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Touya took his daily patrol at a leisurely pace. As the newly debuted pro hero Supernova, his dad- sorry, Endeavor, made sure that his patrol route was the most boring one possible. He should be at his side, learning the skills he needed to surpass All Might- and, more immediately, to land in the top ten by the next Billboard chart. It was a little hard to do that if no one knew his name, but his Dad didn't seem concerned about that at the moment.
Probably didn't want him stealing Shouto's thunder, even though the kid wasn't even in middle school yet. Typical.
Scuffing his feet a little harder than normal, he took a quick detour into a nearby alleyway. This place was an abandoned dump— no one would miss him if he stepped aside for a quick smoke. Perk of his quirk meant no lighter necessary, and he could pass off the smoke smell pretty easily if his dad got suspicious.
He leaned against the wall and took a long drag, thumping his head against the wall. No one missed him was right. He had done it, become a hero without UA, without any help, and he hadn't done a single thing to get noticed. He hadn't helped anyone. Just wandered around hoping for something interesting to break up the monotony.
Thump.
The sound interrupted his reverie and he whipped his head to the side. He stubbed out the cigarette on the wall, crushing it beneath his feet as he grinned and headed over, flames starting to crackle at his wrists, though the sensation was dulled by his cooling gauntlets. Maybe it was some thieves trying to make a quick escape. Hell, he'd take returning a lost cat to its owner at this point. At least he would be doing something.
He sauntered over to the source of the noise, glancing around to see signs of where it could have come from, but there were no upturned garbage cans, no signs of struggle. He was about to turn back, disappointed, when he heard more thumping. It almost sounded like flapping, like— bird wings? But louder, as though a whole flock had fallen into the pile.
Before he could peer in to find the source, a red feather flew up to eye level. Soon enough, the feather was joined by its twins, four, five, six feathers circling his face. When he reached out to touch one, he drew back at a sharp stab of pain from the apparently razor sharp edge.
Cursing softly to himself, he tried to steel himself against the frustration he felt rising, his gauntlets already started to beep as his quirk started to flare. He had to be a hero, which meant being patient. Even when being attacked by a pile of feathers.
"I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? I'm a hero. I'm here to help."
At the word "hero" the feathers retreated and Touya heard an irritated chittering- almost like a clicking sound? Moving slowly, Touya knelt down, moving aside the bags to look for the source.
It didn't take long before locating the source of the feathers. Two giant red wings curved upwards protectively, almost knocking Touya aside from their breadth alone. The feathers that had circled him locked back into place. Despite their size, it wasn't hard to discern that the wings were being used to shield their owner, though Touya couldn't tell much about them at the moment, other than the fact that they were a person and this was a quirk.
Case in point- the long gash in the person's leg, wrapped poorly, but clearly impeding their movement. Probably why they were crashing in such bad conditions.
Touya took a breath. Patience. "Can I at least take a look at your leg?"
Another panicked collection of noises came from behind the wings and Touya frowned.
"Look, if you don't get it looked at it could get infected. Trust me, I know something about infection." He softened his tone. "If you're worried about me seeing you because of your quirk, I promise I see worse in the mirror in the morning. But if you wanna see what I mean, you gotta put your wings down."
The wings fluttered a bit before lowering to reveal the face of a young man staring up at him with trepidation. The first thing Touya noticed were the black marks around his eyes, like a predator bird's. Combined with the noises (and the gigantic wings) it was easy to deduce that he was a heteromorph, but that usually didn't impede the ability to speak.
"I'm Touya," he said, foregoing his hero name and reaching a hand out to him. Can you at least tell me your name?"
The man's expression didn't shift, but he sat up a little. "I don't- have one." Great, at least speech was on the table.
"A name?" Touya asked, eyebrows raised.
"Not that I'm supposed to use," he continued slowly, as though hearing how strange that sounded.
"Who told you not to use your name?" He was really trying not to slip into hero mode, but this was the exact kind of thing he needed to investigate, right?
"No one. I'm fine," he said, trying to get up and wincing as he shifted onto his injured leg.
Touya snorted. "Bullshit." At the affronted look the little birdie shot him, he let up. "Look, I gotta at least make sure you get to a hospital-"
"No!" The wings curled up again and Touya narrowed his eyes.
"If you really wanted to get out of here, why don't you just fly, little bird?"
"They clipped them. So I couldn't escape."
Touya frowned. "Who? Who clipped them?"
But the man just shook his head and sunk deeper against the wall.
"Okay. So, to recap. You won't go to a hospital. I can't leave you here. So I guess the only choice left is for me to patch you up myself."
"You're- you're not going to call anyone."
Touya stood with a wince and dusted off his knees. "Nope. Your lucky day that you found the one hero that doesn't really give a shit about what I'm supposed to do. So what do you say? Wanna stay here while I get some stuff at the konbini and keep sitting in literal garbage, or wanna come with me?"
He still eyed Touya warily, but nodded. "I don't- think I can walk."
Touya reached into his side kit to find his emergency supplies- some antiseptic, bandages- enough to stabilize him. "This should help clean it at least. And I can walk with you." He held his hand out toward his leg until the other man nodded that he could start cleaning the wound.
He unwrapped the old bandage first, stuffing it amongst the rest of the garbage. When he endured the sting of antiseptic without even a flinch, Touya decided to try and fish for more information. "So, what am I supposed to call you, other than your name?"
His face flickered, mouth setting in an unhappy line. "Whatever you want, I guess."
"Okay, Birdie. Whatever you say." He started wrapping the gauze around, hoping the tape would hold until he could get him something better. He was already dreading the thousand favors he was going to have to call in.
"Who- who did that to you?" Birdie asked, gesturing to his face as Touya worked.
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he said with a smirk. When the other man just stared at him blankly, he sighed. "Means I'll tell you if you tell me how you hurt your leg."
Birdie was quiet another moment but nodded. "You first."
"This was all me," Touya said. "Fire quirk. Not fire resistant. Is what it is." He finished tying off the bandage. "Your turn."
Birdie swallowed. "Had to, um, chew my ankle tracker off."
Giant red alarm bells flared in his brain— this was exactly the break he'd been looking for. Was it a kidnapping? Something worse?
But Birdie trusted him not to tell, and for some reason, Touya didn't want to break his trust. "Who would be tracking you?"
His wings fluttered again. "They wanted- wanted to see if they could enhance my heteromorphic traits."
"Like with- trigger?"
"I don't know what that is. Maybe."
Touya cleaned off his hands and held them out to Birdie. "Okay. So. Here's the plan. I'm gonna take you home and we're gonna figure out what happened from there. Do you trust me?"
After a beat of contemplation, the other man reached out to take his hand and let Touya pull him to his feet, steadying arm around his waist.
He gulped. Birdie's eyes were honey-gold, and the smile he sent his way was soft. "It's Keigo. My name."
Touya's heart fluttered like it had wings. "Nice to meet ya, Keigo. Let's go home."