Rewriting fate - Coffee_cAt3333 - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

“We can’t…”, brown boots stepped backwards till red feathers met a wall.

“Why not?”, Cold bare feet followed stepping forward.

“I’m the hero, trained to kill you. You’re the villain, supposed to kill me. We’re meant to end the other”, sharp feathers stood up in defense.

“We both know that that won’t be happening…”, burned hands reached for the expensive suit.

Golden eyes met cyan pupils in the dark. Burnt fingers intertwined with soft ones. Throats gulped in sync. Chapped lips hovered over bloody ones.

“Let’s runaway, Keigo”

The hero opened his lips to object but hesitated, as cold fingers brushed down his throat and hot breath hit his jawline.

“Toya…”

“Your little pack-up team will come looking for you soon. We don’t have enough time. Make the decision now, Keigo. It’s either that world or ours”

The villain held onto the hero, begging to be saved, wanting to be swift away from the life he desperately wanted to escape.

One of Hawks’s sharp feathers was so close to Dabi’s neck. He was one move away from ending the man that was dominating his thoughts and manipulating his emotions. One move away from ending this ridiculous situation that he found himself trapped in. Yet one look at those blue eyes and he…

Hawks took a long shuddering breath, slipped the feather away from the other’s neck and wrapped his arms around the younger man, “Let’s… suppose that I go along with this bazaar of an idea. Where will we go? What will we do? How will we hide?”

Blue eyes widened at the unexpected gesture before relaxing. A soft smile cracked Dabi’s dry lips before he returned the touch by wrapping his arms around Keigo’s neck, “I don’t know..”

“What?”, golden brows frowned looking down at the dark head.

“I don’t care where we’ll go or what we’ll do. I just want to be with your dumb ass, okay? You’re the hero here not me. Use your big bird brain”, burned fingers interwoven into the soft blond curls.

The hero’s jaw tightened. He never had a say in what to do with his life. From day one his life path had been written down in red and blue ink. Full of pain and suffering. Full of violence and chaos. Was this finally his chance to write his own script? And if so, What colour should he choose for his new words?

Chapter 2: Changing appearance

Chapter Text

Keigo forgot a very important step in writing his new life. To actually write something.

Here sat the hero and his mischievous little villain on Keigo’s large bed in Keigo’s equally large apartment.

Toya was scrolling through the only phone Keigo had that the commission didn’t have access to, reading comments from the hero’s fans and definitely not being tempted to post something from Keigo’s account insulting all of those people who are hovering over his man. Did Keigo know that Toya adopted him as his? No, not yet. Maybe soon.

Speaking of his man. Keigo was frowning and curled up into a red ball in the corner of the bed, panicking over the fact that he disobeyed his commission for the first time. He was rocking himself in a forward and backward motion. Toya equally couldn’t help but find his uneasiness cute. But this was getting ridiculous now. Just an hour ago the said “hero” was all talk about how he’ll change their lives.

Toya rolled his eyes and scouted close to the red feathery ball, "Stop panicking it’s only been an hour since you have disappeared. We have plenty of time before they find you-“

“No! No we don’t! They’ll be here soon in any moment! I- I should’ve thought this through-. How will we even get out of the country without being discovered?!-“ Keigo’s running mouth was shushed by Toya’s finger.

“If not being discovered is the issue then I have the best solution,” Toya said, grinning down at the curious golden eyes that shot up.

“Why didn’t you say that you had a solution from the beginning!?” Keigo huffed slamming his wings back unconsciously, nearly breaking the bed frame.

Toya wanted to say that it was because he enjoyed seeing Keigo looking like he’d nearly wet his pants, but of course, he didn’t say that. “I just got the idea,” Toya said, shrugging.

-

It was a bad idea. Well it actually wasn’t. Keigo just didn’t really approve of the treatment that his hair is getting, he put decades of hard work into it. But he had to admit that this idea was nearly genius. Or maybe he was just stupid.

Keigo looked at himself in the mirror, “No, no. This was a horrible idea.”

Here Toya stood behind Keigo, dying Keigo’s hair and eyebrows black.

Keigo’s eyes nearly plugged out from the frustration that he was failing to contain with how mercilessly Toya was comping the cheap black hair dye into his previously beautiful blonde curls, “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“Yup,” Toya replied with no shame.

“I should have killed you that moment ago.”

“We both know that I have you wrapped around my toe.”

“Isn’t the idiom supposed to be ‘around my finger’ ?” Keigo questioned with a raised brow.

“Nah I’m pretty sure it’s toe for your case” Toya put the remaining hair dye on Keigo’s facial hair. Both of their noses were nearly touching and Keigo bit his own tongue keeping himself from commenting on Toya’s stinky breath. They’ll have to work on Toya’s hygiene habits.

“Is this an insult?” Keigo’s frown deepened.

Toya just kissed Keigo’s forehead, making Keigo’s scowl disappear, before he picked up some scissors and started working on his own hair.

Keigo looked at himself in the mirror, It’s fine. I can deal with this.

He got up and took a close look at his face in the mirror, I’m sure I still look handsome.

A small smile found itself on Keigo’s lips, Repeat with me. You look handsome.

“You don’t look handsome.” Toya fired back.

“What- How did you-“ Keigo’s head nearly snapped turning to look at Toya.

“Get your slow ass up and go pack our bags while the dye is still setting on your head,” Toya started shaving the sides of his own head.

Keigo just stared at him blinking. Did Toya just order him around?

Toya glared at him, “The bags!! We don’t wanna be later than that!”

“Ok-Okay!” Keigo hurried out of the bathroom door before running back into the bathroom again, “Wait- what will we do about my feathers? It’s summer so I can’t stuff them in my clothes-“

“I have an idea don’t worry about it. Now go!” Toya started washing his hair in the sink.

-

They were checking their suitcases at the airport. Keigo was sweating down to his toes. Crossing his fingers hoping that the security guy didn’t question why there were so many feathers in the suitcases.

As the suitcases were finally checked in, the two started hurrying through the scanner. Toya opened his mouth to say something, but Keigo leaned down pressing their lips together undoubtedly making Toya forget what he was supposed to say.

Red crept up Toya’s neck and to the tips of his ears. Keigo used Toya’s shocked state as a chance to lean forward pressing more of his weight on Toya and deepening the kiss.

A cough came from behind Keigo making both of them freeze.

Keigo pulled away remembering that he was in ‘disguise’ and not ‘invisible’. He looked behind him seeing an old man staring at them in disgust and a group of teenagers laughing at their embarrassment.

Keigo felt a blush creep on his own face and he cleared his throat. He looked at Toya, “Um- I’m-“

A voice rang signaling that their flight was departing soon.

“sh*t!”, both Toya and Keigo yelled in union.

-

Toya was staring through the window. The scenery was beautiful. He had always wondered what the view was like from an airplane. He chose the seat next to the window and knew it was childish of him to demand it, but he had never been on a flight before and he wanted to watch the plane take off. He was embarrassed to admit that to Keigo. He also desperately tried not to hold onto Keigo’s arm again when the plane took off.

The whole situation was absurd. Neglecting everything he had already built, all the plans he made, all the work he put and the silly group of villains that he somehow found himself in one day. They were close enough to call them friends.

Toya noticed his reflection in the glass window and he shut it immediately. He couldn’t handle looking at himself. He looked normal. Toya had always dreamed about this ordinary standard of life. Going to school and coming back to a home full of people who loved him. Maybe he would have argued with his siblings just to forgive them and play video games later, just like he saw in the movies.

He closed his eyes. It was always painful thinking about how his life could’ve been, especially now with his new face. Or should he call it his old face?

Toya opened his eyes and looked at the cause of his existential crisis, Keigo. He was sleeping on the chair right next to Toya. Keigo chose a business flight. Not like Toya would understand the difference between it and a normal flight, but he figured out that it meant that the flight was more comfortable.

Seeing Keigo with completely opposite features was startling. Toya chose this hair color specifically to tease Keigo yet that stupid birdman still pulled off the look. Toya can’t help but feel jealous, but also lucky at the same time.

Toya was getting bored and their flight was for 17 hours! Stupid Keigo was still sleeping like they both weren’t committing a crime right now. He said that he was taking them to some island in Europe and that it would be safe. Rich people and their stupid money. Keigo had popularity, career, support, and money.

Toya had… nothing.

He was no comparison to the top-second pro hero. It was just now that Toya realized how doomed he was. Keigo literally didn’t need him in any way. He could just disregard Toya anytime he wants.

Toya was alone.

His throat felt tight and his muscles clenched around an empty stomach.

He couldn’t speak English. Or any other foreign language. He would be dead if Keigo decided to abandon him when they reached Europe. Yeah. He’d easily find someone else there. Europe was full of those rich good-looking people or that was at least what he saw on the TV.

It seems like Toya would forever be under someone else’s mercy. He pulled the light jacket he wore tightly around himself, wishing to just hide from his gut-wrenching thoughts. He opened the curtain of the window next to him to watch the clouds, maybe they’d distract him for a while.

-

Keigo opened his eyes when he heard the flight attendant asking everyone to stand up for some mandatory stretching. He looked to his right to find Toya standing up and following the small stretching exercise that was presented to them on their screens. Toya seemed paler but Keigo didn’t question it. It might have just been an effect from the faint lighting in the business section.

After they had finished their small stretching session, Keigo sat back down in his seat and yawned. He looked at the remaining flight time and there were still around 12 hours, “Damn, I slept for 5 hours straight?”

Keigo glanced at Toya, “Did you eat anything yet?”

Toya was looking through the window and he just shook his head without a glance in Keigo’s direction.

Keigo frowned, “Is everything okay?”

Toya’s jaw tightened but he still managed to nod.

Keigo leaned closer to the awfully quiet man, “Look at me”

Toya sighed and glanced at Keigo, “What?”, he said in a surprisingly annoyed tone.

Keigo wasn’t having this attitude, “What’s bothering you? You’ve been so quiet since we left my apartment.”

“Nothing just thinking about stuff," Toya’s body was stiff his eyes darted around the corner looking for a way to escape as if his life had been threatened. Keigo knew that look very well.

“What stuff?”, Keigo asked as he reached to hold Toya’s hand. He needed to know what was bothering his partner.

“I said nothing!”, Toya yelled, slapping Keigo’s hand away before remembering that there were other passengers with them. He slammed his mouth shut biting his lips. Too bad it didn’t keep away the scowling sounds that they received.

Keigo froze for a moment before an irate expression crossed his face. Whatever it was that was bothering Toya was Keigo’s problem too. They were in this thing together there should be no hiding involved. He leaned forward holding both of Toya’s wrists tightly in a grounding stance. When Toya tried to squirm away Keigo yanked him forward so that their face were inches apart.

Keigo couldn’t help but smirk at Toya’s fake attempts. He liked how Toya was physically able to crush his arms if he wanted to escape his grip, but he didn’t. Keigo moved closer so their foreheads were touching. He looked into Toya’s eyes with a ‘there’s no escape’ look that Toya was very familiar with.

Toya’s face reddened at the unexpected move. “You know I could just burn your stupid smug face and blow up this plane with everyone in it?”, he whispered nearly spitting in Keigo’s face.

Keigo smiled and said confidently, “We both know you won’t”. In which Toya just scowled in reply.

It still felt weird being with Toya in public, but this was his new life now. He could do whatever he wanted.

Remembering that there were others around them, Keigo pulled the curtains giving both of them privacy, “Now tell me what’s bothering you”

Toya sighed and leaned forward resting his chin on top of Keigo’s head. His body felt so right against Keigo’s own.

Silence stretched between them and Keigo waited patiently, giving Toya time to collect his thoughts.

He expected it to be something related to his childhood. It was a topic that always spoiled Toya’s mood whenever it was brought up.

After a few more minutes Toya finally spoke up, “I am doubting our… relationship”

Chapter 3: An attempt for a conversation

Chapter Text

“…What?” Keigo’s eyes widened at Toya’s unforeseen confession. The hero tightened his grip on the other’s wrists in a silent stance of unwillingness to entertain the idea of the story ending this soon. Of THEIR story ending this soon. No, Keigo would not allow Toya to doubt them now, not when they had just left the country. Toya is stuck with him now, whether Keigo had to convince these doubts out of him or trap Toya by force. Keigo hoped that they wouldn’t have to reach the latter.

Toya winced at the unforgiving grip on his wrists. This was when he started regretting even opening his mouth. He sighed. Of course, the bird head wouldn’t understand. Is this the part where Keigo starts calling him a selfish asshole? Toya looked into the towering fierce golden eyes. Yes, this was definitely the moment that Keigo dumps him for a hot chick in Europe.

“Are you going to break my wrists now or what?” Toya scoffed finally breaking the loud silence that stretched between them.

As if just noticing how strong his grip was on Toya, Keigo loosened his muscles. Keigo took a long deep breath to sort out his thoughts. Toya is just definitely confused about something. I just have to find out what is bothering him that’s all.

“Why are you… doubting our relationship?”, Keigo tried to be as calm as possible, but his thickening voice definitely gave him away.

“Just forget it-“ Toya started to pull his hands away from Keigo, trying to escape the intolerable conversation.

“NO!” Keigo’s tone made Toya freeze and lead a couple of eyes to turn their way. Keigo bit the inside of his cheek and cussed himself internally, “I mean- we’re a couple right? We have to talk about it,” Keigo faked what should have been a gentler voice.

Toya’s posture straightened and he got defensive, “What if I don’t want to? What are you going to do about it?”.

Keigo could feel a slight burn from the small sparks of fire that were capering from Toya’s skin. He knew that this was Toya’s body’s reaction to being threatened. This was not going well. Nor was Keigo handling this the way he should be. He was the less traumatized one of both of them, he should be able to regulate the situation better than this, right?

“We both know that I wouldn’t do anything…”, Keigo flipped Toya’s hands so they were facing upwards, and rubbed his thumbs on the inside of Toya’s palm to soothe him, “I’m sorry if I did something that led you to start doubting our… status. But please know that whatever I did does not mean that I would ever consider writing my future without you.”

Toya’s facial muscles seemed to relax and he opened his mouth to say something when the plane started to shake. He gasped and threw himself towards Keigo holding onto his biceps, “Wha- Why’s it shaking?!”

A message came through the speakers asking the passengers to wear their seatbelts for the next upcoming 30 minutes as the plane was crossing a region with some air turbulence.

Toya looked at Keigo in confusion as he had never been on a flight before, “Air turbulence?”

Keigo allowed Toya to attach himself to him. He seemed to find Toya’s reaction amusing causing his lips to twitch, “Yes, it is when an object flies in the opposite direction of the wind. Nothing to worry about.”

“Oh… So this is not like in the movies when the plane shakes and everyone on board dies except for some unfortunate dude with a victim complex who ends up on an island alone and-“

“No no none of that. It’s just some wind.”

“Good…good…”, that was when Toya realized how close he had attached himself to Keigo and started pulling himself away quickly. He started fumbling around with the seatbelt not remembering how he was supposed to attach it.

Keigo leaned closer to his stupid villain, so that their noses were nearly touching, and started fastening the seatbelt ever so slowly to Toya’s despair.

“You don’t have to. I can handle myself”, Toya could feel a blush rising to his ears by the way that Keigo seemed to tower over him.

Keigo ignored him by continuing to lean closer, pretending to be hard in trying to fasten Toya’s seatbelt while rubbing his nose along Toya’s neck and up behind his ear, causing the villain to shiver. It was a familiar silent gesture of the bird-head apologizing.

After a few moments of exchanged comfort, Keigo spoke up, “Promise to talk to me about it when you’re ready.”

Toya reluctantly nodded, and Keigo started fastening both of their seatbelts. The hero allowed Toya to hold onto his hand for comfort as the plane passed through the air turbulence.

-

Toya surprisingly fell asleep during the air turbulence, his head rested on the hero’s shoulder and soft snores formed with each inhale and exhale.

Keigo however was left with his tormenting thoughts of what could have happened to make Toya have doubts about their plan. Everything was secured, from their passports and citizenships to where they’d be staying, to their appearance. Keigo even went out of his way to hack into the legal system on final time to delete all records relating to him as Hawks and to Toya as a wanted criminal. His apartment or you can say what would be left of his apartment (he set a timed bomb to fake his own death or at least give a reason for his disappearance), will have zero to no DNA traces either.

So what could possibly bother Toya so much? He can only find out when or if Toya decides to talk about it.

Keigo sighed and looked at his own reflection and stared at his cheap box-dyed black hair. His new hair wasn’t that bad… he can probably get used to it. It was better than Toya’s initial idea of shaving his head. Good thing that Keigo stood his ground and didn’t let those sinful pouty lips sway his mind, otherwise he would have been looking like an egg right now.

A woman sat next to Keigo and he took a once over her appearance. She was a blonde with curves, a large bust, and full lips. The exact same type of women Keigo sleeps with, well before he and Toya developed into… that.

The woman noticed Keigo’s gaze and winked at him, to which Keigo replied by raising a brow. She giggled and leaned closer towards Keigo, “Nothing… you just look cute… Have been eyeing you since the beginning of the flight.”

“You have?” Keigo cleared his throat.

“Who wouldn’t? With this build and those Arabian eyes of yours…” she lowered her voice seductively, and Keigo leaned all the way back in the opposite direction of her with sweat on his forehead.

“U-um you see…” Keigo tried to pull himself out of the conversation.

“He’s with me.” Toya glowered.

Both Keigo and the woman were startled by the sudden response. Keigo looked back and Toya to find him giving the woman a death stare, then his eyes shifted to look at Keigo and he gave Keigo the same death stare as well.

Wait- what did I do wrong?!Keigo thought to himself.

“You know what you did!” Toya hissed at Keigo.

“Wait how did you-"

Toya got up and pulled Keigo away from the woman and switched places with Keigo to keep her away from his man.

The woman stared down at Toya like he was a bug and sighed as she stood up, she winked at Keigo again, “My seat is b-227, in case you want to continue our conversation.”, then she walked away swinging her hips dramatically.

Keigo stared at her hips wondering how it was anatomically possible for them to even move this way, when Toya squeezed Keigo’s jaw and turned Keigo’s face towards himself, “What are you looking at?”, that seemed more of a threat than a question.

“Uhhh… her hips-“

“Her hips?!” Toya's death stare got deadlier.

“No not like that?!”

Toya tightened his grip on Keigo’s jaw and something sounded like it cracked. Keigo hoped that it wasn’t a bone.

“Ow- look, I’m sorry-“

Toya dug the tips of his fingers more Keigo’s jaw which would definitely leave a mark.

Keigo bit his own lips to keep himself from making a sound.

“If you ever think that you can leave me for a hot chick then I’ll make sure to melt that pretty face of yours.”

“What?! Leave you?? No, I would never-“

“Shut up!”

“Okay… seems like he gets in a mood when he’s jealous…” , Keigo thought

“I don’t!”, Toya lets go of Keigo’s face and crosses his arms looking away.

“How the f*ck does he always know what’s on my mind?” , Keigo sighed and looked at his own reflection in the window, and yeah the mark left on his jaw is pretty red.

“Wow, So I agree to leave and take you with me. Pay for all your expenses and through all the trouble of clearing your background just for you to threaten to melt my face. Great just so great.”, Keigo exaggerated his last sentence.

A twinge of guilt passed through Toya’s face, but he refrained from saying anything. He instead opted to grab Keigo’s phone and scroll through his Hawks account.

The gesture irritated Keigo, but he too refrained from saying anything. Afraid that if he tried to justify himself more, that some other parts of his body might become at the threat of getting melted off.

-

A couple of minutes later, a flight attendant passed by with food.

Toya’s stomach growled when the smell hit his nostrils. He looked at Keigo.

Keigo noticed Toya looking in his direction, “What?”

Toya just kept staring back at him like a child does when he wants his mom to feed him.

Keigo sighed, “You can order anything. It’s on my bill.”

“I don’t know how to order…”, Toya confessed guilty. He had never been outside of these civil places before and he was not familiar with the way normal people acted. He often just stole whatever he wanted.

“Toya… Just depend on yourself for once okay? I’m tired and want to sleep now…”, Keigo lied about the last part. He just wasn’t in the mood to deal with Toya right now. He put on his sleeping mask and pretended to sleep.

Toya frowned and looked in the flight attendant’s direction. He tried to think of what he could possibly say, but nothing came to his mind. Suddenly he felt extremely self-conscious about his presence and surroundings. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing that might give their disguise away. What if the people recognize his voice and they end up getting arrested? or what if he asks for something and it turns out bad… All these names of supposed dishes were foreign to Toya. Toya felt so nervous he decided to ignore his own hunger and scroll more through Keigo’s phone.

Little did the poor villain know that he was experiencing social anxiety as a result of his isolation from society.

The hunger became unbearable so Toya decided to wake Keigo up, “Keigo…”

Keigo just groaned, but otherwise, he didn’t stir. Seems like his “fake sleep” turned into a real one real quick.

“I’m hungry.” Toya tugged on Keigo’s clothes.

Keigo clenched his jaw and continued to ignore Toya for longer.

Toya figured that Keigo was mad at him so he got closer to Keigo and kissed the mark on his jaw apologetically.

The gesture was so unexpected that Keigo bolted awake and stared at Toya with wide eyes.

“I want that dish that has 2 half-cooked eggs, toast, and some other green stuff that look good too…”, Toya pushed his lip in a pout.

Keigo looked at those lips and lost control over his will. He gave up and ordered food for Toya.

Chapter 4: Foundations for the plot

Chapter Text

They had a couple of hours left in the flight. The lights were dimmed out and most passengers were asleep. Toya of course took it as a chance to get even more clingy by sitting in Keigo’s lap with a blanket over himself.

Keigo was wide awake checking the news in Japan while twirling his fingers in Toya’s white hair. As he had predicted, the bomb had set off exactly ten minutes ago and the news was all over Japanese newspapers.

Articles’ names varied from, 'The possible death of our beloved pro hero', to,'Japanese and international fans searching for the hospital where Hawks currently resides.'

It was from the later article that Keigo found out that the commission had released a fake statement of Hawks’s safety to calm down the public interest.

Keigo came across a video of the explosion and he winced at the sight, his hand cradled Toya’s sleepy head closer.

So apparently the bomb he had planted did not only wipe out the apartment but the whole building, causing mass distress in the central part of Tokyo. Too bad I guess....

Surprisingly Keigo didn’t feel as bad as he should have or as he would have. Maybe he was starting to let go of his hero persona. But what other persona would he pick now? His new name was Yoshida. Yoshida is 40-something years old adding 20 years on top of Keigo’s real age. Yoshida has a lot of wealth and lives a luxurious life on a privately owned island. How was he supposed to justify all that wealth to authorities was a part of the plot that Keigo hadn’t figured out yet.

For Toya, his new persona is named Ikeda. Ikeda is a 28-year-old man who is married to Yoshida and lives a luxurious lifestyle spoiled by his older husband.

Of course, Toya didn’t know that this was part of the plot for if he had known he would have set Keigo’s head on fire, whether from shock, embarrassment, rage, or maybe the fact that Keigo made him the sugar baby of the story, even though that was technically their relationship right at the moment. Nevertheless, Keigo decided to keep the faked marriage certificates hidden away from Toya until Toya was in a better mental state to understand why Keigo had made such a decision. It would have been otherwise very suspicious for a wealthy man like Yoshida to be traveling with a much younger man like Ikeda.

Now that Keigo thought about Yoshida’s age he had to add a couple of white hairs to his pitch-black hair to replicate the aging look. Also, they should have taken a private jet to match the level of wealth that Yoshida has, but that would have been risky during their escape from Japan as Keigo has multiple commissions with nearly all the popular private flying companies. Keigo took mental notes of everything he could improve to his new plot. And he felt like the image of his story was finally coming together.

-

It was dawn when they landed in their destination, St-Tropez, France. An island located in the Mediterranean Sea. The island was famous for being a playground for old wealthy owners, and it made sense that a character like Yoshida would own a villa there along with other properties. Properties include; a private jet, a fishing port, along a couple of marine ships.

Keigo and Toya left the airport with their features-filled suitcases in hand. A Mercedes with a bodyguard and a personal driver was waiting for them at the front gate. Toya stood in his tracks and looked at Keigo who encouraged him to move forward. Keigo handed his and Toya’s bag to the driver who put them in the car’s truck. Toya reached his hand to open the door for the car before the bodyguard beat him to it and opened it with a formal bow, “Bon retour monsieur Ikeda.”

Toya’s hand froze, he looked again at Keigo for an explanation. Keigo just patted Toya’s back and escorted the shocked snowhead into the car. Of course, Keigo knew that such treatment would be shocking to Toya given his past. This is why a part of Keigo’s plot included giving Toya enough time to get used to being Ikeda. He wouldn’t like to be the reason for his snowhead’s distress.

‘Yoshida’ smiled at his bodyguard, “Merci Claude. Tout s'est bien passé en mon absence?”

“Oui monsieur Yoshida, tout ce dont nous avons discuté est prévu.”, The bodyguard ‘Claude’, bowed one last time before closing the Mercedes door and getting into the front passenger seat next to the driver.

Toya’s eyes were wide absorbing everything around him. From the luxurious car to having someone open the door for HIM. And talking to him in this rich fancy accent or whatever. And the language they spoke… It did not sound like English.

“What the hell were you two just saying?”, Toya questioned Keigo with a frown.

Keigo just shrugged as he scrolled through his phone, “Just some greetings in French.”

“….You speak French?”

“Yes. Along with English, Mandarin, Spanish, and some Arabic”, Keigo just said that as if this fact was not the most brain-baffling thing ever. Keigo speaks what?- 6 languages?!

Great! Just great,Toya groaned, Now I have to worry about English, French, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Spanish, and Arab chicks!

Keigo raised a brow at Toya’s groan, “Something wrong?”

“No no nothing…”, Toya sighed and looked out the window with a palm on his cheek.

It must have been nice being trained by the commission. Keigo was brought up to be one of the top-ranked pro heroes in the world, with a big royal fanbase. And don’t get me started on all the money that he must have right now. Like that plane meal must have cost a dozen by how good it tasted and the fact that I ordered more… Well, technically I made him order more… I need to get it together Damn it! Ordering is not that hard! I have done way worse and more complicated sh*t.

More doubts were creeping into Toya’s mind about whether or not he was eligible to be with Keigo. And whether or not Keigo was planning to keep him around. Honestly, Toya found himself thinking that if he was in Keigo’s place he would never choose Toya.

Todoroki Toya, the former star, or the failed star to be exact as his father had described. The first thing that Toya remembers Endeavour talking about in his childhood, was how much Toya had the potential to be this big influential successful hero. And the last thing Toya remembers from Endeavour is how much he mourned the loss of his ‘star child’. That was the only way Toya had associated himself with the Todoroki family; the blown-out star that had no use anymore.

Would he be used for Keigo? Why Keigo had even decided to keep him around was a question that Toya had yet to find an answer to. He knew that the only way to find an answer was through talking to Keigo about it, but he was afraid. Afraid of the vulnerability that came with such confessions, and the unforeseen outcomes that would bring with them.

-

Toya was quite thorough the whole trip from the airport to the Villa where they were expected to reside. Keigo loved the silence. It was something he barely got as a hero. Constantly being on edge having to always expect the worst, but here on this island, as Yoshida. Keigo sensed that the future held many more quiet moments like this, he glanced in his snowhead’s direction, moments that he couldn’t wait to enjoy with someone who finally chose Keigo over Hawks.

Keigo stretched his hand and ran his fingers through Toya’s white curls. Toya tensed at the first touch before relaxing into the gentle rub to his scalp. Keigo’s arm wrapped around Toya’s waist pulling him closer. His hand ghosted ever so slightly over the well-developed thighs.

Toya tensed again but otherwise didn’t say much. He seemed to still be in his thoughts.

Keigo rested his head on Toya’s shoulder, ran the tip of his nose along the side of Toya’s neck, and whispered in his ear, “You still don’t want to talk about it?”

Toya pulled himself away from Keigo’s touch, and other took it as an answer to his question.

I wonder what's troubling you, my dear...

Keigo hoped that Toya would open up to him soon cause he was running out of patience.

Chapter 5: Much needed conversations

Chapter Text

The Mercedes parked in front of what Toya could only ever describe as the most beautiful place he had ever seen. The villa looked exactly like he would see in movies. Polished creamy white, with a modern look that stood at 3 floors with a roof. The first floor connected to a huge front garden that held a fountain, and an equally large garden with a large pool buried in the middle of a flower garden that had lots of different types of flowers that Toya couldn’t recognize. The second and third floors had way too many rooms that Toya didn’t bother to count, “Who even needs all of these rooms?!”, Toya found himself thinking. Finally, the roof held a helicopter with the initial ‘Y.’, Toya guessed that the ‘Y’ stood for Yoshida.

When did Keigo have time to get all of this? HOW did he get all of this? Toya knew that Keigo was rich, famous, and had strong connections everywhere, but… being able to have all of this wealth under his command any second. For f*ck’s sake they had just started their running away plan 2 days ago. Toya felt his insecurity bubble up in his stomach and consume him from the inside out.

Toya and Keigo were in the elevator with a butler who held their bags, after Keigo took him around the whole place as a ‘tour’, they hid in their room to wind off from the long travel.

The butler opened the door for them putting the bags inside, before he smiled and bowed to Keigo- no ‘Yoshida’, “Bon retour monsieur Yoshida. Le bain avait été préparé pour vous ainsi qu'un délicieux dîner sur le balcon.”

‘Yoshida’ flashed him his biggest smile, “Merci Samuel. J'espere que tu passes une bonne journée.”

The butler then left the room closing the door behind him. Toya didn’t miss the blush that painted his cheeks. His eye twitched.

“What did you say to this man?”

Keigo took off his black eye contacts and the jacket of his suit discarding it on the bed, before working on his button-down shirt. Mid-flight Keigo had decided to change into this expensive suit saying that ‘Yoshida’ would wear it and something about abiding to a plot.

“Nothing much. He said that the bath and food had been prepared on the balcony, to which I replied with a thank you.”, Keigo opened his feature-filled suitcases and manipulated the red features to form his wings back again. He sighed in relief when he was connected back with his quirk.

“That was a long sentence for a thank you”, Toya crossed his arms.

Keigo’s face fill and a groan left his mouth at the other’s obvious jealousy. “Toya, I would never lie to you, alright? If it would make you feel comfortable enough I can buy you a translator that you can attach to your ear.”

Toya didn’t look convinced enough. His eyes drifted to stare at the balcony that connected to their room. Their ‘room’ was not a room. It was a whole freaking suit that screamed the words RICH everywhere he looked. Suddenly his eyes landed on the hot bath that was prepared for them in the balcony. The bath looked so tempting with all the flowers decorating it and the view of the sea behind it. Toya wanted to get into that bath, Now.

Toya started discarding his clothes all around the room and hid towards the balcony passing Keigo, “Don’t need that stupid translator. Keep your money to yourself”

Keigo sighed and collected the clothes that Toya threw all around the room. “You’re basically drowning in my money…”, Were the words that Keigo wanted to say so bad, but refrained from doing so.

Keigo turned his back on Toya and started folding the clothes neatly on the bed. He took off the rest of his suit quickly changing into just some pyjama pants for a well-deserved rest. He had been working for the past two nights straight to ensure that everything in his plan went smoothly, pulling tightly on all the strong connections he had for the commission not to be able to manipulate his close circle for answers.

Keigo hid towards the balcony where Toya was relaxing in the hot tub, “Well if he wants the silent treatment I can give him some.”

Keigo passed the tub without even a glance in Toya’s direction and sat down on the table overlooking the view of the sea to eat the breakfast that had been set for them.

He opened his phone to scroll through the latest news about ‘Hawks’. His fans seemed to be in despair from all the posts that were mourning his loss to the DMs questioning whether or not he was alive. Keigo put a bite in his mouth when a certain post caught his attention. It was a guy that looked exactly like Toya. The current Toya is in the hot tub. With white hair, blue eyes, and the same white skin. The man was posing on his back on a beach.

“What a coincidence, huh?”, Keigo’s eyes overlooked the view of the sea.

He looked back at his Toya in the hot tub who was still quiet and looked to be dozing off. Keigo’s eyes trailed across the exposed lean body and gulped.

Keigo took off his pajama pants and went to join Toya by stepping into the water and settling exactly behind the smaller man.

Toya’s peace was disturbed when a harder body met his back and looked behind at Keigo with what looked to be between a frown and a blush. Toya’s foundation was starting to melt from the hot water and the exposed unpolished patches of skin were turning to a pinkish hue. Keigo’s eyes trailed down to stare at the inverted cute nibbles before looking back up at the cyan eyes.

Cyan met Gold and they stayed interlocked for what felt like ages until finally, Toya spoke, “I’m sorry…”

A gentle smile stretched Keigo’s lips and he leaned down to connect their lips. Keigo then trailed down to kiss the other’s jaw.

Toya sighed softly and allowed his body to lean more into Keigo’s, “I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole today…

Keigo started nibbling on the exposed throat.

“I-I know I should have talked about it right away, but-“, gulp, “I got scared…”

Keigo trailed his hands upwards pinching the reddish nubs.

“Ngh~ I- I forced you to order for me before… I was never taught how to…”

Teeth grazed Toya’s collarbone and dug harder into the soft flesh.

“Ahh- I- I’ve been feeling insecure…”

That sentence immediately caught Keigo’s attention, “Why?”

“……”

Keigo turned him so Toya was straddling Keigo’s lap. Keigo’s hands held Toya’s waist in support as he buried his face in Toya’s neck, “Please Toya… Why are you insecure my dear?”

A blush crept up Toya’s face threatening to tear his skin, “Promise me that you won’t think it’s stupid…”

“Promise”, Keigo kissed the pink nubs.

“Hm~ I- I think that you don’t deserve me… I mean- I don’t deserve you. You’re just so successful and perfect and I’m just this blown-out dude trailing in your shadow-“

Sharp teeth bit down on Toya's nub causing him to scream.

“KEIGO?!”, Toya hissed pushing the other’s head away from his chest with no use.

“That… Was the stupidest thing that I’ve ever heard.”, Keigo pulled his teeth away to look up at Toya with a frown.

“Y-you promised not to!-“

Keigo connected their lips again albeit harshly. He took the chance to push his tongue into Toya’s stealing the other’s breath. He bit down on Toya’s bottom lip early a whimper.

When they finally pulled away, Toya looked like a mess of a man with his eyes slightly watering and his lips red from the abuse it took. Toya was struggling to even his breath.

“Don’t ever think this way about yourself ever again, understood? I want you just the way you are, with every single staple on your skin.”, At that last statement Toya laughed causing the frown to melt from Keigo’s face.

Unable to hold himself any longer Keigo teasingly thrust upwards causing Toya to yelp in surprise.

-

“Keigo… I’m not sure about this.”, Toya stared at himself in the mirror. He was dressed in an expensive dark cyan suit, his skin foundation was touched up after their later activities, and his white hair was combed backward.

Toya looked too… good. Way too good for Toya’s liking. He looked like a decent human being that people would actually respect and care about. The feeling of despair over the years he lost for being in the dark started rising up in his throat again. Toya swallowed the lump forming in his throat and looked at Keigo with a vulnerability that tugged painfully onto Keigo’s heart.

“Toya, Honey. Trust me. You look gorgeous….”, Keigo replied.

Keigo was dressed in a dark red suit. His black hair was touched up to add white hairs to the side making him look like a much older man than he was. Which Toya didn’t surprisingly hate? He actually found Keigo… hotter. But he’ll never bring himself to admit it.

Keigo got closer to the mirror and started doing his tie. Toya looked at his own tie discarded on the bed and left it up to try to figure out how it was supposed to be done. He tried to copy Keigo, but gave up immediately gave up with a groan.

“Keigo….”

“What’s the magic word?”, Keigo smirked in Toya’s direction.

Red crept over Toya’s cheeks standing out in contrast with the blues covering his body,“I- Can you… do my tie?… Please?”, Keigo had given him a lesson in the hot tub earlier about the ‘magic word’, and how more respectful it is. Even if Toya were to forget his lesson his poor bottom certainly wouldn’t.

“Well isn’t that a good boy-“

“NO! No don’t- that’s way too much. I’ll f*cking burn that Villa down and kill everyone here if you call me by these words again! In the hot tub, it was fine- Here? NO!” Toya's face reddened even more.

Keigo started laughing. Toya didn’t like it.

“I- You think I’m kidding?!”, Toya pulled Keigo by his collar for a punch, which Keigo quickly stopped by kissing Toya’s lips.

Toya’s expression looked dumbfounded as he stared at Keigo with wide eyes and fist still hanging weakly in the air, “You- You’re not fair!”

“When have I ever played fair in our fights, snowhead?”

Toya grumbled and handed the tie to Keigo, “Whatever. Get done with this thing already!”

Keigo looked at the tie and stayed quiet.

“Please….”

“Aw here’s my good boy-“

Keigo earned a punch this time from the other man.

-

Keigo and Toya exited the Villa. Keigo unable to leave his features again for a second, ended up tugging them inside his own suit. When they reached the black Mercedes, Keigo opened the passenger seat for Toya, “Et voilà mon amour”

Butterflies filled Toya’s insides as he got into the car, “And what does this sentence mean?”

Keigo turned to open the driver’s seat and got behind the driving wheel, “It means ‘get inside’”

“That was a long sentence for just ‘get inside’…”, Toya started putting on his own seatbelt. This was the first time that Toya ever wore a seatbelt willingly, but he had to remind himself that he wasn’t ‘Dabi’ anymore. He’s ‘Ikeda’ now, and Ikeda is perfect… Toya can try to be perfect. No- He’ll be perfect. Anything to earn more of Keigo’s approval. At this point Keigo’s approval of him wasn’t a want, it was something he needed on a soul level. The way he feels when Keigo compliments him about something makes him want to run for miles like a madman.

“Well, the size of sentences differs from one language to another.”, Keigo put on his own seatbelt and started the car. This was Toya’s first time on this Island, but certainly not Keigo’s first, so he decided that for their first night, they’d go out together to show Toya everything beautiful about this Island.

“Oh… I didn’t know that…”

A couple of minutes later Toya spoke up, “Hey Keigo?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think that I can… learn French too? I feel like it’s too late and that I’ve lost my chance to study… I don’t think I’m smart enough for academics-“

Keigo bit the inside of his cheek. He hated hearing Toya talk down about himself, but he had to keep a gentle demeanor, “No Toya it’s never too late to start learning. I know people who started studying in their 50’s.”

“R-really?”

“Yes, you can pick a school that you want to go to or a topic that interests you and I’ll get you all the tutors and books you need.”, Keigo’s eyes fixated on the road.

A lot of mixed emotions ran through Toya’s face, but the one emotion that dominated caused a couple of stray tears to escape his eyes.

He can study… He can actually go to school like everyone did. That was something that Toya thought that people like him didn’t deserve, but it was a possibility. Toya turned to look through the window with a smile stretched across his face wide enough to tug on the staples on his skin.

-

“Remember. The moment we step outside of this car I’m ‘Yoshida’ and you’re ‘Ikeda’”, Keigo said as he parked the car in front of a large restaurant that overlooked the sea.

Toya nodded and together they exited the car. Toya’s eyes were glued to the fancy building. A red carpet was laid out front. There were men and women in elaborate suits had dresses. Each man had an arm around a gorgeous woman who looked like an angel from heaven. Even the workers looked nice too… It was like a scene from a movie.

Toya’s haze was cut short, when Keigo came up to Toya with one of his blinding smiles and offered an arm to him, “Ready to go Ikeda?”

Toya rolled his eyes at the other’s ‘gentleman’ behavior, but regardless he still took his arm. And together they headed towards the building.

The moment Toya’s foot touched the red carpet he felt out of place. He looked at Keigo and his grip on his arm tightened, “Keigo, I don’t know how to act…”, Toya whispered.

