Maybe We'll fix Each Other

Chapter 42

Thank god for courtyards, Dabi thought almost numbly.

After leaving the courtroom for the judge's recess, he had followed behind Aizawa without really paying attention to where they were going. They'd ended up finding an internal courtyard where they could sit together without the watchful, invasive eyes of the paparazzi.

He wouldn't have been able to deal with them. Hell, he could barely deal with himself right now.

It had taken everything in him to hold it together during Endeavor's testimony. Frankly, he probably wouldn't have managed if Keigo and Aizawa weren't at his side. He'd never been great at holding in his temper.

Just like him, Dabi thought wryly.

He glanced over to his right when movement caught his eye. Keigo sat down next to him where he sat on a set of old, worn steps with his elbows propped on his knees.

"So that happened," Keigo said bluntly, staring off into nothing.

"That happened," Dabi repeated. He looked down at his hands, fingers idly tracing the line between the healthy skin of his hand and scarred skin on the heel of his palm.

"You did good in there."

Dabi snorted and dropped his hand, not answering right away. He didn't think admitting to killing people and yelling at the lawyer counted as 'doing good in there.'

He chose not to answer at all.

"It's all going to be different now, isn't it?" Keigo said more than asked. Dabi peered at him through the side of his eye, watching as Keigo focused on brushing his fingers across one of his feathers. "No matter what the judge ends up saying."

Dabi hummed thoughtfully and leaned back, supporting himself with his hands on the ground. "Most things, yeah. Not everything," he replied.

Keigo looked at him dryly. "Like what?"

Dabi shrugged and looked away with some embarrassment. "We'll still have each other's backs. Aizawa will still be there. Eri will still love hot sauce."

That earned a surprised laugh from Keigo.

Keigo smiled and let go of his feather, letting it rejoin the ones in his wings. "Who would've guessed that you'd be the optimistic one out of the two of us?" he teased.

Dabi's face twisted in irritation and he shoved at Keigo's shoulder. "Fuck off," he snapped, only making Keigo laugh again.

Before he settled on what he wanted to say next, Dabi caught sight of Shoto. He was sitting quietly by himself, which in and of itself wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. But the look on his face was distant.

Dabi wondered when he'd started being able to see the subtle differences in his brother's overall blank expressions.

"I'll be right back," Dabi said, earning a hum of confirmation from Keigo. He pushed himself up from the steps and headed towards Shoto.

Whatever was bothering the kid, Dabi would find out.

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Keigo's eyes followed Dabi as he stood and made his way over to Shoto. He let his gaze drop down to the stone between his feet, not wanting to intrude any further.

Not for the first time Keigo wondered what it would have been like if he'd had any siblings.

He twisted his hands together.

That's selfish, he scolded himself, feeling his chest clench at the thought. If you'd had siblings they would have gone through the same shit you did.