Dabi is pissed as hell.
It has been several months since he has sent that letter to Hawks and he was still waiting for a reply back.
Normally that would not be an issue but since it has been over 3 months and the most that Dabi has seen of his lover has been seeing his name plastered in the papers.
And that is the only reason why he is sure that Hawks has been actively procrastinating on sending his letter back, if he has enough time to save the same port three times in a row from alternating attacks from four different crews then he sure has time to send a letter back.
The rational side of Dabi's mind has long since gone dormant and he was only left with the ugly self-conscious side that would feed him tales of all the different lies he had forced himself to believe about Hawks while he waited for the letter.
For the sign that Hawks is still there and will have Dabi's back no matter what.
So yeah, to reiterate,
Dabi is pissed as hell.
Although his crew would argue about what an understatement that is. Cause a pissed Dabi is simply more prone to start arguments and give out mundane chores as punishments.
This Dabi is much more than that, this Dabi has stopped speaking about a week ago and is now only communicating via shouting. This Dabi saw a seagull on the railing and he cooked the fucker cause that spot is his favourite smoking area. This Dabi accidentally dropped his dagger 2 inches away from Shigaraki's throat. This Dabi is so emotionally constipated that his quirk is beginning to act up, in the canteen and in the hallways you can see the burned footprints that he left in his wake.
And worst of all nobody knows what is the cause of his anger or how to fix it.
This is where the crew finds themselves currently, in the storage room having a secret meeting about their captain's mood.
"This is ridiculous," Shigaraki breaks the looming silence, "nothing even happened, so why is he acting like someone pissed in his coffee."
"Obviously something happened," Toga chimed in, "Otherwise he wouldn't be acting like this."
"Like what? We're doing great," Shigaraki shouted, "We have new allies in the west, the maps we found on the marine ships are all authentic, we're the richest we've ever been before, we're gaining reputation fast and the marines are finally treating us seriously."
"How am I supposed to know?" She shrugged her shoulders at him, "The only way we'll find out is if we ask him."
She had made a real good point there.
One nobody else had thought of before.
When Dabi entered the dining hall he was expecting the usual messiness and loudness that over time has become synonymous with his crew. What he wasn't expecting his entire crew to be dead silent and sitting in a semi circle on the floor facing him.
They have even re-arranged the room to fit them all, Dabi would have been impressed if he was not so worried about the psychological health of every single one of them.
Blinking once
twice
thrice
Dabi smacked his lips and asked the obvious, "What?"
Shigaraki and Toga, who were sitting in front of the group, patted the floor and said, "Dabi, come sit with us."
Not seeing any other way to move this situation along, Dabi sighed before he flopped down onto the floor facing his entire crew.
Not wanting to ask again, he simply lifted his eyebrows in question and waited until either of them started talking.
That role fell on Shigaraki who very eloquently said, "You're acting like an asshole."
"I am an asshole."
"Well recently you've been acting like ever more of a one," He got quipped back at.
And, yes, Dabi will have to admit that recently the thing with Keigo was plaguing his mind. But he did not think even for a second that his crew would have recognised a change in his actions.
"And you wanna change that?" Dabi asked defensively.
"No," was the simple, yet effective answer Shigaraki had to give.
"We just wanna know what's bothering you," Toga explained.
Shaking his head, Dabi replied, "Nothing's bothering me."
A glaring lie, and it was clear to everyone except the liar.
"Yeah, right," Shigaraki barked as he rolled his eyes.
"What, you calling me a liar?" Dabi demanded.
"Yeah, cause you are!" Shigaraki insisted.
Dabi was never a patient man and with the way this week had been, people should have expected him to snap sooner, "Listen he-"
But at the same time you will regret your choices once you underestimate the power of a pre-adolescent girl who had set her mind.
Because Toga had finally had enough, "No, you listen to me." she shrilled at him "it has been a week of you acting like this and let me tell you everyone is sick of it. I- we have no clue what's bothering you and we want to help. So you are either going to tell me now what is happening or we will force you to go on a self-care trip with us to the next port we stop at."
"You have got to be kidding me," he deadpanned.
