-x- Keigo -x-

Keigo woke up first, two days after the initial "drama" came up. Dabi was sleeping next to him, curled around a body pillow, completely unaware of the mess that was them on social media. Keigo's face was pale as he looked at the stories on the phone, and how much he was tagged in.

Anyone notice how similar Dabi is to the guy Keigo tortured? And there were photo comparisons of him and Dabi together as Keigo anad Dabi, and then screenshots of their message together. Side by side, they weren't hard to find similar. Their face structure, eyes and their hair besides the color. Keigo was biting his lip hard. They'd been found out.

He didn't want to see the tweets to the post, but he couldn't help himself and saw accusations of stockholm syndrome and Keigo emotionally abusing Dabi to be his partner. He bit his lip so hard blood dripped down his chin and onto his knee. They needed to do damage control now. Before things got too wild. It was still very early, but Keigo woke Dabi up.

The teen grumbled and swiped at Keigo's hand. "'M tired, lemme sleep."

"Dabi, the internet found us out," Keigo said sadly. Dabi rolled over, and looked at him with suspicious, tired eyes. "People clicked that you're the boy I tortured."

Dabi groaned, and rubbed his hands down his face. Keigo had to admire his lack of panic. He sat up, throwing the blankets off. He went downstairs and came back with a box of donuts Toga had gotten to celebrate their first internet beef.

"So, now what," Dabi asked, ripping into a chocolate glazed donut.

"We should do damage control. Get on top of it right now. Maybe explain things."

"Explain what?" Dabi asked sharply.

"How we got together, maybe. I mean, how we went from victim and abuser to friends and then partners."

"That a lot of explaining, Birdie," Dabi said, a tad nicer, perhaps having noticed how sharp his response had been.

"Dabi… they're saying you have stockholm syndrome… like it's a trauma bond," Keigo said, holding in tears. Dabi's harsh face softened, and he hugged Keigo.

"They're wrong, pretty bird. You know thats not true, right?" Keigo just sniffled and began to cry. "I know you know that's not true, you're just stuck in your guilt. I'll explain things, we'll fix it. If people don't believe us, do you honestly want to not be with me?" Dabi asked.

"N-No, I love you," Keigo answered in a small voice.

"Everyone in my life has forgiven your actions and supports us. That's what should matter. I'm sorry, you've probably hit a bump in the road career wise," Dabi said, stroking Keigo's wings, causing them to slowly lose their tension. "But you'll get over it. We have people to back us. I'll explain as much as I need to. You should, too, this isn't a one sided relationship, dove." Keigo nodded, glad he didn't have a movie going right now so he only had to be around his loved ones, who did know the history and accepted him regardless.

After Keigo calmed down, the two started to decide what to explain. Dabi called his family - bio and adoptive - those besides Shoto and Enji, and asked if he could mention them in his soon to be biography. No names and no faces. They were all very upset about the news as well, and wanted to help. "I won't talk about Rei being in the hospital, that is your secret," Dabi vowed.

"Thank you."

"You can talk about me," Natsuo offered. Fuyumi asked to stay unmentioned, and Dabi respected that wish. "I play a big role because I made friends with Keigo first!"

Keigo smiled at the sweet gesture. Then Dabi called Mei and asked her. She was upset as well and wanted to help, but requested no name drops and being as vague as possible. These were the only people he really needed to ask for permission. He had the rest of those he cared about living in the same house as him.

So Keigo called and asked Rumi if she'd be name dropped, and she was more than happy to take Keigo's side. She was sympathetic to the situation, and didn't get angry that Keigo had hidden Dabi's original identity. She would always be on his side, and he felt so lucky to have her. She'd been his savior for years. He could never thank her enough.

Sitting in the studio, the camera was pointed straight at Dabi, who sat on a stool. Keigo and his testimonies would be separate just because of the fuckers who might claim Keigo had forced him to speak up.

Toga hit the camera rolling and gave a thumbs up. "Yo. Many of you recognize me from my own shit, and others because I'm in a relationship with Takami Keigo. You're right, the ass who figured it out, I was the one the Hero Public Safety Commission kidnapped and had tortured. I had run away from my family, my abusive father who is obviously Endeavor. Former Endeavor. It was my fifteenth birthday that I left. My quirk is quite versatile, though it was nothing then compared to what it is now.

"I was on the street, heading to the train station to get the hell away when I was snatched up, unaware I was being followed or that anyone even knew about me. My own family had no idea the quirk I had, I'd hidden it from everyone I knew.

"In the car, I was cuffed and knocked out, and when I woke up, I was in a nineteen year old body. That's when the torture started, demanding to know what my quirk was. I didn't answer, stubborn. A sensitivity upper was put on me, so every single hit or cut was agony, though I healed from it for an unknown reason.

"Eventually, Hawks was sent in. Hawks doesn't exist anymore, so I'll only call him Hawks for this part of my story. He was told I was a terrorist, and this pissed him off. Thanks to the lie of both my background and age, he tortured me. It was awful, and traumatizing, though he wasn't the only one to do it.

"Even after his time was up, I continued to be beaten by other Commission fuckers. In the end, two nights after Hawks took part in the torture, he had someone who he was close to get me out. I was brought to a foster home with a new name. I was told to choose one quirk to stick with, so I chose my shape shifting one.

"I felt this appearance suited my personality best, and have been using it for almost four years now. It's who I am and I'm not fucking changing. I spent over a year in hiding from everyone, including Endeavor. I lived with a good foster family for awhile. Up until I turned 18 a few months ago.

"I met my friends and bandmates in high school, and we're still best friends together. They found out everything eventually and still supported me.

