## Preface

Tangled Strings
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/26283928.

Rating:
  Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning:
  No Archive Warnings Apply
Category:
  M/M
Fandom:
  僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Relationship:
  Dabi | Todoroki Touya/Takami Keigo | Hawks
Characters:
  Takami Keigo | Hawks, Dabi | Todoroki Touya
Additional Tags:
  flangst, Hurt/Comfort, injuries, Pigeon Verse, Messy Feelings, Cursed relationship
Language:
  English
Series:
  Part 11 of Pigeon Verse
Stats:
  Published: 2020-09-04 Words: 2,613 Chapters: 1/1

# Tangled Strings

by EloFromMars

Summary

> Dabi is late to come home, Keigo starts to worry.

Notes

> @reindeerene on Twitter won the 1k followers fic raffle and they gave me a lovely prompt AND allowed me to set the story in the Pigeon verse! So here we go for a new installment, taking place just before the Last Feather.

> Hope you will enjoy!

> Big thanks to Ursula for betaing <3

See the end of the work for more notes

## Tangled Strings

For once, Keigo is home first. It’s rare these days. Usually, Dabi is always here when he comes home from work (Keigo wondered several times if the villain even left the apartment at all), or they take a portal together from the PLF’s HQ.

But that night, when he slides the balcony door open, the apartment is dark and silent. It doesn’t last long though. A quiet meow drags his attention to the black ball of fur watching him from the armrest of the couch. He comes closer and Pigeon rises up on her back paws to climb in his arms, bumping her head against his chin. Keigo scratches her behind the ears and under her chin, earning louder purrs.

“Hey, Princess. How was your day?”

She mewls softly and rubs her face against his cheek. It’s not much, but once again he thinks that having a living being waiting for him to come home, whether Dabi or Pigeon, makes all the difference. Keigo feels good when he steps into his apartment now. He doesn’t feel anxious or nervous or sad. He doesn’t avoid it anymore. He doesn’t make excuses to sleep at his agency, arguing that it’s no use for him to go back home, that it’s too late. Anything to avoid the cold silence of his too-big penthouse.

No. Now, he doesn’t linger. He finishes work and heads straight home.

He turns all the lights on, switches on the sound system, and fills up the quiet with music. He sheds all his feathers before stepping in the shower. The hot water washes away the grime of the day and relaxes his tired muscles. Pigeon waits for him, curled up on the pile of feathers he left on the tiles. He can feel the vibrations of her rhythmic purr against the vanes. The gentle tug at the back of his mind finishes washing away the pressure of his workday.

Pigeon follows him as he leaves the bathroom for his bedroom. Keigo appreciates the company but he knows that as soon as Dabi would come back home, he would be thoroughly ignored in favor of the villain. Keigo didn’t know if it was because of Dabi running hot all the time or because he was the one who rescued her all those weeks ago, but Dabi was Pigeon’s favorite human. He didn’t really mind. Seeing Dabi rolling on the floor with his “daughter” (his words) was a sight he couldn’t get enough of.

He shoots a text to Dabi when there’s still no sign of the villain after another hour. Keigo isn’t worried, but he is hungry. He could go ahead and just eat, but he had gotten used to sharing his dinners with Dabi (and eating homemade food, but that was beside the point).

No answer. Not even seen, which is weird. Not unaccounted for, but strange. Usually, Dabi is pretty quick to answer him or at least to see his texts. Keigo is used to the “Seen treatment” and had learned to interpret them as either “fuck off, I’m in a mood” or “busy, ttyl”. The fact that Dabi didn’t even open his text is a bit concerning.

Keigo shuts down the bad feelings swirling in his gut and orders some pizza. Something is telling him that Dabi won’t be in the mood to cook once (if) he comes back. The night rolls by without a sign of the villain. Despite his best attempt at remaining awake, the exhaustion of the day, combined with Pigeon’s purrs against his chest and the warmth of the plush blanket he bundled himself in, finally gets him.

He stumbles to his bedroom, checking his phone again. The message still hasn’t been seen.

He climbs in bed and starts typing another message to Dabi before erasing it. It’s fine.

Probably.

Or is it?

The familiar chilling feeling of paranoia creeps up in his chest. What if Dabi isn’t coming back because he discovered something about Keigo’s double agent gig? Keigo has been careful, as always, but he can’t be certain 100%, especially not now that Dabi and he spent so much time together. Did he let something slip? Did he talk in his sleep?

Pigeon climbs on the bed and curls up under his chin. The warm presence snaps Keigo out of his anxious spiraling. He takes in a shuddering breath. Whatever happens, he’ll deal with it. He knows that his thing with Dabi is deemed to fail at some point. Probably sooner rather than later. He knows it and he knows that he should start untangling the strings that attached him to the villain.

