Mila sat in Keigo's lap on the other side of a checkerboard, eyes on Dabi as he looked intently at the pieces, thinking about his next move as he sat on the other side. Azumi and Soji were sitting on the couch with cups of tea watching them all play. Keigo wasn't really helping Mila play her side, more whispering to her playfully as she saw Dabi move a piece into a trap she had set up. She was good at checkers, and Dabi wasn't going easy on her, but she quickly jumped his piece, then another and landed on the opposite side of the board whistling in triumph. "Crown me!"
Dabi groaned and flipped the wooden piece to show the curved crown on it. Mila never said 'King me' because her argument was she was a girl, not a boy, so it should be fair to everyone. "How are you so good at this? You're what, five?" She nodded and giggled, hiding her face in Keigo's shoulder as she hugged him, wings slowly flexing because she'd been sitting for a while. He shook his head and moved another piece, Mila turning around to get back to her game as Keigo smiled at Dabi as the older teen looked back, a smirk on his face. He might be playing against Mila but he was focused on Keigo.
Mila moved her piece and smiled as Soji looked at his watch before Dabi finally threw up his hands. "You win, little bit. Anywhere I move you're going to double jump and it's game over. A deal is a deal." He sat back as Mila chirped happily and hopped up from Keigo's lap to sit in Dabi's face forward. He brought his hands around in front of them both as Mila kept her hands down and eyes on his hands. "Alright, what do you want me to make?" She smiled and tried not to squirm around because she knew he was about to use really hot fire. "Flowers!" Keigo watched as a small blue flame sparked in Dabi's palms and he began to form it into a few different flower shapes.
His eyes glowed like turquoise lights, and Mila's eyes widened as she smiled brightly at the shapes he made for her. The flowers became birds and then a butterfly as Mila covered her mouth with her hands in awe. Azumi smiled gently as Soji took their teacups to the kitchen and Keigo took his father's place sitting next to his mother. Her left hand came up to run her fingers through his hair as Mila giggled and tried not to touch the super hot flames. Because the flames were staying in his hands, Dabi wasn't hurting himself with the showing off. Keigo closed his eyes at the attention from Azumi, head resting on her shoulder as the room remained a gentle domestic bliss of giggles and Dabi's voice.
When Soji came back, Dabi snuffed out the flames and Azumi kissed Keigo's forehead before getting up. "Say goodnight my little bird, it's bedtime." Mila whined before turning around to hug Dabi goodnight. He gave her a gentle pat on the back, then she hopped up to give Keigo a big hug. Soji got a hug and kiss on the cheek before Azumi picked up the little bundle of energy and carried her to her bedroom. "I'll be back." Dabi sat back on his hands and looked after them before gazing at Keigo with a smirk. Soji moved to clean up the checkers as he spoke. "Never would have thought she would enjoy flames like that." Dabi slowly got up and stretched. "It's most likely because my flames are blue."
Keigo was already moving to get his jacket and had Dabi's in hand. They were going to leave once Azumi came back out and said good night, but first Keigo was going to talk to Soji and Azumi about the bullies Mila encountered. Dabi had offered to teach her how to beat up bullies, but given he had just been bailed out of jail, that was passed by Keigo. Soji explained there had been mass arrests at the courthouse and Dabi had been grabbed up by accident, the real reason staying between the two. When Azuni finally came back, Keigo had handed Soji the loose primary feather pulled from Mila's wings and Azumi frowned.
"What's that from?" Keigo grinned sheepishly. "Mila had some bullies at the playground today. Sion saw it when I did but I was flying overhead and I got there first. They pulled one of these from her primaries." He handed it over to Azumi who was frowning as she twirled the feather between her fingers. "I remember you had a problem with them when you first came to live here." Keigo nodded and rubbed the back of his neck as Dabi stood next to him, eyeing the feather. "Is it difficult to teach her self defense?" Azumi looked at Soji as he took the feather from his wife. "The problem is Mila wants to help everyone and we are having some trouble keeping her healing quirk a secret. Teaching her to defend herself is going to create a hurt and heal attitude, or could mess with her understanding of when to help someone. She is only five."
Keigo looked at his parents. "I think we should speed up her flying lessons. If she can fly away from them, she won't have to hurt them and feel compelled to heal them." Azumi nodded her agreement as Soji offered the feather back to Keigo. "Alright. I am going to insist on some sort of tracker or locator device just in case. I remember hearing about someone else who had a tendency to fly off and get lost a few times." Keigo blushed as Dabi grinned, hearing about Keigo as a little kid. He didn't know too much about his boyfriend from before they really met, but he liked learning more.
