Chapter Text
A constant buzz of noise in every direction; shoulders bumping with strangers in a rush past him; bright lights twinkling in the windows of every shop lining the street. It was the one day Touya dreaded being out in public: Christmas Eve.
It wasn’t that Touya necessarily hated the holiday. If inspiration struck, he would get a small gift for his bandmates or family. It was the general consensus that Christmas Eve was the day to go out and show off how in love you are, flaunting how picture perfect your life is, that made Touya’s stomach twist into pretzels.
Speaking of, a couple by a pretzel cart across the street had gotten into a shouting match. When the woman threw her food at his feet and stomped away, Touya sneered.
“Don’t laugh at them, Touya,” the shorter woman beside him said, swatting at his shoulder, “You wouldn’t want that happening to you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Touya sighed and rolled his eyes once she wasn’t looking.
“I saw that,” she said as she took the lead.
Touya tensed up and followed behind. “Sorry, Mom.” If he didn’t know Rei, he could’ve guessed her quirk was eyes in the back of her head with how often she caught him or his siblings trying to sneak something past her. Rather, that was a quirk Keigo had to grow up with. Knowing eyes were always on you was one of those things Keigo laughed off, but made Touya creeped out. Maybe that was what made him such a natural at the celeb life, and being such a goody two-shoes.
“Are you here just to laugh at couples breaking up on Christmas Eve?” Rei stopped at a crossing and chastised her son.
Touya blinked and raised his hands in defense. “I was just thinking about something funny. Was I smiling?”
Rei gave him that “stop being such a smartass” look she reserved for him alone. When the light changed and the crowd began moving again, she said, “The shop is on the second floor of that building. See the pink sign?” She pointed a few buildings down and Touya nodded once he spotted the bright NISHIYA FLOWERS logo. Slotting her hand into Touya’s, she smiled and added, “I just want to pick up a little arrangement to give Natsuo and his girlfriend when they visit tomorrow. Fuyumi’s busy cooking and Shouto said he had some school work to catch up on. I’m relieved you weren’t busy Touya!”
Truth was Touya had to bail on band practice to meet his mom when she called earlier that afternoon. Tenko wouldn’t stop cursing him out over it, which Himiko thought was just the funniest thing. His mom took priority, sue him. At least he didn’t bail to go hang out with Keigo, or they’d probably actually kick his ass.
Touya hadn’t told any of his bandmates about how he’d become friends with the country’s biggest hearthrob idol Hawks — or as Touya knew him, Keigo Takami. If he even wanted to tell them, then he’d have to bring up how they met through a chance encounter at the Endeavor Entertainment building, which was its own can of worms. If they found out their band had been stuck in the indie scene playing at seedy bars for the last two years while Touya had a personal connection to the biggest record company in the nation, Tenko was sure to dust him and find a new guitarist.
Though there was no way he’d let his band figure out his father was the Enji Todoroki. The man was a dominant force in the music industry, but he was also controlling and the antithesis of what their music stood for. Tenko, Himiko, Jin, and even the rest of the crew, they all wanted to say something through their songs. Highlighting the failures of society and rallying against the system was what banded them together. Signing their souls to some big agency would just destroy that.
Which meant keeping his budding friendship with Keigo under wraps as well. Keigo didn’t mind their secret rendezvous either, since he preferred to keep his personal life separate from his public persona. And what a difference that was. Hawks was charismatic and charming in every sense. He worked constantly without ever losing that pep in his step. He was made to be a star.
Then underneath all the flashy costumes and pristine makeup was Keigo: a quiet guy that broke his diet to eat a bucket of chicken at one in the morning with Touya after a bad day; whose quirk gave him a pair of striking red wings that occasionally got in the way when they watched a movie together; a listener who let Touya go on and on about some new song or book he loved, and then looked it up himself the next day.
“Welcome! Looking for anything in particular?” a florist greeted the duo before Touya could even shut the door behind him. One look around and he was already overwhelmed by flora flowing over the shelves. Sliding his hands into his pockets, Touya stuck to a corner of the room as his mother wandered off with the guy. Plants and Touya didn’t tend to mix well. Hopefully Rei wouldn’t be long and they’d be out of there before his quirk and poor luck managed to set the wooden florist aflame.
