Work Text:
It had been a bad idea from the very start. The day had dawned sunny, his doctor had strongly recommended he get some exercise, and thanks to his mysterious benefactor, he could now venture a few meters from his house without his ankle bracelet threatening to self-destruct. A recipe for disaster. Just as he had feared, his mother had eagerly suggested taking a walk to the nearby park. When he had looked up, ready to refuse, she was watching him with shining eyes, her small fists pressed against her chest, and a smile that formed two dimples on her cheeks.
“Touya, did you put on sunscreen?” asked Rei Todoroki, closing behind her the massive door of the house where she and the Todoroki siblings were trying to mend their relationship.
“Yes,” huffed Touya, facing the street with his hands in his pockets. “Right after you mentioned it the first time.”
His mother walked up to him, stopping at his left side so she could hold onto the arm that wasn’t an assemblage of iron and wires.
“I’m sorry, son. I can’t help but worry. Please bear with me.”
Touya sighed, swallowing down the lump of guilt that had formed in his throat. His mother really was trying.
“Don’t apologize,” he said, taking his hand out of his pocket to rest it on hers. “It's my first time going out without a hero or an officer following, and I’m a little tense, that’s all.”
“Everything will be fine, you’ll see,” said Rei, patting his mechanical hand.
Without the cover of buildings, the sun beat down on the park rather than shone. Touya was starting to wonder if he had actually put on sunscreen. The few shaded spots were already taken by families and groups of teenagers whose laughter and shrieks drowned out the soft singing of the birds.
He leaned against the railing of the small bridge, dizzy. He couldn’t believe that a five-minute walk was already wearing him out. He felt his mother’s hand on his shoulder and prepared himself to reassure her. However… Rei was gripping him tightly, her breathing quick and shallow in a way still familiar to him. He turned immediately toward the sound of heavy footsteps on the bridge planks.
“How dare you show up here, villain?!”
A middle-aged man approached them menacingly, red-faced and white-knuckled. His scream had drawn the attention of the civilians crowding the park. Some had already pulled out their phones, and Touya was tempted to give in to the instincts that had accompanied him for years and put on the show they expected. But he wasn’t alone.
“Alright, we’re not looking for trouble, we’ll leave,” he said, stepping to the right to completely shield his mother.
“Touya—” He could feel Rei struggling to move in front of him, so he wrapped his arms around her, slowly backing away.
“My brother wasn’t looking for it either, and now he’s confined to a wheelchair.”
Shit .
Touya exhaled a gust of smoke; his body temperature was rising. Soon, the bracelet would send a signal to the nearest hero.
“Listen,” Rei tried to reason.
“No, you listen! I want you and your whole family of degenerates out of this neighborhood!” the man shouted, pointing at Rei with a threatening gesture.
“Hey.” Touya stepped forward, feeling a familiar sting in his hands. “Your problem is with me. Leave my family alone.”
“My problem is with you, and I’m going to settle it.”
The pain wasn't immediate. First, he heard his mother’s desperate scream, followed by the thud of a heavy object hitting the wooden planks. It wasn’t until his legs buckled under his weight that he felt as if his head were about to burst from the inside.
“Touya! Touya, please, talk to me.”
Stunned, he collapsed onto the small bridge and brought a hand to his forehead to wipe away the warm, sticky liquid dripping into his eyes. Ah. Blood .
“I’m fine, Mom,” he mumbled, trying to focus on Rei’s face as she held his head between her hands.
“Stay with me. Don’t fall asleep, sweetheart.”
He felt coldness spread across his head, easing the pain slightly. The ice spread quickly under his hands, and soon he heard the muffled curses of the man. Once again, Rei had used her quirk to protect him.
For a brief moment, the light appeared to dim, and he feared he might be losing his sight. Reality, however, was worse.
“Todoroki-san, what happened?”
Touya couldn’t help but laugh when Tokoyami Fumikage appeared over his mother’s shoulder. Things were just getting better by the minute.
“It’s funny, because it’s like a reverse déjà vu,” he slurred, right before losing consciousness.