They were steady and seeing each other frequently enough that Dabi had a key to Jin and Keigo's apartment. Jin and Keigo had offered their friend to move in with them, but Dabi had refused saying he needed to be able to do his work and leave for weeks at a time. He was loyal to Stain's ideals, and Stain was constantly moving all around Japan. With Keigo and Jin doing hero work, the schedules would make it difficult to keep track of them all, and Dabi liked having a number of safe houses as needed, even if one was the home of two heroes. So while Dabi wanted to spend more and more time with Keigo, he made sure to relish and treasure the time he spent with the crimson winged 18 year old and his family. Family that treated Dabi as one of their own.
"I can see if we have something in the support department at my agency. Something she won't realize is a tracker and she will want to wear all the time." Keigo agreed as Dabi blinked quickly to refocus on the conversation. With an action plan settled, Soji gave Keigo a hug, while Dabi leaned down to hug Azumi, gaining a kiss on the forehead. "You two be safe going home. I mean it." Keigo laughed as he hugged his mom tight, her hands immediately patting his hair. "Of course, mom. We're always careful." Dabi and Soji shook hands, a knowing smile from Soji as Dabi nodded a silent thanks, both boys finally sliding their shoes back on to walk down the hallway towards the elevator.
Mila bit her bottom lip from where she had been listening at her bedroom door before silently heading back to her bed.
/
That weekend, Azumi took Mila to the park near the apartment with older equipment and a large baseball field. She used to bring Keigo here to play and practise, and with Soji at work, Keigo offered to give Mila actual flying lessons with Jin instead of just practise gliding. For the lessons, Mila was wearing pink cut off pants and a loose white tunic shirt that wouldn't get in the way. Her wings had been preened by Azumi before they came so her wings were regal looking as she flapped them excitedly. Azumi saw a head of black hair with a black jacket and jeans leaning on a part of the fencing for the field looking up. Following Dabi's gaze, Mila chirped happily and hopped ahead of Azumi at the sight of Jin and Keigo darting around in the air with a black and white swirled ball. They were throwing it back and forth, occasionally dropping it down to Dabi so he could throw it back up.
They began to descend when they saw Azumi and Mila, Dabi glancing back and standing up straight so he wasn't slouched as Mila tackled his leg. "Nii sama! I'm going to fly today!" He smiled and kneeled to give her a better hug. "I bet you are, little bit. You feeling alright today?" She nodded, chirping happily when Dabi rested a warm hand on her head. She loved Dabi's blue fire, his warm hugs, just everything about him. Jin and Keigo landed, Jin giving Azumi a hug as Keigo offered a big open armed invite for a hug to Mila, who ran over and jumped into his arms. Once they were all greeted, Keigo and Jin walked Mila out to the field so that Keigo could start talking her through the difference in gliding and flying.
They made sure she understood how to hold herself while in the air, how to turn herself using her wings, and Keigo lifted her into the air to confirm she could glide down to the ground where Jin helped catch her. Dabi moved to stand by Azumi while Keigo picked up Mila around the waist and Jin took off into the air with them. "Flap your winth, Mila! Flap flap! Keep them thtraight!" He encouraged as she tried to quickly flap her arms and wings like Jin while Keigo held her. "Try a bit slower so you aren't hovering." Keigo laughed as he looked down to see Azumi covering her mouth with a hand whole the other grabbed Dabi's in surprise. When Mila looked down and then back up, she realized Keigo had let her go, and she was slowly flying ahead to where Jin was ahead of her.
"Keep going, Mila! Keep going!" He was yelling to encourage her as Mila chirped nervously and tried to keep moving in the air. Her movements were jerky and uncertain as she felt like she was flapping her wings too fast. Mila slowed down and pushed her feet together, finding that gave her more control as she looked ahead, arms out trying to grab Jin. He was flapping his wings to push himself back slowly to encourage her to keep going. Keigo was behind her, ready to grab her if she started to fall. Dabi and Azumi followed along on the ground, cheering her on and ready to catch her if she dropped. As Mila got more comfortable, she lifted one wing to turn and the other dropped so she could glide around as if turning, giggling as she was suddenly facing Keigo.
"Here I come, Nii chan!" Keigo grinned and brought himself upright, arms out for her as she staggered and tried to reach for him. A partial panicked whistle left her lips as her muscles burned from flying and she started to drift down towards the ground. Keigo moved to grab her in the air and held her close as his wings flapped lazily, her own wings were trembling as she grinned. "I did it!" Keigo nuzzled her nose with a chirp as Jin flew circles around them both. "Congratulathionth Mila! You did it!" Azumi and Dabi were cheering from the ground as Keigo held Mila tight and she hugged him back.
"Can I do it again?" Mila asked as Keigo drifted to the ground. Mila's wings were shaking, and he could tell she had worked them to exhaustion. "Let's land and take a breather before we try again, alright?" She nodded clinging to him as he drifted to the ground and landed. Once Mila got her feet on the ground, she stumbled and Jin quickly landed in front of her to help land her. "It taketh a bit to get uthed to going from flying to walking." She nodded and hopped a bit before running to Azumi and jumping into her mommy's arms. Dabi offered her a juice box which she took, and then a bottle of water to Keigo and Jin.
