-x- Keigo -x-
The League, as they were now calling themselves, ditching their other chosen name, had gone the definition of viral from their newest music video. It was fantastically made. How the hell was it made by four fucking high schoolers with no cinematography or video editing backgrounds? Dabi was not in his chosen body, but in the look he had for the past three videos that they had claimed as their go-to music video guy.
He fell, tumbling over and over, face relaxed, sad and hopeless, mouth moving to the lyrics, and the music was slower than even the last one. It sounded like a love song even if the lyrics were not one. They shot the tumbling scene right at sunset, and with each turn over they could see the sun setting lower. On the last word, he closed his eyes, and it was dark out.
Keigo was blown away by the quality of it. He texted them all in caps about how amazing it was. Apparently some news sites had messaged them on the Twitter page they put up asking for information on it. It was known on their bio that they were four high schoolers after all.
How many tries did it take to get it that way?! AMAZING!
It took us 6 tries. Of course each time there was 1 chance. I vomited 3 of those 6 times. I think I did good, tho!
It was amazing! Omg omg omg.
(〜￣▽￣)〜 Bow down before me bish.
Our edgelord and savior.
Lol.
The group didn't give a video interview but a written one, which was put up by the end of the day. This was the best option with Dabi's lack of filter. It wasn't like the other three were much better, though. Iguchi was the best of them, but even he was uncomfortable being the spokesperson.
At least the League didn't crumble under pressure.
Q: So, how old are you four? How did you decide to start a band?
A: We're still in our teens. We didn't have any other school clubs to choose from so we decided to start with music.
Q: What are your long term goals?
A: Want a future with our music but still plan on going to college, so music might be pushed away a bit for awhile.
Q: You aren't looking for a record label?
A: Why would we? We can get known and compensation without giving up our freedom. Be better to just do it all ourselves. It would be smarter and more fun to just do it all ourselves.
Q: Where did you come up with the music video ideas? They look professionally done. Who did you use for them?
A: Toga was the one to come up with the first two, Dabi was the third. We did them all ourselves but borrowed a few quirks from others. All of the people in the first video were not real people, just made by a quirk. The main guy we used was Dabi using his quirk. The whole third video was him falling and with his phone on a secure selfie stick. It took many tries, and Dabi got pretty sick a few of them.
Q: Wow! Do you four do every part of the music? Can you walk us through your process?
A: Dabi writes the lyrics, Iguchi creates the sheet music, Shimura does the background music - the orchestra program - and Toga does much of the video editing and set up. We do it all ourselves. This is more of a hobby than anything else at the moment. We didn't think it would be this popular.
Q: Well, I'm sure many are looking forward to more experience and branching out!
A: Hopefully they're not too impatient.
Q: Thank you for the interview!
A: No problem.
Keigo smiled, happy his friends were getting good publicity. Speaking of good publicity, Keigo had been green lit to film the second movie in the Engraved trilogy, which got very good reviews, not just because Keigo was a good actor. He was so happy things were working out. There were a handful of talkshows that put the movie on blast for including Keigo, but he didn't really care because the majority of the vocal public didn't think it was wrong, and he had Touya make a video with him that seemed heartfelt by their reactions.
How slightly uncomfortable Keigo was while Dabi had spoken with a harsh, irate voice. So their reactions seemed real and not schooled. Many were wondering where Touya disappeared to before and after the small video interview, but they didn't go digging for him too hard.
An hour later, Dabi texted him a photo. It was a written email firing him from his modeling job for lying about his age. He'd been working there over 20 months.
Welp, guess I'm looking for a new job.
Omg, I'm so sorry!
It's fine, I'll find somewhere else pretty fast. I'll be seventeen soon enough. Not fifteen lolz.
Another hour later, Keigo was at home and messaged his friend to ask how he was doing. He was probably not too upset, not many things got to Dabi and especially not something like this, where he'd have companies lined up to save money by hiring one single guy who could do anything they asked of him.
Plus, he had a ton of photo proof of his modeling so far.
How are you doing?
Oh, I already have three places lined up for interviews tomorrow. It's fine. Pretty sure my former work place fired me and wanted me to beg for work and apologize. I don't do apologies, so fuck em.