Keigo didn’t reply right away, instead, he took a red card with the words VIP on it and showed it to the bodyguard at the door.

The bodyguard’s eyebrows rose up and he immediately opened a separate VIP door for the two, “Welcome back Mr. Yoshida.”

This time the bodyguard spoke in English and Keigo slightly frowned at his use of the word ‘back’, but he didn’t question it. It wasn't until they got inside that he replied to Toya’s question.

“First, that’s Yoshida for you from now on if you don’t want us to get caught. Second, you’re exaggerating. There’s nothing for you to fear as long as you’re with me.”, Keigo whispered.

“But Kei- Yoshida- I don’t know-“

A woman came up to both men, “Mr. Yoshida, Mr. Ikeda. How can I help you?”, she spoke in English with a French accent.

“A table with the best view of the sea, please. Make it private.”, Keigo replied to her with one of those business smiles.

“You’re in luck sir one of the reservations for a sea view table had just been cancelled. Let me guide you to your table.”

Toya just stood there watching the two interact with no clue to what they were saying. His eyes continued to scan the surroundings and he noticed a couple of men looking at him. He didn’t know what to make of their stares and his first thought was that they knew he didn’t belong here, so he just looked in a different direction to calm his nerves. When the conversation next to him ended, Keigo pulled Toya towards the elevator.

The two of them rode it with the woman until they reached the final floor. When the elevator’s door opened, Toya’s breath caught at the beautiful sight of the sea. The floor they were in had glass walls and the view of the sea could be seen from everywhere he looked.

Keigo escorted him towards a table. Toya was amazed by the beauty that surrounded them that he didn’t notice when Keigo pulled a chair for him.

“Ikeda?”

Keigo's voice pulled him out of his haze and he immediately sat down.

Keigo sat on the chair opposite him, “What do you think of this place?”

“I… I like it… So much. I have never seen anything like that…”, Toya’s eyes continued to scan their surroundings.

Keigo smiled, “Glad you do..”

“So… What are we supposed to do?”, Toya fidgeted with his hands underneath the table.

Keigo noticed the movement but didn’t comment on it. “Usually people come here to talk, have a nice meal, and dance.”

“That sounds… too fancy. But the stupid type of fancy. You’re telling me people come here and spend all of that money just for them to eat??”

“Well everyone has their own tastes-“, Keigo’s phone rang and he checked the screen.

“Sorry Ikeda I have to take this.”, he immediately got up and exited their space.

“Kei- Yoshida wait- sigh…. ”, Toya was now left all alone surrounded by everything that screamed that he didn’t belong.

Toya crossed his arms and continued to look around. His eyes came in contact with one of the men who was staring at him when he first entered. Toya quickly averted his gaze and looked away.

The man seemed to have other things. He left his seat and approached Toya, “Have I seen you around here before?”, the man surprisingly spoke in Japanese.

“I um- I don’t think so…”

The man hummed and sat down across from Toya, “I have seen you enter with your friend. You guys are friends right?”

“Uhh…”, Toya didn’t know if he was allowed to talk about their relationship openly, “Y-yes, friends.”

The other man seemed pleased by the answer and offered his hand to shake Toya’s, “Nice to meet you. My name is Fleur and I’m a producer currently based in France. May I know your name?”

Toya hesitantly shook the other man’s hand, “Ikeda…”

“Ah, Ikeda. Of course, only a beautiful name would suit you.”

Toya stood there dumbfounded not knowing how to reply. Did the man just compliment him?

“Would your friend mind if we take this conversation to a different place? I would like to know you more.”

Toya fidgeted with his hands more, “I um… I’m not sure if-“

“Oh don’t worry we won’t leave for long.”, Before Toya could say something the other man took his hand and led him to what looked like to be a dance floor.

“Do you know how to dance?”

“No-“

“It’s fine. I’ll teach you…”, Fleur put a hand on Toya’s lower back, held his hand in the other, and instructed Toya to put his hand on his shoulder.

Toya felt the touches to be intrusive. He didn’t know what the appropriate method to respond to this was. Especially in a fancy place like this… Especially when someone was looking at him like that. And it wasn’t only Fleur. Many others were staring at Toya as if they found him… interesting .

Little did the villain know how much his looks had caused many people in the room to lose their composure.

For the minutes that followed Toya just continued ‘dancing’ with the producer. He talked about all the movies he filmed in Japan, while Toya only answered questions when he was asked.

“So from what I deduced, you’re single?”

Toya hesitated to answer, “I-“

“No, he’s definitely not.”, a familiar voice came from behind Toya. Keigo’s arm wrapped around Toya’s waist and pulled him away from the producer’s grip.

“Excuse us? We were having a conversation”, the producer took Toya’s hand and pulled him towards himself, “Isn’t that correct, Ikeda?”

Keigo glared at Toya and Toya immediately looked away, “I um… Yes technically…”

“Well sadly this conversation has to be cut short.”, Keigo pulled Toya away from the dance floor and he didn’t mess the way everyone’s eyes trailed after him.

“Kei- Yoshida-“

Keigo opened the restroom door and pushed Toya inside closing the door behind them, luckily the place was empty.

“Ah- hey! You’re being rude!”

“Rude? Then care to explain why I came back to find a man with his hands all over you?”, Keigo crossed his arms and the veins of his hands looked like they were threatening to pop.

“I- You’re making it sound like something it isn’t-“

“Idiot- You can’t tell me the whole time you thought he was trying to have a conversation with you.”, Keigo facepalmed with a clenched jaw.

“He… wasn’t?”

“No.”

“Then why would anyone ever approach me?”, seems like the snowhead still hasn’t realized how people view him with his new face.

Keigo sighed, “You don’t get it, do you?

Toya shook his head.

Keigo just groaned and facepalmed again.

-

They were back again in their seats and this time Keigo was silent. There were no casual meaninglessness chatting or the occasional dear’s or honey’s. Just complete dead silence from the other’s side and it made Toya uncomfortable. He didn’t understand social cues well, and he knew that. He often disregarded the fact, but when he saw how his cluelessness had made Keigo upset, Toya decided to push away his fear of emotional vulnerability and speak up.

“Y-Yoshida…. I’m sorry.”

Keigo’s eyes trailed from the menu down in front of him to up to Toya.

“I’m sorry even if I don’t really understand what I did wrong… I… I’m not used to being in these types of situations. The fancy place, the fancy people and the accents. I just feel out of place and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do and what I’m not supposed to do. I really didn’t want to talk to that producer guy, let alone dance with him, but I was afraid of doing the wrong thing by being defensive and rudely pushing him away…”

Toya looked down at his own hands, “Being defensive is how I used to act, but I’m trying to act like Ikeda.”

Keigo just continued to listen intently.

Toya rubbed his own arm, “I-I have to admit that I liked the attention… I’m kind of not used to being… seen in a positive light. I’m starting to like it so much, but my scars always remind me of what I actually am. A villain-“

Keigo put a finger on Toya’s lips, “Nah ah, not this word”

Toya blinked twice at Keigo before he chuckled, “Sorry…”

Both men stared at each other for a moment before Keigo took Toya’s hand and kissed it, “Thank you for telling me about your thoughts, Ikeda. I know how hard it is for you to talk about your emotions.”

Toya’s eyes blurred but he blinked quickly to keep the emotions at bay, “You’re not mad at me?”

“Never was.”

“But you looked… tense…”

Keigo stayed quiet for a few moments, “Fluer is not a producer.”

“What do you mean?”

Keigo leaned closer to Toya and whispered into Toya’s ear:“He’s sent by my commission.”

Chapter 6: What are the odds?

Chapter Text

Earlier on the phone call

“It seems like someone is trying to get to Toya..”

Keigo frowned and rested his palm on the restroom’s sink,“Elaborate”

“Well- They’re not specifically looking for Toya, but Ikeda.”

Keigo had a turmoil trying to wrap his head around the sentence, “The f*ck? Toya and Ikeda are the same person…”

The voice on the other line sighed, “I- I don’t know man- It seems like there have been some technical issues or something and they’re looking for a guy who looks exactly like Toya but is named Ikeda”

Keigo’s frown deepened until he remembered that Instagram post about the guy who coincidentally looked like Toya.

“Wait give me a second I think I know who you’re referring to…” Keigo opened Instagram and started looking through his main page until he came across the photo of that beautiful man on the beach again. He clicked on the profile and the guy’s name was indeed Ikeda.

Keigo sent the pic to the other person on the line, “This is him?”

The other line met him with silence for a couple of seconds, “Damn He’s beautiful-“

“Get to the point! Is this him? Is this who they’re looking for?”

The other cleared his throat and typing sounds followed after, “I think yes… He does have all the exact details of the Ikeda they’re looking for. White hair, blue eyes, baby face…”

“Focus with me here for god’s sake!”

“A-and he’s based in France too- So yes I think this is who they’re looking for”

Keigo stared at his own reflection and ran his fingers through his newly dyed black locks, “Why would my former commission be after such a guy?”

“Honestly… I’m not sure yet…”, typing sounds followed, “But you know how the commission is always involved in shady stuff…”

Keigo nodded and cleared his throat at the painful memories.

“I think this is one of those cases where they’re trying to get to someone powerful by hurting those who are close to them…”

Keigo started pacing around the empty restroom, “So Toya is in danger, but at the same time he’s not?”

“Technically yes. The moment they find out that he’s not who they’re looking for they’ll leave him alone, but there’s another possibility of something going wrong…”

Keigo fidgeted with the rings on his fingers, one of them had the initials ‘T. T.’ engraved with gold into turquoise stone, “They might end up finding out that he’s Dabi?”

The other one on the line grimaced at the possibility, “Leading to them finding you-“

“I can handle myself.”

“But my job is to keep you safe-“

Keigo took off the turquoise ring and stared at it intently.

“Wrong. Your job is to keep me and Toya safe”

Silence from the other line followed.

“Find out more about Ikeda and why they’re after him.”

“Understood… By the way, there’s something I have to tell you…”

“What?”

“You know how I have access to all the cameras of everywhere you go except for your private suite?”

“Yes?…”

The other cleared his throat, “Well for the past 30 minutes or so Toya has been slow dancing with another man…”

Keigo blinked once, twice, thrice, “Huh?”

“Yeah… They look like they got this mood going on with that guy’s arm around his waist-“

Keigo hung up and immediately left the restroom. He came to find that the table, where he left Toya, was empty.

Panic immediately shot through his body and he started running towards the dancing floor and the sight he was met with made his jaw drop.

The guy was literally OGLING Toya, and not just him. Everyone on the dancing floor was!

Keigo started taking steps towards the two, but immediately stopped when he noticed a pin attached to the inside of the guy’s collar. This pin is a symbol that the commission members use to distinguish each other, and communicate that they were from the same organisation.

Multiple people in the room had that pin, including a couple waiters.

Keigo had to take a couple of breaths to stabilise himself. One of his former commission members had their deadly hands on Toya’s body. That was alright… It was okay. Not the worse thing to ever happen-

Fluer looked up from Toya and his eyes met Keigo’s. A smirk stretched his lips as in to say ‘got your toy’. Keigo immediately lost it and went to grab Toya by the waist.

-

Back to the present.

Keigo leaned closer to Toya and whispered into his ear: “He’s sent by my commission.”

Toya gasped and stood up quickly, “W-we’re in danger?”

Keigo held Toya’s hands and pulled him down to sit again, “Not in the slightest.”

“You literally just said that the ‘producer’ I was with is a spy-“

Keigo put a finger on Toya’s lips, “Careful. You don’t want to draw attention.”

Toya frowned and pushed Keigo’s hand away, “I’ll go and melt his face off so he doesn’t bother us again!-“

Keigo put his finger again on Toya’s lips to shut him up, “I said you’re not in danger.”

“But you literally just said-“

Keigo sighed, “Just behave like normal. And be the nice cute guy you were earlier.”

“You can’t just keep on shutting me up- I was cute?”, Toya cheeks pinked.

“Very.”

“Does everyone think so?”

“Who wouldn’t?”

“Wait- so he didn’t approach me just because it’s his job. He thought I was cute?!”

“Yeah…”, Keigo did not seem to like the rising enthusiasm.

Toya covered his mouth like a teenage girl, “Do you think he’ll ask me out to dance again?-“

“Oh my goodness Toy- Ikeda! I’m right here!”

“Sorry sorry- I just really like the attention. It makes me feel… pretty ”, Toya popes the ‘p’ in the last word and started kicking his feet underneath the table.

Keigo scowled.

Toya leaned over the table connecting their lips, “Frowning doesn’t suit you, Yoshida~”

-

The food they ordered finally came. Keigo had chosen dishes from the seafood menu and it came with wine. Toya wasn’t found of wine. He wanted beer.

He stared at Keigo and patted his eyelashes, “Yoshida…”

Keigo looked up at him, “Hm?”

“I want beer.”

“Order it yourself.”

“But- I don’t know English!”

“I’ll tell you what to say and you say it to the waiter.”

Toya pouted, “But-“

“No buts. Repeat after me in English. ‘I’ “

“ I….”

“Want”, Keigo made sure to speak slowly.

“wOnt”, Toya was not enjoying the learning process.

“Beer”

“BeeEr”

“I want beer.”

“Ay wOnt beeEr”

Keigo definitely had to get him a private Tutor, “Good job!”

Toya smiled.

“Now go call the waitress.”

“How do I do that?”

“You raise your hand and say ‘Excuse me’ “

Toya tried to mimic the foreign words, “AccUze meE”

“No no that’s a completely different word. It’s ‘Excuse~’ “

“Excuuse mEe.”

“Good job! Now call the waitress over to take your order.”

Toya took a deep breath to collect his courage, and when the waitress passed close to them, he raised his hand and said, “AccUze mEe, Ay wOnt beEr.”

The waitress blinked and stood there for a couple of seconds probably having a mental stroke. She looked at Keigo for confirmation.

Keigo was having a very hard time holding his laugh, “He wants beer.”

The waitress forced a smile, “Of course!”

When the waitress left, Toya looked at Keigo, “How did I do?!”

Keigo smiled fondly, “You were perfect”

-

It was just right after the meal and Toya felt FULL. He ate way too much, and could you blame him? The food was exquisite. He NEVER ate anything this good in his life.

His meals often consisted of fast food he stole, the food waste that was thrown in the restaurants’ trash cans, and the occasional 5 star meals that he stole from Keigo’s fridge whenever Keigo had him over.

Keigo always been aware of the other’s struggles, had always ordered two of everything and kept it in the fridge without hinting to Toya about anything. But now as ‘Yoshida’, he was able to spoil his cute snowhead without a care in the world.

“Damn- That food was good,” Toya burped loud enough to disturb other guests.

His eyes were unfocused, which was probably due to the amount of ‘Ay wOnt beEr’ sentences that he kept torturing the waitress’s ears with, the waitress having no choice but to get him more beer, and Keigo not having the courage to deny his darling anything let alone correct his pronunciation.

Toya raised his hand again for the tenth time while looking in the waitress’s direction, “Ay wOnt beE-“

Keigo pulled Toya’s hand down and held it firmly against the table, “I think this is enough, Ikeda”

Toya’s unfocused gaze met Keigo’s. He frowned and pulled his hand away, “Y-you don’t get to tell me what to do!” He said in a drunken haze.

Keigo sighed, “Ikeda-“

“Ay wOnt beEr!-“

Keigo put his hand quickly over Toya’s mouth, “I said no. And this is my final word.”

Toya was about to protest, when noticed Keigo glaring at him. Is Keigo mad at him?

He- he didn’t mean to make Keigo mad… Now Keigo was going to dump him for a hot chick in Europe! He was going to be all alone! Red tears filled Toya’s eyes.

Keigo’s expression was quickly condensed into an ‘oop-‘ at Toya’s pout, followed by a ‘wtf’ at the sight of blood in Toya’s eyes.

Keigo wasn’t one to cry, he was trained against it, but he was a 100% that this is not a normal occurrence in the human anatomy.

He quickly slammed money on the table, including a tip for the poor waitress, and pulled the drunken Toya out of the restaurant, not wanting to draw attention to the problem at hand. Especially with all the commission members who roamed the place.

f*ck f*ck f*ck, why is he crying blood?! What kind of doctor should I even take him to?!

Toya was struggling to match Keigo’s pace. He didn’t understand why they suddenly started running, but he started running too. He sniffed, while rubbing his bloody tears as if it was completely normal and it caused no pain.

Keigo getting even more anxious, he lifted up Toya to run faster to their car.

Toya was completely out of it to even question why he was being carried. He put his head on Keigo’s shoulder to look at the parking lot that they were in, “Keigo- A-are you mad at me? Is that why you are taking me away from the fancy place?”

Keigo suddenly stopped in front of the car and looked at Toya with a baffled expression, “No?! Why would I be mad at you? Your eyes are bleeding!”

Toya rubbed his eyes and noticed blood, “Oh… Yes it does this when I’m sad… Look, I can make it go away on command.”

Toya took slow breaths, smiled, and the blood was absorbed into his eyes.

Keigo was disturbed.

-

Keigo was pacing around in the Villa’s ground floor, and a semi-sober Toya was drinking a juice box on the couch.

“You didn’t have to fly a doctor here from Japan… He’ll take a full day to get here…”

“Shut up. Are you telling me that you’ve been crying blood your WHOLE entire life and never questioned it?!”

Toya sipped slowly from his juice box, while making annoying slurping sounds, “Well it doesn’t hurt… So it’s not bad? I mean I have a toe that keeps disconnecting from my body, but I can put it back-“

Keigo stopped pacing around and stared at Toya with wide eyes, “You have what?!”

Toya pouted, “Why do you keep yelling at me like I did this to myself on purpose?!”

The silence that followed was dense enough to suffocate.

Keigo sighed, kneeled down on one knee and held Toya’s empty hand, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. The point that I was trying to make is that you’re not Dabi anymore. You’re Ikeda. And Ikeda shouldn’t ignore his health problems under any circ*mstances. Understood? “

Toya continued sipping loudly, “Okay fine! I’ll start self care or whatever that gay twink sh*t is.”

“Toya, You’re gay-“

“No! It’s just for you- And do I look like a twink to you?”

The silence that followed was comical.

“Keigo! Do I look like a twink to you?!”

“Pfft-“

“Keigo- I- I’LL f*ckING MELT YOUR SKIN OFF!”

”We both know that you won’t- OUCH!”

Luckily no skin was injured, but Keigo’s left shoulder ended up getting punched. And it hurt.

-

It was evening and the two men were ending their tiring day in the private suite, cuddling underneath a blanket, while watching a movie.

Toya was drifting off when he suddenly shot up bright awake at the memory of something very important happening today . He glared at Keigo and punched him in the same shoulder.

“YOU CAN’T JUST DROP THE FACT THAT I WAS BEING FOLLOWED BY YOUR COMMISSION AND THEN DISTRACT ME BY GETTING ME DRUNK!”

“Ugh!” Keigo’s body twisted to the side in pain,

“Toya, let me explain-“

Another deadly punch followed the one before it, “Do you think I’m dumb? Huh?! Do I look like your princess that needs protection!?”

You kind of do…

Another punch followed and this time it was in the hero’s abdomen, “I kind of what?!”

Keigo’s body folded in half, groaning in pain, “Well- if you can let me explain-“

When a punch didn’t follow, Keigo took it as his clue to explain himself, “Look- I’m working on it, so you don’t have to worry-“

Toya raised a threatening fist.

“THERE’S A GUY WHO’S NAME IS IKEDA AND HE LOOKS LIKE YOU!”

Toya put his fist down, “Huh?”

“There’s a guy with the same name as you, Ikeda. He also looks like you… That’s the one they’re after- Not you.”

“Oh… So we’re not actually in danger?”

“N-no not in the slightest”, Keigo still had an arm around his abdomen, groaning in pain. Why did Toya suddenly have to use violence?!

“Okay… Cool…” Toya shrugged.

Toya looked at the TV and saw a woman kissing her girlfriend’s forehead in an apology for being mean, “Sorry my princess” , the woman said. She also handed her girlfriend some roses

Toya stared at Keigo, while gears ran through his head. He finally came to a conclusion, “You’re supposed to kiss my forehead and apologise to me for being rude, then give me roses.”

“What- I wasn’t rude right now. It was you! You’re the one supposed to-“

Toya crossed his arms, “Well, the TV never lies, and the woman here on it, just kissed her girlfriend and gave her roses as an apology for being an asshole, and you’re always an asshole.”

Keigo’s eye twitched.

He definitely needed to get a therapist to teach Toya basic social decency.

-

The lights were dimmed out, the only visible one was from the moonlight that hit the open window. The only sound heard was Toya’s snores and the ticking of a clock.

Toya was snoring, make-up off, and face buried in Keigo’s chest. He had his arms and legs wrapped around the other’s body, clinging.

Keigo was wide awake, chin resting on Toya’s head, red wings draped over them for warmth. Golden eyes stared at the clock from across the room. Each tick making the former hero more impatient.

A call was scheduled 10 minutes ago regarding the Ikeda case. From the tight expression on Keigo’s face it was obvious that the call hasn’t connected yet.

Having lost his patience, Keigo got up and slowly removed Toya’s arms and legs from around his torso, quickly placing the limps around a pillow in order not to wake Toya.

Keigo stood up, stretching as he exited the room, leaving some of his features around Toya for extra protection.

It is always better being safe than sorry.

The former hero was finding it hard to unlearn his habits. Especially with the Ikeda situation going on. He kept assuring Toya that everything was fine, but truth to be told Keigo wasn’t convinced by his own words.

The commission was no joke. Keigo already knew that from being raised up among them. Everything they were involved in was distant to come to ruin. And everything they were involved in was… ugly . Mainly or most probably only for selfish reasons, in the name of the higher goodness…

In all those years of being among them, Keigo still have not seen a glimpse of that ‘higher goodness’.

Keigo was their pet, slowly became one of their most loyal and trusted agents. His work wasn’t only limited in Japan, as most people thought. He often flew back an forth between America, northern Africa and Europe. Only doing what he was taught, swearing on secrecy, and getting a sh*t ton of money for it.

At one point in his late teens, he didn’t know what to do with all that money laying around so he started buying assets, as one of his former bosses advised. They all loved Keigo. Always giving him business advice, work advice, and sometimes even relationship advice. Though it wasn’t always good; one of the old men always told him to never settle down or he’d lose his charm…

The sound of the kettle broke Keigo away from his haze, and he moved to sit down by the kitchen table to pour himself some tea.

Now that he was on the ground floor, the sound of waves of the nearby beach could be heard clearly. Why not go on a walk?

Quickly putting on black contacts, wrapping a coat around himself, tugging his feathers into the sleeves, and putting his shoes on. Keigo exited the Villa from the back door with a tea cup in hand.

The weather was a bit windy, but nothing too crazy. Keigo found himself thinking about his and Toya’s new status. He really wanted Toya to finally get a proper education, find a hobby, and a live a proper rich life. Maybe they could even start a family…

Keigo’s cheeks reddened, shaking his head quickly. He was getting WAY too ahead with his thoughts.

Focus Keigo. First we have to actually completely detach ourselves from our former selves, settle down as our new personas, and THEN we can think about THAT.

Keigo finally reached the beach. He took off his shoes and stepped into the cold sand. He stared at his own toes, watching them sink beneath the itchy surface, when the sight of a familiar white head caught his attention. Toya?

There in front of the villa opposite to their’s, Toya sat on a fishing board. He was hugging his knees and shivering.

Toya! What was he doing in another villa? Was he lost? Why is he crying?!

Keigo started rushing towards his snowhead, completely forgetting about his discarded shoes.

When he finally neared the other man, Toya looked up and dark blue eyes met his.

Keigo froze. This is not Toya…

The familiar looking stranger beamed at the sight of Keigo, “Yoshida! Oh my god you’re safe!”

He jumped on Keigo, connecting their lips in a longing kiss.

Keigo’s shock intensified. If that’s not Toya it could only be one person.

“I-Ikeda?”

“Aw Yoshida! You have no idea how worried I was! You can’t just disappear on me for two days!” Ikeda buried his face in Keigo’s neck and inhaled deeply.

“Oh- You changed your cologne? You know what? I actually like that one more~” The clueless stranger kept kissing down Keigo’s neck.

Keigo’s face had gone completely red.

A massage appeared on Keigo’s watch : “So… Apparently there’s also a Yoshida that looks like you.”

Chapter 7: Glitch in the matrix

Chapter Text

Keigo cleared his throat.

Okay, so, he speaks Japanese, apparently thinks that I’m his husband and he can’t stop kissing me.

Ikeda finally got bored of sucking Keigo’s neck. He cupped Keigo’s face and looked lovingly into the black eyes, “That was not nice at all, Yoshida. I know you got all your businessman stuff going on, but you can’t just trap me in the villa! I just- I-“

Keigo cleared his throat and gently put the other’s hands down, “I… I’m sorry, but things got a bit… complicated…”

Ikeda poked his bottom lip out, “Aw honey… You do look tired…” Ikeda’s eyes trailed down Keigo’s body, “Why are you barefoot?”

“Uhhh….”

Ikeda noticed the cup of tea in Keigo’s hand. He leaned closer to the mug to sniff it, “That’s not your usual tea…”

Keigo started sweating, “I um- I was stressed and didn’t want to wake you up- So I decided to go on a walk to clear my head…”

Ikeda nodded in understanding, but Keigo didn’t mess the once-over that the blue eyes gave him.

Keigo’s eyes caught a glimpse of something silver and bright over Ikeda’s skin. Were those staples?

“Your skin-“

Ikeda snapped out of his haze and looked at his arms and touched his own face. An awkward chuckle followed, “You know how they suddenly come to the surface when I’m anxious…”

Keigo just nodded slowly, clearly there was more to the staples in the skin, but if he questioned further, it would seem suspicious.

Ikeda seemed upset about something, but refrained from speaking about it. He clung to Keigo again and tugged on his coat, “It’s getting cold, Yoshi… Let’s head inside darling…”

Keigo gulped, again, “I still feel like I need more fresh air- My thoughts are kind of scattered…”

Ikeda clinched his jaw and gave him a much sterner look, but hid it quickly with a sweet lustful smile, “If it’s just some scattered thoughts bothering you, I have the solution~”

Ikeda gave him a wink, wrapping his arms around Keigo’s neck, and smooching the sharp jawline.

Keigo’s breath hitched and he gently pulled Ikeda away from him, “Ikeda, please, I have a call I need to make… You can go back to our room and I’ll follow you shortly.”

Obviously he wouldn’t.

Ikeda’s sweet warm features quickly turned to a scowl, and Keigo was shocked at how much it resembled Toya’s.

“Fine. I’ll go back to that cursed place of a villa. But at least give me a kiss before I leave…” Ikeda looked to be on the verge of punching him in the eye, and Keigo knew that the sweet looking man was 100% capable of causing long term damage.

Keigo sighed in complete defeat, and leaned down to kiss the demanding lips, quickly pulling away.

“Now, darling, please go back to our villa-“

“One more”

Keigo bit the inside of his own cheek, “Ikeda-“

“One more! Please! I haven’t seen you in two days!” Ikeda dug his nails into Keigo’s arms.

Keigo grimaced and leaned down to kiss him again, much longer than the first to satisfy Ikeda. Keigo found himself imagining him to be Toya to ease the guilt that rose up in his chest.

Ikeda’s finger tickled the sensitive stop behind Keigo’s ear, causing Keigo to gasp with a slight gap to his mouth that Ikeda used to slip his intruding tongue in. Keigo had to count mentally to calm himself down and not end up punching the stranger away.

After they pulled apart, “Now darling, I have an important call…” Keigo said, rubbing his lips with the side of his mouth.

Ikeda was clearly not satisfied. He reluctantly nodded, “Fine… I’ll wait for you upstairs. And we’ll need to talk.”

Ikeda let go of Keigo’s arms, and Keigo could swear that the sharp nails had left a mark that could even be seen in the dark of the night. The spoiled small man trailed up the small hill and quickly went inside the villa.

That last sentence sounded more like a threat and Keigo found himself praying that the real Yoshida doesn’t end up getting fried, if he wasn’t already fried by the commission.

Keigo’s phone rang and he picked it up immediately.

“Wow dude- You haven’t even been a couple of days into an official relationship and you’re already cheating-“

“Shut up! Why didn’t you call sooner?! Actually- why didn’t you call when you heard him asking me for a kiss?! You could’ve saved me from the guilt!”

Laughter followed from the other line, “Well- for your first question, I was still busy gathering information about Yoshida. I wanted to tell you about Ikeda and Yoshida in one time to shock you only once but seems like that cutie beat me to it. For the second question, I thought it was funny to see you unwillingly cheat.”

“That- THAT is not cheating! I dealt with the situation professionally- I- Why haven’t I fired you yet?”

“Duhhh? Because I’m damn good at my job, obviously~” Typing sounds followed.

Keigo just sighed and he started walking back to his own villa, “Huh… what are the odds…”

“I know… it’s like a glitch in the matrix,” more typing sounds followed.

Keigo took a sip from his tea, “So what does Yoshida do?”

“Human trafficking.”

Keigo choked on his tea.

“And Illegal drug production….”

Keigo started coughing while slamming his hand onto his chest.

“But the good news is that he also owns a real estate company, making 70% of the money he makes completely legal…”

Keigo leaned against a light pole to still his breathing. He took another sip from his tea to soothe the burn in his throat, “does… does Ikeda know?”

“Ikeda was one of the victims of the human trafficking organization-“

Keigo choked again and this time it sounded more like a cow howling.

“Damn dude calm down- it’s not that bad. I mean it is- But, but the good news is that Yoshida felt bad for him and took him in!”

Keigo looked up into the sky as if asking whatever for strength even though he was an atheist.

Keigo cleared his throat and refrained from touching his tea again, “So… how did they end up getting married?…”

“Well… my conclusion is that it was a Stockholm Syndrome type of situation. Ikeda ends up getting attached to Yoshida, and Yoshida is too obsessed and protective to let go.”

“Protective as in how Ikeda has been trapped in the villa for two days?”

“Yup”

“And where’s Yoshida right now?” Keigo starts putting his keys inside the keyhole of the back entrance of the villa.

“Look to your left.”

Keigo looked to his left, and on the opposite villa to them, there was a barefoot man with a coat and a mug in hand, walking on the beach sand. That man was… Yoshida.

Keigo went pale and hurried inside the apartment, locking the door.

With a shaky hand, he took off his coat and disposed of the mug into the sink. The f*ck… we’re even wearing the exact same coat!…

“Um…” said a hesitant voice on the other end, “I think he saw you.”

“I know…” Keigo pressed a button to increase the security protocols in the Villa. The rewritten plot was getting way too complicated for poor Keigo to get a hang of it.

-

After he vigorously brushed his teeth, Keigo returned back to his suite to a sleeping Toya. He sighed in relief at the sight of his snow head and hurried to snuggle close to him.

He wrapped his red wings around both of them again, burying his face in the white locks.

The guilt from earlier tried to sneak into his thoughts again, but Keigo disregarded it. After all, their safety was what mattered the most… and he would do anything to ensure it, even if it included kissing a stranger…

Honestly, if that sentence was out of context it would sound like someone is trying to give excuses for being an asshole….

A couple moments later Keigo drifted to sleep.

Cyan eyes blinked open, staring suspiciously at the sleeping figure above it.

-

An alarm ran off, and Toya opened his eyes, yawning and stretching. He looked to the side to a sleeping Keigo. Keigo was so completely out of it that the sound of the alarm didn’t even shake him from sleep.

Toya turned off the alarm and moved up to stare down at the sleeping bird. Red feathers were scattered all over the room, Toya even found some feathers inside his own pajamas.

That’s a habit of Keigo whenever he felt anxious, he would always leave his feathers around for enhanced sensing of his surroundings. What was bothering Keigo this much?

Toya’s stomach growled. Okay, guess the Keigo being anxious situation would have to wait.

Toya was hungry, like really really hungry, but he didn’t know how to order breakfast in French.

He climbed onto Keigo and sat down on his torso. He held the squishy sleepy face in his palms and started pinching Keigo’s cheeks in an attempt to wake him up.

“Keigoo~ Wake up. Hungry. Need to eat.”

Keigo didn’t budge.

Toya got impatient and pinched his cheeks harder, “Keigo! Need food!”

Keigo groaned but otherwise didn’t budge.

Toya pouted before his expression changed to a mischievous one. He moved down until he sat directly on top of Keigo’s crotch.

A slight pinched expression ran across Keigo’s face, before disappearing.

Toya’s smirk grew more. He started jumping slightly, “Keigo~ I’m hungry~ “

A sudden knock came on their door, “Monsieur Yoshida, Voulez-vous votre petit-déjeuner?”

Toya froze. It’s probably the butler asking for something…

Toya looked down at the bird man who definitely was awake now but continued to be stubborn and hold onto sleep.

Toya’s stomach growled again and he scoffed.

Fine then. I guess I have to play dirty.

The butler started knocking on the door again.

Toya leaned closer to Keigo, grinding his bottom more into the other’s crotch, “AHH~ Keigo! N-ngh~ stawp!”

Keigo’s palm came flying to quickly cover Toya’s filthy mouth. Golden eyes glared up at the mischievous Cyan ones.

At the sounds emitted from the room, the butler froze mid-knocking and immediately sprinted away from the door.

Toya wiggled his eyebrows, while Keigo continued to scoff, though something else seemed to run through the golden eyes.

Toya felt something hard against his bottom, and he immediately gasped, trying to get off.

Keigo grabbed him by the waist, flipping them, so he had Toya trapped underneath the heavy red wings, “and where do you think you’re going?”

Toya’s face went red. “Well- I’m hungry.”

“And?” Keigo ran his hand underneath the other’s pajama shirt.

“You’re supposed to order the food!”

“But the food is right here…” Keigo started unbuttoning the pyjama revealing more of the said ‘food’.

Toya squealed, his fist immediately colliding with Keigo’s face.

-

Last night

Yoshida turned his key to unlock the door to the villa. He took off his shoes, discarded the mug into the sink, and hung his coat by the door.

The past couple of days were really getting to him, he had to take a walk to sort his thoughts out.

Feeling much better than before, Yoshida went upstairs to his and Ikeda’s room. He hasn’t been fully available for his husband, and he knew that he was in deep trouble. But Ikeda had to understand right?

He and Ikeda were finally settling down. Ikeda had expressed interest in having kids, but never brought up the topic verbally.

Yoshida knew that in order for him to secure a future where Ikeda felt safe enough to bring up the topic, he had to get rid of all his sketchy ties. ALL of them. Protecting Ikeda was always a hassle, imagine how it would be if they had little feet running around.

Everything was going well. He was able to break off nearly most of the illegal activities, except for one. That damn ‘hero’ commission.

His job was to find kids with interesting quirks, and a way to allow the commission to take them in. Different ways would include; killing the caretakers, drug them, worsening the financial situation of the family that they had to give up the kid, or just kidnap the kid. However, the commission did not prefer the last method as they wanted to be perceived in a positive light, as in ‘saving’ the kids.

That’s how they ended up with a hero like the Hawks.

Yoshida often thought about whether or not the hero knew the real story behind his parents’ tragedy. A story that only he and a couple of the organization members’ knew. That story was the reason his retirement from the illegal acts was met by refusal from the commission.

They didn’t trust Yoshida enough to not get the secret out after retiring from the job, though Yoshida didn’t blame them, it still got on his nerves. They wanted him to continue working at the expense of Ikeda’s life. The number of life threats he got in the past weeks for not showing up to the last deal… He couldn’t even handle the notion of having his sweetheart exposed to any harm.

Especially now with the disappearance of the hero, the commission got more aggressive with their threats. Yoshida had to increase his security measures, but he still felt on edge, and rightfully so. He just knew that something was off… Which was proven by that last anonymous message he got.

____________________________

“Bold of you to take your husband out in public after all the threats you’ve received. I have to admit, Yoshida, I’m impressed. He also happens to be charismatic on the dancing floor.”

____________________________

Yoshida hasn’t even allowed Ikeda to go out in the past couple of weeks… Are they playing tricks on him?

Yoshida knocked gently on the bedroom’s door, before opening the door. He took a couple of steps and looked around for Ikeda, relaxing when he spotted him on the couch with a book.

Yoshida smiled gently, closing the door quietly and tiptoeing towards the other man. Yoshida quickly wrapped him up from the back in a big surprise hug.

Ikeda did not budge, just frowning up at the older man.

Yoshida was expecting a big greeting since they hadn’t seen each other in two days…

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

Ikeda’s pout deepened.

Yoshida quickly lifted him up, sat on the couch, and put Ikeda in his lap, “Everything’s okay?”

Ikeda straddled the other’s lap but still didn’t say anything.

Yoshida quickly nodded the small metal pieces scattered across Ikeda’s skin, “Ikeda…”

He trailed his hands over the white skin, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to leave you for long. I know how you get anxious, but I thought we got your quirk under control?”

“Who were you with?” Ikeda snapped.

“H-huh?”

“You heard me! Who were you with?!”

“Uhhh… as in for work?”

“No! You smell different! You have a different cologne! A-and you didn’t want to kiss me properly!”

Yoshida blinked a couple of times before sniffing himself, “I still wear the same perfume… Are you sure you might not be sick?”

“Don’t play tricks on me! I know you-“ Ikeda sniffs Yoshida’s clothes, his expression quickly shifting to confusion.

“See? You must have been sick then.”

“Oh… but- why didn’t you want to kiss me properly!”

“When?”

“Today! Like an hour ago!”

Yoshida blinked again, “Sweetheart, I just got back by the jet 30 minutes ago…”

Ikeda’s mouth was agape, “What- no! I kissed you! I-I even ended up scratching your arms and I wanted to apologize for it-“

Ikeda pulled up Yoshida’s sleeves to find nothing. Confused blue eyes met obsidian ones.

Yoshida cupped Ikeda’s face and kissed the rosy lips, “You must have been dreaming, and because of the stress you thought it was real.”

“But-“

Yoshida carried Ikeda bridal style and started heading towards the hot tub, “How about we prepare a hot tub for us to relax, hm? And then I’ll call the doctor to prescribe a stronger medication for your quirk.”

Ikeda sighed in defeat, burying his face in Yoshida’s neck, and inhaling deeply. He still felt reluctant about the whole situation. He knows that who he met was Yoshida, or it wasn’t?

Chapter 8: The meeting - Part 1

Chapter Text

Back to the present.

A strong flashlight hit Toya’s eye. The doctor’s fingers spread his eyelids wide.

Toya was lying down on the couch of the living room, while the doctor, that Keigo flew over, was giving him a full checkup.

Keigo had said that it would only be for his eyes .

Toya was so against this. He hated the idea of someone else touching him, inspecting him, being THIS close to him. Especially for this long.

All of it just made his safety radar skyrocket. With each minute passing the impulse to call on his quirk increased, and keeping it under control was getting harder.

“Mr Ikeda could you please focus your eye on the centre of the light?”

Toya’s nails dug into his fist deeper, it burned. The doctor upon noticing the increasing tension in his patient’s body, turned to look at the other gentleman. But he was on his laptop in the other side of the space, paying them little to no attention.

The doctor sighed, turning to Toya and switching off the flashlight, “Mr Ikeda, I can’t help you if you can’t cooperate. You need to try to relax your body.”

Toya gulped, unsure of what to say. He never had to go to a doctor before. He doesn’t know if he’s supposed to mimic patients in movies or not. Toya was quickly learning that not everything on TV was an accurate representation of life, which made communication all together look more complicated.

His eyes kept glancing at Keigo, in a silent gesture for the hero to come and make the situation better, but Keigo looked like he had many important things to do.

“You have to depend on yourself more, okay? Talk to the doctor and describe everything that brings you pain, or anything unusual in you that you don’t see in other people. The best thing you can do with a doctor is be honest ,” was the last thing Keigo had said before disappearing behind that damn laptop screen.

Toya took a deep breath to collect his courage.

