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“Are you hiding in your wings” Dabi’s deep voice makes Keigo’s eyes go wide.
He can’t bring himself to move his wings from around himself. He’s sitting on his bed. Dabi has broken into his apartment. Why would he do that?
His bed dips a bit and he gasps but nothing touches him, he’s still safely protected within his wings. It’s dark and warm and safe.
“I don’t know what happened but you’re safe in your apartment you know, you don’t have to hide” Dabi says surprisingly softly.
“You broke in” Keigo mutters accusingly.
“I- you weren’t answering your phone, I saw on the news that you got hurt bad though, some white van I’m guessing the Hero Commission grabbed you up before the paramedics could get you, I wasn’t even sure you’d be here.”
“They don’t keep me overnight unless I’m unconscious, plus I just flew out the window, SHIT, I left and I wasn’t supposed to, they are going to be so mad it’s going to be somuchworsewhatamIgoingtodo-”
“Hey birdy, it’s okay.”
There is a hand gently caressing down Keigo’s feathers. Just where the two wings meet Dabi bravely pushes his fingers through. He’s slow and calm as he pulls the wings apart a bit to get a look at his... friend.
“You’re okay right now, you’re safe, you don’t have to hide.” Surprisingly the birdman responds positively to the comfort and slowly is coaxed out of his wings finally relaxing them down behind him. “Did they at least actually treat your wounds?” Dabi asks. The man is wrapped in a thick blanket and he was just told that the bird man had run away from probably medical treatment.
“They said I needed stitches but it’ll heal... on its own I’m sure” Keigo says trying to laugh and hoping that Dabi won’t push it. Why does the villain care anyway, Keigo is just an informant for them.
“Can I see?” Dabi asks cautiously.
“No” Keigo says but he also pulls back a bit scooting away. This is going to be awful. He pulls the blanket tighter around him.
Dabi puts both his hands up in a surrendering motion seeing how startled that got the bird man. “Okay, okay, just relax, if you could fly I guess it can wait, we’ll deal with it later, do you want some food? Water?”
Keigo shakes his head. He couldn’t trust anything this man gives him. Why is he even here? Why is he comforting him and not hurting him? He’s a villain for crying out loud, he shouldn’t care that Keigo is hurt.
“Alright just breathe okay, I’m not going to do anything, geez” Dabi says looking exhausted. “When you feel up to it I want to look at your wounds forgive me if I don’t trust your judgment but I’m not gonna force you right now, just calm down.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you” Keigo shoots back pulling the blanket higher over his chin.
“That’s okay,” Dabi says.
They just sit there... for quite a while. A lot of the time Keigo is just going out of his mind worrying but the longer Dabi waits the less he feels like the villain is just going to jump him and that makes him feel less threatening. That helps him relax a little. He still doesn’t want to think about letting the man even see the wounds. He knows they look bad. He’s not going to a doctor though, he can’t- he can’t deal with that right now. He’s not usually this much of a child about it. He knows that it’s not just to hurt him but god he can’t shake the fear and he knows he’ll stress grip something and they will get mad and it’ll take forever and then stitches itch and he will be punished and-
“Hey, what are you thinking?”
Keigo is pulled from his thoughts and looks up at the man. “I- I-”
“I don’t know what has you so scared but I’m not going to hurt you okay, I just want to help with whatever you’re comfortable with” Dabi says softly fixing the bird man with a look that insists he listen.
“I know” Keigo says looking away and huffing, “I was just thinking about if I was still there what- what would happen- I forgot where I was” he admits.
Dabi shakes his head and scoots back on the bed, his entire demeanor is odd. He’s not acting intimidating or mean at all, nothing like Keigo is used to but he still flinches away when the man tugs on the blanket. “Look, you look like you are boiling under that, I’m not going to do anything but you need to come back to reality, you can’t hide, eventually you’re going to have to get the wounds treated, do you want to call one of your hero friends?”
That’s an idea... Keigo can’t really think of anyone he would trust with this though, he just thinks there would be too many questions. Dabi isn’t asking questions at least.... about why Keigo is so freaked out. He couldn’t answer anyway if anyone asked, he’s just being dramatic right. What the commission does is so that he gets better, if it scares him it’s just because he’s too weak.
There is a hand on his face and he doesn’t flinch away surprisingly. Dabi’s hand is surprisingly cold for someone with a fire quirk and Keigo actually leans into it. His entire body hurts and the cold is nice.
“Just tell me what you’re scared of pretty bird,” Dabi says gently.
“I just don’t wanna hurt right now, I don’t know,” Keigo admits tiredly. For some reason he doesn’t feel that threatened by Dabi right now. He doesn’t think he remembers anyone ever treating him this way. No one has just let him be, when he was freaking out. He doesn’t think anyone has ever touched him so gently, save for maybe some of the kids that have pet his wings, kids- like little kids can be the best sometimes.
“Okay, well just let me see what I can do okay, I don’t want to hurt you but I want you to get taken care of, I need you to work with me” Dabi says.
Keigo is just used to the confusion now. He doesn’t get why Dabi is being so nice but he really doesn’t mind. He just wants to be able to go to sleep but his back hurts and he can’t lay on his stomach either and everything just kinda hurts even though it’s all more of a dull throbbing now.
“Do you want me to help you pretty bird or do you want me to call one of your friends, just answer that for me okay” Dabi can feel how tired the bird man is, he’s leaning hard against his hand and his eyes are droopy as they glance around the room not settling on any one thing for too long.
Keigo shrugs and Dabi thinks he’s not going to answer but then he says, “you” quietly.
“Okay, well don’t freak out then” Dabi pulls the blanket slowly and is surprised that Keigo just lets go of it.
Keigo is actually just wearing a hospital gown. He shivers from the cold on his shoulders but the cold feels nice too because he’s covered in bruises.
Dabi sighs seeing blood staining the front of the gown, the bruises and cuts up Keigo’s arms are also a problem but he needs to make sure the man isn’t currently bleeding out. He’s moving slowly so that Keigo can stop him if he wants. He may be worried but he can tell he will get more cooperation if he’s patient. Freaking the man out won’t do any good.
