to navigate school after growing up in a broken home. The fox was older, and always ready to pick a fight to protect a fellow heteromorph. He never berated Keigo for not getting things right away, or for asking questions about stuff everyone else knew. He never told him his unblinking stare was unsettling. He connected him to the community, and Keigo was never alone again.

"I'm not some kind of hero. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"And it was enough. So it's the least I can do. Mom and I, we spent some time on the street after my shitstain of a father was arrested. I know that you don't climb out of the hole alone."

"Who helped you?"

"Daisuke. Here, he gave me this bag for you. It's mostly food. You also have toiletries and other stuff in there. I'll let you have a look. I'm gonna ask Mom if she wants to join us for dinner."

Dabi looks shell-shocked, and Keigo allows him some time to recover. Tomie is watching some really dumb reality TV. She doesn't react the first time he asks, but she shakes her head when he asks again.

"I'd rather eat here. We still don't know who ate the cake. They're all lying about it, I think."

"Right."

Keigo chuckles. He chokes on his own spit when Tomie adds:

"I had lunch with your boyfriend. He's nice."

He waits for her to elaborate, but she's done, focusing on her show again. He comes back to Dabi who is rummaging through the bag and looking for room in the cupboards for the food.

"You gotta thank that social worker for all this stuff, it's amazing."

"Don't you want to thank him yourself?"

Dabi pauses but doesn't look at him. He's examining the pack of rice he's holding.

"I don't know yet."

"He talked about getting a restraining order against your family. If you want."

"I don't know."

"They can't drag you back as soon as you're of age, you know?"

"I'm nineteen."

"So what's the problem?"

"I'm fucking scared is the problem."

"Is your father a yakuza or something? Because I saw you kick ass yesterday like it was nothing."

"It was just a guy on Trigger."

Dabi sighs. He presses his hands on his eyes.

"I'm not afraid my father is going hurt me physically. But he would either decide the way I live doesn't suit him and lock me up, or ignore me entirely. Whether I'm of age or not doesn't matter. He locked my mum up in a hospital. She's been there for five years. I don't know what happened, I was already gone."

"That's awful. Wait, you're telling me you've been in the streets since you were fourteen?"

"Not quite. Fuck, it's a long story. Let's eat, okay? I'll tell you afterwards."

After dinner, once the dishes are taken care of, they make tea and settle in Keigo's room. Dabi tells him about the quirk accident he had when he was thirteen years old, and the strange orphanage he woke up in after three years in a coma. How he ran away from the creep who wanted him to call him Sensei.

"So they basically kidnapped you?"

"Yeah. My family thinks I'm dead. I'm legally dead too. It makes it impossible for me to get an ID and a job."

"But you didn't go to the police."

"I didn't want to come home. I wasn't relevant anymore and my death changed nothing. My father is still projecting his ambitions on my kid brother. Like losing one son to his hubris wasn't enough. It's driving me crazy..."

Dabi presses his hands to his eyes, like he was trying to hold back tears.

"Dabi... Who is your father?"

"You're going to freak out if I tell you. If you even believe me."

"I'm freaking out already."

"You seem calm to me."

"I'm freaking out internally. Come on. I'm not going to tell anyone. Look at me."

Dabi does so. His hands are tainted with blood.

"Fucking hell, why are your scars bleeding like that? Why is your nose bleeding? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"My lower tearducts are messed up and the pressure makes the grafts under my eyes burst everytime I cry. They're... extremely fragile. It'll heal under a couple of days."

Keigo gets some tissues to wipe the blood from Dabi's cheeks. The white haired boy just lets him.

"You don't have to tell me your name right now. But I hope you'll agree to meet Daisuke."

"Alright. Dunno if I'm gonna be able to tell him, though."

"You don't have to decide right now. We have some time. But..."

He hesitates. It's a lot to ask for at this point because Dabi is emotional but the issue cannot wait.

"You can stay here for now. But I'm not rich. I need you to pull your weight. Seeing Daisuke would allow you to get some financial help, until you're able to get a job. It's a temporary fix, but it's something."

"But I have to tell him who I am to get it, don't I?"

"I don't know for sure."

Dabi sighs. Or maybe it's a sob. It's hard to tell.

"No decision after nine pm?" he says in a pleading voice.

"You're right. Let's go to bed."

"Thank you."

"It's fine. Can you do something for me though?"

"Yeah?"

"Teach me how to use a crowbar like you did the other day."

"It's bo staff technique. Kinda basic. Okay, I'll teach you."

Keigo smiles. It's complicated, but they're making progress.

--------

The condemned building collapses the very next day. Dabi is smoking on the balcony when it happens, and he doesn't miss anything. His first thought is that it goes fast. He has barely registered the cracking sound and the building is already folding on itself and sliding inside the crater. The whole scene lasts less than fifteen seconds.

How naive he was to believe he could get out in time.

A huge cloud of dust rises from it. One of Tomie's eyeballs breezes past Dabi's shoulder, takes the devastation in, and flies back inside at a leisurely pace, like saying "it's fine". The sight is so funny that Dabi can't help it. He laughs until he's breathless. It sounds a little crazed but he's feeling a lot of complicated emotions right now. He owes Keigo his life. Dabi could have died in that building and not a single soul would have known. Not a single soul would have missed him.

