Chapter Text
Touya went back home after that to get ready for the damn party. He was dreading coming, but his coworkers were insistent, and Fuyumi did say he had to socialize more, so he had to.
He was about to get into the shower when the phone rang. He stopped, looking over at the phone, knowing who it was already. Touya picked up, pressing the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Touya" came the distinctive voice of Shoto, his younger brother.
"Sho," he greeted. "Hey, how are you?"
"Good. Yesterday they told us that internships will start soon."
"That's great!"
Touya was very proud of his baby brother. He was currently at a boarding school, one of the best in the country that would ensure he got into the academy to start training to be a police officer. It sure wasn’t cheap to afford that boarding school, but at least Shoto was smart enough he got himself a scholarship.
As for Fuyumi and Natsuo, Natsuo himself was always busy working and attending medical school to be able to pay for it. He insisted Touya already had enough on his plate, having been the one paying for their education since they were young and ran away from their father. Fuyumi was already a teacher at a somewhat prestigious school, but she also seemed rather busy on a daily basis.
Shoto stayed quiet for a second before he hesitantly said. "Touya…?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you found a partner already?"
Touya chocked. "Sho! Why are you asking me that?!"
"Some girls were talking about how one of their moms told them their neighbor who was in her thirties and still single was reported as a spy, because it seemed too suspicious she was still single at that age. And a week later, a man was reported for the same reason. You should be careful."
"... I’m not even 25 yet." Touya protested. "I’ll be fine."
"But you’ll be 25 next year." Shoto said. "Just think about it."
Touya sighed. Well, he’d already told his coworkers he was going to the party with a date, and he had also already asked Keigo, so…
"I have a boyfriend." He said all of a sudden.
"You do?" Shoto asked, incredulous. "Why haven’t you said anything?"
"I… It never came up, and I didn’t think it was relevant."
"Hum. Do Fuyumi and Natsuo know?"
"No, they don’t either. You know them, they’re always busy, and I haven’t talked to them in a while so…"
That last part at least wasn’t a lie. It has been a couple of months since he last talked to his other brother and sister.
"Okay. I have to go, my friends want to go study at the library."
"Sure. I’ll talk to you later."
They both said their goodbyes and Touya hung up the phone.
… Why on earth had he told Shoto he had a boyfriend? Ugh, he just hoped that he would’t tell Fuyumi and Natsuo about it so he could just lie and say they broke up later…
But now, he had a party to get ready for.
Hawks was tired. True, he was the best spy ever, but after spending a day doing a background check on Touya, taking care of Ryu, and now being assigned another mission right before he had to go to the party because their agency is understaffed.. Even he had his limits.
At least Best Jeanist was assigned to help him with this mission of retrieving stolen art. As stoic as the man was, he was a professional, so they could at least get it done fast.
Late. Keigo was late. Touya had been waiting for him for about an hour now, and he hadn’t bothered to show up. Touya grimaced, he should have imagined this could happen. After all, he didn't know Keigo, so he wasn’t that disappointed. More so angry about the fact he dipped on him without warning.
He was seriously considering not going to the damn party now, but Fuyumi’s voice rang in his head again, saying he had to make friends.
So, going alone to the stupid party it was.
Great. Now his coworkers would think he was a liar and that he was pathetic for pretending to not be single.
By the time he made it to the place, it had been about an hour and a half since the party started.
Hina opened the door, scanning him up and down.
"You’re late!" was all she said, guiding him inside.
Saku poked her head out from the kitchen, smiling at him. "Ah, Himura-san! Welcome!"
Aoi stumbled out of the kitchen with a glass of wine on hand. "Oh, didn’t you say you were coming with your partner? Where are they?"
"Something came up at his work, that’s why I’m late too." He lied.
"What a shame…" Hina mumbled, but by the look on her face she wasn’t buying it.
Eventually Touya found himself sitting down alone, hearing his coworkers not so subtle whispers about how he clearly was lying and was actually single, all while he downed his cup of wine in almost one go.
Touya wanted to leave already, and Dabi wanted to burn the place to the ground with everyone inside.
He managed to resist about 40 minutes before he finally stood up, ready to go once and for all.
"Well, I think I’ll…"
The door to his right burst open, and there stood Keigo, with a cut on his forehead and stumbling slightly on his feet, a trail of blood going down his face.
"Sorry I’m late, I’m Touya’s husband!" he said.
Touya stood there, frozen. Not only was the idiot late, but he'd said husband instead of boyfriend.
"You were meant to say boyfriend." he whispered to him behind his hand, causing Keigo to cough.
Dammit, he was dizzy from that hit in the head, plus still winded from having to escape those art smugglers, so he'd confused his mission with Touya's. Shit.
Many jaws dropped around the room. Touya, the ever grumpy and secretive, was married!? To a handsome man like that!?
A small swarm of people approached them, the first being a woman with red hair.
"Husband!? Why, I never knew you were married…" she said, looking at Touya.