Keigo bites his lip when Dabi’s hands come to his shoulders. He makes eye contact with the man and holds onto the hospital gown. He knows, he knows that when he sees the gaping wound in his stomach he’s going to want to do something. What he’ll decide on, Keigo couldn’t guess but he doesn’t like any of the options. He knows he has to though, if he just lets Dabi do what he’s going to do then he can get this over with.
The cut through Keigo’s stomach doesn’t look too deep... it’s oozing blood and there is a puddle in the man’s lap but it’s not gushing and doesn’t look like it’s deep enough to have caused any internal damage. Dabi can only guess that the reason Keigo is starting to allow him to do anything is because he is losing so much blood and is probably going to die if Dabi doesn’t do something fast. The man probably would rather Dabi let him die but like hell is he going to do that.
“I’m going to give you 3 options and you have 5 minutes to decide before I decide for you, one, I will call an ambulance and you can go to a normal hospital, I’ll make sure you aren’t taken to the commission, two, you let me put in stitches which is probably your best option, or three, I cauterize it because I assume you don’t like needles, that’s not ideal but it’s on the table for you” Dabi says slowly.
Keigo stares at him drowsily. He wasn’t expecting a choice, he doesn’t like any of them and he’s tired.
“Tick tock birdy” Dabi sighs.
Keigo opens his mouth before closing it, “you- you choose” he knows he’s gonna regret it but he vaguely understands that with how much blood he’s lost he’s dying. He’s so fucking stupid. Gonna get himself killed and it won’t even be by a villain, hell a villain is trying to save him.
“Do you know your blood type birdy?” Dabi is pulling out his phone. He also pulls the gown off completely crumpling it up and pressing it onto the wound.
Keigo yelps and tries to pull away but Dabi presses him down onto his back.
“Shh, I’m an idiot I shouldn’t have let you sit so long, just breathe okay, I’m gonna take care of you” he says trying to calm down the man who’s starting to panic again. He sets his phone down letting it ring.
“Hello hello” a female voice comes through the phone.
“You can tell blood type by taste right?” Dabi asks the person on the phone.
“Uh huh, why?” the girl sounds confused.
“Birdies hurt bad, he’s gonna need blood, bring whatever you have and medical supplies” Dabi is almost sounding frantic.
All the cheer is gone from her voice when she responds “okay, I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Hang in there, next time fucking tell me your bleeding out” Dabi says but he’s not really sure what he could’ve done differently. At least the hospital gown is slowing down the bleeding.
When the portal shows up in Keigo’s bedroom the man starts to panic more. Toga and Sako walk through carrying medical supplies and Toga is pulling a cooler.
“It smells so strongly of blood, how much did he lose?” Toga doesn’t sound like she usually would when talking about the scent of blood, she sounds worried.
Keigo’s wings flap weakly against the bed. They are bent at uncomfortable angles and he really wants to sit up but he’s too weak.
“Shh, it’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you” Dabi just says calmly to the man. It seems to calm him a bit somehow, probably because he’s so out of it from blood loss. “Toga, if you can get a match you do your thing, I need to put stitches in and stop the bleeding.”
“Okay,” Toga says coming right over beside the bed.
“I will help with whatever you need,” Sako says, setting the medical kit on the bed.
Seeing the other injuries that Dabi can only assume were treated by the commission he feels suddenly overqualified for this job. The stitches the commission put in are shit and Keigo’s whole body is a mess.
“These match up pretty well,” Toga says suddenly. There is a bit of blood dripping out of the corner of her mouth, “I should wait until the bleeding stops though.” She’s bouncing on the balls of her feet anxiously.
“Sure, try to help him stay calm then” Dabi is slowly peeling away the hospital gown. Thankfully it wasn’t bled all the way through and it seemed to have slowed the bleeding more.
Keigo is looking around dazed but when his eyes catch the needle he really panics and screeches. Combined with the pain of Sako wiping away the blood and Keigo’s vision going black at the edges.
“Look at Toga, pretty bird, you’re gonna be okay” Dabi says.
Sako catches Keigo’s hand before he can hit at Dabi, the man also absently smooths down one of Keigo’s wings while Toga holds onto the other hand.
“Strong grip” she says, wincing a little.
“Sorry, sorry sorry” Keigo mutters squeezing his eyes shut.
“It’s okay” Toga says softly, “we’re gonna take care of you.” She pets through his hair brushing it out of his face. “Stay awake, you’ve gotta stay with us alright, you can rest in a little bit, right now just look at me.” It’s taking everything in her to not panic. She’s seen people die from blood loss, that’s her fucking MO but she doesn’t want to see this. Not Hawks. He’s like a brother to her and the light in his eyes is just gone. He looks so scared and almost like he doesn’t recognize her.
They’ve all kinda known that the commission was fucking him up. He would never talk about it but he’s let slip before about the punishments. He’ll often have shoddily treated wounds that they assumed were just him patching himself up. They’ve never seen him scared like this before, he’d ran from the commission just to come lay down and die because he didn’t want stitches. That just doesn’t seem very like him. Then again how would they know, he’s clearly hiding a lot behind his playful smile and over the top nature. They always thought that it was just how he was actually a double agent who was reporting back about them but maybe it’s more than that.
When the stitches are done Keigo cries. He can’t let go of Toga’s hand or Sako’s arm. He’s tired. They help him sit up and try to calm him down some but he has more injuries that need to be treated. They have to work together to move him so that he’s leaning on a bunch of pillows and situate his wings so that they aren’t hurting.
“I can do it one handed, it’s not hard,” Toga says.
“Okay, you do that, I’m going to get some ice and clean sheets, we’ll deal with the sheets later but I’m gonna find them” Dabi says leaving the room.
“Okay, Kei, look over at me okay” Sako says.
Keigo is still too out of it to understand what’s happening. He looks over at Sako confused.
“What hero can we call to help you?” he asks and Keigo just looks more confused.
There is a sharp pain in his arm and he tries to pull away and look but Sako puts a large hand on his face and pulls his attention back.
“We need someone to get to the bottom of what’s happening in the commission, who do you trust?” Sako asks again, letting Toga get her work done.
