Chapter Text
A deep sigh left the mouth of Keigo Takami as he went through the convenience store aisles. He was the number 2 pro, he could buy anything he wanted. Often he had groceries brought to him, or went to nice, private and expensive restaurants where he was guaranteed some moments alone.
But sometimes he just wanted some cheap convenience store ramen.
It was hard to go shopping in his normal state, so now he dressed in a simple white t-shirt, beige cargo pants, and a denim jacket over that. His wings were mostly gone. One thing he did when he didn't want to be recognized was to leave his long feathers at home (or one of the homes, this one being his Musutafu residence), keeping the shorter ones on in case of emergencies. It wasn't much, but enough that if there was an incident, he wasn't defenseless. What was left of his wings was easily hidden under a jacket, which could be tossed off if need be. The rest of the feathers were left in his high rise, a window open in what he liked to call "the baby's room" jokingly, where they could rush to him if needed be. He never went too far from them, the longest the trip took for his feathers was 30 seconds, so there was little risk in leaving without them. Without his crimson wings, he may as well have been invisible. There were even instances where he'd run into other pros that he had worked with and they wouldn't recognize him despite that really being the only thing missing, so he was confident in his ability to blend in.
Which made his visit much easier as he brought his cheap ramen and other snacks to the check out. The cashier looked tired, and while they weren't rude, they weren't polite as they rang him up.
"¥560." He handed them the bills, muttering to keep the change as he walked out. Finally, he could get out with his cheap ramen and enjoy an egg cracked into it. He had some eggs at home right?
His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a sharp cry of pain. Instinctively, he turned to see a young woman with a snapped heel. Ah well, sucks to be her. None of his business. While he always liked helping people, part of him couldn't help but think she really should've expected that this was a natural consequence of wearing something like that just to walk around town. Natural consequences were a part of life, and hand holding people through minor bad decisions wasn't good for anyone.
At least he'd like to say that, but her heel happened to snap while she was crossing the street, with a car speeding towards her. Cursing, he dropped his bag and rushed towards her, scooping her up and carrying her safely out of the way. Normally, he would play up the character the commission gave him, the friendly, charismatic hero, but he found that a little hard the moment when an easily predictable outcome almost got her killed.
"What the hell are you doing walking around streets like this in heels," he asked, careful to keep the minor annoyance as he spoke to the flustered woman staring up at him in disbelief and adjusting her now skewed glasses.
"S-Sorry," she stuttered out as he put her down, smoothing out the more homely skirt she was wearing that really didn't fit the nice (if broken) heels she was wearing. "I was told I need to break them in and I had to pick up some medicine for a student so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone."
"Hold on," he said as she took off the heels, "you decided that the best way to break your new heels in was to walk around the city in them? And what does that have to do with getting medicine for, I'm sorry you said a student?"
"When you put it that way," she said with an embarrassed flush as she tried to fix her white hair, the streaks of red striking against it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you trouble, but thank you for saving me." He looked her up and down.
Now that he had a chance to breathe, he could give her a better look. She wasn't a particularly noticeable person, she was certainly beautiful, however, the baggy clothes didn't do much for her, although in his experience women who dressed like that were typically avoiding being seen for one reason or another. She had one hand full with what looked like a bag with some over the counter medicines, and now her other hand held the heels, leaving her in what may as well have been bare feet for the protection the feet of the tights she was wearing offered
The only other thing she had was an over the shoulder purse she was wearing across her body so the purse itself rested on her hip. A challenge but not impossible to take. He frowned. He didn't know her quirk, but from what he saw, she was a walking target for getting mugged. He couldn't bring himself to just let her walk off on her own.
And it was his first day off in a long time too.
"How far do you live," he asked, his snacks and ramen long forgotten. "You're gonna need to go home and get a new pair of shoes before you go drop off that medicine."
"Oh uh, about ten minutes walking," she said, a little confused. "Why?"
"Which way?" She pointed. "Okay let's go."
"Huh?" Wordlessly, he started walking in that direction.
"You're alone walking barefoot," he explained as she started waking next to him. "You can walk just fine but if you need to run you won't be able to. So I'm gonna walk you to your house. I can't leave you in good conscience on your own."