"Dabi, I am 100% serious," and she matched his energy.
Toga and Dabi were now stuck in a contest of wills (or rather a staring match, but nobody is actually calling it that) , Dabi's pride will not let him back off while Toga won't allow Dabi to continue treating the entire world like shit just because he is mad.
Finally, after a moment since the silence became too loud, Dabi blinked and turned his head away from her and the crowd.
Toga, being the person closest to him, saw the tears welling up in his eyes, too stunned by them she stayed silent and did not mention them.
Silence stretched in the cafeteria, everybody was waiting for someone else to break it.
That someone turns out to be Dabi himself when he starts chuckling quietly to no one in particular but rather someone who wasn't even there to witness his deteriorating mental stability. "You know when I really think about it is sort of stupid." he stopped, took a moment to collect himself and continued "I am a grown man, a wanted one, someone who is feared across the ocean and yet my lover breaking up with me is almost enough to ruin that."
(A slight over exaggeration since Keigo has not officially broken things between them and Dabi would like to believe that Keigo is mature enough to do things properly and not just leave Dabi guessing for ages on end.)
The united shout of "A lover!" surprised even the people who were screaming.
"Did you not hear what I had just said, an ex-lover is what he is," Dabi tiredly explained.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa" projected Toga loudly while flailing her arms in the air as to grab everyone's attention, once she has grabbed it, she continues, "Shall we backtrack a bit Dabi? Alright. Who is the ex? When did you start dating? Was the break up messy? How did you hide it from us? And um- do we need to track him down?"
"NO, no, no, no, do not kill him," said Dabi quickly. "If anything, I just want some closure."
Dabi stopped after that wondering if he should tell them more.
"Go on," urged Toga " there is still more you wish to say about him."
"I do not wanna talk about him, Toga." He quickly deflected that idea.
"And just why not?" Shigaraki demanded.
"Because Shigaraki, he is a part of my past," Dabi gritted the truth through his teeth.
They grimaced at that, they all knew that whatever happened in Dabi's past was ugly. They all see the remains of that past on him every single day.
While they were mulling over their own personal revelations, Dabi was having a young adult crisis.
'Well fuck,' he thought 'I guess that did affect me more than I thought.'
"Dabi look, the easiest way to get over a break up is to make the other person unjustifiably jealous but since you cannot exactly do that, you gotta at least get it off your chest." Toga proudly declared her solution to his problem.
Dabi was looking at her as if she had just personally offered him. (Which in all fairness, she did)
"Do not look at me like that, there is a reason 'getting things off your chest' became a profession."
While Toga was definitely a smart girl, she forgot that Dabi knew her and could tell what she wanted.
Bless her heart, at least she tried. She has put more effort into convincing Dabi to talk then Dabi has ever seen her put effort in doing any job at the ship.
"You just want more info about him, there is nothing about this that is either about me or for my own good." Dabi told the truth that he saw.
"I'm offended at how little you think I care about you." She crossed her arms in an act of defiance and pouted her lips as a show of annoyance.
The audience took this as an invitation to give their unwanted opinion in the matter.
"Yea Dabs"
"Come on cap, we just wanna help"
"We do care about you."
"And you care about us."
"Don't even try to lie about it."
"I thought we were a family."
And so, the plan was simple and clean and should have been a ridiculously easy win, find a ship and sink it.
A perfectly pirate-y way of getting over your ex.
But the universe just had to have something to say.
Shigaraki's mind was unable to process the information in front of him. He knows what he is seeing but his mind simply is not accepting it, he is not capable of accepting it, his own biology is going against the very thing he has come across. The sheer probability of this happening to them was probably so astronomically small that it would blow his mind. But yet, here he was.
Standing in the crow's nest, looking at their new target being demolished by Hawks.
Hawks, the marines pet. The youngest corporal, ever. A man only feared by pirates and wrong-doers. People he saves call him an angel from heaven while everyone who has fought him and lived to see the sun would call that man the devil.