He knows all of that and does nothing, simply contemplating the incoming disaster with something close to numb detachment. That net they weaved might be fake, but it feels so real that it’s hard to let it go, even if Keigo isn’t sure he’d be able to discern real feelings from fake ones at this point. Too many lies, too many omissions, and carefully ignored facts. Both of them have practiced half-truth and deflect for way too long to actually remember what it is to be honest. But there are these moments of vulnerability, these quiet instants where he feels that they both forget who they are, where their world is just the small space between their tangled limbs, shielded behind his wings, when the only thing that matters is the clear blue eyes staring into his and the words whispered in the dead of the night. No-one can fake the emotions he reads in Dabi’s eyes. Not even the best liar.

This is probably one of the reasons why Keigo desperately clings to those threads of normalcy, to this bubble of peace they both managed to create against all odds. Stupidest thing ever, pathetic even. A bad habit Keigo should have gotten rid of yesterday. But he doesn’t.

Instead, he sends one last text to Dabi, just a “I hope you’re not dead in a gutter”, and slides his phone under his pillow.

Somehow he manages to fall asleep, the fatigue of the day (days? weeks?) winning the battle against his worry.

Until he’s woken up by a loud noise in the living room.

His hero reflexes make him jump out of bed immediately, a long sharpened primary in his hand and wings puffed on his back.

Pigeon rushes out of the bedroom before Keigo has the time to scoop her up, and she starts crying loudly, the kind of cry Keigo never heard before. A presentiment turns his stomach to a block of lead and he hurries out the bedroom, feather-blade still in hand. He switches on the lights and sighs, both in relief and annoyance.

Dabi is there, sprawled on the carpet halfway between the entry door and the kitchen. Pigeon is pawing at his face with softer cries.

“I fell.” The words are slurred, mumbled in a neutral voice.

“Are you drunk?” Keigo groans, letting go of his feather and walking toward the villain.

“I wish.”

As he comes closer, Keigo’s amused annoyance turns into bone-chilling concern. Dabi’s white t-shirt is stained in red. Keigo crouches next to the villain, not touching yet. He knows how Dabi can get bitchy if Keigo tries to touch him when he’s in this kind of vulnerable state. He had learned it the hard, burning way. “Is this your blood?”

“Probably.”

“Can I?”

Dabi’s eyes are glazed and hazy when he turns his head to look at Keigo. His healthy skin is paler than usual and his upper lip is chapped in a way that doesn’t sit well with Keigo. He doesn’t answer Keigo’s question, but his hand raises slowly to catch a few red feathers. His eyes flutter closed as a sigh whooshes softly from his parted lips.

Keigo carefully lifts up Dabi’s soaked shirt and curses. A long gash splits Dabi’s torso in two and Keigo winces when he realizes that Dabi stopped the hemorrhage by cauterizing the wound, probably with his own fire. The flesh is swollen and an aggressive red, and Keigo doesn’t even think about the amount of pain Dabi had probably gone through while doing that. It makes him nauseous and his heart aches for the man laying in front of him. He inspects the rest of Dabi’s torso, looking for more wounds but aside from missing staples that only add to the blood already smeared on the pale skin, Dabi seems fine.

He steels his nerves, pushing away his concern to switch into hero mode. He needs to keep his cool. He scoops Dabi up in his arms and carries him to the bathroom with infinite precaution. “What happened?”

Dabi’s head lulls against Keigo’s bare chest, nuzzling it with another sigh. “Unlucky encounter.”

“You don’t say.”

Dabi’s chuckle turns into a wince. “Don’t worry, Birdie, they won’t hurt anyone anymore. You don’t have to avenge me.”

Keigo huffs and sends feathers to pick up towels to lay on the tiles of the bathroom floor. “I wasn’t planning on avenging you.”

“Rude.” Dabi groans in pain when Keigo settles him down and removes Dabi’s coat to turn it into a pillow. “I would.”

Keigo raises an eyebrow, using a small sharpened feather to cut the bloodied shirt. “You would what?”

“Avenge you.”

Keigo pauses briefly to look at Dabi but the man has closed his eyes again, visibly exhausted. Keigo shakes his head. “Is that so?”

“Burn the whole world down, all that bullshit.”

“You’re delirious.”

Dabi hums, his fingers finding Keigo’s feathers again. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

Pigeon sits next to Dabi’s head, conscientiously licking his forehead and hair. Dabi groans but doesn’t try to get away. Keigo wets a fresh towel and gently cleans Dabi’s chest. “Why didn’t you call me? I could have come and picked you up.”

Dabi’s weak fingers card through Keigo’s feathers. “Phone fucked.”

Keigo doesn’t answer and focuses on his task. Clean the blood, disinfect the scrapes and wounds, make sure that the seams are spotless. He grabs the surgical stapler that had made its way into his first-aid kit and with careful, gentle gestures, he replaces the staples that disappeared in the commotion. The gestures are familiar now. It took a while for Dabi to trust Keigo enough to let the hero help him with this. Dabi doesn’t move, aside from his fingers clenching and unclenching around Keigo’s feathers with every click of the stapler. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t wince or complain. Not for the first time, Keigo is both amazed and deeply concerned about Dabi’s high levels of pain tolerance. Keigo is not a whiny baby, he had his fair share of stitching and rough patching-up, but Dabi is on a whole other level.

