Chapter Text
Hawks had to get his demon out of there. The thought had first entered his mind almost the day he had met Dabi.
Now though, it wasn’t a thought. It was a certainty.
He didn’t know why it had taken him so long. At first, he’d been fighting with himself. The Commission was always right, of course they were always right. The demon must be evil. And then he’d stopped fighting with himself. He knew that Dabi wasn’t evil. He was warm and kind and gentle, he wasn’t evil. Then Hawks hadn’t been able to figure out how to get the demon free. He knew a little about the central control system that automatically locked everything, but not enough. And if he set Dabi free but he got caught again, Hawks would probably never see him again. They would probably kill him. They would probably kill both of them.
That was the third thing that had stopped him. He was…selfish. So unspeakably selfish. He’d tried to convince himself that maybe it was alright. He could see Dabi every day. He could talk to him. He could be beside him. He knew that the moment he set Dabi free the demon would disappear. Of course he would, there was no reason at all for him to stay. Hawks would never see him again.
So Hawks had hesitated, because he wasn’t the one in chains, he wasn’t the one being abused by the Commission, he was selfish. He was free and his life was perfect and he didn’t know a fraction of the pain Dabi had been through.
He couldn’t be that selfish anymore. He had to set Dabi free. Hawks had caused Dabi enough suffering already.
The Commission could put Hawks in Dabi’s place. He wanted that, just as long as the demon got to be free. Hawks had to protect him, he loved him, so much that there was never going to be an alternative. Everything about Dabi was breathtakingly beautiful, inside as much as out. He called Hawks an angel all the time, but Hawks had never seen anyone more beautiful and warm than Dabi was. He was going to set Dabi free, even if it put him in hell. Hawks would protect him.
He made it to the control room without as much fuss as he’d thought there would be. He’d knocked out two people, but it hadn’t been difficult and they wouldn’t wake for a while more. He didn’t have an access key to this section, but he’d taken one off the second unconscious person and now he was in. Inside, there were three other Commission workers. They looked surprised to see him, but their first reaction wasn’t hostility and that was perhaps their biggest mistake. They joined the growing list of unresponsive Commission workers a moment later. In the control room he could see camera footage of most of the building, but his gaze only lingered on one.
Dabi didn’t look like he did when Hawks was with him. He sat leaning against the wall, staring at the cell exit with a blank expression, as though he were dead. Hawks didn’t remove his gaze from that one screen the entire time he riffled through the Commission workers bags for their keytags. He wanted to see Dabi for as long as he could, even if he would soon disappear. He regretted running out before their time was up this morning, but all he could think of when he saw Dabi was how much he must have hurt him during all the time they’d been together. The demon was probably relieved to have the rest of the hour by himself, without anyone sitting there and watching him, even if the camera was still in place. Hawks looked at Dabi’s unmoving expression. He thought of all the smiles the demon had given him. His stomach churned when he wondered if the demon had been forced to smile for him as well.
He pushed down the button that would set him free. He had to confirm about eight times that that was really what he wanted to do, and each time he felt more sure that it was. He thought of the dreams he’d once had of flying. Thought of the dreams he’d once had of turquoise flames and those beautiful eyes. He released them. He wouldn’t have any use for them now, not after what the Commission would do to him.
He really truly wanted Dabi to be free.
He pushed the button for the final time, and watched as first the manacles, then the cell door, then every door on the floor, popped open.
Dabi flinched when the iron fell off him, tumbling from his chest, ankles, wrists, shoulders and horns. There’d been ringlets of the metal secured around him everywhere, far more than Hawks had realised. He touched the cuff around his own neck. It had always made him feel like a pet with a collar, but for a moment he thought of it as something his beautiful demon and he shared in common. He no longer had even that, but he was glad of it this time.
Hawks’ gaze flicked to movement on one of the other cameras just as blue flame engulphed the one of Dabi and it went offline. A group of Commission fighters like himself were heading for the basement floor. He scanned the other cameras. No other fighting forces. Good.
