Chapter Text
“It’s been three years since the disappearance of the former number two Hawks. He fled after an interview, nobody knows why. As always if you have any information please report to the police.”
Keigo turned off the radio, it had been the same story for the last three years. After the last two Hero Billboard Chart Announcements there had been a radio story out about how Hawks had disappeared.
Keigo was enjoying the time of his life though.
He and Touya had traveled around for a while, going from east to west, that had gotten pretty far from Tokyo and hadn’t looked back once. After the first six months they had decided that they needed to have a more permanent residence and had rented out a townhouse. It was a little bigger than an apartment and they didn’t want to truly tie themselves down with buying a house.
It was a nice little townhouse, not too big that it felt like there was too much empty space, yet not too small that they felt as though they were being constricted in their own home.
It was nice to have a place to call their own, the Commission had owned Keigo’s old apartment, and Touya’s was super run down, in the worst neighborhood.
They had basically restarted their entire lives, except this time they had a choice. Keigo had searched day and night for a doctor that could help his boyfriend after a late night conversation had led him to finding out that the other had never gone to a real doctor to fix his scars. The scars would still be permanent, it was impossible that they wouldn’t be, but now the staples were no longer needed and the one’s on Touya’s face had actually been able to hear some. Bless modern medicine.
Touya’s scars were still there, they always would be, but at least they hurt less and were more manageable. He had real prescription medication now and regularly checked in with doctors to make sure that everything was going nicely.
Keigo had almost cried when he saw how happy the other man was to hear that he wouldn’t need to staple his skin together anymore. Touya’s life had really taken a turn for the better, he hadn’t expected to be around this long, assuming that he would die doing work for the League of Villains, but now he had a real chance.
Speaking of life getting better, he was able to reconnect with his siblings. He hadn’t seen them face to face yet, yet was such a nice word, but he had texted, called, facetimed, hell they had even emailed each other. Thanks to the internet he was able to find Fuyumi’s work email. A few emails back and forth, telling them that he was in fact Touya, and a much needed video call, he was reunited with his siblings.
The start was rocky, each of them had been disappointed and angry to learn that he was Dabi, but they came around eventually. Their mom and Endeavor were still in the dark, Touya would be happy to never have to interact with the former number one hero ever again, but he did want to see his mother again.
Ah yes, Endeavor being the former number one hero. Since Keigo had said a few choice words about the man in his interview the media had immediately looked into the hero. Shoto had even decided to come forward with his own story, Touya was so proud of his youngest brother for being so goddamn brave.
Speaking of Shoto, the boy was really on his way to being a great pro now. He had graduated from U.A. at nearly the top of his class. Miruko had taken him on, along with a couple other U.A graduates. As much as Touya despised hero society, it was getting better as the younger generation began to speak their minds more, Miruko was good, she
would really help his brother.
Touya leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, he decided to take up a job at a local piercing and tattoo parlor, seeing as he was pretty familiar with piercings. Nobody really questioned him when he showed up, it reminded him of the League, they weren’t as tight knit but there was definitely a sense of belonging whenever he walked into the shop.
Since starting work there he had added to his collection, a few more ear piercings, septum, and an eyebrow bar. He also had a few more, but those didn’t need to be talked about. Touya had even gotten Keigo to come into the shop, with enough convincing the blonde walked out with a tongue piercing, absolutely no regrets there.
To say that Touya was having the time of his life would be an understatement, he was thriving in the best way possible.
Back to Keigo, he too had changed quite a bit.
Since leaving the control of the Commission he had struggled, both of the men had, it was just a lot harder when he had been forced to be controlled for his entire life. He wasn’t used to having this many options, this much free will, it was overwhelming at times.
Keigo was able to express his more birdlike qualities though, which helped his mental and physical health immensely. The Commission liked to spread to the public that his quirk was simply fierce wings, which was most of it, what they didn’t like to spread was that it was a mutation. He truly was like a hawk in more ways than one.
Those qualities had gotten him into too much trouble with his handlers so he was forced to repress them, it was difficult to break that habit. Whenever he would let out a chirp he would immediately apologize. Touya was patient with him though, well aware that it was going to take the winged man a little time to break the habit.
Keigo would rather not have some habits though, like gripping things so tightly that they broke in his grasp, it had lost him a few to many pens. Then there were the claw marks that got on the furniture, Keigo didn’t want to say where those came from.
He was in a better place though, both of them were. Being independent was something that he was so unused to though, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t force himself to depend on Touya a little too much some days. But no matter how much bird he had in him, Keigo was still human and it would take time to heal from the wounds that the Commission created.
It made him feel selfish sometimes though, he knew that Touya had gone through the same thing, hell some of it was a lot worse physically, and he hated how on his bad days he couldn’t get out of bed. Or the days when he snapped at Touya. He never liked to upset Touya.
Despite it all though they stayed together, almost three years and going strong. Both were sure that they had found the one, many of the friends they had found in their new home had joked about them getting hitched, but they knew that they weren’t ready for that. Besides, they had some people that they would want to invite to a thing like that and neither of the two men had seen them in person for the last three years.
Keigo still kept in contact with Rumi, she had spammed his phone much like Touya had and refused to give up until he responded. He explained what had happened, told her why, he had even told her about his childhood which was something that they never touched too much before. Sure she knew the vague details but Keigo decided that she
deserved to know all of it.