Petty to the last. A few moments later, Dabi sent a screenshot.
Hs workplace said: We're willing to keep you on for a pay cut and less hours. Lying to us is not a good look, but based on your dedicated performance, we're willing on hiring you back. Hopefully we can all move on from this.
Dabi's response: No thanks. Pretty busy with the whole music thing. Also, I'd rather not work with people who make a decision hours after finding something out. You didn't even think it over after I've been working for you over a year. Sorry.
They haven't responded yet, Dabi texted.
How stressful.
It's fine. I'm not too bothered. I have a ton of money saved up and I'm not going to get pay cut. Our videos are possibly going to be monetized, but it's not likely we'll get much from it, y'know? We can't depend on that as any source of money.
Keigo smiled. Dabi could be so mature when he felt like it. Other times, he would tell a woman he'd eat her child. Keigo didn't know which side he liked better. Clearly one side was the more entertaining of the two.
-x-
"Don't stress it, we're not in front of a live audience," En said as Keigo tried to flatten his crazy hair more while they were waiting for the interview to happen. He was really nervous. This wasn't like his last interview when he gave up all the information about the Commission. That didn't have much to do with him as a person - it wasn't meant to, at least. It had been an expose, nothing about him or his personality. More like a confession than an interview.
Keigo nodded. "Just be honest. Well, not about the drama on set, but otherwise try to just be honest. You aren't universally hated for your involvement, right?"
"Yeah… Yeah. I'm glad you're here. And we get to work together in the second movie," Keigo happily said. En smiled and nodded. The interviewer sat in his chair across from the three. Keigo sat to the left of En and Karin to the right. She turned her nasty look into a smile, and Keigo really was impressed by her ability to seemingly hide how much of an asshole she was sometimes.
"Welcome! It's good to see you all, some I've seen before, but now we've got a new face!" Furutani said. He interviewed a lot of casts on book adaptation movies. Keigo smiled a bit nervously, glad to not have a live audience watching. "Karin, you were here just last year! Someone's been keeping busy."
"Yes, I hate not having anything to do for long periods of time. My new movie couldn't be more different, but I'm excited for the sequel of Engraved to come out. Anyone who's read the books know it's going to be intense."
"No spoilers!" Furutani said with a grin. "Keigo! May I call you Keigo?" He nodded. "I have many questions for you. This was your first acting production, correct?"
"Yes, my first audition, too," Keigo said with a smile.
"Are you currently doing any other movies?"
"I was but my time of filming ended. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I play a complete jerk that nobody will like," he said honestly. Did he say too much? Crap.
"Hah! So, very different than the damaged and grieving character you played in Engraved?"
"Yes, very different."
"Which role did you enjoy more?"
"Definitely Habiki," Keigo said of his first ever character. "He was really fun to play and easy to relate to."
"The scene everyone's talking about: the break down. How did you approach that scene?"
Keigo had thought this answer through over and over since it was a kind of question most asked on interviews for actors. "I haven't actually really lost anyone personally, as I don't have any family, but I sort of channeled what I went through a few months earlier. Knowing I was all alone. I felt like Hibiki could feel the way, since he felt all alone after losing his partner.
"When the PTSD part came, I used what I already know about it. I had PTSD when I was a child, so I knew that in movies, it's not all about screaming and rocking back and forth. That's just part of it. A lot of times, it's just silence, frozen there. I don't have it anymore, but it definitely helped make it more realistic, and adding the flashbacks made it look even more accurate. I'm really good at crying on demand, so that was good, too! I only needed two shots of it, so I'm really proud of how I did," Keigo explained with a genuine smile.
"Brilliant approach, using your true feelings to relate to the character. The small touches of being lost in the distance also added to the fact your character was grieving. How were you able to add that to some of the brighter scenes?"
"I had to act like I was in grief, and that I was always feeling guilty to some degree over the loss of a partner. I really liked playing that cause I was still doing my own thing in scenes where En or Karin were the focus," Keigo said with a smile.
"Amazing! How was your time on set?"