"Oh. Thank you."
They walked awkwardly in silence for a few moments. He glanced over at her as she looked down, a guilty look on her face.
"What's with the face," he asked.
"I just feel bad now," she said. "First you saved my life and now you're walking me home. I feel like I'm taking your time."
"If I didn't want to do it I wouldn't," he pointed out as they rounded a corner. "I mean, you're taking medicine to some kid. Should the kid think you're taking their time."
"No," she said with a small smile. "You're right about that."
"Why are you getting medicine anyway," he asked. "You a teacher? Isn't that going a little above and beyond?"
"I am," she confirmed, finally looking up at him. "And I normally wouldn't do this, but Hikari's parents won't be getting paid before she needs this. Her mother came to pick up her school work and it got brought up and I offered."
"That's mighty generous of you," he said with a small smile. "Trying to get in mama's good graces?" She shook her head.
"Not at all. I'm just worried about her." She lifted up a bottle of a medicine he actually recognized. They used it in the fields sometimes when someone took a quirk enhancing drug that made their bodies unstable. He'd heard that there was an over the counter version but he'd never seen it. "Her body isn't really made for her quirk so she gets fevers and has to miss school. I just hate the idea of her getting behind just because her parents can't afford to help her with something that's not her fault. So I'm helping where I can."
"You're an odd one Miss…?"
She hesitated for a few moments before giving him a small smile.
"Well, I think since you saved my life, we can skip straight past the family name formalities and you can call me Fuyumi."
"Fuyumi huh?" He rolled the name silently around his mouth a bit. Why did it sound so familiar?
"Anything I should call you," she asked, leaning forward a bit with curiosity.
He had to think on that for a few moments. "You can call me Kei for now." He hadn't been called that since his mother was around, but he was still trying not to get recognized, and the last thing he needed was for her to connect his family name to Takami the thief. Somehow, Kei was less personal to him than Keigo.
"I like that," she said with a smile. "Nice to meet you Kei."
"Nice to meet you too," he said. For the first time in years, he really felt like he meant it.
"So what do you do for a living," she asked, tilting her head.
"Law enforcement," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to lie, but telling the truth was a sure way to get his cover blown and he wasn't interested.
"Oh you're an officer," she asked, smiling a bit. "They're really under appreciated. I hope you get the recognition you deserve."
"Eh, heroes always get all the glory," he said with a chuckle. "I mean, they're the ones usually saving the day. Officers usually just do damage control. Trying hard and doing everything possible, but not as much as the heroes since law enforcement isn't allowed to do as much."
"Heroes…" She frowned and looked down. If she didn't have his attention before, she certainly did now. "They do their jobs well. But they're not the be all end all of the world. I wish people would stop treating them that way."
"Careful there," he teased, yet keeping a careful eye on her. "Almost sound jealous."
"Who could be jealous of them," she asked, meeting his eyes. "Their whole lives are public. Anything they don't want known they have to keep hidden like they're ashamed. What happens behind those closed doors?" She flushed in embarrassment and looked down again. "Ah, sorry. I'm just-"
"You're not wrong," he admitted, taking a hand and rubbing the back of his neck as he looked forward. "I've known a few pros who had to treat their civilian partners like a dirty little secret to protect their privacy that ultimately ended their relationships. There have been scandals where pros lose their whole careers over petty crimes from middle school coming to the surface. It makes people hide everything the public might have the slightest bad reaction to." He didn't turn his head, but he did glance towards her from the side. "You're not wrong to be worried about what happens behind those closed doors."
She gave a weak chuckle, not meeting his eyes. "Sorry. I made the conversation so heavy. You must be feeling awkward." He blinked a couple times at the statement before bursting out laughing, earning him a look from her as she stared in bewilderment.
"Nah that's fine," he assured her. "Actually, it's been a long time since I actually just talked about something that wasn't shallow or work related. We could talk about the ethics of international trade for all I care honestly but it's nice to just talk about anything but work."
She walked silently for a few moments before just laughing with him.
"How starved are you for a conversation that this is pleasant," she teased. "When was the last time you just talked to someone?"
