Work Text:
“Touya!”
Keigo sees the moment of recognition and then panic flit across Touya’s face as he looks up from the book he’s pouring over. As Keigo starts across the quad, Touya immediately gets up and begins his retreat.
“Touya!” Keigo shouts again with a little more urgency. What hope he’d had that this was just Touya being busy, distracted even, sets into the cold fact that he’s been ignoring him. The knowledge seizes Keigo where he stands before the frigid feeling fades to hot, heavy anger.
Fuck that. He sprints across the quad, jumping the hedges and the stone table Touya had been sitting at. What Touya has in height, Keigo more than makes up for in speed and endurance. Touya has barely made it across the street towards the library when Keigo’s hand makes contact with the strap of his messenger bag. Keigo yanks hard on it, forcing Touya around. Touya nearly trips over his feet, saved by Keigo’s grip only to be pushed into the wall of the library.
“Touya,” Keigo presses again through clenched teeth. The slight breathlessness to his voice is less from the short run and more from the anger that’s starting to seep through his whole body, shaking him.
“Takami,” Touya gasps out, far less physically inclined than his best friend.
“‘Takami’?” Keigo repeats, stunned as Touya struggles for air. “So, what? We sleep together once and suddenly we’re on a last name basis?”
“Look, I don’t have time–” Touya tries to step away, but Keigo grabs the lapels of his jacket and presses him further into the wall with a glare.
“You don’t have time, Todoroki?” Two can play that game. “You haven’t had time in the past four days to text your best friend? Once?”
“I’m a busy guy,” Touya snarls back. All Keigo can do is stare in absolute disbelief as Touya looks everywhere but at Keigo.
“Un- fucking- believeable.” Keigo lets out a laugh that sounds almost desperate. “You know, I thought we were adult enough to move past this, but, apparently, you’re not.”
“That’s not what you said.”
Keigo blinks.
“What?” And Touya finally looks at him. He’s working his jaw like he’s bracing himself.
“That’s not what you said.”
“Said what? Said when?”
“You–” Touya huffs and tries to knock Keigo’s hands away, but Keigo refuses to give him the chance to run. “Do you remember what happened?”
Keigo rolls his eyes. “Yeah. We got drunk, you put your dick in my ass, and we called it a night. Then you bailed before I woke up and I had to apologize to Yuu, alone, for having sex in her parents’ bed.”
“Her fault for not locking the door.”
He feels his lips twitch at that and his hands loosen just a bit on Dabi’s jacket. “That’s what I told her.”
“Seriously, who holds a rager and doesn’t lock every door that you don’t want someone to–”
“Touya. Focus. What did I say?”
Silence meets his question and Touya looks away, like he might find an excuse so as not to answer Keigo’s question on the cobblestone ground beside them. When nothing comes up from the aether to save him, Touya closes his eyes and drops his head back against the wall behind him.
“You told me that you loved me.”
Keigo’s body runs cold.
“I said that I…”
“That you loved me, yes, keep up, birdbrain.”
Keigo finally lets go of Touya, arms dropping lamely at his sides.
“I say a lot of things when I’m drunk.”
“Apparently.” Touya rakes a hand through his hair. “Don’t get me wrong, a lot of them were great. You’re very talkative when you’re–”
He waves his hand. “Alright, alright, alright, you don’t gotta get into that.”
“No, I’m serious. Never hard a partner who was so enthusiastic, really, I oughta–”
“Touya!”
“Just like that. Maybe a little breathier.”
For a moment, everything is okay. Both of them dissolve into laughter, leaning into the other’s space, Keigo swatting at Touya and Touya knocking his hand aside. That energy doesn’t last for long, however, and both of them fade to awkward silence.
“Do you?” Touya finally presses.
“Do I what?” Keigo knows exactly what he means.
“Do you have biology next? The fuck do you think? ” Touya snaps and earns a dirty glare from Keigo.