First responders and police arrive, after a while. He goes inside and closes the balcony door before someone spots him and gets ideas, like asking him if he can give a witness statement.

Dabi can't stay cooped up in the apartment any longer. He puts on a face mask and leaves. He warns Tomie and she tells him where to find a set of spare keys.

He goes to the shelter, because he promised he would look for the social worker, and the building collapse set something in motion, within him. He knows how to use the momentum to overcome his fear. A volunteer directs him to the right office. Dabi takes a deep breath, and knocks.

The social worker is a man in his fifties, with slightly greying hair and no apparent quirk marker. He's tall and thin, and otherwise unremarkable. He smiles at Dabi.

"How can I help you?"

"Keigo sent me?"

"Ah, you're Dabi? Nice to meet you! Please take a seat."

Dabi sits down on one of the chair in front of the desk. He's out of his depth in that cluttered office, with a guy in a suit working for the government. The walls are covered with children's drawings and silly pictures; Dabi immediately spots a drawing of a yellow haired boy with red wings. So many things depends on that appointment and the place doesn't match the dramatics of his emotions right now.

"First things first, are you a minor?"

"I'm nineteen."

"Do you feel comfortable disclosing your identity?"

"I don't know..."

"So it's a no. That's alright, I'll tell you about your options first."

The guy explains what kind of help Dabi can get. For housing, for job searching, even schooling. It all feels very irrelevant to his situation.

"It all hinges on me telling you my name, but as soon as I do, I'll get in trouble."

"Keigo told me you had issues with an abusive family. I can have a restraining order issued and start an investigation. If you're family is residing in another prefecture, I'll forward..."

"My father is a prominent personality, so you will get crushed as soon as you start something. He will come and get me. I will probably not be allowed to leave home ever again. If he doesn't lock me up in a psychiatric hospital."

"Did he ever threatened to?"

"No, but he did this to my mother."

"How prominent is that person?"

Dabi doesn't answer. He feels disappointed, but what did he expect?

"Alright. Let's see if we can approach this differently. What do you need right now?"

"Money."

"And how have you been finding it until now?"

It's another thing Dabi can't say. The social worker smiles and keeps talking in a light tone.

"Guess if I dig, I'll find a couple of complaints against a scarred pickpocket. Inconclusive evidence, but you should stop that. You're not that slick."

"What the hell..."

"On the other hand, I happen to know about a fox heteromorph who was saved by an unknown scarred vigilante. So I think you're not just a criminal."

"Where is this even going?" Dabi grumbles, feeling scared and annoyed.

"If the underground is your scene, you should know that the local heroes will give a small financial compensation to their informants. Being in their good grace might not hurt when you eventually come clean with your identity. You will have to, down the line. You're a sitting duck like this. But that's how you can buy time to think about it and work toward your autonomy. A family might want to get a teenager back. But as an adult it's less likely."

Dabi gapes at the guy.

"Vigilantism is illegal."

"Only if you use your quirk. I suggested information exchange by the way. It's like being a freelance investigator, but you get money from the heroes off the books."

"What's the catch?"

"Well, this appointment also stays off the books and I can't get you money in the legal way. Until you tell me your name. Or you come back with a very good fake ID but I know nothing and I never said this."

Dabi laughs. This guy is batshit crazy. But in a likeable way.

"In the meantime, I can give you care packages once a week. It's mostly food, but if you need clothes, we have donation bins, so we can get them easily. We also have a nurse on site, and you can get an appointment with one of the doctors who volunteers here, but there's a waiting list. We treat people by order of emergency. You can get an appointment without disclosing your identity; we treat everyone, regardless of their legality, so they don't have to get indebted to an unlicensed doctor or break in a drugstore. Please let me know how you're doing, okay? My door is always open."

Dabi gets another bag of food. When he protests that he got one two days earlier, Daisuke tells him innocently that he remembers giving a bag to Keigo. Not Dabi.

Dabi comes back to the apartment in a daze. Someone listened to him, and didn't dismiss his concerns. He can hardly believe it. They didn't come up with a perfect solution, but it's still more than he expected.

Chapter Text

Keigo comes home to a peculiar scene.

Dinner is on the stove. It looks like a vegetarian stew (still no fish; Dabi will have to rip the band-aid off at some point; you don't get anything but fish in a fish factory, and the freezer is full of it). Dabi and Tomie are watching that abysmal TV reality show. And Tomie is talking.

"So that's the guy with the ray quirk. He's supposed to have an electric tail, but there's a debate."

"About what kind of tail?" 

"Exactly." 

"What the fuck." Dabi laughs, light and carefree. Tomie keeps explaining the show's intrigue and shenanigans for a while. Keigo watches them fondly.

He knows that he loathes TV for a reason: it took his mother's attention away from him. Her being so remote and neglectful is something he had a hard time recovering from, and he still isn't entirely over it. Bonding over her shows is something he can't do. But he doesn't resent Dabi for being able to.

Maybe having a roommate will help get Tomie out of her shell. 

Of course, the TV wasn't the problem. She was. His father was. But it's easier to blame the coping mechanism than the person, especially when you still live with them.  

They notice him soon enough, though he's sure Tomie knew right away that he was here. Dabi grins at him and gets up. "We're watching it again tomorrow, okay?" he says to her.

Tomie nods, her eyes on the screen. Dabi closes the door of her room. He sends a little apologetic smile to Keigo. 

