Top pic credit: HozeMHA

"So, do it, Hawks. Choose, because there's only two options, two ways this situation will go down. Are you gonna stop me from doing this and risk your meeting and Ari's family just to prove a point? Or are you gonna watch me fuck h-"

Dabi never got to finish the last of his sentence, as it all happened faster than the blink of an eye.

The only thing to even let me know something had happened was the giant swoosh of air that hit my face, as a flash of red blurred my vision for a single second.

Shaking my head slightly in dazed confusion, I quickly turned my attention to the spot Keigo is standing in-or, rather, the spot he had been standing in, before realizing I no longer felt the burnt, warm body of Dabi against me.

It was only then that I heard a giant thud on the floor behind me, quickly turning around on the couch to see what the hell had happened.

My eyes widened in shock at the sight in front of me.

Keigo had Dabi pinned on the ground, immediately connecting his fist with the stitched man's nose.

Oh no....

Damn. He's so fast. One second, he was standing about ten feet away from Dabi and I...silently fuming at the sight of him touching me. In the same second, Keigo had managed to lunge at Dabi, somehow safely extract...or rather, rip, his intertwined arms from around me, without hurting me in any way, and pin him to the floor.

He could have easily just used a few feathers to get that job done, but I guess he felt the need to let off a little steam and get his hands on Dabi, himself.

Which can only mean...

He's probably not thinking clearly at the moment.

My jaw dropped open in dazed panic, too shaken up and traumatized by the events of today to fully process what was happening right away.

Dabi groaned in pain, as the sound of another punch from Keigo echoed throughout the room.

I looked at the sight, completely frozen, as I watched Dabi's blood fly off of Keigo's fists at a rapid rate now.

Dabi's arm blindly erupted in blue flames, getting ready to land a punch to the side of Keigo's head.

But the thing about Dabi is, while his flames are strong....

His body and his tactics are weak.

I didn't even realize a few of Keigo's feathers had grabbed the quilt off the couch until I saw it wrap around Dabi's flame filled arm faster than he could process.

Of course, the quilt wouldn't work for long since Dabi's flames were so hot. It was more of a distraction so Keigo could continue punching him to death.

Wait. Punching him to death.

Keigo is literally punching him to death.

Oh shit. That's a problem.

I should probably do something.

But, my body is refusing to move.

Not even using his feathers on Dabi, Keigo's fists continued hitting him in the face with blind rage. The dark, wild look in his eyes was one I've never seen before. They were blank, yet wide. Empty, yet seething. Quite frankly, he looked like a ruthless murderer.

I've never seen him this angry. This...scary. Lusting for blood.

My mouth opened and closed a few times as I tried to find my voice, desperately attempting to force my slow moving body to recover from its shell shock.

"I.....K-Kei....Keigo.....s-stop..." I breathed out much too quietly, hearing a growl of fury erupt from him in response.

Damn, he's really out of it.

This is bad. If he kills Dabi now, he'll be in big trouble. With everyone. The villains. The hero commission. With his own morality....

Especially, because....

Heroes never kill.

Keigo's not a killer. So, he needs to stop acting like one.

Clearing my throat, I felt my frozen muscles finally starting to move as I stood up from the couch.

"K-Keigo." I stuttered a little more firmly, watching his knuckles connect across Dabi's cheek at the same time.

No response.

"H-Hey....stop-K....Keigo." I uttered dazedly, feeling frustrated that he still didn't hear to me, but still being too slow on my own reaction times to show it.

No response.

Damn it...

"S...Stop!" I uttered a little louder, watching his punches suddenly cease, as blood dripped from his black gloves.

Thank god.

Dabi was still conscious, and surprisingly, he didn't even seem bothered by this whole thing, the way Keigo currently was.

How is he so calm about this? What is he thinking? What is his plan?

If someone walked in right now to witness this scene, they would mistake Keigo for the villain and Dabi for the victim.

How ironic.

Dabi let out a weak chuckle as blood poured from his nose.