Keigo was sitting in the kitchen, today was his day off, he worked at a flower ship down the road. It was a nice little place, the lady that owned it was the sweetest he had ever
met in his entire life. She was happy to see someone so young taking interest in flowers, he really didn’t care all that much at the start but as the months continued to pass he really got into it. He was able to arrange a bouquet and know exactly what it meant.
It scored him a few points with Touya too.
It was interesting to learn about all the different meanings, he had no clue that he could say screw you in flowers but here he was a year and a half later having just sold a bouquet that said just that. It was beautiful.
Keigo decided to read some, a thing he finally had time for, he’d gotten pretty into a few manga series. When he was a kid he wasn’t allowed to do much outside of training so he didn’t get to read. The only things he did read were stupid hero textbooks and those were not as interesting as a good shonen series.
He had been reading through Haikyu, the orange haired boy on the cover catching his eye, and he hadn’t been able to stop. Keigo had even roped Touya into watching the anime with him, it was very begrudgingly.
He smiled at the memory, opening the manga and settling down. It was nice and relaxing, nothing like how his life used to be. He wasn’t known as the fastest hero for no reason after all, everything about his old life had been fast paced, from his training to his rise in the hero ranks.
Weren’t those a load of garbage.
He was happy to finally get rid of them. The entire time he was a pro hero he longed to be in the lower ranks, someone in the double digits, hell the triple digits even seemed like the best thing he could have had. But of course the Hero Commission couldn’t have that, he was their pride and joy, a soldier that they had put all their precious time and effort into. He was to be the greatest they had ever produced, he was taught to never disobey.
Didn’t that end disastrously though. Keigo chuckled as he tried to turn his attention back to the panels, he really went against them in the biggest way possible. Running away was something that he had dreamed of for years, there were times when he was young that he thought about leaving the Commission behind him forever but he could never work up the courage to do so. It took him until he was twenty to finally work up the guts to leave.
It was the best decision he had made in his entire life though. Far away from the cities, from major heroes and villains, he could just live his life as Keigo. Of course having Touya with him was a big plus. There was no way that they would have been able to continue had they stayed in the city, someone would have found out.
Well they did find out, the whole world kind of found out because Keigo got cornered, but that was besides the point. They weren’t Dabi and Hawks anymore they could just be Touya and Keigo.
Not many people in their new life had asked about their past, the ones that did were told to fuck off and then everybody laughed it off. They lied some because they couldn’t keep everything in the dark, they needed to prove that they were in fact real people.
The two complained about their trashy upbringing, how they bonded over their mutual daddy issues, and the rest was history as far as anyone else knew.
People had learned no to ask where Touya’s scars had come from or why Keigo wasn’t working as a pro hero in some city. As long as they could avoid some of the trauma from their pasts it was okay. They weren’t repressing it, not at all, but they were trying to avoid triggers.
Keigo hated it when people came up behind him, anything covering his eyes, unexpected darkness, and a whole load of other things.
Touya couldn’t handle yelling, really loud noises in general; he also didn’t have the healthiest relationship with food as Keigo had found out. He attributed it to the years long abuse from Endeavor and then living on the streets. Food was something that wasn’t always available, Keigo had seen him hide food in the weirdest of places.
That caused a few conversations, it always ended well though. Communication was something that they made sure stayed consistent in their lives.
It was important, they had found that out very quickly. It was even more important when you were spending ninety percent of your time with that person.
They still had bad days though, arguments where they wouldn’t talk all day. Keigo was very supportive of the idea that you shouldn’t go to bed angry with your partner. He would always try to talk to Touya, no matter how tired he was, that led to many late night conversations that ended with Keigo needing to help get the blood out of the other man’s eyes.
They weren’t the perfect relationship but nobody was.
Keigo had spent a lot of time reading and was so invested in the story, Karasuno was versing Shiratorizawa to see who would be going to nationals, that he didn’t even realize that Touya had come into the house. “Hey Kei.”
Since Keigo’s hearing was pretty exceptional, thanks to the bird qualities, he immediately turned around to face his boyfriend. “Welcome back Touya!” He put his bookmark back into his book, because he wasn’t a maniac who folded the corners, and set it down.
Touya was already walking over to meet him so he met the taller man in the middle, wrapping his arms around his, mostly, unscarred waist and standing on his toes to reach the other’s lips. He would forever hate how much shorter he was, Touya wasn’t even that tall it was just that Keigo was short.
Touya once more met him halfway and pressed his lips to the blonde’s. Touya would never get bored of this, Keigo was an amazing kisser despite the fact that he hadn’t had much practice before Touya. The Commission loved to paint him as this playboy but Touya learned that it was a complete façade.
Either way Touya was totally entranced with Keigo, but he had something that he really needed to say. It wasn’t bad, but it did terrify him a little.
“So you know how we’ve been talking with my family some?” Keigo nodded, since the dark haired man had reconnected with his siblings he had been introduced, not right away but it wasn’t that long before Keigo was saying hi to the other Todoroki siblings from across a screen.
Natsuo had immediately taken a liking to him because Keigo had been the one responsible for Endeavor’s downfall. The blonde did want to give credit to his boyfriend though because Touya had opened up to him about his past with his father.
Fuyumi was kind although she did threaten that if he broke Touya’s heart that she would hunt after him but that was to be expected from one of them at least. She didn’t really mind that they had run away, always being sensible. It hurt her some, that Touya had never come back home to see them but she understood that he simply couldn’t once he explained the full story of what had happened the day of his alleged death. That and all the days before it.