If he intercepted the one squad and slowed them down enough, maybe Dabi would be able to leave without getting caught in conflict at all. Hawks was wearing his fighting gear already, a black skin-tight compression layer with the Commission’s emblem on his chest over his heart, beige cargo pants and steel-capped boots. Over his body, he had a multitude of throwing daggers stashed. They were his primary weapons, shaped like feathers. He’d been trained in throwing them for years. Now, he did a headcount of them. Sixteen in total. A fighting force generally consisted of twenty, but even with less daggers he had a distinct advantage, so it might be alright. He had a couple of advantages actually.
He met them on the second floor, two from Dabi. His first advantage came into effect immediately when they greeted him and he was allowed right into the centre of their group with not a single one of their weapons drawn. He would be more successful if he killed them, it was easier and quicker and meant that he could be certain they wouldn’t get back up.
But he just…couldn’t do that.
He knocked out three with the hilt of his dagger, hitting them hard enough that maybe some would die, although the Commission had very advanced healing facilities so perhaps not. After three were down, the initial shock wore off and two attacked him without their weapons, aiming to grab him and pin him down rather than hurt him. Struggling with them took long enough that three more had drawn weapons by the time he was back up. They’d picked guns, but their aim shook as they pointed at him. A senior member who was still too stunned to fight, shouted, “Don’t you dare shoot him! Hawks! Stand down this instant!”
Hawks took their conflicted expressions as permission to continue, and got two more out before his luck ended.
Seven men out without a single injury was a pretty good feat. Sure, they hadn’t attacked him directly so they’d been lambs to the slaughter, but seven was a nice number.
His first and massive disadvantage came into play then. The third fighter who had drawn her weapon was a tad sharper than her two companions. She flipped her grip on the gun and slammed it down on his shoulder, safety guard still on. Stars burst within his vision, his entire back alighting with sharp pain right down to the base of his spine. He gasped and fell to his hands and knees, completely immobilised for a long, excruciating moment.
When it faded, however slightly that was, he swung and knocked her feet out from beneath her, catching her head when she tumbled and slamming the pressure point on her neck against his knee.
His second advantage was most prominent in the fight after that. It was his style of fighting, as well as what they were wearing. He’d always trained to utilise his speed, training to be deadly quick—quick enough that his small size became irrelevant. Of course, it was only useful as long as he could keep it up, and his back ached with each attack. They were all wearing fire-proof suits. Big and clunky, with weaponry designed for long distance. They knew Dabi didn’t need to get close to kill them, realised that he wouldn’t. So really, they’d opened themselves up for Hawks perfectly. In another world, him and the demon might have made a perfect fighting unit together.
Even with that being the case…twenty was far too many for him to handle. He brought down three more, but it took twice the time now that they were all aware, using their guns like bludgeons and frequently aiming for his back after the one senior fighters had called that it was a weak point. That would be his second disadvantage; the Commission knew all his weaknesses. They were the ones that had trained him afterall, they knew all of his attacks well.
He took comfort in the fact that he wasn’t actually trying to beat them. All he wanted was to slow them down so that Dabi wouldn’t be caught.
Which was how he ended up half an hour later, trembling from all the pain wracking his body caused by the tight hold they had on his shoulders and back. Two men held his arms out, keeping him from pulling free, a third with her arms on his shoulders in case she needed to slide them around his neck and strangle him. He didn’t struggle, instead hanging loosely so that he could catch some semblance of his breath.
The senior fighter shook his head. “What are you doing, Hawks?”
Hawks bared his teeth and spat blood at him. “Protecting something precious.”
He was slapped across the face, the force throwing his head back and the man’s ring slicing a line in his cheek. Their fighting force was in tatters, only half of them conscious and the others bearing noticeable bruises. The senior fighter pulled out a communication device and turned around. “Don’t let him loose, I’m calling backup.”
Hawks felt his lips pull up. “Too late…” He whispered. “Dabi’s long gone.”
The man just stared coldly at him as he spoke into the device, explaining the situation and requesting they send another team after the demon, as well as means to confine Hawks.
Hawks felt his first flicker of fear as he heard that. He could see the rest of his life mapped out before him. It wouldn’t be long, that was certain, and what was left of it would be more painful than even what Dabi’s had been. They had a reason to want Dabi alive by the end. They had no such reason for Hawks, he was just an expendable human soldier like any other, except he was worse then them, because he had hurt his friend countless times. Maybe there was something he still wished for. He really wished he could apologise one more time.
