THIRTY-TWO - BEST-FRIENDS

Dabi stifled a yawn as Mr. Aizawa blabbed on about final exams, or something. He wasn't quite sure. Yeah, those were definitely dates written on the whiteboard, but what the hell were those other noted time stamps? He probably should have been paying attention, this seemed important, but his brain had instantly turned on auto-pilot and his teacher's voice faded into background noise. His eyelids started to slowly gravitate together, visions of Shigaraki with his messy bed hair and red flushed cheeks dancing in his head. He'd nearly drifted off, with a big dopey smile on his face, only to hear the bell ring for the next class.

Dabi cursed under his breath but stumbled to his feet and walked drowsily out the door. Takami joined him in the hallway so they could walk together; a full two-hour training period was next on the agenda. Dabi was not ready at all.

"Welcome to the next couple of hours in hell." Takami chimed, much too bright and enthusiastic for it being so early in the morning. Dabi pushed him humorously aside and almost into the door to another classroom before Takami regained his balance.

"You're in a good mood." He said sarcastically, grinning and sweeping his hands down the front of his uniform to straighten things out.

"I'm tired. I worked my ass off at the agency last night. I can still feel the burn." Literally, Dabi rolled his shoulder, feeling the pull of the tight wounded skin beneath the stiff collar of his shirt thanks to Endeavor's bad temper and worse leadership.

"Heh." Takami smirked and stretched out his arms like they were sore from the drills they had run at the agency together. "The big guy was particularly heavy-handed yesterday, wasn't he?"

Dabi scoffed. That was putting it lightly. After Takami had left the agency, Dabi had been given additional tasks to complete before he was able to return to the dorms. Endeavor didn't care that he had school in the morning or that Dabi had a boyfriend he wanted to see before the day was over - not that his relationship with Shigaraki was something that he had shared with his Father. Dabi wasn't allowed to leave until Endeavor deemed him ready to do so.

"I liked it. So surly and macho. I almost felt bad for misbehaving last night. But then I was kinda hoping he would break down and teach me a lesson, maybe spank me a lilt-"

"Ew. Shut up. Please." Dabi gagged.

"Your dad is hot. A major DILF. Deal with it."

"You're disgusting."

Takami snickered and skipped ahead of Dabi into the locker room. Dabi followed, his already bad mood turning into something much worse. He ignored Takami as they started to change into their gym uniforms, pretending they did not just have that cringe-worthy conversation about his dad. It had been such a long time since Takami had made lewd comments about Endeavor and Dabi hoped it would stop right there. But knowing Takami as well as he did, he was just getting started and was probably doing it purposely to piss him off. Dabi had not been giving his best-friend nearly enough attention lately and Takami was absolutely the vengeful type.

"So," Takami leaned back against the lockers, right beside Dabi's, "You want to hang out later? I need to go to the mall, get some new boots. Maybe we could go see a movie or something."

"Tonight?"

"Yeah. It's Friday. I want to go out and do something." Takami whined.

"I have to see Shigaraki."

Takami sneered. "Okay. After then."

Dabi shifted his blue eyes over to his best-friend and then back to his locker, which he was trying to cram his bag and his books into.

"Maybe."

"Shigaraki's not in school again today, he must be really sick."

"He is."

"Did you see him this morning?"

"No." Dabi frowned, his brow furrowing. He had sent his boyfriend a message as soon as his alarm had woken him up that morning but Shigaraki hadn't responded right away. Dabi assumed he was sleeping and didn't want to bother him unnecessarily. He needed the rest. And when he finally did get a text back from Shigaraki, Dabi was already in class.

"Explains the bad mood." Takami quipped, clicking his tongue.

"That's not why I am in a bad mood. And you're not helping."

Takami rolled his eyes. "Anyway, my point is this. Shigaraki probably doesn't want company if he's sick, right? Wouldn't he prefer to sleep instead of having you all over him?"

Dabi grinned and then slammed his locker closed, turning an audacious gaze over to his best-friend. "He likes it when I am all over him."

"Now it is my turn to gag."

Dabi snorted a laugh.

"Come on, Dabs. We never do anything together anymore." Takami complained, "It's always Shigaraki."

"He is my boyfriend. When you get a boyfriend, or girlfriend, i'll understand when you spend all your time with them too."

"Really?" Takami replied, sneering. "You're not even having sex. Because then I would understand why-"

"Shut up." Dabi sighed and pushed his hand back through his dark hair. "I'll let you know after I see him, okay?"

Takami narrowed his eyes and then pushed away from the lockers, unimpressed. Without another word he stormed out of the locker room leaving Dabi behind to his own astonishment. After years of being Dabi's best-friend - a relationship that spanned over a decade - he had been knocked down to second place behind Shigaraki. And he wasn't going to lay down quietly about it either. No, it would not do. It was time to act. He needed to get Shigaraki out of the picture and take his best friend back.

Dabi jogged after Takami until he reached his side and kept in stride even as Takami picked up his pace, walking faster.

"Don't be mad. I just need to check in on him."

"I'm not mad." Takami said, his voice unusually flat.

They walked in silence a few yards before inspiration in the form of a student prompted his next response. The corner of his kicked up into a mischievous grin.

"You know, Dabs. Shigaraki has other friends. You can take a night off." He started and then whistled to get Kai's attention. He had been walking ahead of them and was just entering the training arena when he stopped, looking back at the other two boys.

"What are you doing?" Dabi asked. Takami ignored him and approached their classmate with a showy smile.

"I'm sure Kai wouldn't mind checking in on Shigaraki, so we can hang out tonight."

"What?"

"Chisaki! What are you doing tonight, friend?" Takami asked, putting a hand on their classmate's shoulder.

Kai's brows pulled together tightly as he looked between Dabi and Takami. Curious. They weren't really friends, he'd call them acquaintances by association only, so it was very out of the ordinary to be asked what his plans were for a Friday night.

"I already have plans." He replied, not really interested in what they had to offer him.

"That's a shame." Takami replied, "Dabi and I were going out and we-"

"He's busy, bird brain. Let's go." Dabi hissed and grabbed his friend's arm, dragging him away.

"I didn't even ask."

"You made your point."

Takami snickered. "And what point is that? I was just giving you an alternative."

"Yeah. Sure." Dabi shook his head, and then briefly glanced back over his shoulder at Kai who looked positively annoyed.

He was certain their classmate would have changed his tune as soon as he heard Shigaraki was involved in Takami's Friday night plans. And Takami knew it. He was purposely trying to toy with him. And Dabi hated how well it worked. He didn't mind that Shigaraki and Kai were friends or that they chose to spend time together freely, but after Takami had pointed out what he thought was Kai having a crush on his boyfriend, Dabi was admittedly a little warier. He trusted Shigaraki completely but still, it was a hard pill to swallow, asking Kai to step in for Dabi.

"I was!" Takami stated, batting his dark eyelashes. "I just wanna hang out, like old times."

Dabi almost felt bad for him. Almost. Takami wasn't wrong about the amount of time he had been spending with Shigaraki - he had actually been neglecting his best-friend. Maybe it was a good time for him to make it up to him.

"Okay, okay. You're right." Dabi conceded. "We'll go out. But I still want to check in on Shigaraki. Happy?"

Takami grinned in triumph, though he played it the opposite. "Partly."

"Good enough."