"So she learns to fly, are you two going to teach her to take off and land?" Keigo rubbed the back of his neck as he sipped the water. "We did some work on landing when it comes to gliding. She seems to understand how to fly and glide, so we can work on take off and maintain flight for more time today and next weekend. One of us can work with her during the week." Dabi nodded as he turned to watch Azumi straightening Mila's feathers on her wings while the little girl sipped her juice. Keigo smiled and leaned his head on Dabi's shoulder as Jin enjoyed a canned coffee from his duffle bag.
The park was quiet, and Mila watched a few children playing on the nearby equipment as she finished her juice. Instead of asking to play with them, Mila ran to Keigo and declared she was ready to try again. Dabi looked at Keigo and then got an idea, whispering to Keigo. Mila looked between them as Jin hopped up and took Mila's hands to leaf her out into the open field. "Let them plab. We know the fun thtuff, right?" Mila giggled and ran with Jin until he stopped and started talking about how to lift when it came to taking off. He showed her her wingspan versus her body size and how he needed to flap hard to get airborne or get a running start, but how Keigo could lift himself easily with a few flaps.
Keigo was walking towards them as Jin whispered to Mila and she started running towards Keigo, giggling as her wings spread out and she was trying to get airborne before getting to him. Azumi kept watching, hugging herself as her eyes widened to see her two children playing together on the field. They were helping each other by Keigo teaching Mila to fly and Mila helping Keigo to play. As she grinned, she looked over at Dabi who was rubbing his hands together. "Backup Auntie. Don't want to risk hurting you just to make a heat thermal to lift Mila." Azumi looked between Dabi and Mila's struggle to lift into the air. She wasn't getting far off the ground, and the few feet she managed, she seemed to sink slowly to the ground again.
She stepped back as Dabi pointed both hands at the ground and a small stream of blue fire seemed to slither across the ground. The heat from it caused a warm blast of air to rise, and all three fliers in the air ended up soaring high above the field. Dabi followed after his fire with a water bottle to put it out as Mila whistled happily, gliding around Keigo as she slowly flapped her wings to keep herself up in the air. The simple push of hot air seemed to give her the lift and courage to fly on her own, her eyes wide as she made sure to stay between Jin and Keigo. The two heroes helped her to turn, climb and descend. Azumi cheered from the ground as Dabi clapped and watched the little girl in awe.
Keigo's red wings always took away everyone's breath and caused people to stare, and Mila's blue and black wings, while smaller, were no less impressive. Looking over at Azumi, he saw she was taking pictures with her phone, a big grin on her face as she smiled over at him. "Thank you for that. She looks so confident and happy. Thank you." Dabi felt heat on his face and looked back up to see Jin diving down at him and swoop at the last minute. "Hey! Watch it bat boy!" Dabi grabbed the black and white swirled ball and threw it up at Jin. The bat quirked teenager grabbed it in his feet and realized Mila was flying after him, causing him to let it go and flap to get away. "No fair! You two have armth and wingth!"
Dabi laughed as Mila got the ball and tried to fly after Jin with it, in some sort of revenge for Dabi. As the flame user was laughing, Keigo landed behind him and quickly wrapped his arms around Dabi's waist. "Going up?" The blonde whispered into Dabi's ear, his wings flapped to bring them both into the sir. Dabi grabbed Keigo's arms and gripped them tight as he sucked in a breath of air. "Don't you drop me, pretty bird!" Keigo smirked and soared up above Jin and Mila, glancing down as he grinned to see them both comfortably flying around. "Thanks for helping her get into the air. She seems to have the grasp of up and down now. A little more practise and she cab fly away from trouble."
Dabi smirked and started to warm himself up because he realized Keigo wasn't wearing anything to stave off the cold. "I still think I could have helped her learn self defense. What's the plan for the rest of today? You two off?" Keigo held him closer because of the warmth and a coo escaped his lips, making him blush when Dabi gave him a satisfied smirk. "Because I don't have anything to do later today, so I'd be happy to keep you distracted, birdie." When Keigo looked down at Dabi, they both seemed to forget that they were in the air, gold locked onto blue as Keigo held his wings flared out to drift above the field. "Sounds like a date." Dabi grinned and leaned up to capture Keigo's lips with his own before the sound of Mila and Jin yelling from below caused them to look down.
They had landed, and Mila was held in Azumi's arms, balanced on her hip as Jin yelled up at them. "Time for lunth! Come down!" The two looked at each other before Keigo slowly came down, knowing that Dabi got motion sickness. Once they touched down, Jin jumped to throw his arms over them both as he grinned. "We need to do thith more often." Dabi poked at Jin's forehead as Keigo laughed. "Make you wait for food? I agree, you don't need more food." Jin pouted but kept his arms around them as Azumi turned and held up her phone with a free hand, taking a picture of the three together.
The rest of the day was spent enjoying each other's company, and spending time with family.