That was how he was, head bowed and a regretful smile pasted on his bloody face, held up only by the strength of those restraining him, when the room abruptly cracked and then Dabi jumped down from a hole in the now melted ceiling. “There you are angel.” He breathed, looking overwhelmingly relieved.
Hawks felt every single hint of warmth leave his body as it went dead cold. “No.” He pulled uselessly to try and free his arms. “No, why are you here?!”
Dabi couldn’t be—he was going to get caught, they’d just called backup—he was—he was…why was he here?!!
Hawks felt the woman’s arms vice around his throat when he began struggling, tight enough that he gaged—although, it wasn’t as much from the lack of air as from the sudden onset of agony when she pressed herself so hard over his back that something was crushed.
A wall of blue flames rose up alongside him, and the man holding his left arm released him in lieu of jumping away from them. Hawks didn’t think long enough but to swing on his heel and kick the man gripping his other hand in the gut. The woman gripping his shoulders grunted when they both fell onto the ground.
He didn’t have a choice, he had to tell Dabi to leave—Hawks tore one of his daggers free from its sheath and slammed it into the woman’s leg. Her rugged noise of pain grated through her ears, but then his neck was free and he was tearing away from her clutching grip to stumble to his feet. Light-headedness bombarded him the moment he was up. He stumbled to where Dabi was.
What happened next, happened in frames.
There was Dabi—beautiful dangerous Dabi—and there was the small red laser point of a gun Hawks’ sharp eyes picked out glinting on his demon’s coat, aimed by the reinforcements he could make out rounding the corner.
He didn’t really think. Not enough to say something like ‘wait’ or ‘look out’. It wasn’t one of those moments. He wasn’t even trying to get hit himself, he’d just tried to move Dabi aside, as simple as knocking shoulders with a friend, and then…and then he’d looked down to see what had pinched his chest and noticed disconnectedly that ‘oh, three of their bullets hit me.’
It hadn’t been his body that had realised he was beginning to die, there hadn’t been any big sign or reaction that had given it away. He’d just turned and looked up at Dabi even as blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth, still not quite understanding. A small frown pinched his eyebrows together, until his sluggish thoughts finally decided to piece together and then comprehend what had happened.
“Oh…” He realised softly. “Dabi, you have to get out of here—I…won’t…be able to hold them off anymore.”
His vision darkened at the edges, and then his knees buckled beneath him. Even the pain faded, although it was perhaps the scariest sensation he’d ever felt. New thoughts became impossible, but there was one old thought he already had that he couldn’t let go of. “Dabi…you have to—go—"
His already hollowed out vision blurred and faded, disconnecting like it was a broken device. The last thing he’d been able to focus on was Dabi, staring at him, paralysed, chest moving rapidly from quick breaths.
Why isn’t he going…he wondered idly, as the world disappeared on him, you have to go Dabi.
Dabi had been scared before. He’d been scared when his father had tried to burn him to death. He’d been scared when the Commission began to torture him. He’d been scared when he’d realised he’d probably die of iron poisoning soon.
Now, he wasn’t sure he could call those things fear.
None of that compared, not even slightly, to the terror that froze him stiff when he saw Keigo’s small body dart around him moments after an unspoken warning had alighted in his honey-brown eyes.
And then his darling angel, that had never prioritised himself even once since he’d been born, had turned to him with that terrifying confusion in his gorgeous eyes, blood already dripping down his chin.
“Oh…” Was the soft noise he made. “Dabi, you have to get out of here—I…won’t…be able to hold them off anymore.”
Dabi didn’t understand. Why was he saying that?
“Dabi…you have to—go—"
Why was he saying that?!
He lunged forward and caught Keigo when his knees gave way, slipping his hands under his armpits and then scooping him into his arms properly to cradle him against his chest.
“No no no Keigo…” He was only half-aware of his broken pleas, only half-aware of the screams around him as his flames melted not just the walls, but first the bodies and flame-proof coats and then the bones of the screaming Commission fighters that had chosen to keep attacking him rather than turning and running. They’d hurt Keigo. They’d shot him.
He’d protected Dabi.
There was a crack as the ceiling above them split in the middle and began to crumble down atop them. Dabi curled over Keigo in his arms and drew his fire back to his body, manifesting it instead into a misty portal beneath them. He stepped into the cooling shade of a cave half a city away from the Commission for the first time in seventeen years.
