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The ridiculously small flat has no balcony, which is something Keigo manages to forget every single time he decides to swing by.
In his defence, they mostly spend time together in his apartment due to it being obviously more equipped and bigger, it often felt like somewhere along the was Dabi had slowly moved in without either of them acknowledging it. Keigo is almost certain he hasn’t even been to the other’s place in the past month. Not that Dabi has complained about it, he too seemed to prefer sneaking into Keigo’s through the window, like some creep.
He grabs onto the thin outer part of the window sill in a fashion that almost brings into question whether he deserves his hero title. He briefly considers sending a text or calling the other to notify him of his arrival before deciding to simply start knocking on the window, knowing Dabi’s tendency of often not checking his muted phone for hours. He truly didn’t get how this habit hasn’t gotten him in trouble with his associates yet. Keigo only has to bang his gloved palm against the glass about four times before he spots a rather annoyed looking Dabi stepping into the bedroom, shaking his head as he approaches the window to open it for him.
Instead of his signature attire, he’s wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a tank top that already seems to have a couple of smaller stains on it – likely blood that didn’t get washed out quickly enough – and judging by how his hair is slightly messier than usually, he’d probably just gotten out of bed not so long ago. He definitely wouldn’t let most people see him like this and walk away in one piece. Keigo thinks he looks adorable.
“Wasn’t there some conversation about flying under the radar when we started hooking up?” he asks as a form of greeting, stepping aside so Keigo can jump into the flat “Because this is not what I would call subtle”
“To be fair” he says and Dabi is already rolling his eyes at the beginning of his sentence “We’ve never set rules for the level of domesticity this situation has”
Maybe he’s tiptoeing around the exact thing he meant to say. The word relationship or boyfriend does not leave his mouth, and has never before when talking about what was going on between the two of them with Dabi. Even if neither could realistically deny it at this point, given both of their extensive knowledge about the rather confidential details of the other’s background, hobbies, routines, trauma and what else, but no, they’re not going to actually say it out loud that they’re a couple.
Once the window is closed behind him, Dabi closes the remaining distance, and Keigo smiles as he feels the slender fingers of his right hand gently take hold of his hip. Dabi doesn’t have to pull him in closer, he leans into the kiss without hesitation. It does a better job as a greeting than saying hi to each other would anyway. If someone were to tell Keigo before starting his mission that one day he would associate this particular smell of mint with the ever-present undertone of smoke with safety, he would’ve looked at them at least a little bit weird.
By the time he notices the other reaching into his jacket, Dabi’s got what he wanted.
“You seriously got the most expensive hair dye you could find?” he examines the box while already heading towards the bathroom, leaving Keigo still standing by the window.
“Since when is going for quality a problem?” he snorts, following a couple steps behind after his mind manages to return to the reality.
“I’m not paying you back for it though”
“You’re saying that like you’ve ever paid me back for literally anything” not that Keigo would mind it, his pay check is clearly bigger than what he realistically needs in his everyday life.
Dabi’s bathroom is way more cramped than his, it’d be an overstatement to say that they both fit comfortable in it along with the chair they had brought in with themselves, but Keigo knows that if he dared to make a remark about it he’d have to deal with the comments regarding him being a spoiled rich bastard for the rest of the day. Even if he can’t help but find them just a bit hypocritical ever since learning that Dabi happens to come from a wealthy family. But he knows better than to point that out in response to some harmless teasing.
“How about you try not turning your head around a lot after I start putting this…stuff on it” Keigo mutters when he’s already standing by the sink, stirring the dye’s components together in an empty takeout container. He’s been at it for a couple minutes now and the paste still looks grey instead of black for some reason. Dabi only hums in response without turning his head around or even looking up from his phone, which he’s not sure he can take as a promise by any means. Due to the bathroom’s limited space he’d have to stand pretty close to the other, increasing the chances of any unexpected movement ending with the dye smearing over his clothes.
He gives the leg of the chair Dabi’s sitting on a light kick “I mean it. As much as I like your style, I’d rather pass out on adding more black to my own clothes” he says before glancing down at the container in his hand again “Oh come on, how is it still not the correct colour yet? Did it not come with enough activator liquid or-“
Dabi tosses his phone onto the counter with a sigh and pushes himself up from the chair.