"I felt I had to meet her on her own turf."

"You make a good point." 

"I went to the shelter and talked to Daisuke."

Dabi checks on dinner while giving him an account of his appointment. Keigo isn't surprised Dabi wasn't able to disclose his name, and as far as he knows, the white-haired boy might have valid reasons not to that go way beyond the fear. Playing informant is an unorthodox solution. And a temporary one, Keigo is quite sure. Dabi is a little bit too far gone for a regular job right at the moment, and Daisuke knows it. Dabi has some education, though.

He's such a mystery...but Daisuke has some investigating skills himself. He'll probably find out and keep that knowledge to himself until Dabi is ready. 

"Oh, by the way, the building collapsed."

"Yeah, I heard about it at work." 

"Want to check it out? From the balcony?"

Keigo nods, though he doesn't quite get why Dabi is so excited to show him the building he might have died in. He gets surprised by the setting on the balcony. Dabi brought in a cardboard box as a makeshift table, and left a covered pan on it.

"What's this?" 

"Surprise! It's part of the dinner, but I need your help turning them. And I have no idea how long they need to cook." He removes the lid of the pan with a flourish and reveals several tiny fish laid on the greased surface, still raw. "There's no way in hell I'm cooking them inside. It'll smell for days. So I'm gonna cook them here. I need a third hand to flip them. Ready?" 

"Wait, how are you cooking them?"

"With my quirk." 

"Right. Why am I even asking? Spatula?"

"On the table. So, low-medium heat? I have no idea." 

"How hot is your fire? You were roasting seagulls in one blast, so I worry." 

"Let's start with low heat." 

Keigo blinks, thoroughly impressed. Dabi can actually exert very fine control of his quirk. He sets the flame at a distance from the pan, and ramps the heat up progressively. 

"I'm going to flip them now," says Keigo, amazed.  The fish smell heavenly and aren't even charred. "Just hope you don't expect me to eat them here."

"Come on, it's your home." 

They cover the pan to cross the room, and set the table. It's the best, most light-hearted dinner Keigo has had in a long time. 
 

--------

Kitsune agrees to introduce Dabi to his hero friend, and soon he finds himself sitting on a worn chair in a messy office in front of a man, tall enough to look Endeavour in the eyes, who is displaying a heavy lion mutation and magnificent mane. 

Komainu, the Protective Hero, is so low on the charts as to be nonexistent to the public eye outside of Fukuoka. He's also a brash, fuck-the-system kind of guy. Kitsune tells Dabi that this underrated hero is a staple of the heteromorph community in Fukuoka. And he's taking the Trigger threat very seriously. Dabi has opinions on heroes' obsession with fame, but he quickly understands that this guy is the real deal, and all the more controversial for it. 

"I rely on my informants. Pay depends on the money I make with my arrests. I share a part of my income among all the people who helped me. I'm on several cases at once, some of them I only supervise from afar so my most seasoned vigilantes can solve them by themselves. I give them cover, and process the perps. This is off the books entirely. If you snitch to any of those goody-two-shoes heroes who spit on vigilantes, I break your bones."

Dabi has heard less threatening speeches from gang members. But he gets where the hero is coming from. Komainu focuses on crimes committed against the heteromorph community. Those don't make headlines and most heroes don't care. He's fighting alone against bigoted activists like the Creature Rejection Clan, a wide net of sex traffickers, and the random hate crimes. Fukuoka's vigilantes work with him to pick up the slack, since the system let them down. But it all hinges on Komainu being able to keep his license. If he wasn't here, the whole district would engage in a turf war. 

This is the kind of hero Dabi can respect.

Komainu has rules, such as keeping him up to date by writing reports. He says they don't have to be flowery speeches; he'll translate them into proper reports suitable for the system. He needs concrete information, and doesn't want to waste time with speculations. He's very adamant that vigilantes know their limits - Kitsune gets a glare so fierce that he tucks his tail between his legs - and extract themselves from situations they can't handle. 

"I'm not your nanny. I can't come running to your help every time you get in hot water. Can't be everywhere at once. You need to coordinate together." 

He asks about Dabi's skills and frowns at his fire quirk. He fishes a pile of photocopies from his desk. 

"Too flashy. You'd better not use it at all. This is the law package surrounding vigilantism, and some cases of vigilantes who got caught and put on trial, so you know what you're getting into. Your first job is to read everything and write a summary. I want you to ask yourself two questions: what can you get away with, and what are the things you shouldn't do at any cost. The answers are here. I'll give you ten thousand yen for this." 

"That much?"

"That's when people usually get cold feet. It's a lot of reading."

"I've got a lot of time." 

"Other skills than reading? Can you fight hand to hand?"

"I can. And I can fight with a bo staff." 

"My favorite weapon. We'll test your abilities as soon as you're done with the law package." The lion-headed man grins.

His sharp white teeth could grind bones, and he must be terrifying in a fight. Dabi can't help but think that his low rank is undeserved. But it might be what you get when you don't play nice with the HPSC and its regulations. 

When they leave, the fox sends him an expectant gaze. His arm is in a sling and the side of his face is blue, but he's still conveying some kind of fierceness - even if he looked like a kitten next to the hero. 

"What do you think?"

"That I've got homework to do." 

