Work Text:
All he did was blink.
Blink, and break focus of the villain he and Hawks had been fighting.
Where was he?
Where were the other two? “Hawks?”
Dabi definitely wasn’t in Tokyo anymore.
After a moment of cautiously wandering about, Touya heard faint shouting.
This part of whatever town he was now in looked so decrepit, he wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here.
“...would be free to go about as I please!”
Whoever this yelling guy was, he sounded ready to beat someone.
Touya made sure to watch his step as he snuck up to the source, peeking in through a glass-less window.
His eyes widened as shock hit first, then a hot rage surged through his veins, blazing wildly.
The man was still yelling as he loomed over a small child.
A small, familiar, winged child who knelt before him, dull gold eyes staring at the wall before him.
“Don’t.” Dabi’s head whipped around to find Hawks holding his shoulder, a neutral expression over his face as he looked upon his younger self.
“That man-!”
“Is my father.” Dabi flinched at the sound of glass breaking, yet Hawks wasn’t phased in the slightest. “He was an abusive thief on the run. And as difficult as this may be to swallow, we can’t intervene.”
Dabi looked back inside to see the man slamming a foot down on his son’s back as he knelt there, hands on his head as he laid on the floor now. “But he-“
“Won’t kill me. Much as he hated my existence.” Hawks allowed himself a bitter chuckle as he tugged Dabi away. “It’s a wonder he didn’t. Was always reminding me I was useless and unwanted.”
“But you’re not.” Dabi glanced back at the house. “If we could save you-“
“Then we don’t know how that’ll affect me.” Hawks slowed to a stop after he felt certain they were far enough. “Seems the villain we were facing doesn’t teleport people to unknown locations with vivid recollection like we initially thought. She sent them all to the past, and they were all wise enough to not mess with anything and made it back safely.”
“But how do we get back?”
Hawks combed a hand through his hair. “All of them said they were ‘gone’ a few days,” he recalled, “despite it seeming like only a few minutes to us. We just have to find a spot, make ourselves cozy, stay on the down-low, and we should return after what’s gonna seem like a few days here.” None of the victims had mentioned anything about actually doing anything special.
“After what we just saw, gonna be real fucking hard not to get involved.” Seeing the child self of his boyfriend getting beaten like that was still boiling his blood.
“Would you do it and risk losing me?”
Dabi pursed his lips. “No.”
“Stay close, and don’t go back there.”
During their time in the past, Dabi decided to try getting his boyfriend to open up more.
They had only been dating a couple months now, and while Hawks was all smiles and cheer for the cameras, he had seen him worn, tired, upset.
He had also heard him apologize so many times, even for the smallest of things.
When not Hawks, but Keigo, burned his first attempt at bacon, he had gotten so frustrated, apologizing and blaming himself, that Touya had ended up ordering fried chicken delivery while bundling up with Keigo on their couch, praising and complimenting him as freckled cheeks blushed and soft lips chirped at him about being too much.
Any time Keigo had misspoken, he was swift to apologize, as if others were allowed to have their tongues trip while his had to get it right every time, first time.
It was as if he felt everything he did wrong had to be apologized for.
“I’m not proud of my past.” Keigo shrugged as he took another bite from one of the tossed pastries his feathers had snatched for them. They were lucky Hawks hadn’t debuted yet, or else those bakery cameras would be some damning evidence. “With the Takami Thief as my dad, then how shitty he was anyway? I dunno why I tried apologizing for everything when I was a kid, but I did.”
And still do, Touya added in his thoughts.
“You really did endure a shit situation.” Touya counted himself lucky his family had been so supportive of him, with his father even reaching out to the support equipment teams with wallet at the ready to create the special gauntlets Touya had, specially made to monitor his core temperature, help him with cooldown, and help him keep homeostasis.
Keigo had an abusive dad and, as he now learned from him, a mentally-absent mom. “But I’m sure there are others out there who have had it worse than me.”
Touya set his own pastry back into the plastic container before pulling a surprised Keigo into a tight hug. “That doesn’t make what you went through any better. No one deserves that shit. That’s why... I love you so damn much, seeing that shit just. It pissed me off. I wanted to burst right in and kick his ass so much.”
“I know.” Keigo pressed his face into Touya’s chest. “You really are too good for me-“
“Taking my line, li’l birdie.”
“Says the loving boyfriend who actually has basic life skills.” The Hero Public Safety Commission had taken care of and trained Keigo, but they hadn’t taught him basic skills, like cooking and laundry.
“You’re learning.”
“Because of you.” Keigo cooed against him. “So patient with me, firefly.”
“Of course, dove.”
After three days, the two had been nestled up together in the abandoned building they were taking shelter in when they happened to blink at the same time, opening their eyes tiredly to find themselves back in their apartment, together on their couch.
“We’re back?” Touya’s words were uncertain as he glanced around.
Keigo picked up the remote to turn the tv on.
The news channel he flipped to confirmed that they had safely made it back.
It was even right about the time they had been sent back in time.
“So,” Touya spoke, “should we go see if Warp’s still over there and try catching her?”
“Oh yeah.”
With how little time had gone by in the present, their ambush was a cakewalk.