A Song to Come Home to

Chapter Six

Keigo can't deny the coldness that is settling in his heart. Dabi's absence is taking its toll on him in the ways that he had not expected. Keigo had anticipated the sudden silence of nights without the man sleeping next to him; he had found it within himself to accept the fact that without Dabi- his life turns back to nothing but a mundane blur of days.

What he hadn't foreseen was the cold that hangs around him as the constant reminder of the choices that he had made.

Shivering to himself, he wraps the blanket closer to himself and takes in a deep breath. As if the feeling of a breaking heart wasn't enough- the cold that threatens to drown him, is.

When Keigo does manage to fall asleep, his dreams are nothing more than the shifting and swirling of azure flames. Even then, they cannot melt away the ice that had settled deep within his veins.

When he awakes, Keigo stares at the empty spot next to him. If he tries hard enough, he can almost trick himself into seeing the ghostly silhouette of the man that still holds his heart. He stares up at the darkened ceiling and finds himself asking that if everyone knew the truth of who he is as a person and not as a hero... would he still do everything the same? Or would he have been greedy for the first time in his life and chased after what made him happy?

Would he have been even able to catch up to the sun? Would his fate lie in being the moon? Cursed to constantly chase after something that was never attainable to begin with. Keigo decides that he shouldn't make things any worse and he will stay upon the ivory palace on the moon, surrounded by little rabbits.

"You look like shit." Miruko speaks up from the other side of the table. Keigo glances up from his soba and looks to his best friend.

"I'm just having a case of the Mondays." He shrugs, watching as she slurps up some noodles. Miruko lifts up a brow at his answer and scoffs, putting down her chopsticks.

"Yeah, like, nine Mondays in a row? Do you honestly take me for some sort of dodo bird? C'mon man, what's up?" Keigo doesn't like the worried look in her eyes. "I've never seen you so down before, it's freaking me out." 

He can't stand looking at her, glancing back down to his lunch Keigo makes a face as he pushes the untouched food around.

"Just been a rough time of the year, y'know? My birthday is coming up, I'm going to be twenty-four. I'm getting so ancient." He bemoans, frowning down at a piece of chicken. He knows better than to tell her what's actually on his mind. Keigo has no idea how she would even react to him confessing his feelings for Dabi. He doesn't exactly want to find out either.

"Is that really what you're freaking out about? Turning twenty-four? That's not even that old, oh my god."

"You're right." Keigo agrees, nodding his head. "Twenty-six is ancient. You're practically a grandma." He teases as Miruko narrows her eyes and leans forward, her long hair spilling over her shoulder and threatens to dip into her lunch.

"Shut it, big bird." Miruko hisses and hee ducks in time to avoid getting a noodle to the face. They fall into a comfortable silence, only the overhead radio cuts through their silence.

Glancing back down to his lunch, he softly bobs his head to the beat of the song. It's been awhile since him and Miruko have taken the time to have one of their lunch meetups. Keigo gets lost in his own thoughts, constantly going over the past week and a half. So much has happened, everything is blurring too much for him and for once, he feels too slow to keep up.

"Why're you in Musutafu anyway? Thought you were granted leave for catching Dabi." Miruko speaks up again. He takes in a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair. Just thinking about being back in Musutafu makes him feel weary and exhausted already.