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“Every quirk has its unbearable point!” The villain cackled maniacally after some sort of beam from him had successfully hit Hawks, causing Hawks to stumble back just as Dark Shadow emerged from the alley, capturing the villain just after.
Finally, the chase was over.
“Are you alright, Hawks?”
“I feel alright?” Hawks had given himself a thorough inspection while the police left the scene with the villain.
What did that guy mean, anyway?
What was even the point of his quirk?
Keigo was snug against Touya, their five-year-old twins tucked and asleep in the other bedroom, when Keigo felt an odd itch seemingly hopping around his whole body; his fingers, back, arms, behind his ears, his neck, toes.
There was no way of ignoring it as the intensity grew, leaving him carefully removing himself from his husband’s loving hold as he snuck off to the bathroom.
His eyes widened.
Crimson feathers had grown out from behind his ears.
The starts of feathers ran along the entire length of his neck on the sides and back of.
Obsidian talons emerged from his fingers and toes.
He even had a long tail with fluff to match his hair color under it, and the start of feathers running his arms where hair should’ve been.
His chest was at least unchanged, top scars and all.
He had just started considering what to do when he picked up on distant sirens.
A trashcan fell somewhere.
Something clicking, another scratching, another revving-
It was too much.
Keigo was down before he knew it, whimpering as his new feathers seemed to suddenly work with old, but against him.
He couldn’t take it.
Too much-
“Keigo-?” Touya’s eyes widened, especially at what Keigo hadn’t noticed.
He had a smaller pair of wings now. Just below the old.
Keigo had so many more feathers-
“H-Help..!”
Touya felt a sharp pain in his chest as he hurried to lift the toilet seat, directed Keigo gently to it, and carefully positioned himself between Keigo's wings before wrapping his arms around Keigo.
“Deep breaths, dove.” He bit at his bottom lip as he both heard and felt Keigo losing dinner. “I’m right here. I’m not leaving.”
Keigo had told him once about having to learn to focus his attention when he was overwhelmed.
If Touya could just get him to focus on him, and if he could get these new feathers honed on Touya, it might work.
“T-Touya..!”
“I wanna talk to you, sweetie.”
He noticed now the way Keigo’s talons were digging into Keigo's upper arms, a bloody vice grip Touya wished he could remove. Instead, he rested his own hands over Keigo’s, gently lacing his fingers between Keigo’s.
“I woke up and you were gone from the bed. Shoulda woken me up-“
“N-No.” Keigo knew he was a mess now. Tears clouded his vision while snot ran down over his lips, and his throat burned. “I-I’m s-sorry-“
“You didn’t ask for all this, did you?”
“No...” He would’ve shook his head if he wasn’t scared of the sensations his feathers would assault him with.
“Tell me what happened. Please.”
After a moment, Keigo explained it to him, starting with when he and Tokoyami had initially noticed the criminal running around town, cackling like a maniac as he shot off odd beams at civilians.
By the end, they both understood what happened, and what the villain had meant.
Keigo's quirk had been somehow enhanced by that villain to such a point that he now had new feathers to learn and try to deal with.
Talons, too, which had finally released Keigo’s arms just as his trembling had finally lessened.
“Feeling better, li’l bird?”
“Kinda.” Keigo was slow to turn himself so he could lean into Touya’s bare chest. “Scared to get up.”
“We can stay here.”
“But you need t’ sleep-“
“So do you. And if moving might mean ruffling the new feathers again, I’ll be fine.” Touya held Keigo just above his new tail and at the back of his head.
“If you were wearing a shirt right now,” Keigo mumbled tiredly, “I’d be ruining it.”
Touya smirked. “Wouldn’t’ve cared.”
“Woulda been gross.”
Touya chuckled. “We do both remember the walking horror I used t’ be, right?”
“Were still handsome.”
“Still need your eyes checked.”
“Would still love you.”
Touya rubbed small circles with his thumb on Keigo’s lower back. “I’d still love you with glasses.”
Keigo gave a content coo to that as he finally began to drift to sleep.
The next day, Keigo called Tokoyami to explain the situation and inform him that because of it, Keigo needed time home to adjust to this.
After morning cheek pecks, Touya left to drop the twins off at school before returning to find Keigo deep-breathing into a pillow.
“Need to talk, dove?”
A muffled “please” came from the pillow.
Touya went to lie down before Keigo, gently combing a hand through feathery hair. “Focus on me, li’l birdie.”