“That’s good enough already” he says after peeking over Keigo’s shoulders “You do know it doesn’t have to be pitch black before you start working with it, right? Now move”
“Where are you going?”
“Getting you a spare shirt” Dabi squeezes past him, bumping into his shoulder in a way that can’t be anything but intentional “Cause it’d be such a shame to ruin that ridiculous costume of yours”
“Funny, I thought I looked ‘fucking hot’ in it” Keigo calls after him and although the other is outside of his view in the other room, he can practically see him flipping him off.
“You’re not getting any more compliments in the foreseeable future. They get in your head too much” Dabi yells back in the middle of digging through his clothes by the sounds of it “And just to be clear, you didn’t have that repulsive jacket on at the point when I said that!”
“That’s a lot of insults coming from someone who’s coat could cross the line between the mortal realm and afterlife any day” Keigo adds before catching the t-shirt thrown at his face. It’s a visibly old light grey one with some sort of faded-out grayscale design on the front that’s hard to even make out at this point. He still has to take off most of his feathers since it doesn’t have holes in it’s back, but it’s baggy enough for the rest to fit comfortably under it. It smells like Dabi. He’s definitely finding a way to keep it.
They really aren’t even trying to beat the relationship allegations.
“’kay” he grabs the plastic container again once the other is back on the chair with his back turned to him “Sit still”
He half-heartedly says a prayer in his thoughts for his talons to avoid tearing the disposable gloves as he puts them on. According to the quick search he’s done on his way from work to the flat he’s supposed to start at the roots then move onto the rest of the hair. He’s not sure how careful Dabi usually is when he dyes it for himself, but seeing how close some burn marks are to his scalp certainly unnerves Keigo a bit. It’s not rocket science to figure that the strong chemicals in the paste wouldn’t do much good to the damaged skin area.
He spends most of the time filling the silence by rambling about his recent cases or anything remotely interesting that has happened in the agency, in an attempt to make the atmosphere feel more casual, since he knows too well how this likely means way more than just an evening spent with hair dyeing for Dabi. Yes, Keigo already knew what his actual hair colour was, he’d discovered that before being told the rest of the information relating to his past. But there was a big difference between being aware of a part of the other that he was trying to cover up and this. The process of retouching his roots meant Keigo had to actively look for the white parts, focus directly on one of the most prominent reminders of the life the other wanted to keep hidden from everyone else. It must be an overtly vulnerable position especially for someone like Dabi, who for the longest time didn’t have anyone to celebrate his birthday with due to his refusal to tell the date even to his closest allies.
And according to him, it was for the first time in about a decade that he’d said his own given name out loud when he shared it with Keigo.
Because he’d wanted him to know.
Dabi’s head seems to lean into his touch instinctually, and it feels more intimate than any hook-up. The warmth that grows inside his chest at it is still a bit foreign to him, and serves as a strong enough reminder for Keigo about the fact that he’s probably way too deep. It’s almost crazy to remember what the actual purpose behind getting to know Dabi was, to remind himself that he’s still technically on a spy mission. It was never meant to go this far. All Keigo wanted at the start was to maybe have a bit of a secret rebellion, to temporarily feel a little more in control of his life by occasionally sleeping with the villain that he was supposed to use in order to get close to the League. And now he spends most of his time pretending like this period will never end, like the end of his mission will by some miracle never actually come.
There’s a more rational part of his brain that tells him he’s nothing but a fool for thinking like that. And as much as he’d like to ignore those thoughts as well, from time to time they manage to seep through any barrier of delusion he tries build around them. They’re the reason acknowledging what they have for what it truly is feels so terrifying.
He clears his throat in a weak attempt at getting rid of the lump in it.
“I was thinking…you could dye your hair any colour” he changes the topic but never the tone of the conversation “Like you wouldn’t even need to bleach it for more vivid colours. Hmm…maybe I should be giving you baby pink ghost roots right now”
“Yeah…no, you wouldn’t survive trying to pull that off” Dabi deadpans.
“Come on” he laughs “It would be mad cute”
“I feel bad for the people who’s job it is to make sure you’re dressed presentably on interviews if that’s what you consider cute”
“Fine. What about blue then? It’d match your quirk”
“No”
Keigo lets out an overexaggerated sigh as he pulls on Dabi’s hair to make him look up, so he can see the overgrowth around his forehead “This position reminding you of anything, Dabs?”