"Hah....I can promise you....you'll pay for this one day, Hawks. You better remember I said that, because I definitely won't forget. I'll make sure I ruin it all for you. Hit you where it hurts the most." Dabi laughed, still sounding as though him and Keigo were engaging in a non threatening, casual conversation.

I thought since Keigo had stopped his punches, it meant he had gotten out all of his aggressions.

But I couldn't have been more wrong as I saw him rip one of his strongest sharpened feathers from his wings, expertly flipping it in his hands, so the pointed end aimed straight at Dabi.

My eyes practically bugged out at the sight. I wasn't expecting him to pull that card.

Oh fuck.

That's a little wild.

"A-Ah-Kei-Hawks. Hold on! Hawks, wait!!" I called out, forcing my stiff legs to start walking over to him.

He didn't even look over to acknowledge me. It honestly seemed like he forgot I was here.

He grunted roughly, his breathing heavy as his body was clearly hyped up on adrenaline at the moment.

Dabi didn't look afraid in the slightest. Actually, it was quite the opposite. He seemed rather pleased with this outburst from Keigo.

This was only made more clear by his next, clearly taunting, words.

"Gonna kill me, bird? Is that it? All because I tried to touch your girlfriend? Is that really all it takes for you to snap?" Dabi chuckled out weakly, shooting Keigo a bloody smirk to say, "I won."

Keigo couldn't care less about losing this 'game' as he aimed his pointed feather sword at one of Dabi's hands now, looking pretty confident about plunging it sadistically through the bone.

He wouldn't....would he-

"Can't touch her if ya don't have any hands though, right?" Keigo retorted blankly, as I watched his arm jolt forward without hesitation...with his feather blade diving straight towards Dabi's palm.

Well, oh shit. He would.

And if he didn't already sabotage himself enough already, stabbing Dabi through the hand will definitely put the final nail in Keigo's coffin.

"No!!! Stop!! Hawks, stop!! Calm down!!-" I shrieked in panic, as pure chaos broke out in the room.

Dabi's hand erupted into blazing flames at the same time, going for a strong hit on Keigo's face.

Keigo didn't even flinch at the incoming fire, pressing his boot down harder onto Dabi's pinned forearm to make sure he would get a nice clean stab.

Wow. These stubborn jackasses are really about to kill each other.

My own spike of adrenaline coursed through my veins as I watched this manslaughter about to take place before my eyes. It gave my body the push it needed to wake up and do something.

"Both of you, enough!!!" I screamed, quickly activating my quirk on Keigo to immobilize his body in place before he could do any serious, completely irreversible, damage to Dabi's hand....and his infiltration mission.

His body abruptly froze in place, with the sharpened tip of his feather blade stopping at Dabi's palm. It was able to give Dabi's skin a small nick, but nothing compared to the brutal, torturous stab Keigo was going for.

Keigo's eyes widened at the feeling of not being able to move, the wild bloodlust from his face immediately dissipating as he realized it was my quirk effects that were taking place on him. Luckily, this seemed to bring him back to reality a bit.

Thanking my quick reflexes for doing what my brain couldn't process in time, I was happy to see that I had somehow also managed to freeze Dabi's barreling flame in its tracks, watching the tips of blue fire stop only inches away from Keigo's pretty boy face.

Don't get yourself burned, bird. Fire is your weakness. You know that.

Knowing Keigo was now frozen in place, Dabi tried to go for a counter attack. Luckily, that was something I was able to anticipate in time, as I quickly immobilized his entire body as well.

Dabi hummed in dissatisfaction at the feeling of no longer being able to move. He looked a little woozy from the beating Keigo gave him, but acted like he was attempting to hide it.

Once a stubborn jackass, always a stubborn jackass. I guess.

Counting the seconds in my head until my quirk ran out, I quickly made my way over to Keigo and Dabi to try and diffuse this situation as best I could.

Keigo didn't say a word as he felt me wrap my arms around his torso, fluffy, unsharpened feathers stuffing into my mouth from his wings, as I pulled his paralyzed body off of Dabi's. I needed to get him far away from Dabi, so he'd be able to compose himself for a possible counter attack once my quirk effects wore off.

