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As the door to the roof opens, the cold, nighttime, air whipped against Todoroki’s skin and was a little painful against the freshly burned skin, even if they were wrapped up. But the painful burns caused by his quirk was something he was starting to get used to.
He let the door shut behind him, it wasn’t like he was going back inside, so it didn’t matter if he was locked outside. He looked down at the ground as he started walking, not wanting to look at the edge of the building where he’d soon be standing. But he heard a noise and looked up quickly. Perching on a utility box was none other than Takami Keigo, the commission’s golden boy. Out of everyone who could be on the roof at this moment it was him. The one person who could save him if he jumped.
Takami and Todoroki had been forced to spar when he first arrived at the commission. Todoroki was the Number 2 Hero’s son after all and Takami was the best potential hero they had. But they found out quickly that the winged boy was no match for the white haired boy's flames. The feathers of the wings lit on fire and the boy screamed as the wings started to burn up. Todoroki felt so bad about it he ran over and tried to put the flames out with his hands.
A few months later the two boys started to train together as a hero pair. And surprisingly they were pretty good together, Takami was able to use his wings to increase Todoroki’s flames. And Todoroki could deal with any flame user the pair would encounter. But then there was the issue with Todoroki’s body, it couldn’t handle the heat of his flames. Hotter than even his father's, the flames would burn his skin. And finally it was enough, his dad was going to take him out of the commission. He couldn’t go back to that hell hole called home again, he wouldn’t survive.
‘Why did that stupid bird have to be the one up here?’ Todoroki thought to himself.
“What the hell are you doing up here? You know you’ll get in trouble if they find out?” Todoroki said, walking over to the bird.
Keigo looked down at him. “Like you should be talking, you’re up here too.”
Todoroki looked away from the bird. “Yeah cause I’ve got plans to die tonight. But you’re in my way. And I don’t wanna hear you say not to do it, I’ve made up my mind.”
Takami blinked at him, stunned for a moment. “Todoroki, do you know what the fuck you just said to me and that it’s me right?”
Touya balled his fists up, he could feel his body temperature start to rise. The flames burst from his fingers, making their way up his arms and he fought to get his emotions in check. The blue flames made the healing burns from today hurt even more. He grabbed his head with his hands.
“I don’t care! I don’t care that we barely know each other and we’ve only really talked when they make us train together!” Todoroki’s voice cracked as tears started to run down his face. “I don’t fucking care anymore.” He said in a voice that broke Takami’s heart.
Takami flew down from where he was perched and grabbed Todoroki pulling him into a hug, using his wings to pats the flames out. Todoroki tried to push him away and step back up but Takami held him tight. Snuffing out the flames even if it burned his wings and it hurt.
“Takami! Get away, I’m burning your feathers! Please, I don't want to hurt you again.” Touya sobbed trying to pry Takami’s arms off him.
“No! The flames are starting to go down. It’s okay, my feathers will grow back.” Takami said.
Once the flames had gone down Todoroki pushed away from Takami and this time Takami let him. Todoroki turned his back to the blond boy, his shoulders shook as he sobbed quietly. He slowly wrapped his arms around himself. Takami wanted to hold him again so badly but he knew it probably wasn’t a good idea.
Takami sighed. “I know you don’t know me, but I want to change that. I know you want to jump and end it all. I know how they treat you here and how your dad treats you when you aren’t here. I see the burns growing. So…. What if we just left? Ran away, we’ve been training for years. We could hide from them and they’d never find us.” Takami looked up at him hopefully.
Todoroki turned around and glared at him. “Are you crazy?! You don’t even know me?! What are you supposed to do if I start on fire and burn everything around us down? How are you supposed to treat my burns when I overuse my quirk? Huh?! TELL ME?!”
Takami started pulling out some of the burned feathers to give himself something to do instead of looking at the burning blue eyes of the boy in front of him. Takami felt himself start to blush for a little at what he was going to say.
“Well… I do know how to deal with both of those things. You never noticed huh?” Takami said, chuckling to himself. “I’ve been watching you since the beginning. Since the first time we sparred together. Why do you think they started pairing us up huh?” Takami said, looking over at Todoroki for a second before turning back to his wings.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Todoroki said but the bitter, angry tone from before was gone.
“I asked my handler to partner us up. I told them it would get rid of my weakness towards fire, if I had someone who could use flames paired with me. They agreed to test it out. When it turned out we were a good team they started training me to put out flames and first aid to treat your burns. And I’ve been told everything that is known about your quirk and how it affects your body.”
Todoroki was unable to speak so Takami continued. “I’ve been doing odd jobs on the little bit of free time I’ve given a week. So I’ve been saving up money and buying a few things. I know you’ve been stealing money from your dad when you go home. I’ve watched you get more and more depressed in the last few weeks. And when you came back today, I knew you were done. I could stand here all night trying to convince you but we’re only wasting time. Are you coming with me or are you staying here? My offer stands, and you must choose.”
Todoroki seemed to think it over for a little while, Takami patiently waited for him to decide. Nervous that he would say no and what would happen if he did say no. But excited that there was a chance he might say yes. An opinion to get out of this place and make a new life.
“Alright you win, but I only give you one night. We have to get out of here tonight. And if we don’t or we get caught or if you try to hurt me or trick me. I swear to god I’m gonna jump and you won’t be able to fly and save me.”