"It was really fun! I got along with the crew a lot and we went out to dinner a few times. En was the best guy I could have hoped to act along with. He was really nice and showed me the ropes since it was my first ever acting gig. Taught me how to behave as a celebrity if I ended up being looked upon positively. There's a lot to do and a lot to not do and he taught it all to me, so I'll always be grateful," Keigo said and sent En a grateful smile.
"It was fun to work with you, too, since you're such a positive and dedicated guy. Look forward to working with you again," he replied. Karin was left out of this completely, but didn't show her annoyance that she had to be feeling.
"How was it for you, Karin?"
"It was a bit difficult acting with such a newbie, but he was excited enough to negate any issues." Keigo could tell En was having a very hard time not rolling his eyes.
"Well, new actors usually feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. Just like both you and En once had." Keigo felt he was favoring him and irate with Karin. He'd interviewed her before, maybe he knew she was a bitch behind the scenes. They talked more about the stunts, and Keigo came up again, asked about doing the stunts himself.
"Well, I had been trained how to move that way, though it was usually with my wings there," and he ruffled them a bit, needing to be on a backless chair because of them. "And after I stopped my original career, I was doing personal training and calisthenics so I was still pretty fit. It was fun to do all the stunts myself. I was sometimes sore when I got home but it was worth it for me. And the stunt doubles were really funny, so that was enjoyable, as well."
He was being very positive about it all, and none of it were lies.
"Do you think you'll continue to do the stunts for the sequel?"
"I actually don't know. If you've read the books, you know the second one is really intense with action and I can see the stunts hindering my ability. Slamming into walls, no matter if they're foam, doesn't feel the best afterwards," he explained with a slightly awkward laugh. "Maybe I'll do some but skip out on the super crazy ones."
More questions for the other two about their own characters were asked, how they related and if they hoped to improve in some way for the following movie/movies other than character development. Whether they'd take any different approaches. Since the three signed contracts to not give any spoilers, they had to tiptoe around giving too much information out.
"Keigo, what do you think about the sequels coming out years from now, when you possibly look much older than you do at the moment?"
"Well, I was told that our characters might be aged up a bit, or that makeup and CGI can make me look younger. That was an issue for some of the other cast, but I was told not to worry about it."
"Considering what fans of the books have said about your accurate portrayal, I doubt it would be a problem." Keigo perfectly held in the tears of relief that he wasn't panned and that he wasn't being dropped by the series. He did it, didn't he? He was known by the public for something other than being a corrupt hero that tortured an innocent kid.
-x-
The cast went on many talk shows, and Keigo was asked the most questions, which he was getting the hang of well. He refused to go on any by himself, though. Karin was annoyed by his popularity, while En and most of the older members of the secondary cast were very happy for him. Relieved on his account for his past not being dragged out and laid bare to everyone again.
Since he was so heartfelt in the interviews and backstage recordings still they'd done after filming immediately, he was very popular, mostly to teenagers.
On one talk show, where the host played pranks and made jokes, she said, "Now, why don't we have a little competition?" with a mischievous smile. The six cast members were in their chairs, Keigo a bit nervous over what they'd be doing. "Whoever can cry the fastest wins this hat." It was a fedora.
Keigo wanted it.
Karin and two of the other women all had makeup on, but Karin was the only one to care if it got messy, so she didn't partake, giving a lighthearted reason about why she didn't want to ruin the makeup. The host didn't mind.
"Alright. One, two, three!"
Keigo immediately had tears pouring down his face while the others took a little longer to get there. Keigo's eyes were red and his nose, so he looked the picture of ugly crying, just without a runny nose.
"And Takami wins!" Most shows were using his last name, and that was fine. En gave him a high five. The public were enjoying seeing them interact, naming En as Keigo's surrogate big brother. It was better than another type of relationship, and Keigo wasn't bothered by this, and luckily, neither was En. He took a real liking to Keigo.
Keigo happily got the fedora and plopped it on his head for the rest of the talk show stuff. Once it was over, Keigo was still wearing his new hat, and took a photo of himself and sent it to Dabi.
Jealous? I have a fedora and you don't.
Dabi sent a photo of himself in a fedora with his middle finger up. Least I didn't have to win it.
