Work Text:
Keigo curled his wings tightly around himself as he huddled in his nest of threadbare blankets tucked away in the closet. He tried to cover his ears to block out the shouting, but the vibrations picked up from his wings were not so easily quieted. He wasn’t sure what they were arguing about this time, but he knew better than to investigate prematurely.
“How could you do this to us! As if Keigo wasn’t bad enough! You can’t do this!”
“Fucking hell… Just shut up Tomie! It’s a brat! What does it matter?”
“It’s another mouth to feed Hisashi! I don’t even want Keigo, let alone some whore’s spawn!”
Keigo flinched. He knew how his parents felt about him, but he never liked to be reminded of it. Then his mother’s words registered fully and he froze.
Wait what? Did that mean -
“Just deal with it! I don’t care how. That woman put me down as the father and refusing the brat after she died would have brought me too much attention. Have the other brat take care of it for all I care.”
Keigo heard his father’s heavy footsteps, then the door slammed shut as his mother let out a frustrated scream.
“Keigo! Get your ass out here!”
He obeyed, forcing his twitching wings to uncurl before opening the closet door and walking silently to where his mother stood, fuming, and holding a crying bundle of blankets. As soon as she saw him, she thrust the bundle into his arms and stormed to the kitchen where she started drinking out of a large glass bottle. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then waved Keigo away.
“Apparently your father knocked up some woman and it’s now my problem. That’s your new baby brother and he’s your responsibility, you hear?” she hissed before resuming drinking.
Keigo, still reeling, knew better than to disagree, so he nodded and retreated back to his closet, clutching the bundle to his chest.
Once he was safe, back in his nest, he unwrapped the blanket enough to see his brother.
His brother.
He had a baby brother.
The cries had quieted and now big green eyes stared up at Keigo. The familiar black markings on the lids and at the corners of his brother’s eyes had Keigo faltering.
Was he like me?
The idea of sharing his quirk with someone other than his father…
He ran the pad of his thumb over plump cheeks and found them entirely dry. A tuft of dark hair stuck out from the blanket and Keigo carefully ran his taloned fingers over the baby’s head to smooth it down. He let out a soothing coo and received a tiny chirp in response. His heart full of hope, Keigo slowly unwrapped the blanket which revealed a pair of downy feathered wings, rumpled and damp from sweat. He cooed again, resting his baby brother’s head on his chest, before carefully beginning to preen.
~⯎⭒⯎~
Keigo felt Izuku clutch tightly to his shirt as the two of them peered around the corner to the front door.
There was a woman there, speaking to Mother and handing her a piece of paper.
“And of course, you will be compensated. In return, you will waive all parental rights.”
“What about the other one? Are you taking him too?”
The woman at the door blinked, then frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
Mother huffed, glancing towards the hallway then gesturing dismissively towards Keigo and Izuku. “The other brat. They’re a package deal.”
The woman followed Mother’s gaze, giving Keigo a once-over before seeing Izuku and frowning. Keigo pushed Izuku behind him and flared his wings slightly to block him from view. The woman’s eyes snapped back to Keigo and her frown disappeared, replaced by a smile that made Keigo tense.
“Hello Takami-kun. I’m from the Hero Public Safety Commission. We heard how brave you were the other day and I’m here to offer you the opportunity to become a hero. Would you like that?”
Keigo felt his wings flutter in excitement. A hero. Like the brightly blazing man who captured Father and ensured he would never hurt Keigo again. Would never have the opportunity to hurt Izuku.
“How?” he asked softly. He glanced at Mother, but she wasn’t looking at him, her attention focused on the paper the woman had given her earlier.
“Well, you would come live at the Commission’s headquarters, and we would train you to become the hero that society needs.”
Keigo frowned, reaching behind him to grab Izuku’s hand. “And my brother?”
The woman’s smile faltered, and her frown reappeared. She turned back towards Mother. “Does he have the same quirk?”
Mother shrugged. “He has his father’s wings. Keigo wasn’t able to detach his wings until he was four or so, and the brat just turned one, so who knows.”
The woman’s frown deepened, and she shook her head. “We wouldn’t be able to start training him for years. There would be no point in taking him now. Contact us once you know, and we can return for him then.”
Mother was already shaking her head before the woman had finished speaking. “The brat isn’t even mine. I’ve only allowed him to stay because Keigo takes care of him. I won’t keep him if you’re taking Keigo.”
“Fine. It’s irrelevant. We can track him down in a few years if necessary.”