He’d been craving the shadows since the Commission had left the lights on constantly as a method of torturing him, like they’d wanted to drive him to madness.
Now, he barely noticed it.
Immediately he chased the darkness away with the flickering, comforting light of his flames, which he sent licking up the walls. He couldn’t tell if Keigo was alive, couldn’t comprehend whether it was already too late.
Hands shaking, not really aware of what he was doing, he drew a healing circle on his angel, marking it only with his blood because he wouldn’t dare take anymore magic from Keigo. It achieved very little, even with Dabi’s magic returned and full of iron.
There was only one other thing he could think of. Slowly, and painstakingly carefully, he began to melt the magic suppressors off Keigo’s small, still form. He didn’t want to burn him, so he was careful. He was also running out of time.
The smaller ones on his wrists and ankles came off easily. The one on his neck took much longer. Finally, finally he broke it off and threw it across the room with a clang.
Many things happened the moment it was gone. The first was when Dabi felt his magic being tugged away as Keigo’s body struggled to absorb anything it could from around it. Dabi obligingly gave him everything he could. Then his angel changed physically. His skin reverted from grey to the most beautiful tan instead, his hair near glowed, blond and vibrant and…the wings. They were breathtaking, big and red and so soft and silken where they brushed against his skin. He’d never been so enraptured by anything in his entire life. He didn’t think Keigo could become any more endearing, but the feathers and the wings made him look whole in a way that he’d never looked before. The injuries on his chest also disappeared, fading away like they’d been erased.
When Dabi touched his skin, he realised something else had happened. So much of his magic had been absorbed that when he touched Keigo he felt a connection that hadn’t been there before. Before he had any comprehension of what had happened, he was suddenly seeing himself, chained up.
‘You’re so beautiful…’
He heard the first words Keigo had spoken to him that day, saw his own relief through Keigo’s memories. And then more and more played, his teasing, Keigo’s thoughts, the laughter they had shared, the questions they had asked. As things flicked through, he relived their time together, transfixed.
He watched Keigo training, saw him being beaten down and then standing up again straight away. His stomach tightened in disgust when he listened to the Commission head telling him that he was dying like he were discussing ice-cream flavours, ordering him to return to training mere hours after he’d woken up from a magic-deficient state that really should have killed him, planting the doubt in his mind that he was unable to perceive social cues. It was bullshit for one, Dabi had seen Keigo perceive more than most people would in an hour in just a couple of seconds. And the angel had plenty enough empathy. Dabi could tell clear as day that the woman who had filed the complaint had only done it out of spite. He hated that Keigo didn’t realise, hated that the Commission felt they had to insert doubts into him for everything. He was never allowed to do something right.
And then suddenly they were the memories from just a few days ago.
‘Dabi…Is there any way that you would ever…love a human?’
Dabi watched in shock as he heard his own answer, realising for the first time how Keigo had interpreted it.
‘No. Never. There’s not a single one I’ve ever met that I haven’t hated.’
“Oh, little angel, no.” He whispered, watching Keigo duck his head and refuse to cry. He hadn’t been talking about Keigo, of course he hadn’t. How could he have been?
Keigo was an angel, not a human…but, Dabi realised, Keigo hadn’t even known that himself. Dabi knew that and it still hadn’t crossed his mind when Keigo had asked that that he might have been talking about himself.
He saw as Keigo stumbled into his apartment and crumpled to his knees. First, he felt the unbearable pain Keigo had felt when he’d realised Dabi hated him, accepting it so easily, and then the overwhelming self-loathing that followed, tearing through his chest exactly as it had his beautiful misunderstanding little angel.
All he’d done was hurt Dabi. Over and over. He’d hurt him.
He’d never wanted to hurt him.
And…Dabi had every reason to hate Hawks for it. Of course he hated Hawks. How could he ever love him? How could he ever even like him?!
“How could you think that?” Dabi whispered. He’d…he’d let him believe that he hated him, how had Keigo ever believed such a thing? And even when the angel had all but spelled it out to Dabi, he still hadn’t realised what was going on.
‘You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to! I won’t do anything to you, or anything like that. I promise I would never hurt you for saying you don’t want to do something…’
‘Touch me! You don’t have to touch me…I won’t do anything to you, I promise, so you don’t have to—you don’t have to do anything Dabi.’
