DabiHawks Escaped Convict A/U

9, On His Way

Day Eleven
~

“'I'll only be gone for a day,” Keigo said, as he spooned chicken soup into his mouth. Him and Touya were in the tiny kitchen, Touya searching for some sort of food to make a meal. He didn't find more soup, but a single tin of tuna. With a sigh, he closed the cabinet, not feeling hungry enough to eat it. Fish wasn't his most favoured food.

“Yeah, and what am I gonna do without you?” He paused, realising how needy that sounded. “I mean…I'll just be bored.”

Keigo shrugged and dumped his bowl in the sink, washing it like a good man. When he was done he placed the bowl aside and dried his hands on the thighs of his trousers, while Touya's eyes followed their movement like the total fucking perv he was. He turned his head and ran a hand through his thick black hair, cheeks tinged with red.

“You could see your family?” Keigo suggested, oblivious to his friend's blush. “You already know where they live. Everyone knows where the Todoroki household is. You could visit them.”

Touya wrinkled his nose, scornfully. “What, I just show up on their doorstep like ‘I'm home!’ and expect everything to be normal again?”

“Basically. Well, except for the normal bit.” Touya shook his head.

“That won't work. What if they're scared of me? I'm pretty sure Shoto won't even remember what I look like, and I hardly remember him anyway. They'll think I'm only back to murder him for real.”

Keigo placed his hands on his hips, giving Touya a look.

“They're your family! Murderer or not, they can't shun you away and act like you never existed. It's not just you, they've got to face the past as well, and you're the first step. Why are you so bothered about it all?”

“I don't know. You're going to fly over 500 miles, not even being completely sure if you'll find your family, while I'll sit here doing absolutely nothing. I just feel kinda useless.”

The truth was, at least, what he thought it was - was that he was just scared Keigo was moving on, while he stayed the exact same man he always was. Keigo was going to go out there and discovering things while Touya was shying away like a wimp.

“I feel like I'm not trying when I want to, but I just can't…make myself. Things are complicated.” He was suddenly very aware how much of a bitch he sounded, whining to his friend when he had his own problems.

“You know…” Keigo snatched a few cans of Coke from the tiny fridge they had, which honestly looked more like a cooled box with a door attached to it. “I think that's called procrastination.” He shoved the cans into his backpack he had dumped on the floor and hoisted it up onto one shoulder, then hopped into the stainless steel table and swung his legs around, so he was on Touya's side.

Touya folded his arms and looked away. Keigo knew he was sulking, and rolled his eyes.

“Hey. You never know if they'll accept you for who you are now if you never try. I don't know how it works, but I'm pretty sure siblings are supposed to be inseparable.”

“What do you mean ‘who I am now’? Have I changed? Am I different?” Keigo smiled at the confused frown on his face.

“Different or not, your brothers and sister - and mother - will love you no matter what. Trust me, I'm sure even Shoto will be glad to see you.”

If Keigo had said Shoto would be glad, it'd basically mean: ‘He would be glad to see you, if you visited him.’ But because Keigo had said ‘will,’ it told Touya that his friend was confident enough he would see the Todoroki's, like he was predicting it. Keigo showed no doubt by saying will - he was that sure, and Touya could tell just by the use of that one word.

They sat in silence for about a minute before Touya grunted, pushing himself off of the work table. “Sorry for bothering you with my problems,” he said. “And…you should probably get going now. Kyushu's a long way away.”

Keigo nodded and slid off the table, heading for the door while gripping the straps of his tightly packed backpack. He paused in the doorway, and after a short, friendly wave, left. It was rather abrupt, in Touya's opinion. He had thought something more heart warming would have happened, but when he tried to think of what that heart warming thing would be, his mind came up blank.

Touya frowned to himself, also heading out of the door, after Keigo. The roof was most likely where he would be leaving from, and as Touya climbed up the steps of the fire escape, he picked up the pace, suddenly desperate to watch Keigo leave.

Once he got up to the top, his stomach flipped when he saw Keigo was still there, not preparing to fly or anything, just, standing there.

“Why haven't you gone?”

Keigo jumped at the voice, then turned around to see Touya walking towards him with a confused look on his face. He stepped down from the low wall that went around the sides of the flat roof and sighed.

“I um…I was getting ready.”

“No you weren't. You were just looking out. What's wrong?”

Keigo grinned, but Touya saw through it. “Nothing is wrong-” Touya did not look convinced. “Okay, I just- I haven't flown for..." He swallowed thickly. "For six years.”

“So you've forgotten, or you just can't now? If it's the second, it only proves my theory of you actually being a chicken instead of a hawk.”

“Bro. My wings are fully grown. I can fly.”

“So you're just nervous.”

Keigo smiled sheepishly. “I suppose.” He straightened his posture, placing his hands on his hips and sticking his chest out. “But flying is a bird's natural instinct, is it not?”

“You're sounding like Sako now.”

Keigo punched him playfully. Touya punched him back, looking over at him with a wide smile. Keigo was laughing beside him, and at that moment Touya silently relished in the fact that he had the bestest friend anyone could ever have.

Friend…

“Hey, I'll call you, 'kay? To check how things are going. Tomorrow. Let's say, 2pm?”

 Keigo shrugged. “Sure.”

They parted, and once again Keigo stood up onto the ledge, spreading his wings to their full length. It cast a huge shadow over Touya, and with the sun in front of both of them, Keigo could have easily been mistaken for some sort of fallen angel.

He did a few warm up flaps, but stopped suddenly, turning around. Touya quirked an eyebrow, but widened his eyes when Keigo leapt off the ledge and ran right at him. Before he could process what was happening, Keigo's arms were wrapped around him tightly, and he awkwardly hugged him back, feeling his face heat up again. He did definitely not see this coming.

“I'll miss you,” he said.

“I'll…miss you too,” Touya found himself saying. Keigo smiled and then, with a single, graceful flap of his wings, shot up into the sky. There was a slight breeze afterwards, and red feathers scattered around the scarred man.  As he squinted in the daylight, Touya could see Keigo getting smaller and smaller as he disappeared over the city's buildings, not looking back once.

Keigo never let his limits get in the way of his dreams, but Touya couldn't help but hope his friend wouldn't get too caught up in the impossible and come crashing back down to earth like Icarus.