"You mind if I ask you a question?" Airi was caught off guard when Hawks swooped in at the end of training, stealing her away for an impromptu date.
So here they sat, on the roof of her flat with a blanket and picnic basket. She had to give the bird man props, she would never have thought of this.
Airi also had fun telling Hawks she would most definitely not let him fly her up there, so he had to go fly off for a ladder and hover next to her on her climb up.
At this point, she of course trusted him to fly her. He's pulled her around with his feathers and even dragged her up to his apartment after that near kidnapping with a few.
She just wouldn't let him now out of the sheer joy of teasing him about it.
One day.
"Yes?" Airi answered his question, leaning back on the pillows he laid out for them.
"Were you jealous of the things I did with Rumi?" Airi turned to him to see the devious smirk.
"No, I'm not jealous of the fact that you and Rumi proved that breed like rabbits is a factually proven phrase." Airi ignored him when he burst into laughter.
Cheeky perv of a bird.
"Ah, come on, you tease me yesterday with that dress and you're still not ready?" Airi rolled her eyes as he came out of his laughter fit with that one comment.
"Not tonight, lover bird. We've got more important things to talk- "Keigo cut her off by kissing her, Airi caught off guard by his sudden boldness when he nudged her onto her back in the pillows.
"Come on, dove." Keigo whispered when he ended the kiss, hands dragging down her sides soothingly. "You're really not ready yet? I want to show you how much you ruffle my feathers." Keigo purred enticingly, nudging his nose against her neck and growling deep in his chest when she reached down for the base of his wings.
The growl turned into a whine of protest when she grabbed him by his longest feather.
"Maybe," Airi turned a devious gaze upon him this time, "I'll consider it if you finish that talk that we started this morning. Maybe." Airi offered, not willing to let him slip out of it like he was so obviously trying to do.
"You drive a hard bargain, my sexy dove." Airi grinned up at him when he gave her a playful pout. "Don't leave me waiting, my hand only satiates so much."
"Hawks!"
Keigo snickered but rolled of her anyways, reaching for his coat. From it he pulled the envelope, tossing it on her lap.
Airi looked between him and the envelope, hesitant to open it after this morning. But Keigo just sat there with a flat stare, waiting for her to open it. "You sure?"
"Go ahead, I already went through what's in there and took out stuff I didn't want you to see." Keigo revealed, Airi not surprised that he would censor some of whatever had been in there.
Instead of opening it and pulling anything out though, she was reminded of her earlier talk with Shoto. "So… I wanted you to at least know I know who Dabi is now. Shoto told me." Airi admitted, frowning when Keigo's neutral features turned sour.
"He told you why?"
"That's his brother, big bird. Why didn't you tell me he was so close?"
Keigo huffed, wings flexing in annoyance behind him.
"Because that's not his brother, not anymore. Touya Todoroki died years ago, Dabi is a monster." Keigo corrected her information about the villain's name.
"Well why you? Why does he have it out so badly for you? And all those around you?" Airi asked, wanting to know why the villain had such a vendetta on him.
"Because he hates me. Because I interrupted his precious dream years ago, prevented him from causing a lot of destruction on our world." Keigo answered her, Airi moving closer to him at the far off look in his eye.
She didn't want him to relive it, it's no doubt painful to him to think about it.
"Kei…" Keigo turned to her and hushed her from using his nickname, looking around quickly.
"Let's finish our dinner and then we can finish this chat somewhere more private, sound good?" Keigo offered, Airi sighing before nodding in agreement.
"Sorry." Airi apologized for her involuntary use of his nickname.
"It's alright, babe. I know you can't help yourself from letting my name roll of your lips." Well, cheeky smug Hawks is back.
They finished up their rooftop dinner quickly, and Airi had fun scaring Keigo half to death by using a pad of sticky notes to create her gravity boots and hopping off the building.
She's never seen him move so fast in her whole time of knowing him.
"You're gonna pay for that!" Keigo was holding her tightly by the shoulders, standing behind her with his wings outstretched anxiously.
"What, I have a quirk myself. I can get up and down perfectly fine." Airi teased him, winking cheekily when he turned her to look him in the eye.
She's never run so fast in her life than when Keigo chased her down for his revenge.