Sure, it's not the outcome I'm hoping for. But, Keigo's little outburst could have very well just caused a giant problem for us, in terms of getting out of here alive. We need to be prepared to fight our way out if necessary.

As of right now, I don't even know where he stands with Dabi.

Did he blow his cover? Is Dabi planning to murder everyone I love now? I don't know anything, and there's no time to think about that yet.

I kept my arms locked under Keigo's, dragging him to the far corner of the room....as far away from Dabi as possible.

He was still frozen in his position, stuck holding the feather blade in a stabbing motion.

"Are you good now?" I grunted in his ear, having a hard time dragging his weight across the room. He's actually a lot heavier than he looks. Must be the wings.

I didn't want to deactivate my quirk on him if he was still in frenzy mode.

A shaky breath escaped his mouth, before he quickly answered.

"Y-Yeah..." He whispered dazedly, looking at Dabi's bloody body that was frozen in place on the floor.

While I had half a mind to keep my quirk activated on Dabi for these final seconds so Keigo and I could escape out the door....I resisted doing such a thing.

For starters, I remember the amount of villains that were lurking in the streets when I first arrived here. Sure, I have no doubt Keigo and I can escape from this place...but it would be a similar situation to my kidnapping escape from this weekend...risky and a lot of work.

Plus, Dabi still has the looming threat of killing my mom, dad, and brother, running over my head. Me escaping here today wouldn't be the equivalent of me escaping that problem.

And of course, there's still the question of where Keigo stands on his double agent status. Did his beating on Dabi just guarantee that he outed himself?

There are too many variables in this equation to just run away from it. No matter how much I want to.

Finally plopping Keigo's limp body down on the floor, I turned to him...looking at the splatters of Dabi's blood that coated his face and his shirt.

I pursed my lips, shooting him a soft, deflated look.

His golden eyes hesitantly met mine, looking at me in gentle apology. No longer darkened with the crazed bloodlust that came out when he had his attention on Dabi.

God damn it, Keigo. I love you, and I appreciate you trying to protect me...

But, seriously. This whole situation definitely sucks.

Even so, I can't be mad at him for this. He was just trying to protect me.

It's not like I'm completely blameless here......right? I mean, Keigo was protecting me when I didn't protect myself. I can't be mad at him for something like that. There aren't many people out there who would have those ideals for me.

But, at the same time, there were a lot of variables at stake here today. A lot of reasons that should have prevented him from snapping on Dabi.....Innocent lives....his infiltration mission.....The fate of Japan.

We both knew this.

Should I have fought back more? I definitely would have liked to. My instincts were screaming at me to do so.

But...

Dabi's threats were ones that were able to reach my soul. My biggest weakness. He was able to find it and use it against me. I have a lot to lose, and he knew that...so he played those cards fully in his favor.

Should Keigo have sat there, watching and letting Dabi taunt him, and do whatever he wanted? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. In his defense, he held back for awhile, because he knew there was a lot on the line.

But...

Keigo would never be one to sit back so idly and watch someone get taken advantage of, especially if that person is someone he loves. Dabi knows that, and his whole goal for today seemed to be getting Keigo to reach this snapping point of no return. This outburst seemed to be exactly what he was hoping for, and he got it.

Maybe I should have fought back more, and Keigo should have fought back less. I don't know. I feel very conflicted.

What was the right choice today?

Well, one thing's for sure. The way everything went down here today...was just very messy all around.

Letting out a small sigh of defeat, I turned my attention back to Keigo....who was still stuck in place from my quirk.

"Alright, I'm going to release you." I nodded to him tiredly, deactivating my quirk from his body.

His stabbing hand fell limp, causing his sharp feather blade to jab into the floor, instead of the fleshy, sensitive confines of Dabi's hand.

His big, fat head thudded back onto the floor, causing him to groan softly. He gave his muscles a test run, lethargically wiggling them around to make sure they worked properly again.

Giving his neck a small roll from side to side, he slowly began standing up...giving his feathers a small ruffle to get more comfortable.

"Ah, thanks." He whispered to me softly, subtly running his eyes across my features to get a read on what I was thinking.

