Chapter Text
Keigo had offered to take you home after dinner to make sure you were alright. You gladly took his offer, a small bit of you still on edge wanting nothing more than him to ensure your safety. As he stepped to the street to get you both a cab, you felt around in your bag for a pair of gloves now that the temperature took a drop when the sun went down. In your search, you felt the keychain you had bought earlier and pulled it out to look at it again. Keigo came back and helped you into the car seeing as you seemed distracted before he got in himself. The ride was awkwardly quiet before he broke it, a little antsy it seemed.
“Whatcha got there sweetheart?” He questioned, pointing to the small fluffy thing in your hand.
“Oh, well, I was in the store earlier and I picked it up without realizing I guess. Cute isn’t it?” You handed it to him so he could see for himself. A smile grew on his face when he remembered what exact animal it was.
“Well, well, well, someone was thinking about me I see.” He teased. “It’s cute alright, but not as cute as you.” He attempted to hand it back but you felt emboldened by his flirty words.
“Of course, I was thinking of you, who else would possibly take your spot up there? Go ahead and keep it, maybe it can remind you of just how cute I am when you get lonely.” You giggled out as you watched his face slowly turn red.
Before he could think of a response the car came to a halt in front of your apartment building. As you got out Keigo paid the fare and quickly stood at your side again to walk you in and to your door. He kept you laughing the whole way, saying how much he adores your present and how he’ll keep it with him forever. Even when you both stood in front of the door to your apartment he kept the conversation going, it made you want to invite him in, but with how tired you were from the day’s events you decided against it.
With your goodnights said you unlocked your door and went inside, as you shut your door you feel a heavy weight slam against you. Your head hits the door hard, the pain blooms from the spot that left a dent, and you start to cry out before a hand covers your mouth and squeezes painfully. A cold metal meets your throat silently letting you know you don’t want to make a noise. As you look into the eyes of your assailant you recognize him as the man from the store who asked if you were okay. Your heart was beating faster and the knife was starting to dig into your throat slightly.
You hoped Keigo heard your head hit the door and that he’d save you. The hope died when you heard Keigo’s steps slowly fade away down the hall before the elevator dings and goes down. He’s gone. He left you. You’re not safe anymore. There’s nobody to save you now.
The hero is gone.
You tried to focus on what was happening but your head started to spin, the force of the hit was leaving you hazy. The darkness of the apartment didn’t give you much to work with either. The man holding you down let you slide down to the floor while keeping you quiet with the knife, he was laughing quietly now. He waited a little bit longer before he spoke up.
“I’ve been trying to get you all day, you know that? I almost got you when you came looking for me, but that damn hero got you to go back to the street. I guess I got lucky he didn’t see me escape.” He ranted, almost incoherently.
“Why?” You whispered while trying to get further from the knife. “You were the kid? Why do this to me?” You couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over your lashes.
“I’ve got a job to do, and I want to get paid.” He cackled.
He raised his hand to hit you but instead he was pulled back and slammed against the wall. With your blurry vision, your eyes landed on your hero. Keigo was knelt in the large window with one hand gripping the edge to keep him steady. The drywall chipped with the force behind his hold. A feather had sent the man flying into the wall, and plenty more came to hold him to it. Slowly Keigo left the window to stand in front of the attacker. His face was dark, you could only see his eyes, he was angry. Keigo was terrifying. That look on his normally relaxed and carefree face couldn’t even be the same man. Your injured head must be making it look worse than it is.
A gasp of pain left you as you tried to sit up, your back was hurting just as bad. Suddenly Keigo was in front of you, not a bit of his attention was on the man pinned to the wall. Every bit of him was attending to you, he wiped your tears away gently, his wings held you close in comfort trying to ease your now broken sobs. Just when things started to look up for you, at least Keigo was holding you. He had saved you, but for some reason, you felt guilty. You’d thought he’d abandoned you, left you for dead. He assured you he’d never leave you, and to not feel bad, he had to save you that way to make sure you wouldn’t get hurt worse than you did.
