Hey there! I'm so sorry this took so long to get out! My husband and I's birthdays came up, we found out the sex of our child, and I've been in a bit of a slump because the weather here sucks. Seriously. Sinus infections while pregnant are the worse. Thank you for being patient and I hope this chapter makes up for it in some way. You guys are awesome for sticking around! Enjoy reading and leave a comment if you enjoyed it! Thank you so much!

Keigo yawns into his hand, scratching the back of his head afterwards as he lands on one foot and stares down from his perch on the roof. He watches as the people stream up and down the sidewalk, a small smile peeking out of his lips as he lowers himself and sits. As soon as he touches the concrete, his body relaxes and he lets out a groan of content, leaning back on his hands and staring up at the setting sun in the sky.

The reds and oranges make his heart hurt, a brief reminder of Reina before he closes eyes and falls back completely with his eyes closed. His wings are splayed out around him, his hands level with his head as he lays there and fights the wave of grief that flits over him. He sniffles and takes a deep breath through his nose, exhaling slowly through his teeth to keep it pushed down the same way he's had to do every day since finding out.

I have to be the strong one. No emotions, just the mask. Whatever I need to do for Lei.

Everything I do is for her to have a better future than me.

He forces himself to smile and laugh, no matter how hollow it sounds before pushing himself up and getting back to his feet. He shakes his head as he brushes his hands together to get stray pebbles off his palms before stretching them above his head and leaning backwards.

"Alright!" he tells himself, bouncing on his heels. "Break's over. Got stuff to do. Then call Lei Bay. Then maybe get some sleep!"

"And what stuff would that be?"

"Well, you are one sneaky little piece of bacon aren't ya?" Keigo asks, turning to face the man in a black hoodie, face mask and hat pulled low over his face. "Yeesh, you got sunglasses on too?"

"You're the one that wanted to meet up here," Dabi retorts, keeping his distance from the edge of the building and a healthy gap between him and the hero. "I would've preferred a nearby warehouse so I didn't have to find a way to scale the stairs without being caught."

"You're the one who doesn't know how to use proper foundation and concealer. Just saying, that can come in handy."

"Whatever. I know you didn't call me just to chit chat about makeup." Dabi pushes his hands into his hoodie's front pocket, glaring pointedly at Keigo. "So Hawks, what did you want?"

"Just to make sure you were alive. Hadn't heard from you."

"I do have other shit going on than just talking to you."

"Like what?"

"Nice try." Keigo chuckles at his own half hearted attempt as he tilts his head. Dabi rolls his eyes. "Here I was thinking you were finally serious about joining us. I guess not."

"..." Keigo's quiet, his smile slipping away. Underneath his mask, Dabi smiles in return, his blue eyes almost glowing in the light of the sunset. "Alright. My bad. I joke around to deal with tension. So, you guys are finally ready to induct a new member? Nice. What do I gotta do?"

"I was thinking of a two for one deal," Dabi replies, taking slow and calculated steps towards the winged man. "It's all over the place that you have a cute little sister. Well…you had two didn't you?" He stops so their shoulders are lined up, Dabi staring over the same ledge Keigo had landed on while the other keeps his gaze fixated on the place the villain had just been standing. "You claimed Elementia and her baby sister as your siblings didn't you? Her death must've burned. You must be so angry right now."

"She knew the risks when she took the job," he replies, trying to keep his voice from breaking as he glances at the man out of the side of his eye. "Death is just as much a part of that as life is. You can't have one without the other."

"Really now? Would you have said the same thing if it had been Leinei?"

Before either had a chance to think, several of Keigo's brilliant red feathers surrounded Dabi's throat and chest, sharpened and reflecting the evening sun. Keigo's face had darkened to a frightening degree, despite being empty of emotion. Dabi scoffs as he turns his head a fraction of an inch, seeing how the man had reacted by just simply mentioning the girl.

"Such a doting older brother you are too," he continues. "It's almost admirable how much you care for a girl you met when she was six. Does she still carry that ratty stuffed porcupine around?"

"His name is Mr. Spokes," Keigo responds. "And you'd do best to learn how to keep their names out of your mouth, because if you go near-"

"I won't have to do anything." Dabi turns his body to face the hero, the feathers retracting and returning to their spots on Keigo's wings. "But you on the other hand. Well, let's just say it's one test of many."

"Well?"

"I want you to bring her to me. Alive. Conscious preferably. I just want to talk to her."

"...and if I don't?"

"Your agency isn't far from here is it? I wonder how many of your sidekicks are still inside. I wonder how fast you could get there if I seared those wings you're so proud of off your back."

Keigo's quiet for a moment, studying Dabi's face for any hint of a bluff. After a second, he smiles and laughs, much to the scarred man's irritation. He takes a step back, his hands up. Now I see why Lei did what he told her to.

"Oh c'mon, it's just us. You can admit you have a crush on my baby sister," he teases the man instead, trying to get under his skin and make him snap even the smallest amount. "I know she's awesome and all, but she does have a boyfriend. Now maybe if you hadn't tried to, well, kill her-"

"Do you not know how to shut up?"

"Hey sometimes the fastest thing about me is my hero work, sometimes it's my mouth. Gotta get used to it if we're going to be working together, right?"

"Just do as I told you. If you can manage that much, we can continue onto phase two of your testing phase."

"Roger that," he says, flicking his fingers off his forehead before turning to the building's ledge and hopping on with his wings outspread. Flipping his glasses down over his eyes, he looks back at Dabi. "And…since we're going to be working together now, I think I should tell you. Lay another hand on my family and I won't hesitate to spear you through. I know it was you who killed Reina."