Airi barely made it into her room when she was roughly tackled by the fuming hero, glad he at least waited until they were near something soft.
"You think that's funny, huh?" Keigo asked, Airi laughing openly as she struggled futile against him. She knew she had no chance against him.
"Oh, yeah. It was hilarious!" Airi agreed smugly, squealing when he started using his feathers to torture her with tickles. "No fair!"
"Don't jump off a building and I'll play fair next time!" Keigo countered, rolling over and pulling her with him so she was restrained on her back on his chest, his feathers free to torment her to his heart's content.
Airi flailed around, trying to get free to no avail. Keigo had her arms pinned under his own, leaving only her legs free to try to figure out how to break free from his torture.
"Do you apologize?" Keigo asked, lips brushing the shell of her ear with his smug voice.
"Nope!" Airi tried to ignore the feathers, but they just moved up to under her chin, Airi screeching louder at his change in path.
Airi finally used her legs to try to push herself up off him and the bed, but when that didn't work, she did it one more time and let all her weight drop with it.
It was cheating, but he cheated first.
Keigo let out a loud shout immediately, releasing her and rolling onto his side with a pain groan, Airi scrambling off him.
"Oh my god, why?" Keigo groaned, rolling to his stomach and burying his face against the bed as he curled in on himself.
"You started it, I had to take advantage of your weaknesses." Airi quoted his earlier lessons to him, only feeling bad once he stayed curled up in pain for another half a minute.
"Monster." Keigo muttered, voice breathy as she gently rubbed what remained of his wings. His feathers were scattered everywhere, unable to control them due to her surprise attack.
"I'm sorry, big bird." Airi cooed softly near his ear, continuing to stroke and knead his wings until he could move again.
"Mood killer." Keigo threw at her after another minute of him lying there in pain. "See if I finish our talk from earlier now."
"Hey, you can't use this against me. You restrained me; I did what you taught me to."
"I didn't teach you to slam all of your weight down on my dick!"
Airi couldn't help but snicker and giggle at his genuine anger over what she did, feeling his angry stare even if it were directed at the bed below them.
"Do you want me to get you anything? An ice-pack?" Airi offered, rolling away from him to go get it if he wanted it.
"Cuddle up, you're not going anywhere." Airi was brought right back into his side by a feather. Apparently, he had enough willpower to do that right now at least.
His arm slipped out from under his body, wrapping around her and rolling her onto her side before he moved up behind her. Spooning her tightly against his own body.
"Sorry, sweetheart." Airi apologized again, kissing his bicep that laid beneath her head.
Keigo just hummed to acknowledge her apology but didn't say anything.
They laid in silence for a while, Airi rubbing his arm that was draped across her stomach soothingly to make up for the pain she inflicted.
"Did you want to finish that talk?" Keigo asked suddenly, surprising her as she thought he wouldn't want to talk about it. "I'm fine, just… let's stay like this." Keigo offered, and she had no issues with it.
"What happened between you and Dabi? Is he the one that… did that to your back?" Airi had to think carefully of her words, not wanting to upset him.
"Yep. They're burn scars, babe. He and I fought, and I lost." Lost? But… if that's the case how is he still here? "One of my interns at the time saved me. If he hadn't gotten there when he did…" Keigo trailed off with that, leaving her mind to go into overdrive over what he was revealing.
Airi felt her body begin to shake but was immediately pulled tighter against the man behind her. If he lost before, what's to say he'll win this time?
"I can stop if you want. I don't want to scare you, Ai, but I'm being completely honest with you right now." Keigo whispered against her ear, Airi ending her soothing strokes of his arm in favor of taking hold of his hand.
"He- he's still coming after you though… Why'd he call you a murderer? You're a hero." Airi pointed out the words on the letter, confused by how a Pro Hero like Hawks could be considered such.
Airi felt Keigo stiffen against her, worried she asked the wrong thing. "Because he was being honest with you." Airi turned her head to look back at him, meeting his somber golden gaze. "I killed one of his friends that same night. A man named Twice. He was a good guy, he just ended up picking the wrong side, and I regret what I had to do." Keigo revealed, Airi staring back at him in stunned silence by what he just told her.
Hawks… he killed a man? A good man? But…
The man was friends with Dabi, does that mean he was also a villain? But even so, did he really deserve such a drastic end?
