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It wasn’t uncommon for Keigo to get overwhelmed with everything around him, especially with his wings being so sensitive to everything all the time. Sometimes there was just too many sounds and too much bright lights and everything was awfully loud and his head felt like it was splitting. But it wasn’t that bad, he could manage.
…In a way.
The way was usually locking himself in his bedroom for a few hours after he’s done with work and sobbing until the unbearable migraine makes him pass out.
But it’s not that bad.
There are people who suffer more than him, he has no right to complain.
At least that’s what he tries to tell himself in situations like this one, landing roughly on the balcony of his apartment and stumbling inside, the slight scrape of the door against the floor making his wings flinch in pain.
Too loud.
He doesn’t know when he makes it into the bedroom, only that he unintentionally slammed the door behind him and it hurts. It’s loud and it hurts and everything he touches feels like needles digging into his skin.
There’s a throbbing pressure at his temples like his brain is trying to get out and Keigo has half the mind to press his hands to them to try and keep it in. The hot tears on his face feel hotter than they should and the sobs coming from his mouth are louder than they should be and everything is too loud and he’s not sure when he started rocking back and forth but when his wings touch the wall it hurts and the small thuds against them are too loud.
By the time he tries to open his eyes again it’s dark, that’s the only thing he can see through his blurry eyes. And while yes, he didn’t turn on the lights in his apartment because they are too bright and hurt, it means he’s been here for about an hour.
But it’s still not dark enough and it’s bright enough to hurt, so he shuts his eyes again. It means one thing to overwhelm him less but it also means he’s more aware of his breathing and his sobs and every little sound he makes.
Maybe that’s why he doesn’t hear the steps that increasingly get closer, or maybe he does but his brain just registers them as another sound to add to the list of Too Loud Things.
He does notice the knocks on his bedroom door, but he doesn’t get the meaning of them because they’re too loud and so are the even louder knocks that follow and Keigo wonders how his head hasn’t burst yet.
Then the door opens and the creaking sound hurts too much to be possible and the pain on his scalp tells him that he’s probably ripping his hair out.
“Kei..go?”
The sound hurts.
Too loud.
“Hey.”
Too loud.
“Listen to me you stupid bird.”
It’s too loud and he shuffles closer to the wall to get away from it.
“Kei, for fuck’s sakes-”
Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. Too loud. Too-
The someone grabs his wrist.
He didn’t mean-
He didn’t mean to-
He really didn’t want to bite them he swears it was just instinct and now he can’t let the hand go and-
“It’s okay, I’m sorry, I won’t touch you.”
It’s still too loud.
But then he doesn’t hear the voice anymore. Maybe it’s because he wrapped his wings around himself defensively and everything is muffled, or because the person stopped talking.
His palm feels warm on the skin he’s gripping so tightly that his knuckles turn white. His hand starts to sweat a little, but the heat is mostly pleasant.
Heat?
Oh.
It’s Dabi.
He doesn’t know why it took him so long to figure out, of course it’s Dabi. Who else would be in his apartment? He doesn’t know why he’s there, but Keigo decides that’s not important now.
The heat is nice though, compensates for the cold wind outside. His wings shudder at the change. He tries to subtly lean into it.
Dabi must’ve gotten the hint, because he shuffled closer, almost touching Keigo but not quite.
Slowly, Keigo leaned closer until his head was in Dabi’s lap. The other man still didn’t touch him. Keigo was glad.
Time passed, and slowly but surely his sobs turned into hiccups and he didn’t feel like a tight hand was squeezing his chest anymore.
The pounding in his head only got stronger the clearer he can think.
Keigo raised his hand, trying to stop it from shaking, not that it did any good. He tried to grab the other’s hand but found himself too exhausted to ever grip his wrist.
“Can I touch you now?”
Keigo gave up, hand flopping back down, and nodded.
The first touch of Dabi’s fingers was hesitant, light, he almost couldn’t feel it in his hair. He still let out a surprised chirp. The hand buried further, ruffling the other’s hair without warning. Too agressive of an action for right now, in this opinion.
He doesn’t think he heard the shriek that came out in a long time, since the commission taught him not to do it, that it would scare people and drive them away.
Dabi sighed, “Right, so how about…” he stretched the last word out, his fingers trailing along Keigo’s shoulder to his forearm until finally Dabi settled his hand underneath Keigo’s, “You show me what you want me to do so I don’t make you uncomfortable?”
