Chapter Text
As Keigo breaks in the Todoroki mansion, two things cross his mind:
- This really isn’t what it looks like.
- This is actually Dabi’s fault.
Life has this funny way of fucking you up in which one day you are in a happy relationship, about to graduate and start your dream job, your friends talk to you, and you have a loving (in-law) family, and next thing you know, you are a runaway with an international arrest warrant, your boyfriend kind of dumped you, and your friends and family probably hate you.
Well.
Here’s what happened:
*
“We still on time for dinner today?”
“Yes.” Dabi’s tired eyes roll, hidden for a second behind his hair. The fire crackles, and Keigo moves it a little just to annoy Dabi. “Are you going to eat your vegetables this time like the adult you are, or whine like a bitch about it? I can just not add them.”
“But you like them,” he says, covering his smile in the palm of his hand.
“I don’t like eating your cold daikon because you pushed it all over the plate instead of eating it, and yet you do it every time.”
“Okay no daikon then, but because you don’t want to.”
Dabi sighs, and Keigo’s smile grows bigger.
“Hurry up and come home birdbrain,” Dabi says right before disappearing.
Keigo’s pretty sure his heart has grown twice its size in the last year. A part of it must be because of Dabi, but Himitsu it’s also a big reason. Finally living without the Magic Safety Commission looming over him might have helped with it too.
Life is good.
He pockets what he has left of the floo powders and leaves the conference room, going back to his desk. His internship should end this same month, and even though he loves working with Tensei, he can’t really wait until he’s on his own and finally properly working.
Not for the first time in this long week, he wonders how hard would it be to come up with a spell to make the clocks go faster. Keigo can’t really deal with hours and hours of sitting at a desk going over reports; he needs action . He needs speed. He needs to use his wand for more than reheating the lukewarm coffee that he doesn’t even need to drink.
Tensei arrives hours later with some news about the case they are working on, and Keigo adds them to their frankly embarrassing small list. After they managed to finally dismantle the Shie Hassaikai about half a year ago, the underground world has laid low, or it had until Tartarus was assaulted. All the aurors had been put on the case, but weirdly enough, there hadn’t been that many people that escaped. Even a month after the attack, who was behind it was still a mystery.
The clock finally signals the end of the day by the time they have added the clues to the whiteboard, and Keigo sighs in relief, stretching his wings. He isn’t tired of working, but rather, tired of doing nothing. And when he arrives home, he knows Dabi won’t let him help either, just because of that one time he sort of maybe burned the salad.
At least Himitsu will let him wash her.
She’s gotten huge in the last months, way bigger than a horse and almost as big as the rest of the dragons at the reserve. Keigo goes flying with her during Dabi’s shift because while the other draconologists are kind to him, they don’t trust him to be able to actually talk to and keep Himitsu safe. Which is pretty stupid of them, all things considered.
Playing catch with a dragon isn’t the safest thing to do, but it isn’t by far the most dangerous thing Keigo has actually done, so it’s okay.
The door closes after him as he waves goodbye at Tensei. Keigo mentally prepares himself for apparating home. He has gotten his license recently, and only used it for long distances like, say, New Zealand. Most nights he comes back home, but Tensei has been going out a lot and wanted someone to stay at the office in case more news came, so he stayed at Taishiro’s for the week.
Apparating still upsets his stomach, and at this point, he thinks he’ll never get fully used to it. He’d much rather fly, or even use the floo powders, but you don't exactly get a lot of transport options to go to a hidden reserve.
He takes a big breath when he apparates, and closes his eyes for a minute, feathers ruffling uncomfortably. He’s required to stay at the entrance door because he technically doesn’t have clearance to enter, and he rings the bell once, stretching a little while he waits for someone to open.
“Hawks?” It’s Tony today, not his favorite, but not one of the assholes either. Hawks can't really blame them, he knows their scientific curiosity sometimes gets the best of them, but it’s been four times now since he’s lived here that someone has tried to steal one of his feathers.
The gatekeeper is looking at him weirdly, and Keigo smiles. Normally that works. But it doesn’t. Maybe he looks too tired? Is his hair that messy?
“Good night Tony, can you open, I’m-”
“I'm sorry Hawks but you don’t have the clearance to enter.” Keigo frowns. What now?
“Well, yeah, I know. But I live here, kind of been living here for the last few months.”
“I’m afraid not anymore.”
Keigo laughs because it has to be a joke. The gatekeeper doesn’t.
“Tony, C’mon. It’s not funny. I haven’t seen Himitsu in like, a week.” He smiles again, bringing his hands up. “Please? That’s my house right there-”
“No, it’s Dabi's house.”