Then there was Shoto, he was the hardest nut to crack. Much like Touya he had created a front, to most it seemed unbreakable. Shoto was next in line for training once Touya was deemed worthless, like the older man said, Shoto was Endeavor’s perfect specimen. He had been hesitant to trust Keigo, also to believe Touya. He did not want to believe that his brother had become the villain that was before him, but with many conversations, and even more tears, the two had come to an understanding.
“Well they kinda want us to visit them.”
Keigo loosened his grip on Touya’s waist, “Wait really? How’s that going to work?”
The red haired man pressed a gentle kiss to the other’s forehead and went to put his things down, “I don’t really know, I was hoping that we would be able to plan this out together. Of course we’ll talk with my siblings to get it all situated.”
Keigo thought about it, of course he had wanted to meet the other’s siblings, he and Touya were pretty serious and it felt like something he needed to do. It wasn’t like he was going to meet up with Endeavor again to tell the former hero that he was dating the man’s son. It would also be pretty hard to meet his mother, meeting his siblings was already taking a huge risk.
Keigo wanted to, he really did, he was just terrified of being found. The trip would probably mean a very long train ride, and stuffing his feathers into a bag again. It wasn’t like he could just leave them at home, after what the Commission had done for training he would never go anywhere without his feathers, even if they weren’t attached to his body.
“Well hotstuff, sounds like a great idea, completely serious there, but aren’t you scared of getting caught?” Keigo really didn’t understand how Touya was being so chill about the entire situation, he had stopped holding up his cold unfeeling exterior in front of Keigo, but right now it felt as though it was back full throttle.
The blonde walked over to the table where Touya was putting down his things, and wrapped a wing around the red haired man, signaling that he was going to stick with Touya.
The taller man turned to face his boyfriend, Touya wasn’t the only one who’s appearance had changed. Keigo of course had his new piercing, which Touya enjoyed immensely, but he had also grown his hair out some. It was now long enough that the blonde had to tie it up so that it was out of the way, and Touya enjoyed looking at his boyfriend with his hair up just a little too much.
He wrapped an arm the shorter’s shoulders, “I am scarred, I’ll admit it. I just, I haven’t seen them in so long. I saw Shoto at the training camp but he only saw Dabi back then and I,” He paused. Touya’s thoughts were all over the place, he wanted, no he needed to see his siblings again. It wasn’t right for them to find out he was alive and then have nothing come of it. He’d be lying if he hadn’t fantasized about the moment for years.
Endeavor was the reason that he couldn’t go back, he would just put him through the same terrible training, refusing to see that he had messed up. He regretted not telling them he was alive sooner, fuck he wasn’t even the one to tell them. It was because of the fact that Keigo had agreed to go on those interviews that the world knew of Touya Todoroki.
He hated how he was famous because of his last name, he would much rather have gone down in history being remembered as the villain Dabi. At least then nobody knew his tragic backstory.
What a stupid last name.
He’d much rather have Keigo’s but that was moving way too fast, Keigo had slowed down for once in his life and Touya was going to respect his decision.
The shorter man wrapped his arms, and wings, around Touya, he pressed his ear against the other’s chest. Touya’s heartbeat was a bit quicker than normal, nothing that wasn’t normal for nervousness though. “Then we’ll go.”
“Thanks Kei.”
They let go, Keigo needed to say something to boost the mood though, as it had become quite sullen, “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t meet your siblings?” He was
good with making sure not to say family, the family as a whole was a touchy subject.
The redhead chuckled, and Keigo beamed, “You’ve met my siblings birdbrain.”
“Through a screen doesn’t count. Now what are we making for dinner?”
The rest of the day went on as normal, no more deep conversations. They worked together to make dinner, yakisoba, although Keigo was the one doing most of the cooking.
Touya was rambling about the customers that had come in during the day. He always had some story, and Keigo listened no matter how boring.
The story of today was about a man that had come in requesting something that none of the tattoo artists in the shop felt remotely comfortable tattoos. Apparently he had wanted his girlfriend’s name, which at first didn’t seem too bad, but he had continued to say that it was going on his jaw. What made the story even worse though was that they had only been dating for a month or two.
None of the artists were comfortable with doing it, which Touya found reassuring, it meant that they were still sane.
Keigo really thought that this was the end, it was typically how these stories went. That was until Touya had to stop him from saying anything in response because he wasn’t
done, oh no it got even better.
“And then he points to me,I’m sitting on the other side of the parlor, and he says ‘did one of you tat that guy?!’ We all just pause because I guess this guy didn’t realize that,” he gestured to his burns, “these are scars. Then Nariko just had to break the silence and say ‘he’s a burn victim’. Needless to say he walked out of the shop real quick. But how weird is that?! This guy had to be blind or something because nobody has ever thought that these were tattoos.”
Touya was still flabbergasted at how someone could have thought that his scars were tattoos, they would have hurt immensely to get, and Keigo was struggling to keep himself focused on the food as he leaned over laughing.
Touya loved his laugh above everything, sure he was a nice sight and his real personality was amazing, but hearing what his laugh actually sounded like was amazing. So many times he had covered it up or put on some fake kind, that happened especially when they were with the League. Even though he was around a group full of ragtag villains Keigo still made sure to keep his facade up.