"Hey." Airi hadn't meant to flinch when he dragged a thumb over her cheek, but she was so lost in thought over what she just learned it caught her off guard.
Keigo looked like he had been slapped in response, pulling his hands away and even scooting back from her.
"Oh wait, I didn't mean to do that. I was just… I don't understand." Airi tried to explain, not wanting him to think she was afraid of him because he took a man's life.
"Twice was mentally unstable." Keigo revealed, not moving back to continue holding her. Instead, he sat up and kept himself separate from her. "But even so, he had a kind heart. He just… couldn't be reasoned with. I even offered to help him get back on his feet after he paid his dues to society for all he did, but nothing got through to him." Keigo explained, Airi frowning at how much remorse poured from his voice as he spoke.
"It's not your fault, Keigo. You can't save everyone." Airi reasoned, sitting up and moving in front of him to hold his hands.
"I could have though. If I had just approached the job a little- "Airi stopped him from trying to find more reasons to blame himself by crawling up onto his lap and holding his face between her hands.
"Keigo, you're a good man. You're not a murderer, just because you can't save one man doesn't make you any less of a hero. I'm sure you tried everything you could to reason with him, to bring him over to the good side, but after that it's not on you what happens." Airi explained to him gently, Keigo frowning sadly at her as he laid his hands on her waist.
"Dove, you weren't there."
"It doesn't matter, Keigo. You tried your best; I know you had to have since you always give your all. Maybe if he were a little more stable, he would have realized you were trying to save him. But it doesn't make you weaker, or less a hero." Airi assured him firmly, moving her arms around him when he hugged her into his chest.
"Airi, that's not all I've done. I've done a lot of bad things, things I regret. All for the commission, in my mission to try to make this a better world for all of us. Honestly, I'm not much better than- "
Airi covered his mouth before he could say it.
"Don't you dare finish that." Airi ignored his surprised expression at her anger. "You are nothing like them, nothing like him. You are better, you have goodness in your heart and aspire to make this world a good one. Don't you ever think that you have anything in common with him, or any of them." Airi chastised him firmly, not backing down with the obvious shock he had over her words.
Airi uncovered his mouth now that she was done.
"Airi…" Keigo just stared at her in silence for a moment. "Thank you…"
Her heart cracked again when she watched his shell over all his pain crack, pulling his face to her as his eyes began to brim with tears.
They sat there in silence, Airi more than happy to coddle his face to her chest while he cried out his pains.
Hawks was nothing like Dabi tried to portray in that letter. Airi will never believe the words of some petty villain.
After a little while, Keigo relaxed against her. "Are you okay?" Airi asked softly, stroking his hair back as he ran his hands over her lower back.
"Yeah, thanks for that." Keigo answered against her chest, not pulling back at all. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
"How does he know your legal name?" Airi asked, as it had been creeping back into her mind occasionally. On why a villain knew one of Keigo's biggest secrets.
"Because I knew him before he became Dabi. We knew each other when we were kids." Keigo revealed, Airi looking down at his head in surprise.
But… Shoto said that his older brother had disappeared. How did Keigo know Touya before he became Dabi?
"Remember how I told you I didn't really have much of a childhood? That I was recruited and trained by the commission from a young age?" Keigo asked, pulling away from her chest and leaning back.
"Yeah?"
"Touya was put in that same program with me. The only difference between his training and mine was that he still got to go home and spend time with a family that loved him." Airi frowned at his word choice. Keigo didn't tell her much about his childhood, but she knew it was a sour topic for him.
She just told him if he ever wanted to talk about it, she was more than willing to listen.
"I honestly didn't recognize that Dabi was Touya until that night. He told me his name, and I was shocked. He looks completely different; he never had those scars or staples he has now. It's probably because of his quirk." Keigo explained, scratching at the scruff on his chin.
"It makes no sense to me at the same time though, because Touya "died" when we were teens. His body has a weak tolerance for the fire his quirk creates, and one day he lost control." Keigo revealed, reaching up and stroking her cheek. She hadn't realized she'd been shaking till then.
Lost control of his own quirk? But if he "died", then how is he here today?
