Chapter Text
Touya jumps out of the carriage, not bothering to use the steps. He kicks up dust as he lands, but hardly cares. The more dirty he looks the better. It’ll keep people from suspecting that he’s royalty. Even though he is a public figure, most people don’t remember his face since he doesn’t stand out as much as the rest of his family (which is what he prefers). Touya walks over to the front of the carriage and digs inside of his coat pocket. He pulls out a small bag filled with coins and tosses it over at the carriage driver.
“You never came here and you certainly never saw me.”
The carriage driver catches it and looks inside before he says cheerfully, “yes, sir.”
Touya smirks to himself. People are so easy. The carriage leaves and Touya walks the rest of the way to his destination. He would have drawn a lot of eyes if anyone saw him leaving a carriage in this seedy part of town, which is why he always gets dropped off a few blocks away. Calling it seedy nowadays though is stretching it a bit to be honest. Ever since his little brother became king he’s been working pretty hard to clean up their kingdom and make it a safer place for everyone to live. That was cute and all, but making it safer also made it less fun. This area was one of the last few good ones Touya could escape to and forget about his palace life.
He stops right in front of the saloon doors, glancing up at the crooked wooden letters that spell “LEAGUE OF-”. It ends there, right after the “of,” the rest of the letters gone and lost to time. Touya never knew what this place’s original name was; everyone usually called it The League and that was the end of it. When he first started coming here he asked a couple of times, but never got a straight answer from the owner.
Touya grins and walks inside of those swinging doors. His world suddenly became like night and day. Instead of ivory walls, priceless decorations, mahogany oak furniture, and extravagant carpets he finds dirt and grime covering the walls, piss on the floors, people throwing up in the corner of the room, and this god awful smell that he can only describe as the color brown. Yeah, he’s right at home. Touya strolls into the place and heads straight to the barkeeper. He keeps his hood on to try and keep a low profile at first as his eyes scan the room.
“Oye, Kurogiri. What’s new?”
Touya leans against the bar and knocks on the counter, a playful smirk on his face as he calls for the barkeeper’s attention. Kurogiri turns his head and narrows his eyes over at him at first. Once Touya lifts his hood back though his threatening look falls and he walks over.
“Dabi. It’s been ages since I last saw you. I believe I should be the one asking you that question. I figured you finally left town like you always talked about.”
Touya snorts and shakes his head, “yeah, that would have been nice, but no. I’ve been dealing with some family business.”
“I see. How did that business end?”
“It hasn’t ended, but it’s all good if that’s what you’re trying to ask. Nothing to worry about. It’s been keeping me busy from having my own free time, that’s all.”
Over the years of sneaking out of the castle, Touya has learned a lot about how to stay hidden and not get caught. One of the most obvious things was having a fake name to use around people. Most people were dumb, but not all of them were straight idiots. There were some who would be able to put two and two together if he introduced himself as Touya; his blue eyes would have been a definite giveaway. Another thing he learned was not to reveal too much about himself, which is why he never went into much detail about anything in his life.
Of course he lied a lot to protect his true identity, but not really to Kurogiri. He was a friend, of sorts. What else would he call him since they’ve known each other for nearly a decade now? He was a pretty straight guy and was good at picking up bullshit. Touya respected him, so he tried not to feed him any of his own bullshit. They had a mutual understanding. Say less instead of more.
“You want the usual?” Kurogiri asks, because that’s all that he needed to know about his friend’s long absence.
“Sure. Make it a double in fact. I have some drinking to catch up on,” Touya grins at him.
Kurogiri shrugs and does exactly as told, placing a heavy drink down in front of the man. Touya doesn’t hesitate to down it all in two gulps. He slams the glass back down on the table and shakes his head a bit, really feeling the burn down his throat.
“Fuck, yeah. Give me another.”
“Tonight is gonna be one of those nights, huh?”
“If by one of those nights you mean drinking and fucking, then yes. Yes, it is. Cheers.” Touya toasts to Kurogiri before he downs his second drink.
“Just don’t go starting any fights in the bar.”
“I make no promises.”
“Dabi?! Dabi! I thought that was you! Heeeey!”
Touya turns his head and sees a familiar face surrounded by more familiar faces. It seems that he’s been made. He gives Kurogiri a smirk and a small salute before he walks off to join his companions. Tonight is a night he doesn’t have to worry about his title, his family, the mountain of fucking paperwork his brother gives him, or entertaining his niece and nephews to make sure he’s the favorite. Tonight all Touya wants to do is get shit faced drunk and maybe join an orgy or two. He’s been such a good alpha lately, it was really starting to make his skin crawl.
Tonight seemed like the perfect night as well. The League had dozens of bodies packed into the establishment, drunkards and riffrafts making themselves right at home. There were a lot of faces that Touya recognized and a couple that he didn’t. There was actually one in particular that caught his eye as he scanned the room.
“What’s the deal with that group?” Touya asks.
“Huh? Who?”
“Blondie over there and his small crew.”
“Oh, you mean the incredibly gorgeous man with the heart melting smile?”
“Hey, keep talking like that and you’ll have me thinking you don’t want me to fuck you until you can’t walk straight tonight.”
“Hahaha, you know you’re my favorite, Dabi. From what I heard they’re not from around here and are only visiting. I’m not sure why they want to visit this place, or how they even found it, but they paid for everyone’s first round of drinks, so they seem pretty cool.”
“Not from around here, huh?”
Touya grows still when gold eyes stare directly at him all of a sudden. It was as if the man knew he was talking about him through all the loud music and voices because he quickly looked over and caught his gaze. The moment their eyes meet Touya feels like he’s choking.
“Dabi…Dabi!”
Pain breaks him out of that hypnotic gaze. Touya flinches and looks over at his friend.