“I don’t know,” Keigo says tiredly. His arm feels weird, he feels weird, he doesn’t like it.
“Okay, we’ll talk about that more later, how about this, do you like popsicles? I’m going to go to the store in a bit, is there anything in particular that you’d like?”
“Fried chicken” Keigo slurs.
Toga laughs.
“Okay, I’ll get some then,” Sako says sighing.
“I’m all done, are you feeling better” Toga puts a band aide on Keigo’s arm and he looks over at her confused.
“Huh?” He vaguely acknowledges that she probably just gave him blood somehow but if she’s done that he can hardly find it in himself to be freaked out.
Just then Dabi comes back throwing some sheets and blankets into a chair and bringing two ice packs over to the bed.
“Down without a hitch, he looks less pale now right?” Toga says like a child looking for approval.
“Yeah, he looks better, good job Toga” Dabi says and he just gets to work unwrapping and re-wrapping Keigo’s ankle with an ice pack.
“Can I sleep now” Keigo asks, he winces a bit at the motion and pain from Dabi messing with his foot but he’s so tired.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Minutes later the man is out but his grip is still strong on the two league members' hands. It takes a little while but they are eventually able to get him to let go while he’s asleep. Well it kind of just happens eventually after a while of Toga petting his hair and once Dabi stops going all doctor on all of his injuries. He fully relaxes and finally releases their hands.
“This is the commission's fault,” Dabi says angrily. They are going to have to clean blood out of his mattress.
“It seems they have done more than fail to treat his injuries.” Sako says.
“He was panicking when I got here, he ran away from them and was terrified, they clearly freaking hurt him because there is no way all of this was from the fight today, you saw it too” Dabi is furious. He’s ready to go and burn the place down.
They will not let this happen anymore.
~~~
When Keigo wakes up he’s wearing soft clothes and someone is preening his wings. He tries to sit up but pain shoots through his middle.
“Good morning Keigo.”
Shigaraki?
Keigo is so confused but when he settles back down he’s not in pain so he doesn’t question it. He just glances to the side to see it is in fact the blue haired kid preening his wings. He’s wearing weird gloves that cover 2 of his fingers on each hand and is incredibly gentle with Keigo’s feathers.
“We called that teacher friend of yours, he’s covering for you, you aren’t going to be going back to the commission” Shigaraki says sounding angry.
What’s he angry about? Keigo is suddenly worried. He’s trying to reason out what’s happening. If they were going to kill him he wouldn’t be so gentle or be helping him. Keigo probably would be tied up and in pain. So what is happening? He can’t quite remember. Just... Dabi showing up at his apartment, Dabi was being really nice then just nothing...
“You might not remember, you lost a lot of blood” Shigaraki says calmly. He’s not acting like his usual self, he sounds more mature.
Keigo has kind of seen the boy as a kid because well, he is younger than himself and he is often acting childish and talks like life is a video game. He started to see that it was a coping mechanism so he doesn’t really fault the kid for it, he gets it but still, how he’s acting now is weird.
“He’s awake!” Toga squeals quietly standing in the doorway, “are you feeling better, I had to give you more blood because you had lost so freaking much, don’t do that again, you were gonna die!” She is bouncy and has tears in her eyes as she leans onto the bed.
“What?” Keigo’s voice is raspy.
“Do you want some water?” Toga asks, she pulls out a bottle from... Keigo doesn’t know where, his range of view is limited since he can’t really move.
“Don’t crowd him,” Dabi says, coming into the room, “good morning pretty bird, you get some good rest?” Dabi pulls Toga back to stand instead of hovering over him.
“What happened?” Keigo asks.
“You almost bled out, if I had called an ambulance I don’t think they would have come in time” Dabi says accusingly, “what were you thinking, why didn’t you tell us they were abusing you?”
Keigo is confused, he was in a fight, how would they know that the injuries were from the commission and not the villain attack.
“Unlike the heroes we use our quirks to help each other, not reach some superficial rank” Shigaraki says, “plus we saw on the news you weren’t so beat up after the fight, otherwise we would have come sooner.”
“We got some help from some outsiders and saw what the commission did to you, why did they even fucking do that? You were amazing, you took down the villain, saved everyone and hardly even got hurt yourself.”
Keigo can hardly look at them, he’s not sure how he feels about what they're saying and he’s almost sure he’s going to know their response to his answer. “My glove came off” he mutters.
Dabi storms out of the room.
Toga is staring wide eyed and silent.
Silence was not what he expected.
“Toga, go stop him” Shigaraki says.
“I don’t wanna” she whines.
“If he cremates them all you can’t have their blood” Shigaraki says.
“I- don’t really care” she crawls up onto the bed and sits preening Keigo’s other wing. “They will never utter another word to you” she mumbles, “not a word, won’t lay a finger on you or anyone, no good, fucked up fuckers” she then turns reaching for Keigo’s hand, “you’re talons are beautiful, perfect for ripping into flesh.” She’s surprised when he doesn’t pull away and she brings his hand up to her face looking closely at his inhuman fingernails. “Perfect, you shouldn’t have to hide- anything.”
They had all been aware of how the commission didn’t like him showing most of his bird traits. Every once in a while they would get a coo or a squawk out of him and would feel so accomplished. One time he got startled and perched on Dabi’s shoulder too. It had taken a while for him to be okay with walking around without shoes on around them, taking his gloves off or eating with them. They never imagined it was this bad but now his freak out when he stress gripped them makes a little more sense.
He is getting punished for his normal instincts, tortured into being terrified of accidentally being himself.
Keigo doesn’t really know what to think right now but he knows he feels incredibly safe considering he is virtually defenseless and his apartment is full of villains.
“I might not have to burn the place down, Eraserhead might have that covered for me” Dabi says coming back into the room with a bowl of soup.
“We can trust that he’s on his way here then” Shigaraki ponders, “it will be odd working with the heroes but we have no moral reason not too.”
There is a knock on the window but it isn’t Eraserhead.
“Let me in you jackasses” an angry blond yells.
“Why is he here?” Shigaraki asks, he’s pulling at one of his gloves as Dabi opens the window and 3 UA students climb in.
“Hawks!” one of them exclaims, a bird boy pulling his wings in.