~*~*~
He tried to ignore the frantic pounding of his heart as he ran through the hospital corridors. Did he use his position as President of the HPSC to get in during non-visiting hours? Yes, and the disapproving looks from the staff did nothing to calm his nerves. By the time he reached door 075, his hands were shaking, and the meager breakfast he’d forced down that morning threatened to come back up.
He was starting to regret coming at all. Clearly, he had let himself get carried away, but… it had only been twenty minutes since he had bolted out of his office, and the news bulletin was still playing on a loop in his head. The bystanders’ videos had leaked within minutes, and when he’d lifted his eyes to the television screen, there he was. Dabi. Touya . His… Lying on the ground like a rag doll, his hair and face slick with blood, while Rei Todoroki screamed desperately for help. Not again, not again, not again . He hadn’t waited for Tokoyami’s call. He’d taken his car and skidded through the streets on the way to the hospital.
Now, standing before that door, he wondered what he was doing there. Seven years had passed. Yes, Keigo had followed every single report almost obsessively, had authorized each small step toward his rehabilitation. And, perhaps, when he closed his eyes at night, he still remembered those slender, scarred hands caressing his hair and sliding down toward the feathers at the base of his back. But reality was quite different. In those seven years, any contact between them had been purely one-sided, and maybe, so had the feelings long before that.
“Uh… Hawks-san?”
He had to lift his gaze to meet the puzzled look of the youngest Todoroki. That kid had grown like a tree.
“Shoto-kun,” Keigo replied, dusting off his magazine-cover smile.
Shoto carefully pulled the door almost shut behind him and crossed his arms in a gesture that made Keigo feel even smaller.
“With all due respect, Hawks-san, I don’t think this is the best time for a reunion.”
Those mismatched eyes bore into him with a serious expression, and Keigo felt his stomach drop to his feet. He had thought that this face-to-face was the worst thing that could happen, but the prospect of not being able to see Touya turned out to be far worse. He was about to beg when a hoarse voice slipped through the small crack in the door.
“Let him in, Shoto.”
He quickly slipped past Shoto’s imposing figure to make his way into the room. This was the second time he had seen Touya lying in a hospital bed with his head wrapped in bandages. Many things had changed since then, but the crushing weight on his chest that made it hard to breathe remained the same. He held that piercing turquoise gaze, unmoving, and it wasn’t until he heard the click of the door that he realized Shoto had left them alone.
“You’re awake,” he said, as naturally as the pounding of his heart in his ears would allow.
“Unfortunately,” replied Touya, with that sarcastic smirk that had made his knees tremble in some dark alleyway more than once.
“I– I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor,” he said shyly from the foot of the bed.
“Really? Wouldn’t you rather have the return of the perfect prodigal son?”
“No, Touya. I—”
“Whoa, careful there, birdie,” he cut in, raising an eyebrow.
Keigo sighed. He hadn’t lost his ability to get under his skin within mere minutes, either. But that was fine; it was familiar territory. With renewed confidence, he sat down in the chair beside the bed and fixed Touya with a defiant stare.
“I’d rather you hadn’t had to go through all this. None of us, actually,” he said, swallowing the lump that always formed in his throat whenever he thought about the League.
“I’m starting to think you’re the one with the concussion.”
He shot up to his feet, fists clenched to suppress the instinct to reach for one of his primaries.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! I’m trying to… trying to…”
“And who gave you the right to try anything? Did you think just because we fucked a couple of times, I’d welcome you back like nothing happened? That I’d apologize and thank you for the preferential treatment, Mr. President?” Touya shot back with a calmness that made his blood run cold.
He had been wrong. This wasn’t banter; this was the open confrontation he had dreaded ever since the day he surrendered to his fatal attraction for his annoying contact in the League. For a moment, he thought he might be able to hold his practiced façade despite the stabbing pain in his chest, which only seemed to grow sharper with every breath. But his body had decided to stop cooperating. His eyes burned, and his chin wouldn’t stop trembling no matter how hard he clenched his teeth. He turned away quickly, unable to bear that icy stare any longer.
“Don’t call me that, please. Not you,” he said, in a trembling whisper.
He’d made a huge mistake. At any moment, Shoto would appear and throw him out, or perhaps the nurses would, judging by the frantic beeping of the monitors. He took a step toward the door.
“I… didn’t mean that. But it’s been seven years, Hawks.”