"You won't make loads of money, you know."

"I don't need much. But I need the training." 

Kitsune nods pensively. 

"Thank you again for the save. If you need me, I'll be here. As soon as I recover. I'll be on paperwork duty for now, but I'll get you in touch with everyone. Keigo is doing his own thing and he has a job, but many of us are unemployed. So we take turns helping."

They set up a meeting. The local vigilantes all adhere to the district's social club (named, without originality, Hakata's Social Club) and use it as a cover. Dabi learns that the club provides a place for young heteromorphs to gather, along with mothers and old people. Workers play pool there at the end of their shift. The whole heteromorph community converges in the social club and cops usually give the place a wide berth, which is a nice bonus. Dabi can access it too as a guest without providing an ID. Maybe he should pick up a hobby.

The fox promises to get him a cheap burner phone and show him the ropes. He gets so excited and bubbly, his tail is wagging. It's cute, but Dabi has the feeling he would get bitten if he said so out loud. 

--------

Dabi produces steam when he's really, really embarrassed. It's hilarious. 

"It was in the care package," Dabi mutters. 

"There's always one." 

"There wasn't one in the first bag."

Because Keigo had removed the safe sex kit before giving the bag to Dabi. He didn't want to convey the wrong type of message or muddy the waters; you don't give condoms and lube and sex ed pamphlets to a homeless guy you're letting sleep in your home. It would imply a payment that Keigo would be horrified to receive. 

He can't help but notice that Dabi still reads the pamphlets, cheeks red and a tiny cloud hovering above his head. It has no right to be that cute. 

Dabi has started on Komainu's homework. He's taking notes, and seems to be at ease with all the kanjis of the legal texts. Keigo cried over this; the exercise was such a challenge for his low level of education. Dabi's writing is neat and flows easily. Keigo is impressed. 

It spells rich kid, but he already knew that. It's one of the first things Dabi told him: his abusive piece of shit father is supposedly too wealthy for the law.

It raises questions. Like, is it safe to stay in the dark while housing this particular runaway, and will it blow up in his face? What does Dabi want, deep down? A safe place to live? Or is there more? Keigo can remember his school days, when all the kids were raving about heroes but he couldn't relate because he was already disillusioned about them. Real heroes don't leave civilians' lives in shambles in the wake of their fights. But he couldn't say a thing: he was a heteromorph and the son of a villain. That's not the best standing in society. Luckily, he made friends at school (other heteromorphs, without surprise). 

When he sees how utterly alone Dabi was before meeting him, he's grateful for the life he had. 

Dabi can also fight...

Keigo suddenly realizes how dumb he's been. Dabi's father might be a hero. He bites his lip to silence himself. He can't ask that question right now. Dabi might run away again.

But that doesn't mean Keigo can't investigate. 

Hours later, he's bored out of his mind. He's looking for conspiracy theories about heroes on his phone. Dabi is still  working. Is hyperfocus his quirk? 

"You know Komainu wants a summary? Not an essay?"

"I'll get to it. These are just my notes." 

"Do you want to take a break?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Wanna see the bottom of the crater?"

"Can we even go down there?"

Keigo calls his feathers and flaps his wings once, realizing belatedly that creating such a gush of wind wasn't the brightest idea. Dabi shrieks and calls him a pigeon, and Keigo laughs so hard. Dabi stays upset for a grand total of two minutes before he ends up laughing too. 

They gather the papers Keigo sent flying (Dabi wrote numbers on his pages, he's so smart) and leave the apartment. They walk cautiously toward the edge of the crater. A narrow trail allows them to walk down for some time and reach about a third of the way to the bottom. The rest is too tricky and unstable to walk, so Keigo flies them down. (Dabi hates this with a passion.)

They settle on a concrete slab. No sun reaches down here at this hour, but the weather is mild. They watch the lake for some time, before Keigo needs to break the silence because they're so solemn he's getting uncomfortable.

"Heard a rumor about All Might being the one who leveled the area,'' he says, ''but I don't know if it's true. He's usually more careful about collateral." 

Dabi snorts disdainfully. He watches the flight of a crane in silence for a while. It left when they arrived, but it's coming back now, and resumes its hunt. Dabi whispers, so as not to disturb the bird again. It's sweet, Keigo thinks.

"Top ten heroes don't care all that much about collateral. Even All Might. He's not the worst, but sometimes he makes mistakes. No wonder with a quirk like that. Numbers aren't made public, but yeah. It's a scam. I mean, either his persona is a scam, because you don't smile with all those dead people on your conscience, or he himself is a scam and he doesn't give a shit. And don't get me started on...the rest of the top ten."

Keigo thinks Dabi has someone specific in mind. But he remains silent. 

"It's a pity we didn't pick up more stuff in that building," says Dabi. 

"Did you need something?"

"No. I would have sold it. People left so much valuable shit behind and now it's all destroyed. But maybe we could get wires."

"Oh. Yeah, Mamba sells copper leftovers from his plumbing and electricity jobs; he'll know a place." 

They look at the thick electric wires tangled in the rubble with matching feelings of greed.  Dabi smiles brightly.  "How about we start training your quirk, then? You said you can use your feathers to cut stuff?"

They spend three hours down the hole, and gather half of Dabi's weight in copper (Keigo would know, since he has to carry everything). He ends up with a cardboard box full of copper and a mean headache. 