‘I’m sorry…I’m really sorry.’
And maybe even worse, Dabi had let him feel so alone that he’d been certain Dabi would leave him the moment he was free. He was so convinced that he was this terrible, hurtful and foul thing that the possibility Dabi might love him back wasn’t even a thought that had properly crossed his mind.
Hawks had hesitated, because he wasn’t the one in chains, he wasn’t the one being abused by the Commission, he was selfish. He was free and his life was perfect and he didn’t know a fraction of the pain Dabi had been through.
His precious little angel was conditioned by the Commission so perfectly to be grateful for what they did to him that even now, he still hadn’t realised he’d been as tortured as Dabi had.
‘What are you doing, Hawks?’
‘Protecting something precious.’
Dabi scooped Keigo into his arms, mindful of his wings, and leaned their heads together. “Wake up pretty dove.” He begged softly. “Please wake up now.”
The memories concluded with Keigo staring at Dabi, not understanding why he wouldn’t leave him. Not understanding that Dabi had loved him from the moment he’d whispered,
‘You’re so beautiful…’
Or maybe even before that. Maybe the fondness had started when he’d decided not to kill the spunky wingless angel that had summoned him, maybe it had been when he’d excitedly stated that, ‘Your clothes move!’ the first time they had met, or maybe it was when he’d chosen to heal him that day the Commission had thrown his small form into his cell near dead. He hadn’t really noticed when he’d started caring, it just was.
“Keigo wake up…”
Dark eyelashes fluttered and then the most vibrant golden eyes blinked softly at him. Dazedly, Keigo’s eyes sleepily swept the room. His gaze caught on the blue flames licking up the walls, eyes widening with awe before turning back to Dabi and running anxiously along his body. Then he’d sat up on his knees and thrown his arms around the demon, pulling him to his chest. “You’re free! The iron is gone—this isn’t the Commission!”
Dabi smiled. Of course that was the first thing he would say. He moved to wrap his arms around Keigo’s waist and draw him closer. He smelt good. Dabi hadn’t noticed before because the sharp tang of iron had always been separating them, but Keigo smelt good, warm and familiar.
The moment he shifted his weight to reach for him, Keigo tensed and abruptly released his own hold to scramble backwards onto his hands. His expression morphed into something mixed between panic and horror and had Dabi gritting his teeth. “S-sorry Dabi, I—” He could already hear the ache of tears in the small angel’s voice, could already see the tremble of his fingers, pressed into the dirt behind him. “I didn’t mean to just grab you like that, just push me away if I do it again, really—”
Dabi felt his expression go stony. He was part of the reason those big golden eyes were so close to tears. He saw Keigo misinterpreting his expression, saw him trying to swallow his breath the way he did when he was refusing to cry. He held out his hands. “Come here, dove.”
Keigo rapidly shook his head. “It’s alright, I already said—you don’t have to—I won’t hurt you like they did…”
“Dove, please come here.”
Keigo stared at him for a brief moment before his gaze dropped. He shook his head, tears slipping from his eyelashes. “No—you’re not listening Dabi. You don’t have to pretend to smile, or say you like me or make yourself touch me.” His lips turned up in the most broken smile Dabi had ever seen. “It’s alright…” he whispered.
And without words, Dabi so clearly heard him say I still love you.
Dabi didn’t know what else to do. He moved and caught the angel around the waist before he could draw back, pulling him onto his lap. Just being close to him felt right, but being pressed against him like this, with the little angel wrapped in his arms…there was no words to describe that. “You’re not listening, Keigo. Listen to me, listen to my lies if that’s all you’ll hear.” He held up his hand, the other firmly holding Keigo to him, his coat rolled up to the elbow. “I pretend to smile when I’m around you.” A long gash crossed his wrist, just below his palm. “I force myself to touch you.” A second gash, just below it. “You disgust me.” A third one. “I don’t love you, Keigo, I hate you.”
His breath caught audibly in his throat as he felt the lie split his skin from wrist to elbow, cutting crosswise this time. Keigo was shaking, staring at the wounds in horror. “Dabi stop!” He gasped. “You’re getting hurt!”
He kissed his forehead. “Dove, why am I getting hurt?”