“Keigo.”
“ Keigo .” He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. It sounded like a peace offering, so different from the first time he had heard his name from Touya’s lips.
“And it’s been five years and four months,” said Keigo, turning back around.
“Uh?”
He took a few tentative steps toward the edge of the bed before addressing Touya’s confused expression.
“I visited you many times while you were in a coma, to your brother’s complete disapproval. He thinks I honey-potted you,” he added with a bitter smile.
“Didn’t you?”
Keigo looked away, suddenly fascinated by the shine of his expensive shoes. That had always been the elephant in the room, and though their first kiss had been born from a moment of weakness, the Commission hadn’t wanted to waste the opportunity. By then, however, he was already a compromised agent.
“You know it’s more complicated than that. Do you think I haven’t lost sleep wondering if any of it was real? I still close my eyes and see you above me, engulfed in flames,” he said, clenching his fists in a desperate attempt to hold on to the composure he had fought so hard to regain.
It was Touya's turn to look away. The silence between them was heavy with years of words left unsaid. Keigo swallowed hard when he felt a finger brush timidly against his hand. Maybe there’s still time .
“Honestly, I didn’t come sooner because I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to forgive each other.”
He took a step, then another, closing the distance to the edge of the bed until he could intertwine his fingers with Touya’s.
“I guess it’s better you didn’t come earlier, I’m not sure you’d have made it out of the room alive. After all this time, it’s hard to keep hating someone you’ve made breakfast for after marathon sex,” said Touya, a teasing smile curling his lips.
Keigo wrinkled his nose, trying to hide the smile threatening to break through his serious façade.
“I bare my heart to you, and that’s your answer?”
Touya snorted, clearing his throat theatrically before speaking.
“You’ve haunted every second of all my days and nights, like a bird of prey refusing to release its catch… Better?” he said, closing his fingers around Keigo’s with a smile and sending a pleasant tingle up his arm.
“Yeah, though the bird jokes are a little outdated.”
“No way, birdie,” replied Touya with a bittersweet smile.
Both of them fell silent, blue eyes locked on golden ones, and Keigo let his thumb trace over the faded scars on the hand held between his own. Its warmth was comforting, just as it had been after long patrol days, and for the first time in years, he felt capable of letting go of Hawks, of the President of the HPSC. Beneath the halogen lights and the steady hum of the monitors, they were just Keigo and Touya once again.
He leaned in suddenly, claiming Touya’s lips with the desperation of a drowning man finally breaking the surface. The knot suffocating him unraveled the moment he felt the first response, hesitant but real, from those searing lips against his own. A shiver tore through him, mingled with the dizzying thrill of something forbidden and long yearned for.
Unable to settle, Keigo sought a better angle without breaking contact; Their lips brushed, caught, and released each other with renewed hunger. In a desperate impulse, he climbed onto the narrow hospital bed and straddled Touya. The movement elicited a groan from Touya’s throat, a low, rough sound that vibrated against his mouth and sent a shudder through Keigo, as though someone had set his veins ablaze.
“Don’t ever put yourself in danger like that again, do you hear me?” he panted, resting his forehead against Touya’s.
“Heh, well, if this is the outcome, I might do it more often,” replied Touya before capturing his lips again.
“I’ll— have to— revoke— your privileges,” Keigo muttered between kisses.
“Then we’ll have to meet at my place, with my siblings and my mom playing chaperone,” laughed Touya.
Keigo was about to play along, but something in Touya’s mood shifted at the mention of his family. He lifted his remaining hand and gently traced the scar running along Keigo’s cheek.
“I regret a lot of things, but most of all I regret hurting you. I’m glad I can finally tell you in person,” he said, his eyes glossy with emotion.
“Touya.” Keigo felt his own eyes well up as he placed his hand over Touya’s, leaning into the warmth of those fingers against his skin.
“Keigo,” Touya whispered back, pulling him in by the collar with the most genuine smile Keigo had ever seen, a smile that lit up his gaze amid the halo of white hair spilling from the bandages.
As their breaths mingled, he finally had his answer. They had given each other the little love their past had allowed. And although, in the end, they hadn’t chosen one another, that love was strong enough to grant them a second chance.