"This is worth twenty thousand yen," says Dabi. 

"That much? Doesn't make my headache any better, but nice to know."

"I just hope we can sell it without getting too many questions." 

"If not, you can melt it and make art or something." 

At home, Keigo flops facedown on his bed after showering. He doesn't bother with a shirt. Sometimes his wings need space, especially when he overuses his quirk. Dabi showers too. When he comes out of the bathroom, he snickers upon seeing Keigo so miserable. 

"You're a cruel teacher," Keigo mutters.

"Wait until you have your first bo staff lesson to complain." 

Keigo doesn't react when Dabi sits next to him, but startles when a warm hand settles on his neck. 

"Too much?"

"Just surprised." 

The massage remains very soft. Dabi lets the heat do most of the work. Keigo lets out little chirps. It feels incredible. He can't help wondering how more contact would feel.

Maybe he should avoid that line of thinking. He's going to blow his load if Dabi keeps doing this. 

"You alright?" 

Dabi sounds flustered himself, and Keigo doesn't dare look at him. He savagely stomps on his desire with all the weight of rationality. It's too early. He doesn't know enough. He definitely shouldn't get his wires crossed because of a pretty shiny boy who offers him food and warmth, it's all accidental bird flirting and doesn't mean a thing. Life is so short anyway. No decisions after nine pm.

He's so hard, he can't turn over.  He'll have to turn the light out with a feather even if he still has a fucking headache.  How is life fucking fair. 

"Can I turn the light off?" 

Dabi's request surprises him but he only nods. He doesn't trust himself to utter a whole sentence right now. 

Keigo is disappointed when Dabi goes to his own bed. They both take a long time to fall asleep. 

Chapter Text

Kitsune is a friend, but right now Dabi low-key wants to punch him.

That fox guy had taken one good look at him and Keigo and laughed. That had happened the last time they all met - just for fun, for once; they were attending a party at Hakata's Social Club, where everyone brought food and drinks and there was music and they all got drunk in a very undignified manner. Except Keigo, who doesn't drink; he got everyone home safely without complaining about it. 

Kitsune has decided that "this" whatever it is, is going to blow up in their face in approximately seven months. Dabi doesn't get it. Keigo obviously does, and is annoyed with Kitsune's drunk ramblings, but he won't explain.  Mamba, the snake quirked guy, had only smiled, and muttered "spring" to Dabi, but that doesn't clarify anything. 

In the meantime, Dabi takes some pleasure in teaching Keigo and Kitsune how to fight with the bo staff. If he's going a little bit hard on Kitsune, well...it's only fair.

Komainu has sparred with Dabi a couple of times, and deemed him capable enough to teach some basics to the other vigilantes.  He wants him, however, to work on his strength before they resume training together. Komainu understands that Dabi didn't have steady access to food in the past, so he's given him a meal and training plan, and a big box of protein powder. 

The hero is scary, but he's a real sweetheart. 

Dabi likes the heteromorph community. He gets looks sometimes, but he's used to being the odd one everywhere he goes. Besides, word is circulating that Komainu took a special interest in Dabi, and people are getting used to him. They give him food for Keigo and him to share; Keigo distributes fish, and asks Dabi to deliver it around; Dabi knows it's a way to cement him in the community, so he plays along. Receiving thanks from mothers and old ladies is heartwarming, anyway. He meets with other vigilantes at the Social Club and they openly discuss cases while playing pool. The older regulars watch and pipe in sometimes. They know everything that's going around in the port area, and gangs always underestimate their earshot; it's incredibly useful. 

Sometimes, when Dabi watches Kitsune pull acrobatic moves like it's nothing, he wishes he was born with such a quirk, instead of the defective fire quirk he only ever uses for cooking nowadays. He's under strict orders not to use it in the field.

But when Mamba discovers he can weld metal with his quirk, Dabi finds another use for it.  Under Mamba's direction, he goes through a whole list of little plumbing jobs, and actually makes some money that way. Mamba teaches him all kinds of other skills too, like how to repair a washing machine, hotwire a car, and pick a lock. He tells him about Fukuoka's gangs: who is in charge, who is a complete psychopath and to be avoided at all costs, and who can be bargained with. 

The social worker, Daisuke, also gotten Dabi an appointment with a doctor. He'd hesitated (what if they take a DNA sample without telling him?), but in the end, he had to go. He can't let the sutures on his back fester. 

It went well.  The doctor had declared that the staples don't hold him together at all; they just hurt before the seams between his scars and healthy skin do, so he's more mindful of his movements.  It's reassuring to know that Dabi won't fall apart without them.

And he prescribed a medical burn cream.  It's specialized, and the fact that it's so effective pleases him and makes him angry in equal measures. His father could have bought him that kind of treatment easily. Instead, he decided to punish Touya and make him suffer all the consequences of the obsession he planted the seeds of.

The treatment doesn't reverse the damage visually. But it makes the skin softer, less itchy, and it allows the seams to heal and remain stronger. Dabi can move again without bleeding, and it feels wonderful. 

He leaves the staples, as a statement. The doctor just shrugs and explains how to take better care of them and detect an infection on time. 

Dabi hasn't been this content in a long, long time.

-----

Keigo is suffering. Kitsune laughs at his pain, and tells him to stop pining and ask Dabi out already. 