In denial that you got yours with a cheat.
Then he sent another picture with Sheri, Enzo and Rika in fedoras with him, all looking quite serious. Keigo laughed, and wished he had a family. A found family, at least. Keigo was a bit sad that Sheri and Rika hadn't been adopted yet, they'd been there for years. He hoped they found a nice home.
Keigo soon got a message from Natsuo, with him, Fuyumi and Shoto wearing paper fedoras they concocted on the spot. He laughed again, and said goodbye to his costars, ignoring Karin's scowl, and flew back home, holding his new hat since it would fall off while flying. He was happy with how his life was going.
-x- Dabi -x-
"This is so stupid," Dabi grumbled while standing in front of the bathroom mirror with Toga, the door shut. She was perched on the side of the tub.
"No it's not! We're finding your type!" she said. Dabi glared at her. She was getting him to transform himself into the perfect looking guy he'd think was hot. His friends and family still didn't know, only Toga and Keigo. Keigo had never brought it up while Toga regularly asked in whispers if Dabi found certain people hot.
Still only dudes, he didn't care about women. He sighed, and looked in the mirror as he shifted his face around to look good to him. Toga watched with glee. It looked very weird on his face, changing shape constantly until he got the finished product. He had auburn, slightly curly hair, green eyes, freckles on his face and a straight nose and not quite perfect teeth. He was fairly lean but not buff and a little shorter than Dabi.
His face was red at the whole thing, and he turned to Toga with a defensive look. "Well?" he barked.
"You like the innocent looking guys," she giggled, and took a photo. Dabi flipped her off. "Now do it for me! The prettiest girl ever." She was totally in the closet but completely open with Dabi. Out of his three friends in his group, he was probably closest to Toga. Tenko and Shuichi were closer to one another as well, so nobody was left out.
Dabi nodded, and shifted his own face around until he had long brown hair, brown eyes, sharp eyebrows, a perky nose and plump lips. "Well?"
Toga looked shy, and Dabi grinned. "Don't make her look freaky! She has to look soft and sweet like a gummy bear," she said harshly. Dabi just laughed. She took a photo and he turned back to normal. They left the bathroom in good moods. Dabi was fairly sure that Mei knew he was gay, as well as Fuyumi somehow. Maybe because she caught him staring discretely at a guy at the supermarket.
She had said, "He's cute, isn't he?" and Dabi grew angry and defensive. She just giggled and said nothing more. Mei had to know but never said anything or made it clear she was aware.
While they were setting up the studio with Tenko and Shuichi, cleaning and rearranging things, Keigo called him. Is ringtone was a song he despised. He did it just to annoy him. He left the room and answered. "What up, bitch?"
"Hey. The award show is coming up… Will you go with me? Obviously as friends. I don't have anyone else I want to bring," Keigo said a bit shyly. Dabi smiled, and asked if he was sure he wanted to go with Dabi, in Dabi's appearance. "I'm sure. I'm not embarrassed to be your friend at all. As long as you behave yourself. Can you do that?"
"Hah, I'll do my best. When is it?" Dabi asked, no problem going with him as support. It would be stressful for him, so he was fine keeping his friend company.
"Two Saturday's away. Enough time to get an outfit together."
"What would I be wearing?" Dabi asked, one eyebrow arched. "I'm not wearing a suit, my dude."
"That's fine. You can dress however you want. There's no actual dress code for guests. Besides, you wouldn't be Dabi without your emo punk look."
"Well, that is Dabi's signature look, there's nothing to do about it," he said. "I'll not be an asshole to other people. Maybe I'll mock you if you give me the chance, though. So there's that to look forward to." Keigo laughed on the other end, sounding relieved Dabi agreed to go with him. "Got a speech ready if you win any awards?"
"Yeah. Rumi helped me write it."
"She was sober, though, right?"
"Haha, yeah. It's fine. Maybe I can run it by you, you're good with fancy words."
"Hey, as long as they rhyme, they can all be mine." His voice was slightly singsong, and Keigo laughed.
He said goodbye and went to work on their newest song.