“We heard what happened, we came to check in,” a purple haired boy says.
“I’m here to watch out for these losers so don’t even try to fight us,” Bakugo says.
“There’s no need to be hostile Bakugo, we have a common enemy, fighting each other would be a waste” the purple haired boy says.
The bird boy is rushing to Keigo’s side.
“I’m okay kid” Keigo assures but the boy is frantic.
“They said you almost died, you were bleeding out and that the commission did it to you!” the boy almost sounds angry now, “and you’re with the league is that why you were so obsessed with them when I was interning with you! But you almost died!”
“Fumikage, calm down, I’m fine see, I’m alive” Keigo tries but he can’t even sit up.
“I would say I can’t believe you but honestly I’m not even surprised” he just settles beside the bed, hands going straight to Keigo’s wings, “you’re doing it wrong” he mumbles at Toga.
Instead of fighting Toga just watches Tokoyami and copies him and the air of the room relaxes.
“We’re not just here to check on you, we also need information” Bakugo says marching over to the bed, “we need to know about the other kids they have.”
Keigo almost laughs, because he just doesn’t know how to feel. “I don’t know much,” he answers finally.
“Whatever you can tell us will be helpful” Bakugo is being surprisingly civil.
Shinsou just leaves the bedroom.
The kids are there for 2 hours. Bakugo taking notes on the kid soldiers the commission currently have. Tokoyami is trying to cope with how hurt his mentor is and Shinsou is talking with all the members to figure out how working with them is going to go.
Tokoyami is reluctant to leave but he knows they need to get back fast.
Keigo’s world has been flipped on its head but he feels so safe and content in the fact that he never has to step foot into the commission building again.
~~~
“Please state your legal name and date of birth” the officer says.
Keigo is uncomfortable but he’s sitting in front of this man that Aizawa and Yagi trust. Still he is hesitant to answer.
“I- I don’t know” Keigo mutters.
The man looks shocked for only a second before calmly sliding a paper over.
“Takami Keigo” he reads, “December 28th 3018.” His family name, he hasn’t seen or heard it in forever. He rarely even heard his first name, very few people knew it anymore. He doesn’t remember ever having a birthday party, ever.
“Now just take your time okay, you don’t have to tell us everything today, if you need to go outside or have a breather that’s okay” the officer says calmly.
Keigo feels his insides turning. He doesn’t want to talk about this or think about it.
“Can you tell us what the Hero Public Safety Commission did to you?”
That’s a loaded question right there, where to start man.
“Could you start with when you first came into contact with them.”
“I was 6- or maybe 7” Keigo answers hesitantly, “they basically bought me from my parents.”
“Was there an actual exchange of money?”
“I’m pretty sure, I don’t remember super well.”
“Okay, that’s okay, continue.”
“Honestly all the training in the beginning kind of blurs together, the first thing that I really remember is when- when my friend died” Keigo starts to explain, “we were some of the first- that they took and a lot of kids died in the beginning, I’m the only one that survived I’m pretty sure, I shared a room with a girl, I don’t remember much about her, just that her quirk had something to do with bubbles, she didn’t die from the training, they just, they didn’t like that she would float up sometimes, we were both really light, me because I have hollow bones and her because her quirk made her kind of like viscous? I don’t know, she wasn’t solid like people, you could like stick your hand through her arm if you tried hard, they made her wear these weird shoes that wouldn’t let her float off the ground unless she was in training and she fell down a flight of stairs and died, it was- it was really weird for me because I hardly understood death and she was just gone, whenever I tried to talk about her they would hit me.”
Keigo takes a breath, it’s almost like he’s back there, but in a blurry dreamlike way, he hasn’t thought about any of this in a really long time. “A lot of the kids were killed by each other though, I never killed any of them, they said that there would only be 5 of us left at the end and there was the kids that killed the others though were taken away and we didn’t see them again, when there was only 5 of us left they started actually training us, most of it was just really hard, making us run long distances, lift weights or whatever would help us with our quirks, the hardest was when they were teaching me to use my feathers though, I couldn’t focus, they said I had ADHD but they blindfolded me for days at a time, I never really knew how long, they kept my room pitch black and it would hurt when they would finally let me see again, on the bright side I basically can’t get headaches anymore, I got so many now anytime my head hurts it’s really nothing.”
The way the officer looks a little concerned makes Keigo uncomfortable.
“And how old were you when they were doing that?”
“I honestly have no idea, I hadn’t reached puberty yet, maybe 10, it really is all a blur, some things stand out but I couldn’t give you a time period, I never saw a clock, didn’t know how to read a clock until I was like 17, when I was getting closer to debut they started that kind of training, told me how old I was and taught me about technology and stuff, up until that point it wasn’t important, I was taught how to talk to people without giving away any actual information, how to withstand torture, how to hurt villains without killing them but also how to kill them.”
“And what about after you opened your agency and lived on your own?”
“It was just because it looked good, they taught me everything so that the public would like me, like how I had to keep my talons out of sight and not make weird noises so that I wouldn’t scare civilians, being ‘independent’ looked good for my image I hardly was though.”
“Can you explain more about the physical restrictions that they imposed for your image?”
Well that has been the nightmare of the last 4 years of his life, he doesn’t really want to. “If um- I just wasn’t supposed to act bird like, just be a normal person with wings, just act normal” he says.
“Was that something that you were okay with?”
Keigo hesitates. This is the moment when it clicks into place. Not necessarily that what was done to him was wrong but that he didn’t like it. He never had a choice, it was for his image, so that he was a good hero, so the public liked him but god was it awful.
Swallowing down the chirps, having to always have his hands and feet covered when it’s so much easier to fight with weapons you can actually feel you’re holding. The extra “training” when he accidentally was seen doing something too unnatural. The compression shirt that made flying so difficult. Years of braces on his legs to train the bounce out of his step. The plucking and punishments...
“You don’t have to talk about it if you're not ready,” the officer says calmly, getting Keigo’s attention.
“No- no- I’m okay” Keigo says, “I- I didn’t really have a choice” he mutters, “it wasn’t easy, but it was so I could be a better hero.”
“Okay, could you explain some of the things please.”