Dabi stares up at him with a blank face for a couple of seconds “Did you know that hair dye is highly flammable? Yeah. It’d only take a little spark to blow this room up with how much of it lingering in the air”
He snorts before glancing back at the box that the dye came in. Now that he thinks about it, he genuinely has no idea what chemicals are in the mix. A downside to his lacking education in early childhood being followed up by strict training at the Commission before he would go on and become one of the most workaholic heroes there are. He would occasionally find the most random everyday things that he has have no idea about how they work “…is it actually though, or are you just fucking with me?”
“Pass” Dabi shrugs, his eyes closing reflexively when the tint brush moves too close to them “It is flammable, I’m not sure to what extent. But you know, I can always help the flames out a bit more if they have trouble catching”
For a moment Keigo considers pointing out that most of said flammable dye is in fact not in the air but on the other’s head, but in the end he decides against the idea. He lowers his head until his chin is nearly touching his collarbones as he takes a deep silent breath. He can’t be completely sure how Dabi would’ve responded to his almost-retort, but truthfully, perhaps he just didn’t want to risk getting a suicidal joke back with the direction his thoughts are trying to relentlessly drag him this evening.
Because contrary to popular beliefs, Keigo isn’t an airhead. He’s actually good with context clues and deductions, he has to be considering how many of his previous missions had involved getting information out of other people. And it’s generally not that difficult to figure out what Dabi’s plans for his future boil down to, especially after learning who his father is.
“You okay, Birdie?” when his eyes open again they immediately meet Dabi’s. Damn, how he loves those vibrant blue eyes that soften when looking at him “You didn’t inhale too much dye, did you?”
“I’m fine….it’s just…On a second thought it, doesn’t matter. I’m good. The dye is starting to smell pretty foul though” he mutters, doing his best to compose himself. He stands up straight and brushes a couple longer strands of hair out of his vision before turning his focus back to checking if he managed to cover all of the white roots. Dyeing hair can be a pretty meditative activity actually, given that his brain would stop pondering about his doomed relationship or significant other’s seemingly inevitable tragic fate.
Significant other. He shouldn’t think of Dabi that way, it’s only going to make things harder in the long run…
“Keigo”
“What?”
“Spit it out”
He hesitates.
He rinses the brush down before placing it in the sink, deciding to just apply the rest of the dye like he’d do with shampoo “I was just thinking about a couple of things. One of them…you don’t have to answer if you don’t feel like it though, it’s nothing I can’t live without knowing…” Dabi is still looking up at him, waiting. Keigo pushes his head down with more dye on his gloved hands, partially to continue his job, partially in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit “So I know that it’s largely so he doesn’t find out you’re related to him, but like since your hair at least isn’t red like his…dunno, I was wondering how you feel about the white. Like is it just the hiding of the identity or…?“
“Honestly…” Dabi says slowly, and for a couple seconds Keigo can’t tell for certain whether or not he’s actually going to respond to him “I’m not sure. It’s better than getting stuck with the red I was born with. And it’s not like I’ve been that close with my mother either but…aside from the youngest, all my siblings had predominantly white hair. I suppose it’s their colour if anything”
They hadn’t had enough conversations about Dabi’s past for him to be able to call it a pattern, but this isn’t the first time Keigo notices the specific way he would mention his family. Vaguely, without using names for anyone – Keigo has met every one of them expect his mother thanks to working with Endeavor at this point to be fair – and always in past tense. It could almost give the impression that he doesn’t care about them anymore. But Keigo never missed the way his eyes would light up, only for a moment and barely noticeably, every time he would mention a detail he’d heard about one of his siblings on his last quick visit to the Todoroki house. Dabi would never ask about them directly, yet he’s never told Keigo to keep his casual updates to himself either.
And he would try his best to not think about his – professionally somewhat justified but all considered questionably motivated – visits as his way of getting to know his potential in-laws.
He should probably go there less frequently either way. Natsuo has already accused him of trying to date Fuyumi, seemingly only halfway joking.
“For what it’s worth, I think white would look great on you” he says softly when the other doesn’t seem to be wanting to add anything more to his answer.