“Keep looking like that and you’ll make me think that you don’t want to fuck me until I can’t walk anymore.”
“Fuck you.”
“Uh huh, sure. You’re drooling, you know.”
Touya glares…but he still wipes his mouth off to make sure that wasn’t the case. He didn’t know what happened back there. It was a strange moment. Touya had never seen anyone so…so beautiful before. He had no reason to lie to himself. The man was drop dead gorgeous, completely different from his usuals. He wouldn’t mind taking him away and showing him a good time. Not now though. No, Touya isn’t that desperate. The night is still very young and he hasn’t observed this mysterious stranger enough.
No, Touya likes to stalk his prey before he goes for the kill, so that’s exactly what he does. He spends the next few hours enjoying himself, working the room, and drinking like a sailor. His eyes return back to the beautiful foreigner every so often and he picks up little details about him each time. Like how similar in height they are, or how bushy his blonde eyebrows seem to be, and the strange outline around his eyes that makes them look sharper and darker because Touya has never seen that before. It has to be make-up or something, maybe a trait or custom from where this foreigner is from. The most curious and interesting thing Touya discovers is when he’s up on the second floor looking down at the blonde cutie and he sees something on the back of his neck. Touya can’t make it out from here, but there is definitely something on his skin. He can see the colors black and red painted on him, but can’t make out the image. How badly Touya wants to find out what it may be.
It’s strange how obsessed he becomes over his prey. Whenever he moves, Touya moves as well. He always wants him to be in his line of sight, always wants to be able to glance over and see him immediately. The more Touya drinks, the less it makes sense. The man seems to enjoy himself immensely. He always has a huge smile on his face and his laughter rings out loudly every few minutes. He seems very chummy with all of his friends because he’s always hanging over them or touching them in some way. He’s also very nice to the usual patrons here. Touya feels a burning in his stomach whenever he sees him flirt. A wink here, a gentle kiss on a hand there; one person even tripped and fell right onto him.
Touya came here for a good night to blow off some steam, but the exact opposite happens. He feels as tight and stressed out as ever and his drinking doesn’t make it any better. The night still feels young, despite several hours passing by, but it seems his prey had had enough fun. One by one the little group rises, two of them splitting apart to talk with Kurogiri at the bar (most likely to pay off their tab), while the others saucer their way to the exit. Touya waited too long to approach. He was waiting for his moment, but that moment never came. No, he didn’t create that moment. He had no idea why, but he was hesitant to approach the man despite that being all he wanted to do. Ever since he first laid his eyes on him Touya wanted to devour him…but it seems like lady luck was not on his side tonight. He could go after him, see where else he goes for the night, or try to make his move right now before he leaves. Touya looks at the bottom of his cup and spots a tiny bit of alcohol left in it. He could…but he doesn’t. Looks like he’ll have to satisfy himself with an orgy or something tonight. Touya downs the rest of his drink and slams it back on the table. He could do a lot worse. He lifts up his hand to wipe the back of his mouth off and glances towards the exit again, planning on watching his prey escape him.
“Hey.”
Touya blinks. He slowly turns his head and lifts his gaze upwards. Now when in the world did this golden beauty get in front of him? Touya gets a better view of him now that he’s so close. His eyebrows are very bushy, even more so up close. There is definitely make up around his eyes, pitch black and sharp. It makes his golden eyes stand out like the rising sun. Touya didn’t notice it before, but he has a bit of peach fuzz on his chin. It was so faint he couldn’t see it from afar. Touya’s hands twitch on the table, the urge to brush his fingers against it rising up inside of him.
“I’m Hawks. You know, I’ve been feeling your eyes on me all night. I’m used to people wanting me, but your gaze was something else. I was waiting for you to make your move, but you took way too long to do it. Now you’ve gone and missed your chance since I’m going to leave now and have a great night with someone else. A few words of advice? Don’t eye fuck someone all night and then choke.”
Touya feels something snap inside of him. He places his hands on the table and slowly stands up. They looked around the same height earlier, but it’s clear that Touya stands a few inches taller as he stares down at him, looming over him.
“Do you know who I am? Actually, that was a rhetorical question, because if you did you wouldn’t dare to speak to me like that.”
Touya attempts to make himself look dangerous and intimidating, but the golden beauty doesn’t flinch at all. He simply lifts up one of his eyebrows as he meets Touya’s gaze head-on.
“I probably would have a clue if you actually walked up and talked to me instead of choking.”
“I wasn’t choking,” Touya growls out.
“Oye, don’t get mad at me because you lost your chance.”
“I didn’t lose anything. You must have a bird brain if you think that anyone here is going to give you a better night than me.”
“Ha! Hahahaha!” Hawks tosses his head back as he laughs. Touya can’t take his eyes off of him. “I can’t say I’ve ever been insulted that way before. Let’s pretend for a second that what you just said might be true. I might be about to experience a…eh, mediocre night, but at least I’m going to be with an actual alpha instead of a shadow that lurks in corners. Your eyes held so much fire and desire for me earlier, but now they look pitiful and weak as that fire flickers into nothingness.”
Touya feels himself snap a second time. He invades Hawks space, nearly slamming their foreheads together. Again, he doesn’t back down. He doesn’t waver at all as he meets his gaze head on. Touya cracks his knuckles one by one.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
Hawks smirks at him, the bushy eyebrow fucker. “I’d love to find out, but I’ve already made previous arrangements. Sooooo, unless you plan on doing something about that, I’m afraid I have to go.”
Hawks leans up and brushes their lips together for a quick peck before pulling away. He walks backwards and shoots him a wink before turning around. Touya stands there for a bit. Not a long enough time for Hawks to leave with whatever sorry ass he had chosen, but enough time to realize that he’s glad he never made that promise to Kurogiri.