“The first thing they did was teach me what sounds weren’t human, the chirping or screeching, in the beginning if I made those sounds they’d spray me with cold water, once I stopped doing it if I ever accidentally did they would make me train for extra hours” Keigo says. He was so insanely happy to chirp around the league, it was an instinctual reaction for him and when he did it and didn’t get slapped or hurt it just made him feel good. It took a while but he’s getting used to doing just letting himself do the things he was trained out of without being afraid. The League and his therapist say that he shouldn’t suppress those things anymore because he doesn’t need to.
“If you want a break we can continue this tomorrow.”
“No offense but I don’t want to have to come back here again tomorrow” Keigo says snapping out of his thoughts again, “sorry, sorry, I’ll focus.”
“It’s alright, we just need as much information as you can give, the files we recovered definitely have a lot of evidence but the first hand accounts of the victims will be the nail in their coffins, we want to make sure that you and the kids that we recovered will be able to live free of them for the rest of your lives.”
Something in Keigo shudders at the word “victim” another thing to file away and talk to his therapist about.
“They would break my fingers, they did it 7 times, they told me, that’s how many times it took for me to stop stress gripping them when they cut my wings” Keigo says suddenly. It’s the thing that he’s most sure is bad that they did to him. The League told him over and over again when he told them, told him it was bad. That he couldn’t control that and that even if he had controlled it sometimes that they still shouldn’t have hurt him for it. Toga had been so nice and understanding both times he did it to her. “They’d cut my wings to train me to fight without them, they’d clip my flight feathers and then 2 days later they would pluck them so that they could grow back.”
Keigo is really well trained in reading people and can see the officer hiding his discomfort. Hearing about the pain that Keigo went though hurts him. It’s weird to see that this guy who doesn’t know him at all thinks that it was bad. That he has empathy for him. Keigo still has trouble himself accepting that what they did to him was wrong.
“I had to wear gloves and if they came off in a fight or if my shoes came off, or if I made any birdlike noises or stress gripped anything or did anything birdlike where the public could see that was grounds for punishment, I couldn’t allow those things to happen.”
“And what did the punishment include?”
“Extra training usually, interrogation training, physical training, whatever they deemed necessary.”
“You were trained to interrogate people?”
“Well yes...” Keigo hesitates, he doesn’t want to talk about this, he doesn’t want to talk about this.
“If you there is anything you absolutely don’t want to share you don’t have to” the officer reminds.
“They trained me to not cave under interrogation, what were they supposed to do though, I had to learn somehow” Keigo is tapping his foot frantically.
“How old were you about when they started doing that?”
Keigo is too emotional to read the officer, “They started that with everything else, once there were 5 of us, all the training started.”
“Could you state an estimation of an age?”
“10, I was probably 10” Keigo says, did that make it bad, cause he was a kid, it was bad that they did it to a kid?
“Okay, I think that is enough.” The officer clicks off the recording device. “Do you want to sit here for a minute, I can go get one of your friends?”
Keigo shrugs, he feels weird. He can’t really explain it but he doesn’t like it.
When he gets outside with Aizawa he crumples on the sidewalk. He’d been nervous and he hadn’t eaten anything but he heaves and only a clear bile comes up onto the concrete. Aizawa kneels next to him and another set of footsteps approach.
“You’re okay pretty bird” Dabi’s voice is soft and Keigo feels the man's hand on his back.
Keigo is covering himself with his wings as he spits more into the puddle in front of him. His eyes are watering but the tears won’t fall. His throat burns but he just stands on wobbly legs pulling his wings back behind him.
Dabi puts a hand on Keigo’s shoulder to steady him. “Want to go rest?” he asks, “I can take him home.”
Aizawa nods, “I’ll call later to check on you, you better answer” he says to Keigo.
The bird man nods his acknowledgment and leans on the villain beside him.
“You’ve had a long day birdy” Dabi says. He can imagine having to dig up all the bad memories of the past and spew them out to a stranger probably wasn’t easy.
Keigo just nods, closing his eyes for a moment. His thoughts are all jumbled now and he’s tired. There is a gross feeling that makes him want to bathe, and his mouth is completely dry.
“Let’s get you home” Dabi starts leading him down the sidewalk.
It’s a decent length walk. Not unpleasant on a normal day but Keigo is exhausted and elated to be home when they get there. He collapses onto the floor in his living room spreading his wings out as far as they can reach. He sighs and falls asleep right there.
~~~
When Keigo wakes up he smells something burning. Did he fall asleep with something in the oven again? He pries himself off of the floor, it’s been a while since he slept in the living room and rushes to his kitchen where he finds Dabi putting out a fire in the sink.
“I hope you didn’t like that oven mitt” Dabi says glancing into the sink, “the grilled cheese is fine though.”
“What are you doing here?” Keigo asks. He’s kind of getting that the League has accepted him into their weird little family but Dabi is cooking in his apartment?
“Making sure you take care of yourself” Dabi answers, putting a sandwich on a plate, “I don’t know why you had cheese and bread but ya did so I made food, eat.”
Keigo was slowly adjusting his diet. It was actually nice, he didn’t feel sick all the time. The Commission didn’t like him eating raw meat or basically anything his digestive system was actually made to digest. He didn’t mind a ton because it was all he knew, just eating like normal people. Then the League made him go to a doctor and figure out what he’s actually supposed to eat which is nothing that he has been eating. He’s not gonna stop with the fried chicken though. He still hasn’t gone shopping or gotten rid of anything he used to just eat the bread plain or have cheese and crackers, he couldn’t really cook.
“I’m not even going to ask how you managed to set an oven mitt on fire while making grilled cheese, I don’t even care” Keigo says, taking the food and sitting on his table. He pulls his feet up to sit criss cross and just watches his house guest clean while he slowly eats.
“You guys murder people and stuff, how do you turn around and act so- domestic?” Keigo ponders. “Shigaraki fed me soup and Toga was like horrified by the sight of my blood, I’ve watched that girl sip blood from a glass like it was orange juice!”
“We care about some people,” Dabi says simply rolling his eyes.
“You all knew I was supposed to spy on you and then kill you!” Keigo exclaims with a laugh.