Keigo only looked at him uncomprehendingly.
“Because I’m lying. Pretty angel, I’ve never pretended to smile around you.” The first gash healed before their eyes. “I’ve never forced myself to touch you, I think about the feel of your skin the moment you’re gone, wishing I could pull you to me again the instant I let go.” The second disappeared. “I’ve told you over and over how breathtakingly gorgeous you are, but you can’t be hearing me because you still don’t seem to understand. I’ve never been more attracted to anything in my life, you could try your hardest to disgust me and I’d just find it endearing. But you definitely can’t do it simply by existing.” The third of the small gashes disappeared. “Keigo, listen to me. Listen to me properly, and don’t look away.”
He placed his hands lightly on the angel’s cheeks, pressing their foreheads together and closing his eyes as he whispered the truest thing he knew. “Dove, I love you. I really do, it’s not a lie. I’ve never loved anything like I love you.”
He pressed his arm into Keigo’s hands so that the angel could watch as the long slice knit itself back together and disappeared. “Keigo…” He whispered. There were so many questions in that one word, so much he wanted to know, so much he wanted his angel to say.
Keigo ran his fingers over the healed skin, searching for any remainder of the injury. It had healed entirely. So entirely that where before had all been purple scar, now there was a line of healed, pale skin. “That’s a contradiction…” He murmured with such a small voice. “You weren’t lying when you said…there wasn’t a single human you’ve met that you didn’t hate, a-and I know that I’m...”
Dabi reached over his shoulder and ran his hand down the entire length of his wing. Keigo jolted in surprise, turning red and shuddering at once. “You’re what? Striking? Determined?” He added wryly, more to himself, “Oblivious, perhaps?” He ran his hands through the feathers again and swore he saw stars dance across Keigo’s all at once dazed eyes. Maybe he should have been a little more careful, angel wings were sensitive already and Keigo was only now properly feeling his. He’d overload him with too many sensations at once if he was rough. He watched as the small angel looked over his shoulder and for the first time could see what he’d always felt. “I didn’t lie. You’re an angel you know…”
Keigo stared. And stared. And stared. He looked at Dabi, puzzled, and then back to the wings. Slowly, Dabi ran his hand through the feathers again so that Keigo could properly process that they were connected to him. A small quiver went through his body at the new sensation.
“They’re yours, you know.” Dabi repeated quietly. “That’s why you didn’t notice them until now. They’ve always been connected to you, just hidden. Don’t you think you would have perceived the extra weight on your back immediately when you woke up otherwise?”
Keigo still looked at him blankly, so Dabi grabbed his hand and pulled them both to their feet. “Here, stretch your arms out.”
Keigo obliged.
“Good angel, now stretch your wings out too. Same thing, you shouldn’t need to think too hard about it.”
Keigo looked like he was going to fall over in shock when they actually stretched out. Dabi took pity on him and moved behind him, carefully gripping the outer shell of feathers and folding them against Keigo’s back. “It’s alright, you’ll learn how they work soon enough. Give it a day or two and I think you’ll be flying. Although we might need to strengthen them a bit first.”
“Yeah…” Keigo said weakly. “Okay…”
Dabi felt the intense urge to take advantage of Keigo’s shell-shocked situation. Afterall, the little angel was usually quick to blush and push him away. He wondered just what he could get away with now…
He slipped his arm around Keigo’s waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Dabi felt him still in his arms. He kissed along his cheekbone, then the place where his jaw met his neck, before trailing more featherlight kisses along the pane of his neck to his collarbone. Finally he leaned his head on his shoulder and listened to the rapid pulsing of his heart beneath the skin. Alive. “Dove…you scared the shit out of me when you took those bullets.”
“I…what?” Keigo asked, clearly dazed by the affection. He shook his head once, sharply, to clear his thoughts and Dabi felt his hair brush his face. “Oh yeah…”
Oh yeah. Like he’d forgotten. Dabi nipped at the junction where his neck met his shoulder. Little moron angel, didn’t even realise how much he’d put Dabi through. What a handful. Keigo started at the bite. Dabi grinned into his skin and bit him again. “Dabi!” The angel squeaked, “Stop doing that!”
“No.” Was the only lengthy and explanatory response he received. He kissed his throat again.