-x-
Dabi was indeed working at a new place, which was paying him better than his former, long term and first job, so there was no risk of him going back. Usually, this kind of deal was reserved for older people with a ton of experience in some niche position, but Dabi saved a shit ton of money for any place to rent. He was now working for a real fashion company, not retail kinds of clothing stores.
He wasn't all that uncomfortable posing shirtless as a guy, but refused to wear anything more sexual than that. His new makeup person got along with him swimmingly. Dabi was generally a fun person to be around when he liked you. If not, he was incredibly annoying and petty. He did his best to behave at work, though.
After work one day, he was washing off the makeup, and saw his hair dresser trying something new on a wig on a mannequin head. Dabi walked over, taller than she was at seventeen years old. "Wanna see my favorite hairstyle to do?" he asked conversationally. "I do my sisters' hairs often." This included his foster siblings and Fuyumi when he saw her, which was more frequently now.
"Sure," Mizuki said. Dabi got to doing his favorite hairstyle. It had eight tight dutch braids that all went along the scalp until it ended in a high pony tail.
"It's not very practical for most events, but I think it's fun to make," Dabi stated. "Looks better with long hair extensions from the pony tail." Mizuki smiled, and undid the hair to try it herself. She liked it, too.
The next shoot he did as a woman in exercise clothes, yoga pants and a long crop top, his hair was indeed in that wedding viking style, long blonde hair. It was fun to have a say in what he wanted to look like. He felt more appreciated here. He got over 130,000 yen more a month. It was awesome. He was so happy he could afford to buy things for himself and his friends and family.
Having his own money to use for his own choice made him feel very independent and self sufficient. He would be a good roommate when he eventually moved out with his friends into their own place. He could cook, use doubles to clean quickly, pay for expensive clothes to make the food he liked, and he was wicked fast at folding laundry.
One day, when he was cooking food and left to tell Shuichi and Tenko, he opened the studio door and saw Tenko playing his switch while sitting in the other's lap casually. They jumped apart. "No way, are you guys gay?" Dabi asked in shock. Tenko's face turned red and he glowered. "Yes or no?"
"...Yes," they both said.
"No fucking way, we're all gay?!"
"What?" they both asked.
"Well, I'm gay as shit and I'm sure Toga is in the closet. What the hell…" Both of his friends looked beyond relieved. "Dudes, I'm happy for you. Don't tell anyone about me, only Toga and Keigo know."
"You told Keigo?" Shuichi asked, but his posture was relaxed and he was so relieved.
"It was an accident. He was the fucking first to know. I sent him a text that was meant for Toga. It was embarrassing as hell, though he didn't seem upset or anything about it. Said congrats for figuring it out," Dabi laughed. "Now eat my food before it melts."
They scarfed down the apples with the peanut butter and banana snacks. Dabi was happy for his friends, and happier that they seemed to all be in the same boat so would not hate or be embarrassed about each other's preferences. Yeah, they deserved to be happy. All of them did, he felt.
-x-
Dabi was wearing a long sleeved white shirt made of soft cotton and his black, very emo and gothic coat. He had black jeans and black boots on. The white shirt was very soft and cost a pretty penny, but looked nice. He didn't look dressed up at all, and when he flew to his and Keigo's meeting place, he saw his friend wearing a three piece, not a normal suit.
"Hah, you don't look any different from usual."
"Not true. I had a patch of acne on my forehead that I put some concealer over. So I did make myself more presentable," Dabi said with a shrug. Keigo laughed. "So, we just landing there or riding in a limo or what?"
"I don't really like being in cars so I figured we'd fly there. If that's okay."
"Well, it would definitely show people why I cut big ass holes in my jacket," he said. "You nervous?"
"Yeah."
"Well, your speech is good enough. I'm sure if you trip up, people'll call you cute again," Dabi teased.
"God, do you know how many damn love letters I've been getting in my more public inbox?" Keigo said. "It's awful."
"Well, you signed up for this shit. Better than the death threats like two years ago," Dabi replied with a smirk.
"I don't know, I'd rather be threatened with death than have random women tell me they wanted to make winged babies with me."