"Endeavor's been on a man-hunt for him for years too. As far as they knew until a few years ago, Touya was dead. Only Dabi knows how he lived, but even so he's not Touya anymore. He's a monster." Keigo said firmly, eyes hardened with belief over the fact that his childhood friend was gone.
"But he has a family, what about them? He's really so willing to do all that he does when he has a family who cares about him?" Airi asked, even though Shoto explained that he didn't have many memories of his big brother, they had other siblings.
They had a mother, a father, family who must want to know what happened. What went wrong that one of them turned their backs and disappeared, only to come back as some villain hellbent on destruction.
"Dabi only cares about himself and getting what he wants. As far as he's concerned, he has no family. The only one that still tries to find him is Endeavor, and I'm not entirely sure it's for good reasons." Keigo admitted, Airi's heart sinking at his hidden meaning.
Shoto had hinted a few times that his relationship to his father had been less than ideal in the past. But would a man really be willing to take down one of his own children? Would he really have the nerve to do that?
"Is this why you didn't want me around them? Training with Shoto? Because they're related to Dabi?" Airi asked carefully, not sure if it was the right question to ask. "Do you have issues with them because of him?"
"No, Dove, I have no anger or resentment towards them because of Dabi. It's not their faults what happened. But I also don't know the way that Dabi thinks anymore, so I wouldn't put it past him to attack his own family and possibly catch you in the crossfires." Keigo answered thoughtfully, leaning back again to look up at her.
Airi could only imagine the pain that his family must be in at knowing their previously deceased son/brother was in fact alive and bent on creating chaos in the world. But… she couldn't begin to imagine how Keigo must feel at knowing his childhood friend turned so violently on him.
"Kei… I'm so sorry."
"Eh? Why're you sorry?"
Keigo hummed appreciatively when she hugged herself against his chest, holding her warmly against him.
"Because that was your friend once. And he did this to you." Airi reached a hand back to press against the skin between the base of his wings, feeling him relax under her touch. "He's tormented you physically and mentally. I can't… I can't begin to imagine how you must have felt to realize that or feel now after years of knowing." Airi reasoned, not sure she would be able to handle it as well as Keigo does.
"Like I said before, that's not Touya anymore. Dabi is a monster, and I'm not going to feel any regret or remorse when he's captured and pays for his crimes." Keigo said flatly, showing no emotion whatsoever towards the idea of Dabi's punishment.
Airi wasn't sure if that was how he really felt, or he was putting up another mask.
"Any other questions, babe?" Keigo asked, stretching what was left of his wings wide before laying back onto the bed.
"Are you sure you want to answer more?"
"I want you to realize how much I trust you. Yeah, some of the things I tell you are gonna bring up bad memories that I want to keep buried, but I trust you and don't want you worried that I'm hiding anything from you. That I don't trust you." Keigo admitted, Airi's heart throbbing at his sincerity to wanting to prove just how much he trusted her.
Even with telling her about his painful past.
"Can I try something for you?" Airi asked, wanting to help him with his past pains.
"Okay?" Keigo answered, obviously confused but she could see the curiosity in his golden orbs. Always such a curious man.
"I'm gonna need your help a bit." Airi admitted, scooting off his lap and pulling him to sit upright again.
Keigo snorted but followed her lead anyways. When she started to push his shirt up past his stomach, she was met with a salacious grin from the man in front of her.
"Oh, so you're ready now? Hold on, let me just use my feathers." Keigo purred, finally calling his feathers back to him. Airi stopped him before he could do more though.
"Slow down, big bird. Just… follow my lead." Airi reasoned, the bird man in front of her quirking an eyebrow up at her teasingly.
"Do you want my help because of my wings?" Keigo asked, stretching his wings to full span for emphasis.
Airi ignored him, instead feeling one of her fingers graze a target under his shirt. Pulling it up, she saw another scar against his skin.
Airi frowned, pressing the pad of her finger against it and rubbing gentle circles.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Keigo asked, Airi smiling softly when she saw the way his face was starting to dust pink.
"I want to help you forget every one of these. So, to do that, you need to trust me." Airi offered, keeping her smile on him when she watched his Adams apple bob against his throat nervously before he nodded his head.
"Okay."
Airi leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose, not wanting him to feel nervous with her. "I can stop if you're uncomfortable." Airi offered, letting go of his shirt.