I simply nodded at him in acknowledgement, too focused on the current situation to really give him my full attention.

Once Keigo was situated, composed, and standing next to me calmly, I finally turned to Dabi.

"Alright. Now, I'm gonna release you, so we can talk. No fighting. No touching. Let's just....talk. Civilized. Friendly. Okay?" I asked warily, not really having a choice as my quirk would run out soon.

Sure, I can immobilize three things for forty five seconds. But, the more I use my quirk, the weaker it gets. The more my time limit runs out, the more easily someone can get out of its effects. That's just standard quirk overuse.

Dabi let out a small chuckle from the floor, staring up at the ceiling as that's all he could do in his current position.

"Ooo, are you now? Well, I feel so lucky then." He smirked, not seeming at all bothered by the fact that Keigo practically just beat his face to a pulp.

I don't know if that should make me worried, or relieved.

But, honestly....it makes me more worried than relieved.

Swallowing thickly, I hesitantly released Dabi from my quirk, watching his fighting hand fall limp to the floor.

Next, I released his blazing blue flame that had originally been meant for Keigo's face, watching it aggressively barrel up into the ceiling as there was no longer a pretty chicken to take the impact.

The three of us looked up at the ceiling wordlessly, watching Dabi's flame char a giant hole right through the roof.

See, Keigo? That could have been your face.

Dabi chucked bitterly at the sight, sluggishly trying to get to his feet.

"You know, the security deposit on this shit hole of a place was still 32,000 yen. I wanted that money back, and now I can't do it with a giant hole in the fucking ceiling." Dabi retorted casually, pointing at the flaming roof like a toddler tattle-taling on their sibling.

"Maybe you shouldn't have tried to kill me with it then." Keigo muttered out too quietly for Dabi to hear, causing me to irritatedly elbow him in the side.

Inspecting the ceiling for a few more moments, Dabi gave his shoulders a careless shrug, turning his attention back on Keigo and I.

"Ah, but never mind that for now. Back to the matter at hand." He started out, taking a single step closer towards us.

The moment Dabi moved his feet, one of Keigo's wings draped protectively over my shoulders in a flash, lightly dragging me into his arms.

The outer part of his wing quickly sharpened, providing a makeshift shield for any incoming flames. Not that his feathers would be too much help from the fire, but that didn't seem to stop Keigo. All the while, the inner part of his wing remained soft as pillows, curling around my body.

"Oi, stop right there. Don't even think about it. I ain't letting you lay a single fucking finger on her." Keigo called out firmly, his voice more composed than it had been a few minutes ago.

He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, as if to make sure some invisible force wouldn't try and take me away from him.

Clearly, his act of pretending not to care about me in front of Dabi had officially gone out the window.

And naturally, after Keigo's outburst, Dabi seemed less than surprised to see the sight as he stopped in his tracks.

"Oh. How adorable, you freezer meal Prince Charming. So, you wanna try telling me again how there's nothing serious going on between you two, lovebirds? Come on, I'm all ears. I'd love to hear your excuses this time." He taunted, lazily tilting his head to the side as he awaited an answer.

I closed my eyes in deflated defeat at Dabi's words. Any of the lies Keigo had spent the last seven months telling Dabi, about us being just friends and keeping things casual, had officially gone out the window.

Even so, I couldn't help but subconsciously reach down for Keigo's hand, so I could hold it in mine for some source of comfort. It's not an action Dabi would see, as my entire frame, with the exception of my feet and my head, was completely shielded from his sight by sharp feathers.

As soon as my fingertips grazed his, he didn't waste another second in interlocking our hands, squeezing them together reassuringly. I could still feel the wetness of Dabi's blood fresh upon his gloves.

Thankfully, and somewhat surprisingly, Keigo had managed to calm down drastically in these past few moments, as he shot Dabi a charming Hawks smile. Just from the small chuckle in his voice, I could tell he was already brewing up a plan to side step Dabi's accusation.

"Heh....well, never mind that, Dabi. The important thing, is that-"

"Wow. What a ballsy transition attempt from you. Now, going back to the issue at hand....you know, it's no use denying it anymore. I already knew, anyways." Dabi suddenly interrupted, causing my heart to skip a beat at his words.