“Wait—Dabi! I said—”
Keigo’s struggling and Dabi refusal to let go resulted in them both tumbling down, Keigo landing perfectly in Dabi’s lap again.
“That’s so embarrassing…” The angel whispered, covering his face with his hands.
Dabi smirked. “Do you like it though?”
There was a palpable silence, Keigo’s blush deepening by the minute. “No…” He muttered finally, making it sound more like a question. “I—don’t…”
Dabi tipped his head back and laughed. “I don’t even need divine intervention to tell when you’re lying pretty angel.” His mind reminded him of one particular memory of Keigo’s he’d seen. One particularly interesting memory. It was the time Keigo had tried to kiss Dabi and failed spectacularly. Dabi wished he’d keyed onto what was going on at the time. Actually, he was extremely annoyed that he’d missed it and wasted the opportunity to catch Keigo all that time ago. “Do you want me to keep going?”
Keigo remained silent, apparently unable to say no this time. Dabi’s grin widened. “Do you want me to stop?”
The angel’s hands dropped from his face in alarm and Dabi grinned triumphantly as he wasted no time swooping down and catching Keigo’s now available lips. The second he did, Keigo made the prettiest noise of surprise and Dabi pulled him even closer. “That’s right, dove, won’t you sing for me?” He kissed him again, deeper, stronger, fervently unable to stop. If was when he sunk his hands into the hypersensitive feathers on his back and raked gently through them that he won a moan from Keigo that cut straight to his core. He did it again and was rewarded with more addictive and soft noises, barely drawing back for breath.
He’d wanted to kiss him for so long, had imagined it so many ways, that he’d felt sure he already knew what it would feel like. He was wrong. Actually kissing Keigo was something else entirely. It made him want to cry and laugh at the same time, and the feeling of having him safe and alive, far from the Commission’s reach and tangled in Dabi’s hands, was unparalleled.
There wasn’t a chance in hell that he would let them take him back.
And trust him, he knew every corner of hell personally.
Four months later.
“Dabi!” Keigo whined, placing his foot on the bed and tugging the demon’s arm. The demon’s other arm was firmly latched around the bottom of the mattress, holding himself in place, his face resolutely buried in the pillow. “Come on, Dabi!” He shifted his grip, pulling harder. “I know you’re hungry, I could hear your stomach growling when I woke up.”
All at once piercing blue eyes emerged from the depths of the pillow. Dabi flipped his palm up and caught Keigo’s wrist, and then—Keigo went sprawling on his chest, wings flapping chaotically to right himself even as he was tugged into the demon’s arms. “Easy fix to that problem, I’ll just eat you—” Keigo squeaked when fangs sunk painlessly into his shoulder, a tongue flicking out immediately to lick to gentle bite. Dabi rolled them, Keigo’s wings spreading beneath his back as the demon came out on top. “I’m sure you’d make a delicious meal.” His fingers sunk into Keigo’s waist and suddenly he was laughing uncontrollably.
“Dabi—stop tickling me, I swear—stop it!”
Dabi grinned and kissed him. “Sure, sure, I’ll stop when you stop waking up at the break of dawn and expecting me to join you.”
Keigo laughed again. “It’s been several hours since dawn actually.”
Dabi had the audacity to look half-surprised when he glanced out the window. “Huh. Well what do you know, it actually is.”
There was a soft knock on the door of the inn they were staying at. “Sirs and ladies, the lunch menu will be available in half an hour, any last customers wanting breakfast should visit the dining hall before that. Thank you.” Came the friendly voice of what was presumably one of the waitresses.
Keigo waited until she’d left before he met Dabi’s gaze.
“What?” The demon asked.
A grin split Keigo’s lips open while he rolled out from beneath Dabi and batted him in the face with a wing as he passed. “You’re definitely the lady. Afterall, that jewellery you wear is so ladylike and fancy.”
Dabi’s expression dropped. “Ugh.” He said. “Insufferable little angel, the piercings are a fashion choice and—”
“Yeah, yeah, and the staples don’t count. Whatever you say, lady Dabi.” Keigo held out his hand, bowing slightly. “Shall I accompany you to dinner?”
“Pest.” Was the only retort.
Half an hour later they stood basking in the sun while they waited in line for coffee, having missed the breakfast opportunity at the inn they’d stayed at.
