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Touya woke up to thirty more messages than he usually did.
Thirty was a pretty impressive but equally worrying number for somebody that didn't even have ten contacts added into their phone, four of them being members of his own family.
(There had been five, but he'd blocked Enji as soon as someone passed him his new phone.)
He barely had time to scan the messages before somebody was knocking on his door, Melody whining at being woken up.
"Touya- are you awake?" It was Fuyumi's voice, soft but stressed.
"Give me a minute." He groaned back, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes to focus on the article that he'd been sent.
'Photos released of ex hero turned HPSC president Hawks fraternising with League of Villain's Dabi.'
What the fuck.
Of fucking course. Touya's life had been way too peaceful lately for something like this not to happen.
He scrolled through the article, looking at the first few photos that really weren't that bad, Dabi's arm wrapped around Hawks, the two of them standing alone, away from the crowds, Hawks' hand on his waist.
But it really got worse, turning into a picture of them kissing, to a picture of Dabi pressing Hawks up against a quiet corner of the villa.
To be fair, the angle did them a favour, because Dabi had definitely been fucking the hero, but with the positioning of the camera and Hawks's wings, at least it covered some of them.
But still, it didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening.
And fuck, his mom had probably seen those photos.
Touya was going to kill himself, again.
There were a stupid amount of articles, all of them on the same thing, and all of them bashing Hawks, for the most part, calling for his removal as president.
Melody licked at his face, still lying over his thighs.
He hadn't realised how fast his heart rate had been, stroking her head and leaning over to grab his meds from the side table, swallowing them with some water and taking a deep breath.
After ushering her off of his lap, he went about connecting his prosthetic arm and leg, testing them out and then slowly walking over to the doorway. He found Fuyumi still standing outside, her hands clasped together.
"What? You here to tell me about the photos of me with my dick in Hawks' ass?"
"Touya!" She groaned into her hands. "You could have said it any other way, but yes-"
"What about it? It's not like I can do anything." He shrugged. "It's already all across the news- all across social media."
"Yes...you have very um, mixed opinions."
"There's opinions other than negative ones?" Touya raised an eyebrow, because what the hell?
"Well...there's certain groups.. how do I say this- that quite love this drama. Some people are freaking out about it in a good way- cheering you both on.."
"Huh." Well, he needed to see this.
"But enough about that- Hawks..wanted to talk to you." It was said carefully, as if Touya was going to freak out.
"...Why? What's that going to do?"
"I'm not sure..really, it's too late to change anything in the media, but maybe he just wants to talk to you again. Even try to fix things-"
"This isn't like one of your romance novels." Immediately he snapped, and he just as quickly regretted it. "..Sorry, It's just..not that simple."
"It's okay- I understand..I don't know everything, but it sounds like a lot happened between you two."
"Yeah that's..an understatement." Touya ran his hand over his face with a deep sigh.
He'd loved him, five years later he couldn't deny it, therapy session upon therapy session eventually making him say it.
But he'd also tried to fucking kill him, not a great end to their relationship - whatever it was.
People spoke about bad breakups, about partners cheating or messy arguments, while their relationship had ended with a feather stabbing through Twice's back and Dabi's foot pressing down into Hawks' back as fire ravaged his wings.
"You know..you could have spoken to us about this earlier, we would have listened."
"I already talk about about it enough with my therapist."
"Yeah..that's fair."
Melody nudged at his leg with a soft whine.
"I know, let's go get breakfast." He stroked his dog's soft head and glanced back at Fuyumi. "I'll think about it, just let him stress for another hour or two."
"You're terrible, Touya."
"Ex villain, remember?" Touya grinned and walked down the hallway with Melody at his side and Fuyumi following behind, sighing deeply.
His grin dropped as soon as he saw his mom in the kitchen, turning into more of a grimace. "Before you say anything, let's all forget about the photos, okay?"
"I wasn't going to mention it if you don't want to talk about it, sweetheart."