Since early childhood.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he answered with a jovial smile. She stopped for a moment, standing there and putting the bag and shoes on the ground to dig through her purse. He paused, raising an eyebrow. "Need something?"
"Just a second." She dug through her purse and pulled out a notepad with a pen through the loops.
"People still carry those?" She rolled her eyes and wrote something down, ripping it off and handing it to him.
"Here," she said, "if you ever just wanna talk."
He took the paper and looked over it carefully, realizing it was just numbers. He couldn't help but stare at it. He couldn't remember the last time someone actually just gave him a number when he wasn't being Hawks. And it wasn't flirting, he'd know if it was. She just wanted to talk.
"This is an awful lot of power," he teased as he slipped the number into his pocket. "I could always hound you for something unsavory."
"Why would you be walking me home if you were gonna do that," she asked as she picked up her items and started walking again.
"There are people who play long cons," he pointed out. He'd certainly rescued enough girls in a situation like that.
"You would've done something already," she reasoned, "and a bad person wouldn't have saved my life."
"You got me there," he chuckled, looking around. The buildings started to get increasingly nicer, like an area he could see a midlevel pro living in, one of those self important types. He whistled at the houses as they walked by some of them. "A person like you on a teacher's salary lives somewhere like here? You got a rich spouse?"
"I'm not in a relationship," she said with a small laugh. "I live with my family still to help with my younger brothers."
"You buy medicine for a student, you work in a job where you're dedicated to other people, and you still live at home to help your family," he asked with an amused expression, but the gears were turning underneath the surface. "You do anything for yourself? Like ever?"
"Sundays I recharge," she said with a smile. "I call them self care Sundays!"
"That's the day after tomorrow," he noted. "You have any plans then?"
"I make myself a nice meal for breakfast lunch and dinner and watch cooking shows," she said with a bright smile.
"If that's your form of self care then live it," he said, pausing for a few moments, "but those are also things that can help others. What's something you do just for yourself?"
"I-" She frowned, and he knew she was trying to come up with something.
"It's okay to be a little selfish sometimes," he said, though the irony was not lost on him. "Healthy even."
"I guess it doesn't come naturally to me," she said with a nervous laugh. "It's just how I've always been."
"Behavior like that doesn't come naturally," he noted, turning his head to face forward but keeping his eyes on her. "But I'll save the invasive personal questions for a time where you're more comfortable and I'm not a total stranger." She blinked at him a few times.
"You're an odd one yourself," she said as she stopped. "Ah, we're here."
He looked at the rather large, clearly traditional estate. It wasn't grand in that it was a large house full of rooms no one used, but rather in the construction and maintenance. It looked like it was a sturdy, well built traditional style home. He half expected to see an ancient family walk out of it, not a modern day woman like Fuyumi. Still though, the place was clearly expensive, and seeing this he could really see how she came from money, despite not acting the way he's come to expect wealthy girls to act.
"You really are a rich girl," he noted, causing her to blush and look away. "I never would've been able to tell. All the rich girls I've ever dealt with are either selfish or so sheltered that they don't even realize just how privileged they are."
"I can't tell if you're trying to compliment me or insult those girls."
"Both." He gave her another smile as they reached the door.
"You should be a little nicer to people," she said, but with a smile as she reached for the handle. She stopped, and turned around so her back was to the door. "I meant it you know."
"Meant what," he asked with a raised brow.
"To use my number if you ever want to just talk," she said. "I'll always try and reply as soon as I can." She then gave him a small bow. "Thank you so much for taking me home."
"My pleasure," he said with a smile as he tucked his hands into his pockets again. "Have a good night Fuyumi."
"Have a good night Kei."
He was grinning as he left, walking past the gates and heading back to his apartment. What had started as an annoyance because his conscience wouldn't let him leave her alone left him feeling warm in a way he hadn't really felt before. He even felt a little bad being so judgmental, as minor as his judgment was. She was clearly a thoughtful, considerate person who had let one small thing, shoe safety, slip her mind. It wasn't surprising considering everything she was juggling.
He could learn a thing or two from her.
By the time he'd gotten home, the convenience store food was already forgotten, and he was already texting her as he waited for his takeout to arrive.
Me: yo its kei
What was he doing?