Touya adored being able to see how the blonde actually was, behind all that training to present well to the public there was a young man who was dying to be free. He watched Keigo break free from that facade and become who he really was, it was amazing.
He must have been looking at the other man a little too much, “If you take a picture it will last longer.”
“What? A man can’t look at his obnoxiously beautiful boyfriend?”
Keigo chuckled, “You know deep down you’re a huge sap.”
“Yeah but I’m your sap baby bird.”
“That sounds weird hotstuff, now come help me.”
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Touya stood at the front door holding a suitcase, they were really going through with this.
He had called up Fuyumi to schedule a time that the five of them could get together, well six now because Touya was informed that Fuyumi would be bringing someone else. He really hoped that it wasn’t either of their parents, that was something that he needed to do on his own.
She refused to tell him though so the redhead had been anxious ever since she said it. Fuyumi was nice though, although she used to want to pretend that they were the perfect family, reality seemed to finally catch up with her. She still believed that Endeavor was worth listening too but that was something that they would never agree on.
Keigo was getting his suitcase from their bedroom, they decided that it wouldn’t hurt to stay a few days, as long as they were careful about where they went and who they saw.
The hotel they were staying at was mostly secluded, and hopefully people wouldn’t talk that much there.
Touya already had his face mask pulled up, a high collared jacket to cover his neck, and of course who could forget the sunglasses. The glasses tended to get him weird looks when he went indoors but thankfully people didn’t ask questions, they just silently judged from a distance. He wouldn’t need to worry about anyone wondering about his hair though, now that it was back to its natural red color.
He had hated it at first but after hearing Keigo call it beautiful he thought that he would keep it. Besides now him and the ex-hero were matching, at least somewhat.
He wasn’t very scared before, just a little bit of nerves, but now that the day had come he was really regretting everything that he had done that brought him to where he was standing.
What if once they saw him in person his siblings disowned him? He knew that on video his scars didn’t look as bad as they did in person so what if they got sick looking at him?
Keigo walked out the door to their bedroom, suitcase in tow. “You ready to go Tou?” He didn’t respond, Touya was too caught up in his own thoughts. Keigo walked over and placed his hand on the other’s, which was gripping at the suitcase handle so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. “Hey Touya?”
He snapped out of his gaze at the touch, “I’m fine, let’s go.” He made way to walk out the door but was stopped before he could even turn the doorknob.
“Obviously you’re not fine. Remember you can talk to me.”
He remembered it well, that was the first hard conversation they had after they moved in together. “I’m just nervous.”
“Why would you be nervous?” Keigo asked, tilting his head. “Your siblings love you.”
“Just don’t want them to be grossed out by the scars.”
Keigo sighed, this had been a conversation that they had many times before. It took a lot of convincing on the blonde’s part that he loved how Touya looked, not despite his burns but because of them. It showed just how much the other man had gone through, how much he survived.
They showed that he could go through something so terrible and still come out the other side fighting.
“Well,” Keigo took hold of both of Touya’s hands, “If they have a problem with it then they can personally go through me.”
Touya smiled, then he looked over to the clock. “We better go, wouldn’t want to miss our train now would we.”
Keigo smiled right back at him, “Of course not, have to show your siblings just how good of a boyfriend I am.”
The train ride was boring to say the least, Keigo had taken a nap on Touya’s shoulder. The redhead really wished that he too could sleep but he was too nervous for it. He knew that they wouldn’t be seeing his siblings until the next day but it was still crazy. He hadn’t been back in the city since he and Kegio had feld, the small town they stayed in was the complete opposite.
It was everything that he ever wanted, slow and steady. In the city everything was way too fast paced for him to keep up with, the last month he was there could attest to that, but in the small town he could set his own pace.
The town was also way more beautiful than the city in Touya’s humble opinion. There were mountains surrounding the perimeter of the town, a stream, then there was the wondrous architecture of the downtown area. Touya wished that he could stay in the city forever, and now that he had Keigo with him he knew exactly who he was going to spend his time there with.
He looked out the window behind him, it was a little difficult with the blond man’s head laying on his shoulder but he managed. The town kept getting smaller and smaller, only a few more houses were coming up.
He was a little sad to see it disappear behind him but he knew that he going to the city should bring something good, probably, hopefully. Keigo was gently snoring on his shoulder, Touya decided to try to sleep too. The time should pass faster then.
The time did pass faster because before he knew it the train was pulling into the station in Musutafu.
As they walked off the train, Touya trailing slightly behind the blonde in order to take up less space, he noticed how little the train station had changed. It was the exact same as they left it, this time there were more people though seeing as it was nearly rush hour.
The pair walked up the stairs and up to the main station, even more people were bustling around there, Touya saw Keigo’s hand grip tightly onto his suitcase handle. They just needed to get a taxi or something and find their way to the hotel. There they would finally be able to calm down some and take a breather.
Everything Touya hated about the city came rushing back to him. It was even louder than he had ever remembered. People seemed to be running everywhere, he knew logically that they weren’t but it was all just too much. Who had ever decided that cities were a good idea, they were terrible.
He longed to just go back to his and Keigo’s home, Touya was taken aback by his own thought. He hadn’t gotten used to calling their home actually theirs.
Technically speaking it wasn’t really theirs because they were renting the townhouse but it still felt like Touya and Keigo’s.