Takami took a step closer and grabbed Touya’s hand. “Settle dove, I know what you’re going through. If you said no I was gonna jump too.”
Todoroki looked down at Takami’s hand holding his. “But first tell me, why did you go through all this trouble for me?”
Takami chuckled and pulled him into a hug. “You still really don’t know, god you’re blind. I like you idiot. And now I’m gonna protect you always and keep you safe because you deserve it.”
Todoroki crashed their lips together in a quick clumsy kiss. “I was hoping you’d say that, I like you too Takami.”
“Keigo.” The winged boy said before he kissed Touya again, this time a longer, sweet kiss, it was still clumsy and awkward but neither boy seemed to care.
“Then you should call me Touya, Keigo.” Touya said the name testing it out. It felt right.
Keigo beamed at him. “Okay then Touya we should get ready to leave. They’re about to change over the guards for the night. So we should be able to sneak to our rooms and my hiding spot without being seen.”
“Okay.” Touya grabbed Keigo’s hand and started pulling him towards the door when he remembered. “Oh fuck! I locked us up here, what are we gonna do?”
Keigo blinked at him and gently hit him with one of his wings. “What do you think these are for? My window is open. I’m gonna fly us down there.” He pulled Touya against his chest and wrapped his arms around him.
“Keigo no!! You’ve lost feathers!!!”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t lose as many as you think, I’ve been learning how to put the flames out, without doing a lot of damage to my feathers. And I’ve carried things much heavier than you with a lot less feathers. It’ll be fine. Just hold on tight okay?”
Touya nodded and tightened his hold on Keigo, Keigo did the same to Touya. The winged boy slowly started to fly down to his window. When he got there, he carefully placed Touya inside in his room before he flew in after him. He lifted up his bed and pulled out a black backpack and handed it to Touya.
“Go next door to your room and start packing. Remember only things that you really need.”
Touya nodded at Keigo and walked towards the door, he opened it slowly. Peaked out, checking to make sure everything was clear before he quickly walked to his room. He opened the door softly and closed it behind him. He threw the backpack on the bed, grabbing some clothes, random protein bars and drinks that he had in his room, some of the first aid stuff he had, and finally a picture of him and his siblings.
Just then the door opened and his heart sank for a second, he was caught. But he saw the red feathers and breathed a sigh of relief. He took a deep breath and waited for the bird to close the door.
“Jesus Keigo you scared the shit out of me.” Touya said.
Keigo ignored him and put a black hat on his head. “That will cover your hair until we can dye it, I have a bag I’m going to put my feathers in once we get to the train station. I’ll fly us to one a few towns over so we have less of a chance of someone knowing who we are. Once we’re in whatever town the train drops us off at, we’ll dye our hair and my wings. Then no one will know who we are. Are you almost done?”
Touya was standing there with his mouth open, Keigo had really thought of everything to make sure they got out safe and weren’t found. Touya snapped back to it when Keigo said his name again.
“Oh yeah I’m almost ready.”
Touya finished packing everything into his backpack and grabbed the cash he had from his hiding place. Hopefully it should be enough for them to live on for a few months until they have more plans. Touya helped Keigo stuff other clothes and things under the blanket to make it look like a person. Touya was ready to leave when he saw Keigo pluck a feather and hide it in the pillow.
“What are you doing?” Touya asked.
“I can sense where my feathers are and if they get touched or moved. When they can’t find us in our beds, I’ll know. Gives us an idea of when they’ll start looking for us. It was something my handler made me keep from you.”
Keigo looked around my room then grabbed his bags. “Are you ready?”
I nodded.
“Okay so they don’t think that we’ve run away at first, we need to make sure our windows are closed. So we have to walk back up to the roof. The guards are all changing shifts so there shouldn’t be anyone around. But we need to be quiet and careful.”
“I got it, just like they trained us.”
Keigo nodded and took the lead, opened the door and checked the hallway. Everything was clear. He carefully opened the door more and the boys started towards the stairs. Keigo had Touya wait at the bottom so he could fly up and check it was okay. Then he grabbed the white haired boy and flew them up to the top of the stairs. They opened the door to the roof and closed it carefully.
Keigo put Touya down on the roof so they could make sure all the bags were secured and ready for the long flight. Keigo was about to grab Touya again when Touya stopped him. Keigo looked at him confused and worried. Had he changed his mind after all?
“I just need one second, I know we need to get going but I need to say goodbye to this place and all the bad it’s done.”
Keigo nodded and wrapped an arm around the taller boy’s waist holding him close, giving him the time he needed. Touya was quiet for a while just looking at the door to the roof. He grabbed Keigo’s hand and turned them to face the city. He looked up at the sky for a second, it was just starting to lighten up. It was still dark but you could see hints of the sun coming up.
Touya looked for one house, one he found out he could see from here a long time ago. He said goodbye to his siblings, making a promise to come find them again when he could. And a promise to his father, that he’d pay for what he did, the commission too.
He turned to look at Keigo and pulled him in for a kiss. Then he wrapped his arms around Keigo tightly. Keigo did the same things and he kissed the taller boy's forehead. And then Keigo took off and the two boys flew towards the sunset and their new future.