Okay, I just have to be honest. That’s easy…

“I… I don’t like being touched…” Toya finally confessed to the doctor in shame.

The doctor smiled gently, “I understand, but it’s part of the process… I’ll try to make it as quick as possible, alright?”

“Okay…”

The doctor took the flashlight again and directed it at Toya’s eye, “Are you a victim of a burn injury?”

Burn injury…

Toya’s breathing quickened and his eyes started darting back towards Keigo. This spot in his chest was hurting, and he hated the familiar feeling so much. He wanted it to stop. Now.

“K-Keigo….” Toya called out across the room for Keigo.

Keigo couldn’t hear the other’s plea from the headphones that covered his ears.

Keigo, please, you can’t just leave me to deal with this alone!

Toya was growing more anxious. His eyes met the doctor’s, then trailed down to stare at the doctor’s coat.

The doctor was exactly dressed in that white coat they were wearing when they took him to the lab all those years ago… Toya’s quirk started acting up.

The doctor felt the need to try and calm the increasingly anxious patient, so he reached a hand to rub Toya’s back. Toya completely against being touched, finally snapped and punched him in the jaw.

“AAHH- OW-“ The doctor backed away, holding his jaw.

Toya froze. Unable to handle any more social pressure, he got up and ran upstairs.

The doctor just sat there, holding his jaw, dumbfounded. Not knowing what else to do, he got up and walked to the distracted man. He patted Keigo’s shoulder, drawing Keigo’s attention from the screen.

“Sorry for the disturbance Mr. Yoshida, but Ikeda punched me…”

Keigo took off the headphones to hear properly, “Sorry, what did you say?”

“Ikeda punched me, and ran away.”

“WHAT?!” Keigo yelled, standing up quickly.

“Upstairs, he ran upstairs,” The doctor quickly followed.

“Oh okay…” Keigo visibly relaxed.

“He punched me,” The doctor pointed to his reddening jaw.

Keigo waved him off, “Oh yeah. He does that sometimes. Don’t mind him.”

“I- He nearly dislocated my jaw-“

Keigo closed the laptop, putting the headphones down, “I’ll pay for any damages don’t worry.”

“Mr Yoshida, that’s not-“

Keigo guided the doctor to sit back on the couch, “I apologize for my husband’s outbursts, but I have warned you about his sensitivity in our emails so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

“…….” The doctor sat down on the couch reluctantly.

Keigo patted the old man’s shoulders, “I’ll just go fetch him so you guys can continue with the appointment.”

The dark head started heading towards the stairs. The doctor sighed in disbelief, rubbing his bruised jaw.

Keigo opened the door to their suite, “Snowhead, You can’t just run away from an appointment. Let alone punch the doctor beforehand.”

Toya was nowhere to be found inside the room, so Keigo started walking towards the balcony connected to it. And as he predicted Toya was indeed inside, lying on the newly attached swing sofa, and looking forever miserable like he was carrying the weight of the world with him.

“Toya?” Keigo got inside the balcony and approached the swing sofa slowly, “What happened?”

The moment Toya noticed Keigo, he turned to look away.

Okay, looks like he’s mad at me.

Keigo sat down slowly beside the overly quiet man, before lying down next to him on the sofa.

Both stayed quiet for some time, just watching the clouds, when Toya broke the silence by wrapping his shaky body around the other man, in which Keigo responded to by wrapping an arm around him in return, patting the trembling back.

“It’s about the burn incident, isn’t it?”

Toya nodded.

“You don’t want to talk about it?”

Toya nodded, burying his face in Keigo’s neck.

“Did the doctor do anything to make you uncomfortable?”

Toya nodded.

“May I know what?”

“He… he asked if I was a victim of a burn injury…”

Keigo ran his hands through Toya’s white locks soothingly, “And you got defensive over it, didn’t want to talk about it, and punched him.”

Toya winced at the last sentence and chose to stay quiet after.

“Can you talk to me about it?”

Toya went quiet for some time. That time stretched to minutes, and Keigo thought he might have to cancel with the poor doctor outside.

“When I first woke up… I was trapped in a big white room. A lot of people were wearing that long white coat, surrounding me, touching me. I- I remember panicking and calling out for my dad…”

Keigo’s jaw clenched, his arm tightening around Toya’s waist, pulling the other closer for his own comfort. Keigo’s eyes started dampening.

“I looked across the room and… I saw another boy who looked like me. He too was attached to a bed across the room. When our eyes met, he started screaming. I don’t know how I didn’t scream either. I guess I was more shocked than scared, or maybe it was the drugs in my system. It was later then that I realized he was screaming because of the newly attached purple patches on my skin… He had none of those…”

Keigo froze at the mention of the other boy, his brain started riddling up the new information.

“Sometimes, I still think about this boy, who he might be or what had happened to him…”

Keigo’s eyes widened as all the missing pieces connected.

It looks like every plot had to come with its painful flashbacks that sadly were here to stay. Keigo really wished he had the kind of power to erase them.

-

The doctor left the villa with a blue eye and a couple bruises scattered across his face.

Toya turned to Keigo with an anxious expression, “Keigo, do you think the doctor hates me now? I-I tried my best not to hurt him…”

Keigo smooched Toya’s cheek, “No one can ever hate you, honey. I’m so proud of you for still continuing with the appointment.”

Toya semi-smiled, “When will we get the results for the check-up?”

Keigo wrapped an arm around Toya’s shoulders, pulling him towards their kitchen where their lunch was sitting, “You don’t have to worry about a single thing. I’ll talk everything out with the doctor.”

If he even agreed to come back again, that was one of Keigo’s many problems to worry about. And the list was getting longer.

-

It was around the afternoon and both men were eating lunch in silence. Keigo still typing on his laptop, while Toya just watched him.

Toya was getting frustrated by the lack of attention he was getting. Keigo had been even more obsessed over that screen since the doctor left.

He was trying to be respectful like ‘Ikeda’ would, and not poke his nose into Keigo’s important work or whatever, but he was getting bored! And he finished the appointment perfectly well with the doctor. Toya deserved a reward. He was EXPECTING it.

Toya got up, walked over to Keigo, and bent down to look at the screen. It was just a bunch of weird letters and numbers, “What the f*ck is that?”

“Coding,” Keigo continued to type in that weird script.

Coding…

That word seemed familiar. Toya was sure he heard it before. He snapped his fingers a couple of times. AHA!

“Oh! It’s what smart characters do in movies! Like when they just sit down and click a lot of keys on the keyboard.”

Keigo’s lips quirked at the word smart, “Yes, you can technically say that.”

Toya pulled the chair to sit down next to Keigo, and watched the screen more closely, “But why are you coding?”

“Just wrapping up some stuff.”

“Like what?”

Keigo’s posture tensed, “Work.”

Toya pressed, “What work?”

“Work Toya. You don’t know what work is?”

“Of course I do! I’m asking what type of work?”

Keigo sighed, “Related to my old… profession.”

“Oh… Well, I don’t remember seeing you code. You were just punching…. Villains. Well- other villains…”

“Actually, there’s a lot more that goes into it.”

“Like what?”

The constant questions were getting on Keigo’s nerves, disturbing his focus, “I’ll be happy to go into details later. I’m currently busy.”

“Busy with what though? You’re just pressing buttons on a keyboard. That’s not considered busy…” The snowhead looked like the definition of his own nickname.

“Toya- Please… I’m busy and you’re just being a distraction.”

Toya scoffed, “A distraction? Honey, I’m the whole show~” he started snapping his fingers sassily.

Keigo blinked, “Where did you learn to act like that?”

“There’s this show about drag queens-“

Keigo just silenced him by a finger, “You know what- I’m not interested. Just leave me alone for a few minutes please.”

“But I’m bored-“

“Then entertain yourself! I don’t know- go play video games, or take a walk by the beach. Just stop asking unnecessary questions when you can clearly see that I’m busy!” Keigo finally snapped.

Toya was taken aback by the sudden attitude, “Okay, fine. Don’t yell… Geez”

He got up to exit the balcony, “f*ck you and your stupid smart coding!”

When the balcony’s door was slammed shut, Keigo let out an exhausted exhale, head resting on the table, and closing his eyes.

He really needed a break. All the new information was piling up. The hero felt trapped, and this time he had no backup team to count on.

He was starting to doubt himself, whether he had been making the right decisions or not. Whether he can actually completely detach himself from his past or not. Whether Toya would finally realize how incompetent Keigo was or not…

A few moments later the balcony doors opened. A small gentle kiss was laid on top of Keigo’s head, before the snow head tiptoed away closing the door again quietly.

Keigo rubbed the top of his own head, red hue highlighting his cheeks.

-

It was 2 hours later that Toya came back to the balcony, “Keigo… Can you help me with something?”

Keigo was wearing his glasses, overlooking some mail he had just received. Toya had to swallow the lump that formed at the sight of Keigo in glasses.

“Um- Keigo? Hello?”

Keigo’s attention shifted from the papers to Toya who was standing at the door in swimming shorts. Keigo raised an eyebrow, “You’re going for a swim?”

“Yeah… Just need you to apply the foundation to the rest of my body. You know, I can’t go out like that…”

“Right… You can just ask someone to do it for you,” Keigo just waved him off, adjusting his glasses and returning to his papers.

Toya scoffed, stomped towards Keigo, and punched him in the shoulder.

Keigo winced, “OUCH- What was that for?!”

“I have been patient here! You’re busy with some sh*t and I’m respecting that or whatever- All I’m asking is for you to just apply the damn foundation. It wouldn’t take much of your precious time.”

Keigo sighed, gesturing to Toya to lay on the swing couch, “Just lay down then…”

Toya laid down on his back, handing Keigo a foundation bottle and a makeup sponge.

Keigo stone towering over the other man. He was still wearing those glasses…

Toya had to hold himself back from asking Keigo to f*ck him right here. He was desperate, but not THAT desperate. Or was he?

Keigo read the instructions on the bottle to make sure it was resistant first. Then he shook the foundation bottle, squeezing some of it and applying it over the purple skin. Starting with Toya’s abdomen.

Toya had to force his eyes to look away from Keigo’s face. Who is he supposed to sit still now with that man’s hand on his abdomen?

A small smirk formed on Keigo’s face upon noticing Toya’s struggle, but he refrained from saying anything keeping his face stoic.

Toya let out a shaky breath, when Keigo’s hand trailed upward to cover his chest.

“Turn around for me.”

Toya turned over, giving him his back to cover too. I swear if someone heard that sentence out of context they would’ve thought that we were…

Toya shook his head. He was NOT going to beg for Keigo’s attention today. It has been humiliating enough. He has to find something else. He has to be busy with something else so much that Keigo gets jealous.

The snowhead made up his mind.

Keigo finally finished applying the foundation, “Don’t leave from the back door.”

“Why not?” Toya stood up to stare at his body, making sure that Keigo didn’t forget any spot.

“Just listen,” Keigo went back to the laptop that had become Toya’s enemy. Oh, how he wanted to melt that laptop… But it would be useless since Keigo can easily buy another one.

Toya packing a bag with everything he might need for his small adventure around the nearby beach. He contemplated leaving Keigo without a goodbye or a thank you, but he felt bad.

Keigo was putting on his headphones connecting to another call, when Toya grabbed him by the jaw, and gave him a rough open mouth kiss.

Toya pulled away with a mischievous smile, leaving Keigo panting.

“Bye, bye~”

The balcony’s door was slammed for what was the tenth time today.
.
.
.

“Wow dude- I didn’t know he had the upper hand in the relationship-“

Keigo gasped looking at his laptop screen. He hadn’t realized that the call connected. He wiped his mouth, fixing his headphones, “You’re the worst.”

“Not as bad as you. Imagine abandoning your whole hero empire for a villain, while the good guys right here are struggling to build theirs.”

Keigo quirked an amused eyebrow at the blond, “I’m technically giving you a free pass by all the advice you’re receiving. Don’t forget that I’m the reason you were even allowed to graduate.”

“At the expense of cleaning up after your ass. Do you know how hard that sh*t-“

“Katsuki.”

The blond went silent for a couple moments, “Sorry- You know how hard that professional shi- stuff is.”

“Any news?” Keigo took out a tablet to read the latest news articles on Hawks.

Katsuki cleared his throat, “Regarding the commission…. Yoshida is being targeted by them because he refuses to continue cooperating with them.”

“Why?”

“Something about that mushy stuff of settling down and having kids,” typing sounds followed.

“What have you found so far about Ikeda?”

“I can’t still give you a clear answer about the situation. But I have an idea for how you can prove your suspicions.”

Keigo looked back at the laptop screen with interest, “How?”

“Get a DNA sample from Ikeda. Their villa is right next to yours, and it seems like Yoshida hasn’t found out about you guys yet. This is your chance to sneak in.”

Keigo exhaled, letting the idea sink in, “I’m just worried about Toya finding out…”

-

Toya of course didn’t listen to Keigo about not leaving through the back door. Who is Keigo to tell him what to do?

Since Toya was bound to entertain himself, he was going to do it on his own terms. The entertainment in question was teaching himself how to swim.

Probably not the best idea as multiple articles had insisted that there needs to be someone present, but who do those articles think they are telling Toya what to do?

Toya stood at the edge of the fishing port, looking down at the bright clear ocean water.

It’s okay… I can just evaporate the water if I drown… Right?

He took a deep breath, holding his nose, and jumped into the water face down.

Okay now that he was underneath the water. How was he supposed to get up? Toya opened his eyes, looking at the fish that slowly passed by him. His eyes interlocked with the fish. Both creatures stared at each other as if in complete fascination. It was then that Toya remembered that he was supposed to breathe.

His mouth instantly opened on command, shocking in the water. f*ck- He tried to call on his quirk but it wasn’t working- It wasn’t working?!

“IKEDA!”

Suddenly a large hand grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the water. Toya was put on the fishing port again. He started coughing his lungs out. Who knew that ocean water burned this much?

The same strong hand clasped Toya’s shoulder, the other hand patting Toya’s back, “Ikeda, honey, Are you alright?”

Toya looked up to find Keigo looking on the verge of a panic attack, “Finally got tired of staring at your damn laptop screen?!”

The other man looked taken back by the sharp statement, “I’m sorry- You know how busy-“

Toya just pushed him away to get up, “Yeah, yeah, whatever- HEY!”

Toya was lifted bridal style.

“I don’t remember giving you permission to leave, we’ve talked about this countless times,” this time Keigo gave him a stern look.

Toya’s mind was doing mental gymnastics trying to understand what Keigo was talking about, “W-what?”

The other man sighed, eyes trailing on the staples on Toya’s skin, “You haven’t taken your medication have you?”

“What medication? Hey- put me down! You can’t just carry me!”

Keigo held Toya’s right hand, staring at his ring finger, “Sigh… I can’t believe you just lost our engagement ring in the water. That would ages to find.”

Toya just blinked. Surely Keigo was just kidding, right? A very cruel joke-

“I’m tired of you trying to run away… I know you’re getting bored, but you have to understand. I’m doing everything in my hands to protect you. You’re in danger, Ikeda. This is not a matter of joke.”

“What the f*ck are you talking about?!”

“You’re so spoiled and unappreciative. Shouldn’t you be grateful for everything that I’ve been doing for you?” Somehow Keigo’s eyes looked colder, the expression made Toya freeze. Keigo never looked at him this way… Was he pushing Keigo’s buttons too far?

They were quite throughout the whole way back to the villa. Why was Keigo walking in the opposite direction?

Toya sighed, “Keigo… I’m sorry…” Toya didn’t even know what exactly he was apologizing for.

Yoshida finally put Toya down in front of the villa’s door, “Keigo?”

Toya was just going insane right here for a second, “You’re Keigo!”

Yoshida frowned, confused by Ikeda’s behavior. First Ikeda runs away from home and nearly drowns. Second, he forgets to get his medication. And third, he’s calling him-

Suddenly the villa’s back door opened, revealing Ikeda, “Yoshida!” He jumped on Yoshida in a big bear hug.

Yoshida froze. If this is Ikeda… Then who is that?

Ikeda’s eyes met Toya’s. Both gasped at the sight of each other. Ikeda started screaming.

Toya panicked. This was not Keigo. He started running, but he didn’t get far before multiple men jumped him, pinning him on the floor.

Toya’s vision went blank.

-

A message appeared on Keigo's watch: "Yoshida found Toya. Can't hack into the villa's system."

Chapter 9: The meeting - Part 2

Chapter Text

Keigo read the last message he got. Then he read it again. Then again. His face remains stoic as ever, as he takes off his glasses and stares into the beach view.

The butler enters the balcony with a tea tray, “Monsieur Yoshida, j'ai reçu le thé que vous avez commandé. Deux sucres et une crème,” he placed the elegant fine china beside Keigo’s laptop.

Keigo just quietly nodded, not giving much attention to the butler’s words, “Merci Samuel, tu peux partir.”

The butler gave him a gentle smile, before exiting the room and closing the door behind upon being ordered.

Keigo brought the teacup close to his lips and sipped it slowly. He closed his eyes, taking in a long inhale.

Upon his exhale he got up and threw the mug across the balcony, causing it to shatter into the nearest wall.

“YOU f*ckING IDIOT!” The tray was lifted up and thrown in the same direction as the mug.

A fist collided with the top of the wooden table, creating a hole, “I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE FROM THE FRONT DOOR! YET YOU CHOOSE TO NOT LISTEN!”

Blood coated Keigo’s fist. His whole body shook with the sudden surge of adrenaline. No- He couldn’t just lose it now. He had to keep his emotions under control. Worst things have happened to Keigo. He can solve this.

And what if he hadn’t filled Toya with everything that’s going on? He just wanted Toya to not worry. It’s not Keigo’s fault that Toya is in the hands of a deadly man like Yoshida, right?

“Who am I kidding…” unable to stand anymore his legs gave out, knees hitting the marble floor.

Tears clouded the golden eyes.

Keigo buried his face in his hands, body trembling. He had never felt anything like this before… Tears were a foreign sensation in his eyes, yet in this moment they existed in abundance.

Who knew that caring about someone was this painful?

-

“Well, first of all, it’s not my fault that you look like my boyfriend. Second of all, you’re actually uglier than him. Third of all, I look nothing like that twink attached to your hip, and if you think that I do then f*ck off! Fourth of all-“

Toya was silenced by a hand over his mouth. Toya’s hands were tied behind his back, legs tied to the chair he was sitting on. Toya bit the hand causing the bodyguard to wince, and pull his hand away.

On the other side of the room, Yoshida sat on a sofa with Ikeda attached to him, face buried in Yoshida’s shoulder.

“How dare you call my husband- sigh… Just cooperate with me here and tell me your full name. We don’t want to hurt you…”

“I told you my name. It’s Ikeda!”

“Impossible. There’s only one Ikeda that I know who looks like this. And it’s my husband. Give me one reason to believe that you were not sent by the commission for some wicked reason,” Ikeda glanced over at Toya. He was silent the whole time since he first laid eyes on his ‘twin’.

“What commission are you f*cking talking about? Do I look like I would even work in such smart stuff?”

Yoshida sighed and got up, pulling Ikeda with him towards the exit of the room. He couldn’t use violence against the stranger to draw the truth.

His similarity to Ikeda made it hard to use any form of physical harm, it would pain Yoshida to even think about harming him. This was some wicked game from the commission, wasn’t it? They knew Ikeda was a weakness from the start. That’s why they sent an agent who looked like him, right?

Yoshida was doubting himself. His line of work has taught him the art of reading people. And that young man definitely didn’t look like he would fall under the category of being a spy, maybe it was a coincidence?

All the men slowly exited the room.

“Hey! You can’t just leave me here! HEY YOU ASSHOLE!”

The metal door was locked shut, leaving Toya all alone in a dark room.

Yoshida had to wait for some more time, what if the young man gave up and confessed? Or maybe they find out about some evidential truth that proves his innocence.

-

It was evening, Yoshida laid down in the large suite bed with a tablet in hand, and reading glasses on. Ikeda lay on top of the other man. Blue eyes looked up, “You’re not going to hurt him, right?”

The question startled Yoshida for a moment. He had to take some time to think, “Why would I?”

Ikeda wasn’t having that, “Look- I know what you do to people who get on your nerves, you kill them. I’ve seen it. Everyone in this mansion has seen it. And that poor man downstairs has only three fates waiting for him, either you kill him, you let him go at a price, or he goes into one of your shady business…”

Yoshida, “Ikeda- I’ve changed.”

“You have not!” Ikeda got up, legs straddling Yoshida’s hips. “I’m not stupid, Yoshida. I’m not going to believe whatever you’re saying until I see proof.”

“I-“

Ikeda silenced him with a finger, “Until you disconnect yourself from that world, don’t even dare to say the words ‘I’ve changed’ I damn well know you didn’t. I’m tired of this drama.”

Ikeda pushed himself out of bed.

Yoshida stopped him with a hand over his wrist, pulling him closer, “Ikeda please- I’m doing everything in my hands. Leaving is not that easy.”

Ikeda scoffed, pulling his hand away and stomping out of the room closing the door behind him with a loud bang.

Yoshida sighed, body sinking into the mattress. He closed his eyes taking in a deep breath.

That commission kept costing him more than it was worth.

-

Toya stared around the empty basem*nt.

“Well, that is not what I imagined when I decided to try and entertain myself…” Toya activated his quirk burning the robes off his skin.

He stood up, hands on hips, “They could’ve had the decency of giving me clothes…”

“What do you mean by entertaining yourself?”

The sudden voice startled Toya, he looked back to find Ikeda.

Both men just stared at each other for some time. It was like looking through a mirror except that Toya was looking at a more appropriately dressed version of himself.

“Who are you?” Toya finally asked.

Ikeda crossed his arms, “Who are you?”

“I asked first.”

“I have the upper hand. I can ask my husband to beat you up.”

Toya’s eye twitched, “My name is Ikeda.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is!”

Ikeda sighed. He closed the basem*nt door and sat on the couch on the other end of the basem*nt.

Toya just stared at him in confusion. Wasn’t he supposed to be scared or something? Toya was literally an intruder in their home.

“Um… So what are you doing here?” Toya finally asked.

“Bored.”

“And decided that it was okay for you to stay in a locked door with someone who could potentially be dangerous?”

“It’s not like you can hurt me.”

“Pfft- That sounds way too confident from someone who looks like a twink.”

Ikeda quirked an amused eyebrow, “You literally look like me.”

“I- Shut the f*ck up. You’re so weird. I’m getting out of here,” Toya started heading towards the door.

“If you leave, they might kill you…”

Toya scoffed and turned to look at Ikeda.

Both of them kept staring at each other for some more time. As in silently challenging the other to do something stupid.

Toya gave up and sat next to Ikeda on the couch, “You know… I haven’t seen my brother in like ten years or something. You remind me of him.”

“Probably because you look like your brother, idiot.”

A laugh erupted from Toya’s mouth, and Ikeda’s followed.

“So how did you untie yourself by the way?”

“I burned it off.”

“Cool. That's your quirk?”

Toya opened his palm, forming a small blue flame in his hand.

Ikeda stared at it for some time. He hesitantly opened his own palm and a gentle silver flame formed.

Both men stared at each other for some time, blinking, fires in hand.

Toya opened his second palm and formed a larger blue flame.

Ikeda opened his other palm and formed an equally large silver flame.

An amused smirk formed on both faces.

“Dude- That’s sick!”

-

The last message on Keigo’s watch: “That’s a death sentence right there. If you want to take the chance, go for it. But it won’t be my fault when your ass gets killed.”

Keigo exhaled, opening his eyes.

He stood in front of Yoshida’s villa. He walked over to it. The bodyguards immediately opened the gates for him, thinking that he was Yoshida.

The plan was so simple. Go in there as Yoshida. Get Toya. Leave France. That’s it. No more drama.

Keigo decided to start searching the first floor. He took a small walk around the place, opened the fridge, and took a drink. Just acting like any normal person would do in their own household.

Don’t look suspicious…

When he found nothing suspicious, he moved onto the second floor. Again, nothing really worth looking into.

Keigo started heading towards the stairs when he noticed a figure passing. He quickly hid behind a wall.

Yoshida was crossing the hallway with his reading glasses on and tablet in his hands.

Keigo narrowed his eyes on the other man. We even have the same goddamn glasses?

Yoshida suddenly stops in his tracks, eyes looking warily at his surroundings.

Keigo stilled his breath, remaining hidden.

“Who are you?” Yoshida finally called out.

The air was dense enough to suffocate. Yoshida knew that someone was in here. Keigo knew that it was no use to pretend.

Keigo suddenly emerged from behind the wall, fist colliding with Yoshida’s jaw, drawing blood.

Yoshida hissed. He grabbed the intruding arm and twisted it causing Keigo to yelp and stumble back.

Yoshida quickly aimed a kick towards Keigo’s head, which Keigo quickly dodged.

“What are you?!” Yoshida reached quickly to his watch, probably to call the guards.

“Your f*cking nightmare!” Keigo jumped on Yoshida knocking him off balance and causing both men to fall stumbling down the stairs.

When they reached the ground floor, both fell straight into the ground. Heads hitting the cold marble and drawing a groan from both men.

Yoshida quickly grabbed Keigo’s head and slammed it repeatedly to the floor.

Keigo aimed for the other’s neck, choking him. Yoshida bit down on Keigo’s hand until it drew blood.

Keigo screamed, “YOU f*ckER!” He aimed a punch towards Yoshida’s face, but Yoshida quickly kicked him off.

A couple more punches were thrown with no proper impact. It was as if both men already knew each other’s fighting tactics.

Yoshida finally aimed a successful kick to Keigo’s abdomen, disturbing his balance before pinning him to the floor.

A gun was aimed toward Keigo’s throat, “You assholes can’t listen huh?! I have canceled our deal! And that was my final decision. I’ve no plans on working with you anymore.”

Keigo was panting hard struggling to take his breath, blood covering his lips. He slowly started recalling his feathers preparing for a painful attack.

Yoshida dug the gun deeper into the bruised throat, causing Keigo to wince, “And you don’t have to worry about Hawks’s secret anymore. He’s probably dead.”

Keigo blinked at the man above him, “Hawks’s… Secret?”

Before Yoshida could respond a couple of small red feathers stabbed his back, causing him to gasp and drop the gun. Keigo kicked the man off of him.

A large red feather appeared in Keigo’s hand, which he left threateningly over Yoshida’s throat.

Yoshida’s face paled as more red feathers gathered, forming two very familiar red wings. These could only belong to…

“H-hawks?”

Hawks smirked crooking his head to the side, “I happen to be interested in knowing that little secret of yours. Care to fill me in?”

Yoshida swallowed a lump that formed in his throat, “We can… Have a proper discussion in my office.”

-

Toya was lying on his stomach, kicking his feet behind him with is hands on his cheeks, “So what happened after?”

Ikeda sighed staring at his engagement ring, “He confessed… He promised me he’d change, but he never really did. I can see him trying, but most of the time he ignores me…”

Toya scoffed, “Keigo ignores me too. I literally have to beg for his attention.”

“Keigo sounds like an asshole. We should melt his face off.”

“He is but…”

“But you like him?”

Toya hid his face in his hands, “Yeah… I don’t know why I’m even telling you this… Your husband is holding me hostage.”

Ikeda just shrugged, “Neither do I. You’re supposed to be a scary commission guy.”

“What the f*ck is that commission anyway?”

“I don’t even know. Yoshida always talks about it, but I never really cared.”

Toya sighed, “Yoshida is a big asshole. I can’t believe you fell for a guy like that.”

Ikeda scoffed, “Look at you pinning over a guy who hasn’t even given you a ring yet after dating for three years!”

“I- You literally threw yourself at the first guy who gave you attention!” Toya fired back.

“That’s literally what you did too!”

“Shut up!”

“Well, at least Yoshida keeps me safe. Your man left you outside alone to get kidnapped!”

“Well, at least I’m allowed to leave my house whenever I want!”

“I bet that Keigo looks like an ugly chicken,” Ikeda threw the final bomb.

Toya gasped, “Take that back.”

Ikeda started laughing and soon it was followed by Toya’s.

Toya suddenly sneezed and rubbed his nose, “I should’ve chosen something to wear instead of these swimming shorts man…”

”We can get you some clothes.”

Toya raised a questioning eyebrow, “How?”

Ikeda smirked. He took out some keys from his pocket and shook them.

Chapter 10: The untold truth - Part 1

Chapter Text

Ten years ago.

Blue eyes opened for the first time to the world. Childlike wonder danced in them as they scanned the white surroundings. Brain empty with no thoughts. Tongue resting waiting for its first word. The eyes blinked for the first time in their existence.

As if suddenly aware of their limps, they tried to move. The first finger moved, then it was followed by another until the soft hand clinched into a fist. The hand unclenched. Curious, they moved the other hand. Eyes widened in surprise as it too, clinched.

The new being decided to be brave and move its arm, but to their surprise, it didn’t move. They looked at their wrist to find something over it, holding them back from their exploration. The first frown formed framing the blue eyes.

In a challenge, they tried to pull themselves from the restraints, “Ah- eh-“

No use. They were stuck. The being gave up and chose to explore the surroundings with their eyes. Everything was white, it’s not like they understood what the color was, but for some reason it bothered them.

A sound echoed through the closed space. The blue eyes shifted to look towards the direction of the sound. Tall figures started moving forward. The figures were all the same color as the walls. One figure stood frozen in its tracks upon seeing the blue eyes.

“It’s alive! Experiment T-38 worked!”

More white figures came into the room. They approached the being slowly. The blue eyes gaze at them in wonder.

“The first human-like clone! A revolution for the scientific community!”

The restraints were removed from the being's arms. They moved their arms slowly, then followed by their legs. A small innocent smile stretched across the child’s face.

The scientists stared at each other in disbelief, “That’s a smile! It smiles!”

“Of course it would. It’s human!”

“A human clone-“

“Still a human! Look at it… fascinating.”

They just stood around the experiment watching in astonishment as it breathed, had facial expressions, and moved its limps.

“What are we going to do with the other one?” One of the scientists called out, pointing to the bed in the other side of the room.

“I don’t think it’s alive. Should we discard it?”

“That would be such a complete waste of resources. I told you we should have 3D printed the skin before stitching it. It would have made it genetically more compatible.”

“Should we wait? What if the new skin needs more time to merge?” One of the scientists took a couple of steps forward, staring down at the stitched child.

“That would be ridiculous. It is ridiculous in itself that they wanted us to raise him from the dead. We have a better option here! We made a new clone of it! We can just give them the clone.”

“T-38 has the same appearance as the child. But that doesn’t mean they’ll have the same quirk. You read the email. They want the kid alive for his quirk.”

“Sigh…”, a hand ruffled the clone’s hair, “guess we have to wait and find out what this little guy’s quirk is.”

“And the original child?”

“Just wait until he wakes up.”

“But the stitched skin would start rotting…”

“I don’t think they’d care for his appearance that much. He’ll be sent to the ‘V’ section anyway.”

“If we gave them the clone. Do you think it would be sent to the ‘V’ section?”

A laugh echoed through the walls, “Obviously not. The pretty ones are taken to be heroes.”

-

A small foot touched the floor, followed by another. The legs started hurting, the boy fell to the ground crying.

Two figures crouched down beside him and helped him stand up again.

“He’s thirteen- Well not really because he’s a clone, but I expected him to be able to walk.”

“That’s normal muscle strength for a human infant. It needs to develop gradually,” They support the child’s legs to stand again. The kid started screaming louder from the pain and started pushing the scientist's hands away from him.

“This means… Speech therapy will be required, complete programming to the human experience to match that of a thirteen-year-old child.”

The other nodded, carrying experiment T-38 back into the laboratory.

“Do you think the commission would actually agree to buy him?”

“Why wouldn’t they? Look at how cute the kid’s face is. His quirk is pretty powerful too. Everything they’re looking for in a hero,” He squeezed the child’s cheeks to emphasize their cute face.

“And when the original wakes up?”

“If he ever wakes up, he’ll be drafted to the villains. They’re the ones who brought him in here.”

The other looked nervous, “What if they found out that we sold a clone to the commission?”

The child was placed down in a large cradle bed, “They’re the same thing.”

Brows frowned, “The same?”

They left the kid alone in a room, locking the door behind them, and completely ignoring his cries.

“I can’t believe you haven’t realized the big skeem of things yet,” The older sat down in front of a large computer screen, crooking a finger for the other to sit down.

“I hate it when you talk in riddles.”

The bald man laughed, adjusting his glasses, “It’s all a business tactic kid. You create the problem, and sell it to people.”

The younger’s eyes widened as the realization sat in, “You mean…”

“Yes. You create the villains. They scare the people, causing destruction. The people are scared and helpless. Who do they turn to?”

“The heroes…”

“We make the heroes. The heroes as expected save the day. People love them so much, the government pays the heroes.”

“The money goes to the commission?”

The bald man nodded, “Now you’re grasping the whole picture, kid. But not just the commission.”

“… the villains too?”

“Yes.”

“But how… I- I don’t understand…”

“They both get the money because they both are the same thing. A business. Villains scare people, Heroes take down the villains, and Heroes are paid. Most of the money flows to their agencies. The agencies are one of the same. A giant cooperation.”

Silence settled in with its cruel dense truth. The younger held her head in her hands, a burdened exhale leaving their lips.

“So everyone is being played.”

-

It was a couple of months later.

T-38 still struggled to walk, but he was developing at an acceptable rate. So far he had reached the speaking capabilities of a 7-year-old, which the scientists deemed a success. Everything was going well except for one small thing.

T-38 showed no signs of his quirk developing. The regular quirk therapy for kids not working. They had to use more extreme measures.

Screaming sounds echoed in the empty white hallways.

“HURTS! HURTS!”

T-38 was tied to a chair. Small kneels were attached all over the delicate skin. Small electric currents ran through them, aiming to stimulate the quirk into activity.

“AAHHHH!” Dark lines formed on the child’s cheeks from the tears that had been flowing for the past hours.

The two scientists watched from behind a glass wall.

The younger gulped, averting her gaze.

The older fixed his glasses, “You need to strengthen your heart. Otherwise, you won’t be lasting long in this lab.”

“I-I’m not… I just-“

“Got attached to the kid?”

The younger closed her eyes tightly. She received a gentle pat on her shoulder.

Both turned to look at the kid inside the room. Suddenly a small gentle flame formed in the kid’s hand.

Both scientists gasped and turned off the electric current immediately. They stood for a couple of moments admiringly the silver fire.

“He’d make a really great hero...”

The older grinned, “He’d make us a lot of money.”

T-38 stared at his own hand with wide eyes. His hand hurt- It hurt so much. He closed his eyes and screamed louder. Feet kicking, trying to escape his own body.

“LEAVE! I WANT TO LEAVE!”

-

T-38 was returned to his room. The same room where he had first opened his eyes to the dreadful world. At first, T-38 was excited to be alive. Everything about himself and his surroundings fascinated him. However, in the past three months, he started hating existing.

In one of his pre-programming classes, he learned about plants and animals. How they’re also living beings just like him. The kid found himself wondering if the plants felt the same pain of existence as he did. If so, if living was this agonizing… why was it even a thing?

The restraints were put on his limbs. A familiar gentle hand ruffled his hair. It was his nightly routine to be put back in bed.

Blue eyes looked up at the woman who had been watching him for all his time of being alive.

She smiled.

T-38 smiled back. He never knew her name, but she was the first and only gentleness he had ever known.

“Goodnight, kid.”

She started walking towards the door. T-38 didn’t want to be left alone, “I-I have a question…”

She looked at him curiously, returning back to the spot beside the bed, “Yes?”

“Why… Why do y-you put these on my hands before bed? They hurt…”

The scientist stayed quiet for some time, before sighing. Her eyes met the kid’s blue ones. Guilt painted her eyes. The little boy couldn’t interpret the emotion, as he wasn’t familiar with the feeling.

“It’s to keep you safe,” She finally answered.

“From what?”

“From… From bad things.”

The kid didn’t know what to make of this answer, but he just nodded.

“Goodnight,” this time she hurried outside of the room, closing the door behind with a lock.

The lights were turned off. T-38 stared at the ceiling. Blue eyes slowly drifted shut.

.

.

.

On the other side of the room. In the abandoned corner, lay the body of a boy. Multiple tubes were connected to the four limbs. The long resting lungs slowly started stretching, filling with air, as the boy took the first breath in his second chance at life. Cyan eyes opened.

Alarms went off in the room.

T-38 was startled from sleep. He gasped as the strong lights were turned on. The sound of the alarm was sudden, and he started crying.

The familiar scientist barged into the room, she passed by T-38’s bed. He thought she was coming for him to comfort him, but she completely walked past him to the other side of the room.

More scientists walked in, surrounding that corner of the room.

T-38 was curious, he wanted to see what was happening. He slowly started pushing himself up, fighting the restraints. Blue eyes locked cyan ones. On the other side of the room, there was another boy who looked like him. Except that, the boy looked-

T-38 vomited. His eyes unable to look away from the rotten flesh.

A horrified scream echoed through the walls.

-

A couple months later.

“They bought the kid you’re responsible for.”

The scientist looked up from her computer screen in shock, “T-38? When?”

“Today.”

She frowned, getting up, “Why wasn’t I notified of this?”

The older glared at her, “Because your heart is too weak. You were the one messing with the data weren’t you? Trying to keep him in the lap longer.”

She froze, breath hitching, “I-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just know that he’ll be sent off tomorrow.”

She felt her eyes burning, but schooled her expression, “Do we… Do we at least get to name him? It would be more appropriate.”

“Fine. Choose a name right now. Put it in the document that will be sent with him. I expect it to be in my office by eight.”

She nodded, before she could say anything else the door was slammed shut.

With a sigh, she opened T-38’s document. Erasing the ‘T-38’ and writing ‘Toya’, before erasing it.

This was the name of the original kid… Can’t really use it.

Slowly she typed the name ‘Ikeda’.
.

.

.

T-38’s routine was a bit different today. Upon waking up, they provided him with breakfast, but instead of directing him to the pre-programming classroom, they placed him in an office where giant people in suits came to take him.

These people looked completely different from the scientists. The scientists wore white clothes, and everything surrounding them was white.

These other people wore only black, and everything they had was black. The kid stared at them in fascination. He never saw black this much. One of those people noticed T-38 looking at them and smiled. The kid smiled back. He had come to learn that safe people were the ones smiling at him. Little did the kid know he was wrong.

-

“Look at this kid’s profile. He’s just perfect! Even his quirk. I’ve never seen anything like that!” a document was passed over the table.

An old man slowly picked up the folder. He turned the pages in it slowly, eyebrows rising up as he quickly scanned the content, “What’s that kid’s name?”

“Takami Keigo.”

The man’s eyes lingered on the red wings, “Can he actually fly?”

“Yes. They had to restrict his wings. He also has an attitude problem.”

“You met him?”

The other grinned, “And he was damn feisty. We also got another kid today,” Another document was passed over the table.

The older started going through it. The first thing that caught his attention was how pretty the child was, “He got those looks of a hero.”

“Exactly what I thought at first! He’ll be a great addition to the next upcoming generations.”

“Only if he… ‘Ikeda’ wins against other kids. That Keigo looks like he’ll be a bit rough.”

-

5 years later.

A teenager with sharp golden eyes stood on shaky legs. Bruises covered his frail arms, his face supported a painful black eye, and the edges of his wings were slightly burnt. Keigo gulped as he stared at the other teen on the floor.

The kid was covered in blood, Keigo’s own doing. He didn’t even remember what the kid looked like… Everything was blurry from the adrenaline rush that his body refused to come down from. He was promised food if he won… And he did.

He looked behind him with wide dilated eyes. Keigo’s ‘mentor’ threw a lunch bag in his direction. Keigo caught it, pulled out the sandwich, and started eating it as fast as it was humanly possible. Not even batting an eye to sight of the bloody body underneath him.
.

.

.

