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A dream come true.
That's the only way he could describe it. The thoughts moved around his head as the drinks were passed around the table - nothing felt more natural than his life did now.
A fever, dream, more like.
A wild fantasy he didn’t think he’d be able to see ever again in his life. After near death experiences and broken hearts on white tile floors, his dreams piled up and never came true.
A nightmare, maybe . . .
He pictured the idea of waking up from this blissful moment. Woken from the happiness that he hadn’t felt in years. That seemed like the most likely option - life torturing him on his deathbed.
But then he smiled. He turned to him and smiled, sipping on his glass of water because he didn’t have the stomach for alcohol. He smiled and laughed and grabbed onto his hand so gently it could have been the touch of a feather. And that’s when he hoped and prayed to every deity in existance to, for once, stop playing with him.
It all seemed so real. The smile that he only shared when the cameras were off, the tips of his fingers brushing against his hand with such love and care that couldn’t be dreamed up, the laugh that made his heart do somersaults in his chest - all of it was too real.
It felt as if those six years of silence and heartbreak never happened. As if he hadn’t lost a limb and his dignity and most of his will to live.
It’s like he never left at all.
He couldn’t help the tears.
He didn’t know what to do or say when he felt his tears being wiped away, his cheek being kissed, and his face being held.
“Mirai. What’s wrong?”
He didn’t anticipate the sad smile his face formed. Or the dry laugh that slipped through his lips. “Why . . . why is life so cruel?”
“What are you talking about, Mirai?”
This isn’t real. This is just a cruel joke. This is just my punishment for letting you walk away. This is just my last bit of pain before i die.
“Mirai, what are you saying? Of course this is real!”
He didn’t realize he’d spoken out loud.
Toshinori’s outburst was all but loud, a whisper in the confines of the painfully empty space between them. The others at the table were blissfully unaware of the intimate moment being shared.
Mirai anticipated the end of his dream, but it didn’t come. Mirai anticipated his final breath, but he kept breathing. Mirai expected Toshinori to turn his back and walk away, but he sat. Stayed. Frowned.
God, why was he frowning . . . Mirai knew Toshinori knew he only ever wanted to see his smile, but here he was. Frowning. Holding Miria's hand close to his face. Frowning. Brushing his thumb against Mirai’s knuckles. Frowning.
Maybe this wasn’t a dream. Toshinori was never his normal stubborn self in his dreams. In Mirai's dreams, all Toshinori did was smile and hold him and retire happily with him in a small apartment in some rural town - far away from the madness of the city and its villains.
Mirai hated his dreams.
As much as he hated how Toshinori walked away, how for six years of his life he was miserable and loathed every breath he took because of the heart and lungs Toshinori took with him that fateful day - He would never trade any of it for a Toshinori that smiled like a wax figure and a gameshow host and listened to everything he said.
He loved Toshinori for everything he was - is. His stubborn heroic bullshit that lost him his sanity, his internal organs, his quirk, his relationship . . . He loved his smile, but only when it was real. When he laughed at a joke only he and Mirai found funny, when he saw young heros thriving and helping people, when they kissed in the dark at night, only the moonlight illuminating the outlines of their faces. Real smiles. He loved Toshinori’s frown lines he gained from nothing other than attempting to do his own paperwork every once in a while. He loved his picky eating, his nonexistent sleep schedule, and his love for niche American trivia.
He loved All Might. He loved Toshinori Yagi more. He loves him still, with all that he is.
And now they’re sitting at this table, in this bar, with the people who somehow became important in his life at one point or another. And they’re smiling. Toshinori is frowning, but everyone else is smiling.
And, God, if that isn’t fitting. The one man who is expected to smile through it all is frowning and kissing his hand and trying to figure out just why he was crying.
He didn’t expect this to be real. But it was. Toshinori Yagi was pulling him close into a quiet kiss and the entire world was melting around them and nothing could feel more real than that kiss in that bar in that moment with that man.
“I’m sorry. . . I love you.”
The others at the table barely gave them a second glance, apparently used to the quiet intimacy the two constantly shared. Nothing was ever flashy or obnoxious when the masks and capes and flashing lights were stripped away. When they were just Toshinori and Mirai, everything was quiet - peaceful and still.
When Toshinori kissed him, he realized he was alive. He realized he wasn’t in a dream. He realized his memories weren’t false and the six years of heartbreak and misery did happen. He lost an argument, lost a lover, lost a limb. But now he was here, sitting next to his lover, not arguing at all, and his remaining hand was being held close to Toshinori’s heart.
Nothing could be more perfect.
He was alive. When Toshinori kissed him again he felt like the first humans made of clay - life being breathed into him by Prometheus himself. But Toshinori was far from a god or titan. He was human, oh so human. He was stubborn and kind and impulsive and reckless and smart and strong and beautiful and beautiful and so damn beautiful.
And Mirai loved him. And Mirai still loves him.
Toshinori continued to hold Mirai's hand close to his heart as he kissed him again- softly, on the corner of the mouth like a promise of ever constant love but at a later time, in a private place.
“I love you too, Mirai. I always will. . . But what are you apologizing for?”
He expected the question. He always did. He knew Toshinori knew him like the back of his hand. No statement was able to go unquestioned. So he sighed. He sighed and laughed a small genuine laugh before leaning his head against Toshinori’s shoulder. “I thought I’d die before I could kiss you again.”
And that’s when he smiled. Toshinori gave him a small sad smile. It was worth a thousand words and a broken heart. Tattered memories and washed up dreams filled the air and so much could be said for the dread and regret in their hearts, but his silence spoke louder than any words could. His silence filled Mirai's lungs because he knew he knew Toshinori would never let it go. He would never stop blaming himself for what had become of the two of them even when Mirai told him over and over and over and over again that communication is a two way street at the very least.
So Mirai took a breath and moved to thread his fingers through Toshinori’s messy hair, not moving from the comfortable spot on his shoulder. “Toshinori. I love you.”
And then his breath was taken away. Stolen from him by Toshinori with a quiet phrase whispered to him through pursed lips. Sunken eyes looked down at him with love and compassion and promise and hope and tears threatening to escape with every emotion known to humankind. His lungs were emptied in the best way possible because finally after all these years he was reassured in the only way he needed.
He was reassured that his true undying love was reciprocated without even hearing those exact words. His breath was stolen when Toshinori whispered to him:
“Neither of us is going to die anytime soon. We’re going to fight fate together, remember? Always together.”
He didn’t expect to hear those worse spoken with such unfiltered devotion. He didn’t expect them at all.
So when he found some breath to fill his lungs with again, he smiled. He smiled and laughed, and Toshinori smiled back. Everything was perfect. Everything was good.
It wasn’t a dream come true
A fever dream
A nightmare
It was reality. It had always been so true. He need never dream again. It was all right in front of him.
“Forever and always.”
He wasn’t letting his love walk away again. He wouldn’t have to. Toshinori was there to stay. Forever and always.