"Fucking hell, it's not that easy! He needs a place to stay; I can't ask him out now and have him agree only because he doesn't want to get kicked out!"

Kitsune opens his mouth, and then closes it. He picks up the binoculars again and they resume their stakeout. 

"I'm sorry for pushing. I'm just pretty sure he won't turn you down no matter what."

"Maybe. But I also don't want to ask him out as long as I don't know his real name."

"Did you find anything?"

"I have a wild theory. But it's not about who he is, it's about the principle of the matter. Trust goes both ways. I allowed him into my life, I trust him with this vigilante stuff I can get thrown in jail for, but he can't tell me his name? He'll have to meet me in the middle before I make a move."

"Healthy boundaries and all that?" 

"Yup."

"That's going to fly out the window in spring, and you're gonna jump him." 

"I hope the issue will be resolved by then. If not, I'm going to take a vacation."

Keigo sends out a couple of feathers. Still nothing. The warehouse they're stalking is empty and it's boring as hell. 

"Boss says he'll have an intern this summer," says Kitsune. 

"Really?"

"She's a hero student from Hokkaido. A girl with a bunny quirk." 

"Sounds like trouble."

Kitsune smiles a toothy smile but says nothing. 

"Really. Don't. Rabbits are feral. Real creatures from hell."

"I know. I saw pictures from her social media. She's hot."

"It's gonna be a mess," Keigo complains. 

"Probably. They're all going to want to ask her out to prove they have matching stamina." 

Keigo wants to bang his head on the concrete roof. Heteromorphs aren't the last to fall prey to preconceptions linked to their quirks; he's aware he's doing it too. Instincts aren't always wrong, and they're not always right.

It's a mess, and hardly any medical research gets financed when it comes to heteromorphs because "hey, we did the job on humans and on animals, just try to find a middle ground and don't complain about your spring problems." Except heteromorphs aren't a middle ground, they're quirked people. 

Besides, he already has a problem and he doesn't want spring to add to his troubles. 

-------

"Okay, what's the thing about spring?" Dabi asks.

Mamba grins. Dabi likes the snake guy.  He's strong and capable. A little too much of a hothead, but at least he won't fold like a wet tissue in front of real trouble (unless the trouble is cops, but Dabi can relate). He's his favorite sparring partner, meaning Dabi gets his ass kicked but still comes back for more because Mamba never belittles him for being a skinny light-weight. He's a supportive guy. Dabi likes patrolling with him.

He also likes patrolling with Keigo, but his bird friend doesn't go out often. Dabi goes almost every night, nowadays. But never alone. Trigger's spread from Tokyo and invaded the coast, and they all need to be extremely cautious. 

"How come you don't know? It's a porn category on its own." 

"What?"

"Mating season? Hot bunny chick can't get enough dick? Bull guy breeds his herd of sluts?" 

"Duh. That's...demeaning. Don't you think?"

"That's porn in a nutshell, boy."

Mamba goes on a rant about the health system ignoring heteromorphs' specific needs, and the general population fetishizing them, and especially their mating seasons. 

" - Nobody loses their head during that time. First, it's specific for every person so you always have pals around to remind you to drink a glass of water and cool down. Seconds, if someone asks you out during their season, it means they already wanted to, they just needed an extra boost of courage. Sex is better because of course it is. Desire always makes it better. But sometimes a guy will take advantage of a heteromorph woman during that time and pretend she wanted it, and then sometimes court will let him get away with it because they don't know shit."

"...That's awful." 

Dabi is learning that a full stomach, a painless life, and friends change perspectives. Feeling angry on someone else's behalf is something new. Empathy is something new. He's tremendously ashamed to realize how selfish he was. Nowadays, the idea of admitting who he is to Keigo fills him with more shame than fear. Because he left his siblings behind. His mother had a mental breakdown, and he never visited her.

If he had an ID, he could go to the hospital and see her now. 

How come he didn't even think of this before? How could he stay single-mindedly focused on his lame revenge plan that accomplished nothing and helped no one, not even himself? He feels so dumb.

He stops in the middle of the alley. Mamba continues ahead of him before realizing Dabi isn't following. 

"What's wrong, kiddo?"

"...I left my family behind." 

"Your father was a dick, you told me?"

"Still... I never stopped to consider I wasn't the only one suffering. I felt alright with leaving them. But I made it worse."

Mamba sighs. He walks back and puts strong hands on Dabi's shoulders. 

"Dabi. The steps backwards are part of the dance. Do you want to help them?"

"Dunno if I can."

"Well, one day you might. You just have to be prepared and do it in a way that doesn't cost you too much, because your life matters too." 

"You're a freaking mind reader." 

"Nope. You're a lightweight who will ramble about revenge after three beers. The boss's whole shtick is not to die while trying to help, like a fucking moron. As in, hero school mentality is lame and all that shit. "

Dabi frowns. Not that he doesn't agree, but come to think of it, he doesn't know which school Komainu attended.

"Know that he's a self made man," Mamba adds.  

"That's mind reading!"

"Nope, just a logical way for your thoughts to wander. You can apply to the hero licensing exam on your own, you know. You have to go through a written exam first and you need a sponsor. There are no more than five open spots every year. Most people don't know, and that path is highly discouraged. But it's possible. Most of the time, it's a way for vigilantes to get reformed." 