He finishes his task in silence and uses his feathers to clean up the mess of cotton pads and gauze before cradling Dabi in his arms again. He walks back to the bedroom and settles the man on the bed. He removes Dabi’s jeans and tosses them in the laundry basket. Dabi lets him do as he pleases, not even opening his mouth for a smart-ass comment, proof of his tiredness. Pigeon takes her usual spot on the pillows stacked against the headboard. Dabi doesn’t even move when Keigo leaves the bedroom again to grab two bottles of sports drinks and painkillers.

Keigo climbs on the bed and runs a hand through Dabi’s dry hair. “Hey. You need to drink something.”

“Tired.”

“I know but you need to drink. C’mon Staples.” Keigo slides an arm under Dabi’s back and forces him to sit up. He cracks the lid of a bottle open and forces it between Dabi’s hands. “Drink and take this.”

Dabi scrunches his nose. “Your weak-ass pills won’t do anything.”

“Better than nothing. Come on, don’t be a brat.”

Dabi huffs but complies. He downs half of the bottle before flopping back on the bed with a grunt. “Can I sleep now?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Keigo puts the bottles on Dabi’s nightstand, pushing aside the numerous books piled here by the villain, and slips under the covers, scooting as close as he dares to Dabi. The feelings he bottled up while treating Dabi’s wounds resurfaced, and he closes his eyes to let them wash over him. Concern and relief mingle painfully in his chest. He extends one of his wings over Dabi’s frame and Dabi’s fingers tangle loosely in the feathers once more. The gesture is grounding, it always is, and prevents Keigo from losing himself in his own head. The realization that he could have lost Dabi tonight makes the already present pit in his heart grow bigger. Keigo knows he’s going to lose him at some point, one way or the other, but it doesn’t mean that he’s ready for it. He will probably never be.

“You’re thinking too loud,” Dabi mumbles.

Keigo rolls his eyes. “I’m not.”

“Yeah right. Can feel you freak out from there.”

“Shut up and sleep.”

Dabi grabs Keigo’s hand and squeezes it. “I’m fine. I’m not dead.”

“You could have been though.”

“Occupational hazard, Birdie.” Dabi laces their fingers together and strokes Keigo’s feathers with his other hand. “Neither of us really has the safest jobs in the world.”

“Villainy is not really a job.”

Dabi snorts. “Nah, it’s a way of life.” Sarcasm drips from his words, laced with exhaustion and something else Keigo can’t quite place. “But we’re still alive and kicking, right?”

“Alive, yes. Kicking? Not sure.”

Dabi hums and silence fell between them, only broken by Pigeon’s purring. Keigo drifts back to sleep, lulled by the slow rise and fall of Dabi’s chest against his wing.

His blaring alarm jolts him awake and he’s met by a pair of blue eyes. He rubs the sleep out of his tired eyes. “Why are you awake?”

Dabi smiles, a bit strained. “Pain.”

“Did you take painkillers?”

“Yeah. Waiting for them to kick in.”

Keigo sits up and stretches his wings and arms. “Coffee?”

Dabi hums and Keigo takes that as a yes. He presses the switch above the headboard and the curtains open with a quiet swish, flooding the bedroom with sunlight. Dabi looks pale and tired.

“I’m taking the morning off,” Keigo announces.

Dabi rolls his eyes. “Don’t. I’m fine.”

“You look like shit.”

“And having you fussing over me like a mama hen is not going to do anything more. I just need to rest for a day or two and I’ll be as right as rain.”

Keigo squints his eyes but Dabi doesn’t waver. “Fine.”

Keigo detaches one of his tertiary feathers and hands it to Dabi.

Long fingers pick it up and Dabi frowns. “What do you want me to do with that?”

“Just hold it and I’ll know you need me.”

Dabi gives him a crooked smile. “Or I can just message you.”

“Like you did last night?”

Dabi shrugs. “It was a one-time thing.”

“Maybe, but let’s say it’s for my peace of mind, okay?”

Dabi chuckles and scrunches his nose, pressing a hand against the bandage wrapped around his chest. “Alright, alright, worrywart.”

“Thank you.”

Keigo leaves the bedroom to make them coffee and feed Pigeon when a full-body shudder runs along his spine. “Asshole!” he shouts.

“Oh, you felt that?”

Keigo gasps, fingers clenched around the counter of the kitchen island. “Stop that or I’ll jump your bones, wounded or not wounded.”

Dabi’s laughter echoes from the bedroom and Keigo smiles, heart full and warm. No matter what happens to them in the future, he will cling to this kind of moment for as long as he can, consequences be damned.

## Afterword

End Notes

> Rein was supposed to be the one who gets a gift but in the end, I feel like the one who's spoiled. I have the best readers, Istg. Don't forget to give them love here. Thank you again for this piece of soft <3

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