"I was scared of Hawks - he was Hawks to me at the time - but he ended up becoming my younger brother's friend. I didn't know at the time, but Hawks knew where I was, that I had a new name and was living with an unknown family. He refused to tell even my brother where I was because he didn't want Endeavor to find out, who had pestered him for information about me. Eventually, things came to a head when Endeavor found my location and literally dragged me home, breaking my leg on the way and then canceling my quirk with an anti-quirk cuff.

"I returned to my family and decided I'd get my siblings out with me this time. I tried for weeks to get out, get help, but without my quirk and with a broken leg, I was pretty useless. Eventually, the only thing I could think of for him letting me use my quirk was to stab myself. When I was taken to the hospital, I confessed to everyone what home life was like and that we needed help. And we got that help."

They would splice Keigo and Dabi's videos and not interchange them. Film them all and then edit them together.

"The first time I saw Hawks again was in the hospital. He had a shattered leg and might have needed to be amputated. I was in the shape of a younger kid and talked to him for a few times. After that, he was Keigo, and I forgave him. I healed his leg over, and then left. He didn't see me again.

"Then, through my part time job, I heard he was in a movie." Dabi had a small, proud smile on that wasn't manufactured. "I knew shit would go down about the torture stuff so I acted fast and offered to help minimize the issue and we made that video. After that, we slowly became friends and texted a lot. He had a lot more trouble moving on than I did, and he still has some trouble, but not as bad as awhile ago."

Dabi looked away from the camera and smiled at Keigo reassuringly. Keigo gave a small smile, too, a shy one.

"From then on, we just got closer. I offered him to live with us once we were out of high school. It helps he has the cash to help pay rent, but I didn't invite him for that reason. When Keigo was kidnapped, I was the one to save him and stayed with him at the hospital, and that's when things changed for him, at least.

"I got a boyfriend at that time, we didn't work out but he was a good dude, and then me, my friends and Keigo moved in together. He waited for me, thinking me and my ex wouldn't work out. We didn't, but it was a mutual agreement, he didn't dump me and I didn't dump him. Then, we started going out and that leads us to where we are now.

"Well, there's my story. I am not suffering from fucking stockholm syndrome. I'm not going into details about this, but I love him and no amount of public backlash or armchair psychology is going to change that, so good luck trying."

Toga stopped recording. Then it was Keigo's turn. He was looking over his script, for once being unable to memorize something easily. He had turned his phone off a few hours ago to avoid it as best as he could. Avoid the awful things that would be said about him and Dabi. He loved Dabi and wouldn't let the drama hurt their relationship. But it was so saddening and embarrassing to have it out there.

Dabi was explaining his whole journey just so he could keep things good with Keigo. That proved dedication to their relationship and Keigo wasn't about to waste the obvious effort. He moved to sit on the stool in font of the back drop and held his papers. This wasn't live and they could try multiple times, but he was still nervous.

When he sat down, Dabi transformed into a cat and hopped into his lap. Keigo felt immediately more relaxed. He held his script in one hand and kept his other hand resting on his boyfriend's cat belly. He was even purring, it was so sweet and Keigo appreciated it.

He took a deep breath, and Toga pressed record again. Keigo explained his side of things, with far less detail than Dabi, and far less interestingly or dramatic. His was much shorter, and didn't contain any swearwords. Dabi made a very obvious show of rubbing his face on Keigo's hand, and then stared at the camera, showing his natural blue eyes.

Keigo gave a bow of his head. Neither of them gave any sort of apologies or "we'll do better" or anything like that because they'd done nothing wrong, this was just to try and calm things. There was nothing to fix between them and it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of their personal lives. All of their loved ones approved and anything else didn't matter. Keigo did hope his acting career wasn't shot, but he planned on laying even lower now until it hopefully blew over.

They edited the videos, but they didn't mix very well together, so they just put Dabi's story first. There was no editing, no special effects like any of the League's previous postings.

The video was uploaded onto the League's Twitter as well as Keigo's personal. Then, they collectively shut off their phones and had a complete movie day. Shuichi and Dabi worked on homework for much of it but were still keeping company during the movies, but Dabi was mostly working on costumes for them for halloween, which was also a part of their fashion class homework. He enjoyed hand making things over using his quirk.

Keigo was distracted from the movie to just watch Dabi use the silenced sewing machine, gracefully pinning things, folding them, all the intricacies of the sewing machine. The little bit of tongue poking out over his purple lip, the silver ball just barely in view. He was so pretty, and loyal. Keigo didn't think he'd break his heart. And even if he did, he'd cherish heir fun times.

It was in the morning that they finally looked at social media. Keigo was hesitant while Dabi fearlessly opened up his own. Keigo read mixed reviews on his own social media. They still thought he shouldn't be with Dabi because of "the power dynamics" when Dabi could easily slaughter Keigo with any number of quirks and then heal over if the bird ever tried to attack first.

He had gotten a few emails and messages from former coworkers and costars, with only a small percent saying anything bad about it, and those who did weren't his favorites to begin with. He was scared he'd be cut from the next sequel film for Engraved. The second one was done in production and was coming out in a month.

But he did get an email regarding that one, and was heartbroken to see he was dropped. His wings drooped heavily, and tears burned in his eyes. "What's wrong, pretty bird? Were they really mean?" Dabi asked, wiping away his tears with his thumbs.

"I was removed from the final two films," he said in shame. Dabi's face fell into one of such sympathy and sadness. No pity and no blame.

"I'm sorry," he said, and pulled Keigo closer. "Maybe after this blows over, you'll be brought back. The next one hasn't even started filming, right? There's time. They might have acted rashly in the heat of the moment. It's a small studio before this franchise, right? Maybe the pressure from outside sources spooked them and they panicked." Keigo nodded, and wiped at his cheeks and eyes. He felt awful for having this come out. It only happened because of Dabi's attention, but he was the innocent one in this. He wasn't the one brutally tortured. Keigo's hands shook as he remembered Touya's screams as Keigo shoved a blade into his eye socket.