Dabi blinks. That's a thought. A wild, crazy thought. 

"My father didn't want me to be a hero because my quirk is defective." 

Mamba smiles, bearing his fangs. 

"Your quirk is alright; it does mean yakitori."

"Come on, I'm being serious!"

"I am too. You have to use it in a way that works for you. I mean, if I bite someone, they'll probably die. But I donate my venom for research purposes. They make meds out of it. It's being tested right now in Fukuoka's hospital. I'm quite proud." 

"Oh...that's great."

Mamba puts his arm around Dabi's shoulders. They resume walking. He feels overwhelmed, but in a good way. Where were the supportive people when he was a child? 

-------- 

Spring will be here soon, and Keigo has started on his nest.

It's a grand word to call his hiding place. A few years back, he found a little room in the lighthouse that nobody can access without a ladder from outside, and that the maintenance company doesn't open from the inside of the tower, though he bolted it anyway. He'll go to work as usual, but spend his nights there. He has a nice hammock, a small gas heater, and manga of the kind he can't be caught reading at home because he never knows when a floating eyeball will come in and watch him. He's never shared his hiding place with anyone, but for three years since his seasons started, he's been staying here every time he needs to be alone.

Or, if he's being entirely honest with himself, when he badly needs to be with someone but there's nobody he wants to be with. He's been told that hawks mate for life, and nothing is scarier than the idea of staying with the wrong person, just because a small part of his brain said so. 

It will be a pain to leave the apartment and Dabi behind, because the white-haired boy might be hurt. He's been understanding and open-minded so far, and Keigo thinks that they might let their relationship evolve one day.

But not yet. He does understand why Dabi is afraid, but it's been months. They've had each others' back in dangerous situations. Keigo has let him into his home. Dabi can admit he's the presumably dead eldest son of the number two hero. 

People give things away when you live with them. And sometimes they talk during their sleep. Nightmares. Whatever. It was a shock to realize, but it makes sense. Once Keigo started looking into old articles and forums, he had found loads of information about the Todoroki children. The tabloids love to dig, and did most of the job for him. And it was so easy to use filters on one of Dabi's pictures to erase the scars and compare it to the picture on his obituary.

He knows which school Touya Todoroki attended. He wasn't on social media in his 'lifetime', but most of his schoolmates were, and they talked about the son of the number two hero on their accounts. 

Touya was a loner. A kid who was watched from afar, but not bonded with. No hints at the stalker who knew how to find the teenager on Sekoto Peak, where he allegedly died from a quirk accident, but that was to be expected. 

Keigo chuckles. Funny how thinking about Dabi's past effectively kills the mood. Pre-season usually has him excited and distracted. He feels nothing but cold focus right now. 

When the nest is clean, and Keigo has gathered snacks and drinks, he goes home to get some clothes and explain the situation to his roommate. 

Dabi is cooking. He smiles at Keigo - his stomach hurts a little at the sight. Keigo sits at the kitchen table. "I'm not sleeping here tonight. And I'll be away for the rest of the week."

Dabi pauses. But he doesn't turn around and he says nothing.

"May I ask for a favor? Could you please look after Tomie, make sure she eats, and remind her to shower? Her sleep schedule is a lost cause, so don't bother with it." 

"Alright. I'll do it. Anything you need?"

"No. I'll be available if you want to text. I'm not going far. Just taking some time off." 

"Is it the spring thing?"

"Yeah."

Dabi's shoulders slump. Keigo would like to tell him that he spends that time alone. He just can't stay around his mother when his instincts quick in. She has never been very understanding of his heteromorph traits, and she's never bothered to learn more above her own misconceptions. He could explain why he leaves. 

But Dabi looking a bit dejected is not enough to make him change his mind, even if he's glad to see that his interest is somewhat reciprocated. He's seen his mother lose herself in obsession with a man who never lifted a single finger for her wellbeing. Keigo won't make that mistake.

If Dabi is truly interested, he'd better make some effort to show it. Asking questions would be a good start.

But Dabi closes off and says nothing. 

---------

The bird answers his texts, albeit not reliably. Dabi doesn't know what he did wrong, and he really doesn't feel like asking the others. Tomie doesn't comment on her son's absence. After three days of mopping, he resigns himself to his fate, and tentatively breaches the subject with Kitsune during one of their patrols. The fox laughs at his pain. 

"My season was in February. Did you even notice?"

"No?" 

"Well. Know that I have a friend with benefits whom I go to in those situations. Some people romance the hell out of their significant other. Some people tend to isolate. Or they party hard all week and hook up. Or ask someone out." 

"In which category does Keigo fall?"

"Did you ask him?"

"What's your fucking point?"

The fox sighs, annoyed. He glares at Dabi, who feels called out for no reason. He's done nothing wrong. He can't divine what people aren't telling him.

"My point is that you're so afraid to give something away that you don't ask about anything. We know nothing about you. We're feeling confident you will have our back in a fight, but beyond that, you're an unknown entity. We don't even know your name." The fox squares his shoulders and invades Dabi's space like he's itching for a fight. He might be.  "And telling nothing is dumb, you know? I guess you fled something or someone, but if they come searching for you, we won't know what to expect. We won't be able to send them on a wild goose chase. We might believe their lies and give away something that fucks you over. You don't trust us and it makes you vulnerable."