“Next please. Name and order number.”
“Keigo.” He’d taken to the name since escaping the Commission. It felt strange to revert to his original name after so many years, but Dabi called it often enough that he had begun to love it again. “I think the number is…” He looked over his shoulder.
“Twenty-one.” Dabi supplied, glancing up from the menu he’d been reading. Now that he was free, it was an immense feat to make the demon stop thinking about food.
The girl at the counter also glanced up from reading all the names scrawled on the side of the throw-away coffee cups. She found the two with their number and looked at them for the first time as she passed them over. Her eyes snagged. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered, “You’re Hawks!”
At that every eye in the line turned to behold them.
Keigo blinked at the outburst and them grinned out of habit. “Hm, was once. I do have an important question though. Do you recognise me because of the publicity I had being a Commission fighter, or because you’ve seen one of the posters requesting our arrest?”
A flash of guilt darkened the blush that had appeared on her face when Keigo had smiled. “Oh…both.”
Keigo looked sidelong at Dabi, who jerked a thumb at the man that had gone white and pulled out his phone two people back. The demon rolled his eyes. “Suppose that’s our que, dove.”
Keigo scooped up the coffee cups and handed one to Dabi. They met eyes and the demon shook his head with a smile at the clear excitement building in Keigo’s gaze. Keigo grinned in response and whipped around to the girl, all at once buzzing with energy. “Have you ever seen a demon before?”
She simply tilted her head in confusion. Keigo popped the lid off his coffee and swallowed the entire thing in one gulp. He placed it on the table, stretching his arms out before him. His grin sharpened. “How about an angel?”
The man’s call must have gone through, because Commission fighters spilled into the town square around them.
Dabi glanced at the approaching threat with an uninterested sort of boredom. “I swear this always happens.” He muttered, letting the glamour that had been covering his beast traits drop. Gasps varying from shock to horror to wonder came from those watching. “I don’t see why you can’t just glamour yourself to look different, my angel, they always recognise you straight away.”
Keigo danced back, his exhilaration apparent enough. “Oh, but isn’t this so much more fun?”
Dabi rolled his eyes. “I’m not gulping down my coffee like you did. I prefer to taste my drinks, so I’ll meet you there. Although first…” His sharp eyes flicked from face to face, searching the oncoming hoard of Commission fighters. “I’ve made a couple of promises over the years that deserve to be upheld…” Keigo knew each time he found one of the people that had tortured him, it was clear enough when they combusted into flame. Dabi took a slow sip of his coffee. “Yeah, I don’t know the others. On the off possibility they’re as innocent as you, dove, I’ll let them live.” And with a flare of blue, Dabi sunk into the ground and disappeared.
Keigo laughed, dropped his own glamour and spread his wings. He shot into the air amongst gasps of awe.
“Bye!!” He waved to the coffee girl. “Hope you liked the performance! Don’t worry about my lover, he’s just grumpy cos he had to wake up before dinner time.” He turned his wave on the Commission fighters below. “As for you, I suggest you do worry about my lover, he’ll set you on fire if you annoy him anymore than you already have.”
As much fun as he had playing with the Commission, he and Dabi actually had a reason for occasionally showing up places in their true forms.
The Commission had never let Keigo know he had wings. They’d never tested his capabilities, or let him anywhere near the sky. They had no clue just how fast he was.
See, the thing was, Keigo could travel hundreds of kilometres in a day. His wings were incredibly strong now that his magic was unbound and he wasn’t worked to within an inch of his life. Now that he was free.
So he and Dabi would appear every now and then, in a place somewhere far from their home, and pretend that’s where they’d been living. The Commission was so far from catching them it was almost amusing.
Dabi had nearly melted the entire Commission headquarters when he’d made his spectacular exist the first time, so what was left of their force was greatly diminished and lacked any proper power now. Keigo was confident the entire operation would fall down around them soon, it was only a matter of time and he was perfectly capable of waiting it out.
He dived through the clouds, pulling up hot half a meter before the roof of the tree canopy of the forest that guarded their home, and landing neatly beside Dabi.
“You took your time.” The fire demon noted.
Keigo kissed him, breathless. “I love you.” He said, because he could. “And did you see their faces?”
Dabi just laughed.
And it was perfect.