Blue drifted open. The sight of those red wings forever imprinted in Ikeda’s memories. Successfully marking the day he lost the soul reason for his existence.

-

Present.

“I’m the reason you were sent to the hero commission.”

Both were sat down in an office. Keigo stayed silent. He just stared at the other man.

Yoshida took it as a sign to continue, “My job is- was to recruit kids. Specifically, kids with exceptional abilities-”

“You knew my father. Didn’t you?”

Yoshida hesitated. He didn’t expect Hawks to connect the dots this quickly.

Keigo stood up and slammed his hand to the table, “You know my family. DON’T YOU?!”

“Hawks-”

Keigo took out the same sharp feather, leaving it threateningly over the other’s throat, “Speak up!”

Yoshida stayed quiet. Guilt framing his face, he opened a drawer beside him, taking out a picture. A hesitantly handed the picture to Keigo.

There were three figures in the picture. One had a similar pair of the hunting red wings. He had his arm around a woman, who was pregnant. The third person had black hair… He looked like the man with the red wings. He looked like-

Keigo looked at Yoshida with shocked eyes.

Yoshida averted his gaze.

Tears filled the younger’s eyes. Turns out Keigo wasn’t as alone as he thought he once was. He had family. And that family had-

“I was your nephew! Your goddamn nephew! How could you?!” Keigo got up, over the desk, aiming for the other’s neck.

Yoshida quickly dodged the hands, “Keigo listen-”

“LISTEN TO WHAT?! Listen to what… You trying to excuse- THIS?!”

“I had no choice!-”

Keigo jumped on Yoshida, knocking him down. Yoshida choked as Keigo’s hands slowly tightened around his neck, “No choice huh? You just thought it was okay to throw your nephew in the dumpster for some cash?!”

Yoshida started coughing, “It was your father! H-he got us all into that mess!”

More tears flooded Keigo’s eyes as he tightened his hand around Yoshida’s neck.

Yoshida put has hand over Keigo’s, “I’m sorry… Forgive me. It was truly out of my h-haN- UGH!”

Keigo’s hands were shaking as he dug it deeper into the flesh, “I-I want to kill you… I WANT TO KILL YOU!” He pulled his hands away from Yoshida’s throat and proceeded to cover his own face. Hiding the tears.

Yoshida gasped for air. He turned to the side, holding his throbbing throat and coughing loudly.

Keigo took the sharp feather. Directing it over his uncle’s neck. He raised his hand up and brought the sharp edge down, before stopping in his tracks. The image of Ikeda filled his thoughts.

________________________________

“Well… my conclusion is that it was a Stockholm Syndrome type of situation. Ikeda ends up getting attached to Yoshida……..”

________________________________

Chapter 11: The Yoshidas' rescue mission

Chapter Text

I can’t. Ikeda needs him- Wait-

For a second Keigo’s heart stopped beating. He had been so consumed by the need of finding the truth about himself, that he completely forgot about Toya. An awful feeling sat in Keigo’s abdomen, and slowly crept into his bones.

“Toya- TOYA! Where’s Toya?!” Keigo’s hands dug into Yoshida’s neck, much harder.

Yoshida gasped, and kicked Keigo off him, “YOU’RE INSANE- You want to kill me?!-“

Keigo got back on top of Yoshida, a fist colliding with the older’s jaw, “I SAID WHERE’S TOYA?!”

“UGHH!” Yoshida quickly shielded his face, “Who’s that?!”

Keigo froze. Of course, Yoshida wouldn’t know Toya’s name. He had stressed on Toya to never reveal that secret, “The guy you kidnapped!”

“I didn’t kidnap anyone!” Yoshida scoffed, pushing Keigo off of him.

“The guy your guards took this afternoon!”

Yoshida’s eyes widened. He’s connected to Keigo?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about….,” Yoshida replied, but Keigo didn’t miss the hesitation in his voice.

Seems like Keigo had to step down to Yoshida’s level. “Yoshida, don’t make me do something that you’d regret.”

“Elaborate.”

“Your precious Ikeda-”

Yoshida threw a fist that Keigo quickly dodged, “Don’t even dare!”

“Or what? What will you do to the top pro hero?”

Yoshida clenched his jaw. “Fine. I might know where he is… But first, you have to d-”

“Do something?” Keigo knew it was coming.

Yoshida cleared his throat, “Yes…” He took out a paper and a pen, handing them to Keigo, “You have to sign this.”

Keigo read the document intently, “You want me to….”

“Consider it like a promise not to kill me, but more of a legal form. If something happens to me in the next upcoming years, my lawyer will be directing this to a court and you’ll be seen as one of the suspects. Of course, nothing will happen to you if you’re innocent. As long as you prove it,” Yoshida explained the whole thing as if he had done so for years. As if it wasn’t his first time handling out a file like this.

The disgust that Keigo felt burned his guts like an acid. He bit down on his bottom lip and slowly signed the contract. He reminded himself that he was doing this for Toya.

“Don’t look at me like that. When you have someone you care about, you’ll do worse,” Yoshida quickly took it and put it in a fax scanner to probably be sent to his lawyer.

Okay maybe Yoshida had a point, but What type of family would even sign a legal agreement like that? Apparently, Keigo’s family did.

“Wait- How do you know my husband’s name?” Yoshida turned to Keigo with a frown.

Keigo’s face went blank. Okay maybe he should’ve thought this through before he decided to fall to Yoshida’s level, “You mentioned him…”

Weird, Yoshida doesn’t remember doing so. But with all the stress he’s been under lately, it made sense for his memories to fool him. And it wasn’t unheard of how many times the old man would mention his husband. It was so often that his lawyer even commented on it once.

“Follow me,” Yoshida opened the door to exit the office and Keigo followed him, making sure to tuck in his red feathers beforehand.

The two passed by multiple workers, who looked horrified at the physical state the two men were in, let alone the fact that they looked alike.

Keigo felt on edge. He didn’t know what to expect. He didn’t know where they were going or what Yoshida planned on doing. But any outcome was better than not being closer to finding Toya. And Yoshida knew better than to lie to a top pro hero… Right?

They got into an elevator. Yoshida pressed the button for the ground floor. The silence that fill upon them was uncomfortable.

The situation Keigo was in was almost comical. Imagine just finding out your uncle was the cause of your abandonment, and you just have to act calm while sharing the same space. Standing this close. Keigo looked to the side at Yoshida.

As if caught staring, Yoshida quickly looked away.

“Don’t think I’ll let you off the hook easily. I expect an explanation with proof,” Keigo spoke up. The calm voice sent shivers up Yoshida’s spine.

“I will- I will discuss this later with you… But first, let’s get over with this.”

The elevator opened, and Yoshida walked towards a metal door. He got the keys out and slowly unlocked the door.

They both looked inside the room and it was empty. Yoshida’s face paled. Keigo frowned in confusion. Why would Yoshida bring him to an empty room?-

Keigo’s eyes noticed the burned robes on the ground. He gasped and quickly picked them up to observe them. This means-

“YOU- WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM? WHERE’S TOYA?!!” Keigo’s hands aimed for Yoshida’s collar.

Yoshida blocked it. He quickly pressed a red button on the walls causing the alarms to go off, “HE ESCAPED!” Before Keigo could react, Yoshida started running up the stairs.

Keigo followed him, “What do you mean he escaped?!”

Multiple men flooded the room. Keigo recognized them as the guards from the ealierr footage. They looked panicked, now standing in front of Yoshida.

One of the men spoke up in French, “We don’t know how he left. We’ve been here the whole day-“ Yoshida shut him up with a punch to his face.

“And you clearly can’t do your damn job!” Yoshida snarled back. His eyebrows rose up in realization, “Ikeda! Someone check on Ikeda!”

Keigo stared at him in confusion. What does this have to do with Ikeda?

Yoshida turned to Keigo with a gun in his hand, “That guy came in claiming to be named Ikeda… From what you’ve just said his real name is Toya, Correct?”

Keigo stilled, “What are you trying to imply?-”

“They sent you, didn’t they? You were trying to trick me into getting into my house and kidnapping my husband!” Yoshida’s hand shook from the adrenaline rush.

“I’m retired. I’m f*cking running away from the commission! Why would I work with them?!”

Yoshida hated that he believed Keigo. If it wasn’t for Hawks’s disappearance, Yoshida would’ve broken that deal easily. But the fact that this guy claimed to be named Ikeda was not setting right with Yoshida.

Two of the guards came rushing to Yoshida, cutting off the not-so-friendly conversation, “Ikeda is not anywhere in the house!”

The gun slipped from Yoshida’s hand, falling to the floor before his own body followed.

“MISTER YOSHIDA!?”

-

“The commision had been following Keigo and Toya for the past week, Thinking that they were tracking you and Ikeda. The surprising coincidence of having the same last names made the situation more complicated.”

Keigo had his phone on speaker. Next to him on the living room couch, Yoshida was listening while holding an ice bag over his head. The old man had passed out earlier and now he was supporting a killer migraine.

Yoshida turned to Keigo, “Did you go to this seafood restaurant? The one with the famous roof that included a dancing floor?”

Keigo frowned, “How did you know?”

Yoshida took out his phone and handed it to Keigo to read.

____________________________

“Bold of you to take your husband out in public after all the threats you’ve received. I have to admit, Yoshida, I’m impressed. He also happens to be charismatic on the dancing floor.”

____________________________

Keigo read the message slowly. A vine popped on his forehead as he read the last sentence, “God damn Fluer!”

“Who’s Fluer?” Yoshida raised a brow.

“He’s a commision agent. He asked Toya for a dance dance…”

Yoshida raised an eyebrow, “How did you know he is part of the commission?” He also wanted to ask why the fact that Toya dancing with another man rattled Keigo up this much, but he refrained from asking personal questions.

Keigo sighed, handing Yoshida back his phone, “Commission members wear a specific pin inside their collar to be able to distinguish each other. I would wear one too…”

Yoshida nodded, absorbing the new information. He put the ice bag aside and replaced it with a colder one. He had a whole basket next to him full of them.

Keigo’s eyes lingered on the ice bag. Upon noticing, Yoshida picked up one from the basket and handed it to Keigo, “Helps with concentration.”

Keigo took the ice bag and put it on his forehead. “Have you reached anything?” He spoke through the phone.

After more silence from the other line, they finally got a reply, “I can’t track Toya or Ikeda. Toya doesn’t have a phone on him. Ikeda shut his phone as of 3 hours ago,” Katsuki spoke up. Yoshida looked on the verge of passing out, again.

“What was Ikeda’s last location?” Keigo questioned.

“Some small street. It’s close to the airport… There’s security footage of him and Toya, but it’s blurry. Damn France and its poor-quality street cameras.”

Keigo’s, and Yoshida’s hearts dropped.

“Check all the security footage in the airport. Make sure to scan all the files relating to today’s passengers. Send me any info specifically on any private flights!” Keigo panicked.

Yoshida quickly dropped the ice bag, opening his laptop to use his own connections at the airport.

“Understood.”

Keigo ended the call. He started heading towards the villa’s exit. He needed to get to the airport as fast as possible. Yoshida stopped him with a hand on his arm, “Where do you think you’re going?! You’re the first suspect here!”

Keigo scoffed, slapping the old man’s hand away, “Shut your damn mouth old man! I’m retired! How many times do I have to say it till you believe it!”

Yoshida stood up, “And you’re not leaving my side until I find Ikeda.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll notify the commission about your location.”

Keigo clinched his jaw. Damn old man knew to pick on Keigo’s weakness.

There was a possibility that whoever kidnapped Ikeda had Toya with them. Considering that both men look alike and were present in the same building. Maybe Toya escaped but was caught by whoever was in the mansion then? Alot of assumptions but no proof to pack any up.

Keigo had no choice but to agree, “Fine.”

Yoshida pushed past him to leave from the front door. He put on a scarf quickly to hide the bruises from the earlier arguments, “Follow me. We’re going to check their last location first.”

Keigo looked at himself in the nearest mirror and he too seemed in need of disguising some of these bruises.

Yoshida shoved his nephew a similar scarf, “Get into the car.”

Keigo glared at him, but nonetheless, he followed his supposed family member.

-

They reached a small narrow street. This particular area was a well known shopping destination. Yoshida himself took Ikeda here many times. Keigo was planning on taking Toya here for the upcoming weekend.

“You start looking for anything from the left. Me and my men will search the right side,” Yoshida immediately started giving out orders.

Keigo sneered, “Keep your commands to your slave guards. I’m on my own from here.” Keigo got out of the car, slamming the door shut. He still went to the left side of the street despite his ego speech.

Yoshida watched his nephew leave with an amused look, “Stubborn, Just like his father…”

-

After an hour both men returned back to the initial departing point. Both were panting, and It was clear from both of their expressions that the search wasn’t successful.

“The airport?” Keigo was asked.

Yoshida nodded, “The airport it is.”

They reached the airport and just like before they went separate ways. Keigo was starting to lose it. Doubt was creeping in at the back of his mind. Maybe he wasn’t a great partner after all… He failed to do the very first thing he promised Toya; to keep him safe and secure.

With nothing suspicious in sight, and no new information from Katsuki, Keigo slumped down on a bench. He held his head in his hands, letting out a burdened exhale. Keigo wished he took one of these ice bags with him. His thropping head was geting unpearable.

After a couple of moments of just sitting, Keigo decided to go buy a pain killer from the nearest pharmacy. Finding Toya would be a lot harder if he didn’t put that migraine under control.

Keigo got inside the nearest pharmacy. He started approaching the counter for a prescription, when he suddenly stopped in sight, eyes widening. Fluer.

He was standing in an aisle with a shopping cart in hand.

Fluer had his headphones in, popping his head to the music. He picked up a shampoo bottle to read its instructions, before putting it in his cart beside a pack of condoms.

Keigo couldn’t contain his anger any longer. He charged towards the other man, slamming him to shelves.

“You- YOU GOT NO SHAME DON’T YOU?!” the shelves fill forward causing others to fall in the process like dominos.

“UGHH- YOU f*ckING ASSHOLE!” Fluer immediately got up to punch the insane stranger. He froze when he realised that it was Yoshida.

Before the man could react, another punch was aimed to his nose, “WHERE’S TOY- IKEDA!”

Fluer was pinned to the floor and punched repeatedly without a chance to respond. He picked up a shampoo bottle and hit the back of Keigo’s head, before kicking him off.

Multiple people started screaming, fleeing the pharmacy from the fight that broke out.

The workers immediately called the security. One of them tried to approach the two men, “Sir- Please settle this outside. You’re breaking-“ The worker had to crouch down to dodge a flying shampoo bottle.

Fluer was standing behind a shelf that hadn't fallen yet. He was throwing out any hard object he could find to keep ‘Yoshida’ away from him. Fluer pressed a button on his watch to call backup.

.

.

.

One of Yoshida’s men noticed some crowd gathered outside a pharmacy. Some screams could be heard. People were either running away, or filming.

Curious, He approached the Pharmacy. He gasped when he saw Mr. ‘Yoshida’ fighting another man. He immediately picked up his walkie talkie, “Mr. Yoshida in danger. Location, gate 4. At a Pharmacy.”

A voice immediately replied through the device, “I’m in the f*cking shopping mart you asshole. Can’t even see properly to do your damn job!”

The guard scratched his head in confusion. Oh wait-

“Mr. Yoshida, the other guy who looks like you sir started a fight near gate 4!”

“Who- EVERYONE HEAD TO GATE 4!”

The guard winced at the tone, but quickly started heading towards the other ‘Yoshida’ to break the fight. The moment he stepped inside a conditioner bottle hit him square in the nose causing him to fall backwards into the crowd.

“Ahahahaha! Regardez-le tomber!” Some of the crowd shouted with their phones capturing the whole scene.

Fluer ran out of shampoo bottles to throw and started opting for conditioner bottles. Who knew that hair care products could make good defence weapons?

Keigo was fed up. He started climbing the shelves to surprise Fluer from the top.

Fluer looked to his left and right, confusion drawing on his face as Yoshida suddenly disappeared from sight

Keigo reached the top of the shelves, looking down at Fluer.

The crowd cheered more. Fluer looked at them still in confusion. It was when he noticed them pointing up that he decided to raise his head.

Keigo jumped down on Fluer, his boots stepping straight on the other’s face.

It was then that Yoshida reached the pharmacy. He gasped at Keigo, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” People are filming!

Keigo and Fluer were rustling on the floor. Keigo was kicked in the stomach giving Fluer enough time to get away before Keigo could respond.

Keigo groaned, turning towards Yoshida, “It’s Fluer!”

Yoshida’s eyes went wide. He pulled out a gun from his coat, firing at the ceiling.

“IL Y A DES ARMES DE TIR ! CACHER!” The crowd immediately started fleeting the scene with only few brave enough to stay and film.

Yoshida and Keigo started rushing towards Fluer.

Fluer stopped trying to hide. He stood quietly instead, giving them a smirk.

The sounds of multiple guns clicked. Keigo and Yoshida gasped to find multiple bodies of special armed forces surrounding them.

-

Earlier today.

“Are you sure you won’t get in trouble? I don’t think you can just take someone your husband was holding hostage to a mall,” Toya got out of the changing room. He was dressed in a purple sweater paired with white pants, both which Ikeda picked out for him.

“Don’t mind it. Yoshida isn’t that scary. Should I get the white sweater or the purple one?” Ikeda stood in front of a mirror.

“Purple looks horrible on you.”

Ikeda turned to stare at Toya with a blank expression, “Dude. You’re wearing purple. The exact purple sweater I’m wearing.”

“And it looks damn good on me,” Toya flixed in front of the mirror.

Ikeda rolled his eyes, “Anyways… I don’t like the colour white…”

“Why?” Toya leaned against their shopping cart.

“I don’t know. Have always hated it since I was a kid.”

“But you told me that you don’t remember much about your childhood.”

Ikeda shrugged, putting the purple sweater in the cart, “The colour white always stood out to me.”

“What about your hair…?”

“Tried dyeing it multiple times. Yoshida always said no.”

Toya grinned, “I happen to be very skilled in that department.”

“You dyed your own hair before?”

“Oh countless times. I had a phase where I always dyed my hair black.”

“You have to show me!”

Toya scratched his head, “Well my phone is not on me…”

“Oh… You can show me later!” Ikeda started pushing the shopping cart towards the counter.

“I’ll make Keigo pay you back. I promise. I just never really carry cash on me.”

“Votre marchandise coûtera 800 £” the cashier said.

“Why?” Ikeda carried out his conversation with Toya. He took out his credit card, handing it to the cashier.

Toya shrugged, “Keigo just pays for everything.”

Ikeda handed the bags to his butler. He turned to Toya with a frown, “I don’t like the way you’re dependent on that Keigo.”

Toya winced and scratched his head, “Well…”

“What if he’s not a good person? What if he drops you?” They started walking towards a coffee shop.

Toya looked away, “Well, You’re dependent on Yoshida.”

“Not entirely. I make my own money.”

Toya turned to look at Ikeda, raising an eyebrow, “How?”

“I write. Actually have published books. A secret from Yoshida though,” He winked at Toya.

“Wow…. You’re so smart! Like you sit and type all day?”

“Not all day,” they got inside a cafeteria and sat down, “Mostly around Mondays when Yoshida is not around.”

“Why’s that?”

Ikeda smirked, leaning closer to Toya, “Because everything I write is technically fanfiction about him.”

Toya frowned, “What’s that?”

Ikeda gasped, “You don’t know what fanfics are?”

Toya shook his head.

“Oh my god. You have to know,” Ikeda took out his phone to explain.

-

An hour later.

“A-ah~ That feels good man,” Toya was lying on his stomach getting a massage.

Ikeda was on the bed next to him, also on his stomach, and a towel covering his lower half. Ikeda raised a questioning eyebrow at Toya, “D-did you- Did you just moan?”

Toya scoffed, “Why do you keep trying to reduce me to a femboy! I swear if you don’t stop- Ah~” Toya’s eyes rolled as the massager pressed that spot on his spine.

“Pfft- ahahahha! Your reactions are priceless!”

“Well- I have never had a massage before so shut up! Your husband spoils you sh*tless I swear.”

“That’s the bare minimum, honey,” Ikeda started typing on his phone, before shutting it down completely. He didn’t feel like letting Yoshida track his location today.

“You’re just repeating whatever Yoshida tells you. I swear when Yoshida finds out you sneaked outside again- with me! He’ll be foul,” Toya had to hold in a moan as another good spot was pressed on his back.

“He’ll probably yell for sometime before calming down and apologising,” Ikeda shrugged.

“Keigo does that too. He’d suddenly get angry all of a sudden and then calm down again as if nothing happened.”

Ikeda’s eyes noticed a beige color smeared on Toya’s towel. He pointed at it, “Hey… What’s this?”

Toya looked at his own towel. He gasped and got up quickly to wear the white spa coat.

Ikeda quickly got up too, “What’s wrong?”

“I should probably get going… Keigo must be getting worried…”

Ikeda patted Toya’s back, “Whatever it is you can tell me. I… really like you. And I would love for this to be a friendship.”

Toya sighed, looking away, “I really like you too man. I know this is weird- but we just have this…”

“Connection?” Ikeda smiled.

“Yeah… Like yes we both were freaked out when we saw each other for the first time, but I like talking to you. Which is honestly rare…”

Ikeda nodded, “You know what? You don’t have to tell me about this now,” He referred to the foundation, “We can spend the rest of the day together. And I’ll make my driver return you home.”

“Wouldn’t that make Yoshida… mad?”

Ikeda shrugged, “He literally has the memory of a golden fish. He’d just forget about it in no time. Call it the power of love.”

“Pfft-“ Toya covered his mouth.

“Hey! I’m not joking here!”

-

The two stopped to pick up some hotdogs. Toya ordered four.

Ikeda gave him a disapproving look, “Didn’t take you for a fast food lover.”

Toya rolled his eyes at Ikeda, “Sorry. I’m not your clone.”

“I’m not saying that we should like the same stuff because we’re alike. It’s just that fast food is incredibly unhealthy.”

“fAstt fOood UNhEalthyyy,” Toya stuffed another hot dog in his mouth.

“I- I’m leaving-“

Toya wrapped an arm around Ikeda’s shoulder, dragging him to another store, “If you leave. Who’s going to buy these French books? You promised to teach me French.”

“You only want to know French just because you’re jealous of other women approaching Keigo!”

“And? That’s a valid reason,” Toya threw the hotdog wrap into a pin before dragging Ikeda into a bookshop. “Now you’re smart with words. Which book should I get first?”

Ikeda signed, “You can start with stuff from the children’s section.”

Toya frowned, “Excuse me? Do I look stupid to you?”

“No. It’s just that children’s books contain easier words-“

Toya started heading towards the adults section.

Ikeda groaned, but still followed him, “Ikeda- you won’t be able to understand a single thing-“

Toya picked up a book rated 18+. He squinted at the cover of the book. It was fan art and it looked like-

“I said don’t!” Ikeda snatched the book quickly and hid it on the shelf.

“Dude. Was that Kei- Hawks?”

“Um…”

“And the author's name on the book looked very familiar to your account…”

“Look- I may or may not have a tiny crush on Hawks. And I may or may not have written a book that went viral,” Ikeda confessed.

Toya’s jaw went slack.

“Don’t you dare say a thing about this to Yoshida! For some reason his mood always goes down whenever I mention Hawks.”

-

They left the bookshop with multiple books in hand. Toya accepted that he’ll have to study children’s books. Ikeda bought a couple mangas for himself.

“It’s getting late… I should turn my phone on now. Yoshida is probably getting worried,” Ikeda turned on his phone.

“I should probably get going too… Keigo must be worried,” Toya yawned. All that shopping hurt his back.

The moment Ikeda opened his phone, he got a call from an unknown caller. He answered it without thinking much about it.

“Give the phone to Toya,” the voice said.

Ikeda frowned, “Um sorry I think you have the wrong contact-“

“Toya. The name of the guy who looks like you. Give him the phone. I need to speak to him urgently.”

Ikeda turned to Toya with a blank expression.

Toya raised a brow, “What?”

“Your real name is Toya?”

Toya paled, “How did you know?”

Ikeda handed him the phone, “Someone wants to speak to you.”

Toya hesitantly took the phone, “Ikeda. I didn’t mean to lie to you-“

Ikeda just waved him off, “I already knew that it wasn’t your name. Just answer the call. It seems urgent.”

Toya was surprised by the way Ikeda didn’t seem to be phased. Ikeda didn’t seem to be phased by most things.

Toya answered the phone, “Yes?”

“I need you to listen carefully, okay? Yoshida and Keigo are currently getting transported by special armed forces. They’re heading 40 kilometres south from the island-“

“Oh oh I recognize your voice! You’re the guy who prank calls people on YouTube!,” Toya looked at Ikeda.

“I- Yoshida and Keigo were caught by f*cking dangerous armed forces!”

“Um… I think this is a prank caller. No way would someone just know Yoshida and Keigo. Let alone speak about both of them in the same sentence. He’s probably just a hacker who’s been listening to our conversations somehow,” Ikeda spoke up.

“But your phone was turned off?” Toya raised a brow.

“Oh yeah…” Ikeda scratched his head.

“Yeah…” Toya scratched his head.

“Wait but he knew your real name. Maybe he’s saying the truth?”

“YOU f*ckING BIMBO HEADS. USE SOME OUNCE OF CRITICAL THINKING!”

“Oooh. You’re the guy Keigo talks to!” Toya snapped his fingers.

Chapter 12: Rescued or confined?

Chapter Text

9 years ago.

“Damn. That kid looks beat up. Do you know what happened to him?”

“I was told that he lost. The kid who did these to him must have been brutal…”

”They starve them.”

Two people in white coats were looming over a passed-out teenager. They had cleaned up his wounds, stitched up some deep cuts in his arms, and attached an IV to his frail hand.

“I don’t understand… I’m sure these metal pieces were not in his skin before,” One of them flipped through the teenager’s profile.

A doctor held some tweezers, trying to pull them out, “I think they emerged from his skin.”

“How though? Nothing in his profile mentions anything relating to a skin condition.”

The doctor with the tweezer gave up on bulking the metal pieces from the kid’s skin. He sighed, turning to face his coworker, “What is his quirk again?”

“Something relating to fire… Silver flames.”

“Silver… Wait- Remember that chemistry class we took? The one about creating different colored flames. Do you remember what would create a silver flame?”

She closed the teenager's profile, thinking intently, “Aluminum?”
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.
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The teenager was transferred to a lap to get his quirk tested. It was revealed that underneath his skin laid a small layer of liquid Aluminum that created the silver flame. Upon further research, it was revealed that because of the over-exertion of the quirk, the Aluminum boiled, and bubbled to the surface creating dent-like shapes. Weakening the quirk in the process.

The commission did not take well to the news.

“Ugh! Such a waste of a pretty face! You know. I was thinking of letting the kid pass the last tournament despite his failure. But having someone with a quirk that can’t reach its full potential is a waste of money.”

“Agreed, I think we should focus our resources on the best performing so far,” And old man nodded, sipping from his mug.

“You’re saying this because you like Keigo.”

“He has more potential, better skills, and more resilience.”

A sigh left the younger’s lips, “You’re right… What should we do with Ikeda?”

The old man waved him off, picking up Keigo’s profile. “Any method is fine as long as you erase his memories.”

-

At the age of sixteen, Ikeda was sent to an adoption center where he spent his last three teenage years. Because of his looks, he got adopted right away, by multiple families, but was returned back every single time due to ‘Behavioral issues’.

The teen was always violent, angry and upset, and no one really knew why. Everyone was afraid to ask.

Not much was known about the boy. His file didn’t show any information about his past or his former family. He was reported to be quirkless. Which contributed to bullying from his roommates.

The head of the department felt sorry for the kid, and so they tried to tolerate his behaviour until that one incident.
.
.
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The fire alarms went off causing major panic in the building. Kids were rushed from their dorm rooms. Nurses hurried to pick up the smaller ones who still couldn’t run.

The head of the department stood in the hallway, where the silver fire had started. She gasped, stumbling back at the sight before her.

In the middle of the flames crouched down a pale haired teenager with his body on top of another, and hands around his roommate's neck.

-

4 Years later.

A well dressed man exited his Lamborghini. He looked to be in his late thirties. Young and with a long life ahead. He had a lot of money on his hands. In fact, too much of it. Sometimes it frustrated him because he couldn’t find a proper way to spend it.

Which might come of as a little weird to some people, but it did upset Yoshida.

Lately he had been spending that money to indulge in his secret hobby, watching cage fights. Especially underground cage fights.

It thrilled him. Watching the players fight for their lives, bones cracking, skulls being crushed and blood getting everywhere.

And all of that was for a trivial amount of money in the end. The whole thing was funny.

Yoshida took his usual VIP seat in front of the cage. He wondered what this year’s tournament would be… Would they invite in wild animals for the players to fight off? Or multiple players against one? Would there be fire?

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the most anticipated event of the year!”

The crowd roared. All players stepped in front of the cage to be introduced.

There was one new person that caught Yoshida’s attention.

Wild white hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and a small frame. All features that absolutely did not belong near a fighting cage, yet they did. Who is this?

“For our third player we have, Giniro! A silver flame quirk!”

The young man noticed Yoshida’s staring.

Their eyes locked and lingered for moments. Yoshida’s heartbeat quickened.

The intense eye contact was cut, when Giniro was pushed into the cage, along with another player which Yoshida recognized as the last year’s winner.

No way would this beautiful young man survive this tournament…
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“One! Two! THREE! Giniro wins!”

The last year’s winner was on the ground. Skin melted off his body.

The applause was loud. Some were thrilled by the sight. Some had colour striped from their faces. Yoshida was one of them.

Though his shock wasn’t at the skinless body, it was more at Giniro. If ‘beauty and the beast’ were a person.

Their eyes locked again. Giniro scowled at him, sticking his tongue out. Yoshida’s stomach fluttered.

-

Ikeda was in the locker room, wrapping bandages around his arms. A stack of money was in his pocket, his payment for winning his first cage fight.

He didn’t think that it would be this easy. Well at least he doesn’t have to live on the streets much longer. Just a couple of fights more and he would afford to rent a room.

The locker’s door was open. Ikeda looked up expecting his agent, but it was no other than the creep who kept ogling him from earlier.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed in here,” Ikeda stood up crossing his arms, “I’m calling security-“

“I’m the owner,” the larger man closed the door behind him, slowly approaching Ikeda.

Ikeda’s eyes went wide. He took a step back closer to the lockers.

Upon noticing Ikeda’s distress, the dark head stopped advancing, instead choosing to keep some distance, “Relax. I just want to talk.”

Talk? Possibly about what? Ikeda’s hands twitched. Was he going to get fired for sticking his tongue out earlier? Oh, that was such a stupid move. He should’ve anticipated that someone sitting this close to the cage would be someone important…

The older man took a seat on one of the locker room’s benches, “What’s your name?”

Ikeda hesitated, “Giniro…”

“No. What’s your real name?”

Ikeda stayed quiet.

“I can do a background check on you and find it out, but I don’t think you’d appreciate that.”

“Tch- It’s Ikeda…”

“Call me Yoshida,” he extended his hand towards Ikeda.

Ikeda hesitantly shook it.

Yoshida’s grip tightened and suddenly he pulled Ikeda closer. Their noses nearly touching.

“Is this your real hair color? It’s pretty…” a hand ran through Ikeda’s hair.

Ikeda’s eye twitched, “DON'T TOUCH ME YOU CREEP!”

SLAP!

Ikeda quickly picked up his stuff and stormed off from the locker room, closing the door with a loud bang.

Yoshida stared at the closed door with his mouth agape. A prominent red hand mark on his cheek.

-

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

“f*ckk… I’ll be kicked off the tournament,” Ikeda sighed, throwing himself into the motel’s bed, “That was my last hope…”

He ruffled his own hair. No one had ever dared to touch me like that…

“THE ASSHOLE! I’LL MELT HIS FACE OFF!” Ikeda buried his face into the stinky motel pillow.

His stomach growled.

“ Sigh… ”

With his phone and the stack of money in his pocket, Ikeda left the motel to look for food.

He pushed a hoodie over his head as he approached a populated area. He hoped that no one would recognize him for the ramen bowl he stole yesterday…

Ikeda sat down on one of the chairs of the ramen shop. Someone sat next to him.

“Two spicy chicken, please.”

Ikeda looked to his right to see who was ordering. He flinched backwards when he realized it was-

“What are you doing here?!” Ikeda got off the chair instantly.

Yoshida crooked his brow, “What a coincidence…”

“Coincidence my ass! You’re following me!” Ikeda pointed an accusing finger.

Yoshida slowly put the finger down, “I just want to talk to you.”

Ikeda pulled his hand away the moment Yoshida touched it. He looked behind him for a place to run.

Two chicken ramen bowls were placed on the table. Yoshida gestured to them, “It’s on me.”

Ikeda sat down hesitantly, picking up his chopsticks.

“Why would you join the underground cage fights?”

Ikeda ignored the question, choosing to eat quickly.

“If you don’t answer, I’ll fire you.”

Ikeda’s hands gripped the bowl tighter, “I need money.”

“You don’t have a family to depend on?” Yoshida was not eating.

Ikeda didn’t notice the odd behaviour. “No. I’m an orphan.”

“How old are you?”

“25.”

“You look younger.”

“23…”

Yoshida gave him a look.

Ikeda sighed, “19…”

“You didn’t make it to university?”

“I never went to school…” Ikeda’s eyes were getting heavy. He glanced around. Everything was blurry. It was then that he realised.

With a gasp he got up quickly and started running. His food got spiked! He looked behind him to find Yoshida following him.

His heart started drumming. He had to get back to the motel as soon as possible…

Panting, Ikeda leaned against a wall. He fell down onto his knees, body collapsing.

The sound of footsteps echoed in his head. His body was lifted up from the ground. Slowly his vision went black.

-

“You’re insane!”

“I have got a reason-“

“No- You can’t just come to my house in the middle of the night to ask me to delete footage of you kidnapping a man on a whim!”

“He doesn’t deserve this life. He’s too pretty. I can give him a better one,” Yoshida reasoned.

Yoshida’s lawyer groaned, face buried in his hands, “You could have just given him some money and called it a day…”

“But I want to date him.”

“I- I can’t... I’m your lawyer, not your therapist.”

Yoshida just stared back at him.

“Look…” the lawyer was already losing it, “You can’t kidnap someone, because you want to date them. This is not how relationships work.”

Yoshida looked at Ikeda who was sleeping on the lawyer's couch with a blanket over him.

“You kidnap people for money, property, to sell their f*cking organs or anything else, but because you want to date them?! Yoshida be f*cking for real!”

“How else would I convince someone of doing something?”

The lawyer facepalmed. He had to remind himself not to be abilist towards an autistic client. One who somehow happened to be a criminal, not like this wasn’t the lawyer’s line of work, but situations like these were just-

Why did he get himself into that mess?

-

Ikeda opened his eyes. He yawned, rubbing his eyes. He pushed off the stinky blankets, and got up to check his phone.

1:00 PM

Okay, he had a couple of hours before the next match.

Ikeda laid in his bed scrolling through his phone. For some reason he felt off… Like he had forgotten something. Ikeda gasped, and immediately checked his pockets for the stack of money. They were still there.

Okay, weird… He’s sure that he didn’t forget something.

Oh! The motel’s payment!

Ikeda quickly left his room, and head to the register desk.
.
.
.

“Your room had been paid off for the next three months.”

Ikeda’s eyes nearly fell off, “What? Are you sure about that? Check my name again…”

The lady at the desk rolled her eyes, but still refreshed the page on the crusty computer, “Yes, three months completely paid in advance by the name Giniro.”

“Oh…”

Ikeda walked back to his room with confusion drawn on his face. He closed the door behind him. All of a sudden he remembered… seeing the creepy man in a ramen shop. But it all sounded like a weird dream…

Ikeda’s body stilled, a shiver running up his spine, “M-my food got spiked-“

Panicking, Ikeda quickly went to the bathroom to undress. He checked his body for any possible ‘marks’. He didn’t find anything… He slumped down against the wall, and hugged his knees.

Did- Did he do something to me? He did sound like a pervert- Did we… No. Like- I would be sour, right? Like I would know if he-

With a trembling fist, Ikeda punched the wall.

-

Yoshida was in his office at the cage fighting club. He wasn’t usually here, as he paid someone else to run the place. And it was obvious that he wasn’t planning on doing any work either.

He flipped through all the players’ files trying to look for that specific person.

Here, he found it.

Yoshida picked up a file with the name ‘Giniro’ on it. Giniro meant silver in Japanese. It oddly suited the young man and it matched his unique quirk.

With a determined look, Yoshida put the file in his coat and exited the office.

Yoshida closed the door behind him carefully. He turned to be met with the sight of familiar flame.

“I-Ikeda?” Yoshida’s stomach fluttered at the unexpected sight.

Ikeda was clearly not having the same reaction. He raised his hand and-

SLAP!

“CONSIDER THIS A WARNING OLD MAN! NEXT TIME IT WOULD BE YOUR WHOLE BODY!”

“Ugh!” Yoshida hissed, stumbling back. The skin on his face was… burning.

Before he could respond Ikeda had disappeared.

-

“Yes Mr. Yoshida?” The familiar voice of his lawyer echoed from the phone.

“He keeps slapping me and running away. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong,” Yoshida was sat back in his office with an ice bag on his cheek.

“Look- I don’t understand what’s going on. That’s not my line of work-“

“You need to help me.”

“I’m not a therapist!”

“I’ll pay you extra,” Yoshida pressed.

The lawyer went quiet for some time, “So why did he slap you?”

“I don’t know. I paid for his motel stay. I thought he would be happy.”

“Did you leave your name there or at least a note to let him know?”

“No…” Yoshida scratched his head.

“ Sigh… ”

-

“Ladies and gentlemen! Now we’re off with the second round! We have Giniro and Red Roit!”

Ikeda stepped into the cage and he was met with the sight of much larger man. Size did intimidate him, but he always had the peace of mind of winning. No one could handle fire.

Ikeda started by lighting up his fist and charging at his opponent.

“UGH!” Ikeda stumbled backward as his fist met an unexpectedly hard surface.

The red head grinned. His skin hardened like a rock.

“Ooh! Fire immunity! Giniro is in a tight situation!”

He was immune to Ikeda’s fire…

Ikeda gulped.
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.
.

“OUCH! That would definitely leave some bruises on Giniro!”

The crowd was roaring and whistling.

Yoshida entered the place to sit in his usual spot. He was mad that he missed a fight, but he wanted to learn everything about Iked and scanning the file took time.

Speaking of Ikeda... He was currently face down, inside the cage, and covered in blood.

Yoshida’s heart dropped.

“STOP THIS GAME!”

-

Okay… Maybe it wasn’t as easy as Ikeda expected.

He had passed out mid game… Which was pathetic.

Ikeda looked around him to find himself in a white room. He was in a hospital bed. His right arm was bandaged, and left ankle was probably sprained.

Great. This is what quick money does to you.

“Ughhh…. Hospital bills suck…” Ikeda pushed himself up.

A hand gently pushed him back into bed, “It’s on me.”

“AHH!” Ikeda slapped the hand away. He looked to his left to find Yoshida, “Don’t touch me!”

Yoshida pulled his hand away, “You can’t continue fighting.”

Ikeda scoffed, “Yeah I can clearly see why!”

Both stayed silent, staring back at each other.

Yoshida pulled a chair, and sat down next to the hospital bed, “I want to date you.”

Ikeda blinked, “Excuse you?”

“I have money and I will pay for everything you need. I can provide for you.”

“You’re seriously asking someone for a date, after they just got beat up by a jock in a cage fight and are currently supporting a broken arm and ankle? And let’s not forget the fact that you’ve known me for two days and in those two days you’ve been nothing but a creep?”

Yoshida nodded.

“Are you autistic or something?! What the f*ck is wrong with you?!”