He sighed and filled Melody's food bowl up, placing it down on the floor and watching her almost shove her face into it.
It didn't make sense that they were suddenly releasing photos now. Either they only just found thousands of Skeptic's creepy photos, or things were too quiet.
"Here, Touya, have some food." His mom passed him a plate and he thanked her, wandering into the main room to sit on the couch and eat.
Shoto just looked over at him, sitting on the other couch.
"What?"
"It makes sense why Hawks visited you at the hospital now."
Touya stopped, his chopsticks halfway towards his mouth when everything suddenly came crashing down, his heart sinking into his stomach.
"He visited me?"
"Twice..maybe three times."
"And non of you thought to, I don't know- say something?" He stared at his youngest brother with wide eyes, heart thudding in his chest.
That stupid glimmer of hope was rearing it's ugly head again, as if he and Hawks, the damn traitor, could ever just be something again.
He shouldn't even want it.
Hawks had killed Twice.
And there he was, late at night, wishing for it like a stupid kid, not a grown man a year away from thirty.
"You're right..we should have." Shoto murmured. "There was a lot on our minds at the time..and your doctor advised against it. They didn't want to overload you when you were already...fragile."
For ten in the morning, Touya had already heard too much.
He wanted to go back to bed.
"Right."
"We didn't know that things were like that..well, mom had her suspicions-"
"Course she did..." He couldn't hide things from her, not now, not after what that had caused all those years ago. "And now everyone knows, but I guess it looks way fucking worse on Hawks' part."
Melody came trotting back in, finished with her breakfast, and promptly curled up against Touya's legs.
"Hmm..listen to this comment- 'oh my god, yes, get that hot villain ass Hawks.'"
Touya stared at Shoto, his arm freezing in midair again. "The fuck?"
"It's right here, I didn't make it up."
Once it processed, he couldn't help but snort, eyes creasing at the corners from the absolute absurdity. "They're crazy."
"Fangirls do tend to be a bit crazy..."
"I'm just surprised Enji hasn't burst in here, ranting and raving."
"Please don't manifest it into happening."
Touya hummed with an amused smile, then finished off his food while Melody sat waiting, looking up at him with those big eyes as if he hadn't fed her just ten minutes ago.
He let her out into the garden a few minutes later, breathing in the fresh air and thinking over his next steps.
Having one of his siblings message Hawks back would throw a spanner into his relatively stable life. It wouldn't just be one message, one meeting to talk over what happened, and Touya didn't know if that scared him, or made him excited.
He was doing well, for the most part, his bad days and meltdowns becoming few and far between, the plates and vases safer than they were when he first came home.
Did he want to risk ruining that?
Yet Touya also didn't want to die with regrets, not when it was a miracle he was alive in the first place.
A medical anomaly, the doctors had said.
"What do you think, girl?" Touya asked his service dog as she came over to him with a wagging tail, her response being slobberig over his face. "Feels like you're telling me to give it a chance..."
She woofed and sat down next to him, while Touya sighed softly.
He'd better at least change out of his sleep clothes, make himself look presentable without putting too much effort in.
The bird didn't deserve his effort, not yet.
"C'mon, help me pick something to wear." His joints clicked as he stood up, walking back inside with Melody following.
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Keigo was having a horrible day, and it was only ten in the morning.
From waking up with a headache and barely two hours of sleep, to seeing pictures of himself getting fucked by his ex villain situationship.
Amazing.
Five coffees in, and he recieved a message from Fuyumi, reading, 'Touya agrees to see you. No more than an hour - sorry!!'"
It was more than Keigo had been expecting, an hour being better than nothing at all.
He messaged her back with fake enthusiasm and a smiley emoji, before dropping his head down onto the desk with a thud.
One day, he'd get a break.
But that day wasn't today, he thought as he pulled himself up and out of his desk chair, walking around to the mirror and fixing his hair, shorter than it was during his infiltration mission.