“Yeah? And I've been living here with him for 5 months now,” Keigo repeats, pursing his lips. This doesn’t make any sense. “Tony, let me in please.”
“You were only allowed because Dabi worked here.”
Worked? “And what does that mean? Just go get him? I don't understand what's going on.”
Tony looks behind him. “Hawks…”
“Dude, either speak clearly or let me go get him myself.”
This is ridiculous. Are there any new security measures Dabi didn’t tell him about? They spoke just this morning!
“Hawks,” Tony says slowly. “Dabi left.”
“What? Where?” A sudden mission? He does get them from time to time, but he usually waits for Keigo before leaving. Or sends a text. Something . He pushes it to the back of his head. “Okay. He left. I have to wait for him to get back just to enter?”
Tony sighs, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Hawks. He's not coming back.”
Keigo laughs, bitterness sweeping into it. This makes absolutely no sense. “Listen, this isn’t funny at all. My phone is in my house. Let me call him, we’ll sort this out.”
“Hawks-”
“Or- I don’t know, he has probably left a letter, a note or something,” Keigo says. There’s something wrong.
“There isn't anything, Hawks. We searched. His clothes aren't there either.” This can’t be happening.
“Tony, let me inside. Maybe it's hidden just for me, that’d make sense,” he pleads, grabbing the fence.
“Hawks-”
“You don't understand he wouldn't have left without saying anything.” Dabi’s in danger. It’s the only explanation-
“Hawks I'm sorry but there's obviously something he was keeping from you-”
How dare this nobody say that? He barely even knows them! Keigo bites his tongue and puts on his business smile. Again . He has to remain calm. “Even if that was true what about Himitsu, huh? He wouldn't have just left her here, right?”
The blank stare of the gatekeeper tells Keigo everything he needs to know.
“Where is Himitsu.”
Tony looks to the side, brows furrowed. “I- We, we don't know-”
“Last time I checked she was a fucking 3 meters tall dragon. And this is a dragon reserve . How do you lose an entire dragon?”
“We think Dabi has kidnaped her.”
Keigo snorts. “That’s bullshit. How on earth would he kidnap-”
“He was her tamer, she trusts him, and he could have fooled her.”
He can’t really help the way his talons scrape the fence and his feathers puff. His teeth grate, but he purses his lips to keep them hidden . “That's my boyfriend you’re talking about, so watch it.”
Tony scoffs. “With all due respect, I don't think I would try to defend someone that literally just dumped me.”
“He hasn't-” Keigo splutters. No. This can’t be happening. This is wrong. There’s something wrong. He has to think; it’s not the moment to lose it. “I'm sure there’s an explanation for this, okay? So just let me-”
“What's going on?”
Behind Tony, Sarah, one of the higher-ups approaches them. Keigo exhales slowly.
“Oh, good, hello. Thank god you’re here, Sarah; I'm trying to get inside my house, can you-”
“Hawks,” she says with soft eyes. Fuck. No- “I- I don't know how to tell you this, but Dabi…”
“Yes, yes, I know, you think he has left, it probably looks like that but he has surely left something hidden for me, just let me inside.”
“Hawks,” she says sternly. He looks at her, even though his eyes sting. “He took Himitsu. He took a lot of our money too.”
No. That’s impossible. Why would he take money of all things? He has more than enough from his parents. “But-”
“He's been gone for almost 2 days now. Packed most of his stuff and-” she takes a breath as Keigo begins to tremble. This can not be happening . “Well, Hawks, his phone is inside too.”
“There- there has to be an explanation. He wouldn't have taken Himitsu- maybe he went after the one who did it”
“It was him.” Sarah sighs. “Her cage was open, the lock cremated.”
Dabi wouldn’t have. They talked just this morning. If he wasn’t on the reserve, where was he? Why would he lie to Keigo? He said to come back home! He said it himself! What the hell-
“See?” Tony scoffs. “I told you-”
“How did you let this happen?!” Keigo snaps. “How the fuck can a dragon vanish? Did they fly off or something?”
“I- I really don't know what to tell you. We were hoping you could tell us something,” she says, lifting her hands. It only makes Keigo angrier. How incompetent-
“And you didn't fucking think of calling when my dragon disappeared?!”
Sarah huffs. “She's not your dragon-”
Keigo sees red. “I took care of her egg for months . I risked my life for her and got almost fucking killed by the Japanese jakuza trying to protect her-” she takes a step back. “So you have no right to tell me what I can or can not call her!”
“Hawks, I need you to calm down-”
“Calm down? You lost my fucking baby!”
“Your boyfriend stole her!” Tony says.
“He did not!” he screams, shaking.