His eyes snapped open and he couldn't make it to the bathroom and thew up into the trash. Dabi hurried over, and rubbed circles on his back between his wings, releasing the tension. "Counseling, birdie," Dabi soothed, somehow knowing what made Keigo get sick. "If my words can't help, get others. I'll even go in with you if you want." Keigo sniffled and nodded, face red with embarrassment. Dabi got a tissue for him, and then incinerated the trashcan's content.

Keigo asked, "How was yours' reaction?" He didn't want anything bad to happen to Dabi and their friends.

He looked a bit guilty. "Mostly saying stuff like 'no wonder you all seem so fucked up and take no bullshit' or 'so that's what fuels the angst'. It's not like our fans are exactly upstanding members of society. They're all young people," he explained.

Smiling in relief, Keigo said, "Good. I'm glad." Dabi's look of guilt turned into his own smile of relief.

Keigo's phone rang, and saw it was En. He answered. "Hi, En…"

"They kicked you off." He sounded a cold angry. Keigo hoped it wasn't at him. "If you're not in the movie, I won't be either."

"What? Why?"

"They'd be replacing a main character, one of the reasons the movies even went anywhere. If they can replace you, they can replace me. This is also a form of striking. I got a few calls from the production staff I hang out with and they've expressed anger, too."

"W-why?" Keigo repeated in complete shock.

"Some people in the business are loyal to each other. They can't lose two of the three main characters. By the time the next movie would come out, this shit would be blown over. I'm going to be resigning today in person, so I wanted you to know before any emails or contact come."

Keigo started to cry, unable to help it. "I'm sorry to cause so much problems."

"Nobody is mad at you. It's not like you did something awful, you didn't hurt anybody. People are just being dramatic, and I know it's scary to have this kind of backlash, but scandals happen all the time to all sorts of people. You can't throw in the towel. You were treated a lot worse before. But now, you have more people beside you, right? Not just a single person."

"Y-yeah," Keigo sniffled.

"I'll keep you updated, okay? Take care of yourself."

"Yeah," he repeated, and the call was over. Dabi was pressing small kisses along Keigo's spine, fingers under his shirt, tracing small, soft circles on his ribs. He melted into the calming touch. "This is… it's gonna get messy."

Not long after, Dabi got a phone call from his work place. He answered it, and Keigo frowned as Dabi look more and more sour. Keigo couldn't hear what was being said on the other end. "Well, thanks for keeping me until now. Too bad you couldn't just ignore it all. Yeah. Bye." He hung up. "Looks like I'm unemployed, too," he said in a groan, and flopped onto his back.

"What?" Keigo asked in shock.

"Apparently someone leaked that I work there and that I was also 'keeping jobs from good people'. Boss said he's sorry, 'did what he had to do'. I'm sure I can get work someplace else, but it was a damn good gig. I have enough savings for a few months of rent and utilities," he said, as if Keigo was worried over that.

"I'm sorry."

"Dude, it was my drama that caused this in the first place," Dabi pointed out. "I'll find something else. Maybe something more interesting. It was sort of the same thing for so long. Easy money, though." Keigo still felt awful, and the day was a bad one. While a lot supported their video and Dabi was a major topic and his story, the fact they'd both lost things was heavy on their shoulders.

Keigo felt much more upset over his firing than Dabi did. Keigo moped on the couch while Dabi was at school, reading books to drown out his grief over the role he'd lost. And the fact everyone hated him again. At least he didn't need to go out to work. Maybe he should start looking for other work, not thinking anyone would hire him. He needed PR people but wasn't sure how to do that and didn't know if it was worth the effort and money.

When the four came back from school, they looked excited about something. Keigo was glad at least someone was happy. "How was school?" Keigo asked with a fake smile.

"Fine. Shut down some assholes, made some threats, as you do," Dabi said smoothly. Keigo didn't ask what those actions included. Dabi definitely needed his own PR person to fix the shit he messed up with his snarky attitude. Keigo loved it, he did, but wished it wasn't a problem. "Anyways, that's not why we're smiling." Well, Dabi and Toga were smiling, the other two were eating in the kitchen, watching.

"What is it, then?" Keigo asked suspiciously.

"Since everyone is concerned about our relationship bein' fucked up and toxic, we had the idea to prove them wrong. Do a bunch of shit together. Not out in public, that would not be fun, but we can release videos and shit."

"Like… vlogs?" Keigo asked in distaste.

"Pft, no," Toga said. "Like, productions! Mini movie thingies!" Keigo's interest was peaked. "We don't have a fancy PR team to give speeches and statements, but there is no damage control with love!" she erupted into giggles. Dabi was grinning, too, leaning over the back of the couch with his forearms resting on the cushions.

"There will be no public apologies, as we have nothing to feel sorry for. There will be no more explanations, no more answers to questions, and no responses to news outlets. We'll fix the mess by ourselves and have fun doing it," Dabi said with a grin. Keigo smiled back, a big, wide grin. It would be fun, and hopefully help fix things. Not between them, but because of the stupid bullshit that was nobody else's business. But Keigo had been told by many of his former costars that a scandal happened to almost everyone in some degree.

At least Keigo wasn't alone in his, and the other participant held no grudge.

-x-

"Man, you're planning on a big production, aren't you?" Keigo asked while Dabi was setting the stage. They were currently at an airport parking lot, far from the actual building. There was a field across from it where they were set up. There were two cameras on dollies and a drone that Shuichi would be operating. Dabi had constructed an illusion that they were in a pantheon. It wasn't there, they could walk right through it.

"Yup! What better way to get attention? It'll be fun," Dabi said with a grin. "Now, we must dress accordingly."

He tossed Keigo the armor he'd made out of worbla and fake leather. It looked quite good despite being handmade. He and Toga were the top students of their fashion class, most of their assignments with high scores and were to be displayed in a window for the arts building. Dabi put his own cloak on, giving himself big fox ears on his head with his quirk, nothing handmade.