Dabi's scar still stuck out like a sore thumb against the side of his face and neck, faded, sure, but still plenty noticeable.
At least it wasn't as bad as his back.
Lastly he fixed the collar of his suit and dragged himself into the lift, going down to the bottom floor and jumping into one of the commission's cars, because it wasn't like flying was an option anymore, the wind rustling his hair and feathers as he soared high enough to touch the clouds.
Keigo sighed and stared out the window, preparing himself for the drive.
It felt as though everything reminded him of Dabi- of Touya, even a stupid car. He'd remember his complaining when he had to take any mode of transport, whether it was a car, a train or flying, the first time he'd thrown up on Keigo when he took him for a ride.
He caught himself smiling at the memory.
Shit.
Keigo had never gotten over him, even if he tried to convince his therapist otherwise.
The stupid blind dates had never worked, not for lack of trying, but because Touya was always there at the back of Keigo's mind.
The Todoroki estate was mostly the same as what Keigo remembered from his very few visits, only a few more flowers and plants decorating the well kept garden.
But pretty flowers couldn't distract him from the front door getting closer, looming over Keigo as he put one foot infront of the other.
It was just a conversation, just an easy, friendly conversation. Just a 'hey, did you see the photos of us fucking in the paper?'
He thought about turning around, about running back down the Todoroki's stupidly sized garden towards the gate, but his thoughts were effectively cut off at somebody sliding the front door open.
Of course it was Touya.
Keigo swallowed and looked up at him, the ex villain standing up a couple of stairs and gaining even more of a vertical advantage than usual. He looked casual, wearing a loose vest and some shorts down to his knees while leaning against the door, but oh god he looked good.
"Did you come here just to stare at me?" He crossed his arms, one flesh and one metal.
"Um- hi." Keigo rubbed the back of his neck, eyes flitting from Touya to the dog sitting next to him, protectiveness written across its face. "Sorry, I'm just processing."
"Take it all in."
"Ah Keigo-san you're here! Come in please-" Fuyumi slid the door open further while giving Touya a look, allowing him inside the traditional house. He left his shoes in the genkan and propped his katana in its sheath up against the wall, only doubting himself for a moment.
Touya wouldn't try to kill him with his own sword, hopefully.
"How have you been? I'm sure you're quite busy with work-" She laughed awkwardly, a woman pretending that she hadn't seen Keigo making out with her older brother, having sex with her older brother.
"Yeah..you could say that."
"Would you like some tea?"
He shook his head with a small smile, not trusting himself holding a cup or keeping any kind of liquid down. "I'm okay- thank you."
"I'm not having this conversation here with everyone listening." Touya didn't tell him to follow, but Keigo did regardles, just a few steps behind while the dog gave him a funny look. Maybe Touya was taking him somewhere far away to kill him - the dog as his accomplice.
That was a stupid idea.
As they walked down the seemingly never ending corridor, Keigo looked at Touya's white hair, at his prosthetics, at his faded scars and healthier body.
Anything was better than the last time Keigo had seen him, but the sheer difference had shocked him into silence.
"I don't know what you want to talk about, it's not like I have some secret ability to delete the photos and articles. If anything, you're the one who can get rid of them."
"It's too late for that anyway." He sighed and stilled suddenly, stopping himself from bumping into Touya's back as he approached a door - presumably his bedroom.
Touya let him into the room, and Keigo glanced around, finding the place more..boyish than he'd expected.
It was neat and tidy, a light blue rug placed down next to the bed, shelves and cupboards with this and that stored on them, from books to little action figures that Keigo didn't recognise. There were fairy lights strung up too, and it made him realise that he really must have been doing better to be allowed those.
"What?" Touya glanced at him when he must have spent too long looking.
"Nothing- it's nice." He cleared his throat and pulled at a string that he needed to cut off his slacks, while glancing at the dog sitting on Touya's foot. "Is it gonna try and bite me? I'm getting evil eyes here-"
"No she's not going to bite you, she's a service dog."