Wait a minute.

What did he just say?

Keigo's words fell silent for a moment, clearly caught off guard by that question.

I decided to step in while he recovered, saying the only thing I could really think to say.

"K-Know what...?" I uttered out in dread, not feeling prepared for the new revelation that Dabi was about to throw out.

"All of it. I know you two have been seriously dating for quite awhile, so it's no surprise for me today." He said casually, purposely choosing not to add anything more.

Damn it. How long is 'quite awhile?'

But most importantly....

"How?" I asked once more, failing to hide my shock.

Dabi's turquoise orbs burned fiercely into my own eyes for a moment, before he closed them tiredly.

"Ah, well the how I know isn't as important as the why you chose to lie to me about it? To be honest, I'm not really a fan...of people who lie to me." He uttered lowly, directing his gaze to Keigo at the last words.

I felt the bird boy's body tense up from next to me at Dabi's words, yet he appeared totally and completely calm on the outside.

And he needed to. The fate of his mission depends on it.

"Ah, c'mon Dabi. You're upset that I didn't tell you about the girl I'm dating? You're the one who's always sayin' we ain't close enough for personal stuff like that. I just figured you didn't care enough, that's all. Had I known it was so important to you, you bet I would have spilled the beans sooner." Keigo reasoned, giving Dabi a look of innocence even though he just beat his face in a few minutes ago.

Dabi immediately shook his head in denial, keeping his cold gaze on Keigo.

"No. Don't try and pull that kind of pig shit with me, bird. I've asked you-intentionally asked you, plenty of times, about your relationship with this whore. You're not as dumb as you look, so surely my constant nagging must have let you know I was interested." He accused, sloppily wiping the blood from his bruised nose with the back of his sleeve.

Keigo was quick on the counter response, keeping his voice as steady and calm as can be.

"Hm, well you're right about that. I guess I was just kidding myself more than anything. I didn't think a beauty like Ari would do anything more than love me and leave me, so I was trying to prepare myself for that possibility. Wanted to make sure it worked out before I went and told ya. But, enough about that...I wasn't aware that me telling you about who I'm seeing left you this butt hurt, Dabi. It's interesting, y'know.....to see how much you care." Keigo said confidently....his tone veering off slightly at the end into something more threatening.

The glaring match of the stubborn morons continued between Keigo and Dabi for a moment, but as usual, Dabi always looked like he had the upper hand somehow.

"Heh. Oh, please. I don't give a fuck about who you fuck and who you keep around. That's not my problem here. My interest comes from the fact that if you've been blatantly lying to me about something as stupid as this for months...then, what else have you been lying to me about?"

Keigo gripped my hand a little tighter at Dabi's words, unintentionally indicating to me that this question made him uneasy. I'm not surprised. It's a question that's taking an underlying stab at Keigo's loyalty to the league of villains. His infiltration mission.

"What? Ah, Dabi. C'mon, man. Now, you're starting to blow things a little bit out of proportion-"

"Am I? Is that why you attacked me like a wild psycho, not more than five minutes ago, because I simply touched her? Damn, and people say we're the villains." He chuckled bitterly, shooting Keigo a small smirk.

Keigo, being the manipulative double agent he is, did his best to try and turn this situation around on Dabi. Or, at least convince him to take some of the blame.

"Oi, oi, oi. For the record, you've been acting off ever since Twice and I walked through the door. Don't lie, Dabi. I know your intentions for today were to provoke me and start a fight between us. Why you'd wanna do something like that to your ally, I'm not entirely sure. I guess that's just the way you are. Maybe you're bored, and looking for someone to rag on. Guess I'm the guy you do that to, huh? You know as well as I do, that I'm the one who's been on the defensive side all day, and I guess it put me a little on edge. I'm simply here, just trying to do my job for you, and we both happened to catch each other on the wrong day. All good though!" Keigo exclaimed happily, plastering a fake smile on his face as he said the words.