"All you have to do is laugh. Then when shit gets out of control, run towards the camera like you're about to die. You're good at that," Dabi stated. Keigo took his shirt off and dressed in the armor, made to fit around his wings. It was useful Dabi always had a model to use by turning one of his doubles into Keigo's body.

"Also, if you get injured, I'll heal you up."

"Are you going to tell me what will injure me?" Keigo asked, enjoying this. Dabi grinned, and made two more copies of himself that grew in size until they towered over them. Two very large and very real dragons, one red like Keigo's feathers and the other black. Their teeth were razor sharp, and Keigo felt a flash of fear instinct go through him. "Uh, wow," he managed to say.

Dabi gave him a look. "Bitch, how are you scared, they are literally me!"

"They're huge! What am I supposed to think?!" Keigo said defensively. Toga laughed and even Tenko snickered. He walked up and handed Dabi and Keigo their mini mics, which Keigo was used to using. "What do I say?"

"Improvise," Dabi said nonchalantly. "I'ma be an asshole and you should react to that any way you want. Play along or call me a little shit, anything you want. This isn't to win awards and we're going to have fun doing it," he explained. Keigo didn't know how well he could improvise. "Kei, act like you're talking to me. Whether you're annoyed by my attitude or adore me," Dabi said in soothing voice. "This is all meaningless if we don't have some fun while doing it."

Keigo nodded and smiled. He flew over to his dragon on one side of the area. The cameras were all readied, and Keigo wondered what anyone who mistakenly came this way would think at the sight. Dabi moved to stand by his dragon.

"Aw, is that your dragon? Pretty cute little thing, don't you think?" Dabi taunted. He was loud enough that Keigo could hear him. There was no wind, nothing.

"Please, yours looks like a poorly rendered 3D model. No offense!" Keigo called to the dragon.

"Bitch, don't call my dragon poorly rendered!" Dabi shouted. He put his hand up, and his dragon gave a deep warble before lowering its head with a leering gaze at Keigo's. Smoke drifted from it's nostrils. "Let's see how yours does up against a little fire!"

And the black dragon shot flames at the red, but there was no heat from it so it was also an illusion. "Dracarys!" Keigo shouted and his dragon spewed out frost and ice. It truly was an improvised moment and he nearly laughed at himself. But he did get when Dabi said about when Keigo could be injured. The dragons were ruthless against it each other, fire and ice spat all around as they roared and fought.

Dabi ducked under them and laughed. "BURN HIM!" he shouted before the tail smacked him in the face and threw him down. He was nearly stepped on, and Keigo decided he'd make this go in a different route, playing the hero.

"Try to get away! Under - UNDER THE TAIL!"

"Don't - tell - me what to do!" Dabi snarked and crawled out, getting stepped on. "Bitch, you stepped on me!" he shouted at his dragon before Keigo zoomed in, picked him up and zoomed them out. They landed a bit aways in front of the camera. "...Maybe I'm not the best dragon tamer," Dabi said as they watched.

"How do I get mine to stop?" Keigo asked in confusion. Then both Dabi dragons took off and flew in different directions. "Wait! That was my ride home!" Keigo shouted.

"You have wings, you fucking idiot," Dabi deadpanned. And then they stopped, and the dragons in the distance flew right back.

"That was so fun!" Keigo exclaimed, eyes wide and bright. Dabi grinned and they all gave high fives. They walked through the footage that needed to be edited, and did a few more times, but the first was still the best. They took some photos of the set before and after it was gone, and made serious photos with both beasts.

Then they disappeared, incinerated. Keigo was almost sad to see them go, even if he knew they were just copies of Dabi, and not real animals. "We should totally say we lost the dragons," Dabi said.

-x-

When editing the video, which took awhile, Tenko said some fateful words: "We need memes in this."

Keigo had a complete blast brainstorming timeless memes into the video that was otherwise not all that light hearted. Tenko had designed epic music through the computer program, so randomly having the video stop and the words "it was at this moment he knew, he fucked up" kind of pulled you out of the moment. But that was what they all wanted. It wasn't like this was some audition tape and they needed to be careful, serious and composed. It was basically high quality shit posting, as they'd all written out other situational videos that were very different and included no monsters.

For the videos, they started a second YouTube channel as the band refused to post anything but music on their original, and also a second Twitter page though they were linked. There was no description or tags, called "untitled.1" and they just left it there.

Keigo was amazed at how good the four were at living by the fact: stressing over what you can't control is a waste of time. They just seemed to shut their brains off and stop worrying when there was nothing to do. Keigo envied them for that ability as he sure didn't have it. But it was easier to be with them than anywhere else. They made this mess so much less devastating. Keigo could only hope for the best about his role in the series. It hadn't gone public yet, so who knows what would happen?

-x- Dabi -x-

Dabi was sitting on the roof of the library, seething while he set a pile of leaves on fire, one by one. So many other students - all adults - would make comments about "trauma" being the reason he looked the way he did. That wasn't it, he wanted to look this way, it wasn't from mental illness. He just thought it was cool and he liked he feelings, the texture.

The comments and notion felt very devaluating and dismissive. He didn't want to talk about his torture because he didn't care about it anymore. He didn't have nightmares and he was literally in love with one of those who hurt him. Everyone acted like Hawks had been the main one to hurt him. He wasn't, he was just the most memorable. Not the only one by a long shot.

He loved Keigo and wasn't upset with him and hated all of the negative attention they were getting. Dabi wasn't sure what to do to fix it, if they even could. If it would haunt them for a bit. He wished he hadn't had to tell anybody. He hated that he had to, and that everyone he'd ever known as Touya or Dabi knew they were both the same person.