The shy, tentative brush of lips that sealed his resolve was overcome within seconds under the weight of everything they had left unsaid. Keigo deepened the kiss with feral hunger, a muffled moan escaping him when Touya, without warning, grabbed him firmly by the thigh. From then on, there was no control, no caution. Their mouths met with an almost violent urgency, clashing, breaking apart, and seeking again, devouring each other as if their very lives depended on it. The kiss became urgent, desperate, a silent cry of everything they had suppressed for years: the desire, the rage, the guilt, and the need to keep existing in each other’s eyes. Every flick of the tongue and every gasp for air was a forced confession, a wordless ‘I loved you’ and ‘I still do’.
“Uh, what exactly are you two doing?”
Shoto Todoroki’s calm, serious voice was like a bucket of cold water. Keigo jumped off the bed, tangling himself in the sheet and landing face-first on the floor, adding to his humiliation. With Touya’s laughter ringing in the background, he scrambled to his feet and bowed three times, deep and frantic.
“God, Shoto-kun, this isn’t what—”
“It’s absolutely what it looks like,” Touya laughed.
“I leave you alone for a few minutes, and you pounce on my brother,” said Shoto, arms crossed over his chest as he positioned himself between Keigo and the only possible exit.
“Whoa, calm down, Law and Order. I’m not some helpless virgin.”
Shoto didn't move a muscle. His brow barely furrowed, but the tension in his shoulders betrayed just how hard he was working to keep his composure.
“I don’t think you’re helpless,” he replied calmly, though his gaze stayed locked on Keigo. “But someone has to make sure you don’t get hurt again.”
Touya rolled his eyes, slipping back into that crooked, mocking smile that always masked something deeper.
“How touching. My little brother playing guardian of the family’s purity. Relax, Sho, I’ve literally burned myself alive. I don’t need a chaperone for making out.”
“Look, Shoto-kun.” Keigo, red to the tips of his ears, raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I get that this… isn’t ideal, but I… didn’t come here to take advantage of your brother.”
“Oh, didn’t you?” Touya cut in with a laugh. “Well, that’s disappointing.”
Keigo shot him a desperate look, which only widened Touya's satisfied smile.
“Seven years without showing your face,” Shoto sighed, ignoring his brother’s chaotic attempts to divert his attention. “And now you show up, throw yourself at him, and expect me not to take it the wrong way.”
Finally, Touya pushed himself up a bit on the bed, his expression defiant.
“Shoto, enough. We’re not children.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Keigo bowed his head and swallowed hard.
“I know I’m in no position to ask for anything, but… let me prove that I really want to be by his side,” he murmured, taking Touya’s hand.
Shoto clenched his jaw, his gaze shifting between the two of them. The seconds dragged on, and Keigo felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
“Fine,” he said at last, sounding defeated. “But let me be clear, if you hurt him again, I’m freezing your ass.”
“Understood!” Keigo replied with a hasty military salute that nearly sent him tripping over the sheet again.
Touya’s laughter died in his throat the instant he saw his brother pull out his phone and start typing with determination.
“What are you doing?”
“Texting the family chat to organize the ‘welcome to the family’ dinner,” Shoto replied with an almost imperceptible smirk.
“You gremlin, you’re lucky I can’t get out of bed.”
“The… family chat?” Keigo blinked a couple of times, confused.
“Yeah,” Shoto confirmed, merciless. “You know, Mom, Fuyumi, Natsuo. Better start picking out a shirt, Hawks-san. If you don’t show up, Fuyumi will storm the HPSC offices and drag you out.”
Keigo visibly paled. Beside him, Touya seemed struck speechless and was looking at him somberly.
“That sounds like a death trap.”
“Probably is,” said Touya. “Though for once, I won’t be the center of attention.”
Shoto nodded in satisfaction, as if he had closed an important deal.
“Then I’m going to get some coffee,” he said at last, turning his back to them. He stopped at the door and added, in his usual serious tone, “I hope the bed isn't on fire when I get back.”
Keigo, his face flushing crimson again, opened his mouth to reply, but Shoto slipped out with a soft click of the door before he could get a word out.
“God, your face is priceless,” Touya said between laughs. “What are you waiting for, birdie? This bed isn’t going to burn itself.”