Chapter Text
Keigo wasn’t sure why he and Touya had been called to the President’s office.
It was a random Thursday in March in the middle of the day. They had been in the middle of their Hero Laws course when the President’s voice had boomed over the intercom requesting their presence.
He had some educated guesses as to why. It could be about the several nights that Touya had spent in Keigo’s room these past few months. Or some recent math homework where he’d totally copied one of Touya’s answers. Maybe it was even because of the extra green beans Keigo had been sneaking at lunch – but if that was the case, why was Touya here?
There was a small chance it was good, or at least neutral, news. When they’d sat down, the President hadn’t instructed Keigo to sit in the uncomfortable high back chair, so at least if they were in trouble, it wasn’t for something too bad.
Whatever the case, despite his mind going a million miles per minute, Keigo knew he couldn’t let any of his anxieties show on his face. You can’t let anyone know what you’re thinking, Hawks, especially when you’re worried. His handlers had repeated that many times since he came to the Commission, and he hadn’t soon forgotten.
“Do you know why you’re here?” the President asked, putting away some papers and finally looking to face them.
This was a trick question Keigo had come to know well. The first time he’d answered that honestly, supplying one of the many worries running through his thoughts, he’d received a verbal lashing. The second time he’d receive extra training. The third he had his outside flight time revoked. Keigo was a little embarrassed to admit how many times it took him to master the lesson, but now, he never screwed up, able to keep his face and body language neutral and his voice even.
“No, ma’am. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
He could hear Touya snort beside him, and Keigo sent a feather to jab him in the side. His friend had no respect for the President, or most of their handlers, honestly. It drove Keigo nuts. He loved Touya, and loved that his best friend was so confident and self-assured, but he wished he didn’t have to show that in a way that would get him – or both of them – in trouble.
If the President heard Touya she ignored him. “As you know, end of semester testing is coming up.”
Keigo nodded. Classes and training ended next week. Their exams for their academic classes were scheduled to wrap up tomorrow, but their combat and physical exams were to be completed over the next week.
Was something changing with their exams? He couldn’t imagine why. Were he and Touya failing so badly that they couldn’t pass? Were they going to be banned from taking their exams? Perhaps because of the training they skipped that one time?
Despite all the worries running through his mind, Keigo only nodded politely. She had stated a fact, meaning it was not his turn to speak right now. He had learned the hard way not to interrupt.
“With your recent tests and trainings in mind, we’ve decided to allow you both of you to compete with the junior students this year.”
Keigo’s mouth almost dropped open in shock. He quickly schooled his expression before he could be told it was too “big” or “loud” and instead nodded, eager but controlled. “Thank you for the opportunity, ma’am, we greatly appreciate it.”
“Yeah,” Touya agreed. “It’ll be cool.” His enthusiasm wasn’t as obvious, but Keigo could tell he was also beyond excited.
Their excitement was warranted too. Both of them in the past years they’d studied here had always done modified versions of the final exams. While the older kids were tested with a simulation that involved teamwork and 1v1 combat battles, Keigo and Touya always did their exams individually. To be allowed to fight with the high schoolers would be an insane privilege.
“Your eagerness is noted,” the President answered, “but I urge you to not forget what this means for both of you. Mr. Todoroki, a failing score will require your immediate removal from the program.”
Touya snorted again and Keigo died a little inside. “No way I’d fail,” he said, almost offended. “I never have before!”
“Yes,” the President said, pressing her lips together. “However, you have never competed against the other students before. Nor have you been graded as harshly.”
“Yeah, well, they can bring it on. No one’s quirk is nearly as cool as mine or… Hawks’.”
Keigo froze for a second, trying to look natural as if he didn’t just hear Touya’s almost-slip-up.
Touya obviously referred to Keigo by his first name, which was fine, but they both knew it had to be Hawks whenever they weren’t alone. Touya had slipped up in front of their handlers once, and Keigo was lucky he’d convinced Hotaru not to go to the President with it. Though Touya didn’t say his name today, even just a hesitation like that could make the President suspicious of something.
Keigo noticed a slight purse of her lips, but otherwise she ignored the misstep.
“And for you, Hawks,” she said, “I expect there’s no chance of failure. To be honest, you should have been up to this level as of last year, but we trust that means you’ll excel even more this time.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Keigo said with a smile. “I will excel. I won’t let you down.”