He looked away from Aoi's intense gaze. "Well…"
"I'm afraid that must be because of me." Keigo said. "I was previously married and already have a son, however my wife passed away a couple of years ago, leaving my son and I behind. It's definitely not something all that ordinary, so…"
"You're bleeding." Another party-goer commented as Touya passed him a napkin to wipe his bloody face.
"Ah, yes, I had a bit of… Trouble at work. I'm a licensed pilot, but right now I am employed as a plane engineer and mechanic, so I was called to do some maintenance on an old model and my assistant got startled and accidentally hit me over the head with a wrench."
Not totally a lie, he had been hit over the head, although it was by an art smuggler who tried to knock him out.
"In that case, we should leave." Touya said, already done with everything. "If you're not well, it's not wise to stay."
"I suppose so…"
Between apologetic smiles and envious looks from some of the women, the both finally left the party. They were both silent for the next block until Keigo broke the silence.
"I'm sorry I was late, and I'm sorry I said husband instead of boyfriend. That wrench did a number on me."
For the first time in the night, Touya snorted. "Yeah, definitely. It's alright, although I did think you had ditched me."
"I'm a man of my word."
"I can see that now. You probably have a concussion and yet showed up."
"I don't have a concussion, it was nothing."
"A minute ago you said that 'the wrench did a number on you', so it wasn't nothing."
Keigo smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."
They both laughed softly, finding they were actually getting along quite well now that they had the chance to actually talk.
And then, all hell broke loose.
From a nearby alley, five thugs jumped out. Keigo recognized them as some of the art smugglers from before and cursed under his breath, had he really been in such a rush and so out of it that he'd let himself get tailed by such amateurs?
He was really letting his guard down.
In a quick moment, he grabbed Touya's hand and took off, figuring it wouldn't be wise to just leave him there.
"This night was bad enough and now we're getting mugged!?" Touya said, incredulous.
Sure, yeah, muggers. Keigo could work with that.
He took a sharp left, leading Touya towards a construction site he'd noticed while rushing to the party. The five thugs were still hot on their tails.
Keigo took another turn through a half-made hallway and ducked behind a wall, pulling Touya with him.
"Did we lose them?" Touya asked.
Keigo almost didn't notice how he didn't even seem winded while they had definitely run more than the average person could without getting agitated, but decided to pay it no mind at the moment.
Their answer however came in the form of one guy rounding the corner on their hiding spot.
At that moment, Keigo stood back while Hawks took over, swiftly taking care of the guy and letting him drop to the ground, unconscious.
Touya gaped at him. "How did you-?"
"I did some of my time as a pilot in the military." he answered quickly. "Let's go, it's a matter of time before anyone else…"
Right then, another guy took them by surprise. This time he managed to land a kick to Keigo's leg, making him fall.
It was Dabi's turn to take over.
He whirled around, ducking to avoid a punch and kicking the guy on the jaw so hard he could hear a crack, and he flew backwards with the force of it and ran slammed into the wall.
Now it was Keigo the one who gaped. "You…"
"My father taught me some martial arts," he answered before they both took off. Two down, three more on the loose. Keigo noticed one had dropped a grenade and stopped to get it before they ran out.
They ran back into an open space, towards the exit.
And that's when Touya decided to drop the bomb. "You know, we should stay married for real."
Keigo tripped, almost falling on his face. He stopped to look at Touya.
"It's easier." he elaborated. "That way if you ever need me to still keep up appearances at Ryu's school I can do it, and my coworkers already think we're married too… Besides, my brother said something about women and men past a certain age and unmarried apparently can get arrested under suspicion of espionage, and I don't know about you, but I'm not looking forward to that. So, would you marry me?"
Keigo had the urgency to laugh. He was going to eventually ask Touya that, but since he was already offering…
"Guess we'll have to get married for real then." he reached into his pocket, looking for the ring he'd taken from the box of stolen jewelry they had retrieved, the one Best Jeanist had gave him a stern look when he reached for, but said nothing.
Then, noises came from their left. Keigo cursed again, more so when he noticed the ring was gone. He'd lost it.
He found another small wall nearby, either clearly half done or it was supposed to be that small. He pushed Touya behind it, and he had to duck in order for his whole body to be covered.
Keigo waited for a beat, and when the three men left rounded the corner, he pulled the pin off the grenade and threw it, quickly ducking too.
He realized then that he might not have a ring, but he did have that.
Pulling Touya's hand towards him, he presented him with the grenade pin.
Touya seemed to pick up on what he meant and a small amused smile broke onto his face. "That's not the most conventional ring."
"Gotta work with what we have." he shrugged. "So, Touya, I take you as my definitely-not-fake husband, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until…"
'Until the mission' Hawks thought.
'Until murder' Dabi thought.
"... Death does us part." Keigo finished, pulling the grenade ring into Touya's ring finger, the sudden heat and loud explosion going off and basking part of their faces in shadows for a moment.