Bzzt . Bzzt. Touya’s phone buzzed against his fingers. Digging it out, the screen lit up with a new message from Keigo. As he read it, his face lit up as well.
“wanna come over and watch a bad xmas movie?”
“fans sent too much chocolate btw”
Attached was a photo of his coffee table hidden by a pile of Christmas candies. The fans probably wouldn’t appreciate knowing that Touya ate about eighty percent of their gifts every holiday or big event in Keigo’s career, but what else did they expect to happen? If one person thought to send something to their beloved “Hawksie”, then about a hundred others were thinking the same thing.
Touya started typing back a reply:
“Don’t you think it’s about time you ban gifts?”
To which Keigo replied seconds later:
“as long as ive got u to eat it all its not a problem :)”
“so u comin over?”
“Sure. Just helping my mom with something first.”
“ooooh tell her merry xmas from ho-ho-hawks”
“Reading that was painful enough.”
“I think I’m actually busy tonight now so have fun without me.”
“NOOOO!!!!”
“orz”
“I would like to formally apologize. I will be taking a period to reflect on my actions. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Nice PR statement. Damage controlled. 👍”
“You’re forgiven as long as I get to choose the movie.”
“fine. just make sure its funny-bad and not just bad-bad”
“Touya,” Rei called out as softly as a snowflake. Tucking his phone away, Touya perked up when she beckoned him over. “What do you think?” She stepped beside him and cocked her head slightly, leaning gently against his shoulder as she pondered the arrangement assembled by the florist. It was a small bouquet of flowers Touya couldn’t be asked to identify outside of “blue and violet.”
He nodded his head. “Looks good to me.”
“But do you think Natsuo’s girlfriend would like it?”
Touya blinked. Another glance at the bouquet and he shrugged. “I think so.”
Rei hummed and stared at the flowers before adding, “You don’t think it’s too bare? Would they think I don’t like her if it’s not bigger?”
“Mom,” Touya sighed, “Can I be honest?”
Rei quirked her brow and replied, “Touya, can you be anything else?”
That brough a mischievous smirk to his lips. “It’s just some flowers. I don’t think either of them will think that much about it other than, ‘how nice’.”
The woman sighed and nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”
“You don’t need to worry yourself so much over a gift, you know.”
Upon Rei’s approval, the florist left to wrap up the bouquet with some decorative paper and ribbon for the holidays. Touya pulled out his phone again as Keigo sent a list of “Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies” for his perusal. They got into some more playful banter until Rei cut in.
“You’ve been in a strangely good mood today. Who’s got you smiling at your phone so much?”
Touya was caught off-guard by the question and stared back at her with a blank expression. “What?”
Rei giggled at his response. “You’ve been texting the whole time we’ve been here.”
He promptly shoved his phone back into his pocket and shrugged. “A friend messaged me. He wants me to come over and watch a movie later, actually.”
At that, Rei absolutely lit up. “How nice! You should bring a gift over!”
Touya tensed up, recoiling further into his coat. It wasn’t like he was opposed to the idea of getting someone a gift. He did it with his bandmates and family sometimes. The idea of getting a gift for Keigo specifically just felt… weird. It hadn’t really crossed his mind before. After all, what do you get for a guy who has everything?
“I don’t really know what he wants though,” Touya said. “He’s pretty popular so he probably has a lot of nice things already.”
“You know what he doesn’t have though?” Rei grinned. “Some fresh flowers from his friend.”
Touya grimaced, unsure. “Yeah but what if he thinks I’m just too cheap to get him something nicer? Or he doesn’t even like flowers? Or —”
“Now who’s worrying too much about a gift?” Rei teased. She pulled him closer toward the counter and asked, “What’s his favorite color? I can help you find something.”
As his mother started flipping through some pages of a sample book at the counter, Touya relaxed in her hold. He exhaled and joined her in looking through the samples.
“I think something red might work.”