He didn’t take Dabi’s hand like the man in question intended, instead he brought his own hand to his eyes, tapping a few times.
Dabi hummed, still not quite sure what to do, “You want me to…?” he still raised his own hand in front of Keigo’s, still not quite touching his face.
Keigo huffed, bringing the unscarred palm to cover his eyes. There was silence for a while, the hand unmoving. Was this too weird? Did Keigo finally weird him out too much?
“Is this an actual bird instinct of yours or is this just something you saw in a nature documentary?”
The dark was nice. It felt safe and welcoming, like he could hide in it somehow even though he knows Dabi can still see him. Dumb bird brain.
His thumb traced small circles into skin next to his eye over and over again and Keigo felt like those were the only two parts of him that existed. He could feel the tears stains warm up under Dabi’s own warm hands. Not hot enough to be uncomfortable though, just enough to make Keigo feel all fuzzy inside.
From the heat. No other reason.
“Aw, you coo?” Dabi’s tone wasn’t exactly soft, mostly because his voice is ruined from chain smoking, but it’s also one he hasn’t heard much. He decides he likes it.
Keigo hasn’t even noticed the soft sound coming from the back of his throat until he pointed it out. He had half a mind to force himself to stop out of habit, but it didn’t exactly sound like Dabi minded.
He could decipher his tone much clearer now that he didn’t also have a face to focus on.
“Why are you here?” the question was bugging him in the back of his mind for some time.
“I forgot my phone at your place the last time I stayed over.”
“That implies you stayed over multiple times.”
Dabi huffed and Keigo could only guess that he was smiling, “Maybe I will.”
He didn’t find it in himself to tense up and think of the implications of that sentence.
“I mean,” he cleared his throat, “if you want me to.”
Keigo hummed.
“Yeah, I think I want you to.”
There was silence, not really an awkward one but not the most pleasant either, like something was missing. He couldn’t figure out what, but maybe that had something to do with the fact that he couldn’t quite think straight when he saw this soft, caring side of Dabi that he’s not sure a lot of people see.
But he doesn’t really have more time to think about it because the next thing he knows he feels something partly rough and scarred against his lips and-
And…
Nothing is missing anymore.
Nothing is missing until Dabi pulls away completely, no hands, no lips, no body, no nothing and Keigo doesn’t know what he’s done wrong but there has to be something he did wrong because Dabi wouldn’t just pull away like that if everything was alright.
Dabi wouldn’t let Keigo’s head hit against the floor in the favor of moving away to put some space between them if nothing was wrong.
“I, uh-”
Dabi doesn’t finish. He tries again after a few seconds. Or minutes. Keigo isn’t sure.
“Sorry, that was...stupid. I shouldn’t have done that.”
And it’s like he stole Keigo’s voice with that kiss because suddenly he finds his mouth not making a sound when he wants to say more things right now then he said ever in his life. Like “You should’ve done that” and “It wasn’t stupid” and “Do you like me?” but none of those come out.
And then Dabi goes to get off the floor and presumably go away never to mention this again and Keigo doesn’t want that.
So he grabbed Dabi’s leg and said the first thing that came to mind and while that might’ve not been the smartest move, yelling “I like you too!” seemed to do the trick and that was enough for him.
“You like me?”
And Keigo pulled himself off of the floor because kneeling in front of someone wasn’t a good look on him.
“I mean, you kissed me so I just, uh, assumed you like me? Do you not? If not then that was awkward, fuck, uh, it’s fine if you wanna leave or something I-”
He should pay more attention to others, because if he did it could’ve saved him stuttering like a teenager in one of those cheesey romance high school movies, but that doesn’t matter now Dabi is kissing him again and that’s the only thing that matters.
It’s nothing too passionate or deep or maybe even not a real kiss but it’s more than enough for Keigo and he hopes it’s enough for Dabi too.
He doesn’t know how long they’re just standing there, legs still numb from being on the floor and eyes closed and not really moving, but then Dabi’s pulling away and it takes a moment for Keigo to register it.
“Do you want me to stay?”
“Again?”
Keigo doesn’t think he has the mental capacity to form a sentence right now.
“Again,” Dabi repeats.
And he wraps his hands around Dabi’s waist and pulls himself closer to nuzzle into his neck just because it’s allowed and then finally responds while breathing in the smell of something burning and smoke, “Yeah, just one night.”