“Good,” she said, “because failure to you would mean a re-evaluation of your training schedule, as well as your… priorities.”
Keigo got the hidden message: if he came close to failing, he wouldn’t be allowed to see Touya again.
He spared another quick glance at his friend. Touya either hadn’t gotten the message or didn’t care. He was sitting there looking indifferent, as he always did in front of any authority figure. It was times like this when Keigo wondered why the President even let them stay friends at all. Touya, for all intents and purposes, was a bad influence on Keigo. Knowing her, she must’ve had her reasons – it certainly wasn’t out of the goodness of her heart – but it didn’t make Keigo any less nervous. What if one of these days she decided enough was enough and forbade him from seeing Touya? Keigo didn’t know what he would do.
“I understand,” Keigo finally replied. “And I won’t let you down. My priority will be my training.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Hawks,” she said, her tone even. “I’ll remind you that the group simulation will take place Monday, with the round robins taking place over the rest of the week. Hawks, you’ll be partaking in your regular training until then. Mr. Todoroki, I expect you to join him. The handlers will brief you on what to expect for the exam battles and give you some extra training so that you stand a chance. I assure your parents will have no problem with you staying here for the next week?”
Touya pursed his lips. He tried to keep his face neutral, but Keigo still knew what he was thinking.
“If I’m able to go home tonight to get my stuff,” Touya said slowly, “I’m sure that could be arranged.”
“Very well,” the President said, nodding, filling out the forms that sat in front of her. Hawks could make out both their names, but he tried not to read too much.
“I’ll deliver these to your handlers,” she said. “You have thirty minutes left of lunch before teamwork combat training begins.”
As the two of them left, Keigo couldn’t tell whether he was excited or scared. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t fought the other kids at the training centre before. He had, several times, even, but it was no where near the same as the round robin exam. The end of semester tournament was basically the equivalent of the U.A. Sports festival – an event they were required to watched and analyzed every year.
The group portion, which seemed quite similar to the group trainings Hawks took part in all the time during their Combat courses, was some sort of simulation. It often involved both fighting villains and rescuing civilians, which was perfect for Hawks. Rescue missions had been his area to shine since he first came to the Commission. That’s even how they’d discovered him in the first place – he’d saved multiple people from a car crash by pushing them out of the way with his feathers. The rescue portion of the simulation would be no issue – fighting villains would prove a little harder depending on their quirks, but the whole point of the exercise was teamwork, and he was sure he’d be able to find some way to help his teammates, even if he couldn’t take the villain head on himself.
The simulation was followed by individual one-on-one fights: round robins. The winner would advance, and the loser would be disqualified. The rounds continued until there was an ultimate winner. The winner usually scored close to 100% while everyone else was graded on the fights they did have. It wasn’t impossible for someone in the first round to pass, but it was quite difficult. And as the President had made clear, anyone with a failing grade was removed from the program.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay to stay over?” Keigo asked Touya as they sat at lunch. “I mean, I could probably talk to the President about it, if you want. See if they’ll allow you to go home and then come back bright and early each morning.”
Touya rolled his eyes. “Birdie, you jump every time she talks to you. Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll be okay.”
Keigo pouted. “I don’t jump. I’ve never once jumped.”
Touya chuckled and he shoveled another bite of his nikujaga into his mouth. “Anyway, it should be fine. I know how to handle my mom.”
“How’s that going, by the way?” Keigo asked tentatively.
He got shrug in reply. “I mean, it’s okay. I know she’s given up on talking to Endeavor about it. She doesn’t mention it as often as she used to, either, so I think I’m finally wearing her down!”
Keigo nodded, though he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. He didn’t like the idea that Touya’s mom wanted him out of the training program, but he also didn’t like the idea of Touya wearing down his mom. Rei seemed very nice from everything he’d heard about her. Plus, Keigo had some of the same concerns she did about Touya’s training.
Over the past couple months, Touya had been training longer and harder. And that longer and harder training meant way more burns. Keigo had tried to talk to Touya about it several times, but at best it resulted in Touya brushing him off and, at worst, it resulted in the older boy ignoring him for two days, so, despite his feelings, Keigo learned to keep his comments to himself.
Inside, though, it still stressed him out. Touya refused to accept his offer of getting healed at the end of each session, claiming it made him seem ‘weak’. Then, he’d use the excuse that he didn’t think the Commission cared about him enough to heal him, but even after Keigo approached the nurse personally and asked for her help, Touya refused. Eventually, Keigo got him to admit that it was because of his father, because of Endeavor.