"I always took you as a cat person."
"I am." Touya hummed and stroked her head. "But Mel changed my life. Right now she's probably trying to figure out what the fucks wrong with you and if she can comfort both of us."
"Uh- right, okay."
The dog huffed and pushed her face against Touya's leg.
"You..look good, by the way."
Shit, why did he even say that?
"Isn't difficult to look better than last time." They both just stood there awkwardly, neither moving to sit down. "Shoto only told me today that you stopped by when I was half dead."
"...Yeah, I did a few times."
"Why didn't you come when I woke up?"
"I didn't think you'd want to see me. I didn't want to upset you."
He'd thought about it so much that it had driven him insane, yet all he'd ended up doing was messaging Rei about how Touya was - something that they may have never even told him.
Keigo had pulled strings in the background, he'd kept the league out of serving life sentences or even the death penalty, opting for something more rehabilitation based, mandatory therapy sessions, house arrest for some and rehabilitation centres for others, and volunteering when they were able.
Keigo could understand people's hesitance to support it, but he wasn't about to let them kill Touya when he'd fought so damn hard to survive, beating all expectations that doctors had put on him.
"I used to sit and think that maybe one day you'd stop by."
"I'm sorry."
Touya shrugged. "I would have been mad. I was mad either way."
"I couldn't win."
"Yup." He popped the 'p' and sat down on the edge of the bed. "It's always been like that with us."
The 'us' did more to Keigo's heart than he'd been expecting, thudding so hard that he may need to see the commission's doctor.
"Yeah." He muttered uselessly.
"..Anyway, you wanted to talk about the photos."
"Ah right. It's obvious that they were sketpic's photos, but I imagine they only found the files or wherever he was hiding them recently." Maybe sensing his increasing stress, the dog - Mel? Wandered closer and sniffed his outstretched hand. "Frankly it's too late to try and cover any of it up, it spread too fast, but I'll probably release a statement about it."
Touya looked at him, waiting.
"I'm not going to say it was for the mission...I wasn't ever required or told to sleep with you. I'll just be honest."
"Tell the world that you just wanted to sleep with a villain?" Touya grinned, an easier smile without the staples tugging at his skin.
"People are seeing you guys more as actual humans these days, and..it's not like I'm ashamed of doing any of that stuff. I don't regret it."
"You don't?"
"Do you?"
"...I don't regret you." He looked down at his hands and Hawks looked down too, watching as he flexed the metal fingers. "But I regret the way things went, leaving us vunerable, losing Twice."
"I'm sorry, about Twice, about everything."
"I know you are. It's been years, I've had too much time to think..and I know it was never what you wanted. You were always too good for that."
"I'm not good at all."
"You even wanted to save me, birdie."
Birdie. Oh how he'd missed that.
"That doesn't mean I'm..good."
"Sure it doesn't." Touya smiled again, and somehow Keigo had missed that even more. "Haven't you been attending your therapy sessions, mr president?"
"I attend them."
"Doesn't mean they're working."
"What makes you the expert-?"
"Since going to therapy at least twice a week for five years." He rolled his eyes, and okay, that was fair enough, But Keigo definitely shouldn't tell him that he'd called for that in part of the rehabilitation programme.
"Sounds fun."
"Real fun, especially the family sessions." Eventually, it got too awkward standing in the middle of Touya's bedroom, so he sat down on the rug and looked up at him. "Sometimes Enji comes and just starts fucking crying- then we all just have to sit there like, what the hell are we supposed to do?"
Keigo snorted and noticed the slight creasing of Touya's eyes as he laughed. "Pretty awkward."
"He doesn't come often, at least."
"And..it's okay living here with your mom and siblings?"
"It took some adjusting..but yeah it's fine, I'm used to it now." He hummed. "You still live alone?"
"Are you asking if I've found a partner, hot stuff?" His lips stretched into a grin before he could stop it, the nickname slipping out just as naturally.