The pair ended up not getting a taxi after realizing how close the hotel was to the train station. Keigo found it endearing walking around the city again. He was born and raised there, well in a less nice more rundown area, but it still held the same sentiment.
Touya on the other hand, while still living in Musutafu, had lived more on the outskirts. He wasn’t raised in an apartment in the rough part of town, his home much larger and more hidden away from the busy city life.
The walk to the hotel was much less hectic that either of them could fathom, it seemed that the closer they got the less people there were, which was good when you were technically on the run. They hadn’t been recognized yet and they really couldn’t risk it. Touya had really expected more, they had been “running” for three years and nobody had come to them telling them to come back to the city.
Thankfully Touya hadn’t been arrested at all. Keigo was really waiting for the day that the police, or the Hero Commission, came to their door and told them they both were going to be arrested. The ex hero had broken quite a few of their rules, he wasn’t sure if the Commission still had the standing that they did but Keigo wasn't going to risk it.
Neither of the two men had kept up with the news surrounding their disappearance, they actively tried to avoid it. There were times that Keigo would be talking to Rumi and she would bring up something about the story and he would try to change the subject as fast as he could.
The walk was peaceful once they were a few blocks from the hotel, not many people were around there, just a few walking in and out of stores and other buildings. Eventually they made their way into the building and went to check in. They had timed their train ride so that they would be able to check in as soon they got there.
Touya was the one to ask about their room, “I’m here for a room under the name Touya Takami?” As far as he knew there wasn’t someone popular under the name Touya Takami, it wasn’t like the general public knew what Keigo’s real name was.
“Oh yes sir,” The girl at the headdesk seemed to be new, or just very jumpy. The redhead didn’t really care, as long as she was able to do her job. “Um, here’s your room keys. Fourth floor number 452.” She handed over the keys and he thanked her, she seemed nice enough.
He turned to tell Keigo which room they were and saw how on edge the other man seemed. He was rubbing at his sleeves and looking around frantically. He grabbed the man’s hand, which Keigo had immediately crushed, Touya didn’t mind though. He was getting used to Keigo’s little quirks.
They walked over to the elevator, which thankfully was empty, when they were out on the streets people barely looked in their direction since everyone was on their way to something but sitting in an elevator gave them a chance to see what the two men really looked like.
Keigo was quiet the entire time they were making their way to the room, he didn’t make a single peep. Touya was worried, he was never this quiet. Usually when the man got nervous Touya was able to tell because he started talking a mile a minute.
It didn’t even have to be anything relevant to what was happening, Keigo found a way to talk no matter what because he hated silence. The taller man never found out why that was so, but Keigo never said anything about it and Touya was not going to push him too much.
He squeezed his boyfriend’s hand, they were standing right in front of the room now, Touya was putting the key card in the slot.
He opened the door and turned the light on. Keigo was still quite quiet, it really was scaring him. He shut the door behind him and watched as Keigo slowly unpacked his things.
Touya was concerned above all else, “Hey Kei, you alright?”
The shorter man didn’t respond, just continued to unpack his things from the suitcase. Touya made his way over to the bed, where the suitcase was laying on top of. “Kei?” He didn’t want to sneak up on the other and cause him to be even more scared.
He placed his hands on Keigo’s hips, a gentle touch to let the blonde know that he was there. Then Touya wrapped his arms around the man’s waist. He leaned over and placed his chin on Keigo’s shoulder, “You good?”
The other man simply hummed in response, Touya knew that he shouldn’t push, that could just cause the man to be even more distraught, but he didn’t want Keigo to feel bad. Maybe it was sappy and soft of him but he didn’t care anymore. He would allow himself to be a caring person again.
He did care about the other members of the League before, none of them should have become a villain. Twice needed mental health help, Toga and Shigaraki were pushed away because of his quirk, and then there was Kurogiri who was just too kind for his own good.
Touya cared so much and he wanted his boyfriend to know it.
Keigo finally spoke up, “I’m just nervous is all.”
“You normally don’t act like this when you’re nervous,” he squeezed the shorter man’s waist a little bit, hearing him chuckle just the slightest.
“How very observant of you.”
“Well I better recognize some things about my boyfriend, we have been living together for three years now.”
There was a lull in the conversation, it wasn’t as heavy as it was before though which made Touya smile a bit.
The rest of the night went by as normal, Keigo was still being too quiet for the older man’s taste. It was odd to see him be so reserved, the only other times this happened was when he was overstressed and overworked because of hero work. That hadn’t happened in three years since he had left the Commission.
That was the best decision the two of them had made.
Ever since he was fifteen and had run away from home he dreamed of getting out of the city. He would be far away from the super famous pro heroes, and most importantly, he would be far away from his father.
That was everything he could have ever wished for. He wanted to bring his siblings with him, he wanted to get them out of the hellscape that was the Todoroki household. He knew that Shoto still wanted to go to U.A. so that would have caused some problems but with Fuyumi they could have worked their way around it.
Touya went to sleep that night worrying about the next day, he knew that he had to keep a brave face for the blond man though. The younger man was already stressed enough about making a good impression, the best that Touya could do was pretend that he was fine.
His therapist told him that that was not what he should have been doing but he didn’t care at that moment. He could feel Keigo’s talons, not as strong as a grip in his sleep but it was still very noticeable, and saw how puffed out his feathers were. That happened too when he was scared, Keigo had told him that it was because some birds puffed out their feathers to seem more threatening to other animals.