Endeavor, who’d ingrained these thoughts of weakness and worthlessness into Touya’s head at such a young age. Endeavor, who’d given Touya his first burns and somehow conditioned him into thinking it was okay. Endeavor, who after all that, decided that his son was no longer worth the effort and simply created a new masterpiece instead. Thanks to him, Touya’s only thoughts now were of getting stronger and winning. And, though he would never outright admit it, finally making his father proud. No matter the cost.
For a man who used to be his idol, Endeavor was now enemy number one in Keigo’s eyes. To him, Endeavor, who paraded around pretending to be perfect, pretending to be something he wasn’t, was worse than a villain. At least villains were honest. Endeavor was a liar, hiding behind fame and fortune. And Keigo hated liars.
All Keigo said in reply was, “Cool,” cowardly shoving down his thoughts like he always did. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why he asked the question if he was going to be scared of the answer anyway.
They sat in silence for a minute and Keigo checked his watch. “We have six minutes to get to training,” Keigo pointed out. “We should probably go.”
Touya frowned, glaring at his still half-full plate. “No fair!” he grumbled. He picked up his plate and scrambled to catch up with Keigo. “I can’t believe the President,” he said.
Keigo spoke, running his mouth before he processed the context or who he was talking to. “I know!” he replied excitedly. “I can’t believe she’s letting us compete with the other kids! Who knew she thought so highly of us?”
“Highly?” Touya repeated incredulous and Keigo winced, realizing his mistake. “She insulted us, Keigo, just like she always does.”
Keigo felt himself getting defensive. He forced himself to stay calm, even though he kind of wanted to snap at Touya – he’d accidentally started this fight, there was no need for him to escalate it. “She’s allowing us to fight against the juniors because she thinks we’re ready.”
Touya groaned. “I don’t understand how you never pick up on their backwards ass compliments! She was insulting you, Keigo. She said you should’ve been at that point years ago!”
“Yeah, well she’s probably right,” Keigo replied back, doing his best not to match Touya’s annoyed tone. “I should be further along in my training.”
“C’mon, Keigo, seriously? Do I need to break it down for you again-”
Touya was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing that signaled the end of lunch time. That meant they officially had five minutes to get to training gym 1. Keigo was grateful for the interruption, saying, “C’mon let’s go,” before Touya could even think about finishing his sentence.
Thankfully, Touya dropped it. Keigo wasn’t quite sure what he would have done otherwise. He was getting increasingly annoyed with Touya’s whole ragging-on-the-Commission act. Of course, he was right sometimes. And Keigo was forever grateful to have a friend patient enough to help him realize that being whipped wasn’t an appropriate response to breaking a rule. Other times, though, Touya just didn’t seem to understand. He should have been up to the speed of the junior students this time last year. Yet, even though he wasn’t, the President was allowing him to try this year because she thought he was ready now. Maybe she wasn’t the most warm or likable person, but praise was praise. And of course, if Keigo had said anything similar to Touya about his father and training, Touya would complain that he was being unfair. Keigo loved that his friend was protective and defensive of him, but sometimes it could be a little too much.
They were halfway to Training Ground 3, where their next class was held, when Touya spoke.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said quietly.
Keigo looked up at him and saw Touya with his hands shoved in his pockets, distinctly looking down at the ground.
“I’m not upset,” was Keigo’s immediate reply, and he felt the guilt sink in that he’d even let Touya see his annoyance. He was supposed to be good at hiding his emotions, masking his feelings.
“That’s a lie,” Touya said, gentle but firm. “Your eyes are narrowed a little and you’re trying too hard not to fidget. That means your upset.”
“I’m not upset,” Keigo repeated. “Just… a little frustrated, I guess.”
Touya nodded. “I didn’t mean to make you frustrated,” he said. “I just hate the way they talk to you. I guess I got carried away and turned my anger on you.”
Keigo smiled. He appreciated the apology, even if he didn’t think it was necessary. Like he said, it was nice to have a friend who cared so much.
“Don’t mention it,” Keigo said, flashing an even brighter smile. “Now c’mon. If we don’t get to Combat Training on time Jikumaru will have our heads.”
Touya grinned back. “The scary thing is I don’t know if you’re exaggerating.”