It didn’t take long for the police to show up and take the criminal. You sat in an ambulance as you stared blankly at the shapeshifter sitting in the back of a squad car. Keigo was right next to you the whole time as the officers asked you questions, you didn’t answer much so he did for you. As you faded in and out of focus you heard a few things, something about kidnapping, the league of villains, and the Nomu creatures. You chose to block it out in favor of not adding something else to keep you up at night.
You were free to go into your apartment after the EMT attendants were through with you, they managed to ease the blurry vision but the pain would remain. When you crossed the crime scene tape with Keigo not far behind you took in everything with the lights on. You closed the door to see the dent you knew your head made with a fair bit of blood in it, the thought of the physical power he had made you cringe. He could’ve done far worse. You turn to look at the wall he was pinned against, a near-perfect outline of his figure made by tiny holes from the feathers staring back at you. You sigh and sit on your couch, everything was just way too much, you didn’t even understand how he knew where you lived.
As if he could read minds Keigo tapped your shoulder with what looked like a piece of fabric. When you took it you realized it was cut out of the inner lining of your bag. There in your hands was the return tag that stated if it was stolen or lost where they’d return it. The shame of knowing that you were so distracted that you hadn’t noticed he was fumbling around with your bag. It was so overwhelming at the moment all you could do was grab onto Keigo and cry some more. He didn’t mind one bit, even going so far as moving you into his lap and using his wings to cocoon you both on the couch.
As much as he wanted to say something, he didn’t, he knew this whole ordeal had taken its toll. He felt horrible for letting it happen, he should’ve insisted on coming inside. He stayed quiet, he let you spill it all out, it was the least he could do. He didn’t tell you about seeing that guy in the alley, or the fact that he'd been looking for him at the request of the commission, if he did he could’ve spared you the pain. Keigo held you closer, it wasn’t about him right now, his friend was hurting and needed him. He would be there for you.
When you cried yourself out, Keigo was there to comfort you. When you felt too scared to be in your room by yourself, Keigo came to keep guard for you. Finally, when you told him you didn’t feel safe in your home anymore, he offered his own to you. You had honestly meant to go stay at a hotel for a while and just wanted his help packing.
“Why don’t you just come to stay with me for a bit?” He asked. “I won’t charge you for the room service or for the minibar.”
It had come a bit surprisingly. After all, he’d only ever come to your home, you’d never even thought he would invite you to stay with him in your hour of need.
“No, I can’t do that to you. I’d be too much trouble for you, and I don’t want to intrude on your personal space.” You groaned in response, he was most likely joking around to lighten your mood. It only slightly worked.
“Aw c’mon, it’s no trouble. I’m barely home as it is, it’s about time somebody actually used it as a home. Even for a little bit, I don’t mind.” Keigo reassured. The hope on his face was quite evident.
You thought for a moment, he’s asking you to stay, and if anything were to happen he’d be right there at night to help. His eyes meet yours and he starts laying on the puppy eyes.
“Please! We could hang out whenever we’re off work, we could have slumber parties and do whatever we want! Plus the building has security! Whenever I’m not home you’ll be covered!” His begging tone pretty much sealed the deal. It was pretty convincing without the security mentioned.
“Fine, but only if I can pick out the movies.” You declared as you start packing a bag to stay for the week. He cheered loudly behind you before he started opening your dresser drawers to help.
You heard him pause before he walked to stand at the doorway to your room, when you looked over he was staring out into the hall. You asked if everything was alright when you noticed he was nervously playing with the keychain.
“Yep, just thought I’ll let you pack yourself.” He huffed before he cleared his throat.
You glanced over to see the drawer he had opened was for your underwear. You both remained in awkward silence as you finished your packing. Only now that this awkward incident had happened did you remember you had about two weeks off work to be alone with this man.