Keigo placed a hand on Izuku’s head and took a step back. “I’m not going anywhere without my brother,” he said in his most confident tone of voice.
The woman scowled, then held up a finger as she began typing on her phone. After a few minutes of this, she looked back at Keigo with a sharp smile. “We don’t normally accept children as young as your brother into our hero training program, but you are both very special, so we’ll make an exception. You will work hard to show your appreciation, won’t you?”
Keigo glanced down to his baby brother, who was still clutching his hand and using Keigo’s leg to remain standing. Keigo may only be eight, but he knew what awaited both him and Izuku if they refused. His mother didn’t want either of them and often ignored them both for days on end. They would be on the streets soon, and Keigo knew he wouldn’t be able to protect Izuku there. Besides, they could become heroes. That’s what he wanted anyway (wasn’t it?).
Keigo nodded.
And his mother signed their lives away.
~⯎⭒⯎~
Hawks sat on his bed and worked his fingers through Izuku’s feathers. His baby brother was silent, but so was Keigo. It always took them some time to switch mentality away from being Hawks and Falco once they were done with training for the day. Their room was the only place they could be Keigo and Izuku, but today’s training had been… difficult, and they were both still reeling.
Days like today used to be much easier for Keigo to recover from. When it was only him, he was able to get through his training with the knowledge that Izuku would be waiting for him at the end of it. That his brother would run his chubby taloned fingers through his hair and feathers and coo softly while Keigo applied bruise paste and wrapped bandages. But it was so much worse when it was Izuku who needed the treatment. When they both struggled to lift their arms up high enough to preen each other. When they both remained silent rather than releasing soothing chirps and coos because of the punishment they received the last time their handler had heard them.
Life as wards of the HPSC was better than the life that they would have had abandoned on the streets (wasn’t it?), but it was by no means easy.
“Keigo?” His brother’s soft voice would have been difficult to hear without their enhanced hearing.
“What is it, chickadee?” Keigo responded, equally softly.
“What’re we going to do?”
Keigo leaned his forehead down to rest on Izuku’s shoulder and wrapped one arm around his brother’s waist. He extended his other arm towards where Izuku’s hands were wringing together and felt his brother’s hand wrap around his wrist in a stress grip.
Today wasn’t the first time that their handler had brought up Keigo’s Hero Debut, but it was the first time she had spoken of it in anything other than abstract terms. At fifteen, Hawks’ Debut was only a few short years away and the reality that he would no longer be living at the HPSC training ground had hit them both hard.
He wrapped his wings around them both, cocooning them away from the rest of the world.
“Don’t worry, chicklet. I’ll figure something out. I won’t leave you alone. Not for long anyway. Not if I can help it,” he whispered, tightening the arm he had wrapped around Izuku’s waist. “Once I’m in the Top 10, I’ll have more sway with the higher ups, more freedom to make… requests. We just have to make sure that the Commission knows it’s in their best interest to have you come live with me. The public loves Hero Legacy families, don’t they?”
Izuku nodded, his stress grip relaxing marginally.
“Then that’s the angle we work,” Keigo added, forcing confidence into his voice. “I’ll drop some crumbs for the press, the public will eat up the idea that I’m a doting older brother, and the Commission will think it’s their idea to give me full custody. We just have to spend the next few years ensuring them of our loyalty. They can’t suspect otherwise, chickadee, do you understand?” he asked softly, twitching his feathers slightly. Izuku’s feathers twitched in response.
“I understand,” his brother whispered, releasing his stress grip to begin to preen Keigo’s primaries. His voice dropped to a mumble that would be impossible to hear if Keigo wasn’t so close, even with their hearing. “Why would I want to leave? I love it here. Being a hero is all I want. But it looks like Hawks’ approval ratings are dropping with the knowledge that he isn’t taking care of his brother. We don’t want that. I suppose it would make sense for me to live with him. My training regime wouldn’t need to adjust much. Private tutors. Only the best for The Winged Heroes. But why the secret training? How would that reflect upon the Commission? No, wait, how would that reflect upon Hawks? It would look best if Hawks had his brother take the Recommendation Exam. Wouldn’t that make the most sense as a Legacy? Or is that too obvious?”
Keigo smiled against his brother’s shoulder as Izuku mumble-thought his way through working out the narrative they would need to sell.
They could do this. They were The Winged Heroes: Hawks and Falco, and they refused to remain caged.
They would be free.