“We knew that you didn’t have a choice, would you have really done it if you had the choice?”
“Well in the beginning... but yeah, no, I mean, I don’t approve of you evil villainy stuff but I didn’t want to kill any of you, I would’ve though, you know that right?”
“Oh, we know birdy” Dabi says, “but you won’t now, because no one is telling you too.”
Every time he remembers he just melts into a puddle of relaxation. His shoulders slump and he blinks slowly. He doesn’t answer to them anymore. He doesn’t have to hurt his friends. They can’t punish him anymore.
He’s starting to train regularly with Aizawa. He’s helping at the school too, training the students.
“You get to make your own decision about us now pretty bird,” Dabi comes over and sits on the table next to him eating half of a sandwich. “So what are you going to do with us?”
Keigo looks over at the scarred man with raised eyebrows. “Right now, nothing, unless you are trying to hurt innocent people I won’t do anything, so please refrain from the senseless violence.”
“I’ll try my best, I can’t speak for the others,” Dabi says, smirking.
“Just- just don’t kill people.”
“Just don’t kill people” Dabi repeats in a high pitched tone.
Keigo laughs, “come on, you- you walked me home and made me grilled cheese, you care about me right, I don’t want to put you in prison.”
“I won’t kill anyone pretty bird, we won’t kill anyone who’s innocent” Dabi says, “we’re going shopping later though, you need some good food.”
“Okay” Keigo shrugs. He feels pretty content. He’s been sort of benched for 4 days a week. He was hurt real bad his last time at the commission. It wouldn’t have been as bad if he hadn’t flown off with all his injuries and nearly let himself bleed out. Even with his accelerated healing he’s still in some pain 4 weeks later.
They go grocery shopping after they finish eating and Keigo refuses to make any decisions on what to buy so Dabi just goes down the recommended diet list. He gets things that will last and that will be easy for Keigo, of course asking if the bird man likes the foods as well. If he gets anything but a no he puts it in the cart.
When they get back Dabi puts all the groceries away while Keigo has a popsicle and sits on the counter.
“I feel like I’m your mother now.”
“You’re better at it than my actual mother was,” Keigo says.
Dabi sighs, “That's just sad, your life is sad.”
“Not as sad as yours” Keigo retorts.
“Uh huh, do you want help changing before I leave?”
“I can take care of myself,” Keigo says.
“I’ll rephrase, if I leave you in that are you gonna still be wearing it when I get here tomorrow?” Dabi asks.
Keigo crosses his arms and part of his popsicle drips onto the counter.
“Signs point to yes” Dabi says rolling his eyes.
“No- I- I’m gonna take a bath” Keigo whines.
“Okay, I’ll help” Dabi closes the fridge and folds up the grocery bags laying them on the counter.
“I’m a grown man” Keigo just whines more slapping Dabi’s hand away when he offers to help him down.
When Dabi walks with him to the bathroom and helps unbutton his shirt he doesn’t stop him though. He perches on the counter beside the sink because he’s strong enough now. He’s supposed to rest when he’s home but fuck that, they said he can do bird things and he wants to perch.
Dabi leaves the tub running and goes to get washcloths taking the popsicle stick from the bird man as he passes to leave the bathroom.
Doing anything with the giant wings isn’t easy, bathing near impossible, especially on his own. He could detach the bigger feathers but he hasn’t been comfortable being without them since he’s been injured. Even in his apartment, even though he pretty much trusts Dabi. No one has tried to make him or even suggested it. They work around him, work with him and don’t make him do anything.
“You good?” Dabi asks, their sort of signal so that he doesn’t startle the man. When he gets a nod Dabi takes the washcloth to the back of Keigo’s neck and washes down his back.
Keigo makes little splashes with his hands mesmerized with how the water moves. He doesn’t mind Dabi helping him because then he doesn’t have to focus. He can just relax. He’s been surprised with himself for the past weeks but he actually doesn’t mind being taken care of. It had taken only about a week for him to completely relent to the others doing things for him.
His therapist said that it’s probably because it was something he was never allowed as a child and that because he has no reason to be distrusting of their care he’s ready to make up for lost time. She said it was okay as long as he didn’t become too dependent on them and to definitely limit it once he was healed. He’s not fully healed though, he can indulge in this.
“It’s fucked that they didn’t let you do your bird shit” Dabi mutters, “there ain’t nothing wrong with it, it’s fucking cute.”
“It’s not cute when I screech at the top of my lungs diving down and grabbing a criminal with my talons” Keigo responds sleepily.
“Who cares, it’s only gonna scare the shit out of criminals and people you're attacking, I mean what do you think the wings do, think people see you skewering people with your wings and think, oh yeah, I’d be fine with him doing that to me?” Dabi says moving around one of the wings to hand the cloth to Keigo and get the shampoo. “You know what, don’t answer that” Dabi adds after a moment of pondering.
“I don’t know, I’m not the best judge of what's okay and what isn’t, I never really got a chance to make those types of decisions” Keigo says.
“I know pretty bird, it’s okay, we’re all going to be here to help you learn how” Dabi responds.
Dabi helps him out and takes him to his room. When he’s dried off he helps him get dressed.
“Do you need anything else before I go?” Dabi asks tiredly.
“No, I’ll be fine mom,” Keigo says jokingly.
“Okay, try not to die, don’t freak out again either, if you need anything your phone is full of numbers to call, you’re still recovering so don’t strain yourself” Dabi goes through his little speech. He’d be staying but he knows that constantly staying with Keigo for his whole recovery would be the opposite of helpful in the long run.
“Yes MOM I know” Keigo laughs at himself.
“Go to sleep birdy, I’ll be back tomorrow” Dabi says and with that he leaves.
Keigo had been surprised how much he didn’t want to be alone after the League had taken down their camp in his apartment and left. They had stuck around for 2 weeks until he was well enough to manage on his own but despite being desperate for alone time he had panicked when they were gone. Dabi had come back the next day to find him hiding in his closet and having a panic attack.
They didn’t have any repeats of that scenario because for the next few days the League would call Keigo after he was left alone for the day to check on him and they made sure he knew he could call them if need be. He had called once and Toga had come immediately to sit with him for a while.