“I was drunk when I said that!”
“But did you mean it?!”
“So what if I did?!” Touya looks sick for a moment and Keigo wants nothing more than to take those words back. “Is it– Is it so bad if I do? We’ve–” Keigo scrubs his hands through his hair for a moment before lifting a hand to get a look at Touya who is still staring at the ground.
“We’ve been doing this for months now. This-This back and forth. I know you’re flirting with me too, you can’t tell me that you don’t feel the same!”
It’s the longing stares, the brushing hands, how they lean into each other whenever they have the opportunity. When they’re in a large group, they just gravitate together. Keigo’s been in and out of fostercare his entire life, he’s never had anything that’s truly been his and, for the first time in his life, he feels like Touya is his and he wants nothing more than to belong to Touya in turn.
“I can’t.”
“You can’t or you’re too chicken shit to do anything about it, huh?! Is this about your fucking ‘aloof’ persona? You’re so busy trying to be cool and distant that you can’t even let another person–”
“I could get kicked out, dumbass!”
Immediately, Keigo shuts up. Touya is glaring at him and there’s a glassiness to his eyes that betrays tears unshed.
“I– I got to come to this school because I made a promise to Enji that… that if I stopped being a– a freak and never let that side of me back out to the light, he’d pay for my school, my housing, my food.” Touya laughs, but there’s no humor to it. “He kicked me out of my own house when I was thirteen because he caught me kissing a boy. You think he won’t do that, again? And… And I need this education if I want to do anything. I want to be here. So… So, no, I can’t.”
“Touya…” Keigo doesn’t know what to say. He’s sorry? He understands? He hates that bastard more than words could possibly express? Jesus, he knew Enji was a piece of work from the horror stories that Touya told him, but to cut his kid off? Completely?
“He’s a monster.”
“We’ve been knew, pigeon. He’s been a monster since I was a kid and he’ll go to his grave a fucking monster. And if I have any hope of being able to do something with myself after school, to never need him again, I need a good job and I need to go to school.”
“We can– We can do this in secret. No one has to know!”
Touya actually snorts. “Yeah, sure, that won’t absolutely bite me in the ass. I tried to keep it a secret the first time and you saw how that turned out.”
“Well, you’re older! Smarter! We can–” Keigo doesn’t know what to say, but he’s so close to what he wants, he can taste it, this life that he and Touya can share.
“We can’t do shit.”
“You don’t want to do shit! You’re giving up!”
“What other choice do I have?! Huh?!” Touya gestures around him wildly. “I’m not smart enough to get by on a scholarship, I’m too much of a spazz to try and hold down a job, and the way Enji just shows up to campus sometimes, I’d be literally on high alert all of the time. This is easier. For both of us.”
He stares at Touya, sees the pain in his expression and Keigo knows that Touya is trying to convince himself of his words as much as he’s trying to convince Keigo. He reaches a hand up and holds the side of Touya’s face. What he doesn’t expect is for Touya to lean into it, nose and mouth pressed into the palm of his hand. It’s a facsimile of what they could have together.
“Please, just– Consider it.” Keigo’s voice barely crests above a whisper, but he knows Touya hears him. He can feel the sad smile against his palm.
“Maybe in another life, pretty bird.” Keigo’s hand finally drops to his side and he doesn’t know what to do but stare ahead. Touya sidesteps him before adjusting his jacket and his bag. There’s a pause, both of them avoiding looking at the other before Keigo sees Touya lean in. He hears the kiss to his cheek rather than he feels it, the warmth it tries to spread to his body far outweighed by the cold gripping him. There’s a moment where he thinks Touya might say something, tease that this is all a joke and that they can really talk about this, but the intake of breath Touya schools through his mouth is immediately deflated in a sigh. He hunches his shoulders forward and makes a beeline into the library leaving Keigo to stare at the wall and wish he was still back in Yuu’s parents’ bedroom.