His hands roughly swiped angry tears away. He'd deal with it. Not like he could just run away from this. He couldn't change into somebody else, Dabi was a legal identity and he had a public profile. He couldn't just become someone else, and he wouldn't. Fuck that.

He also needed to be strong for Keigo's sake, as he was being seen as the bad guy, while Dabi was the victim. Keigo wanted the world to just move on. Both parties were in good places, but people loved to run drama. To put their opinions into everything and make it about them.

Dabi had needed to walk away from the computer or phone when he had messages by broken women sympathizing with him staying with an abuser. He was at least in control of himself enough to not go on a trade against innocent women like his mother had been. Unable to bring herself to leave. He wasn't 15 anymore, he understood it was more than just being brave enough. Point was, he couldn't lash out on these people no matter how much he wanted no association with them. If he reacted poorly, it would reflect on him a long time. At least the whole Geten bullying stuff was out the window for now.

He tried to hide his building anger and irritation and risk it upsetting Keigo, but it was getting harder and he was starting to get angry anxiety about going anywhere. He was sitting in the studio by himself and working on homework with loud music blasting in the room when Tenko knocked and then walked in.

Dabi turned the music off when Tenko sat down across from him on one of the stools. "What," Dabi asked in a flat, annoyed voice.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"You don't need to pull punches or be soft, my feelings aren't gonna be hurt." Dabi started to rant out all his anger at nosy people, people who didn't know them and shouldn't judge, who didn't know anything but the basics and none of the details, that they didn't deserve or get to know. He was sick of putting a stopper on his anger and just wanted to scream at people but knew he couldn't.

Tenko listened to his rage and frustration with a flat face, but an engaged posture. Really listening to everything he was saying, taking it in. Once he was finally done ranting, Tenko let him breathe for a minute. "This sucks, dude." Dabi was glad he didn't try to offer him any solution or advice, just listening uninterrupted was nice.

"Yeah."

"Do you have any idea what to do next?"

"Keigo needs therapy." It wasn't a response to Tenko's reply. "This is just making things worse, he's afraid of seeing someone who will point out that our relationship is abusive or something. I'm fucking sick and tired of our past being an issue."

"I can see where he's coming from."

"I can, too. It's still frustrating. I don't know what I can do to prove it to him," Dabi said sadly.

"Maybe couples therapy?"

"He's be too scared to hear that we are incompatible and wrong. I don't need someone else to tell me my feelings for him. I don't need that, I know how I feel and I know it's not some sick, twisted trauma bond." Keigo was having a harder time with it all, more insecure and scared that Dabi didn't really love him, and that he had some sick mindset where he wanted to be with the person he hurt.

Dabi wouldn't shame him for his irrational feelings, but it was getting frustrating. Dabi decided to do something about it.

-x- Keigo -x-

"Sit," Dabi said, pointing to the couch, making Keigo raise his brows in surprise. He hadn't been sleeping well, and always looked tired. But he sat down. It was a real worry that he was being annoying and a burden to Dabi. Doubting their relationship. It had to hurt Dabi that Keigo was so unconfident, and he started to feel really awful about it. Dabi was growing frustrated because Keigo was scared to see a therapist and was just bogging them down. Dabi got the remote and turned on the TV and hooked his phone to it. Keigo was surprised when he opened a window and a woman was there, on a call with them. It was a set up.

"Hello, Takami, Dabi," she said politely. "My name is Sora. Due to request, I'll be talking about trauma bonds and the truth about stockholm syndrome in relationships."

Keigo felt ashamed this needed to happen, but she was a professional and spent two hours explaining both things that were so carelessly tossed around online regarding them. But everything she said had nothing in common with how Dabi and Keigo behaved. When she spoke, none of her words, what she was saying, had any connection to them or how they were as people and partners.

Dabi gave him a hard stare for much of the time, and he slowly felt himself loosening up, bit by bit. Sora wasn't annoyed to talk to them about this, and once she was finished, she honesty said, "Based on what Dabi had told me, I don't see either of you abusive in any way towards the other. Your past is very complicated, but that doesn't invalidate your present selves or situation," she said kindly.

Keigo didn't need to hear her opinion since everything she'd explained had no resemblance to what he and Dabi had. The younger was staring at Keigo with a hard look. Keigo turned to the phone, and thanked her for her time. She smiled and nodded, and the call ended. Looking at Dabi, Keigo's lower lip trembled. "I'm sorry for being annoying."

"Do you believe now that I'm not sick in the head and fucking the guy who hurt me because of it?" Keigo realized how much his thoughts had probably hurt Dabi. He'd only really been thinking about him being a bad person, but if what Keigo had been worrying over was true, then Dabi was to be sick, too, clinging to the man that abused him.

"I'm so sorry, no, I don't think that, I'm so sorry," Keigo repeated. Dabi hugged him, and Keigo gripped tightly to his back, wings wrapping around them. He was ashamed.

"Please, Keigo, go to therapy or something. You said you would," Dabi said softly. Keigo nodded, and made an appointment an hour later.

They were surprised when the doorbell went off, as they didn't usually have visitors and had a separate po Box just to be safe, so it wasn't a delivery. Keigo or Dabi could easily fly to their nearby place of delivery, so it was no issue of convenience. Keigo went out and opened the gate to one of their older neighbors. They hadn't seen any of them since things fell apart. It wasn't just that they didn't come to see the five, Dabi and Keigo avoided contact with them, wishing to not stir drama in the neighborhood. They stayed off of neighborhood apps to avoid any issue.

"Hello," Keigo said. He must have looked exhausted, even if his voice was pleasant.

"Hello," the elderly woman said. "I brought some left overs for you. I know it's probably been a rough time with all the attention." She handed him a plastic box with a lid full of various sweets. Keigo smiled a tired smile, but genuine.