"Of course not. I don't care what you're doing."
"Uh huh, well you don't have to worry, it's just me still." Just Keigo and his long list of short text message conversations, always ending with a polite rejection.
"Nobody living up to me?"
Touya meant it as a joke, yet Keigo replied with a wholly honest "No."
"Jesus, I really fucked you up."
"I couldn't date anyone with black or white hair because I'd spend the whole time thinking of you." Touya stared at him as if he'd grown a second head, the room turning silent before a slow beeping started to sound from his ankle monitor. "Uh- you good?"
"Yeah- yeah, fine." He got up and walked in circles around the small room, his sudden walkabout only making the monitor beep louder.
"Are..are you sure-? Do you want me to grab your mom-?"
"No- I'm just you know, getting hot." It looked as though it pained him to say it, a light pink flush adorning his cheeks. "And my heart rate is kinda high."
"Maybe you should...sit back down?"
Just to spite Keigo, Touya stayed standing up and looking down at him, at least until his dog nudged and directed him back towards bed, lying over his lap.
"It's just you know- gotta chill out before the heroes and police and paramedics start knocking down the door-" He inhaled sharply.
"Has that...happened before-?" The image was kind of comical, until Keigo realised just how terrifying it would be.
"It was a bad day." He huffed out.
"Sounds overkill, you're missing limbs and can't even use your quirk. I mean- no offence, I'm sure you're still plenty capable even without that." Even without his fire, Touya could throw a damn good punch, let alone with a strong, metal hand.
Keigo didn't want to think about what he could do with his teeth.
(But that could have been for a wholly different reason than the matter at hand.)
He wasn't defenseless, but against all of those people in a panicked state? It was messed up.
"Right? No arm, no leg, no quirk. Knives are kept fuckin' locked up, which by the way, you should check if your sword has already been added into the stash."
"..I'm sure it'll be fine."
"You carry that thing around all the time?" The beeping had slowed down slightly, Touya calming as the dog licked at his hands while staying firmly on top of his legs.
"Yeah."
"Overkill." He repeated Keigo's words.
"Probably...but it's better to be prepared."
"For...coming round someones house?" Touya raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe there will be a villain attack on my way home, you never know!" He shrugged, before realising just how crazy he sounded. "Anyway..enough about that..I should get outta your hair."
"Wait-" Suddenly, Touya reached for his arm, shocking himself more than Keigo. "I uh- I'm sorry too."
"I know, it's okay." Keigo let Touya hold onto his wrist, cold fingers coincidentally pressed to his pulse. His body was almost icy without his quirk constantly running through it.
"Just like that?"
"It's been five years, Touya." He smiled, almost trying to drag the conversation on to keep Touya close - to feel his touch for longer. "And you basically said the same thing."
"It feels like it's been a year and a lifetime all at once."
"And I already wasted that time..I should have visited you when you woke up at the hospital- when you came back home..anything other than waiting till photos of us fucking got published on the first page of the newspaper-"
"Brings back memories, hm?"
"Don't start." Keigo didn't need to think of Touya's hot breath against his neck, his lips pressed to his collarbone and his hand groping his ass in some empty corner of the villa, not here, not now.
(Late at night in his own bedroom was fair game though.)
Touya just grinned at him, and Keigo could have stared at him all day if not for the knock at the door.
"Touya sweetheart, would Keigo like to stay for dinner?" Rei asked through the door, and oh god, Keigo couldn't escape in time, he couldn't say no, either.
"Yeah birdie, do you wanna stay for dinner?" Touya just kept grinning at him, and Keigo couldn't decide if he wanted to punch or kiss him.
"..I wouldn't mind- if it's not too much hassle!"
Damn it.
Keigo couldn't resist an extra hour or two with Touya, or the sweetness of a woman around his mother's age.
"Of course!" Rei called back.
"Now you're stuck with me for longer."
"There are worse fates."
"Dork."
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