Top pic credit: unknown. Tell me if you know

"Come here." I muttered softly, meeting Keigo's tired gaze with my own.

Wordlessly, he let me approach him. I gently placed my hands atop his own, removing them from his nose.

"D-Don't-it's gonna bleed all over your floor..." He pouted softly, still allowing me to remove his hands.

I couldn't help but chuckle dryly at his ironic statement.

"Have you seen the scorched, bloody carpet of my floor? There's probably blood from three different people in this room. Yours won't make a difference." I sighed out, quickly catching his dripping blood into the wash cloth, gently holding it to his nose.

He let out a small hum, muffled by the cloth, as his eyes trailed over every inch of my face. Almost as if memorizing all of my features all over again.

I met his eyes for a moment, watching him study me warmly.

I quickly turned my attention back to his nose, trying to ignore the butterflies I felt in my stomach.

"Sorry about your face...kinda." I mumbled, checking to see if the blood had stopped dripping yet.

It hadn't.

"No you're not." He replied in amusement, raising his brows at me challengingly.

I couldn't help but smirk softly, hovering closer to him.

"Yeah. You're right, I'm not. You kinda had it coming." I uttered, hearing a muffled chuckle from under the wash cloth.

"I get it, dove. I get it. Ah, I dunno...I mean if anyone should be apologizing, it's me. After all, I'm kinda the one who started the punch fest." He sighed, gesturing his hand to the black and blue shiner that littered the side of my face. The guilt was laced through his voice.

My mind flashed back to that day....

"Brace yourself, chicky. While Dabi was going to kill you, I'm simply going to put you to sleep."

At the time, the look on his face seemed so sinister and cold to me. But, looking back on it now....

His eyes were so scared and unsure of what to do. I just chose not to see it.

While I'm not exactly a huge fan of Keigo right now, he did his best. I'm alive, right?

"Eh. You made it quick. Dabi wouldn't have, I don't think." I whispered, instinctively pushing his blonde locks away from his face so I could see him better.

His wings fluttered slightly at my new touch, before he quickly forced them to relax again.

"I don't think so, either. I....I didn't really want to test him and find out." He stated weakly, tugging uncomfortably at his jacket collar.

The action caught my attention, revealing a big cut slashed across his jaw.

I furrowed my brows in curiosity, tracing my fingertips along his jaw.

Keigo took a steady breath at my touch, averting his eyes to the ceiling.

"What happened here?" I asked, brushing my fingers along his cut. Luckily, it didn't look like it would scar.

Keigo leaned back against the wall, before pulling his jacket collar up to hide the cut.

"Hm? What? Nothing. Nothing important, anyway." He muttered dismissively.

I grit my teeth in irritation, wordlessly continuing to clean his face.

Really? Even after all of this...he still chooses to put up the tough guy front, like nothing can phase him. Like nothing can hurt him.

It's getting old.

"Doesn't look like nothing." I retorted, sounding a little more hostile than I meant to.

Keigo immediately turned his eyes back to me, picking up on my frustration with him.

The only time he's really shown me a piece of his true, vulnerable self was when he had his panic attack. He opened up to me a little.

But, after the trauma and stress of this entire situation, it feels like I'm right back to square one with him.

Right back to the habits of him hiding his true feelings. His fear. His stress. His true emotions.

And of course, why wouldn't he? After watching the way he interacted with the league of villains this weekend, Keigo needs to pretend to be someone else so he can keep his life.

It just makes me wonder if he has a hard time turning this life....off. I think he's having a hard time doing it right now. I mean, when he first arrived here tonight, he was in full Hawks mode with his attitude and demeanor. Even still....I can tell 'Hawks' isn't completely gone from his system yet.

Sighing softly, he forced himself to barely open up to me...obviously just trying to avoid another fight at this point.

"It's from Dabi." He stated curtly, keeping his eyes blank and void of emotion with the subject.

My brows raised in surprise. Surprise from the fact that he actually answered the question, and surprise from the culprit.

"Oh.....why..." I asked almost inaudibly, feeling guilty at the possibility that it's somehow my fault.

Keigo slowly averted his gaze to the floor, subtly trying to hide his facial expressions from me.

"Well....I don't regret it-and I don't want you to feel bad about it either, chicky. Cause I know how you are. But....your escape...well.....it almost blew my cover. It kinda....almost got me killed. After you left, long story short, Dabi came right to me and started rage shooting his flames in my direction. I dodged 'em all....but got clipped with a piece of shrapnel. Twice talked him down a bit. It's all good though. I think I'm still in the clear. For now." He sighed unsurely, this topic of conversation between us sounding so strange and foreign.

"In the clear?" I asked, finally removing the wash cloth from his nose.

He (adorably) wiggled his nose a bit at the lack of pressure from the cloth, not backing away from our close proximity.

"Yeah, in the clear. Like...you know.....I'm not fried chicken yet..." He smiled softly, attempting to make light of the situation.

Instead of laughing, I felt my heart suddenly jump in fear at his words, realizing what he meant.

Death.

That's right. I didn't even think about this.

Now that I know what Keigo's actually doing....