"Thank you," he said. "It has definitely been a hard time," he admitted softly.

"Don't listen to them, they don't know you. You both seemed very healthy when we saw you." Keigo thanked her sincerely. "Of course, dear. You can keep the tupperware container, it's quite old and I've gotten myself some very nice new ones." Keigo smiled and nodded. She walked away and Keigo closed and locked the gate.

Shuichi was standing at the front door. "Good news?" he asked warily.

"Yeah. We got some cookies and brownies," Keigo said, holding up the box.

"You sure they aren't poisoned?"

"Well, we have her delivering them on camera, so she's quite a fool if she did so since it would be easy to catch her," Keigo laughed. The two walked back inside and Keigo put the plastic box on the kitchen counter. Dabi was outside tending to his garden, the vegetables blooming very well. He looked happier, relieved, and Keigo felt like the shittiest boyfriend in the world. Dabi was probably feeling more invalidated by everything because people thought he was "too damaged" to see things clearly. Keigo would be much nicer and more caring about this from now on. It wasn't jut his problem, they needed to be a team through it all.

-x-

Keigo was eating dinner when he got a phone call from his former director's number. He froze. Dabi saw and glanced over his shoulder. "Answer it, dove," he said, and Keigo nodded, swallowing before answering the call.

"Hello?"

"Takami, hey," he said, sounding awkward. "After deliberation, the production wants to bring you back. It was a knee jerk reaction. En quit on us, too, and we want to bring both of you back for the next movie. Will you return?"

"...Will I be harassed by the crew?"

"I can't promise there won't be snide comments or rude looks, I have to be honest about that. I don't know how people who know what kind of person you are would react." At least he was honest.

"I'll think about it. I'll call when I have a decision," Keigo said quietly.

"Alright."

Keigo hung up, finished his food and then left to go on a flight. Dabi didn't follow him, thankfully. Keigo flew to Rumi's place, and landed on the balcony, knocking on the sliding glass door. She ripped open the curtains, holding a vase with a furious battle face on before she saw it was Keigo, and tosed the vase onto the couch and yanked the door open. "Keigo! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!" and she hugged him. He returned the hug full force.

"I just found myself coming here," Keigo said honestly. Her girlfriend wasn't there at the moment, which was good, so they could just talk one on one.

"So, what brought you here?" she asked, looking so happy to see him. It was nostalgic, being back here, the first place he'd ever been able to call home.

"They invited me back onto the movie," Keigo said, eating a chip. "I said I'd get back to them. It just won't be the same, you know? They kicked me off about something that wasn't hurting anyone and wasn't their business. They said they can't promise me I'll be treated well. I don't know. I want to go back but it just won't be the same ever again."

"It's your decision. They booted you off first, so they have to have something to fall back on unless this was just a principle move," Rumi said bluntly. "I think you should do what's best for you. And hey! Maybe the public will be upset you were kicked off and you'll be brought back in a good light."

"I want to continue the role, but the way they just dropped me makes me feel awful, unappreciated. I get that I'm an employee hired there, but I thought they would have valued me more. They hired me when I was still only known as the kid who tortured another kid. But my personal life… shouldn't have allowed them to fire me. I mean, it wasn't like it was offending anyone! I feel like nothing is private and I'll be punished for that lack of privacy," Keigo explained in depth.

"You lost guarantee of privacy when you became a celeb, boo," Rumi said bluntly. Keigo drooped. "Doesn't mean you should be punished for something that isn't hurting anybody. How is Dabi doing with all of it?"

"He's annoyed and frustrated with how people at school act with him. A lot of people have asked him if he was safe at home and he's barely managing not to go off on them. I agreed to go to counseling after he asked…" He didn't need to explain that he wanted to change the subject, she knew him too well to need verbal proof.

"Wanna hear about my day?" Rumi asked, looking mischievous. This was what he needed. He didn't need to talk about his issue, he wanted to forget, and what better to get his mind off of things than with one of Rumi's weird gym experiences?

-x- Dabi -x-

Dabi was currently in the body of a 30 something year old woman, buying Keigo flowers and candy. He had flown away to go see Rumi after the phone call, and so Dabi went out while he was gone to get him some comfort foods from his favorite bakery/candy store. Honeycomb and a batch of salted caramel brownies. Well, he bought many boxes of brownies for the others or he'd be attacked by Toga, but he kept the candies and flowers for Keigo.

He didn't usually go shopping in his normal body lately. He didn't want to cause drama when he was out and about shopping. None of the jobs he'd applied to had gotten back to him, so he was currently unemployed. He had his family's money support, he wasn't going to run out of rent money, but he wouldn't be spending anything other than food and bills while he was out of a job.

Once he had his things in a few bags, he walked down the street to the 24 hour market and bought Toga a box of pads since she had installed alerts on everyone's phone of when her time of the month was coming so they'd buy her items if needed. None of them really cared much about that, so it was no big deal. Shuichi thought it was weird but Tenko convinced him to just go with it.

Dabi was very careful about his surroundings after being attacked and kidnapped, so he easily noticed the dudes watching him pick out Toga's pads. He kept tabs on them but didn't react or make any outward notice of them. When he paid for his things and left, they went after him. Ugh.

"Hey, you need some help taking all that home?"

The words were nice but the way he said it wasn't, they were suggestive. "Nah, you can go fuck right off. Clearly I'm buying flowers for someone, chocolates, shouldn't you clue in?"

They were shocked that "she" said this, as Dabi was still very much in the body of a woman. He didn't wait to stir the drama further, and shifted into one of the smaller dragon bodies and then flew away, going straight home. He hoped Keigo was feeling better after seeing Rumi, but when he got back, the older man wasn't back yet.

Dabi put the flowers in a vase and put the chocolates in a red pouch that he tied closed with a red ribbon from his fabric sewing kit. He then sat on the couch all alone in the silence before Toga came out of her room and sat next to him. "I bought brownies for everyone. You have your own box," he said in a dry voice.