"Oh god, I'd rather get death threats, too. And what a shitty idea for them. An 18 year old havin' a baby? Yeah, not the best idea." Keigo laughed, and they flew to the event, landing outside the building. Dabi was completely unbothered by the photos taken of the two of them while Keigo had to wave and smile. Looked very tiring.
Dabi didn't care if photos were taken of him and he was blasted on the internet because he was extremely confident and secure in his appearance. He liked wearing all black and having his voluntary disfigurement and piercings. He walked at Keigo's pace, which was kind of slow. "Dude, this is awful," Dabi muttered when they got away from the screaming fans and photographers."
Keigo laughed. "Well, it's a good thing I can fly because I can escape crowds," he said. It appeared Dabi was the youngest person there. No children present, and no young teenagers. He was nearly 17, and looked the part, but still was pretty sure he was the youngest. There were hardly any mutant quirk users, Keigo was the only one, so he stuck out like a sore thumb.
They walked to the food area, which were mostly serving alcoholic drinks so the best the two got were some sodas. While they were drinking, Keigo's co-stars came over. "Hey, guys!" There was En, Keigo's lord and savior. "This is Dabi, my friend I told you about."
"Aww, you talked about me?" Dabi teased.
"Dude, you're my only friend my age, of course I mentioned you." Dabi smiled. "Dabi, this is En."
"He talked about you a lot. Thanks for being his lord and savior. I wasn't there, unfortunately, so good job taking over." Keigo hid a snort. En looked highly amused. "Though technically you were friends with him before I was."
"It's nice to meet you, Dabi," En said with a chuckle. "What do you guys think of this?"
"It's crowded," Keigo mentioned. "But people aren't paying that much attention to me, so that's nice."
"If you wanted to hide from prying eyes, you definitely shouldn't have brought me."
"Well, your emo punk clothes kind of blend into the dark surroundings," Keigo mentioned. "Is it too much?"
"No, it's cool."
En asked Dabi about school, and Dabi was bored with that topic so he discretely switched topics to his band. "We have a YouTube channel, too. Don't plan on really showing our faces though. We all don't look conventionally attractive. Though we don't really care."
"Anyone I'd know?" En asked curiously.
"Maybe. Did you see the music video with the guy falling around? It went viral a couple weeks but then fizzled out." En nodded. "That was us. The person used in the video was actually me using my quirk. It was kind of awful, I got sick multiple times," Dabi laughed.
"You filmed that yourself?" En asked in shock.
"Yeah, my phone was strapped to a selfie stick we glued to my stomach. We also made the other two videos on our own, the four of us."
"Four… high schoolers made those high quality videos? Holy crap."
"Keigo, I like this guy," Dabi stated.
A few others joined them, Keigo's co-stars for both Engraved and the movie that hadn't been previewed yet where he played a dickhead. They were all very friendly and those who weren't in Engraved expressed how impressed they were with his performance. Keigo's face was flushed during it, letting out shy "thank you"s. Dabi thought it was endearing. He was a very likable person.
Emi Karin came over holding a champaign glass. En's face immediately turned sour, losing his smile. "Oh, Takami, nice you could come. Is this your plus one?"
"Yes, this is Dabi."
"Oh… nice to meet you," she said, clearly not meaning it.
"You were a great actor. Actually made your character look like a good person. I commend you for your fakery," and he gave three, slow, condescending claps. She bristled, but Dabi just smiled at her. En and Keigo watched apprehensively while Dabi didn't avert his eyes and kept complete eye contact.
"Maybe you should invite a more civilized guest if there's a next time."
"Don't worry, I'm house broken, I won't be making a mess anywhere," Dabi said with a wave of his hand, and she stormed away. Keigo and En burst into laughter, and Dabi grinned, chuckling himself.
"He's like your bullshit force field," En joked.
"That's right, got any other enemies I can piss off casually?"
"Nah, she was the only one I think you would actually offend," Keigo said, his laughter dying out. Dabi took a slurp of his soda with a smile. "Who did you bring with you?" Keigo asked.
"My girlfriend. She's talking with one of her favorite fellow actors. I just started dating her, she's really sweet." Keigo smiled for him, and asked if he could meet her. En gladly took them over to her, and when she saw Keigo she beamed. "Takami, this Shinobu."