“I think we’ve already agreed that you don’t get a say in what does or does not look good”
“You know. It’d be a nice contrast. Bring your eyes out even more, or whatever they say” Keigo shrugs, stepping away from his hair dyeing work to rinse the gloves off before he could finally get rid of them. Jokes aside, if he can’t get some fresh air in his lungs soon he might just pass out from the overwhelming artificial smell. He glances back Dabi, who stretches his back, already reaching for his phone to have something he can pass the time with while the dye sets. He hasn’t turned his head back to look at Keigo yet “That doesn’t mean I don’t like the black. I obviously do. You look pretty both ways”
“Sure” Dabi chuckles at him overexplaining himself, then crosses his brows at his phone’s screen “I have a ten minute long voice message from Toga”
“Group chat or direct message?”
“Direct”
“Ehh…then you’re not getting away with ignoring it. I’m going to get a little change of air though. Want me to bring you anything from the kitchen?”
“Just water” Dabi answers without looking up “Don’t get your hopes up if you were planning to find something to eat in the fridge though. Haven’t gotten my criminal pay check yet”
Keigo takes a couple of small circles around the kitchen, mostly to get rid of the dye’s smell from his nose, as he quickly scrolls through the work-related texts he’d received, which really make it seem like he might need to stop by the agency before he could go home. Sometimes he envies people who can leave their job behind when their workhours end.
After looking through what the fridge has to offer he decides against stealing the last slice of cheese in the pack and closes the door right back. Instead he fills two glasses with water and starts walking back to the bathroom.
He only stops in the doorway for a bit. Dabi is leaning on the counter while raising the speakers of his phone to his ear, so he doesn’t have to turn the volume up any more than necessary, thus leaving some privacy to whatever it is Toga wanted to tell him. It’s probably not about anything related to their actual work, Keigo’s sure of that, it wouldn’t be Toga that’s sending him the message then. But Dabi still does his best to keep it to himself as much as he can, since it wasn’t addressed to the entire group chat, only him. It’s such a small thing, but it makes Keigo smile as he decides to wait with entering the room until the voice message is over.
“Everything’s alright?” he asks holding out one of the glasses.
“Yeah, mostly. She’d just wanted some advice ‘bout somethi-“ Dabi’s face freezes for a moment when he looks up at him from his phone “Birdie”
“…yeah?”
“Did you touch your hair while you had the gloves on?”
It takes Keigo several seconds to get why on earth he could be asking.
“…did I…Oh. Oh, fuck” he spins around to face the mirror, only to be met with the giant, uneven black streak right in the front part of his hair. It’s not even hard to figure out how it could’ve ended up there, that’s the exact area he tends to fix first when he feels his nerves acting up. But when did it even happen?
He frantically opens the tap so he can stick his head under the water. He can feel Dabi’s hands in his locks immediately, as the other tries to wash as much dye out of it as possible, despite both of them knowing that it’s a lost cause at this point. It almost time for Dabi to wash down his own hair, and if the dye had time to set for him, then so did it in Keigo’s case.
“Ehh…” Dabi clicks his tongue, sounding displeased “Yeah, no Birdie, it’s staying in there”
“Fucking hell…“ he mutters looking up at his reflection.
“So much about not adding more black to your appearance”
Keigo stares at him with a blank expression, before shaking his head with a sigh “Just go and wash the dye out of your hair, will you?”
He does get the urge to trip Dabi on his way towards the shower when he dares to laugh at him.
“I don’t recommend trying to bleach it out” starts Dabi thinking out loud from behind the shower curtain when the water is already running “You’d probably just end up ruining your hair even more…”
Keigo continues to stare at his reflection. The black strands create a sharp contrast with the blonde around them even in a wet state. He’s pretty sure what the topic of his next interview will be.
“Your luck is, if you act confident enough you could pass anything down as the newest fashion statement. I can already see the posts from your fangirls attempting the new viral Hawks-streaks” comes the very helpful advice, as if Dabi has figured out exactly what he’s thinking.
“You know what? I think I’m going to eat your last piece of cheese after all. Compensation for emotional distress, or something” he replies stepping out of the bathroom again.
“You say that like I was the one who’d accidentally put the dye in your hair”
~ O ~
“Since when did I have all this shit in my fridge?” he hears Dabi ask from the kitchen, now with dry freshly coloured hair. Keigo only shrugs while putting on his jacket in the bathroom, since that’s where the only mirror in the flat is. Knowing Dabi, the only reason it’s still up is because it happens to be built in into the wall.