"What's wrong?" she asked curiously, ignoring his statement about the delicious free brownies.

"Kei flew away to go talk to someone else." He winced at the way he worded it, like he was needy and hurt his boyfriend went to talk to someone else first.

"Oh. Are you sad about it?"

"...Maybe. I just want him to be happy. I hate that… the way that the public reacted to us. I hate how much it made Keigo doubt me."

"He's still really insecure and damaged about what he did."

"It's been three years, I wish he'd get over it."

"At least he's gonna go to counseling," Toga said, trying to cheer him up in any way. Dabi nodded, and slouched into the couch, titling his head back and looking at the ceiling. Keigo came back not much later, and noticed the pouch and flowers on the table. His eyes widened and he looked at Dabi, who gave him a sad smile.

Keigo gave his own, and picked up the gifts and sat next to Dabi, putting them on the coffee table and snuggling into him, wings wrapping around him. Toga giggled and went to her room. Dabi ran his fingers through Keigo's hair. "How are you?"

"Okay. I decided to return to the movie," he said. Dabi nodded, happy he chose this, but also worried it would ruin the whole franchise for him. Hopefully he was treated right. His costars knew what kind of person he was, hopefully they would realize Keigo wasn't someone to take advantage of Dabi.

The older young man opened up the red pouch and happily ate the candy, sharing it with Dabi. He took one of the flowers out of the vase and put it behind Dabi's ear, who chuckled. He was happy Keigo made the brave decision to return, really happy. Hopefully, it was the beginning of things going back to normal. Whatever that meant for them.

The next day after class, Dabi got an alert on his phone, and his eyes widened, opening the email in a hurry.

Job offer-

Greetings! We hope you are having a great day! We have a proposition for you, and looking into your impressive music video productions, and the quirks you've displayed, we'd like to hire you as a stunt double. Given the fact you can transform into other appearances as well as heal from injuries, we'd like to hire you out as a body double for movies and TV shows.

Depending on the movie, the pay is quite impressive! Our company hires out body doubles to acting productions. We also can be called for video game productions as body mocap actors. We hope you consider our offer! Anytime for an in person interview is welcome. We recognize you are a full time student and therefore would be best for shorter appearances to the job.

The pay is still good, and we're prepared to pay more than others given your diverse set of skills. There will be training first for you to succeed in stunts.

Sincerely, Eiichiro Todo

-Daiburu Company

Dabi had not even sent an application so he wondered how they got his email. When he got home, he Googled them, never having heard of them before. But they were legit. He looked at their employee reviews and any successful ventures they'd made and saw that many of their employees rated them well and were also well known in the acting sphere.

The pay was pretty nice, but he wasn't sure how much he'd get working on a sort of part time schedule. It was possible for him to work in many places as doubles, but he wouldn't know what happened to them and wasn't about to be accused of something his doubles didn't do and him have no proof or memory of what really happened. He went to his friends and roommates and asked them what they thought.

"You could be really good at it," Shuichi stated. "And they contacted you, so they must really want you despite your… less than stellar attitude." Dabi flipped him off. "I'm just being honest."

"You should ask Keigo when he gets back. He's been in the acting career, right? He might have better input." Dabi nodded, and when Keigo came back from getting a gas leak in his car fixed, he told him about the offer.

"Awesome! I think you could get paid a lot for it and it might be really fun. And the hiring people know what kind of person you are. That you're a sarcastic shit with a sometimes bad attitude."

"So they only want me for my quirk, thanks." Keigo swatted his head.

"Of course they want you for your quirk, dummy. You'll just have to prove you're nice to be around. You're respectful if people respect you. Just, don't become a demanding diva." Dabi snorted. "It's part time, right?" Dabi nodded. "That means you'll mostly be in more minor roles with people who don't need stunt doubles for most of the movie. It's too bad you can't use your doubles for stuff like this."

Dabi nodded. "I'd make more money, but I'd feel so much less secure."

"Yeah, I understand why. After all, you don't get the memories of your doubles once they disappear."

"I would trust myself, of course, they're literally me, but I would want to know what happened myself if someone said something," Dabi said. "How was your day?" he asked as he got up to eat some of his brownie box. Toga and Tenko had eaten all of theirs already, but at least they weren't asshole enough to steal one another's food that wasn't meant to be shared.

He wondered briefly if his family would like the cakes. Maybe he could buy them some- both families, bio and foster.

Keigo talked about his day at work, how things were awkward with some people, but they were happy to have Keigo and En back. En only came back because Keigo decided to. He was a real ally to the winged man and Dabi was glad he was there for him. He was his first friend other than Rumi, and had helped him a lot in getting used to this career.

The dude was a nice guy when he and Dabi had met at the award gala a year ago.

-x-

Dabi's first gig was not that of a stunt double, but a mocap actor. And not as a person. No, Dabi was a mocap actor of various animal characters. His first day in his new part time job was weird. Everyone was snippy with one another on set. Dabi was surprised, this was a major videogame company.

Well, as an animal, he didn't need to make small talk with them. When he waked inside with his backpack, the room of mostly men went quiet. "Yo," Dabi said, and met with the guy who looked like the boss, as he looked nothing like anyone else and had a clipboard. Probably the boss. "Hey, I'm here. Where can I put all my shit?" Dabi asked, though not in a bitchy way.

"Oh, lockers are on the first door to the left. It's god to meet you! I'm Enrei Enko."

"Dabi," Dabi said back. "That way? First door to the left?"

"That's the one." Dabi nodded and walked past everyone and to where he was directed. When he entered the room, there were other people clocking out. Dabi set everything inside an open locker with a keypad, and saw there were multiple people staring at him.

"Take a photo, it'll last longer."