I'm always going to be aware of how much danger he's in.

"Don't joke about that." I grumbled, lightly shoving his shoulder. Starting to feel too comfortable from our close distance, I walked away from him, heading to the bathroom to wash his blood from my hands.

His happy laugh brightened up the tension that's been swirling around us for a long time, as he trailed me to my bathroom.

"What? Oh c'mon, chicky. That was a funny one, wasn't it?! Get it? Fried chicken, cause I'm a bird and Dabi's gonna burn me alive-" He cluelessly explained, apparently thinking it would be better to explain the morbidity of his joke.

"I definitely didn't need the explanation, but thanks anyways!" I called back in only slight annoyance, not being able to hold back the sickly cough that escaped my throat.

I dried my hands, turning around to walk out of the bathroom-except, Keigo was blocking the exit.

He continued leaning against the doorway, lifting a questioning brow in my direction.

"What?" I uttered out, resisting the urge to sniffle.

He lightly rolled his eyes, before pushing himself off the doorway to walk over to me.

"So stubborn..." He uttered to himself, before removing his glove and sliding a bare hand up to my forehead. I closed my eyes, letting the coolness of his palm soothe my hot skin.

We stood there in comfortable silence for a moment, with Keigo pursing his lips as he stared at the wall in lost thought.

"Hmph. Do y'know you still have a fever?" He muttered more to himself, before turning his direction towards my medicine cabinet.

"I don't have a fever-"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Ya don't have a fever." He mocked dismissively, making me roll my eyes when he grabbed the thermometer.

Before I could protest, Keigo quickly slipped the thermometer past my lips, making me reluctantly lift up my tongue so it could measure properly.

Being the man who goes fast, he quickly disappeared from the bathroom for a moment, before I heard him rummaging around on the desk in my bedroom.

The thermometer beeped, and before I could even pull it out of my mouth, Keigo's hands were back on it in an instant, quickly slipping it out.

"See? I told you, I don't have a fever-"

"Temp's 100.2" He stated, hiding back that know-it-all smirk from his perfect lips.

Before I could even think up a smart ass remark, Keigo quickly shook a bottle around in his hand...my unopened medicine from the hospital.

"Take one, please." He teased softly, now failing to restrain his shit eating grin as he attempted to pop the pill into my mouth, himself.

"Gimme that." I muttered, grabbing the pill from his hands, and putting it into my mouth.

He handed me a glass of water, narrowing his eyes at the sight of my feverish, shivering body, before quickly brushing past me towards the shower.

"Bath or shower?" He asked me, turning on the faucet.

I was about to protest again, before I realized the thought of a bath sounded absolutely divine for my chilly, achey muscles.

"Bath..." I muttered begrudgingly, watching Keigo smile warmly at the fact that I was finally complying a little.

He quickly closed the drain of my shower, letting the water pool in the tub.

"Bath it is then." He uttered, pouring in the bubbles.

We sat there in comfortable, exhausted silence as the water and bubbles quickly filled up the tub.

Keigo turned the water off a few moments later, slowly rising to his feet.

He approached me, rubbing the back of his neck slightly as his cheeks suddenly flushed.

"What, are you planning to undress me, too?" I joked, crossing my arms challengingly.

He immediately shook his head no, looking at me warmly.

"Very funny, little dove. Very funny. I'll be in your room when you're done. Y'know, if you wanna finishing talking about.....well, everything." He nodded, brushing past me to leave so I could change and take a bath in peace.

I pursed my lips in thought, already knowing there'd be no way I could actually relax in the tub, if I knew Keigo was in my room just waiting for me to get out. Plus, I was too curious about the story that's been his life for the past seven months.

"Wait." I stated, causing him to turn around in question.

"Just....turn around." I muttered, gesturing for him to turn the other way so I could get in the bath.

He quickly turned his head away from me, closing his eyes as I began to strip my clothes off.

I watched as Keigo's wings twitched slightly at the sound of my clothes hitting the floor, before he took a deep breath to stop them from doing so.

Not wanting to torture him any longer, I quickly ducked into the bath, hiding my nude body under piles of perfect bubbles.

A small sigh escaped my lips, and I cursed myself as it ended up sounding more like a moan.

Keigo laughed softly, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Oh? That good, huh?" He teased, his cheeks a little more flushed than before.

I couldn't help but laugh with him, as the familiarity of his presence started returning to me now.

"Shut up and turn around, Chicken Boy." I retorted lightly, watching his eyes slowly open.

Keigo directed his gaze to me, before leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

Feeling the bath water soothing, not only my muscles, but also my initial shock at this situation....I felt my questions, and my sanity, finally coming together.

It's taken quite awhile.....but I am ready to listen.

"Alright, Takami....no more sugar coating. No more lies. Nothing holding you back, it's just you and me. Will you tell me the truth?" I asked quietly, closing my eyes as I moved my hands around in the bath water.

"I will. I promise you...I will, Ari." He stated clearly, his tone coming out low and serious. Noble and honest.

I nodded, slowly opening my eyes to look at him.

"So tell me then....how did you become a double agent, Keigo?"

***********

Top pic artist: wagsss (tumblr) <3