Call Shigaraki a bad crewmate but he does not believe that Dabi would stand a chance
"This must be a fucking joke" said Shigi to no one but himself. Bringing his telescope down he took a breath before announcing loudly to the entire crew "Marines have the ship!"
Murmurs began traveling along the working men.
Dabi, who is standing at the bow, pulls out his personal telescope to check the situation for himself, "A single marine, Hawks," he announced to his crew.
The deck went silent immediately, the sheer shock from that statement enough to silence them all. Now awaiting for their orders they grow weary of what's to come.
"Plan still stands, onwards"
And with those words they all began to continue with their work.
Dabi hasn't moved from his stop at the bow, stuck, looking at Hawks from afar.
The way he can move in the sky will always be so mesmerizing to Dabi, he could watch it forever. If Dabi didn't know how hard Hawks had trained to achieve this he would've thought he was born like this. All from the tips of his primaries to the tips of his toes, Keigo moves in the air as if he's always meant to be there.
'Better up there than down here' Dabi thought morbidly.
Dabi stayed still as he felt Shigaraki move beside him, "In my professional opinion I don't think that he can win against Hawks." he bluntly forewarned.
"You're right about that." Dabi acknowledged, "But there won't be a fight."
'Not a physical one anyways.'
"How sure are you?" Shigaraki rightfully questioned, no sane person would go against a corporal, nevertheless HAWKS.
But then again, neither of them are sane.
A completely serious Dabi answered his question. "100%."
As they got closer to the ship they could finally see the extent of the damage. And ohh boy, was there damage. The sails were all cut apart, the figurehead was barely hanging on and the hul was marred with holes.
This ship was slowly sinking.
And then they all saw it, it really was like the newspapers said. A man you never saw coming but when you did you would mistake him for an angel.
Knowing that Hawks was wrecking a ship and seeing it up close and personal are 2 completely different things and the crew have just begun to accept that.
By the time cremation arrived at the site, the remaining fighting had stopped completely. The deck was covered with bodies, weapons and blood. The people who were standing and alert were busy trying to flee off the ship. They were desperate enough to try their luck with the temperamental mother nature rather than with Hawks.
If Dabi had been thinking clearly he'd have been proud of Hawks for putting the absolute fear of god into those men.
But Dabi wasn't thinking clearly, he wasn't even thinking properly. The world could've stopped spinning and he wouldn't have noticed because he was there. Perched on the railing on the opposite side of the ship, staring at him with those honey golden eyes he had missed so much. Just looking at Keigo, Dabi can feel himself relaxing just at the sight of him.
'God, I missed him'
All sounds surrounding Dabi fell quiet on his ears as he hopped off the cremation and onto the other ship. Hands on the railing behind him he pushed himself forward and began to pace towards Keigo.
Keigo is still staring at him, a quiet 'Dabi' pases through his lips, but he's not moving.
"What birdy?" Dabi tased lightly as he slowly made his way across the deck, "Didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily?
The whole ship is silent. Dabi's crew is all watching what is going to happen.
Hawks, the crazy idiot, started to chuckle. It was the quiet sort of laugh that got louder the more he laughed, at some points he even chirped a bit. It was incredibly endearing, at least to Dabi, the rest of the crew thought that they were going to die.
"Now, now." Dabi teased as he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, he wasn't preparing an attack, but the motion was muscle memory entainded from all the years training. "What's so funny Birdy?"
Dabi hadn't intended to talk much during their meeting more focused on kissing him senseless, but since Birdy started it Dabi will have to finish it.
Hawks calmed down from his laughing fit but he was still breathing heavily, finally says something, "It's because I didn't send the letter back. Is it?"
Paralysed with shock, a sudden bout of anger overcame Dabi, "Well, why didn't you send the letter if you knew how I was gonna react?"
"Because," Hawks replied calmly, not his usual laidback tone, but an imitation of it, which would fool most people, "I got kidnapped before I could send it."
Clogs started to work in Dabi's head as the new information began to sink in, 'He'd had to have been kidnapped at least a month ago, but there was no coverage of it. Other marine officers also didn't know where he was so I just assumed that he was on a confidential mission. But if he was kidnapped and nobody was even trying to find him. That means
it was a set up.'
