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Keigo hadn’t been having a great day, but it got infinitesimally worse when he quite literally fell out of the sky.
He probably shouldn’t have brushed off that persistent tingling as just the wind ruffling his feathers.
The only warning — if it could even be considered as such — that he’d truly acknowledged had come when it was already too late: a slight chill washing over him and settling deep in his core, a split second of something’s not right, and then this.
He only had time to open his mouth, ready to question the whole situation, before the world froze and he was plummeting down, down, down. Even as fast as he usually flew, even with the way he usually shot through the sky forwards, backwards, right-side-up and upside down, nothing could compare to this feeling of wind rushing past wings he physically couldn’t move.
Why couldn’t he move? Why weren’t his wings flapping? Why weren’t his feathers detaching?
Why was everything so cold?
Help. Please. Someone. Anyone.
Mentally gritting his teeth, he channeled all his willpower into relaxing his wing muscles, but instead starbursts of pain promptly exploded across his entire back, leaving Keigo seeing flashes of white in his vision.
AAAHHHHH!
He couldn’t even scream in agony. How pathetic was that? All he could do was think, I’m done for, I’m going to die like this, what happens when I crash into the asphalt and shatter into a million pieces—
The world hurtled by at the speed of light; he could now see the tops of the tallest skyscrapers, and with the way he was only accelerating, he knew it was only a matter of time before it was over for him.
But suddenly, something shifted.
The temperature of the previously frigid air began to rise; his wings felt as if they were thawing; his brain and his every thought felt less like soup and more like Jell-O.
Wha-
And then the tiny flame of warmth became a roaring inferno as Keigo was engulfed in the bright blue flames, flames he knew could only belong to one person: Dabi.
But why is he here? Shouldn’t he be in-
Oh. Right. We were going to meet up tonight, weren’t we.
“Hawks, you stupid idiotic oversized chicken!” Dabi yelled as they hurtled past each other. “Couldn’t you have mentioned that there was a villain with a paralysis quirk running loose in Fukuoka before inviting me here?”
“I didn’t know!” Keigo shouted back, and- oh, he could speak again. How nice.
Perhaps that means I can also move now? he realized belatedly, jerking his wings to catch the wind mere meters before he made contact with the ground. The motion still sent pins and needles down his entire body, as if he were waking up after having fallen asleep the wrong way, but at least he wasn’t dead.
After making several rounds to get the feeling back into his wings, Keigo ungracefully came to land on a nearby rooftop, and found that Dabi was only seconds behind him, clambering over the railing to settle himself comfortably against the chain link fence.
“Kei.”
“Dabi? How’d you know there was a villain after me-”
“Because she was after me first. And because… I’m the reason she got a hold of you with that wretched quirk of hers.”
Keigo stared in shock. “What?”
“Said something about me being a disgrace as both a wannabe hero and an ‘edgy hot topic knockoff villain,’ and she attacked me. Got me trapped in a bubble with her quirk- it works on large blobby areas, not just human targets, apparently. I was wearing that feather you gave me, and- well- the rest you know.”
“How’d it wear off you so quickly?” Keigo asked.
“That’s the thing, it didn’t,” Dabi retorted. “Took about an hour. It sucked, being in there. I came searching for you as soon as I was released. I guess it only just now got you because of the distance or something.”
“I-”
“I swear, if you do something stupid like try to apologize, I’ll personally throw you off this roof myself,” Dabi threatened. “And this time, I guarantee you’ll actually get burnt in the process, since the paralysis quirk isn’t there to cancel out my flames.”
Keigo nodded, wisely shutting off the rest of that train of thought. “Although… did you catch her?”
“Of course.” A wide, almost maniacal grin split Dabi’s face, popping one of his staples. He winced, but went on. “You’re a hero, though. Shouldn’t be asking these kinds of questions.”
“Ah.” Understanding flickered in Keigo’s eyes.
“Why don’t you ask me where I want to go tonight, instead?” Dabi smirked. “You don’t really think a near-death experience is an excuse to cancel our date, is it? If anything, you’d better make it all the more worth my while.”