Just Say No

Friends

  The next morning, Keigo sat out in front of his favorite yakitori restaurant. He tapped his foot rapidly and took deep shaky breaths, waiting for Rumi. It wasn't long till the bunny hero appeared near him, grinning brightly.  

  "Hey, Kei. What did you want to see me for? I didn't think you wanted to see me after you bailed on me yesterday to do some interview for the commission," She teased. Keigo chuckled awkwardly, picking a bit at his arm. 

  "Sorry about that. Duty sort of called. I had to go in. Besides, I saw on your Instagram that you were meeting with some pretty lady yesterday. I knew you would fall to the charms of the Todoroki family one of these days!" Keigo laughed. There was something hollow behind his laugh, but Rumi didn't mention it, not wanting to upset him.

  "So... How are you? I mean after you called me a couple of nights ago and-" 

  "I... I'm fine. There's nothing that you have to worry about, okay? I was just really out of my element that night. I'm okay now," He looked down at his hands quietly. 

  'Yeah, you're never in your element, Kigo. You're worthless. There isn't a single thing that you can do right. There never was,' Hawks didn't flinch at the voice this time. There wasn't much use arguing with the truth, now was there? He strained his cheeks a little bit more to make his smile a little bit wider. 

  "Yeah Ummm, no. I know you, and you don't just have a panic attack for no reason," Rumi sat across from Keigo and gently took his hand, smiling sweetly in a kind older sister sort of way, "You can trust me with these sorts of things. I want to be able to help you, so c'mon. Spill." Her words made Keigo's smile falter just a bit, but he forced himself to keep it up. His eyes started to sting, but he held the tears at bay. 

  "I just made a little fuck up on my mission. It wasn't anything big really. You know me. I'm not exactly the calmest person in the world. I'm fine now," Keigo said. He had to fight the urge to start scratching at his arm in the moment. Rumi sighed. 

"Hawks... I really think that you should go see a therapist. You have a lot of shit in your head, and you need to get it sorted out soon before-" 

 "Rumi, I'm fine, okay?... Can we just have a nice lunch for a while? I don't want to talk about this," He kept his eyes down. Rumi sighed softly, frowning deeply. 

 "I'm sorry... We can stop talking about this, I just... You know that I worry about you. I can't just leave it alone when I know that you're hurting inside. I love you," 

  "I know you do... I never doubted that you did. I kind of just... I want to spend some time together where I don't run the risk of frustrating you or pissing you off, y'know..." Keigo mumbled. He called one of his feathers into his hands, and he began wringing it and picking at it nervously. He felt eyes on him when no one was even looking in their direction. He had to take a moment to breathe. "I'm... really sorry, Rumi... I just don't want to upset you right now is all."Rumi got up and hugged him tightly, quiet as a mouse. She didn't let go or head back to her seat till she knew for sure that Keigo was okay.

For the rest of the lunch, neither of them brought up Keigo's anxiety even once, trying to keep everything happy and in balance. Keigo even made more of an effort to push his emotions down into the deepest depths of his mind. It wasn't long till he was walking the streets alone again, starring at the ground in front of him. Halfway to his agency, he was approached by Jin who stopped him in his tracks. 

 "Hey, Hawks! Just the man I wanted to see. Do you maybe wanna come back to my place in a bit, and- hey... what's wrong?" Jin stopped beside Keigo. There were fresh tear tracks on the hero's face, and his eyes were all red and puffy. Keigo shook his head and rubbed his eyes a bit.