Smile For The Camera ~ Dabi x Hawks💙🧡

Chest Pains

POV HAWKS

The Todorokis live in a mansion, and Touya is completely unfazed by it. We stalk around the outside gate made up of black fancy metal, and I can't stop my jaw from dropping at the size of the house. It's like a castle! "This way," Touya says, nodding toward the back of the house. His footsteps are practically silent, and so I try to copy his every movement. It's like all my training at the hero program drains when I need it most. "Can you fly me over the gate?" Touya asks, tugging up his black hoodie.

I nod with determination, wrapping my arms across his torso and my legs around his waist. I flap my wings as Touya jumps, and we volt over the fence almost flawlessly. Our landing, though, was not smooth whatsoever. I dropped Touya a little too early, causing him to tumble forward. I fall after attempting and failing to catch him, landing myself in a thorny bush. "Oww!" I whine, crawling out of the bush. "That sucked! You good?"

"Quiet," Touya says, brushing the dirt off of his pants. "No alarms went off, so that means the old man deactivated the sound-sensors. You're one lucky piece of shit." Touya gestures toward an open window up on the second floor, and I let my gaze follow. "Fuyumi always keeps her window open at night because she likes the cold, whether she's staying here or at her apartment. There's a 50% chance that she's in there right now, but we're gonna have to take it. We can't risk setting off any door alarms, and the rest of the windows are locked."

"So, want me to give you a lift up there?" I ask, rolling my shoulders back. Touya shakes his head softly.

"If we land like we did getting over the fence, we're screwed. You're gonna have to go by yourself."

I purse my lips together as the dark thoughts come crashing down again. I try not to let the memories come back, but I'm not strong enough. They over power me, like water filling my lungs. I'm at the bottom of a deep, dark ocean, seconds away from death. The hairs on my body stand up as goosebumps spread over my skin like wildfire. 

"You can do this, Keigo," Touya whispers to me with his hands on either side of my face. I force my gaze at him, staring into his blue eyes. "You just need to get in there and turn the security system off. You're a trained hero, remember? Don't think about anything besides your training, and I promise I'll be by your side again before you know it."

"T-Touya," I choke out. "What if he... what if..."

"Endeavor is a prick,'' Touya snaps, "and I already promised I won't let someone like him hurt you ever again. Trust me, Keigo. You've got this. The security system is on the third floor, a tiny iron door on the wall outside of Enji's room. Open the door and press the blue button."

I nod slowly as I step back. A deep inhale, a slow exhale. I propel myself upward until I'm at Fuyumi's window. The window itself is pushed up, but I have to pop the screen out before I can get in. I manage successfully, slipping through the opening silently. Fuyumi is asleep at her desk with papers scattered around her and the lamp beside her still on. It seems like she fell asleep grading papers.

I tiptoe to the door and pull it open slowly. It doesn't even creak. The stairs are to the left of me, but before I can go up them, I freeze. In front of me is the bathroom. The door is closed, and the light is on. Panic rises in my chest, and for a few solid moments, I'm already convinced I'm dead. The sound of the toilet flushing snaps me awake, and my fight or flight reflexes kick in. I choose flight.

I propel myself up the stairs, making a sharp right. The small iron door is on the wall, about at my eye level, right where Touya said it would be. I pull it open and click the blue button. "Deactivating house security," the machine says.

"Hawks?" growls a deep voice from behind me. My blood runs cold. "What are you doing?" I can't talk. I can't move. I can't fucking breathe. Endeavor grabs my shoulder and spins me around, throwing me against the wall. Fire erupts from his face and his hands as he looms over me. "Answer me! Why are you in my house, deactivating my security?!"

I open my mouth, but no words come out. Tears are streaming down my face, and in my mind I'm begging Touya to hurry up and save me. Endeavor lifts his fist abruptly, and I flinch, wrapping my wings around me and dropping down. "D-don't!" I cry out. My chest is tight, and I just wish I was dead already. "Please!"

"Get up," Endeavor growls. I don't move a muscle, so he grabs my upper arm and yanks me to my feet. He throws his bedroom door open and slams it behind us. I scramble away from him, but it's no use. I'm going to die. "Hawks," Endeavor says. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."

"St-stay away from me!" I scream at him, backing up to the window. I just need to get it open, then I can fly away. I reach for the lock, not daring to take my eyes off Endeavor.

"Calm down," Endeavor says. "Sit on the bed."

I pause, feeling my legs give out under me. I don't want to. I'm allowed to have that choice. I don't want to, so I don't have to. Just open the window, open the window...

"I could kill you right now," Endeavor hisses. "Sit on the fucking bed."

I do as he says out of fear, not out of strategy. I need to remember my training, but I can't. Everytime I close my eyes, there's just the tiled floor from the bathroom and blood clouding my eyes. I'm not bleeding, am I? I don't think so. Why do I feel like I'm bleeding? There's a hard smack across my face, but I don't feel it until moments after it's done. The stinging in my face transfers to a ringing in my ears. My ribs are squeezing my lungs, and I can't breathe. I don't know if I even want to breathe.

I don't know what's happening around me. My vision is blurry, my ears are still ringing, and my body is too cold to feel anything. My hands tremble so much that I don't trust myself to move, so I just wrap my wings around myself and hope that it'll be over soon. My chest hurts. My head hurts. I feel like I'm on fire.

"Up," Endeavor growls at me. He grabs me by the hair and throws me into his closet as if I'm a dirty piece of laundry. He slams the doors and zip ties the handles together. My consciousness withers as Endeavor's footsteps get more and more distant. I drift underwater with the scent of burning flesh permeating the room.