Dabi smirks under his mask, shrugging instead as he turns away to walk towards the door he came up through. Keigo watches him, seeing the sure gait despite the limp he had. Anger burned his chest and all he wanted for that moment was to run him through with every single one of his feathers. But that wouldn't bring Reina back, and it wouldn't help the situation they're in now. He finally had his opening for Leinei to slip into their ranks, something he couldn't jeopardize if he wanted her in and out alive.

"I'll call you in an hour to tell you where we're meeting up. I expect you both to be there by midnight."

"Hey, come on, she's still got school. If she's up too late she'll be a grouch in the morning and they have a whole festival going on-"

"Does it look like I care?"

"Honestly, I can't tell what you look like. Just that you smell absolutely disgusting." He tries to fight a laugh as the man turns to glare at him. "Okay, last jab, I promise. I'm going, I'm going. See you in a few hours, Dabi."

Leinei yawns into her hand before stretching both arms above her head and leaning back against the side of her bed. Katsuki has his head in her lap, one hand holding the sheet music for the song they were performing to and the other tapping out his parts on his stomach. She smiles and starts stroking his hair, closing her eyes as she hears him huff and groan.

"If you keep doing that, I'm never going to get this crap memorized," he tells her, yawning as she continues. "Come on, Short Stack, I need to make sure if anyone fucks up during this song it's not me."

"You won't," she assures him, cracking one eye open as he lays the music on his chest. "We've all been practicing hard for this. Besides, you're driving the beat. We all follow you, Katsu."

His face flushes pink and he looks away from her, rolling on his side with his back towards her. She chuckles and scratches her nails along the nape of his neck. He shivers, moving the sheet music onto the floor and trying to study it more. He groans when she tugs on some of his hair, pushing himself up and looking at her. She giggles as he leans forward, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"You're being a brat, and I don't appreciate it," he whispers to her. "Will you please let me do this?"

"If you stress over it anymore, you're going to mess up because your head is already there with the idea that you're going to mess up." She places her hands on his cheeks and squishes his lips together. He tries to glare at her, only to laugh at the ridiculous way she's acting. "Relax. Let your brain unwind."

"Coming from the one who's always freaking out over everything."

"Well that's rude."

"It's only rude if it's true," he tells her as her phone dings. She leans over and grabs it off her nightstand, sitting on her knees as Katsuki sits upright and places his chin in his hand. "Who is it? Birdbrain?"

"Ah, no actually, it's Shindo," she replies, glancing up as his eyes darken. "He's just asking how everything's going and that he's sorry about Reina."

"He didn't text you all that before?"

"Nope." She sits back against her bed as she types out a quick response and locks her phone again. "Guess he's been as busy as we are, just with different things. Ketsubutsu does have a slightly different curriculum than we do."

"Yeah I've heard." His eyes narrow as her phone dings again and lights up. "Why is he still texting you?"

"We're still friends. It's not a big deal. We only share a few messages every once in a while," she adds as she grabs her phone again and sees what he responded with. "He said it sucks he won't get to see us perform, since UA is limiting attendance."

"Yeah it sucks for him. He just wanted to see you in those short skirts Yaoyorozu and Ashido designed," he grumbles. She smirks at him as he tries to reach for her phone.

"Awe, are you jealous again?" she teases as she holds it just out of his reach, sliding herself up the bed as he grumbles and leans over her, still trying to reach for it. "He's seen me in my hero costume, why does the skirt bother you so much?"

"Because you're going to be jumping on stage and crap," he tells her, his chest pressing to hers as he grabs her wrist with one hand and using the other to grab the edge of the bed to steady himself. "He has no reason to be professional at a stupid festival."

"So you're worried about him?"

"Yes!" His voice is low as he gets the word out, Leinei's face flushing at how close they are, feeling how hard his heart is beating through his chest. Jealousy and anger are wafting off him, and she drops her phone to the bed as it dings again. "Is it wrong that I don't want someone else looking at my girl the way I do?"

"What about when we're pros? What about then?"

"That's different," he murmurs, still holding her wrist as he dips his head down. "They'll be looking at Empathia. They'll be after the hero version of you. I'll still be looking at you, the regular you." He rests his forehead on her shoulder and she leans her head against the side of his, closing her eyes. "It's…it's different."

"I understand," she replies, feeling his hand loosen around her wrist as he goes to hug her. "But I'll still tease you relentlessly about it."

"You've been around your brother and Ashido too much," he grumbles, still hugging her tightly to his chest. "You're starting to act like them."

"There's a little bit of you still there too," she assures him, hugging him back and breathing in the familiar scent of burnt sugar. "How're your extra lessons with All Might and Izu going?"

"They're fine. Damn teacher still focuses too much on that damn nerd too much, but…I'm still learning so I can't complain as much. What about you with that gen studies extra and Aizawa?"

"Good as normal. I invited Shinso to come see the concert but he says that Class B invited him to watch their play at the same time. It's apparently this multiversal fanfiction gone wrong and he wants to see if it burns."

"Of course it will," Katsuki scoffs, pulling away to look at her. "At least our shit is original. They can't match that."

"They can try. But we'll let the audience decide that." She tilts her head, pursing her lips to the side. "I..kinda want to go see it. Think they'll do multiple showings?"

"You wanna make fun of Monoma don't you?"

"...is it obvious?"

"Hell no and I love it," he says with a grin, pressing his forehead to hers. "I did think you two were getting along better for some reason."

"We have the mutual agreement to stay away from each other. Doesn't mean we're friends."

"Fair enough."

There's a knock at the door before it opens, Eijirou poking his head in. Katsuki pulls away and stands up, looking at the floor as his face flushes. Leinei looks up at her red haired friend with a smile.

"What's up, Kiri? Does Mina need me for something?"

"Actually, Mr. Aizawa is calling for you. Your brother is here for some reason."