The red haired man found it quite adorable though because stress was not the only reason that his feathers puffed out, it was also when he was embarrassed.
Right now that was not the reason though. They laid on the bed together, Keigo laying his head on the other man’s chest, listening to the steady heartbeat that was underneath his ear. The man’s wings were also wrapped around the taller man, which Touya absolutely adored.
At first Keigo wasn’t very open to wrapping his wings around anyone, it had to have been something forming from his childhood if Touya had to guess. It took months before Keigo had even wrapped one wing around the taller man, but once he had opened up to it, he was addicted.
Whenever they slept in the same bed, which was pretty much every night now, Keigo would make sure that his wings were wrapped around the scarred man. It was his way of knowing that the other was still there.
Touya didn’t mind one bit.
He brushed through the red feathers, working his way down the entire wings. He stroked over the long primarie feathers, it seemed like Keigo had a few that were starting to molt, then closer to the other’s back to the secondaries. The blonde man had been pretty excited to tell his boyfriend all about his different types of feathers, it seemed as though he had never been able to talk about them so extensively before.
And Touya had soaked up every single piece of information, the different feather names were ingrained in his mind.
Finally he made his way to the scapulars, they were the most sensitive and Touya had indulged in that fact over and over again. He wasn’t going to tease Keigo though, seeing as he was finally asleep, he simply ghosted over the feathers.
Keigo hadn’t been able to sleep very easily. Normally he would calm down by reading some sort of manga or scrolling through social media but today he wasn’t able to do either of those. Sure he would have been able to scroll through Twitter or something but Keigo just didn’t seem like he could.
He paced around the room, switching channels on the TV, and he had barely sat down to eat. It was nearly making Touya stressed, but he tried his best to calm down, he needed to calm down.
It was going to be okay though, the next day the two men would be meeting up with Touya’s siblings at Natsuo’s apartment, that fact had not been explained as to why they were meeting there but Touya didn’t really mind.
All that mattered was that after twelve years of waiting he would finally see his siblings again in person, and it wouldn’t be because one of them was fighting the League of Villains.
All the times he had seen Shoto when the League attacked those damn U.A. students, every time he wanted to tell the boy that he was in fact Touya, he was his brother. He knew that his younger brother wouldn’t have believed him though, especially if it was in the heat of battle, so he stood by and did what he had to.
Letting Keigo tell the world who he was was easier too.
He wouldn’t have to worry about messing up, even if the interview didn’t exactly go as planned anyway. But maybe it was exactly what they needed, really how many times would they have had the chance to leave the wretched city.
Touya threaded his fingers through Keigo’s red feathers, he would have done it all over again for Keigo, he would have been the one to be in the spotlight if it was to protect Keigo. Over the past few years he had realized just how much the blond man meant to him, he couldn’t have imagined running away with anyone else, he couldn’t imagine falling in love with anyone else.
Keigo was everything he could have ever dreamed of and more.
Touya knew that people had once compared him to Icarus. The world saw him as a man that was flying too close to the sun, as someone that was going to fall and burn at some point. But Touya never saw him as such. To Touya Keigo was the sun, he was Apollo in all his glory.
Keigo was bright and shining, he was the light that came into Touya’s ever dark world. Keigo was the reason that Touya had been healed, both physically and mentally. And sure there was still a long road ahead of them, it would be hard, but they would ride down it together.
Touya was finally able to sleep, after hours of brushing through Keigo’s wings and staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow was going to be a rough day. It would probably be one of the hardest he needed to go through, but he knew that Keigo would be there with him.
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Here they were standing in front of Natsuo’s apartment, Keigo was gripping onto Touya’s hand and it was really starting to hurt now. The taller man didn’t want to admit to how long he had been standing in front of the door, long enough that it was probably making some of the neighbors concerned.
After taking a few more deep breaths he brought his knuckles to knock on the door, it was a few seconds before it opened. In that short time frame Touya really thought about just booking, he knew that his boyfriend was fast, they would have been able to make it out of the apartment building in record time.
Before he could though the door opened in front of him. Natsuo looked a lot different then he had as a child. He still had the same stark white hair but his younger brother had really grown up. Touya had always been seen as the runt of the group and with his brother’s height it wasn’t really helping. He had a few inches on him, even though he was years younger. If Touya felt short, then Keigo had to feel like he was still a child, he was even shorter than Touya.
The red haired man stood with shock staring up at his brother, he had absolutely no idea of what he was supposed to say. How are you supposed to say hi to someone who you haven’t seen in twelve years?
Sure there were the video chats but it was so different in person, it was as though all the emotions he had just came bounding forward. If only his tear ducts weren’t burned shut.
Touya didn’t need to say anything though because Natsuo immediately wrapped him in a bone crushing hug, thankfully he had been able to gain a few pounds since his time with the League because had he not he may have broken a few ribs.
He didn’t even need to think before he was wrapping his own arms around his brother, it felt amazing to know that this was real. To be able to hold one of his siblings in his arms again was a dream come true, and this was only Natsuo. Fuyumi and Shoto were still coming, and with the mystery guest that his sister had been talking about, without giving away too much information that is.
They walked into the apartment, Keigo was staggering behind a little bit, still nervous about actually meeting the other’s siblings in person.