Yoshida just stared back at him.

Ikeda rolled his eyes, choosing to look in the other direction. Well… the man does have money. Maybe I can date him for a while, then take the money and run away… Yeah, it seems like a good plan.

Ikeda turned to Yoshida, “What do you expect in return?”

“For you to date me.”

“You mean f*ck you?” Ikeda rolled his eyes.

“No…” Yoshida looked away.

Ikeda squinted his eyes.

“What are these things on your skin?” Yoshida pointed to the metal pieces on Ikeda’s skin.

The moment Ikeda noticed them, he paled, “Um… just a small side effect from my quirk…”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. Kind of? But not really…”

“Should I call the doctor?”

Ikeda shook his head, “No.”

Yoshida approached Ikeda, and kissed the top of his head, “Don’t worry. I’ll call a quirk specialist-“

SLAP!

-

Ikeda was getting his skin examined by an elderly lady.

Yoshida sat in the far corner of the room, supporting a large handprint on his cheek.

“Okay… The situation doesn’t seem severe. I’ll give you some medication that would hopefully put it under control. You just need to use your quirk less often,” the specialist finally said.

“And how much do they cost?” Ikeda asked.

Yoshida got up, “I’ll pay-“

“You stay right there and don’t speak!” Ikeda pointed to the chair in the furthest point in the room.

Yoshida sat down slowly.

The specialist looked between the two, “We can discuss the price later…”

-

Yoshida brought in some sushi. He put it carefully on the hospital bed’s table, “I got the teriyaki sauce you asked for.”

Ikeda inspected the sauce, “Looks acceptable… I guess.” His stomach growled.

“Do you need help with eating-“

Ikeda waved him off, picking up the sushi pieces with his bare left hand, “go sit away.”

Yoshida went back to sit on the chair furthest away from Ikeda’s bed.

“Wait- Come here. I can’t reach the water bottle.”

Yoshida got up to hand Ikeda the water bottle.

Three of Yoshida’s men were present in the room. They watched their yakuza boss with wide eyes as he got reduced to a butler. They gave each other a look.

The one standing in the middle passed out. The other two hurried to catch him.

-

“Where are we going?” Ikeda was sipping a juice box as Yoshida pushed his wheelchair out of the hospital.

“My house.”

“No, take me to my motel room.”

Yoshida looked down at him, “It’s not a good place for you.”

Ikeda glared up at Yoshida.

“Motel rooms are not frequently cleaned. They hold germs and bacteria. You’ll get sick. I’ll get your things cleaned and transferred to your room.”

“My room?”

Yoshida nodded, “I have prepared a room for you. It has the latest physical disability equipment-“

Ikeda raised a hand to stop him, “Stop right here. Who said that I even agreed to date you for you to even think about preparing a living situation?”

Yoshida blinked, “I thought we’re dating…”

“No we’re not! I didn’t answer you back!”

Yoshida stopped pushing the wheelchair. He got on one knee in front of Ikeda, and held his hand, “Would you date me?”

Ikeda’s face went red.

SLAP!

-

Louis opened his fridge, grabbing a bottle of milk before closing it.

He walked to the kitchen’s island, and poured some of the milk into his coffee. He started whistling and shaking his hips.

“Ikeda still slapped me after I was being romantic. I don’t know what to do for him to accept my date proposal.”

“AAHH!” The sudden voice startled Louis causing him to spill the milk, trip, and fall onto his back.

Yoshida loomed over his lawyer on the ground. He stared down at him.

Louis covered his face with a groan, “STOP BREAKING INTO MY HOUSE! HOW DID YOU EVEN GET HERE?!”

“But I’m paying you more.”

Louis sighed.

-

Ikeda was pushing his wheelchair in Yoshida’s large mansion. Yoshida wasn’t around so he took the chance to explore the place.

Maybe I can steal some of that stuff and run away…

Ikeda looked down at his semi broken ankle.

Okay… Maybe after it heals for a bit.

He found himself in a large library. Ikeda picked up a thick book and browsed through it. He came across a lot of weird big words and that was when he stopped trying to read.

Sometimes he was ashamed of not knowing how to properly read, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t his fault his parents abandoned him as a kid.

Sometimes he would get flashbacks from his past, but they were very few and blurry. He remembered a woman’s voice being prominent in those memories, but no matter how hard he tried he still couldn’t remember her face. Ikeda assumed that she might be his mother.

A large hand took the book from Ikeda’s hand and put it on the shelf, “You shouldn’t carry heavy things your body is still recovering.”

Ikeda glared at Yoshida, “Stop appearing out of nowhere.”

Yoshida looked down at home, “I didn’t scare you this time…”

“Got used to it.”

Yoshida started pushing the wheelchair, “Dinner is ready.”

“What’s prepared today?”

“Chicken.”

Ikeda gave him a disgusted look, “We’ve been eating chicken for the last 7 days. For god’s sake, ask your chef to make something else!”

“What would you like to eat?”

“Anything other than chicken!”
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.
.

Ikeda looked at the dinner table and as per his request, the table had no chicken, but a ton of other dishes.

“I said anything other than chicken, not EVERYTHING other than chicken! What is all of this?!”

“I didn’t know what else to bring you-“

Ikeda slapped his hand on the table, “Then ask you idiot!”

Yoshida’s three guards watched the whole interaction with wide eyes. The one in the middle fainted again.

-

A month later.

Maybe Ikeda’s plan of running away didn’t work… Or maybe he didn’t want it to work.

The two men were in a restaurant. Ikeda was dressed in a blue suit that Yoshida had picked out.

Yesterday was when Ikeda finally agreed on going on a date with the weird rich guy. Ikeda started feeling bad since he was technically freelancing in the large mansion, and Yoshida honestly had been nothing but nice. A little creepy, but nice.

Actually the treatment that Ikeda got in the past weeks was… better than anything he had ever gotten in his whole life. He found himself not wanting to leave. But one day the old rich guy would get bored of him…

“What are you thinking about?” Yoshida returned back to their table from the rest room.

Ikeda looked up at him, “Nothing…”

Yoshida tilted his head to the side, “Did someone bother you?”

“No…”

“Something is clearly bothering you.”

Ikeda twirled his hair, looking away, “Why are you doing all of this?”

“What do you mean?”

“This…” Ikeda gestured to himself, “You’ve been taking care of me. I’ve been nothing but a liability for you. Yet you’re just okay with it. What do you want from me?”

“I just want to date you…”

“And here we are! I agreed on going on this date. Call me your boyfriend or whatever- now what? What else do you want from me?”

Yoshida picked up his wine glass, “Nothing…”

“You can’t be serious!”

Yoshida leaned over, tucking the white locks behind Ikeda’s ear, “I like looking at you. You’re beautiful.”

“That’s it? What about when I’m older?”

“I’m sure you’d still look beautiful.”

Ikeda’s face pinked. He rolled his eyes, looking away, “You’re weird…”

Yoshida looked at the dance floor, “Want to dance?”

Ikeda grimaced, “It’s not really my thing-“

Yoshida got up and picked Ikeda off his chair. He started heading towards the dance floor with Ikeda on his arm.

“HEY!” Ikeda raised a flamed fist, “PUT ME DOWN!”

Yoshida’s guards stood up quickly when they noticed the fire.

Yoshida connected their lips.

Ikeda went completely still. This time his face was what felt hot.

Yoshida pulled back, smiling, “Today, the 2nd of february marks our first kiss-“

SLAP!

Yoshida stared back at Ikeda, blinking. Unlike all the other times Ikeda slapped him, this time he looked hurt.

Ikeda sighed. He leaned closer to Yoshida, planting a gentle kiss on the red cheek in apology.

With his mouth agape, Yoshida’s body collapsed into the ground.

The three guards gasped and hurried to pick up their boss.

”MR. YOSHIDA?!”

Chapter 13: The untold truth - Part 2

Chapter Text

“Why the f*ck would you fire at the ceiling?” Keigo glared at his uncle.

“It’s a fear tactic… Makes your enemies cower,” Yoshida reasoned.

“You’re an idiot! Look what this has got us!”

“Look who’s speaking. You couldn’t even hold your anger in for a couple of seconds and immediately attacked Fluer. The reasonable way of dealing with this situation would be to kidnap him and torture him for questions.”

“You have a thing or two for kidnapping, huh?” Keigo’s lip twitched.

“It works for everything.”

Keigo rolled his eyes, choosing to look away from his ‘twin’.

The silence was daunting. The only sounds heard were from their breath echoing through the soundproofed vehicle.

Keigo started at the metal handcuffs around his wrists and ankles. Yoshida sat opposite him in the same state.

The handcuffs had left a red mark from when it rubbed off his skin, but what hurt him the most was the dread he felt from knowing that he had failed.

Keigo had failed in writing his new script. He didn’t know if it was the setting that he chose, the names or the actions… Or maybe… Maybe Keigo wasn’t just capable enough. Maybe he should’ve listened to that small voice in his head that told him: “No, Keigo. Don’t do it… It’s just a small crush that would go away with time. People need you. They depend on you. You like being a hero, don’t you?”

Keigo would have been in his luxurious apartment, sitting comfortably on the hero empire he had built.

But the way Toya had held onto him, depended on him, and made the hero believe that he could save them both from a doomed future…

It was pathetic how the pro hero needed the rescue from his own decisions.

“Looks like this is it, Uncle .”

Yoshida grimaced.

“Seems like there’s no getting out of here soon,” Keigo shook the handcuffs to emphasize his statement, “So how about we continue that conversation from earlier?”

Yoshida stared at his own restraints, “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Specify.”

Keigo’s jaw tightened, “Tell me about my family…”

Yoshida took a breath in, “Me and your father are half-siblings. We have the same dad, but different mothers.”

Keigo leaned back to listen.

“He married my mom first. She died. Then he remarried. I was four when my new brother was born. That brother had our dad’s wings. Dad was so happy that he finally got a ‘true son’, after I was diagnosed quirkless.”

“What? So some stupid childhood trauma caused you to sell your nephew?” Keigo mocked.

“No. I never hated your dad.”

“Why?”

Yoshida looked at Keigo like he was the stupidest person ever, “He‘s my younger brother.”

-

40 years ago.

A young man held a small child in his arms. He bounced him gently with a smile on his face.

A young boy with big black eyes looked up at his father, “Dad? WhO’z that?”

The young man crouched down in front of the four year old, “Your brother.”

“brOther?”

His father nodded, “He’s your younger brother.”

The little kid squinted his eyes at the baby. The baby supported two tiny red wings. Yoshida hurried to touch them.

His father quickly slapped his hand away, “You can’t touch. You’ll damage them! Your brother’s wings are still fragile.”

“frAgial?”

“Yes. He’s still small. Small things are fragile. You have to protect them instead of harming them.”

You could see gears turning in the kid’s head, “PrOtect pwetty things…”

The father’s lips turned upwards, “Not just pretty things. You have to protect your younger brother.”

-

12 years later.

“Excessive drinking is not healthy,” Yoshida pulled out the alcohol bottle from Takami’s hand.

“Tch- Give it back to me! Who are you to tell me what not to do?!” Takami got up, swinging his hands trying to reach the bottle.

“Your older brother.”

“SHUT UP!”

Takami threw a fist, which Yoshida caught easily, “I’m not giving you that bottle back. You need to go to your wife. She’s giving birth soon.”

“I don’t- GIVE A f*ck!” Takami snatched back the bottle back and stomped outside of the kitchen. He turned to Yoshida with a scowl.

Yoshida sighed. There’s no use in trying to help him anymore…

He sat down on the kitchen’s chair. The chair let out a loud squeak, which Yoshida grimaced at. He bent down to check the tape that was holding the chair together. Thankfully it hadn’t snapped, yet.

But, he’s your brother… A familiar voice echoed in his head.

Yoshida gazed to his right at the picture of a well put together man. He was dressed in a fine suit, and in his hand was a glass of red wine. Much like a lot of things in this house, the frame was broken and barely put together by clear tape.

That man was their father. Someone who lived a rich life, but didn’t stay long enough to pass down his wisdom to his kids. These kids being Takami and Yoshida.

Yoshida being the oldest, He took it upon himself to manage the family business. But being a young teenager meant that the business didn’t stay long either.

His stepmother remarried and left the two brothers. They were in debt, but they managed.

Yoshida had a job at a post office which paid well. Takami… used to have a job, before he lost himself.

Yoshida doesn’t remember when it started, but somewhere between their busy lives, they managed to drift apart despite living under the same roof.

On a random day, Takami came home drunk. Then every other week he would return home drunk. It changed to every other day, before becoming every day.

Yoshida couldn’t do anything about it. Not when he literally could not stand a chance against his brother’s strength. Takami was younger, but he outweighed Yoshida. Takami had a powerful quirk, and Yoshida didn’t. Takami had a wife.

Takami had a lot yet… he turned into that. Yoshida couldn’t wrap his head around it. Actually, he was done. Takami was old enough to depend on himself. There was no use for Yoshida to be around.

Yoshida got up and tossed a couple white plastic bags into his bag. He had quite the deliveries tonight. It was mostly young teens and young women looking for a good kick. Yoshida didn’t enjoy that part of his job, but it made money. And more money was what he was after.

Money meant safety and stability. Exactly like his dad had taught him, Yoshida strived to create it. By any possible means.

-

6 Years later.

Yoshida exited a bar with a woman over his shoulder. He approached a black car. When he got closer, the tinted window pulled down, “Got her?”

“In one piece.”

The door was opened and Yoshida was instructed to lay her on the back seat. He closed the door and turned to the man in the driver’s seat.

A gloved hand handed him a stash of money, “You’re a quick one. Might need you more in the future. Are you good with killings?” He took a photograph of a blond woman from his pocket and showed it to Yoshida, “Is 100K good for you?”

Yoshida recognized her as a famous figure in the media industry. She was popular for covering sensitive topics regarding heroes’ lives.

As much as Yoshida found it tempting, he chose against it.

“No,” Yoshida replied. He took the money and quickly started counting.

“Taking the safe route huh? Good for you…” The car drove off and Yoshida returned back to his club.

-

A couple of days later.

Yoshida returned back to his rented room. He had moved out a couple years ago and started living in a shared apartment to save some money. So far he had got a promotion in his post office job, and his side hustles were doing well enough to pay the bills on their own.

He still had some debt to pay off, but he believed that he could manage it.

Yoshida sat down on his mattress and opened the small TV in the corner of the small room. He scrolled through the channels until a headline caught his attention.

“——was found dead behind the famous Japanese studio-“

Shortly a picture of young famous TV journalist popped onto the screen. She was the same woman who he was offered to kill.

Guess someone was dumb enough to take on the job…

“——Police have reported that the woman’s positions were stolen right after her dead. A bag, a watch, and her cellphone. Local’s have reported seeing sharp red feath-“

Yoshida quickly got bored and decided to switch the channel. With nothing interesting enough on the old TV, he turned off the lights to sleep.

.

.

.

It was in the middle of the night when Yoshida was woken by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He groaned, turning to reach for it. He opened the flip phone with his thumb, before pressing it into his ear, “What?”

“Y-Yoshida? Is that you?…” A woman’s voice echoed through the other line.

Yoshida blinked, rubbing his eyes, “Tomie? What do you want?” He never really liked this woman. It was right after Takami married her that his brother started behaving strangely. He blamed her for it despite knowing better. Having lost control over his family life had led him to turn a blaming finger on the nearest unfortunate person, Tomie.

“Could you please-“

“If it is for money, forget about it,” Yoshida quickly interrupted.

“Yoshida please-“

“No,” Yoshida repositioned his hand to shut the flip phone.

“Takami is being followed by the police!”

-

Yoshida hurried up the crooked stairs to his brother’s apartment. As he had left it that many years ago, it still reeked of alcohol and a weird smell that he couldn’t place his mind on.

He knocked on the door and it opened slowly. There was no one in front of him, which caused Yoshida to frown. A shuffling sound drew his attention downward and there stood a small boy with red wings. A boy who closely resembled his brother.

Yoshida blinked, not expecting to see a child in this sh*t hole of all places. He had forgotten that Tomie was pregnant when he left, he thought that she might have gotten an abortion.

The boy looked up at him and their eyes locked. The kid had a blue bruise under his eye, a couple others scattered around his body. He was thin. Ridiculously thin. Yoshida’s eyebrows knit.

“Where are your parents?”

The kid flinched, clutching a stuffed toy he quickly ran deep into the apartment.

“Hey!” Yoshida hurried after him. He took a look around the apartment and it was as he left it, but with more broken furniture. He could already tell that it was his brother’s doing.

The kid hid into a small closet, before he could close it, Yoshida yanked it open.

“You! Why are you running away? I asked a simple question. Where are your parents?”

The kid’s legs trembled, he stumbled back and scooted to the furthest corner on the closest. He pulled out a small sword toy and pointed it at Yoshida, “L-leave!”

Yoshida blinked, and looked down at the sword mockingly.

The kid glared and threw the toy at the threatening man, “Go away!-“

Yoshida flickered the toy away with the back of his hand and picked the kid up by his clothes, “You’re just like your father aren’t you? Stubborn,” Yoshida started walking around the empty apartment. Apparently the kid had been left all alone. Yoshida took a quick glance at the kid’s fatigue. He opened his hand bag and started looking through it.

The kid panicked and pulled his fists up, “Leave me alone! I will call the-“ The kid’s mouth was stuffed with a rice ball. He looked up at Yoshida with wide eyes.

Yoshida squinted, “Eat. You’re not healthy.”

The kid swallowed slowly, and before he got a chance to speak his mouth was stuffed with another rice ball.

Yoshida sat the kid down on the couch and opened his hand bag fully to reveal a small lunchbox, “Was planning on eating these leftovers for breakfast, but you can have them.”

The kid stared at him warily.

“Eat!”

The kid flinched and quickly grabbed another rice ball and put it in his mouth.

Yoshida opened his flip phone to check the time. It was around four in the morning. Where the hell was Tomie?

Yoshida looked down at the golden head. The kid was eating like a barbarian. Yoshida wouldn’t blame him.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Keigo,” The kid replied with food in his mouth.

“Where’s your father, Keigo?”

The kid shrugged before grabbing a small piece of chicken. The moment he bit into it, Yoshida swore he could see stars lighting the kid’s eyes. Keigo turned to Yoshida, “What is that?!”

“Uhhh… Chicken…”

“I love chicken! Give me more!” The kid dug his fingers into Yoshida’s wrists and nearly climbed the tall figure.

Yoshida slowly packed away, “It was the last piece…”

“Oh…” Keigo’s lips turned downwards.

“You’ve… never eaten chicken before?”

“No…”

“When was the last time you ate?”

The kid continued to stuff his mouth with the food, “I eat when mom has money.”

Yoshida stayed quiet. A weird sickening feeling sat in his throat.

-

2 hours later.

Yoshida waited inside the apartment until the sun rose and with no Tomie or Takami in sight, he ended up taking the little kid in hand and leaving the apartment.

“Where are we going?” Keigo asked as he struggled to keep up with the larger man’s footsteps.

“My home.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re too small and fragile to stay by yourself,” Yoshida simply stated.

The kid glared up at him, “I’m not weak! I can defend myself!-“ The kid’s mouth was stuffed with a small piece of bread.

“Just shut up. Out of all the qualities you could’ve taken from this cursed bloodline you chose stubbornness?”

Keigo swallowed, “What is a bloodline?”

Yoshida sighed. Maybe he should have left the kid alone… No, that was wrong. Kids should never be left alone. They’re small.

“What is that weird toy you’re carrying around?”

“Oh, that…” Keigo pulled out his small stuffed toy and smiled, “That is Endeavour!”

“A hero?”

“YAS! You know him? He’s a great hero! He saves people-“ Keigo’s mouth was stuffed with another piece of bread.

“Yeah, yeah… Great quirk and all.”

Keigo swallowed quickly, “What is your quirk?”

“Er… Uh….” Yoshida’s eyes wandered around the large billboards around them and to his shock, his brother's face was on one of them. It was a famous newspaper’s billboard. And there was a photo of Takami being escorted into a police car, along with Tomie.

“Takami?…” Yoshida froze in his step.

Keigo looked up to see what the older man was looking at, but Yoshida’s hand quickly covered his eyes.

“Hey!! I want to see!” Keigo shoved the hand away.

Yoshida glared down at Keigo, and shut him up with shoving another piece of bread into his mouth.

-

It was around 4 PM, and Keigo was asleep in Yoshida’s bed. It was unusual for a kid to sleep this early, but Yoshida concluded that the small trip around the city was tiring for the kid.

Yoshida sat in the corner of the room with a newspaper in his hand. He tried to calm himself as his eyes scanned the head title.

You’re such an idiot…

Now what? His brother and sister in law were arrested for a MURDER case. They had no money for lawyers and if they did, it wouldn’t be to any benefit. The hero commission was involved in the case. Which meant that there was no way out…

Yoshida looked at the sleeping kid. His brows knit as he thought about what would have happened to him if he hadn’t showed up this morning.

-

A week later.

Yoshida had been sharing the room with his nephew. Luckily the landlord hadn’t discovered Keigo yet. The kid was not that loud, which helped Yoshida in dealing with him. However, it was situations like this, that made Yoshida tempted to punch the little devil.

“Give me back my cell phone, kid.”

Keigo hid it behind his back, “I won’t unless you let me call my parents!”

Yoshida pinched his brows, “How many times do I have to tell you? They won’t respond!”

“Why?!”

“They’re busy…”

Keigo crossed his arms, “I don’t believe you.”

Yoshida’s expression darkened. Apone noticing, Keigo took a step back quickly. The little boy was familiar with that look, as it had been directed at him a lot. Adults looked at him this way when they wanted to hurt him. Keigo used the small opening of the door to his advantage and quickly exited the room.

“Hey- HEY! Where are you going?!” Yoshida ran after him. He looked around the shared apartment letting out a quiet curse when the little kid was nowhere to be seen.

The doorbell rang.

Yoshida looked at the clock. It was 7 pm… Who would be coming here in that hour of the day? His roommates all had shifts right now. Was it the landlord? Had he discovered the kid? sh*t.

Yoshida opened the worn-out door with a screech. Outside stood four broad men in suits. Yoshida eyed them warily. Something suspicious caught his eye was the way they all had a weird metallic pin attached to their collars.

-

“You’re doing this kid a favour by giving him to us. He will be well taken care of and will have a bright future ahead of him.”

Yoshida was sat on a chair in the living room. Opposite to him sat one of the men negotiating the offer. The other three surrounded where spread to his left, right, and back. Yoshida felt saffocated.

“I’m not giving him to you,” Yoshida said.

“Why not?”

Yoshida’s eyebrows rose at the irony of the other man, “You can’t just barge in into someone’s home and demand to take a kid.”

The man eyed his colleges, his eyes communicating his displeasure. He slowly turned to Yoshida, “As you must have already known, your brother, Takami, was involved in the killing of—”

In the corner of the living room stood the small boy, watching the adults in the living room talk. He watched Yoshida’s eyes widen. The men in suits said something, and suddenly Yoshida got up and started yelling. The loud voice caused Keigo to flinch and run back into his hiding spot. It was a couple of moments later that the dispute calmed down.

“I…” Words died on Yoshida’s tounge.

“With your criminal history, it is easy for you be charged with the kidnaping of the kid. Just some fabrication of papers and records here and there and you’ve got yourself a long time in jail.”

“He’s my nephew!” Yoshida’s defensive attitude died down when a suitcase was slammed on the table in front of him. It opened to reveal… money.

“Consider this your first payment. A suitcase for every kid you bring. There would be specific requirements for the kids of course-”

Yoshida stood up and forced himself to look away from the cash, “I am not-”

The suitcase clicked shut. “I was trying to help you, but seems like you’d prefer the jail time, Mr Yoshida.”

Yoshida directed his glare at the suitcase. If he goes to jail, they’ll be able to take Keigo. If he takes the money…

“Would I be able to see the kid?”

Laughter erupted around him.

-

Back to present.

“And you just… left them? Didn’t even care to look for them?!”

Yoshida stayed quiet, looking everywhere but Keigo’s face.

“You’re disgusting!” Keigo spit.

Silence fell upon them again. Keigo’s rapid breath bounced against the walls. He tried to keep his temper at bay, but how could he when the reason for his broken childhood sat right in front of him?

It was a couple minutes later when Yoshida spoke up again, “I visited Takami before I left for the airport to France.”

-

Flashback.

“Hey…” Yoshida sat in front of the glass window.

His younger brother behind the glass did not acknowledge him. Yoshida looked away disciplining his emotions.

“I heard the judge's words.”

Takami still did not acknowledge him.

Yoshida fidgeted with the hem of his suit. It was hard for him to get used to the expensive material.

“You look like dad,” Takami finally spoke.

Yoshida tilted his head to the side, a smile tugging on his lips, “You think so?”

Takami nodded with a smile of his own, “You know how he always loved to dress up.”

“Yeah…”

“You look like you’re doing well. Got a promotion?” Takami leaned closer towards the glass, giving his older brother a once over.

Yoshida straightened his back, “Something like that…”

The conversation felt light, and for a second Yoshida forgot about their circ*mstances. It was the bright orange jumper on his brother’s skin that soured his feelings.

“I wish you never touched alcohol,” Yoshida felt his eyes burn.

Takami averted his gaze, choosing to stare at the empty space behind Yoshida.

The sat in silence. Yoshida watched the clock tick. Time was running out.

“Is Keigo with you?”

The air felt heavy in Yoshida’s lungs, “K-Keigo is safe...”

“Takami.”

The blond turned, and their eyes might for the final time. Yoshida stood up, fingers hovering over the glass, “I’m sorry.”

Takami blinked, redness in his eyes. “I’m sorry too.”

-

Present day.

“A couple weeks later, he was sentenced to death. As for your mother… I haven’t heard from her since she was taken. My conclusion was that she died from an overdose.”

She died from an overdose. And you’re just saying that to her son’s face without any remorse?

Keigo’s silence made Yoshida tense, “Don’t be mad at me-“

“Don’t be mad?! You SOLD me! Your own nephew!”

“It was the best solution-“

“You could have taken me back!” Keigo snapped.

“I wouldn’t have been able to raise you, idiot! I had no money! I was young- what could I have known about raising kids?! It’s a big responsibility-“

“Pfft- Wow. Look who’s speaking about responsibilities and rights. A human trafficker. A Yakuza. Tell me, did you kidnap Ikeda too? I bet the poor guy is brainwashed-“

Yoshida squinted his eyes, “Don’t bring Ikeda into this. I never kidnapped him! We built our relationship-“

Keigo’s lip twitched upwards, enjoying ruffling up the old man, “Bullsh*t. No one in their right mind would ever want to share the same space as you. I bet he’s using you for money.”

Yoshida suddenly went quiet. His tongue knotted and a sickening feeling sat in his stomach. Ikeda loves me…

“Why do you look surprised? You couldn’t possibly think that someone would ever love someone as ugly as you. I thought you were smarter than this-“

“Stop.”

Keigo grinned. Was he playing dirty? Kind of. But he couldn’t but admit that he liked the current look on Yoshida’s face. “Have you ever thought about where he goes when he sneaks out? I bet he’s meeting up with all sorts of guys. Using your money to appeal to them-“

“SHUT UP!”

Keigo was taken aback by the sudden reaction. He blinked a couple of times before going silent.

The silence was broken when the vehicle suddenly came to a halt. Both men jolted from their seats, their bodies collapsing into the front of the cart. They groaned in pain. Keigo hissed as the metal handcuffs dug into his skin.

Another hiss came from outside of the vehicle. The sound of gunshooting followed. Keigo and Yoshida turned to look at each other.

Chapter 14: The Ikedas’ rescue mission

Chapter Text

A couple of years ago.

It was a couple of months into their living arrangement that Ikeda started noticing something suspicious. Besides the fact that Yoshida was ALWAYS busy, which did not come as a surprise since he was mega-rich, Yoshida’s behavior was suspicious.

It was not like Yoshida displayed mentally insane behaviors. Besides the fact that he bought Ikeda a closet that probably cost millions, who even does that? Ikeda did appreciate the gesture, but he couldn’t help but feel like Yoshida was trying too hard for his attention.

But there were other times when Ikeda was the one failing to get the other’s attention, or at least he thought so.

It started with their sudden move to France. Ikeda had woken up to Yoshida proposing a vacation to Europe. Without a second thought, Ikeda had agreed.

They didn’t return back to Japan.

It was then followed by a decrease in the time they went outside.

A night out every other day became a night out every week before Yoshida started stationing their “dates” in the villa.

Ikeda didn’t question the odd behavior. Or more precisely, he didn’t want to question the behavior. He had gotten used to everything being provided for him, so used to the exclusive comfort to the point that he, eventually, stopped thinking for himself.

The villa they were in had everything from a movie theatre to a swimming pool overlooking a beach chore that Ikeda had only seen in magazines. But despite all these luxuries being as far as the tips of his fingers, Ikeda started feeling trapped within the vast walls.

He wanted to go out, but Yoshida had always found a way to stop him.

-

“Why?! It’s not like I’ll be far away, just by the beach! The one we can see from the balcony every day!” Ikeda whined as he tried to initiate the conversation over breakfast one day.

Yoshida remained calm, his usual soft expression directed towards the younger man. He reached out to hold Ikeda’s hand, “It’s not safe darling.”

“W-we’re on a private Island for god’s sake! What could be dangerous out there?!” Ikeda slapped his hand away.

Yoshida opted for grabbing hold of his teacup, before taking a sip, “We’re in France. It’s not safe. And you’re a foreigner here, darling. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you here…”

Yoshida’s voice sounded so sincere, that Ikeda’s cries had died down into a pout.

Yoshida chuckled before tracing the back of his balm over Ikeda’s cheek, “When we return back to Japan, you can go out as much as you love…It is safer. But not here, it’s too dangerous for you.”

Ikeda averted his gaze towards the food with a sigh, “When are we going back?”

Something crossed Yoshida’s eyes, and before he could answer, his phone rang.

“Sorry snowhead, I have a call now.”

And with that, he got up and left to his office room, before shutting the door behind him.

Ikeda’s frown deepened. He didn’t like this, but Yoshida knew France better than him, so he didn’t argue further. What irritated him the most now, was the fact that Yoshida always left when he had a call. He never conducted any of them in front of Ikeda.

It was like he was hiding something.

Was he?

-

In hopes of satisfying his suspicions, Ikeda had picked up a habit of stalking Yoshida.

He started by trying to eavesdrop on Yoshida’s conversations with his guards, but it proved unsuccessful since they only spoke in French.

Ikeda still struggled with French.

One time he came across two guards who, luckily for him, spoke Japanese!

They were huddled in one of the many hallways in the villa. Close. And whispering to each other.

Ikeda tried to lean as close as possible while maintaining his hiding spot behind a wall at the end of the hallway.

“Boss said to keep him fed. And to not touch him,” the taller of the pair said.

“Boss isn’t here for today… We might as well rough him up” the other grinned, revealing a sharp set of teeth, “been a while since I punched someone. France is more peaceful than Japan. It’s getting on my nerves.”

The taller one let out a chuckle before wrapping an arm around the other’s shoulder, “France is not peaceful, it’s just that the island we’re on doesn’t have much work around for us to do.”

The sound of a groan followed, “So? Can I rough him up?”

The taller one leaned closer to the other so that their noses touched, “I’m afraid if you step foot into that basem*nt, I will have to notify the boss. And then you’ll be the one tied up down there instead~”

The sound of a scoff echoed through the walls before the larger man was pushed against the wall, “Stop f*cking doing this!” The shorter man’s face had gone red.

A smirk, “What? Don’t act like you don’t like it when I tie you up~” Two arms were on either side of the less fortunate man.

“You- don’t- ngh!-“

“Alright. That’s enough listening, ” Ikeda thought as he started sprinting away from the hallway with redness in his face, a striking contrast to his blue eyes.

-

It was evening now, and Ikeda was lying on one of the soft carpets in the villa. Yoshida wasn’t home yet. Ikeda had no means to contact him.

Ikeda was bored.

The conversation that he overheard earlier was still replaying on repeat in his head. They mentioned something about the basem*nt holding someone. Someone whom Yoshida had asked to be taken care of if Ikeda understood correctly.

Yoshida had said that the basem*nt was under construction…

Ikeda frowned.

Why was Yoshida lying to him? What was he hiding?

Determined to find an answer and escape his boredom. Ikeda got up from the soft carpet. Since it was an evening he was changed to his pyjamas, which consisted of a blue silk shirt matching with a pair of silk shorts. One of many luxury pieces that Yoshida had gotten him.

Ikeda didn’t even bother to change. He just planned on taking a sneak peek into the basem*nt. Nothing less, nothing more.

He walked slowly down the stairs, before coming face to face with the elevator. That specific elevator only connected to the basem*nt, which Ikeda had always found weird. But again, everything about rich people’s lives was weird, so he stopped questioning it.

Ikeda went inside the elevator and was surprised to find three buttons. They were titled in negative numbers. This place has multiple floors down?!

Ikeda pressed on “-1” and decided to just explore them one by one.

The elevator reached the floor, before its doors opened, revealing a hallway that connected to one metal door.

Ikeda began to feel uneasy. And the absence of guards didn’t make it any better.

Thinking about it now- Where are the guards?

Ikeda took a deep breath before he started heading towards the door. Now being face to face with the large metal barrier, he noticed a set of keys hanging beside the door.

Ikeda picked them up and put them into the lock before he turned the handle and opened the door slowly.

The door opened with a squeaky sound.

Suddenly the sound of a toilet flashing echoed through the walls from the other end of the hallway. A guard stepped out from a door that Ikeda didn’t notice, zipping up his pants.

“Seems like we’re in for a long night, aren’t we?” A voice said.

“I’m not excited about it…” a grumpier voice followed.

Ikeda panicked as he saw the two guards turn towards him. He pushed the door, before hurrying inside and shutting it after himself.

Ikeda waited patiently, listening to the guards murmuring outside until he was sure that they hadn't heard him.

“My my… if this isn’t Mr. Yoshida’s toy himself~”

The raspy voice shocked Ikeda, he turned his head in the direction of the sound. On the opposite side of the room sat a man who was chained to a chair. His face supported an ugly bluish bruise that made his features unrecognizable.

Ikeda stayed silent as he took the situation in. Why- why did Yoshida have a man in this condition trapped here?

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. No one would dare…” the man’s eyes trailed up the 19-year-old’s exposed legs.

Ikeda gulped. For some reason, the man’s stare gave him goosebumps.

“W-who are you? Why are you trapped here?” Ikeda asked he stepped closer to get a better look at the man’s face.

“Ah… very sweet indeed. I’ve heard a lot about you,” a grin spread across the blood-coated lips.

Ikeda squinted his eyes, “Heard about me?”

The chained man scoffed and rolled his eyes, “You’re basically the only thing boss talks about now! It’s driving all of us insane!”

Ikeda frowned, “The boss? Yoshida is your boss?”

“Poor little thing… You probably don’t know what your Yoshida does, do you?”

Ikeda regarded his words for a couple of moments, “What’s your name?”

“Call me Fluer.”

Before Ikeda could ask another question, the handle of the door turned. He gasped, before hiding behind a storage container in the corner of the room. Ikeda peaked at the figures that entered the room.

His eyes widened when he spotted Yoshida walking into the basem*nt, with blood covering his white button-down t-shirt.

Two guards followed him, and Ikeda recognized them as the ones from the hallway earlier.

Thick silence penetrated the room.

Fluer broke it with a wide smile, “Oh boss, what a coincidence! We were just talking about you!”

Ikeda’s heart sat in his throat. He steadied his breathing in order not to spoil his hiding spot.

Yoshida’s eyes narrowed at the words, but he ignored Fluer’s babbling. He threw a plastic bag in front of Fluer’s feet.

Fluer’s eyes went wide.

Ikeda squinted his eyes to see that the bag contained… three fingers… Human flesh…

Ikeda’s shock was enough to cause his gag reflex.

One of the guards seemed to have picked on the sound and their head turned towards the storage containers.

Ikeda quickly hid.

“Next time it won’t be her fingers,” Yoshida said.

Rage consumed and threatened to shake Fluer, “You sick f*ck! THAT’S MY MOTHER!”

Yoshida pulled the other’s hair, nearly twisting his head in the process, “That’s the bare minimum, Fluer. You’re getting a special treatment because of your value to this company.”

The abused man hissed, “Company?! You call this sh*t a company?! You’re playing darts with children’s lives!”

“They bring in money, and they get a better home.”

“A better home that they didn’t ask for! Just admit it- You’re trafficking children!”

BAM!

“UGHH!”

The sounds of bones crunching bounced off the cold walls. Ikeda gasped and turned to quickly look in the direction of the sound!

Ikeda’s breath hitched at the sight of blood oozing from the man’s head. He had never seen Yoshida like this before. He wasn’t supposed to be here, but he wanted to figure out what Yoshida was up to, and now-

Ikeda tried to take slow steps backwards, but his back pressed against a solid surface. He turned back hesitantly to be met with one of Yoshida’s guards. The guard looked down at him, expressionless. A lump formed in Ikeda’s throat. Was this the moment that Yoshida killed him for eavesdropping?

Ikeda’s thoughts trailed back to the uneven exchange between the two men. Why- what kids were they talking about? A better home? Trafficking?

D-did Yoshida kidnap kids?

Cold sweat ran down Ikeda’s neck.

Ikeda knew that their relationship was too good to be real.

The guard reached for him. Ikeda quickly dodged him. He started running towards the elevator. Two guards were heading towards Ikeda from the direction of the elevators.

“Catch him!” One of the guards yelled.

Ikeda gasped and ran towards the stairs. As he skipped a couple of steps up the stairs, he saw a guard coming down from the stairs and heading straight towards him.

Ikeda panicked. He raised a hand towards the guard and activated his quirk.

Ikeda braced himself for the smell of smoke coming-

But it never came.

Faint little sparkles of fire left his hand before completely disappearing.

Ikeda stared at his hand in horror. H-his quirk wasn’t working.

Ikeda tried to activate it again.

It didn’t work.

It didn’t work.

The shock of it made him dizzy. He could feel heartbeats bounding in his ears. It was then that a memory hit Ikeda. Yoshida had come to him today with a new medication for his “skin condition”. He said that it would put his quirk “under control “.

Did Yoshida lie to him? D-did he drug him?

Ikeda felt like a fool for taking these pills.

He should’ve run away after he recovered from his injuries. Instead, he decided to stay with the man that “loves” him. Now look at what that got him.

Before he could register it. His forearms were clasped in a tight hold before he was pulled downstairs.

Ikeda tried to pull his arms away, but it was to no avail. Even in the cage fights, physical contact was never his strong suit.

“Ugh! Let go! I said let go you sh*theads!”

None of the guards responded to his calls, nor did they do much as glance in his direction.

In the middle of his restless movements against the guards' hold, he gave up. His body went slack, dread ate up his skin for what was to come.

Would Yoshida punish him the same way he did to his “trusted man”? If this is what Yoshida was willing to do to some of his most loyal workers, what was he to do with Ikeda?

The guards opened the doors to the basem*nt, with Ikeda in their hands.

“Mr. Yoshida, We found him eavesdropping on your conversation with Mr. Fluer.”

Yoshida was cleaning his blood-coated hands from his latest activity. His eyes landed on Ikeda and his face became furious.

Ikeda could feel his heart drop as the deadly stare was directed at him. His arms trembled, and moisture clouded his sight.

Yoshida’s blood ran hot at the sight.

“What. Do. You think. You’re doing?!” Yoshida growled as he strode in their direction.

Ikeda closed his eyes tightly and tilted his head downwards in an attempt to shield himself.

“UGH!” A scream came from behind Ikeda, followed by a loud thud.

Ikeda opened his eyes wide in shock to find the guard that was restraining him, now on the floor and supporting a black eye.

He turned to look at Yoshida and to his surprise he was pulled upwards into Yoshida’s arms.