Turquoise eyes burned hotly into Keigo's face, listening to every word of bullshit he said. Dabi's features were blank. Unreadable. The man had a poker face that almost rivaled Keigo's, which is impressive considering Keigo was taught tactics such as this by the hero commission. I wonder where Dabi picked up these skills.

"Hm, well maybe that's the case. Or, maybe it's not and you're trying to trick me into another lie of yours once again. Either way....I'm starting to feel a little...hesitant about keeping you around." Dabi suggested lowly, purposely letting such a heavy threat hang in the air.

Oh shit.

No.

This is what I was afraid of.

Being so close to Keigo's body, I could feel his heart starting to pound out of his chest as the dread of him losing his double agent mission right now just became more real than ever with Dabi's malicious statement.

In other words, what's happening is that Keigo is about to fail. He's about to fail this mission right now, and he knows it.

He softly cleared his throat as he tried to muster a response, thinking of his next words as he formed them on his lips. Clearly, he's the one on the defensive side of this argument, with the ways he keeps trying to justify himself, and I can tell he's somehow trying to wiggle his way out of this position.

"Okay, you know what? How 'bout we just back up here a little. No need to be so impulsive about things, Dabi. Frankly, I think the problem today was that we just got off on the wrong foot. I'm a jealous guy, and that's why I got mad when I saw you with Ari. My jealousy towards my love life has nothing to do with my loyalty to you. I believe....I truly believe that you and I make a good team. I provide you with the information that no one in the league can give you, and you make good use of this information and put it into fruition. So, you see? That's called a team. And you and I? Well, you and I, Dabi....we make the best team. Think about what you're saying. Think about what you're going to lose here if you get rid of me. You and I both know that I'm not just any hero. I'm the number two hero. I have access to information that no one but Endeavor and the police have access to. Heh, and surely, you're not about to recruit Endeavor to the league, so I'm your only shot at having this much of an upper hand against those scummy heroes. Let's face it. You and I both know...you need me, Dabi. You do. And I want nothing more than to help you out, ya see. Because my loyalties...my true loyalties..." Keigo stated, before he reluctantly released my hand and his wings from around me.

He slowly walked ahead of me, subtly still positioning himself directly in front of me to protect me from any unexpected flames. He must have forgotten that I'm the one who will protect him from Dabi's flames, using my quirk if it comes down to it.

Keigo stopped a few feet in front of Dabi, still cautiously keeping some distance between the two of them, as he slowly gave him a small, respectful bow.

Dabi watched his actions wordlessly, narrowing his eyes at the sight.

Keigo remained with his eye sight looking at the floor for a few moments as he bowed, causing me to keep my eyes locked on Dabi to make sure he didn't try to get Keigo while he wasn't looking.

"My true loyalties...lie with the league of villains and this cause you're working towards." Keigo stated clearly, his voice coming out pretty convincingly honest as he held himself together.

I unintentionally held my breath as the room was filled with silence now, with both Keigo and I desperately awaiting to hear our fates from Dabi.

He could ambush us right now with a shit ton of villains and try to kill us. He could accept Keigo's words and forget about this whole thing. He could capture us and hold us for ransom. He could anonymously turn us into the heroes for even being here.

So many different directions this situation could go, and it all depends on Dabi.

Well, that's definitely less than comforting.

Keigo's feathers were calm, absolutely refusing to ruffle up anxiously as he slowly lifted his head to meet Dabi's gaze once more, his silent language of becoming impatient for an answer.

Dabi's face remained unreadable as him and Keigo locked eyes, clearly lost in thought....possibly lost in thought about something concerning the bird boy, considering the way he was looking at him with a sense of familiarity.

A small scoff from Dabi finally interrupted the room as his words soon followed behind it.

"Who said I needed you, Hawks? Just another lie you've been caught telling." He uttered surprisingly quiet, his voice more lost in thought, instead of anger or aggression.

Clearly, Keigo picked up on Dabi's odd change of tone...looking at him blankly as he tried to hide his confusion.

Before Keigo could respond, Dabi beat him to it as he finally nodded towards the exit door.

"Get out. I got what I wanted from you today, and now I'm tired of you." Dabi muttered lowly, his voice still filled with a sense of thought that was starting to make me uneasy.