Dabi blinks. He never considered the situation from that angle. 

"You make a surprising amount of sense."

"Of course I do."

"I'm afraid you'll see me differently." 

"We will. And next time you do something unusual I'll see you differently again. And maybe you'll gain my utmost respect one day if you win that chicken wings challenge." 

"What the fuck? You eat twice your weight in chicken."

Kitsune bares his teeth in a cocky grin. But the smile fades right away. 

"What I mean to say is that you don't get to ask Keigo to tell you anything about such a personal and intimate moment of his year, when you don't even trust him enough to tell him your name."

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to coach you through basic relationship stuff. He has enough work with his useless mom, you know."

Kitsune falls silent, and calls it a night shortly after.

"I'm going to speak with Keigo," says Dabi. "But I don't know where to find him."

"Guess you'll have to search."

"I'm...I can't track him. I don't have that kind of nose."

"Then use your brain? Fucking hell you're hopeless." 

The fox is so annoying sometimes.

Dabi scowls but the fox just sends him a cheeky smile and runs away, leaving him in the dust, and Dabi is left alone on the harbor.

It's four in the morning, and activity is picking up. He'd better make himself scarce before a dockworker yells at him for being in the way. 

He leaves the harbor behind and walks along the shore. He really doesn't know where Keigo could be, but if Dabi wanted to be alone, he'd go to the lighthouse. It's also the highest point around here, after the dock's cranes. The bird likes high places. Dabi looks for nice pebbles and polished glass pieces along the way. Not that he thinks that shiny rocks will soothe whatever goes through Keigo's head during his season, but they're pretty in the low light.

Dabi sits down on the ground next to the lighthouse and watches the sun rise.

Nine months ago, he was utterly alone, and now he has a roof over his head, even if it's temporary. He should tell Keigo his name, and then talk to the social worker. Daisuke might let his father know he's alive, and maybe Endeavour will come looking for him. But he might leave Dabi alone when he sees what's left of him. His father has no use for him anymore, right? That's why Dabi went over the edge in the first place. Maybe he'll just make sure his defective son doesn't embarrass him. Maybe he'll agree to give Dabi some money to buy his silence and keep him away from his masterpiece. Maybe Dabi will take him up on that offer. What's the worst that could happen anyway? If his father takes him home forcibly, he will pretend to accept the situation and run away again at the first opportunity. There's no way to contain his quirk without specific equipment.

And if push comes to shove, revisiting the revenge plot is always an option. 

If Keigo is upset and throws him out, he might be able to find another place. Another squat, another roommate situation. Maybe Kitsune will feel bad since he's the one who suggested Dabi should come clean about his identity in the first place. 

He fishes the polished glass shards from his pocket and fuses them together with his quirk. It's a fun activity. Komainu suggested art to keep training with his quirk. He makes a little bowl with a misshapen shape. 

"That's pretty."

Dabi turns around. Keigo is standing here, dishevelled from sleep, his wings on full display. He's wearing a T-shirt and boxers, and he's barefoot.

"Hey. Did you sleep in the lighthouse?"

"Yup. I've set a room for myself. I use it every year."

"Didn't find it last time I was here."

"You need to fly to access it."

"I see."

"You could use that as a candle jar. It would be amazing."

"You can have it if you want. Let it cool down first."

"Really? Thanks."

Keigo doesn't look angry at him. He's sleepy and relaxed. They look at the rising sun.  Though Keigo mostly looks at the bowl's colorful lights. Time to rip the band-aid off, Dabi decides. 

"My name is Todoroki Touya. My father is Endeavor. Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"

"Yeah. That's something you do when you deal with a quirk that could go very wrong in the next generation. We have people right now looking for matches. Mutations are tricky like that sometimes. Nobody wants to know their kids won't make it to adulthood if they choose the wrong person."

Dabi is left speechless by this answer. But isn't Keigo's reality just as valid as his? Dabi is the prime example of a poorly thought combination. 

"I guess my father didn't care all that much about genetic mishaps. He wanted a counter for his overheating, so he married a woman with an ice quirk." 

"Did he believe that opposite emitters would work together? Sounds naive. But I guess science evolved in twenty years."

"That's true. But he mostly wanted to breed a child who could be the number one hero, when he couldn't. When I didn't make the cut, he just made another kid."

"Projecting his own ambitions like some kind of crazy soccer dad? That's fucking lame."

Dabi can't help his startled laugh. Reducing the whole Todoroki tragedy to such a dismissive joke should annoy him, but he's been learning the danger of taking oneself too seriously. Unlike Dabi, Keigo isn't scared of the number two hero.

"Gonna be blunt," says Keigo. "I thought your dad was cool for a little while, because he arrested mine and we were freed from that piece of shit. But then we had to sleep in a subway station for months on end. Daisuke convinced my mother to go to the shelter and sent me to school. He's the real hero in my books."

"Dunno if he'll be able to help me, though."

"Ask him. He won't promise you something he can't deliver."

They're silent for a while. 

"I'm still calling you Dabi, now that I'm used to it."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." 

"Gotta go to work now." 

"Got to go to bed."

"Text me tonight?"

"You're taking this in stride. Had you already guessed somehow?"

Keigo nods. He gets up, and picks up the glass bowl carefully. He inspects it once again, and beams at Dabi.

"See ya."