“Hawks, I'm gonna have to call security-”
No. He’s fucking done . He won’t be interrogated for god knows how fucking long, just so they can frame him too. For all he knows, the Commission could just be trying to bring him back.
He makes up his mind easily.
“See if they can catch me.” He transforms and enters the facility, flying straight home and locking the door behind him.
Fuck. Fuck, fuckfuckfuck. He really did it this time. He looks around, hoping to see Dabi there, waiting for him with a prank sign. But he's not.
He casts an anti-intruder jinx and everything he can think of for protecting the house, just in time before a bunch of spells make it shake.
Damn it. He doesn’t really have time to lose right now.
All the cupboards and drawers are wide open, the cushions from the couch are ripped, and there’s not a single thing in its place. They have broken into his house, destroyed everything, and not even bothered to fix it-
“ Accio Dabi’s phone!” The phone comes flying, and Keigo can feel his lip quivering. What the hell, no, this can’t be- “ Aparecium !”
Nothing. Absolutely nothing in the walls, in the table, in the ceiling- not a single word, a clue. Fuck. He can hear the workers at the reserve shooting spells at the house, trying to enter.
“Dabi what have you done…” he mutters to himself. He looks around frantically, trying to come up with something, anything. “Appare Vestigium!”
Golden traces appear, dusting the room. They are old, but they are here, which means that yes, Dabi has been gone for days. Keigo bites his lip. What now? He just fucked up, they’ll kick him out of the reserve, probably interrogate him, bring him back to the Commission- Think, Keigo, think.
Dabi had been weirdly persistent about Keigo not calling and using the chimney instead. It isn’t super weird for them because Dabi does seem to like using as much fire as he can in all his spells, just for the drama of it all, but the phone is just easier. Any other method is easier.
And also traceable.
Dabi doesn’t want Keigo to find him.
It strikes through his heart, and he closes his eyes in defeat. If he was in danger, would he have taken Himitsu? No. He really wouldn’t, so he has to rule that option out. Dabi isn’t in danger wherever he is. But then, why not tell Keigo?
The door threatens to give in after a particularly strong spell, and he snaps out of it. There’s something that doesn’t make sense; Dabi wouldn’t hide anything from him, would he?
But he has before.
Just as he’s about to transform again and leave, he hears something. And it clicks.
“Tamo? Tamo are you here?!” Dabi wouldn’t have taken Himitsu and left Tamo, would he? That makes no sense... “Accio Tamo!”
Keigo sighs in relief when he sees the little niffler flying butt first in Keigo’s direction, and he can’t help but hug him tightly. This is the signal he was looking for. Dabi wouldn’t have left without Tamo. He wanted Keigo to find his pet.
He’s not going to find anything else-
“Hawks! Open the door immediately!” someone shouts from outside. “We haven’t finished investigating the place!”
His spells can’t stop them forever, and after that, he’s done for. He either surrenders himself, and lets them interrogate him, giving up on finding Dabi and Himitsu- or he escapes.
Aizawa and Emi’s disappointed faces appear traitorously in his mind. Everything they’ve done for him will be useless if he flees now. There must already be an arrest warrant for Dabi, having stolen a dragon as he has, and the moment he follows him, they’ll surely think they are working together.
IBut i the end it’s not a difficult decision to make.
“Avifors!”
The cushions transform immediately, a bunch of different birds filling the room. “Okay,” he breathes in slowly. “We are really doing this. You ready Tamo?”
The niffler squeaks, and Keigo opens Tamo’s little pouch and pockets both his and Dabi’s phone inside, his wand too. He thinks for a second, biting his lip, and runs to his bedroom, opening the secret stash of potions hidden under their bed. He grabs everything he can, and pushes it inside Tamo’s pouch, infinitely thankful for the niffler. He takes a change of clothes, and the keys to the Todoroki mansion. He’s also tempted to take the money, but they might have enchanted it to follow Keigo, which isn’t likely, but he’s not taking any chances, so reluctantly, he leaves it.
He breathes in, hand gripping the door frame tightly, knowing that this might be the last time he sees their bedroom.
Coming back to the living room, the cushion-birds are flying around everywhere, crashing against the few things that weren’t broken and making a mess of their already wrecked home. He looks at Tamo, trying to clear his mind. “We can’t take this back I guess. From now on, it’s you and me buddy.”
It might be his imagination, but Keigo thinks Tamo nods, a little.
He transforms, securing Tamo carefully with his talons, and opens one of the windows, setting the cushion-birds free. He flies in between them, scattering as the wizards surrounding the house start shooting spells at them.
It’s dark, and there’s big, angry clouds on the horizon.
It’s going to be a long flight.