"It's so good to finally meet you!" she said to Keigo and gave a polite bow, Keigo returning it. He smiled, and Dabi assumed he was relieved that En's partner wasn't bothered by him in any way. They hung out until the awards started, En introducing Keigo to important people in the industry that he knew personally. Keigo looked to be having a great time, and Dabi was happy for him.
He wasn't a purposeful asshole anymore when Keigo introduced him as his friend. Most of the people that he met were not jackasses. They did look surprised by his appearance, but were not pricks about it, not that Dabi would mind. He really was happy for Keigo.
When the awards happened, they sat at a table with En and Shinobu. Dabi still had his soda and was sipping through the straw as quietly as possible. Keigo was drumming his fingers nervously through all the awards for the films themselves. The actor's awards came after.
"And the award for the best supporting actor is… Takami Keigo!" Keigo froze, and looked at Dabi helplessly. Terrified. Dabi gently pushed him with a grin, and Keigo walked up to the mic, and took his trophy. His speech was short, but he pulled on his people face and kept his voice even and a smile on.
When he returned to the table, he looked sick. "It's okay, dude, you don't have to go up again," Dabi said in a nice voice. En was beaming, and Dabi looked over at the table with Karin and she looked pissed. Dabi was so, so happy for Keigo. He looked stunned, still, staring at the table, holding the award to his chest. He looked lost, and not in a good way.
Once the ceremony was over, Dabi linked his arm in Keigo's. "Come on, let's get out of here and go on a flight," he said kindly. At least those who wanted to congratulate him read the situation and just gave smiles and didn't force their presence on him. En said he'd text him later, and the two left, flying away and ignoring photographers. They flew to a tall skyscraper roof, and Keigo burst into tears the moment they landed. He was still clutching the trophy close to his chest.
Dabi assumed he was feeling like he didn't deserve it, maybe thinking about the bad things he'd done in life, or shocked that people valued him for something that he chose for himself. Dabi let him cry with his arm around his shoulders, their hair and Keigo's feathers being blown by the cold wind.
Once Keigo was all cried out, he looked so tired. And Dabi turned into a medium sized dragon, and told Keigo to sit on him, not trusting him to fly in his very emotional state, and he flew his friend home. He stayed late, until Keigo fell asleep after starting a TV show. Rumi was out, so Keigo was alone. Dabi put a blanket over him and turned on a nature documentary that Keigo said he'd liked on low volume, and left out the balcony door.
-x- Keigo -x-
When Keigo woke up, he was laying on the couch. The sun was shining through the gap in the curtains of the sliding glass door. He turned over, knocking the blanket off with his wings and sitting up. The couch was very deep at one end so he could lay on it and his wings wouldn't be pressed down in any way.
Everything from last night came back, and he looked at the coffee table to see his award. Right… he won best supporting role… it didn't make much sense. Everyone said the acting was good, but he didn't feel he deserved it on his very first movie. He wasn't sure, but at least knew he didn't bribe or cheat to get it. He'd prepared a speech but had not expected to win.
It was so weird. He was only barely 19 but got an award from his first project. A big award. Then he remembered he'd left before he could get any photos. He should have stayed behind but he was about to cry at any moment from conflicting feelings, and Dabi had gotten him out of there, lead him out of the building and got him to fly with him.
Then he let Keigo ugly cry until he was ready to go back home, and watched a show with him before clearly putting the blanket on over him when he fell asleep. Keigo pulled his knees to his chest. How did he get to this place? How did someone like him, with his fucked up past both in private and then public, end up so happy? The public didn't hate him, they even liked him. The person he tortured was his closest friend. He was awarded for something he felt he cheated to get, using his manipulation tactics drilled into him by the Commission to do well.
Part of him knew he won the award fair and square, but the rest of him felt like he didn't deserve it. He stood up and shook his wings out before taking the award, and putting it on the shelf in his closet, out of sight. He wasn't happy to get it. Someone else should have. And they'd have had a better reaction to it, too.
