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Keigo is sitting on his balcony, the wind rustling his feathers and tossing his hair, cold and crisp, the night air surrounds him. He doesn’t have his jacket with him, his skin tight leotard and cargo pants doing little to nothing to keep him warm. His wings are somewhat wrapped around him like a shield, or rather like a blanket, but he won’t go back inside to grab the fluffy coat he discarded when he got home.
He needs this, he tells himself, staring out at the city he works so hard to protect each day. Is he really protecting it though? Doing his job the way he was trained to, raised to? Doesn’t feel like it.
This was all he had ever known, the hours upon hours of strict training, honing his senses and strengthening his quirk. It had all been done for the purpose he was fulfilling today, to be the perfect hero for the Commission. He was a silly bird though, one who was never taught that perfection can never be obtained. Always striving for something that didn’t exist, chasing something that was pure fiction among the harsh reality of the world.
Pushing himself above and beyond the expectations set for him, a way to prove his worth to the corporation that had acted as his parents since his own were locked up and put in jail for neglecting him. It was every kids goal, wasn’t it? To make their parents proud, and even if he hated what he had been through, he wanted so desperately to please not only the Hero Public Safety Commission, but Japan in general. He wanted to be a good hero that people could count on when they needed him, but it seemed he was only letting them down lately.
Above all else, he wanted to be a good boyfriend, maybe eventually a good husband one day. If he ever made it that far, that is.
He hears the sliding glass door open behind him, and he doesn’t turn around to see who’s walking through, he already knows. He can feel the heat become warmer each step closer it gets until - finally - it hits his back, scared hands coming to wrap around his midsection and pull him in close. It’s like the summer sun on his back at the beach, comforting, relaxing.
There’s the scent of cigarette smoke lingering on Dabi’s clothes, a trademark for him at this point, and Keigo doesn’t remember how he learned to love that smell. He sighs deeply, breathing in the scent like he’s taking a hit, hoping for some hidden high that will pull him out of this mindset.
“Keigo,” Dabi rasps, and the hero can feel his words in his chest long before he registers them in his mind.
“I know.”
Nights are often like this, words unspoken yet truths poured out, like they might somehow be able to read each other’s minds. Each time he gets like this, Dabi always seems to understand, no words needed. He’s forever grateful for his boyfriend.
Keigo lets his head fall back against the other man’s chest, turning slightly so he can feel the crook of Dabi’s neck against one of his temples. He can feel the press of both smooth and jagged skin on his forehead as his affection is returned, the couple settling into each other like a house on it’s foundation.
His wings relax away from his body, drooping downward and going a bit limp, and Dabi’s arms cover his own. They’re warm like the rest of him is, Keigo can’t help but smile when their fingers lace together, the tiniest act of intimacy could make him grin from ear to ear.
Dabi huffs out a quiet laugh, feeling the smile against his chest where Keigo’s head was laying, always the lovebird. A fleeting moment of happiness in a rather gloomy and grey night, gone within the blink of an eye. But even just the few seconds were liberating, a glimpse of hope and life.
Keigo sighs, content now instead of frustrated and exhausted like he had been earlier. His eyes fall shut as a few soft kisses are placed on the top of his head, he realizes now that he can hardly feel the chill of the wind as it toys with the blond strands of his hair, likely due to the one with a fire quirk enveloping him in a warm embrace.
He loves him, he really does. They’ve been together for several months now, neither of them have really been keeping track, but it felt like they’d known each other a lifetime. Perhaps they had in a past life, and that’s why their unexpected love story came to play out so nicely, they were destined to be with each other. Keigo would like to believe that, anyway.
If the situation was different, he’d go on for hours about how much he loves Dabi, telling him all the ways that he makes him happy in this life and how even just a simple touch can brighten his day. But he doesn’t, instead opting to squeeze the other’s hands the slightest bit more, which earns him another few kisses to his forehead that makes him melt. He figures the action is enough to say the basic words his mouth won’t form just yet.
He turns around fully in Dabi’s arms, his wings popping back up to their normal resting position as he shifts to look up at his lover with smiling eyes, saying in a quiet voice, “Hi.”
“Hi,” Dabi responds while his hands rest on Keigo’s hips. “There you are.”
The raven haired male leans down to capture their lips in a kiss, sweet and passionate and loving. It’s soft, which would be surprising to an outsider's perspective, it was between the two of them that they shared infrequent moments of vulnerability. However, to them this was familiar, this was home.
“Miss me?” Keigo mutters into the kiss, lips becoming occupied not more than a second later. An affirmative hum comes from Dabi, unwilling to let them part just yet.
Soon enough they’re both smiling, which makes it rather difficult to continue their kiss and they separate with reluctance. They both stand there for a moment, faces nearly touching and eyes wide with love and wonder, hope for a future they may not have.
“Touya,” he says the name, eyes still fixed on his partner. “You’re my everything.”
Dabi chuckles, kissing the tip of Keigo’s nose before he says, “Alright, pretty bird, you’re my everything too. Even if you never do any of the fucking dishes in this house.”
“Hey, this is my penthouse, you just happen to be living here, so if I don’t want to do the dishes then to hell with the dishes.”
“Whatever, your rich ass can just buy new fine china once you run out of plates and bowls.”
“You think I’m that expensive? I’ll settle for paper plates, thank you very much.”
They both laugh as they bicker playfully on their way inside, still entangled with each other and tripping over furniture until they make the short trip to the couch. Keigo falls on top of Dabi while he’s getting comfortable on the couch, making him grunt when the weight of another person is suddenly placed on him. He grumbles about a warning next time, but Keigo doesn’t pay close enough attention to really hear it, he’s busy stretching out his wings and tucking his head into the crook of Dabi’s neck again.
Dabi clicks on the television and scrolls through the channels mindlessly, looking for something interesting when Keigo pipes up, insisting, “We should watch a cooking show, like the ones where it’s a competition.”
He scoffs, “Really? You’re just going to get hungry and insist we order takeout, it’s too late at night for that shit.”
“Is it ever too late at night for that shit? Takeout was made to be enjoyed at one in the morning with your boyfriend while watching cooking competitions,” Keigo attempts to reason, but he’s met with a nudge to his side.
“That sounds incredibly specific to be true,” Dabi sighs, seeing the title of the type of show Keigo wanted to watch, he puts it on despite his earlier protest. “We can watch, but we’re not getting anything, okay?”
The man lying on top of him nods his head, clearly happy now that he’s gotten what he wanted. They watch a couple episodes with little commentary between them, discussing who they think is going home this round and who they want to win. Around halfway through their third episode is when Dabi knows Keigo’s fallen asleep, his wings completely lax at his sides and breathing slow and even.
He doesn’t bother to finish the episode, he wasn’t particularly involved with any of the so called story in the show, and turns off the television. Another remote nearby controls the lights, so he reaches for it and dims the lights down to make the room dark. He never understood how the hero could sleep with so much light in the room, it was insufferable.
It always seemed like they ended up like this on a bad day, meeting each other in the cold and ending curled up on the couch, sleepy and carefree from the earlier troubles in their minds. Dabi wasn’t tired now, but he’d be glad to stay awake and just appreciate the time he got to spend with Keigo as he slept. A hand running through his hair, training down his back to the base of his wings, massaging the muscles there as he listened to the soft cooing Keigo always made when he was asleep, like a snore but far more bird-like and cute.
They would stay like that until morning, the villain decided, wondering if his insomnia would let him catch a few hours of shut eye. Regardless, he was happy, and Keigo was happy too, that was all that really mattered.