Yoshida’s arms tightened territorially around the smaller man. He scowled down at the guard on the floor, before kicking him in the throat.

More strangled screams followed.

Ikeda's breathing was rigged, blood still pumping furiously through his ears.

He strained his neck to try to look at what was happening behind him, but a large hand covered his eyes, before directing his head to look forward again. Ikeda didn’t question Yoshida’s silent command and obediently kept his gaze forward.

Suddenly the screams quieted followed by one final screech.

Still trapped in the tight hold, Ikeda was carried out of the basem*nt and up the stairs. His eyes caught glimpses of the guards' pale faces, but Yoshida had exited the basem*nt so fast for Ikeda’s eyes to catch what was on the floor.

The trip up the stairs and to their room was agonizingly quiet. Ikeda had no choice but to wait for what was to come.

Yoshida gently put Ikeda down on one of their suit’s sofas. He crouched down in front of Ikeda on one knee until they were at eye level, his hands holding each of Ikeda’s.

Fierce obsidian eyes met ocean-like ones.

They stayed quiet just looking at each other. Yoshida seemed to be searching for the right words to say, and so was Ikeda.

“Are you hurt?” Yoshida finally said.

The unexpected question startled Ikeda for a second. Unable to form a coherent sentence, he nodded.

“Did any of the guards hit you?”

“No…. No one hit me…”

Yoshida seemed relieved, but something still lingered underneath his stare.

“What were you doing in the basem*nt? I told you not to go downstairs.”

Ikeda’s hands started to sweat, and if Yoshida noticed he didn’t comment on it.

“You told me it was still under construction. You lied,” Ikeda blurted out.

Yoshida’s eyes squinted, “You should have still listened to me.”

Ikeda’s brain failed to come up with a comeback. The scene earlier had clearly disturbed him enough that his tongue didn’t dare to utter a word that might get him in Fluer’s position.

Yoshida’s rough thumbs started rubbing slow circles in the 19-year-old’s palms, “How are your French lessons?”

The gesture surprisingly calmed Ikeda’s nerves, “G-good… I will be taking the A2 test soon… I can form sentences easily now…”

“Je suis fier de toi, chérie,” Yoshida gently smiled as the words rolled from his mouth.

A blush formed on Ikeda’s cheeks. “ I’m proud of you, dear” Yoshida had said.

“And your Japanese writing classes?” Yoshida’s hand moved to tuck one of the pale strands behind the other’s ear.

“I… I have been struggling with learning Kanji… I think it would be better if you stopped bringing the tutor. I feel like I’m wasting her time.”

“She’s paid to teach you, and she’s paid handsomely. Take your own pace in learning,” Yoshida simply replied. “And your math classes?”

Ikeda crunched his face in disgust, “Math is an abomination to society! I swear if that old man asks me to do long division for a polynomial sh*t ever again I will burn his face!-“

Yoshida chuckled and slowly brought the young man’s fingers towards his own lips, before kissing each one individually. He opened his mouth to suck on Ikeda’s index finger, twirling his tongue around the digit.

Ikeda’s heartbeats stopped for a second before speeding up rapidly.

Yoshida dangerously grazed his teeth over the young flesh, “This is supposed to be the moment you‘d punch me before calling me a pervert.”

Ikeda gulped.

Yoshida slowly let go of the digit before tracing his tongue down the creamy skin of Ikeda’s wrist, “Yet you’re not doing much as of even blinking.”

Ikeda’s eyes remained fixated on Yoshida’s hands, recalling the way they were covered in blood just mere seconds ago.

“You’re scared of me right now, aren’t you?”

The question forced Ikeda’s eyes to snap up to meet Yoshida’s darker ones.

What looked like remorse flashed across Yoshida’s eyes, “I would never, and I put an emphasis on never, lay a hand on you.”

“N-no matter what I do?” Ikeda questioned.

“No matter what you do,” Yoshida echoed.

“Even after I overheard your conversation with that guy called Fluer?”

“Even after you found out that I own a human trafficking business.”

The blood in Ikeda’s body ran cold. The information was not new to him, but hearing the words coming from Yoshida himself, hearing Yoshida say them with such ease, startled him.

“What if… What if I call the authorities? What would you do to me?”

A predatorial smirk crossed Yoshida’s face, “We both know that you wouldn’t bring yourself to.”

Yoshida’s hand trailed over the back of the younger’s neck. He pulled Ikeda down for a kiss.

Ikeda’s body shivered. He hated how smug Yoshida sounded and how true his words were.

Yoshida’s tongue pressed in asking for an invitation to enter the younger’s mouth. Ikeda parted his lips in allowance.

The kiss was strong enough to make Ikeda forget about the suspicious pills he was given this morning.

-

Present time.

Ikeda had been panicking ever since they received the call at the mall. In an attempt to distract him, Toya tried to get Ikeda to talk about different topics. Somehow the topics always landed on Yoshida, which didn’t come off as a surprise.

“Wait- You guys didn’t f*ck? Not even a handjob?” Toya’s head snapped in Ikeda’s direction.

Ikeda’s nose wrinkled at his choice of words, “No, we didn’t.”

“So when did you start f*cking?”

“I would prefer to keep that information to myself, thank you” Ikeda continued to stare at his ‘twin’ in disgust.

“Dude- that’s the most important part!”

Ikeda sighed, “After a couple of years-“

“A COUPLE OF YEARS?!” Toya’s eyes nearly bulged, “I f*cked Keigo before I knew his name!”

“Well forgive me for not being a whor*!” Ikeda snapped.

“Wha- WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Toya’s balms warmed with the threat of flames.

“I said, YOU. ARE. A whor*!” Ikeda yelled.

“AND YOU’RE A GOD DAMN TWINK!”

“WITH A WEDDING RING ON! Look at you, not even a necklace was brought to you. What kind of boyfriend is that, huh?”

“I-“ Toya snapped his mouth shut.

“Figured much.”

“Well, at least I didn’t get kidnapped by a criminal and forced to live with him through a weird Stockholm syndrome bond!” Toya fired.

Ikeda’s jaw went slack, “H-he didn’t kidnap me! He was pursuing me-“

“And you just gave in like that?!” Toya raised a brow.

“I found his trials kinda cute… Yoshida even paid for my education, okay! A-and he proposed with a big diamond ring! Actually, he got me multiple rings because he didn’t know which one I would like, and made me keep them all even after I chose one for the engagement.” Ikeda admitted.

“Classic. You’re weak,” Toya didn’t admit that he somehow felt jealous. Would Keigo want to marry him one day? Would he have Keigo’s name? Was Toya even worthy of the title?

He shook his head quickly, his cheeks reddening. Focus, first save Keigo then worry about the stupid twink gay sh*t.

Ikeda rolled his eyes, “Oh really? What about you? How did you meet Keigo?”

Both winced at the angry voice from the speakers.

“Dude- You’re no fun. How does Keigo talk to you all the time?” Toya rolled his eyes, as he stirred the car’s wheel.

“Speaking of Keigo. What does he look like? You never showed me a pic of him,” Ikeda asked.

Toya’s demeanor tensed, “I will uh… I will show you later…”

Ikeda just nodded and focused on the GPS map on his phone. They had gotten lost twice already while trying to find the directions to Toya’s house.

“So why are we going to your house again?” Ikeda secretly switched from the GPS app to scroll through his social media feed.

“Oh, so Keigo has this big helicopter on top of the villa. I figured we could use it to get to them without drawing attention.”

Ikeda started typing on his phone responding to fans on his latest book about Hawks, “Cool… Cool… Do you happen to know how to fly a helicopter?”

“Uhhh… I guess we could improvise?” Toya suddenly took a sharp turn, “Damn- Why is everyone driving in the opposite direction?!”

“THAT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE DRIVING ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ROAD, BIMBO HEADS!”

Bakugou groaned, resting his head on his computer’s keyboard. The amount of cleanup that he had to do after these two was insane, and to say he would complain about the amount of work he would do for Keigo. Now instead of focusing on tracking Keigo and Yoshida, he had to make sure that the car that Ikeda broke into was not detected, and that the records of Toya driving like a menace did not reach the police.

Another dreadful feeling ran down his stomach, the feeling of having let Keigo down. Keigo was the only one there when Bakugou needed guidance the most in his life, he couldn’t phantom the idea of being the reason for Keigo’s current situation.

Maybe he should have insisted more on keeping some of the commission’s files. Maybe he should have secretly kept an extra copy. They would have come in handy right now.

Bakugou signed as he pinched the space between his brows, there was no use for crying over spilled milk.

-

Bakugou’s Flashback

It was his graduation party. He should’ve been happy, excited even to start this new chapter of his life, but the young man couldn’t help but feel empty.

How can someone go on after losing the only reason they pushed through hero school?

The blond sighed as his back leaned against his bedroom’s wall, slowly sliding down until his bottom met the cold floor. He shut his eyes tightly, not even bearing the sight of his own room. That room was once shared on rare nights with… him.

Bakugou had their whole life planned ahead of them. Now these plans lay in the darkest bits of his brain, along with the painful memories they shared.

He took out a small picture of the redhead. Bakugou had taken it right after a harsh training session with their classroom teacher, little did he know that it would be their last training session together.

With no one to lean on anymore, Bakugou felt lost. He desperately wished for something… someone to guide him. He still had a couple of hero assessments to go through, but he had no idea how he’d manage carving his path as a hero, alone-

As if a goddess had heard his tormenting thoughts, he got an email. The familiar sound of a notification pulled him out of his mental haze.

The screen’s light lit his face up in the dark room. He squinted his eyes as he started to read the ridiculously long text. He was- being offered a job?

Slowly his eyes widened as he took in the sender of the message.

A link for a private line call was attached to the end of the mail.

Bakugou’s thumb hovered over it, trembling, before he pressed the blue cryptic words.

He was taken to a different window, and in the middle of the frame stared at him one of the most famous faces in Japan.

“H-Hawks?”

The hero smiled, “Please call me Keigo. Now, what do you think of my job proposal?”

-

Back to the present

James stood in front of his client’s villa. He was dressed in his uniform with his equipment ready in his backpack. He tried to rub his hands against his slacks to dry the anxious sweat off his palms.

Today was a big day for James. Today he was to have his first ever day at his new job!

He pressed the ring button, and while he waited for the door to open he started revising some of the speech instructions he was taught at his flying academy.

“Alright… Ahem- Morning Mr. Yoshida! I’m excited for us to get to work together!- Meh… That’s lame… Oh- Good Morning Mr. Yoshida! I’m glad you chose to work with our company- No no. That’s lame too.”

The front door to the villa suddenly opened to reveal a butler.

James' lips stretched into an awkward smile.

The butler smiled back softly before gesturing for the private pilot to enter, “Bonjour M. James, veuillez entrer.”

James froze at the foreign sounds. It was then that it hit him that he didn’t know enough French. Oh f*ck-

Suddenly James was escorted in by the sweet looking butler, “Je m'appelle Claude et je serai parmi vous aujourd'hui jusqu'au retour de M. Yoshida.”

James nearly slipped from the sudden ushering, before Claude stilled him with a hand on his lower back. James blinked a couple of times, followed by a pink hue across his cheeks, “Um- I apologize, but I don’t speak French…”

Claude let out an ‘ahh’ in understanding, before fixing back his soft smile. He quickly removed his hands from James after noticing how close they stood, “Pardon me sir” Claude quickly said, “I was not informed of your language capacities, pardon me. Please follow me to the living room where we will wait for Mr. Yoshida’s arrival.”

Claude spoke in a French accent that had no right to make James’s cheeks redden some more. James cleared his throat, “Thank you… Claude.”

James was directed toward a soft brown couch, and then Claude quickly disappeared into a nearby hallway. James sat down and screeched as something poked his bottom. He looked down to find a red feather. He frowned and picked it up to examine it, but Claude quickly snatched the feather and laid down a tray of tea and biscuits on the small table stationed beside the couch.

James frowned at Claude, but before he could question the odd behavior a biscuit was shoved into his mouth, “mfgh-“

Claude continued to smile sweetly, “I have made these personally. They also happen to be Mr. Taka- Mr. Yoshida’s favorite!”

-

Toya parked the car in front of Keigo’s villa.

Ikeda looked outside of the car’s window. He felt like he recognized the place-

Toya quickly interrupted his line of thought, “Look! Here’s the helicopter on top! We take this and go save them-“

Ikeda gulped and held onto his seat, “I don’t think it’s a good idea- Shouldn’t we notify someone more qualified-“

“Shhhh! Stop worrying and trust me!” Toya started to drag him outside of the car. They strode towards the villa.

Toya rang the doorbell rapidly until an annoyed Claude opened the door. He looked at Toya, ready to complain about the improper use of the door’s bell, and then his eyes shifted to another Toya.

With no time for explanation, Toya pushed the butler out of the way, dragging Ikeda behind him. “Toya! That’s rude!” Ikeda scolded. He turned to Claude with an apologetic smile, “sorry!”

Toya ignored him and started walking quickly up the stairs towards the rooftop.

Ikeda’s eyes roamed the familiar yet strange place. We even live very similar lives-

“Toya- Slow down! I might trip!-“

“And they might die!” Toya yelled back.

The reminder made Ikeda’s stomach started to curl in anxiety. His breath became labored, and Toya’s eyebrows frowned in concern.

They reached the final floor where the helicopter came into view. Toya rushed towards it, while Ikeda reluctantly followed. Metallic lumps started forming underneath his skin.

Suddenly the helicopter’s door opened to reveal a young man in a pilot suit. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw two twins standing in front of him.

“Aww..” James' heart swelled, “You must be Mr. Yoshida’s children! Hi! My name is James. I’m the new pilot here.” He stretched his hands towards one of the twins, Toya.

Toya blinked, before turning to look at Ikeda. Not understanding English.

Ikeda’s eyes shot back to him, he chose to ignore the mention of being Yoshida’s ‘children’.

“He’s a private pilot… for ‘Mr. Yoshida’” Ikeda uttered in Japanese. “But this is Keigo’s villa…”

Toya gulped, “Uh- yeah…. That’s um- Keigo’s second name is um Yoshida…”

“Right…” Ikeda said though the suspicion in his words did not pass over Toya’s head.

James' brows sunk at the weird foreign exchange between the twins. It seemed like the poor American pilot had to learn multiple languages for his new job.

When the silence stretched, the American pilot cleared his throat, “Um… excuse me but I don’t speak Asia or is it Asian?.”

Ikeda snorted, before turning to Toya and whispering something in his ear. Toya burst into laughter when he heard the translation of the pilot’s words.

Suddenly before James could confront the situation, he was dragged inside the helicopter. “Ah- Hey!”

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about flying this thing anymore,” Toya chuckled as he pulled a gun from his pocket.

Ikeda’s eyes widened. When- When did he get a gun?!

-

“You’re okay over there?”

“I’m… fine I think…” Ikeda tried to calm his breath. He looked down at the waters below, before letting out a squeak and shutting his eyes tightly.

Ikeda had a fear of heights. Toya shared the exact same feeling, but he had to be the stronger one between them. He kept his gun directed towards the pilot, who was given instructions by Keigo’s assistant through the phone.

Toya sighed, and patted Ikeda’s shoulder, “We will be fine. Yoshida will also be fine…”

“Y-you don’t understand! I’m- not used to this- What if Yoshida doesn’t make it out of there- What if I lose him?-“ The metallic lumps became more prominent on Ikeda’s skin, but Toya chose not to comment on them.

Toya put a finger over his twin’s lips, “Sshhhh. We will be fine.”

“D-do you think they’re okay? Do you think Yoshida is okay? I-if something happened to him-“ Ikeda started yapping again.

“We will be fine!”

“How can you be so calm?! It is like you’re used to taking helicopters around and saving people!”

Toya scratched the skin patch on his neck, luckily the purple was still hidden under his foundation, “Uhhhh…. I was not necessarily saving people. Quite the opposite-“

“In 3 minutes you’ll be over the bridge that connects the Island with the nearest airport. Three green trucks moving consequently. The second one is holding Yoshida and Keigo. First and third holding forces. Take care. Don’t aim your quirk at the second truck. Ikeda, lower the helicopter. Toya, you probably know what to do.”

Toya grinned and started stretching his arms, “Oh yeah! It’s been a while since I last bombed something-“

“Bombed?!” Ikeda’s head snapped in Toya’s direction.

Toya’s mouth shut before he opened and closed it like a lost fish, “I used to work in a fireworks agency!”

They could audibly hear Bakugou facepalming through the speakers.

-

Back to Inside the truck

Their silence was broken when the vehicle suddenly came to a halt. Both men jolted from their seats, their bodies collapsing into the front of the cart. They groaned in pain. Keigo hissed as the metal handcuffs dug into his skin.

Another hiss came from outside of the vehicle. The sound of gun shooting followed. Keigo and Yoshida turned to look at each other.

“A-are these your people?” Keigo turned to Yoshida.

Yoshida listened intently to the sounds outside, “I doubt it. They have no means to track me. Are they yours?”

Keigo’s shoulders slumped, “I’m retired…”

Yoshida stared at his nephew for a few seconds, “Can’t you figure something out? You must have gone through something in your training similar to this. You worked with them.”

Keigo shot him a disgusted look, “You even knew of the training that I was put through, yet you still agreed to throw me away!”

Yoshida straightened his back defensively, “How many times do I have to tell you?! I had no choice, kid!”

“Don’t call me kid, old man!” Keigo manipulated one of his features to slide from under his sleeve before directing it towards Yoshida’s neck.

Yoshida’s eyes widened, “Are you insane?! You’ll break your disguise!”

Keigo clenched his jaw, “With whatever’s happening outside seems like we’re dead meat anyway, might as well just take the pleasure of killing you-“

Suddenly the vehicle shook causing Keigo to slip and fall on his back with a loud groan.

Yoshida held tightly to the closest wall. He eyed the other man on the floor in concern, before his eyes shifted to the direction of the sound.

The smell of deep rust followed before the interior of the truck started to… melt.

-

Meanwhile the helicopter

When the vehicle hovered close enough to the trucks, Toya shoved his gun towards Ikeda, “Don’t let him get out of your sight. I’ll go grab them from down there, and this whole sh*t show will be done.”

Ikeda’s eyes widened at the gun in his hands, “I can’t- that’s-“

“Ikeda!”

Ikeda’s wide blue eyes snapped towards his twin.

Toya sighed as he placed both of his hands on the other’s shoulder. They stared deeply into each other’s eyes before Toya slapped him across the face.

Ikeda gasped holding his quickly reddening cheek, “What- what the hell?!”

“Man up, twink! They’re alive! You heard Keigo’s assistant. And it’s just a f*cking gun, it won’t bite you!” Toya snapped.

“Just a gun?! It can kill!”

Toya pinched his brows, then decided to just get on with his mission. He shot the American pilot a threatening look, before he jumped off onto the roof of the closest truck.

Ikeda’s eyes met the James’ equally scared ones.

The pilot’s eyes slid towards the gun in Ikeda’s hands, “Y-you… you’re not killing me- Are you?”

Ikeda’s breath hitched as he slowly directed the gun toward the pilot, mimicking the threatening gesture Toya used to force the pilot to fly them here, “F-follow the trucks!” Ikeda yelled out in the most threatening voice he could master, which was not much, but the pilot did follow his weak command regardless.

-

Inside the vehicle

When the back of the truck melted, Toya’s eyes met the familiar black irises, and quickly wetness clouded his sight. Keigo was safe.

Keigo is safe!

“Keigo!” Toya rushed towards ‘Keigo’.

“Ikeda!” Yoshida rushed towards ‘Ikeda’.

Toya jumped on Yoshida, before wrapping his arms around the older’s neck, connecting their lips in a deep heated kiss. Suddenly both of them froze in recognition. They pushed each other away in shock.

“Y-You’re not Keigo!” Toya pointed a shivering accusing finger at Keigo’s uncle.

Yoshida’s jaw went slack. His mouth closed and opened like a lost fish.

Keigo was still in the process of getting up on his feet when he saw the whole interaction, he stared at the whole affair with wild eyes. His gaze glared daggers at Yoshida before they shifted predatorily to Toya.

-

Ikeda watched as Toya took down a truck after the other. He melted them in a matter of seconds, before engaging in a fight with the soldiers who started attacking him.

They all fill down…

With wide eyes, Ikeda stared at the remains of the trucks underneath them. Somehow Toya managed to cause that much…destruction in a matter of seconds . Did the drivers die? Did Toya kill them? No one was moving…

What was Toya? Who was the other person called Yoshida?

He knew that these blue flames were familiar…

After summoning all his courage, Ikeda directed the pilot to hover close to the truck. Toya had been in there for quite some time now and he was beginning to worry. “L-land close here…”

The pilot shot him a concerned look.

“….Please,” Ikeda followed his statement.

The pilot took a deep breath, before he landed close to the fires below, keeping a safe distance from the smoke.

Ikeda jumped from the helicopter and his feet landed with a soft thud to the ground. He rushed inside the now disassembled truck that Toya had disappeared to. His eyes landed on Yoshida, and his breath dropped in relief. Then, his eyes landed on another Yoshida who looked like he was about to kill the first Yoshida.

Both Yoshidas turned their eyes to Ikeda. Toya was the last to notice Ikeda and a look of guilt crossed his eyes that Ikeda didn’t seem to grasp.

Using the chance to piss off his uncle, Keigo turned to Ikeda with a fake smile, “Darling! Oh my goodness you’re safe!” He opened his arms to take in Ikeda.

Ikeda smiled back before he started rushing towards the familiar smiling Yoshida, but he was quickly snatched back by the other now scowling Yoshida.

“DON'T YOU f*ckING DARE, KEIGO!” Yoshida punched Keigo in the jaw.

“UGHH! YOU f*ckING ASSHOLE!” He pulled out a large red feather to strike Yoshida.

Both Ikeda and Toya gasped.

-

Thankfully, no one was struck or killed, but the trip back home was awkward nonetheless. On one side of the helicopter, sat Yoshida with Ikeda in his lap. He had his arms wrapped around his smaller husband in protection, while he glared at his nephew.

Keigo and Toya sat on the other side of them, though the couple weren’t huddled together like the other two. A noticeable distance sat between them.

Keigo had his arms crossed with a menacing scowl on his face, mainly directed at Yoshida. He had Ikeda’s phone in his hands, listening to Bakugou’s report on the whole situation.

“He stole a car, a gun… Drove on a highway to the opposite side of the road. The cameras caught his and Ikeda’s faces. Some of the purple batches are visible on Toya’s neck. A civilian was probably injured on the road. I tried to delete as many records, but some pictures were posted on the web. Oh- and remember that pilot you got from America? The one for your date? well-“

Keigo did not look happy. His knee kept shaking restlessly.

Toya was quiet throughout the whole ride. He often stole glances at Keigo, which were often returned by Keigo frowning at him. Toya would then turn his gaze towards the other two, his eyes would fixate on the way Yoshida was holding Ikeda and jealousy would rise in his throat.

“It would be better if the four of you hid in a remote location for the time being. I was able to rent an apartment, and have contacted Claude to prepare the new place for you guys. I will try to do as much cleanup as I possibly can. Take this time to rest. I will contact you again tomorrow morning at 6:30”

Keigo sighed as he hung up the phone. Why did the plot keep getting more complicated?

Chapter 15: Confessions and Acceptance

Chapter Text

The four stood in front a run-down apartment. With a burdened sigh, Keigo extended a hand to knock on the thick wooden door. It quickly opened to reveal his butler, Claude.

Claude stepped aside with a tense smile to let the four in, he nodded his head towards Keigo, “J'ai essayé de rendre l'endroit aussi présentable que possible, monsieur.”

Keigo replied with a nod of his own and stepped inside taking his shoes off.

Yoshida’s nose wrinkled at the state of the place, regardless he still followed with an arm around Ikeda’s back. At least his nephew had the decency to offer protection for him and Ikeda, though Yoshida’s safety radar was still skyrocketing.

Toya stayed behind, torn between following them or disappearing somewhere where no one can find him. Keigo quickly shot him a look, before squinting his eyes. Toya averted his gaze and stepped inside. Claude closed the door quickly, before locking it.

Yoshida and Ikeda were shown their room’s direction. The two disappeared through the hallway, but not before Toya noticed the way Ikeda was eyeing Keigo. Ikeda’s eyes then landed on the cyan eyes, but Yoshida nudged him to look forward.

The couple’s bedroom’s door was closed, leaving Keigo, Toya, and Claude standing awkwardly in the living room.

Keigo turned to Claude, “Préparez une trousse de premiers soins ainsi qu’un bain chaud.”

Claude kept on his professional smile, followed by a nod, “Bien sûr, Monsieur.”

The butler quickly disappeared into one of the many rooms in the apartment.

Keigo started heading towards one of the rooms, shrugging off his coats.

“You seem to know the place…” Toya cleared his throat as he followed him.

“I stayed here often.”

The room Keigo went into was relatively small to the villa they were staying in. Despite being used to living in worse places, Toya still felt uneasy.

Toya just hummed at Keigo’s response. His eyes darted around the place. What was he supposed to do now? Was Keigo mad at him? Why wasn’t Keigo saying anything? Did Keigo finally get sick of him? He knew his reckless behavior was unjustified- and Keigo looked worn down… But- Yoshida still embraced Ikeda despite the whole ordeal.

Why wasn’t Keigo embracing him too?

“Sit down,” A stern tone pulled him out of his head.

Toya’s eyes snapped up to meet fierce golden ones. Keigo had taken off his contacts and shrugged off a few layers of his suit.

“I said sit down.”

Toya immediately sat down on the edge of the small bed.

Keigo reached a stiff hand to direct Toya’s chin to the side suddenly. Toya’seyes widened, but he kept his mouth shut.

Keigo cursed internally at the sight of the purple patch, located behind Toya’s ear just as Bakugou mentioned.

He redirected Toya’s chin so their eyes met. Keigo let out a sigh as his fingers slowly trailed up Toya’s face until they intertwined with the white curls. Keigo felt restless, angry, and scared. His past few days were filled with many emotional turmoils and he was drained of any energy. Not mentioning the kiss that still made his blood boil. He knew that it wasn’t Toya’s fault- But it still didn’t ease his anger.

Keigo felt the skin underneath his fingers tremble, his eyes darted down to meet bloody streaks down the snowhead’s cheeks. Keigo gulped. f*ck, he’s crying.

Toya could feel his body trembling, but he refused to move from his spot. Keigo’s touch felt nice, but with no words from Keigo’s side, he felt a lump in his throat.

Keigo wrapped his arms around Toya's neck before pulling the snowhead into a strong hug. Toya’s resolve broke down into weeps.

“Shhh… It’s okay…” Keigo patted his back gently. His other hand gently twirled the pale strands.

“I was so scared…!”

“I know,” Keigo continued his gentle cooing.

“I was sooo scared of f*cking losing you, but I had to pretend that I didn’t care because that stupid twink would have dropped dead for panicking over that stupid old man!"

Keigo pulled him closer over his lap, listening.

Toya rubbed his bloody tears away before pointing an accusing finger at Keigo, “You’re an asshole you know that?! Your assistant is a bigger asshole! He kept calling me stupid and the only reason I didn’t blow the damn phone up was because it was the only way I could get to you!”

Keigo made a mental note to correct his assistant’s language. He tilted his head to the side, “Why am I an asshole?”

“Because you didn’t hug me!”

“I’m doing so now,” Keigo simply replied.

“I mean when we got back!” Toya’s breath is hitching.

Keigo frowned in confusion.

“YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE!” Toya raised a fist to punch him, but Keigo caught it before bringing his lips close to kiss the reddened knuckles.

“You…” Toya’s voice died down.

“I was not ignoring you. Nor did I not want to embrace you, I was just simply busy.”

Toya’s eyes became furious, “Busy? Busy?! When are you not busy? You didn’t let go of that damned phone through the whole flight! You were so busy that I got kidnapped! You are so busy that you don’t even tell me what’s going on! Who’s that man?! Why does he look like you! Why did you let him stay here despite you wanting to kill him?!-“

Keigo leaned in closer to kiss Toya on the cheek, “I will explain everything to you tomorrow. I think it would be better for us to sleep now. We’ve had an eventful past few days, but we’re safe now. Please, Snowhead-”

Toya’s lips wobbled until they closed shut. He stared at Keigo for a couple of seconds before he pulled himself out of the other’s lap, “No- You’re going to explain everything. Right. f*cking. Now!”

-

“Right. Now.”

The two words echoed across the torn walls. With every syllable leaving Yoshida’s mouth, Ikeda could feel himself getting smaller.

The white head gulped as his eyes trailed over the small room they were currently staying in.

Yoshida suddenly held his chin, directing his head up until their eyes met. “Where were you?”

Ikeda shrunk closer to the edge of the worn couch. Yoshida’s fierce gaze didn’t waver.

“I was… outside…” Ikeda muttered softly.

Yoshida’s eyes squinted, “With Toya?”

“Yes…”

“The intruder?!”

“H-he’s not an intruder! He’s a really nice guy- who just happens to look like me! He’s a good friend too- he-”

Yoshida snorted, “How many times do I have to tell you? In my line of work, people who get close to you only want to harm you! Understood? There’s no such thing as friendship, Ikeda!”

Ikeda’s gaze trailed back and forth between the old walls and harsh gaze directed at him. He was used to Yoshida’s scolding by now, but for some reason, he couldn’t handle the fact that the first person he might have considered a friend, could’ve been deceiving him.

No… You must be wrong. Toya has been nothing but nice…

The memories of the way Toya tore down the highly protected trucks, caused him to lose some of his faith. He knew that something was different about Toya since he met him. He knew that ‘Ikeda’ was not Toya’s name. He knew that he could be in danger but- He couldn’t pull himself away from Toya. There was this weird bond between them that Ikeda couldn’t simply ignore- It wasn’t love either-

What’s happening to me?

Ikeda’s sight began to blur out, prominent silver dents rose across his arms.

Yoshida’s gaze softened. He lifted Ikeda gently, placing the younger man in his lap before stroking his back.

Ikeda rubbed his eyes. His skin was burning, which wasn’t new considering his quirk’s condition, but it didn’t lessen the pain nonetheless. He hid his face in Yoshida’s neck, choosing to stay quiet.

Yoshida continued to stroke the slender back gently, “I know it’s hard… But trust me, I’m working on leaving that part of my life soon. You’ll be able to go out as much as you want-“

“When is soon ?!” Ikeda snapped. “You’ve been saying this for years now! Since we got married!”

Yoshida’s jaw tightened.

His silence encouraged Ikeda to continue, “Who’s that guy over there, huh?! Why does he look like you?! Why was he trying to kill you? And despite all of this- He let you stay here- And you agreed to it! What the f*ck is happening!”

Yoshida’s eyes widened at the usage of words. He hadn’t heard Ikeda cuss in what seemed like decades, exactly around the time they had started dating. “Ikeda- You still haven’t answered my questions. What were you doing with Toya-“

“No! What were you doing with Keigo?!” Ikeda poked his finger at the other’s chest.

Yoshida sighed. It seemed like this was an unavoidable situation. He gathered his thoughts until he uttered the words, “He’s my nephew.”

-

“He’s my… uncle,” Keigo said hesitantly as his eyes were fixated on the blue flames emerging from his lover’s hand. Toya was fed up with words, so he opted for the other best method of persuasion, threatening.

Toya’s eyes went wide, “Y-you have family?…” The flames in his hands died instantly. Toya looked, betrayed. Why didn’t Keigo tell him about his family before- Was Keigo ashamed of him?

As if knowing where the other’s trail of thoughts went, Keigo immediately followed the confession with, “I didn’t know either, okay! It- it just happened-“

“Just… Happened?” The heat started rising again in Toya’s palm.

Keigo’s eyes widened, “Look- Remember when I told you that there’s a guy who looks like you, who happens to also be called Ikeda?”

Toya nodded, listening intently.

“Well- he’s married to a guy called Yoshida who looks like me! Well- looks like me but with black hair.”

Toya’s head tilted to the side, “How did you find out he was your uncle?”

“When I found out you got kidnapped, I immediately went into the villa to find you, but I came across him and he found out I’m hawks and-“

“WHAT?! Our identities were discovered?!” Toya gasped.

“No-no-no-no! It’s my identity-“

Toya gasped louder, “You’re in danger!”

“No! We’re not!- I’m not! He’s my uncle- He had always known I was Hawks-“

Toya blinked a couple of times. Keigo could swear that he saw stars twirling in the cyan pupils.

Dots connected in Toya’s brain and his eyes began to cloud again with blood, “You are ashamed of me! That’s why you never told your family about us! It’s because I’m a villain right?!”

Keigo facepalmed before he grabbed tissues to stop the uncanny blood flow. “Honey, love, I was never ashamed of you!”

“Then why didn’t you-“ Toya raised his hands to push the other away.

Keigo grabbed both wrists before he leaned closer to kiss Toya’s lips. Toya’s demeanor was demolished, but his lips continued to wobble from the surge of emotions he was feeling.

Keigo broke the kiss, and stared deeply into the cyan eyes, “I didn’t know he was my uncle, Toya. I didn’t know I had a family. And to be honest- I wish I never found out….”

Toya’s lips continued to chase the soft press even after Keigo pulled away, “W-why?”

Keigo closed his eyes as he thought about the best way to phrase their situation.

-

Next morning.

Keigo’s eyes opened to be met with the familiar sight of the torn ceilings. He had used this apartment for many of his… missions. He would have never thought he’d have to use it as a shelter from the commission… There were reports of two men on the trucks, with one looking identical to Yoshida. They also know how both men are related- Did they figure out Keigo’s identity yet?

With an exhale, Keigo turned and stretched his hand looking for the other body beside him. His hand quickly found his snowhead’s waist and he wrapped his arms tightly around Toya’s middle. He buried his nose in the white locks and inhaled.

He felt immense relief… and guilt. Toya has been through a lot because of him- because of his plan- because of his need to build a new senario for their lives. Keigo is supposed to be the one protecting him, yet it was the villain that came to his rescue…

His lips trailed down to kiss the now visible purple patches. There was still some foundation left on Toya’s body, which didn’t seem healthy considering that it has been setting on the skin for some days… Astonishingly despite everything, the purple patches remained hidden, mostly. Keigo was grateful.

He pulled away from the warm body and slowly turned Toya so he was facing him. The snowhead was still deeply in slumber, with his chest rising and falling rhythmically. The sight of the dried blood around the other’s eyes caused Keigo’s heart to swell with regret.

Keigo got up, leaving their shared room to call for Claude. His butler came in with a bowl of water and wash clothes, “Monsieur Takami, vous n’avez certainement pas besoin d’aide pour quoi que ce soit ?”

Keigo replied with a dismissing nod, before uttering some thanks and closing the door. He sat down beside Toya in bed, then rolled up the other’s t-shirt, before beginning his task of cleaning up the paint off of his skin.

Not being able to resist, Keigo’s hand trailed down Toya’s chest, until his hand clasped the bare thin waist. His other hand did the same on the other side, now sizing Toya’s waist with both hands. Keigo frowned at how… small Toya felt. How come did Toya even manage to keep up with his villainous behavior, despite being smaller than all the bodies he fought…

Unconsciously, Keigo’s thumbs began to move in circles, rubbing along the white skin of the small frame. Below his line of sight, some movement caught his eyes. Keigo’s eyes trailed down to a visible tint in Toya’s pants. His eyes shot up instantly to be met with cyan ones.

Toya’s blush was prominent, his eyes fixated on Keigo’s in a shy manner. Yet despite his submissive appearance, Toya uttered, “Didn’t know you were into f*cking people in their sleep…”

Keigo blinked and suddenly realized the way he was positioned between Toya’s thighs. His own blush quickly rose up, before he scooted backwards and raised up dismissive hands, “N-no no no- that was not my intention! I was-“

“Pfft-“ Toya’s body vibrated with a burst to laughter. He folded his arms around his abdomen, tossing and turning in their shared bed.

Keigo’s face got even redder and his eyes squinted down at the snowhead.

Toya looked up at the golden eyes, his laughter dying down. He brought both of his hands up, clenching and unclenching them in a way to call the man above him closer.

Keigo leaned closer and rough fingers intertwined with his black curls, before dragging him down into a rough kiss.

“Nghh-“ Despite being positioned on top, Keigo didn’t feel in control of the kiss. It was as if Toya was sucking him deeper into a void.

Just as roughly Toya broke the kiss. Wrapping his legs around Keigo’s waist, he rubbed his nose along the rough stubbled cheeks, nuzzling the dazed bird above him. Toya pulled Keigo down until he could whisper in his ear, “Just for your future knowledge, I wouldn’t mind getting f*cked in my sleep…”

Keigo’s eyes widened at the confession. He let out an audible gulp, before relaxing more of his weight on top of Toya, letting the other feel the similar bulge that formed in his pants. A mischievous grin crossed the bird’s face.

Toya’s smirk fell, “Hey- Don’t get ahead of yourself-“

Keigo thrust forward, burying his face in his lover’s neck and grazing his canines over the purple flesh. His hands quickly traveled underneath the cloth separating their groans.

“Ngh! Keigo- Ah- DON’T!” Toya snapped.

Keigo pulled away from his neck, frowning down at the snowhead in confusion.

“Ikeda might hear me!” Toya followed in a panic.

Keigo’s frown deepened, “They’re on the opposite side of the apartment. And- Who gives a f*ck about Ikeda?”

“I do!”

“Well, I don’t.” Keigo titled his head, pressing his lips against the purple flesh and sucking hard enough to probably leave evidence later of their lovemaking.

Toya squealed before his fist collided with the top of Keigo’s skull.

PONK!

-

Toya was in the shower, while Keigo sat on their bed rubbing his aching head. His stomach rumbled, so he decided to finally leave the room and address his “guests”. Now that both of their faces had been seen and possibly Ikeda’s and Toya’s, Keigo had to find a way to pull them out of this sticky situation. But how?

Keigo reached the kitchen that sat in the middle of the apartment to find Toya- No- Ikeda, standing in front of the fridge with a bottle of milk in his hands and a disapproving look on his face. The similarity to Toya’s expression just a couple of minutes ago was- uncanny.

Not wanting to deal with Ikeda, Keigo decided to turn around and hide back to his room when suddenly the floors underneath him squeaked. f*ck-

“Yoshida?”

Keigo turned around to face Ikeda. As if it was possible the sweet man’s face turned into an even deeper scowl.

“Oh… You’re Keigo,” Ikeda stepped closer to him. Keigo froze, before taking a step backward. Ikeda kept moving forward successfully trapping the bigger man against the wall. Ikeda’s eyes squinted.

“Uhhh…” Keigo cleared his throat, scratching his head.

Ikeda leaned closer to Keigo’s neck, and then started… sniffing.

Keigo at this point was beginning to get extremely uncomfortable, “Um- d-do you um.. Happen to know where your husband is?”

Ikeda said nothing as he continued to sniff. Suddenly as if just remembering he gasped, “You’re the man who kissed me!” Ikeda pointed his finger out.

Keigo’s expression fell, “No-no-no I’m pretty sure it was not me-“ It was obviously him-

“Oh, don’t you dare lie! You look like Yoshida and you live close to the shore! Yoshida wasn’t in France either- You also have a similar cologne! It must be you!”

“What’s going on?” Yoshida suddenly appeared from the hallways, stiffening at the sight of his nephew and husband together.

Ikeda turned to Yoshida, “He kissed me!”

“What?!” Yoshida’s eyes went wide, and he quickly strode towards his nephew, “I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM HIM!”

Keigo quickly scooted backwards, “What- I didn’t kiss him! He’s lying!”

Yoshida turned to Ikeda, “What did he do?”

Ikeda put both hands on his own hips, staring accusingly at Keigo, “Around last week when I was looking for you at the shore, he was there. And he kissed me pretending to be you!”

“WHAT?!” Both Yoshida and Keigo yelled.