While Keigo did in fact end up eating the last slice of cheese, he followed the action up with popping into the nearby corner store. There’s a bigger chance of Dabi actually taking care of his body’s basic needs when he doesn’t have to go through the trouble of buying something to eat himself. It’s not like he can’t cook either, he’s the one making food for the two of them most of the time he’s at Keigo’s place. As far as he knows, Dabi used to cook a lot for his younger siblings when he was growing up, so he certainly has the practice. It’s just that he often doesn’t seem so eager to take care of himself when the action doesn’t involve others as well.
He pushes the front part of his hair out of his face again, just as the door opens wider on his left. He can see Dabi clearly in the mirror as he steps behind him, hooking his arms casually around Keigo’s shoulders before resting his chin on them too.
“You know…it kind of brings your eyes out” he smiles smugly, using Keigo’s own words against him.
“I’m glad my suffering brings you so much joy” Keigo leans into his touch without hesitation, something he’s done for a good while now.
He has to admit it, especially with their faces so close together for comparison, he really does not hate the streaks in his hair. It’s the same colour as Dabi’s hair, of course it is, it came from the same box dye, and there’s something about that fact that feels so special. How it got there is Keigo’s own little secret, just like the fact that instead of a try at a new trend, he’s actually matching with a wanted criminal.
It has no reason to feel this right.
“Ditch the agency” Dabi murmurs against his neck. He too knows that if Keigo pops in to check whatever needs to be looked over quickly, that’ll likely turn into him spending the rest of the night working overtime “I’m cooking you dinner since you’ve already decided to reverse-rob my fridge”
I love you so much.
Damn it. He really wants nothing more in the moment than to respond with it and for Dabi to respond by calling him overly sappy. Except Dabi probably wouldn’t respond like that, at least not in the context they’re in, not to the very first time Keigo would be saying those words. Maybe he’d say them back.
But Keigo can’t say it, just like he can’t bring himself to call what they have a relationship out loud. No matter how much he wants to do it when they meet after a couple of busy days, when Dabi surprises him on a rooftop, already holding the lighted cigarette out towards him, or when Keigo wakes up before the sun even starts to rise and looks over at him sleeping on his side looking so calm and beautiful. He wants to look directly at the camera when an interviewer asks him whether he has a date for this year’s Valentines day and just wink, saying he prefers his love-life to be a mystery, knowing that Dabi watches all the interviews he’s in, because of course he does.
He can’t.
It would feel like a promise. A promise about a future that goes beyond the – months? weeks? – little time he has left from his mission. And regardless of how many nights he’d spent lying awake beside the other, pouring his soul out about everything the Commission had done to him, he can’t actually picture himself ever leaving. But he’s told enough lies throughout his life, he’s living enough lies as of right now. He doesn’t want to lie even more to Dabi by making a promise knows he can’t keep.
“People could be in danger right now” he sighs without actually trying to move from the current, all to comfortable position.
“I don’t care” comes the deadpan answer.
Dabi’s not usually the one to put up a fight about making him stay. If anything, he tends to flip him off and tell him to go and save the city for the thousandth time. Why does he want Keigo to stay that much more this time around? He wonders if it’s the vulnerability of the past hour or so. Something along the lines of I’ve given my past a thought because you’ve asked, so now I just need you by my side for a bit longer…
“You don’t care about innocent people dying? How good for you, really”
Part of him wants to be able to keep the promise though, which is quite frankly terrifying. There aren’t many things that scare him, but knowing there’s a possibility in which he doesn’t choose his loyalty to the Commission without a hint of a doubt, that certainly does. Because who is he even without the Commission?
“You say that like you’re the only hero in this damn city who can save them, Keigo”
…Right…that’s who he is without them. And unlike Hawks, Keigo has a life outside of constantly proving himself useful to others. Keigo has someone who’d nag him to stay for dinner because that someone knows how overworked he truly is without him even needing to tell him.
He really shouldn’t be thinking about things like this. He should just stand his ground and say that he really has to go in for the overtime, because he knows the other would let him go if he saw that Keigo meant it.
Instead he turns his head to look directly into Dabi’s eyes, feeling pretty sure that his gaze does nothing but radiate the message, maybe I could choose you over them, if you were willing to choose me over your revenge.
“Fine. But only if I’m the one choosing the movie tonight”