The two walked in, it seemed that Shoto was already there, sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone with his headphones in. He must not have seen that Touya walked through the door. Natsuo took the phone out of his younger brother’s hands “Touya’s here,”
Shoto immediately pulled out his headphones and set them down. He turned his attention to Touya, wide eyed and maybe still a little scared. It was difficult to still see Dabi but know that it was Touya. He knew deep down that his brother was still a good person, he cared for all of them dearly and wouldn’t do a thing to hurt them. But it was still hard to fathom.
He let himself be pulled into a hug, it wasn’t as bone crushing as Natsuo’s, but it was still comforting in every way. Shoto had missed Touya so much, he was the reason that he began to go against their father. Touya had always spoken his mind when it came to Endeavor and Shoto was easily influenced. His eldest brother was the reason that the younger boy didn’t look the way his brother did, Touya had always made sure to take care of Shoto’s injuries first.
“I missed you a lot.”
“I missed you too peppermint.” With that nickname the bicolored haired boy’s eyes began to tear up.
They stayed hugging for a bit before finally pulling apart. Touya ruffled his youngest brother’s hair, watching as the two colors melded together. “Yumi will be here in a few.”
Natsuo spoke up, there wasn’t much room for silence though as another voice entered into the room.
“The brothers are back together!” The two new arrivals turned to look at the voice, it was from someone that Touya thought he would never see again. Especially in a place like this, at a time like this.
“Shigaraki! What the hell are you doing here?!” The blue haired man took off his headphones, of course he would be wearing some gaming gear Touya thought to himself.
The man clapped his hands together, “Well I do live here after all, I thought you knew that already though.”
The ex villain looked over to his brother, he was slightly angry that this detail wasn’t discussed before, “You want to explain?”
Natsuo rubbed the back of his head, obviously a little uncomfortable, “It sort of slipped my mind.” Everyone except Shoto looked stunned, well Shigaraki just looked offended, “Fine I’ll explain.”
Touya sat down on the couch, gesturing for Keigo to sit down next to him.
“It’s kinda a funny story actually.”
“Just get on with it.” Touya grumbled.
“Okay so after you and Ha-Keigo jumped town some of the other villains decided to turn themselves in. It wasn’t an immediate thing but after a few months the League wasn’t really a thing anymore. Tenko here was sentenced to a few years in Tartarus but after hearing your story I kind of wanted to hear his too. So while he was healing up in the hospital I met with him and we talked for a while. Then there was the trial sentencing, they were able to not get him sentenced to Tartarus, so he went to a normal prison for two years and then got a lot of house arrest. Since he didn’t really have a house to go back to, and since we had been talking a lot already I let him move in.” Touya looked at him stunned.
He could not believe that his former boss was now living with his younger brother. Sure he knew that Shigaraki, or was it Tenko now, was a few years younger then him but what was going on here. He had been living with Natsuo for a whole year and the redhead had never heard a word of it.
He sighed, “You mean to tell me you’re letting the former leader of the League of Villains room with you?”
He really wasn’t prepared for the next bombshell, “That’s what good boyfriends do Dabi.”
The room was quiet, deathly quiet, “What?!”
Keigo started laughing, the blonde must not have realized how insane the situation was. “Damn Tou, how do you feel knowing your old boss is hooking up with your brother?” He was going to roast his boyfriend alive.
Natsuo and Tenko were blushing profusely, Shoto on the other hand was still as stoic as ever. Did everyone else know except him. “Why wasn’t I informed about this? Shouldn’t he have had to ask my permission or something?!” Keigo continued to laugh his ass off.
“Touya I am twenty-three…”
“Where’s the fun in that Dabs!”
Touya was smoking from his scars, “Don’t call me that Shigaraki!”
“Then don’t call me that, Touya!”
It was really becoming a mess, Natsuo was embarrassed, Keigo was still laughing so hard that it was highly doubtful that he was breathing, Shoto was still had his resting bitch face, Touya was about to burn a man alive, and Tenko wasn’t taking any of this seriously.
Then the door opened and two women walked inside, “I brought alcohol, gods know you guys have to loosen… What’s going on?”
Everyone paused again, it felt like it was one dramatic reveal after another. Standing in the doorway was none other than the number two hero, Miruko.
“Holy shit Rumi?”
“Keigo!” The woman set the alcohol bottle on the counter and ran over to envelope her friend in a hug, it was just as bone crushing as Natsuo’s. “I haven’t seen you in so long!
Since Yumi told me that you were coming over with Touya I just knew I had to pop in.”
Fuyumi had walked over to her brother and wrapped him in a hug, at least she was shorter than him. He had lost out on Natsuo and Shoto, dumb brothers being taller than him. “So I guess that Rumi is the mystery guest?”
The woman laughed a bit, “Yeah, though I guess Tenko was also a mystery to you.”
The taller of the two rolled his eyes, “Who was going to tell me Nat was dating Shiggy?”
“He didn’t really know how to tell you. I know it probably sucks that this is how you found out but at least you know now?” Touya just smiled a bit, at least his brother was happy. At least now he had a reason to mess with Tenko, if he hurt his brother in any way nobody would be finding that man’s body.
“So how’d you meet Rumi?” His sister started blushing and got really quiet, that’s when it dawned on him, “You’re joking.”
“Surprise?”
Touya turned around to look at Shoto who was still situated on the couch, he pointed at the boy, “Do you have some partner you’re hiding from me.”
The youngest shook his head, “Haven’t had the time, still pretty focused on hero work.”