Keigo quickly turned to his uncle, “Look- I thought he was Toya! And- You kissed my partner too! And it was a mistake! You can’t tell me they don’t look the same!”

Yoshida’s nostrils flared. He fixed his demeanor by choosing to keep his fists at bay. He didn’t like that Keigo had a point.

“Y-you kissed Toya?”

Both dark heads looked down at the smaller man. f*ck- Keigo and Yoshida thought.

Yoshida cleared his throat, “It was a misunderstanding-“

It was too late though Ikeda had stomped back into his room.

Yoshida’s head snapped towards his nephew, “Like what you did?!”

Keigo scoffed, “Not my fault that your husband goes around sniffing like a dog!”

“Wha- Who are you calling a dog?! You little sh*t-“

Both men were interrupted by the gentle ring of a bill, “Messieurs, le petit déjeuner est prêt.” Claude spoke softly, getting their attention to the breakfast on the kitchen table.

-

Three of them sat awkwardly on the breakfast table. Yoshida sitting opposite to Keigo, while Ikeda sat a noticeable distance from Yoshida. Seems like the small man was still upset.

Their silence was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom’s door slamming open, and the clank of wet flip-flops that followed afterward. Toya came into view in his pajamas, choosing to sit down beside a terrified Ikeda. Toya grinned at his twin before giving him a slap on the back, “Had a good night?”

Ikeda’s eyes trailed on Toya’s skin, then his lips started to wobble. Toya gave him a confused look. He then turned to Keigo and Yoshida to find that they were giving him an equally terrified look, but Keigo specifically looked like he was about to rip his own hair out.

Toya looked down at his own body, realizing that his purple patches were on full view.

Now Ikeda’s expression made more sense-

“Aaaah!” Ikeda screamed, scooting away from the sight of the dead flesh, and grabbing onto Yoshida’s neck.

By now Toya was used to people fearing him for his appearance… but seeing Ikeda’s reaction hurt him.

Yoshida quickly hushed Ikeda, running a soothing hand over his back. He shot his nephew a look.

Keigo turned to look at Toya with a ‘what the f*ck, Toya?’ expression.

Toya frowned, “What? I’m not used to putting on makeup! Ikeda is being a twink!”

“Don’t talk about my husband in such manners! Keigo- do something about your partner!” Yoshida snapped, his arms holding onto Ikeda protectively.

Toya gave them a disgusted once over, “You guys look like the weird stinky sticky couple in American high school movies. You know, the ones you want to smash like damn co*ckroaches.”

Ikeda turned to glare back at Toya, the sight of the dead skin made his stomach start acting up. He felt like vomiting.

Yoshida snapped his head towards his nephew, “Keigo!”

Keigo sighed, rubbing his temple. He just wanted a couple of moments of peace.

——————————————————

James opened his eyes to be met with a dim light. He blinked a couple of times before his eyes adjusted to the light. He pushed himself slowly off the soft mattress, scratching his head.

Where am I?

The last thing he remembers was being escorted by two twins, then flying over trucks… the trucks burning down, then-

James gasped, pushing himself off the bed. The last thing he remembered was miracle landing on a smooth surface despite all the problems going on with the engine and then- then everything blurred out. Panic started rising in his senses. He had to get out of here.

James quickly rushed to the door, the moment he opened it he was startled by the sight of Claude from the other side.

Claude smiled gently, tilting his head to the side, “Morning Mr. James. I was just about to check on you.”

Claude spoke again in that French accent that made a red hue cover James’ cheeks.

“W-where am I?” James quickly asked.

“In one of Mr. Yoshida’s establishments.”

He could feel a lump forming in his throat, “I would like to leave please-“ James tried to push past Claude to leave the room, but he was stopped by a hand on his chest.

“I’m afraid you can’t right now. Mr. Yoshida is rather busy…” Claude looked back to check on Mr. Takami, and it seemed like he was still rather busy with calming a heated discussion between Mr. Todoroki and Mr. Yoshida.

Everything on James’ radar told him he had to get out of this place. He took a couple of breaths before he used all of his force to push Claude aside.

Claude still didn’t budge. James froze.

Claude squinted his green eyes down at the American pilot, “Please remain in your room until further notice from Mr. Yoshida.” Gently, which was not too gentle, Claude began to push James back into his room onto the bed.

James held closely onto Claude’s suit, begging, “Please- I want to leave! These people are insane! They’ll kill me!” His hands started to tremble.

Claude signed. He knew that Mr. Takami was rather a good person who would never harm others, but if matters came to getting rid of somebody, Claude would follow the orders without a second thought. Too bad he actually took a liking to the pilot, which got on his nerves.

“Stay seated in your room, sir. I will be bringing in your breakfast and I will get back with Mr. Yoshida regarding your… stay .” Claude mastered his softest voice which managed to trick the younger man.

That was all that was said before Claude fled the room, however, without stealing a small touch to James’ middle lengthened hair.

“P-please wait!-“ James tried to beg some more, but the door was shut. He tried to approach the door again to open it but the sound of a lock followed. His eyes widened, “N-no-no! Please Claude! I have a family!” James started slamming his fists to the door.

“I advise you not to make too much noise. Mr. Yoshida is not fond of being disturbed.”

——————————————————

Later throughout the day, Keigo and Yoshida were sitting in front of a laptop. Keigo was typing out, probably communicating with his assistant. While Yoshida was talking to his lawyer through the phone. Ikeda being positioned between the two, hiding from Toya who had been glaring daggers at him from across the living room since breakfast.

Toya still didn’t cover his purple patches, and he didn’t feel the need to. Keigo said nothing about it so it should be fine, right? And he was planning on telling Ikeda anyway. He was just extremely upset at his twin’s reaction. He made Toya feel… ugly. Toya didn’t understand why the other’s approval of him meant so much. It was confusing.

Toya curled himself up against the couch some more, scrolling through the new phone Keigo got for himself. Him and Keigo haven’t spoken since morning, and Toya can understand since Keigo probably has so much work to do especially now with the presence of his uncle in the picture. Toya’s eyes would sometimes turn to Yoshida, and trail over the way Yoshida would stroke Ikeda’s hair while he was on the phone.

Yoshida was busy but he still managed to make time for Ikeda. Why wasn’t Keigo making time for him too?

He knew it was wrong to try and compare himself to another couple, but Ikeda and Yoshida together seemed so much like the perfect picture Keigo had been painting since their escape. Keigo probably pictured someone like Ikeda when he thought of a lover. Someone with no problems. Someone who didn’t have so much blood on his hands. Someone who was innocent. Toya was not.

Feeling the tiredness of the past few days weighing him down, Toya’s eyes drifted to sleep. Hopefully, when he woke up, Keigo might have found a way to untangle their sticky situation. He really wished he could help Keigo in any way, but all that smart sh*t on the ‘ keyboard’ was too advanced for Toya.
.
.
.

Later through his nap, Toya felt the weight of the couch shifting. Something warm was placed on him covering his body from shoulder to toe. A hand ruffled his hair. Some mumbling sounds followed. Toya was still too deep in sleep to fully catch what was being said.

“What happened to him?” Someone asked. They sounded old.

Toya’s ears picked on a familiar sigh coming from above him, “He… suffered some burned injuries…” The hand on his head continued to rub into his scalp.

Silence followed before it was interrupted by an, “I am sorry this happened to your partner.”

The figure above him snorted.

“I’m being serious here. If this was to happen to Ikeda I would be-“

“Shhh- I understand. It happened way before I met Toya.”

“Who’s Toya? What does he do? He looks dangerous-“

“None of your business,” The hand on his head left.

“I’m your uncle. I deserve to know who you choose to engage yourself with,” a stern voice demanded.

Another snort, “It’s not your place to choose when and not to act like an uncle.”

-

It was dinner time, and the only two present on the table were the identical dark heads. Toya was still asleep, while Ikeda was still feeling sick. Leaving the two alone in the dim room with some light coming from Keigo’s laptop screen.

Keigo had his wings out now that Ikeda was not with them, keeping them constrained all the time was beginning to take a toll on him. Yoshida’s fork turned the food on his plate with no real intention of eating. He looked at the younger man opposite him. The red wings gave a striking resemblance to Yoshida’s father. It brought up memories he would have rather forgotten.

“What are we expected to do?” Yoshida finally spoke. “We can’t hide here forever.”

“True…” Keigo calmly cut pieces of his roasted chicken, shoving it into his mouth.

Yoshida’s knee shook in restlessness, “And? What should I say to my men? They’re waiting for a sign from me.”

“I will wait for the latest information regarding what’s going on with the commission. Once my assistant gives us the clear sign, your men can escort us out of the country. I would prefer if we were to split ways later on. Forget about this whole thing.”

Yoshida stayed quiet as he grasped in his nephew’s words, “Split ways?”

Keigo nodded, gaze focused on his plate.

“Will I be able to see you again?”

Keigo quirked an eyebrow, before a chuckle erupted from his chest, “D-don’t tell me you actually care about this whole being a family thing?”

Yoshida’s stance remained stoic.

Keigo’s face fell.

“If you cared you would have tried to get me back!”

“I couldn’t! I tried my best to keep up with everything going on, but I was never high enough in their rankings to get direct contact with you. Trust me if I had the chance I would-“

“SHUT UP!” Keigo slammed his fist to the table before suddenly realizing how loud he must have sounded. He turned back to check on Toya, letting out a relieved sigh that he was still asleep. Keigo turned back to his uncle with a scowl.

Yoshida stayed quiet.

Keigo continued his meal in silence too.

Yoshida’s eyes caught the way Keigo kept shoving the chicken in his mouth. A soft expression crossed his face, “The moment I made you taste chicken for the first time was my downfall. You would always cry and nag me for more. I had to deliver an extra package one night to be able to keep up with your demands...”

Stop- Don’t remind me, please…. Keigo’s lips wobbled. He put his fork down, closing his eyes.

Yoshida leaned closer to put his hand over his nephew’s clasped ones, “It doesn’t have to end this way. We can figure a solution out as a family .”

Chapter 16: A planted vision

Chapter Text

Toya’s eyes gazed at the clear sky. A shaky breath left his lungs. He felt nervous, so nervous in fact that he could sense his hands trembling. He clasped them in tight fists and brought them closer to his heart, in an attempt to stop their shakiness. Soon even his heart was starting to beat wildly, feeling his ribcage shaking with each breath he took.

Get yourself together! It’s just a couple of moments. You’ll kiss your husband in front of everyone and then you can leave! Yes- Keigo said that there would be no need for us to stay much longer…

Keigo- will be ‘MY’ Husband-

Toya could feel his legs start to shake. He fell down, knees connecting to the hard balcony floor.

“Toya! Are you okay?!”

A body crouched down next to him. Toya looked to his left to find the familiar blue eyes looking at him with worry. Toya patted the other’s white head. “Don’t worry… I will be fine…”

Both of them looked down at Toya’s shaking knees. The other scoffed, “Fine my ass! You need some anxiety medication!”

“But-“ Toya tried to object.

“Shhh! It’s your big day and we can’t afford to have you pass out!”

Another body was at Toya's left. A large hand handed him some pills, "Take these. My lawyer recommends them" a mature voice spoke.

"I am not your therapist!" A third voice complained.

"But I pay you more."

~~

The scenery shifted to a beach.

Toya looked down at his toes in the white sand. It looked odd in contrast to the expensive purple material on his body. He adjusted his tie, before taking slow steps towards the flower circle made in the centre of the beach.

The sea air caused his hair to flutter against his eyes. Surprised, Toya pushed his hair to the side. His surprise increased at how long his hair felt.

When did by hair get this long?

Far in the clear waters a large black ship carrying an American flag was sailing in the distance.

Toya stepped inside the circle, then looked over the chairs in front. Some guests were already occupying the seats. Toya’s eyes spotted a blond girl. She smiled and waved at him, before her gaze shifted to the spot on Toya’s right, a red cup in her other hand. The red liquid swirled around in the clear glass. Blood?

A small glass piece broke off the cup, falling on the sand.

Another familiar face caught Toya’s attention. A man was standing in an elegant cobalt blue suit. He wore white gloves, which made Toya recognize the man as Keigo’s butler, Claude. Claude bent down to pick the broken glass off the sand, before discarding of it in a trash can. He gave the blond woman a suspicious look.

Claude returned to stand next to another man, dressed in a similar suit as him. The man looked familiar, though Toya couldn’t recognize him much. He had hazel eyes and equally brownish hair. He was shorter than Claude and smaller in size.

Claude leaned down to whisper something in the other man’s ear. The man looked up with a flustered expression. Then Claude smirked before leaning down and connecting their lips.

Toya blinked. Is that the pilot?-

“Snowhead?”

Toya’s eyes snapped to the man who now stood in front of him. Breath left his lungs at the sight of his fiance- no- Husband, in a white suit. A small yellow Daffodil flower was attached to the breast pocket of his suit. Keigo’s red wings looked even more stunning than they usually did.

With a hitching breath Toya looked up and said, “I- I do!”

Laughter erupted from Keigo’s lips. Toya started laughing too.

Keigo cupped his cheeks, “Silly!~ We haven’t said anything yet! Most of the guests aren’t even here.”

Toya’s laughter increased. He closed his eyes as a voice pulled him out of his vision.

~~

“Snowhead? Darling, wake up”

A gentle voice spoke, pulling Toya out of his dreams. A groan left his throat as the vision of his lover in a white suit started to disappear. Toya opened his eyes to find no other than the main character of his dream.

Keigo’s palm was resting over the purple cheek, his thumb stroking the stables on the skin gently. “You’ve been sleeping for so long… Are you feeling well? Do I need to call the Japanese doctor? You seemed to get along with him last time. Other than the bruises that you left on his face- but I made sure to pay him well-“

Toya grabbed Keigo by his collar in a soft kiss, a grin spread across his lips from the fairytale that he lived moments ago. He pulled away from Keigo cupping his cheeks, “I’m fine. I was just feeling sleepy…”

Keigo relaxed in the soft embrace, resting his face in the other’s palm. “You seem to be in high spirits, so I will take your words as truth.”

Toya’s cheeks pinked, remembering the events of his dream, “y-yeah… I had a good dream…”

Keigo quirked a brow, “Hm? What were you dreaming about?”

Toya’s eyes darted away, “Nothing much…”

Keigo tilted his head, nuzzling the rough palms still on his face, “Come on~ You can tell me anything. You know that!”

Toya shook his head quickly. How can he tell that he dreamed about them getting married?! He’s not even sure if Keigo even wanted him this way! Would Keigo think that he’s weird for thinking about stuff like that this soon?

Upon noticing his snowhead’s refusal, Keigo decided to let it go. “Alright, don’t worry about it.”

An arm stretched behind Toya’s knees. Keigo brought his second arm behind Toya’s shoulder, before suddenly scooting him up.

Toya yelped don surprise, his arms wrapping around Keigo’s neck tightly, “Wha-“

Keigo started carrying him bridal style towards the direction of their room. Toya’s face went red as a tomato, “Keigo!- What are you doing?!”

Keigo started humming a random song, “Just carrying my boyfriend back to our bedroom for a much needed cuddling session.”

Toya groaned hiding his face in Keigo’s neck, “Hmph- What time is it anyway?”

“11:20 pm” Keigo replied.

Toya’s eyes widened, “I slept for this long?!”

Keigo planted a gentle kiss on his forehead, “You deserve it. You’ve through a lot. I’m sorry…” Keigo looked down at Toya sincerely.

Toya’s face softened, “don’t worry…” his fingers shifted to trail over Keigo’s red feathers, “it wasn’t your fault…”

“But you could’ve gotten hurt…” remorse clouded Keigo’s eyes, he held closer onto Toya. He buried his nose in the white locks, taking an inhale.

Toya closed his eyes, placing a small kiss to Keigo’s neck, “I could’ve lost you forever… that’s more painful than any hurt in the world…”

Keigo looked down at Toya with a quirked brow, “who knew you were such a poet, my darling?”

Toya scoffed rolling his eyes, “I always say nice things. You’re the one who doesn’t notice-“

Toya’s eyes connected with Ikeda’s across the living room. He flinched so hard that Keigo nearly dropped him.

“Toya! What’s wrong?!-“ Keigo noticed Ikeda and his body stilled.

Realisation dawned on the two lovers that Keigo had his wings out. Oh f*ck-

Ikeda had a finger pointed at Keigo. His blue eyes were wide in shock, lips wobbling as he struggled to say the name, “H-h-h-ha-“

Keigo shook his head quickly.

“H-ha-h-h-h-haw-“

Keigo started to sweat.

“H-h-h-hawk-“

Keigo gulped.

“H-h-h-h-h-HAWKS!” Ikeda screamed.

Toya covered his ears quickly. Keigo winced.

Ikeda started running towards them. He had a look on his face that Keigo familiarised with the way fans typically looked at him.

Like they wanted to climb him for an inappropriate pole dancing session.

Keigo started running, Toya still in his arms.

“OH MY f*ckING GOD- YOU ARE HAWKS! IT IS YOU! YOU’RE ALIVE!” Ikeda screamed at the top of his lungs, chasing Keigo.

“I FORGOT YOUR REAL NAME IS KEIGO! I SHOULD’VE KNOWN THAT WHEN TOYA MENTIONED YOUR NAME AND THE FACT THAT YOU HAD WINGS!”

Keigo looked down disapprovingly at Toya. Toya covered his face in shame, “Ikeda! Calm down!” Toya yelled.

“CALM DOWN? YOUR HUSBAND IS HAWKS!”

Both Keigo and Toya choked on their own spit.

“H-he’s not my husband! He’s my boyfriend!” Toya corrected quickly.

“YOUR BOYFRIEND IS HAWKS!” Ikeda jumped to grab onto the red feathers.

Keigo dodged the touch before he came onto a stop, a table separating him and his unexpected fan.

“What is going on here?! Ikeda! Are you okay?!” An older voice sounded from across the hallway. Yoshida suddenly came into view with a towel around his waist. His hair was wet like he just came running out of the shower.

Toya’s eyes trailed over the older man’s frame, before stopping at his abbs. Damn!- Who knew that the old geezer had built like this?! Toya caught Keigo glaring at him, and he immediately looked down at the floor.

“YOSHIDA!” Ikeda whined, “Your nephew is HAWKS! WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER TELL ME?!”

Yoshida paled. Oh f*ck- Now he had more fake explaining to do-

Ikeda ran around the table to get to Keigo. Keigo put Toya down before he started running around the table too. Both continued to run in circles around the table for a couple of seconds. Keigo would run as fast as he can, before Ikeda would change directions suddenly and run towards him, causing him to start running in the opposite direction around the table.

Yoshida’s and Toya’s eyes followed the squirrelling around the kitchen’s table. Both of their pupils turning simultaneously to the left and right, following the pair.

“Hawks~ Come to your uncle!” Ikeda cooed, in a creepy voice.

“U-uncle?” Toya’s eyes turned to Yoshida in shock.

Yoshida face palmed, “since Ikeda is my husband, this technically makes him Keigo’s uncle…”

Toya’s face paled.

Keigo’s feathers buffed in fear. He looked at Yoshida in a ‘please him me!’ kind of look.

Yoshida shrugged in an ‘you’re on your own’ way, pointing at the towel that barely covered his torso.

Keigo scoffed at his uncle, “What happened to your ‘as a family’ speech from the last chapter?!”

“Huh?” Toya and Yoshida blinked in confusion.

“Nothing!” Keigo quickly followed.

Suddenly, Ikeda climbed into the kitchen table and jumped onto Keigo, “HAWKS!”

“AAHHH!” Keigo screamed.

Both men fell on the floor with an ‘oof-‘.

Ikeda opened his eyes to find Hawks below him. Keigo looked up in distraught.

Ikeda smiled creepingly before running a shaky hand over the red feathers. His fan crazied eyes never leaving Hawks’s terrified ones, “hahaha! HAHAHA- MAUHAHAHAAA! I CAUGHT YOU LITTLE BIRD!”

Everybody’s faces paled even farther at the villainous laugh that erupted from the sweet looking man.

Who knew that Dabi’s clone shared the same laugh as him?

——————————————————

Claude unlocked the door for their guest's room. His eyes scanned the empty bed, further to the equally empty couch. Panic began to rise in his throat, until his eyes picked on a weeping sound coming from the corner of the room.

James was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees and face buried down in his arms. His shoulders were shaking.

Claude sighed when he noticed that the food he left earlier today hadn't been touched. He closed the door, locking it behind himself.

James' eyes shot up in panic at the sound of the lock. His hazel eyes met Claude’s green ones. James felt himself shrink against the floor with every step the tall scary butler took towards him.

“Why haven’t you eaten yet?” Claude asked, sounding annoyed.

James shook his head, “I won’t be tricked by you wicked people! I won’t eat your poisonous food!”

Claude lips curled downward. He felt insulted since the food was his own cooking. “I made this food. And everyone in the house ate it and said that they liked it. Specifically Mr. Taka- Yoshida.”

“Liar!” James accused, looking up at the butler now towering over him.

The butler didn’t seem pleased. He bent down grabbing James by his forearms to scoot him upwards.

James screamed resisting the pull, “No! Someone help me!”

Claude pulled him towards the bed, pushing James to sit down on the edge.

“Aahh! HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME! HE’S GOING TO KILL ME!- hmph-“

Claude shoved a spoonful of food into James’ mouth. James blinked chewing slowly. He swallowed and looked at Claude.

“Uhh… That’s actually pretty good not gonna lie…” James confessed.

Claude seemed pleased that the pretty boy liked his food. Wait- When did he start thinking that James was pretty?!-

After realising that he swallowed the poisonous food, James started screaming again, “oh my goodness- You tricked me with your delicious food! YOU’RE POISONING ME!” He got up quickly.

Claude grabbed the pilot’s arm, pulling him down next to him on the bed. He shook his head disapprovingly before taking the same spoon and shoving a bite into his own mouth. He chewed and swallowed quickly in front of James’ eyes. “See? It’s not poisonous.”

“Oh…” James felt stupid.

Claude shook his head, “You’re so stupid.”

James frowned, “Hey! When you’re literally held hostage, you should protect yourself!”

Claude sighed because James was kind of correct on this part.

“I want to leave, please! Can’t you do something? Anything?” James held both of Claude’s hands, squeezing them in desperation.”

Claude’s heart did some funny stuff at the way James held his hands. He pulled his hands away quickly, looking anywhere but the other’s eyes, “I apologise but I follow Monsieur’s orders…”

James sighed in disappointment, “Then- I want to speak to Mr. Yoshida, now. Get him to me!” James demanded.

Claude got up, unlocked the door open and looked outside to check on Mr. Takami. His eyes located his boss next to the kitchen table.

“AAHHH!” A girlish scream erupted from Mr. Takami as Mr. Ikeda jumped on him.

Claude struggled to keep his face professional, but he forced himself to still his expression to protect his livelihood. He turned back to the American pilot, “I apologise. It seems like Mr. Yoshida’s… affairs are taking much more time of his schedule than usual…”

——————————————————

Three hours ago

Keigo had just finished his shared meal with his uncle. Right away Yoshida excused himself to take a shower, leaving Keigo all alone with his thoughts.

Claude emerged slowly from the hallway. He started to pick up the dishes and place them in the kitchen sink. He wiped the table quietly, knowing not to bother Mr. Takami in this state. Then he immediately went on with putting on rubber water-insulating gloves, and started washing the dishes. He had to do it manually because the apartment was too small and old to have much machinery such as a dishwasher.

“Claude?” His Monsieur called.

Claude turned around quickly looking attentive, “Yes, sir?” He replied in French.

“We will be living tomorrow. Please pack our bags by 5 AM,” Keigo requested in French.

Claude nodded, “Yes, sir.”

“And make sure to leave the apartment spotless. We don’t want any trace to our existence here, understood?”

Claude, “Yes, sir.”

Keigo got up, and opened the fridge for a much needed drink.

Claude stared nervously at the dishes under his gloves, “Mr. Takami?”

“Yes?” Keigo turned to his butler.

“I… I was wondering when you were going to talk to the American pilot. The one we currently have in the guest room…” Claude expressed his concern.

Keigo just waved him off, grabbing a wine bottle, “Later, I am not in the mood.”

“He’s getting restless by the minute. He expressed his worries that you might- um kill him…” Claude continued despite his better judgement.

Keigo took a small gulp from his bottle, turning slowly towards the butler. His eyes squinted, “Not usual for you to care this much about one of our guests, Claude. And what if I did order you to get rid of him? He wouldn’t be the first one.”

Claude ducked his head low, staying quiet.

Keigo eyed him intently, taking a second sip from his bottle. He recognized something in Claude’s eyes. A feeling he was familiar with whenever he was around his snowhead.

“James won’t die” Keigo started. He could swear that he saw Claude’s shoulders sink in relief, “He will be our pilot for the trip tomorrow.”

Claude turned to Keigo, “If you would excuse me sir, but where are we going this time?”

Keigo’s lips stretched, “A place James knows very well.”

Keigo started to leave the kitchen before he remembered something. He turned around to face his butler again, “I forgot to mention. A fifth person will be joining us tonight. Please prepare a proper guest room.”

“Sir, there are only four. Mine, yours and Mr. Todoroki’s, Mr. Yoshida’s and Mr. Ikeda’s, and of course James’s room-“ Claude started to object.

Keigo shrugged, “I don’t care. Do something about it. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind sharing a room with James” Keigo turned to leave the kitchen.

The implication of his words made the butler’s cheeks pink.

-

In the present moment

“NO! LET ME GO!” Ikeda continued to scream at the prospect of being separated from Hawks.

Toya scoffed, still dragging him away, his arms wrapped tightly around Ikeda’s torso.

“Darling, calm down. I’m sure Keigo would love to sign your autograph” Yoshida tried to calm the situation from a distance, his hand holding tightly onto the only piece of clothing protecting his privacy. “You can take as many pictures as you want with him, but only after you calm down.”

Keigo shook his head quickly, hiding behind his identical dark head.

“Nooooo! Hawks! I LOVE YOU!” Ikeda whined. He continued wrestling against Toya’s hold.

“Dude- That’s my boyfriend!” Toya scolded.

“I don’t care! Leave- Leave me Toya!”

“I- You have a husband!” Toya tried to reason with him, “Look- Look at how sad Yoshida looks!”

Both blue sets of eyes looked at Yoshida.

Yoshida looked like he was going to burst from laughter at any moment, while looking at his terrified nephew.

“I want to hug Hawks! Give me Hawks right now, Yoshida! I demand it!”

Keigo shook his head more, hiding his face behind his uncle and mouthing a ‘please don’t’. Yoshida lost it and covered his mouth with a palm.

Toya turned Ikeda roughly and started shaking him, trying to get some sense into his twin, “Dude! You’re literally married to his twin! Leave the poor birdman alone. He already agreed to talk to you after you’ve calmed down!”

“How can I calm down when I have kissed HAWKS?! It was unintentional- but I kissed HAWKS!-”

Toya slapped him twice on each cheek to get some more sense into him.

Yoshida gasped.

Ikeda blinked and held his own face, “Ow… Thanks…” Ikeda turned to his shocked husband, “don’t worry. I’m fine!”

“Welcome” Toya rolled his eyes.

It was then that Ikeda realised that Toya was touching him , with the creepy frankenstein purple fleshy hands….

“AAAHHH!” Ikeda started running towards Yoshida.

Yoshida let out an ‘ oof-‘ as both of their bodies collided.

The towel fill. Not like it even covered much-

Toya’s jaw went slack, and this time it wasn’t because of Ikeda's fear of his appearance. Rather it was because-

“Close your eyes!” Keigo glared at Toya.

Toya looked away instantly. He tried to steal another glance.

“Toya!”

“But your uncle is b-“

“Don’t say it!” Keigo yelled, insecurity clear in his tone.

-

It was getting too late now and everyone agreed to retire to sleep. However, Keigo stayed awake in the living room, waiting patiently for his visitor. Some important documents were expected to also arrive, as per his visitor’s words they held answers to so many questions that had been pamparming his Keigo’s mind. Keigo couldn’t wait.

He sat restlessly in his living room, laptop open, and typing out the rest of his report.

“What are you doing?”

Keigo looked behind him and his eyes caught the pale strands. “Honey, I thought you went to sleep…”

Toya shrugged before sitting down next to Keigo, “I slept the whole day. I don’t feel sleepy now” he rested his head on Keigo’s shoulder.

Keigo hummed, his hand extended to twirl the white curls, “Your hair is dry… Why don’t you try putting hair oil?”

Toya stretched his lips into a thin line, “I don’t know… I’m thinking of cutting it.”

This startled Keigo, “Why?”

“Taking care of it has become increasingly difficult… I don’t know how to do much other than dyeing it. I don’t know about maintaining hair and all that gay sh*t.”

Keigo rolled his eyes at the phrase, “I think longer hair would look beautiful on you. We can go to a hairdresser. What do you think? I can schedule monthly appointments so you never have to worry about maintenance yourself.”

Toya pouted, “It’s not like you have time. Keigo, be realistic. Will we ever have a normal life? We ran away from Japan illegally, nearly got caught and now in hiding in an apartment that looks like its roof might collapse on top of our heads.”

Keigo leaned down to plant a kiss on top of Toya’s head, “Take this as a promise, give me 2 days in exact and I will take you out on a date.”

Toya’s face light up in interest, “Where?”

Keigo planted a second kiss on his snowhead’s nose, “That’s for you to anticipate and for me to plan.”

Toya pouted again.

“Ahem-“

The deep voice started both of them. Keigo got up quickly, his feathers sharpening. His eyes caught the open window and the blond who was currently opening the apartment’s window.

Ground Zero casually stepped in the apartment, dusting off his clothes.

A wide smile stretched on Keigo’s lips, “Bakugou!”

Both men exchanged a hug much to the blond’s despise, but he couldn’t possibly not accept one from his mentor.

Toya’s eyes went wide at the sight of the pro hero. His first instinct was to try and run or attack, but Keigo was welcoming the hero. He gave Keigo a confused look. What’s going on?!

“Here, have a seat” Keigo quickly instructed the pro hero to sit on the couch.

Toya’s mouth went agape.

Bakugou eyed Toya, his eyes lingering on the purple skin.

Toya tensed up. He knows-

Was Keigo lying to him? Was he about to arrest him? Was it all just a big scheme to catch one of Japan’s most wanted villains- Are there police outside- Was there love a lie?!

As if hearing his thoughts Keigo gestured for Toya to also sit down, giving the pale head a knowing look.

‘He seriously needs to calm is mind,’ Keigo thought.

Toya did sit down, hesitantly.

Keigo clapped his hands, “Claude!”

The butler emerged from the hallways. He stilled at the sight of the pro hero but his demeanour remained professional, “Oui, monsieur?”

“S'il vous plaît, préparez du thé pour notre invité!” Keigo ordered.

Ground Zero raised a hand in objection, “There’s no need-“

“Shhh!” Keigo silenced him, “You’re my guest I can’t just leave you like this. It would be rude!”

Bakugou rolled his eyes, “Whatever you see.”

Claude approached the two with two cups of tea. He placed a tray on the table in front of the couch, along with some biscuits that he packed himself. The butler always seemed to have time to make the most exquisite cosines and it never failed to amaze Keigo.

The blond picked up the cup of tea, taking a sip before his nose crunched.

The butler gave Keigo a worried look.

Keigo chuckled, “you see, our hero here has more of a sweet tooth.”

Claude nodded hastily in understanding, quickly adding extra sugar to the hero’s cup.

Bakugou’s cheeks pinked. He frowned down at the cup of tea as if it had offended him.

Claude left. And ow that they had a little more privacy, Bakugou took off his backpack placing it in Keigo’s lap.

Keigo smiled eagerly and waited for Bakugou to explain the components of the bag.

Bakugou gave the watching white-head a wary look before his eyes shifted back to Keigo. Toya was still looking at the whole interaction in shock.

Keigo smiled more and waved Toya off, “Don’t worry we can always speak in a different language” Keigo started speaking in English.

The foreign accent made Toya’s brows shift lower.

Bakugou nodded firmly following suit with the language change, “These are all the papers remaining of you at the commission. From the moment you stepped foot inside till your disappearance. I had to deliver them in person for obvious security reasons.”

Keigo nodded.

“And there are papers regarding Dabi-“

Keigo’s face became stoic.

“Toya- These are Toya’s papers at the commission too. There’s also a file that I… think you might find interesting. It’s in the blue binder.”

Keigo raised a brow, pulling the blue file out of the bag. He looked at the title.

‘T-38’

Keigo looked back at his assistant in confusion.

Bakugou cleared his throat, “The contents are… intense. I don’t think it could be covered in the span of a short conversation. But there’s a detail that you might need to know before diving into the papers.”

“What is it?”

“Your partner and Yoshida’s partner should never know of what this binder contains under any circ*mstance.”

Chapter 17: Changing appearance (again)

Chapter Text

A strawberry-pink box was shaken to the right and left, approaching Keigo slowly. Threateningly.

The pro hero’s feathers stood up in defense. With his heart beating wildly, he took a couple of steps back before he was roughly pushed onto the chair sitting in the middle of the tiled room.

“No-no no no no- Absolutely not. HEY- Toya don’t- No!- I swear if you- You promised it was going to be a natural color!- OH COME ON!”

“Hehehe~” Toya giggled as he straddled the other’s lap, his dye-filled hands running through Keigo’s now bleached hair.

“Aww~ You’ll look like these K-poop idols!” Toya stared lovingly down at his bird man, a sneaky smile crossing his lips.

Keigo looked up in betrayal, “I have established my authority on Yoshida! How will he take me seriously now with pink hair?! And- it’s K-pop, not K-poop!”

Toya shrugged, wiggling until he found a comfortable position on his victim’s lap. He stuck his tongue out in concentration as he made sure to get these roots. They were the most important part of hair dyeing in Toya’s opinion, with his 9 years of experience in dyeing hair. With stolen products- but that’s beside the point-

Keigo sighed as he accepted his soon-to-be flamboyant style. It was just a couple of weeks. He can get through it. Everything would then have calmed down and he can get his normal hair back. Keigo’s hands moved up to rest on Toya’s waist. When Toya didn’t say anything, Keigo’s hands trailed down resting instead on the full muscled thighs.

Toya still didn’t say anything.

Keigo’s fingers slowly brushed over the inner thighs.

Toya rolled his eyes. He pulled on the hair strands harder, causing Keigo to let out a hiss and return his hands back to their original position, off Toya.

Toya pulled on the hair strands again, making Keigo wince and return his hands back to Toya’s waist again. Toya nodded approvingly and returned back to his uncalled-for service.

Keigo rested his forehead on his oppressor’s chest and closed his eyes, “Are you done yet?” Keigo was getting bored. He started rubbing his thumbs in circles around the seam of Toya’s pajama pants.

“Be patient,” Toya scolded. In reality, he was actually done with the dyeing process and instead playing around with Keigo’s previously soft hair. He made silly shapes and took a couple of pics, making sure to keep the phone on silent mode. Halfway through he made a heart shape with Keigo’s hair. Toya had to hold in a laugh, “pfft-“

Keigo’s ear picked on the sound. “Toya, are you playing with my hair?” He looked up to stare accusingly at the white head. Toya quickly flattened Keigo’s hair to hide any evidence. Keigo’s eyes landed on his phone. In Toya’s pink hands. The phone is new and it’s WHITE.

Toya froze, hiding the phone behind him, “What did I say, hm? Be patient! Dyeing hair is a very delicate process-“

Keigo’s face looks stoic. Completely unconvinced considering that Toya’s treatment of his hair has been anything but delicate .

Toya pouted, “Okay! That’s on me then for making sure that your new disguise is convincing enough that you don’t get kidnapped like a f*cking bitch again!”

Keigo's jaw went slack “A bitch?- You got kidnapped too!”

“No. I nearly drowned and got rescued by your uncle, which keep in mind, I am still not convinced that you never knew about him before! And that was because you were so busy doing stupid computer stuff-“ Toya kept poking Keigo’s cheek with every sentence rolling out of his mouth. Suddenly, Toya realized that the phone was no longer in his hands. His eyes shot down and Keigo was scrolling through the pics he had taken-

Keigo looked up with a pout of his own. Toya’s lips wobbled, looking for a convincing lie, “For future reference! So I know how to do the dyeing process again!”

Keigo put the phone next to the bathroom’s sink. He raised both hands and put them in his own hair.

Toya squinted his eyes in confusion.

Suddenly Keigo’s pink hands were lifted up and directed towards Toya’s white hair.

“AAAAAHHHH! DON’T YOU f*ckING DARE!” Toya pushed the offending hands away, not wanting his own hair to look like those gay twinks. He slipped off Keigo’s lap, but Keigo quickly caught him by his pajama's collar before continuing his brutal attack on the white strands. A chuckle left Keigo’s chest.

“DON’T LAUGH- I SAID DON’T LAUGH YOU sh*t HEAD!”

Ponk!

“Ouch!” Keigo whined, rubbing the nearly dislocated jaw.

-

Keigo stepped out of his bedroom door before it was slammed shut after him, by an angry snowhead. Well- a semi-snowhead with the edges of the strands now painted in pink.

He bowed his head low, having to do the walk of shame to the kitchen, with reddish-pink hair and a bag of ice over his cheek. The sun hadn't risen yet, but they were due to fly at 6 AM anyway, so the earlier they prepared the better.

Needing to add more ice to his poor face, Keigo reached for the refrigerator’s handle.

A second hand joined him, also holding the handle.

Keigo looked up and was startled by the sight of bright golden hair. He blinked a couple of times, taking in his uncle’s unexpected appearance along with a slap mark on Yoshida’s cheek that comically matched Keigo’s own.

Yoshida’s perspective wasn’t any different. His wide eyes blinked at his nephew’s punk-looking hair. “Who did this to you-“

“Shut up! You stole my hair!” Keigo accused.

“Ikeda said blond would suit me-“

“Because you look like me, you idiot! Dye your hair back!”

“That’s not healthy-“ Yoshida shook his head. Dyeing hair multiple times is proven to cause health issues.

“What’s not healthy is your husband trying to make you look like me, so he can f*ck someone who looks like Hawks!”

Yoshida’s mouth dropped open. He quickly turned around and started heading towards his and Ikeda’s room.

A door was slammed open, followed by yelling. Keigo winced fearing that he might have accidentally started a divorce process…

-

Ikeda sat on the balcony, overlooking France’s slumps.

Maybe Yoshida was right about France not being safe… But everywhere has slumps, so does this mean that no country is safe?

He took a long loud sip of his coffee which looked too white for it to be coffee, before snapping his eager fingers and starting to type on his keyboard. Oh, today’s chapter will be GOOD. Now that he got a glimpse of the hero’s REAL personality, Ikeda’s character’s inner monologue will become more rich. Ah. Nothing is better than a well-structured inner dialogue. And honestly, Hawks in black hair is not that bad- Oh-hoho! A spark lit up the cyan eyes and the fingers typing increased their pace.

Was Yoshida’s accusations kind of right? Yeah… But could you blame the poor fan? It’s his natural fanboy instinct to be obsessed with his idols!

After calming down Ikeda took a breath to still himself. He eyed Toya’s now-covered skin. Both twins stared at each other in uncomfortable silence.

Ikeda had too many questions. Questions he was too cowardly to voice, fearing that the truth might shatter what he had thought of as a friendship. His conversation with Yoshida did make him feel discouraged to approach Toya again, but since he learned that Toya’s boyfriend was no other than the pro hero himself, Ikeda started getting curious. Who is Toya? Why is he dating Hawks? Why aren’t they out in the public? Is Toya a pro hero too? Is this how he was able to rescue Yoshida and Hawks?

Toya sensed the many questions behind the cyan eyes. Somehow he understood everything that Ikeda was mentally going through, from his fear and self-doubt to his clear interest in Toya himself. It was uncanny, but Toya stopped questioning their connection a long time ago. Which was a week and a half ago, but that’s beside the point-

“Who are you?” Ikeda finally asked the question that both of them dreaded, albeit for different reasons.