After he went back to the living room, Rumi in her bedroom still sleeping, he picked up his phone and had so many alerts it was insane. There were a lot of stories talking about his escape from the award show after winning, but he hadn't come out cocky in any way. He'd looked lost, and there was speculation about why he came across that way until the armchair psychologists (and real psychologists) picked apart his reaction, and got his feelings spot on.
That he felt he didn't deserve it based on what happened to him two years ago. There were some demeaning tabloid articles, but the majority of the internet seemed to feel sympathy for him. He had a Twitter account by now, and had his name tagged in a lot of wishing well posts. Keigo didn't cry again.
Along with the pity articles and posts, there were other ones of a completely different kind. They were about Dabi, and his reaction to Keigo's distant and distracted reaction to winning. How he took him by the arm and lead him out of the award show, looking encouraging to them flying away.
Keigo looked pathetic in the photos and was embarrassed he wasted Dabi's time and effort to comfort him about something so ridiculous. Then there were photos from inside the award show, when people were mingling, with Dabi and Keigo laughing and smiling. They easily had his name when kids from his school ratted him out.
Being armed with Dabi's name and the information from his school mates, his band was more well known from people who weren't popular YouTubers or small articles reacting to the music. Their viral video had slowed down it's popularity just based on the news and entertainment cycles. Well, at least something good came out of it, the League got more publicity - good publicity.
#DabiKeiForTheWin was also trending, showing photos of them both looking happy, and a soundless video showing Dabi's reaction to Karin. You couldn't tell what he was thinking, but it was at a good angle to show Keigo and En's apprehensive faces. Dabi was smirking, saying something and Karin left angrily, and the two teens and 20 something year old busted up laughing.
While Keigo didn't really like that he was being shipped with Dabi, he didn't think the teen would give a shit about it. He was gay and all, but the world didn't know that and he'd probably deny it. He was in a slump, feeling sorry for himself, when Dabi texted.
He had messaged an article about Dabi and Keigo's imagined romance, and Keigo didn't expect what the message alongside the link was:
I've spread the gay. Now all of my friends are swinging the other way. ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～
Keigo laughed, but knew Dabi was joking about Keigo being gay, he had no proof. Keigo didn't really know, either. He'd never liked a guy or girl before, and knew he would be a burden if he ever got very emotionally close to someone that way. Just like how he'd probably ruined Dabi's night by his ridiculous meltdown.
Lol.
You okay?
Keigo wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to drop his baggage on Dabi, but deserved to give him an explanation about last night.
I'm sorry I had a meltdown last night. I probably ruined it for you.
I mean, I did come to support you. I didn't come cuz it sounded fun. At least I did what I came for in the end.
Keigo bit his bottom lip hard enough for it to bleed. I hid the trophy in my closet. I can't even look at it.
So? It's yours to do what you want with. You could toss it into a wood chipper and it's still your right to do it.
I feel stupid.
I know. I know how that feels. Happened to me the night I left "home". I went behind a dumpster and cried about it. It wasn't fair I had to get away. I shoulda had a real family.
Dabi had never shared this with him, but Keigo didn't think he was lying. Thanks for sharing.
Anytime. Brightside, we got more attention on our music. Though there are a bunch of comments about you and me. They're fuckin hilarious. We can't stop laughing at them. Go check em out.
So Keigo did, pulling up the most popular music video. The comments were an absolute mess. A ton of who he assumed were fangirls accusing him of manipulation, as well as those begging them to do a video with Keigo there, or just encouraging him to go public with it. They made a pinned comment that said: 5 million views and we'll make a love song about Keigo.
Keigo laughed.
You're probably laughing but we're dead serious. Just you wait.
Keigo smiled. He couldn't believe they made it to this point, and Keigo knew everything he'd done to Dabi was completely forgiven. He could not have asked for a better friend. He loved Rumi, but considered her more like a big sister by now. He slapped his cheeks, and left to go on a long flight.
By the time he returned, the video had surpassed five million views. Challenge accepted was above the pinned comment. Oh god, they were really going to write a song about Keigo.
It was all over social media, there was no way that the League would take this back, it was happening. Honestly, Keigo couldn't wait. He knew they would never make something horrible about him, but he expecting a prank of some sort. A funny song. Keigo looked forward to it, having no idea what they'd churn out.