Touya took a deep breath of relief, at least he wasn’t completely out of the loop. It hurt a bit that his siblings didn’t trust him, or were just scared, enough to tell him. Sure it was really surprising to know that Natsuo was with a very powerful ex villain and that Fuyumi was with a very powerful hero but was that really worse than what he had done.
He, a highly wanted villain, had decided to date the number two hero, which was a disaster of an idea but after three years it seemed to finally be in their favor. Except now they weren’t really a hero and villain were they.
Natsuo spoke up, “How about I order some food and we can really catch up,” he looked over to Touya, “you don’t say much during our facetimes.”
They did just that, they ordered some cheap pizza from down the street and started talking. Rumi and Keigo had a lot of catching up to do. They weren’t able to talk as much as Touya was with his siblings since she was super swamped with hero work, since Shoto was just starting out, normally unlike Keigo, he didn’t have as many things to go through. Touya was at peace seeing how happy Keigo was. He really did thrive around people unlike the older man.
Keigo was a huge extrovert, he loved getting together with people, which made Touya a little mad at himself for suggesting that they settle down in a smaller town. The blonde was made for city life, well besides his wings that is, his personality just fit the environment so well it was scary.
He shook his head to try to shake his mind of the thoughts, now was not the right time to feel bad. What he needed to do was enjoy a semi family lunch and be happy that he was finally with his siblings again.
That was something that he could focus on.
Touya was still utterly shocked with his siblings' love lives, he wondered if Endeavor knew about any of this. He was well aware that a large percentage of the world knew about him and Keigo, his father was most definitely on that list by now. Fuyumi had picked right, Rumi was an excellent woman who seemed to be able to do no harm. She was amazing, even an ex villain could admit that.
Then there was Natsuo. Touya had been working with the League for quite a while and even he had never learned what Shigaraki’s real name was, then again it seemed like boyfriend rights were a thing. And he guessed that now since the blue haired man was trying to be a functioning member of society that he would ditch the old name.
Touya’s life was becoming even crazier than he ever could have imagined.
He started off a scared and abused kid, and maybe part of him still was that kid. Then he had left his place of torment at the ripe age of fifteen without any knowledge of what the world was really like. He had done so many things on the streets that he didn’t want to think about, so many things that still terrified him.
He had become a villain, something that nobody would have thought was possible because they didn’t see what was happening behind closed doors. He became a villain that did even worse things, deep down he knew that it was wrong. Even though he was doing it in the name of something good it didn’t excuse all his actions.
Taking down his father and the Commission though was not something he regretted at all. Shoto had been pretty keen on updating him about what had happened to their father, to Endeavor. Rumi had also told Keigo of what became of the Hero Commission. He swore that he saw the younger man crying tears of joy.
That was fine though, the Commission could burn and so could Endeavor. He had a sick sense of accomplishment knowing that he had helped with that, telling Keigo what the man had done and without any repercussions.
Karma was a bitch.
He looked around to see his siblings, and two of their partners. He could live with this, after all this was as good of a family as he was going to get. They were his real family, it was just a plus that his siblings got to be a part of that again.
After twelve years, after terrorizing Shoto’s class for almost a year, after all of the terrible things that he had done, they still wanted to see him. To them he wasn’t one of the most wanted villains, Dabi. To them he was simply their eldest brother Touya and that was all that he could ask for.
He didn’t want to be Dabi anymore, he still had to deal with the consequences of being that person but that didn’t mean that they were the same at all. He was tired of being seen as a monster, of only being seen as a villain and nothing else. He could understand why people would think that, but he was trying his best.
Maybe that was why Fuyumi was trying to let them see that Endeavor was trying, it just didn’t seem like he was most of the time. He hated that he was comparing himself to that jerk, why couldn’t he just focus on the scene in front of him, that was much more nice then whatever mess was going on inside of his mind.
Touya felt a strong hand wrap its way around his waist.
Keigo.
He was the reason that Touya was different, he was the man that gave him something worth fighting for. Before he had met the other man he had expected that he would die a villain, maybe taken to Tartarus by some “hero”, but Keigo had changed all of that.
He realized that some heroes weren’t all that different from him, they didn’t have the perfect lives or the best upbringings but something in them wanted to make the world a better place. The blonde could say all he wanted that he became a hero for selfish reasons but Touya knew that wasn’t true.
It was partially because he had been forced to, to train to be the perfect soldier by the Commission, but Keigo was smart enough to run, smart enough to be able to get out of that place. Why he hadn’t done it before baffled the older man, he could have gotten out of there but he didn’t.
Keigo was free now though, that was what mattered.
Both of them were free, they didn’t have to take orders from anyone anymore, and yes it was weird having his old boss still in the picture but Touya could bare it for his siblings. He would do anything from them, now he just had to prove it to them. He needed to show them that the older brother they knew was still there, he had just changed a little.
And hadn’t they all? They weren’t the same helpless kids they were twelve years ago. They had people by their sides that cared about them, and Touya wouldn’t trade that for the world.
Touya felt the hand that was wrapped around his waist, putting his own on top of it. If you would have told him all those years ago that staying would have brought him something so wonderful he wouldn’t have believed a word that you were saying. Now that he had his wonderful thing in his arms, now that he had been with Keigo for three years, maybe he would have.
No longer was it Dabi and Hawks against the world, they had cast aside those names long ago.
Now it was Touya and Keigo against the world.