“He um… disowned me?” Toya tried not to make it sound as bad as possible, but who could he fool? It is bad.

Ikeda gasped, “I am so sorry! That is awful!” He leaned closer and put a hand on Toya’s shoulder.

“Yea… I don’t remember much. I was like what- nine? I burned half of my skin because of my quirk and they just threw me away. I don’t know how I’m even alive.’

It didn’t go unnoticed that the latter question was ignored.

Ikeda ran his hand slowly up and down Toya’s back, “Sorry… It was rude of me to-”

Toya rolled his eyes, “Whatever…” He still continued to sip from the drink he just dissed. “Don’t tell me you’re also doing the smart technology sh*t” Toya gestured to Ikeda’s laptop.

Ikeda looked away, clutching his laptop.

-

“Claude, I am scared…”

Both the butler and the pilot were currently preparing for the departure of their boss. Claude had shaken him out of bed in the early hour of 4 AM for preparation. James was not allowed to leave anywhere not even the bathroom without the butler or one of the scary bodyguards following. James went with the least scary option, Claude. For obvious reasons. And that DID NOT include the fact that he was starting to ‘ like’ the French man. But he was not gay! He just found Claude’s French accent cute-

Claude looked at his watch. The thin golden arrows pointed to the time being around 6:12, and the butler huffed at the fact that his boss, Mr. Takami, was late, but that was always expected.

James was making sure that the private jet was ready to take off. He continued giving Claude worried looks, and it was starting to get to the stoic butler. Claude rolled his eyes and patted the pilot’s head as if he was a puppy. And just like a puppy, James looked up at him with big brown eyes. Claude gulped. The irrational side of him wanted to risk it all-

“Claude!”

The butler was startled by his boss’s voice. He quickly hurried to get off the jet to meet Mr. Takami. Claude was startled to find that his boss’s hair was blond now. Isn’t that even more dangerous considering their current sensitive circ*mstances? Claude quickly approached his blond boss, leaning closer and whispering in French, “Mr. Takami, I don't think this is a wise choice.”

Speaking of irrational choices, Claude froze the moment his eyes connected with the bright red hair. Was it red or pink? Regardless, this was not how he left his boss the last time. Claude’s eyes trailed down his boss’s hoodie and flowy pants that looked like they belonged to an old hippie. The fact that he didn’t cover his golden eyes with contacts somehow added to the girlish appearance. Claude bit his bottom lip struggling not to laugh. Your livelihood depends on it. Your livelihood depends on it-

On the other hand, Toya seemed so proud of the disguise idea he came up with for his boyfriend. He himself had the edges of his hair dyed, but it wasn’t as drastic as Keigo’s.

The only one who didn’t change his appearance was Mr. Ikeda, though it too looked like an irrational choice considering the fact that he was also caught on cameras.

Ikeda’s eyes were fixated on the pink-haired man the entire time, his hands twitched as if eager for a feel of the pink strands. Ikeda slowly stepped towards Keigo, making grabby hands, eyes sparkling. The moment Ikeda’s hands touched Keigo’s head the poor pink head flinched so hard and started sprinting towards the jet.

“Wait! I just want to know what it feels like!” Ikeda chased him like a possessed man, discarding his bag on the ground for faster movement.

Luckily the blond man caught Ikeda before he made any more progress in his harassment quest, wrapping his bear arms around his husband, “Ikeda- Darling, we talked about this-“

“NO! LET ME GOO! AHHHH!!!” The man who looked sweet just mere seconds ago started screeching like a demonic creature.

Yoshida patted Ikeda’s head trying to calm him down.

Mr. Takami scooted closer to the other one who looked like the white head, Mr. Todoroki. It was hard for the butler to keep up with everyone’s names now since everyone looked the same.

-

And here they go again. Running away, again.

Toya sighed, resting his head against the small glass window. Keigo was sitting in the back of the jet, on his laptop, as usual. Ikeda and Yoshida were sitting in front of him, reminding him of everything he ever wanted. More like everything he ever really wanted when he fell for the red-feathered man to his dismay.

Toya’s eyes landed on the matching rings sitting on their fingers and that familiar bittersweet feeling sat in his throat. Must be nice having a stable life… Ikeda told him about wanting to adopt a child with Yoshida. Despite all the couple’s circ*mstances, they somehow managed to live a normal life. At least in Toya’s eyes, they did. He knows that everyone has a sad side of their life, but Toya’s whole existence has been sad.

He knows he’s lucky to have Keigo. He’s lucky to wake up with the tickling feeling of soft feathers. But… He is a villain. He’s got blood on his hands. It was evident in Ikeda’s eyes how terrifying he was. It wasn’t just Toya’s appearance, his language, his lack of education, and his attitude, were all pointing back to who he truly was. Toya scratched his head and looked back at his own reflection. ‘ Who are you?’ Ikeda has asked. And the truth is, Toya no longer knew. He failed at being the golden child. He failed at being a feared villain. He failed at being Ikeda. And now, he feared failing as a lover.

With every touch exchanged between him and Keigo, Toya felt so loved. A warm feeling would spread through his chest, a gentle flame, unlike the one he kills with. This flame revived something that Toya thought he never had. Yet, a small part of himself felt like this love was someone else’s fortune.

-

“Toya? Toya wake up! Claude has made breakfast.”

Toya opened his eyes slowly feeling a little drowsy. He looked to the side, flinching slightly at the sight of red neon hair, before remembering that he was the one who did this to Keigo.

Keigo quirked an eyebrow in amusem*nt. He pulled down a fancy table beside the plane’s table, sliding it on top of Toya’s lap. A hot dish was placed in front of Toya and the smell of butter, eggs and soft bread, was strong enough to pull him from his sleepy state. Keigo was about to hand him a fork, but Toya just picked up the hot food with his bare hands, shoving it in his mouth. Keigo sighed as he shook his head, yet the gleam in his eyes never dimmed.

Toya noticed Ikeda eyeing them. He stuck his tongue out at his friend, the chewed-out food sitting on his tongue. Ikeda looked repulsed, before sticking his tongue out too. Yoshida patted Ikeda's shoulder, shaking a finger and whispering something about manners. And just like the little submissive bitch that he was, Ikeda of course listened to Yoshida. Toya rolled his eyes so hard that Keigo feared that they might turn upside down in his head.

Toya continued eating in an undignified manner, “What time is it?”

Toya jumped from his seat, grasping Keigo by the shoulder, leading forward, and eyes glowing. “America? Be f*cking for real- WE’RE GOING TO AMERICA?! Like- Like in these movies where people go and visit the giant heads- Wait- Can we go to New York? Please Keigo we have to go to New York-” Realising how twink-ish he must have sounded, Toya immediately pulled away, clearing his throat, “That is of course if you want to. I won’t pressure you” Toya made his voice sound deeper.

Meanwhile, Toya was done with his own plate and had moved on to Keigo’s. Keigo looked down to find that his garlic bread was gone. He looked at Toya in suspicion. Toya was looking away, sipping on a cup of tea. Keigo’s eyes squinted at the cup of tea before his eyebrows shot up, realizing that the cup that he was holding was now gone. Toya grinned into his stolen cup.

-

“f*ck OFF!” Toya yelled out.

“You’re mad because I was right!” Ikeda pointed a finger at the other who was sitting cross legged from him.

Both men were sitting on the floor of the jet. A small Nintendo switch between them.

“I told you. Left, up, Jump! What can’t you understand about that?!” Ikeda whined.

“Well, the goddamn game is in Spanish! I can’t read the freakin’ thing!”

Ikeda shook his head. He scoffed and took the switch back from Toya to continue the game himself.

Toya crossed his arms with a frown. Spoiled rat. Stupid bitch and his stupid switch.

Toya’s eyes spotted a ring on Ikeda’s finger. It was silver and had a small carving on top.

Ikeda noticed Toya’s attention and he immediately smiled and spread out his hand to show off the ring, “Yoshida got it for me today!”

Toya frowned, “When? We were all together the whole time.”

Ikeda shrugged, “Probably sent out one of his men. It’s an apology gift because he felt bad about me having to go through the trouble of saving him.”

Something sunk into Toya’s heart. He rubbed his chest to get rid of the feeling. “Oh… That’s um… very considerate of him.” It was me who did the saving.

Why didn’t I get anything? Why hasn’t Keigo given me something too? Don’t I deserve the effort?

“It’s silver and has this small flower embedded on top. Inside the carving, there’s a couple of tiny emerald beads.” Ikeda continued to gush out.

“Nice…” Toya just nodded to show his engagement in the conversation but his mind was elsewhere.

Ikeda then turned to Toya with a smile, “I like wearing silver. I have a ton of rings with different stones, but gold will always have a special place in my heart. What about you? What do you like to wear?”

“I um- I don’t really wear jewelry…” Toya never had the means to afford to. They always melted from his quirk.

Ikeda’s eyes flew to Keigo before settling back on Toya with a look.

Toya’s nostrils flared at the the other’s pity, but before he could say anything Ikeda opened his back and took out a small jewelry box. He opened it to reveal multiple rings all in colour-coordinated order.

Toya blinked the moment Ikeda shoved the box towards him. “Pick something you like,” Ikeda said.

“H-huh-“

“Pick something!” Ikeda insisted.

Toya hesitated before he chose a random silver ring. Ikeda took it from him and put it on Toya’s finger. Ikeda smiled admiring the ring, “See? It suits your hands! I mean duh- we look the same of course it suits you.”

Toya’s eyes were wide as he stared down at the expensive little decoration sitting on his hand. It looked too nice that guilt started bubbling up in Toya’s chest. He shouldn’t be wearing something like this. He didn’t deserve it-

Ikeda continued to pick through his bag, “Wear for today, and if you like it and you decide that you like wearing jewelry, we can buy some rings!”

Toya just nodded quietly, still staring at the ring on his hand, weird emotions swirling through him.

When Ikeda got up to return his bag, Toya looked around to make sure no one was looking at him. With a slight tremble to his fingers, Toya took the ring off and reput it again on his left hand. On his ring finger. Just like the dream he had-

That stupid organ in his chest started beating so hard in Toya’s chest. He blushed at the sight of the ring and quickly took it off and hid it in his jacket.

Toya got up to pace around the small confined space.

-

“She’ll be waiting for you guys by the Manhattan Bridge. From then she will be the one to finish your passports and citizenship. I advise you to pick a different name.”

Keigo frowned, “Why? Americans aren’t familiar with Japanese names. I don’t see any issues in me and Toya to use our real names. And as you said, things have calmed down in Japan and the commission has pulled their hands off my case.”

Keigo could hear a voice on the other end sigh, “Well… They might not be familiar with Japanese names, but they’re familiar with Japanese villains.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You’ll understand when you land in New York.”

A soft peep sound followed after indicating that the call was dismissed. Keigo scratched his scalp, deep in thought. He got up to check on the others sitting in front on the jet.

The flight was around 8 hours. Keigo was used to such long flights, but he knew that Toya wasn’t.

Ikeda had fallen asleep with his headphones and eye mask on. Keigo sighed in relief. Yoshida seemed to be drifting off too, though he was on a call with one of his men. Probably his lawyer, Keigo assumed. Keigo had never met someone who talked this much with his lawyer, but here Yoshida was.

Toya on the other hand was not in his seat. Keigo looked around the rest of the space and Toya was still not in sight. He took more steps forward to check the bathroom and it was indeed occupied. Keigo knocked on the door, “Toya?”

No one replied.

“Toya?” Keigo tried again.

“F-f*ck off!” a panicked reply came out from inside.

Keigo’s eyebrows knitted in concern. “Is everything alright?”

No reply came in.

Keigo’s palms roamed the bathroom door trying to find a way to unlock it, “Toya are you okay? You’re not hurt, right?”

With no more replies coming in, Keigo used one of his feathers to unlock the door. Toya let out a squeak, quickly hiding something behind his back.

“What are you doing?! Get out!” Toya spit out.

Keigo’s brow arched, gaze lingering on what’s behind Toya, “What is going on? What are you hiding?” Keigo’s eyes didn’t miss the way Toya’s cheeks started to redden.

“What’s wrong, snowhead? You know you can tell me anything,” Keigo spoke gently.

Toya sighed in frustration. He took a step aside to reveal what was behind him.

Keigo’s eyes widened slightly before his mouth opened out into a burst of deep laughter.

Toya’s nostrils flared, “Don’t f*cking laugh! I said don’t laugh!”

Keigo put a palm on the wall beside him to still his body. He took a few deep breaths finding it hard to stop his laughter. Toya’s jacket was stuck inside the toilet. No doubt having it accidentally get sucked in.

Toya stomped. He literally stomped. Cheeks still red, he demanded, “STOP IT! It was an accident okay?!” He didn't know how to use the toilet properly. He had never been to a plane’s bathroom for god’s sake! How was he to know that it sucks stuff in!

Keigo shook his head. He couldn’t help but find the whole situation adorable. Funny, and adorable. He approached Toya slowly.

Toya raised a fist defensively.

Keigo raised both hands, “Don’t worry. I will try to fix it” Toya stepped aside letting Keigo inspect the jacket-stuffed toilet.

What can Keigo possibly do? That thing is impossible to pull out without damaging the jacket! And Toya was no twink. He had a well-built body and was a feared villain for a reason.

Toya rolled his eyes, “Just let it go and call Claude or something. You wouldn’t be able to fix it. I tried. Tell him that you’re the one who did this though. I don’t want anyone to know that-“

Keigo simply placed a button that stopped the suction process and started to pull the jacket out. Toya’s mouth went agape.

Keigo smiled handing the jacket to Toya, “Here! I think you have to wash it now” Keigo’s nose wrinkled, “it doesn’t seem sanitary anymore.”

Toya huffed and snatched the jacket away, “Get out!”

Keigo raised both hands up as if to try to ease Toya’s embarrassment, “It’s okay. Things happen all the time and there’s a first time for everything. At least you learned something to help you if you encounter this on a future flight-“

“Get. Out!” Toya’s cheeks were still red. He started to push Keigo outside.

“Snowhead, there’s no need to be embarrassed about anything…” Keigo smirked, “I have seen you in much more compromising positions-“

Toya blushed down to his neck, before he could react, a silver object filled his jacket’s pocket and rolled down on the bathroom floor. Both eyes lingered on the silver object. It was a circular band. A ring. Toya didn’t wear rings or so Keigo thought.

“Toya is that a-“

“f*ck OFF!” Toya pushed Keigo outside of the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Keigo stumbled outside and his face slammed into the closest wall. He groaned and rubbed his nose.

A chuckle sounded beside him and Keigo frowned before rolling his eyes. There his uncle stood, amusem*nt drawn onto his face.

“What is it, old man?” Keigo scoffed.

Yoshida shrugged, “Nothing.”

Keigo’s right eye twitched.

After a couple of minutes, Toya got out of the restroom. Keigo looked up from his laptop screen wanting to ask more questions but decided against it. Instead, he patted the seat beside him, the one next to the window.

Toya sat down reluctantly, still not meeting Keigo’s eyes.

Keigo ruffled the white locks gently which was met by a scoff from the other man, but he hadn’t pushed Keigo’s hand away. Keigo continued to run his fingers through Toya’s hair.

‘What are you hiding from me, dear? Why so defensive?’ Keigo thought. He was slightly upset by Toya’s snappy behavior lately, though it could be justified by the amount of stress he was under, but Keigo had been stressed too and immensely more. He had bared the responsibility for their escape and continues to do so with nothing in return.

He knows that it’s not Toya’s fault for not being able to engage in the planning of their new story. To an extent it was Keigo’s fault after all, but with the horrors of the past chasing them could Keigo continue hiding things anymore? The burdened man let out a breath at the memory of the ‘T-38’ file. Keigo cast an eye towards Ikeda and then his uncle, an uneasy nauseous feeling coiling into his insides.

The worst part was the pictures included in the folder. Some were pictures of a humanoid clump of goe that Keigo came to realise was Ikeda. Does this make Ikeda a human? What would Yoshida’s reaction be if he found out?

A shiver ran down Keigo’s spine.

Reading that file right before a 7-hour flight might have been Keigo’s worst mistake, besides choosing to eat KFC on a subway. His precious chickens had fallen on the floor during rush hour.

Keigo shook his head at his own thoughts. He really needed to take these matters more seriously.

-

After 4 more hours of the awkward flight, the jet landed at their destination, New York.

They were in America. Toya couldn’t believe it. His face was glued to the window through the entire flight, excitement bubbling up inside his chest. He never thought that he’d ever leave the basem*nt he lived in. Now look at him visiting places he only thought existed in movies.

Toya was the first one to sprint out of the jet.

This time instead of one black car there were two. Yoshida rushed towards one of the cars with an arm around Ikeda.

Keigo started walking towards the second one.

Wait- were they separating?

Toya and Ikeda shot each other a look. No, they didn’t want to leave each other this soon. Not when they had just cleared things out.

Ikeda rushed towards Toya, pulling him into a tight hug that startled the other three men. With hesitation, Toya returned the hug back.

Yoshida didn’t look happy. He was against Ikeda’s so-called friendship with the weird-looking stranger. Even if that stranger did look like his husband, Yoshida still found the dead skin repulsing. Not like he would every mention that in front of his nephew.

Keigo’s eyes were fixated on the way Toya accepted the hug. His grumpy boyfriend was making friends. Something that Keigo shouldn’t feel proud of but he did. Though now with the information that Keigo had on Ikeda, he wasn’t sure whether that friendship would be a wise choice.

The hug lasted longer than any of the Takami family members felt comfortable about. Yoshida cleared his throat drawing their attention.

Ikeda turned back to Yoshida with puppy eyes, “I want to stay with Toya.”

Yoshida turned to his nephew for solutions.

Keigo shook his head rapidly. Say no. Say no. Say no-

Ikeda’s puppy face intensified.

“W-we can’t stay with them now-“ Yoshida started.

Ikeda forced tears to the corners of his eyes.

“BUT- but we can visit Toya. We can visit Toya as often as you want.” After Yoshida was done with his commission problems of course. Though he didn’t know how long that would take.

Ikeda smiled finally. He gave Toya a kiss on the cheek causing Toya to blush, and it was Keigo’s turn to clear his throat.

Ikeda took out a pen and grabbed Toya’s arm before scribbling something on the skin. Toya looked down at his wrist to find Ikeda’s Instagram account.

“Text me when you get a phone, okay?”

Toya nodded slowly.

With a final hug, the white heads departed each going to their partners. Ikeda made a heart shape with his hands at Hawks before Yoshida hushed him inside of the car with an eye roll.

Keigo waved awkwardly at his fan. He opened the car door for his approaching boyfriend. Toya gave Keigo a look which Keigo translated as ‘Do I look like a f*cking twink to you?’. Regardless, Toya accepted the gentle gesture before getting into the car.

The Takami family members stared at each other for what Keigo hopped to be the final time. They ‘agreed’ that they would try to keep in touch since well… they were family, but Keigo didn’t feel confident that he would be able to fulfill that part of the agreement. Yoshida however seemed so keen on keeping in touch with his nephew. Something that Keigo had a hard time accepting. He had always viewed himself as an abandoned child whose whole family died, but now with his uncle coming into the equation, an uncle who somehow was both the cause of Keigo’s immense success and heartbreak, Keigo didn’t really know whether or not he should be thanking of luthing the old man. Regardless of the hero’s complex feelings, he promised his ‘evil’ uncle to never speak out against him.

Both whiteheads exchanged one final look. Toya put his middle finger up at Ikeda, which Ikeda gasped in offense before returning the gesture.

Keigo’s lips tugged in amusem*nt.

It made sense for the first person that Toya befriended to be… quite literally himself.

A plot twist that the hero has to admit he never saw coming in his self-written story.

Chapter 18: Bonding

Chapter Text

Toya watched the car that held Ikeda screech its wheels before heading away. Something tugged at his heartstrings in a way that would have been impossible before their escape from Japan. Ever since the villain left with the hero a lot of things changed in Toya’s life. Toya would have never thought it possible to care about someone. Now look at him sulking over his friend leaving.

D-did he just think of Ikeda as a friend? Toya’s lips stuck out in a pout, mad at himself for letting his heart like someone to this extent. He was already dealing with a mental turmoil due to his feelings for Keigo. Toya didn’t have the energy to untangle more feelings. Why were feelings so hard? Toya’s eyes shifted to the man beside him.

Keigo had gotten comfortable in his leather seat. He started talking to their driver in a language that Toya recognized as one similar to the American movies he’d watched. Is this English? Toya stared at his partner in wonder, mind thinking how lucky he must be to have such a smart man beside him.

Keigo’s eyes met his, and he gave Toya a small smile, causing the pale head’s heart to rocket. Toya turned to look through the window as their car started to move. Just a couple of minutes into the ride more buildings came into view. They looked like the ones on TV. Even the people in the streets dressed just like those on TV.

There were so many people which reminded Toya of Japan but if the country was larger. And large was the US, as Keigo called it. Toya felt slightly embarrassed when he looked up the letters ‘US’ to find out that America was a continent and that the actual country was called the ‘United States’.

Just more evidence piling up, proving Toya’s lack of education.

Toya looked closely into the citizens crossing the streets and he was awed by how different people dressed. A man- or was that a woman? Whoever that person was- They were walking down the street, half NAKED, and no one batted an eye. Toya would see this a lot on TV but he always doubted whether it was real or not. Seeing it in real time made him slightly less confident about his knowledge of the outside world.

“Is everything alright, snowhead?” Keigo’s voice interrupted Toya’s line of thoughts.

Without looking at Keigo, Toya just shook his head, “Nothing I’m fine…”

Keigo still looked concerned. He reached a hand out to tug a white strand behind the other’s ear, “Are you sure? You don’t look well. Are you sad about leaving Ikeda?”

Toya went quiet at the last question, gazing down at his own feet. He couldn’t deny that the prospect of never seeing Ikeda again did make him upset.

Keigo hummed in understanding, stretching an arm around Toya and pulling him into a half hug. “Don’t worry. I promise we’ll see them again.”

Toya looked up at Keigo, slightly doubting him. Toya knew how complicated Keigo’s relationship was with Yoshida. Keigo would go to lengths just to avoid any type of confrontation about his childhood.

Keigo didn’t seem pleased with Toya’s doubtful expression. “I promise Toya. Once everything settles down I will allow you to go see him.”

“Allow me?” Toya scoffed, “Do I look like a princess that needs allowance?”

Keigo’s eyebrows shot up, realizing that he said the wrong words, “N-no that’s not what I meant-“

Toya pushed the other’s arm away, “Just forget about it.”

Keigo sighed. Why was Toya getting so emotional nowadays? The worst part was that if Keigo tried to confront Toya about his emotional outbursts he knew that he’d get a punch in the gut.

Instead of words, Keigo decided to lean closer and place a small kiss on the back of Toya’s neck. Toya’s eyes snapped at him, cheeks reddening. Keigo’s lips tugged upwards at the reaction. He leaned more to place a second kiss behind his villain’s ear, which was met with a shudder from Toya.

“The driver-“ Toya spook up, a hand pushing Keigo away.

“I pay him a sh*t ton of money, Toya. Why would I give a f*ck about his opinion?” Keigo held the refusing hand firmly entwining their fingers. His lips placed a third kiss dangerously close to Toya’s collarbone.

It was one of Toya’s sensitive spots-

‘Ugh- stupid rich people and their stupid money-‘ Toya complained internally, yet he didn’t actually protest the touches. He had been craving this. He had wanted Keigo to embrace them ever since the kidnapping incident, but he was too embarrassed of having Ikeda hear him.

Keigo’s fingers trailed up underneath Toya’s shirt, caressing the skin underneath so gently. Toya’s lips let out a whimper involuntarily. His eyes widened, not believing that he had emitted such a sound, in a car, with a THIRD person with them!

Keigo quirked a brow at Toya’s unexpected tolerance for his assault. It was like Toya wanted this to happen despite them being in public. Keigo’s thoughts were proven correct when Toya wrapped an arm around his neck and pressed their lips together into a gentle kiss.

Seems like the land of freedom was having its effects already on the Japanese man.

-

Clothes were gradually discarded on the floor. Limbs tangled together, unable to let each other go.

Toya didn’t remember where they were or what correlated to their current positions. All that mattered was the man currently holding him. The world could set on fire and Toya still wouldn’t give a flying f*ck. Toya tightened his arms around Keigo’s neck, the kiss they were currently sharing much harder than the ones they shared in the car. Keigo let out a surprised groan the moment he felt the swirl of Toya’s tongue against his own.

Keigo was struggling with locking the hotel’s room. Toya had jumped him the moment they stepped foot into the elevator, only parting when other passengers were on board with them, just for him to attack Keigo the moment they were left alone in the elevator again.

And Keigo wasn’t complaining. He just hoped that the assistant watching them through the security cameras wouldn’t quit his job. Keigo was actually really fond of the young hero.

When he finally managed to lock the door, Keigo finally let his wings free. Tugging them in his clothes was becoming increasingly difficult but if it kept their identities safe then it wasn’t Keigo’s place to complain.

Now to focus on the restless man in his arms. Keigo pent down slightly, parting from Toya’s kiss. Toya stared down at him in confusion before he let out a yelp at the sudden movements. Keigo had placed both his hands on the back of Toya’s thighs before pulling the pale head up and wrapping Toya’s legs around his own waist. Toya quickly placed both hands on Keigo’s shoulders for support.

“Dude- How many times do I have to tell you not to carry me?!” Toya whined.

Keigo of course didn’t listen as he continued to carry Toya all the way to the king-sized bed that stood in the centre of the room. “Dude? You’re calling me dude now? Toya please don’t kill the mood,” Keigo rolled his eyes as he not-so-gently threw Toya onto the bouncy mattress before he climbed over the other man. His red wings fell over both of them, trapping Toya underneath.

Toya huffed out a breath, offended, “Kill the mood? Bitch, I AM the mood.”

Keigo chuckled, “Damn well you are…” He then started to peel off Toya’s shirt. His head ducked down to place gentle kisses over the purple skin. They hadn’t bothered to cover the rest of Toya’s body with foundation earlier since the skin was going to be covered with clothes anyway.

Toya let out short little exhales with every kiss Keigo trailed over his skin. Keigo discarded of Toya’s t-shirt completely before his hands moved onto Toya’s pants. Toya quickly stopped Keigo from advancing by wrapping a hand on the other’s wrist.

Keigo looked up in irritation, “What now?”

Toya squinted his eyes, expression serious, “I am topping.”

Keigo blinked before a laugh burst out of his mouth, “Y-you? Topping?” The laughter echoed across the walls, making Toya’s brows knit.

“Why not?” Toya asked, voice stern.

Keigo’s laughter died down now that he realized Toya was being serious, “What?” Keigo’s mouth went agape.

Toya pushed Keigo off of him, supporting his weight on his elbows. He was being really serious about this, “You topped the last time.”

Keigo tried to recall.

“It was in the hot bath, in France…” Toya pressed.

“Ohhhh, yeah, yeah I remember that,” Keigo’s smile became more arrogant at the memory. “But Toya, I always top.” Keigo stated the hard truth, “Why would it matter now?”

Toya rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, “Well I want to try it, now.”

Keigo sat properly now, crossing his legs. He placed a hand on his chin in deep thought, “Hmmm….”

Toya tilted his head to the side. He hoped that Keigo would agree-

“Uh, no sorry, you’re too good not to f*ck,” Keigo shrugged.

Toya sighed in irritation, “Keigo I’m being serious! I want to top this time.”

Keigo just shrugged again. He said what he said. Toya’s body was made to be bedded.

Toya huffed in frustration, but wait- Why was he even asking for Keigo’s permission? He was a villain and villains took what they wanted unapologetically.

Keigo sensed some wheels turning in Toya’s head and he started to feel uneasy. Suddenly Toya jumped onto Keigo, pushing him onto the mattress. His hands immediately went for Keigo’s arms to restrain him.

Keigo gasped in shock the moment his back hit the mattress, his wings forced to spread open around the bed. “Toya- What the hell?!” Keigo started to push him off.

Toya continued to press his weight onto Keigo for more control, “I want to top!” Toya’s hands then moved to Keigo’s shirt, trying to pull it out.

Keigo successfully pushed Toya off of himself and in the process his t-shirt was ripped open, “Dude- What the hell?! I said that I would top!” Keigo quickly pulled himself out of bed creating distance between him and Toya.

Toya pointed an accusing finger at Keigo, “Look who’s saying dude now? You’re killing the mood!” Toya yelled.

Keigo took off the rest of the ripped t-shirt in frustration, “You can’t just force someone into a sex position against their will!”

“But I want to top!” Toya fired back.

Keigo’s eye twitched, “Then fight me.”

Toya blinked, “What?”

“Fight. Me.” Keigo repeated with a determined expression, “Whoever wins gets to the top. Now how do you find that?”

Toya remained quiet as he absorbed the challenge. His lips finally tugged upwards. He squared his shoulders, straightening his posture, clenching his fists as he activated his quirk, “Bring it on pretty boy!”

Keigo laughed at the nickname, his own wings spreading, feathers sharpening.

When Keigo didn’t move, Toya jumped off the bed, his fiery fist in the air, ready to go in for the kill. His whole body vibrated with unexpected excitement. Toya didn’t realize how much he had missed fighting.

A similar thought was on Keigo’s mind. Before Toya’s fist could even come close to grazing his skin, Keigo captured Toya’s arm twisting it before he flipped Toya’s body onto the ground. “AHH!-“ Toya screamed at the pain that coursed through his arm. He scoffed upwards at the golden eyes who were looking down with a mocking co*cky expression. Toya hissed as he pushed himself upwards, his leg quickly going in for a kick to Keigo’s face.

Keigo crossed his arms over his face, blocking the blow. He took a step backwards, before delivering a similar kick to Dabi’s torso.

The villain twisted his body, nearly avoiding the hit. Irritation seeped into his face at the sight of the winged man’s arrogant smile. “Tsk- Damn chicken legs!” The pale head gathered a fireball in his palm before he threw it directly at the other's face.

Keigo gasped but he quickly scooted to the side, the fire instead hitting the piece of furniture behind him, melting the plastic to the ground. Keigo’s smirk widened as he turned back to the angry man, “Dabi~ Dabi~ Now there’s no need for you to be mad. We both know that you want me to f*ck you!” Sharp red feathers twisted before they flew directly towards the villain.

Dabi blocked them all off with an intense fiery disc that he created with both palms, “I never said that, Hawks!”

Hawks’s teeth were now showing through his smile. He snickered as his wings flickered, sending his body upwards in the room. Each flip of the wings caused the air of the room to move. With a dangerous glow in the golden eyes, Hawks tilted his head to the side, croaking a finger at the man beneath him, urging him to try and come closer. A mocking gesture that both opposites were currently so familiar with.

And of course, the villain fell for it like every previous time.

Dabi climbed into a piece of furniture so he was closer to the hero’s height. He quickly jumped off it towards Hawks, and simultaneously a fire erupted from his palms.

The hero let out a villainous laugh as the other fell right for his bait. Hawks’s wings blocked the fire which burned the tips of his wings slightly, his leg extended backward before he flipped his body, aiming a kick to Dabi’s chest.

For a second all air left the villain’s lungs. Dabi’s body flew backwards, his back hitting the wall behind, before his body collapsed in a painful whine, eyes closing as his body coiled onto itself.

The hero pulled his wings backward, making his weight land on his feet on the marble floor. He took small deliberate steps towards his target, eyes squinting down at the unmoving man. Why wasn’t Dabi moving? Had he seriously injured him?

It was the villain’s turn to smirk. When the hero got close enough, Dabi quickly moved up, fist colliding with Hawks’s chin, successfully starting the man and tipping off his balance. Before Hawks could react another blow was delivered to his neck, sending him to the other side of the room. Dabi could swear that he heard a bone or two cracking. He winced internally.

Hawks landed on his back on the floor, chin tilted to a weird angle. Hawks’s hand settled on that bruised region on his neck, checking for any broken bones. Luckily there was none.

Dabi took slow steps towards the limp body on the floor, “This is enough birdie~ Just admit that you’ve lost.” A fire emerged in the rough palms, “You don’t want to walk out of here with a melted face, do you?”

Hawks didn’t have to use words to deliver his answer. Feathers suddenly flew towards the unshielded villain. Dabi’s reaction was too slow, some of the sharp edges having pierced his skin, “UGHH!” Dabi’s body recoiled, falling onto the ground on his stomach. Hawks suddenly jumped on top of him, restricting Dabi’s trials for an escape.

Dabi’s palms started shooting fire in random directions in an attempt to hit his opponent and push him off, but it was all to no avail. Hawks’s palm fisted Dabi’s messy hair, forcing the other’s skull upwards in a painful angle before Hawks’s elbow hit the middle of the arched spine. Dabi’s throat let out a hoarse scream in agony, pain shooting up his spine and all the way to the roots of his hair.

Hawks’s head tilted downwards, his own bloody lips hovering over Dabi’s trembling ones. Dabi’s eyes closed shut as both of their lips collided in a fierce kiss. Hawks’s sharp teeth bit down on Dabi’s bottom lip drawing out blood and another unvolutary scream. Both of their blood mingled as the harsh unloving kiss went on for longer to the villain’s dismay. Just as harsh, Hawks parted their kiss with a string of saliva connecting their tongue. The winged man was panting now, unable to control his eternal demons. A side of him that only rose in Dabi’s presence. A side that the hero was too embarrassed to admit.

“Do you surrender?” The words rolled off Hawks’s tongue, whispering into Dabi’s ear.

Dabi’s face crunched in disgust. He gathered saliva at the back of his throat before he spit it right back onto the hero’s face, “f*ck off!”

Hawks’s eyes darkened. He slowly wiped off the spit. “If that’s what you want,” Hawks dragged the head upwards again before smashing the skull onto the hard floor.

He dragged the villain’s head up and this time blood was oozing out of Dabi’s nose.

“Do you surrender?” The hero asked a second time.

Dabi closed his eyes, his body going limp, giving into the manhandling of the hero.

Hawks took the silence as acceptance.

The hero didn’t waste any more seconds to claim his well-earned prize. He turned the villain onto his back, before trailing kisses down his neck. Reaching his chest, Hawks bit down on the pink visible nibble, drawing out a whine from Dabi’s throat. The villain closed his eyes tightly in embarrassment at his defeat.

Hawks placed a second kiss on the bloody lips, less harsh than the previous one yet still as overpowering. The winged man was claiming the villain as his own. Only his to use. Only his to take. And only his pleasure.

Dabi flinched the moment he felt his pants slipping off, cold air hitting his most vulnerable regions. His eyes shot open in panic, but they were quickly covered with Hawks’s palm, sending his vision to darkness. “Shhh… Let me take care of you, snowhead.”

The hero didn’t bother to move them into a comfortable place. He quickly went on to spread the other’s thighs.

.

.

.

“Ah- f*ck- it hurts!” Dabi’s palms fisted the fur of the mat underneath him.

“Shhhh, it will feel better in a moment.” The hero coed.

Dabi’s lips parted as he felt that sensitive area inside being pressed, a moan leaving his lips, “H-hawks!”

“Yes?~”

Dabi bit his own lips in frustration at the co*cky reply. He couldn’t handle it anymore- He wanted his own release, “Hawks come on!“

“Use your magic word, snowhead~” Hawks lifted one of the muscular thighs upwards, forcing one of Dabi’s ankles onto his own shoulders.

Dabi winced at the stretch of his limbs, “P-please make me come!”

Hawks’s lips parted in approval. His head ducked down to whisper into the other’s ear, “Your words are my command, darling~ ”

And with that Hawks wrapped his hands around the other’s slender waist, before he thrust forward, drawing out more whimpers from the man underneath him, successfully reducing Dabi into a puddle of goo.

-

Burned furniture was scattered across the room, some of them even half-melted or completely melted into the ground. The ceiling was covered with black ash, no doubt Toya’s doing.

Cut marks were visible on the rest of the furniture, along with similar ones across Toya’s skin. Some of them were deep enough to show the flesh underneath,

No doubt Keigo’s doing.

A low-key scared doctor was attending to his patient on the bed in the centre of the room. A patient who didn’t seem to have any patience at all. Every time the doctor tried to deliver a stitch to the other’s skin, the patient would try to knock his head off. Not quite what he had envisioned in mind when he was called hastily by a man screaming that his boyfriend was dying.

The man in question was standing next to the bed, golden eyes glistening with unshed tears and fingernails stuck between his teeth. His eyes kept trailing the patient’s body worriedly.

The doctor wanted to ease the man’s worry by telling him that his boyfriend was not indeed dying and that the doctor might be the one to die in the patient’s hands, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t the best comment to be made considering the state of the room. It looked absolutely wrecked to the core.

It’s either the couple were having a huge fight or they were into kinky sexual stuff. Nothing in between.

Toya looked up at Keigo’s worried face with an irritated expression. Keigo really needed to calm the f*ck down. He was well, and they managed to cover the rest of Toya’s body with foundation, so no one would discover his identity. “Keigo, for f*cks sake- I’m fine!”

Keigo didn’t look convinced. Toya’s thoughts were not exactly what was on Keigo’s mind. Keigo had tugged his wings away, and both of them had been around other people long enough for them to feel comfortable enough that they wouldn’t be discovered. What worried Keigo the most was their weird intense ‘fight’ from earlier, and how much he actually liked it.

Hell- Their identities were supposed to be buried in the cemeteries of the past, not be used for foreplay!

Keigo shook his head, “No- I- I hurt you so bad…”

Toya rolled his eyes, wincing slightly as the doctor pierced another needle into his skin. He clenched his fist to fight off the urge to punch the doctor, “Keigo- shut the f*ck up and look at yourself! You look like you got run over by a bus!”

And indeed, Keigo did look as wrecked as the rest of the room. When the doctor came in he insisted on treating Keigo’s bruised neck first. It had looked too awful. Both Toya and the doctor thought it was broken.

Luckily it was just a tiny twist. Nothing serious… or at least that was what Toya tried to tell himself after they were done with their ‘love’ making.

When the doctor got done putting the last stitch in Toya’s skin, he got up and headed to the suite’s bathroom to wash off his hands and change his now bloody clothes, leaving the couple to sort out whatever that was between them. The English-speaking doctor did not understand the foreign words that were frequently exchanged between the two during his treatment, and he had no intention of wanting to understand what was being said. He just wanted to get paid and head out of this room as quickly as he could.

Toya pushed himself off the bed with a groan, “f*ck Keigo- You didn’t even try to hold back.” He extended his arm to grab a t-shirt off the floor and put it on to cover himself.

Keigo continued to look at the verge of tears. He quickly hovered over his boyfriend, trying to help him into wearing the t-shirt. It was Keigo’s shirt, but none of them commented on it.

“I-I’m so incredibly sorry- I don’t know what came over me. I just-“

“You just wanted an excuse to beat me up didn’t you?” Toya quirked a brow.

Keigo shook his head rapidly. He sat down on the bed taking both of Toya’s hands in his palms, “No- never! I just…”

Toya smirked, “Got excited?”

Keigo flushed red, a drastic contrast to the co*cky man from earlier.

Toya held firmly onto Keigo’s hands. He leaned closer to place a kiss on the tip of Keigo’s nose, “I liked it.”

Keigo looked insecure, “You did? I wasn’t… offputting?”

Toya shook his head, “Offputting? Dude- That was the best dicking I got my whole entire life!”

Keigo’s blush intensified at the usage of words. His lips wobbled, unable to respond properly. Their conversation was interrupted short by the doctor clearing his throat.

Keigo got up quickly, “Oh right- Payment.” He started to look hastily for his wallet.

Toya rolled his eyes, grabbing the said wallet that was right in front of Keigo’s eyes. Keigo blinked at his own doziness. He gave Toya an awkward smile before accepting the help.