This was neither the time, nor the place for them two to discuss battle plans and secret missions, so Dabi decided to put that train of thought on the back log and simply appreciate that he still has a boyfriend.
He chuckles and is once more making his way towards Hawks.
"I simply thought you were ignoring me, so I went to sink a ship to take the edge off." he confessed, almost as if the idea was stupid even though he was seriously considering it not even hours ago.
Getting to the rail where Hawks is perched on, he grabs Hawks' face still hell bent on keeping his past promise of kissing him senselessly.
But he can't, not when Hawks winced at his touch. It took Hawks a moment but he also realized what his reaction was.
Dabi finally takes a close look at his boyfriend's face. There were bruises that were in the final stages of healing all over his face and neck. Taking a step backwards Dabi saw how Hawks was hiding his right arm behind his back and how his wings were in an even worse shape.
They were filthy, which is something Dabi knows that Hawks hates, there were spots where feathers were missing and a couple of blotches of dried blood. His left wing wasn't laying correctly on his back but was rather stuck in an awkward angle.
Swallowing down his anger, Dabi turned away from Hawks and addressed his crew, who had made their way onto the ship and were awaiting orders, "Kill the crew and steal any valuables." he ordered.
A cheer erupted from the group, they had waited for so long to finally have some fun, they all split into many groups each specialized in a different craft and they went their separate ways.
Dabi waited until a group was running past him to stick his hand out and stop somebody, that somebody was Sako.
He pointed at him to wait and once more turned to face Hawks.
"Who?" He demanded, his voice harsh and icy.
He didn't mean to be cruel to Keigo, it's just that his control is slipping, and he needs to find whoever did this.
Hawks, taken by surprise by the question, explained, "Took care of him."
"Oh, did you now." challenged Dabi, not buying that Hawks actually killed someone without the orders to.
"Yeah I did," Hawks insisted, his voice quivered a bit, and it was clear he was barely holding himself together.
"He alive?" Questioned Dabi, not as harshly as before, but still demanding more information.
"Chained in the cell." Revealed Hawks, with a wing he pointed to its direction.
Nodding Dabi turned to look over his shoulder where Sako was currently standing bewildered "Take the guy from the cell and place him in ours." He ordered.
Dabi waited until Sako had begun to make his way across the deck before facing Hawks, he was about to ask him if he wanted to go see Doc back at the Cremation, but he never got the chance.
"I already took care of him," Hawks argued, still not letting go.
His argument was weak and Hawks knew it, but what really confused Dabi was the way Hawks was protecting his kidnappers. There's obviously a reason why but Hawks doesn't seem to be willing to share.
"If he's alive that means there's more you can do, it's the price he has to pay." Dabi thought that his reaction was fairly normal, and it confused him to no end why Hawks was still fighting him.
Hawks looked like he was about to cry, "I need him to live,"he trembled with his words, and he was physically shaking. Almost to the point he fell off the railing. "I need him to live," like a broken record, he repeated over and over again.
At the end it morphed into something completely different, "I want to live," he whispered.
Hawks no longer looked like he was about to cry, he was crying, the tears fell soundlessly from his eyes and he was having trouble breathing, but he was quiet.
Oh so quiet, which reminded Dabi of all those times he had to silence his sobbing to prevent even more training.
Slightly panicked, Dabi pulled Keigo off the railing and into his arms, "There's no need to cry," he whispered, "I'll make sure to keep the bastard alive," he tried to calm him down but nothing was working.
"You'll be okay, Keigo. I promise." Dabi kissed Keigo's temple as he was being used as a napkin.
Keigo wasn't reacting at all to anything he was saying or doing, and it scared the shit out of Touya. Just having the love of his life uncontrollably sobbing on him and no way to help.
It was hell.
It also didn't help that his crew were beginning to return.
Dabi trusts them with his life, yes. But at the same time they are plain rude and uncultured.
They stop and they stare at the scene going on in front of them, it takes a good glaring from their captain to get them moving.
Paired along with a shout off, "Someone get Doc!" And they know that tonight will be a rough night.