He’s still getting used to being vulnerable around them despite everything that’s happened. It’s not like the panic or the anxiety was new. He just usually forced it down until it exploded out and then hid until it passed. It had worked out for quite a while. Until people started breaking in to check up on him and caught him in the compromising places of emotional instability.
He doesn’t mind their company but he’s glad now to be alone. He winces slightly as he crawls into his bed. It’s a relief to just be able to groan and whine without feeling embarrassed, he’s still in more pain than he likes to let on to the others. He knows they will just worry if he does, he’s fine though, he’s used to this by now.
As he lays with his hands up in front of his face just looking at his talons that have been growing out for 4 weeks now, the sun sets. He should probably get someone to cut them. He knows it won’t be as bad as when the commission did it but it makes his stomach clench. How is he supposed to ever move on from this. This has just been his life, is it really okay for him to indulge in experiencing the fear when they are around. He hasn’t really been able to hide it ever since that fated night.
They are villains but he trusts them. They told him not to hide how he’s feeling around them. Told him that he could just be himself and dear god it's just so much easier than trying to keep it all in until he’s alone. It’s also nice having someone there to comfort him. Coming back to his senses with Toga petting his wings or Sako humming softly, wrapped in warm blankets and surrounded by people that make him feel safe, it’s just so much more pleasant.
He’s not sure what to do but he falls asleep.
~~~
When Keigo wakes up the sun is streaming in through his curtains. He rolls over and sees it’s 7:30. Why couldn’t he get up like this before when he had work to do.
He gets out of bed and goes to the kitchen. Dabi will be upset if he gets there and Keigo hasn’t eaten anything. So he pulls something out of the fridge and sits on his table. Why does he even have chairs, he never uses them. He much prefers to sit on the table, his wings can spread out behind him on it, instead of being awkwardly shoved against the chair.
Dabi comes in through the front door to Keigo sitting on the table picking at raw ground beef like it was cheese crackers right from the container.
“Good, you’re eating” Dabi says, “how’d you sleep.”
Keigo licks his fingers, closing the container and climbing off the table. “Fine,” he shrugs, putting the meat back in the fridge.
“Okay, put your shoes on, we’re going out” Dabi says just turning back towards the door.
“Where too?” Keigo asks as he rushes to follow the man.
“No where, you just need to get out of here everyday” Dabi informs.
Keigo groans but just follows him down the sidewalk. He’s not allowed to fly on his days off. He’s really lucky they are letting him have normalcy, letting him work some days. He has to go to the hospital again tomorrow and then he has counseling again the day after. Everything is different but he’s taking it in stride, he thinks at least. He’s doing his best.
Well it’s not that big of a difference really, just instead of having people who constantly torture and hurt him controlling what he does he has a rag tag group of villains constantly checking up on him and a few doctors and some underground Hero’s and high school teachers telling him what to do. It’s nice, not bad and today he feels good. He’d like to get back to something more normal working every day. He’s worked with much worse injuries before but they insist he fully heal.
“What are you thinking about birdy? Do you want to talk?” Dabi offers.
“What? No, I’m okay” Keigo says.
“That’s fine, we can still talk if you want” Dabi says rolling his eyes.
“I don’t know, I kinda miss, like Jin, and Toga, it’s been a few days,” Keigo says.
“We can go see them, they are just hanging out at base,” Dabi says.
“Sure” Keigo responds. It’s gonna be a long walk but Kurogiri can probably portal them back to his apartment so he’s eager to go visit them. They really are like family now. They adopted him into their family and he’s actually pretty happy to accept.
When they enter the base Toga screeches.
“Hey man, you feeling better, you look like shit” Jin says waving over at him.
“I’m doing better,” Keigo says waving back.
“You’re not wearing gloves,” Jin observes.
Keigo looks down at his hands remembering his overgrown talons and hides them a bit.
“Stupid, don’t say things like that” Toga says hoping over, “don’t worry, we’re just glad.” She takes Keigo’s hands and holds them both jumping up and down, “you should come play games with us.”
“Yeah, we finally replaced the one Shiggy dusted” Spinner says, “he’s not here right now though so you can join.”
“Sure, what are you playing?” Keigo asks, leaving Dabi’s side to join the three in front of the tv.
He isn’t sure how long he ends up playing with them. It’s a lot easier without thick gloves on and so that’s on his mind a lot of the time but he’s fine. He’s happy to be able to hang out with them. To be free of the commission and their rules for him.
Everything is fine, until it isn’t, he doesn’t really panic at first when his talon cracks through the plastic controller. He pulls it out groaning a bit, they just replaced this and now he’s gone and fucked it up but... before he can start to panic Toga notices that he’s stopped playing because he’s stopped on the track.
“Oh no, are you okay?” she asks.
Seeing that she’s noticed Keigo drops the controller.
“Hey it’s okay man, it still works so you didn’t break it” Spinner says trying to stop the panic he sees rising in the bird man.
Keigo’s thoughts are starting to spiral now though. His talons need to be cut. The league is gonna want him to wear gloves so he doesn’t break their stuff. He’s gonna have to let someone cut his talons.
“Hey, birdy” Dabi’s voice breaks through the panic, “there’s no need to freak out, we don’t care if you break our shit, it was an accident.”
Keigo’s shoulders drop at that because he knows it’s true, they aren’t mad. He looks at each one and he knows they aren’t mad at him. They won’t make him wear gloves. Shigaraki freaking turns stuff to dust left and right and no one gives a shit. But he has to get his talons cut.
“What’s wrong birdy?” Dabi asks moving over to sit by him and picks up the controller he dropped.
“I can’t right now, please don’t” Keigo mutters. His vision is going a little blurry but he’s trying to stay calm. He knows they’ll listen, it’s just the thought that is making him panic.
Dabi recognizes this type of panic, the bird man has resigned himself to something. “Okay, we’re not, can you tell us what’s wrong though so that we can talk about it, we’re not gonna hurt you” he says softly.
“I don’t want to think about it” Keigo wines.
“You need to tell me what it is Keigo, or I can’t help,” Dabi insists, still keeping his voice low. “I promise you’re gonna be okay.”