One of them took it literally, whipped out a phone, and Dabi did a stupid pose with middle fingers blazing. The guys laughed, and Dabi left the room. He went back to Enrei, and asked what to do.

"Right, about your quirk. You can transform into anything?" Dabi nodded. "If we showed you the 3D models of the characters we'd like you to do mocap for, you could become them?"

"Yup."

"Great!" A tablet was brought over and showed a monster they'd created. "Please don't bring out any of the textures that might mess with the mocap suit." Dabi nodded, took his phone out and set it besides someone's waterbottle, using his sticking quirk to keep it there. Dabi popped his neck, and became the creature their 3D modelers had created.

Gasps were around the room. Enrei's eyes were bright. "Can you speak in this form?" Dabi shook his head. "Right! Well, we'll you get you suited up." Dabi walked to where he was directed, and he had a harness constructed on him and little stick dots pasted to various body parts, like the feet and tail.

He was very well behaved, and heard whispering in awe over his quirk. The director appeared, and there were multiple cameras placed around the stage. Styrofoam props were put in strategic places, and the four hours were spent with him following the directions to a T. They got a shit ton of stuff done in that time, and when Dabi looked at the clock on the wall and it showed it was 7:10, he walked to the man who applied the suit to him.

He was undressed of it, and then shifted back into his human body, stretching a bit. "That was fantastic!" Everyone working there looked surprised at Enrei's enthusiasm. "Do you think you could be a facial reference for that creature?"

"Sure," Dabi nodded. "I can do photo shoots as it, too. I used to work as a clothing model so I can follow directions pretty good." He laughed at everyone's faces of disbelief at his former occupation. "I can be in the body anyone wants. I was a stellar asset."

"Oh," was the collective response. Dabi snorted, and went to get his things. He put his backpack on, and said he'd see them the next day.

"Wait! Let's exchange numbers," the guy who took the photo of him suggested. Dabi rose one sharp brow. Why not?

"Alright. If you become an issue I'm blocking your ass," Dabi said, and exchanged numbers. By the looks around the room, he earned their respect. At least so far. He then flew home after picking up some groceries.

Everyone were very happy he had a good first day. Despite his reputation, his quirk was a massive asset for the studio. It was mindless work, but much more engaging than the modeling, so he could get into this.

When the next day came, he had done much of the motions for the character to move. Jumping cycles, walking, running, fighting. It was all done in four hours. Efficient. He had no whispers today, at least not like the day before. The guy he'd exchanged numbers with hadn't messaged him, and he wasn't working there that day.

"So, can you become other characters? Like human, characters?"

"Yeah," Dabi nodded, and scratched the back of his head. "I can become multiple at a time." Enrie's face lit up again. Any director/boss would be glad to cut time and costs. Dabi knew that well and leaned heavily on it in his modeling career. Anything to save money. He was shown models of human characters, but when he became them, they were real people, he was not doing the uncanny valley thing.

"Amazing. How many can you make?"

"Have you ever seen any of my band's music videos?" Dabi asked, his voice still his own despite looking completely different.

"I have."

"Every single person in that dance version was a version of me. I can make quite a few at a time," Dabi explained.

"Can you make the whole cast?" Dabi nodded, and was given that tablet of images again. He doubled himself two more times to be the seven main characters and the three monster characters. The producers were over the moon, and soon the shooting started. Dabi didn't show them he could replicate all of their backgrounds so the green screens weren't necessary, but he didn't feel to revealing all of his cards yet.

Dabi asked, "So the monsters eat the humans, right?" They nodded. "I could always make that reality."

"Uh, no, that's quite alright," Enrei said. And Dabi laughed.

"Sorry, just telling you all the options." Once the shooting was done, he incinerated the doubles to not make a mess.

"Does… does that hurt?" the photographer asked while he got his equipment together.

"Nah. The doubles can't feel pain. If I don't burn them up they leave a mess," Dabi said, and took a swig of water. When he left, some guys asked if he wanted to go get a drink with them. "Can't. I'm underage," Dabi said bluntly.

"You could just turn into an older version of yourself," one pointed out.

"Don't really feel like it. I did that for awhile and it bit me in the ass."

"Oh, okay."

"Well, see ya," Dabi said, and grew his wings. He secured his backpack down and went home. When he arrived, Ochako was over and Dabi walked in on her and Toga making out on the couch. Ochako was surprisingly aggressive. He kicked his shoes off and ran up the stairs. Neither girl cared and didn't even separate to acknowledge Dabi was in there. He laughed as he went up the stairs.

He found Keigo in his room, the room they slept in together, reading. "Bruh, I'm amazing," Dabi said, and flopped onto the bed next to him. "I'm totally gonna get a raise."

"On the second day?"

"The director acts like I'm a gift from god."

"Well, you are," Keigo purred, tracing his fingers up Dabi's throat. His cheeks turned red a bit. "Continue." It was kind of hard with his sexy boyfriend mouthing his shoulder and neck, sucking and biting.

"I think you have no interest in hearing about my day," Dabi said with a smirk.

"Mm, maybe not," Keigo agreed. He climbed on top of Dabi and grabbed his hair, smashing their lips together. Dabi's hands slid up Keigo's thighs and then to his hips, urging him to grind a bit. Dabi activated the extreme pleasure quirk, trailing his long fingers along Keigo's adams apple as he gasped and shook. Dabi grinned, loving that quirk. Whoever owned it, their partner was very lucky.

Once the time was over, Keigo slumped onto Dabi's chest, panting. "No… fair."

"Hmm? You don't like it?" Dabi teased. "Okay, I'll never do it again, then." Keigo swatted his head. "You know, in return, you could do some pretty fun things with your feathers. I'm sure we could get kinky with them." Keigo's face flamed, and Dabi bit on his lower lip, dragging him down to his face. "How was work?"