I could tell that wasn't quite the answer Keigo wanted as he hesitated on leaving for a moment. But, he knew better than to stick around when he was no longer wanted here.

He finally turned on his heel, slowly making his way towards me as a way to give Dabi an opportunity to say something to him. But, that possibility didn't seem likely.

However, unlike Keigo, I couldn't wait for the answer to my own question that's been bugging my mind since I got here. I needed to try and get an answer.

"What are you planning to do with them, Dabi." I called out firmly, making sure I spoke loud enough to get the stitched man's attention.

Of course, the them I was referring to were my mom, dad, and brother. But, I know Dabi already knew that.

Dabi's lips curled into a soft smirk at my words, keeping his eyes blank on the floor as he answered my question.

"I liked what you did for me today. I like having you around, Ari. For now. And because of that, I'll keep them around. For now." He stated distantly, not caring enough to meet my gaze as he continued keeping it on the tile.

Seriously, what is this guy thinking so hard about?

I simply nodded in acknowledgment, not wanting to say the wrong thing and fuck it all up.

Meeting Keigo's eyes as he walked towards me, he subtly nodded for me to start heading to the front door first...walking closely behind me with his wings sharpened.

Dabi's lack of closure response for Keigo finally got to him once he reached the front door, realizing he needed to somehow ask where he stood with Dabi in order to proceed correctly.

I slowly creaked the door open, hearing Keigo's footsteps slowly stop from behind me. Swallowing nervously, I stopped with him...refusing to leave without him.

"Anyway.....I'm sure you'll be in touch, Dabi." Keigo threw out as casually as possible, not even turning around to face the stitched man as he stated such bold, assuming words.

Being faced towards me and not Dabi, I was able to see the dark look on Keigo's face as he awaited another answer from Dabi. He was stressed and nervous.

"The purpose of today..." Dabi started out calmly, his words quickly perking up the attention of Keigo and I.

"....was to see how far I could push you, until you finally admitted to a truth I already knew. I've watched you lie to my face about Ari Parker for months. And after awhile, one of the reasons I started asking about her was just to see you suffer to come up with a bullshit excuse about something I already knew the answer to. It was pretty funny. And today....you were ready to kill me when I put my hands on her. You talk about your loyalty to the league, yet you turned on me the first chance you had when it came to helping someone else. When it came to being....a hero."

"That's not-"

"So, as of right now...I do not trust you. Do you understand? I don't trust a god damn word that comes out of your mouth. I don't trust whatever loyalty you say you have for the league. I don't trust you." Dabi seethed out lowly, his words coming out slow and careful so Keigo could absorb every one.

And by the way his jaw had tensed up stressfully, he definitely did.

"So...I'll give you one more chance to prove your loyalty to me and the league. One more chance to show me and convince me that you're worth keeping around." He finished, once again letting questions and confusion hang in the air from his vague explanations.

Keigo let out an inaudible sigh of relief at Dabi's words, quickly following up so he didn't take anything back.

"What's the job?" He asked calmly.

Dabi's mouth formed a malicious smirk at Keigo's question, seeming as if he already knew exactly what it is he wanted him to do.

But, of course...Dabi being Dabi, he wanted to make Keigo sweat it a little more.

"I'll be in touch." He simply dismissed, causing Keigo to mechanically continue his walk towards the door, as the possibility of what Dabi would make him do ran through his mind-

"Oh, and one more thing." The stitched man interrupted once more, causing Keigo's eyes to close in tired annoyance as he wordlessly stopped his trek again.

"In case it wasn't already obvious, due to your actions from today....any chance you had in meeting Tomura Shigaraki is now officially off." Dabi concluded, starting to head off down his own path towards the bedrooms of the run down house.

Keigo grit his teeth together in pure frustration at the words, looking pissed as hell. He didn't look surprised to hear such a thing. Just angry.

He shot me a tired look, deflatedly nodding for me to continue walking out of the house.

Putting on his hero charm once more...

"Yeah, 'course it is, Dabi. I already expected that, anyways."