Keigo considers the man’s words for a moment trying to work it through his brain. None of this is new at this point but it’s still new enough to be hard. “My talons are getting too long, I uh- I can’t cut them myself” he finally answers so quietly Dabi almost can’t hear.
“Okay, we’ll deal with that later, for now just calm down okay, we’re not going to force you okay, you know that” Dabi says already trying to figure out how that is gonna go down. He’s not really surprised that this is a traumatic thing for Keigo, anything relating to his bird-like traits that the commission didn’t like have some sort of traumatic experience attached. He’d probably be more surprised if this wasn’t traumatic for the man at this point.
“I- I- I just-”
“No, we’re not dealing with it right now, just breathe okay, focus on me” Dabi just needs to get him to stop panicking. He doesn’t even know where to start with cutting the man's talons but he knows it’s probably not happening today.
“We should have a rematch, that round wasn’t fair cause you dropped out” Toga says once Keigo is starting to calm down.
“Uh okay” Keigo responds, his attention leaving Dabi to look at the others now. He’s surprised how safe he feels with them, as the panic dissipates he thinks it might not actually be that bad. Sure it still makes him feel scared but he also knows that they won’t get mad at him for being scared. He knows they will be patient and Toga will probably hold his hand or stroke his hair and wings.
“Only if you want” Spinner puts in to make sure.
“Yeah” Keigo says, then more confidently, “yeah, I want a rematch.”
It’s almost like nothing happened at all. He’s bouncing back from stuff pretty quick now and Dabi can’t help but smile a bit as he watches them all play the game. Just as Keigo takes first place at the end of the race Shigaraki walks in announcing that they are going out to eat.
~~~
They had talked on the way back to Keigo’s apartment later that night about if and when they were going to cut his talons. They decided that they were because they were actually annoying to him and that they would do it the next day because otherwise he’d just be stressing out about it longer. Better to just get it over with.
So the next day came around and Dabi noticed how on edge the man was. He just patiently went through their routine, making him eat and then they made their way back to the League’s hideout.
Everyone knew what was going down so they stayed clear of the main room. Only Toga was sitting on the couch sipping what Keigo can only assume is blood from a wine glass waiting to greet them. She is less bouncy and energetic but still comes over to them when they arrive. She still gets up in Keigo’s face but not enough to overwhelm him, just enough to get her affection across.
“Kuro is out but everyone else is here” she informs him, “Dabi said you wanted us all around.”
Keigo just nods the nerves really starting to get to him now. He knows that it’s not that bad but he can’t help the churning in his stomach. Toga can see him starting to panic before he even realizes and she puts her arm out for him to grab, which, with it presented to him, he does automatically.
She hands her wine glass to Dabi who takes it over to the bar counter while Toga takes Keigo to sit on the couch.
Jin comes out of his room cautiously and joins them.
“I can’t do it,” Keigo says shakily, putting his head down between his arms. He can’t let go and they can’t do it like this.
“Sure you can” Toga says surprisingly calmly, “you just have to take some time to calm down, you know we aren’t going to hurt you, here drink some water.”
Dabi is offering a cup and silently asking if the bird man accepts it.
“O- okay” Keigo says nervously.
Dabi lets him sip the water slowly and then hands the cup to Jin.
“See, just relax, we’re just gonna wait for you to calm down and you’ll see, it’ll be okay” Toga says encouragingly. She pets his hair with her free hand and not 5 minutes later he’s letting go of her arm.
The three of them work together to keep him calm but really they don’t have to try very hard. They aren’t stupid, they knew this wouldn’t be easy, years of trauma don’t go away in a few months and panic doesn’t just take a break after one attack. However modified Xanax and a mild sedative will do wonders and it did in fact work.
He’s not groggy or sluggish even, just very calm. He doesn’t seem to notice either which is good, drugging him even for good reasons wasn’t something they wanted to do but really they couldn’t take letting him just freak out the whole time.
He flinches at every click of the clippers but doesn’t stress grip again. He just holds onto Toga’s hand normally and Dabi holds the one that he’s working with then they switch.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Keigo mumbles.
“It’s not supposed to hurt,” Dabi says simply.
“Mhm” Keigo just hums a bit, simply accepting another thing that the commission made him believe, that was wrong.
The sick fucks cut his nails to short his whole life and that probably hurt like a bitch plus all of the stress and it was all so unnecessary because here they are calmly doing this without any problems or pain.
“You seem tired, take a nap” Jin says once it’s done. He moves to sit beside Keigo now and pulls him to lean on his shoulder.
“Mkay” Keigo just mutters sleepily and he does fall asleep. They probably could’ve toned back the sedative but whatever. He doesn’t get enough sleep anyway he could use some rest.
When Keigo wakes up he’s confused. He’s laying on a couch, there is a very warm soft blanket draped over him but not his wings which are a bit cramped one shooting straight up the couch back and the other curled to point down to his feet. He rubs the sleep from his eyes looking around and seeing he’s at the Leagues hide-out.
When he looks up to see Jin is his pillow he mumbles “did you guys drug me?” accusingly.
“I can neither confirm nor deny, we definitely didn’t” Jin is looking up trying to act innocent.
“Mm, whatever” Keigo mumbles, ruffling his feathers a bit. He’s probably not as concerned as he should be. He just shifts rolling onto his stomach so his wings can stretch out.
“It wasn’t that strong, that’s not why you passed out, it was just to keep you calm because we don’t like seeing you so scared” Toga says just fully admitting it as well.
“’t’s okay” Keigo responds to her only shifting his head slightly to look at her.
“We are villains, what did you expect from us?” Dabi says, there is something uncomfortable in his voice that Keigo doesn’t understand but he responds honestly.
“Um, at this point, more compassion than I’m deserving of” he mutters rubbing his eyes.
“You are a lost cause bird? What are we going to do with you?” Dabi says, sighing.
“Probably preen my feathers and buy me dinner,” Keigo says, smirking into Jin’s lap.
“He’s probably right,” Jin says laughing at them.
He turns out to be very right and is happy and calm by the time Dabi drops him off at his apartment that night. It's an unusual situation he's in but he doesn't really mind it.