Keigo seemed to take it as a challenge though, quirking his eyebrow up at her again.
Airi rolled her eyes playfully before continuing. Pushing his shirt up again, she looked down to see his skin marked with faded scars. She's only ever seen him with his shirt off from the back before, but she's seen his abdomen before when they would train.
She never noticed the faded scars, possibly because she's never been this close.
"Are all of these from him?" Airi asked, running a hand across some of the scars.
"No, it comes with the job, Lovebird. The only ones I got from him are on my back, all others were healed." Keigo answered her quietly, Airi frowning before he leaned forward and kissed her. "Hey, scars fade. It's fine."
"Well let me help what's left fade too then." Airi offered, scooting back from him to push his shirt up the rest of the way.
Once it was high enough, Keigo took the initiative and dispersed his feathers to pull it off easily.
"Listen." Keigo stopped her when she examined the faded scars marking his upper body. "I appreciate everything you're doing, dove. But- "Airi grabbed one of his feathers off the bed and stuffed it in his mouth.
"Tell me not to do something again, see what happens." Airi parroted his favorite phrase to use on her, grinning at him when he spat the feather out and narrowed his eyes playfully at her.
Airi began to gently massage each scar she could see, reveling in the way Keigo melted beneath her touch. Eventually, he even leaned back into her pillows to let her do her thing.
But she knew where the scars were that were hardest for him to accept.
After spending a good amount of time on the scars on his chest and abdomen, she pulled him back up to a sitting position.
"Flip over please." Airi requested, Keigo eying her for a moment before she forcefully tried to turn him over.
"Alright, alright!" Keigo agreed, rolling over onto his stomach and stretching what was left of his wings out.
With that done, she crawled back onto him and straddled his hips.
Airi started by giving him a back rub, Keigo cooing softly against her pillows from her nurturing.
"Does it feel good?" Airi asked teasingly, Keigo just humming happily.
When Airi began to massage his wings after he pulled his feathers back, she leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to the skin that separated the bases of his wings.
Keigo immediately tensed up, Airi worrying for a second that she went too far.
But then she felt the way his body shook beneath her.
"Oh Kei." Airi leaned up and kissed the back of his neck, not needing to see his face to know.
Airi gently massaged his scars, whispering soothing words against his neck between kisses.
"You're still the strongest, bravest man I've ever met, handsome. I'm so proud of you every day for all the hard work you do, these scars don't make you any less of a hero in my eyes." Airi promised, pressing open mouthed kisses against the faded scarring. Her hands continued massaging his trembling wings.
"How did I get so lucky to find you?" Keigo whispered beneath her, Airi scoffing between kisses.
"You didn't. You deserve me, so we would have found each other eventually." Airi answered, kissing the spot where his wing met his back.
The response was an instant moan of pleasure, Airi happy that he was enjoying her lavishing of one of his biggest shames.
"Damn… I love you so much, dove." Keigo professed, basically purring beneath her in enjoyment.
"I love you too, Keigo." Airi reminded, pressing one more kiss to the scars that she'll work her best to help him forget about one day.
Scars fade, but she's going to make sure he never thinks for a second that her love for him has.
Keigo deserved her love, just like she deserved his.
And that right there is my legitimate theory for Dabi's past. Sorta, it's complicated. We don't know enough about him for me to be making conclusive theories. But there has been some hints towards him being a Todoroki, so I figured this might work? Guess we'll find out here eventually, if we ever learn what Dabi had said to Hawks during their fight.
Aww, very fluffy chapter at the same time though since vulnerable Keigo. He felt comfortable enough with her to share his dark past with her, at last! Not only that, but she wanted to make sure he forgets every one of his scars. Let them fade like a distant memory. Relationship goals?
So, just putting it out here now, it's official. I've finished writing the last chapter for this story. It's still like a week out, because there's still a lot more before it. But I'm just giving yall a heads up. I also kind of hurried because I write with Microsoft Office, and my free subscription had expired yesterday. So... yeah...
Don't worry though, there's still a lot more to come! I'll delve more into the finale when we get there. Thank you all so much for reading! Please, feel free to leave comments or anything you wanna say about this story. I'm still writing bonus chapters, so I'm gonna go finish that. See yall next chapter!