DabiHawks Escaped Convict A/U

15, Mission Failed

Cold.

That was the first thing Keigo was able to sense.

Before he opened his eyes, he shuffled a bit, feeling out the ground underneath him. It was hard and gravelly. It hurt him.

On instinct he tried to wrap his wings around himself for comfort and warmth, but nothing happened. His wings felt oddly light, the weight on his sore back gone, and he opened his eyes. This was most definitely not his hotel bed.

He was outside. On the fucking ground.

How did I get here?

Hawks blinked repeatedly, trying to get his eyes to focus on the world around him. It was…dark. There was a breeze which sent a chill down his spine due to his lack of feathers, and he shivered. When he stood up, he banged his head on the steps of the fire escape above him, and stumbled a little, grumbling to himself.

The night sky was already speckled with stars when he looked up, a confused expression on his face. From his pocket he brought out his phone, squirming as the bright screen lit up. It showed him the time there clearly: 8:12pm

Keigo couldn't believe it. He had been out cold for over 5 hours,

Did no one pass? Did no one see him - a hurt, bleeding, unconscious man - and call for help? Keigo couldn't help but feel terribly unlucky and lucky at the same time that no one had payed him any attention, if there were passerbys in this alley.

A sudden thought struck him and he checked his notifications, groaning in annoyance when he saw just how many missed calls were from Touya, along with spammed messages. He quickly went onto the ‘phone’ app and typed in Touya's number, but the screen unexpectedly turned black.

“Dammit!” Touya must have been so worried, but now Keigo couldn't even call him back because he had been such a fucking idiot, forgetting to charge his phone before going out.

Before he had walked long on the street, he came across a phone box and decided to try his luck. Shutting the door behind him, he stabbed each number's button in order of Touya's mobile, and waited in vain as it dialed.

This call cannot be received right now. Please try again later, or leave a message after the tone.

He tried again, and again, and again. But still the same answer.

What the fuck is he doing right now?

After contemplating for a few seconds, Keigo decided to just leave a voicemail instead, hoping that next time Touya picked up his phone, he would listen to it. He held the telephone up to the side of his face and waited for the right time to start speaking.

“Hey Touya, it's Kei. I hope everything's going well with your family. If you've seen them, that is. Mine…well, I still haven't found my mother yet. But my father's in jail. I found out only a few days ago and I have no idea where to start for my mother now that- oh yeah, my old house was abandoned when I found it, nobody's been there for years, so…” he trailed off. Keigo wasn't the type of person that bothered other people with his problems, he felt like a burden if he did so, and he really didn't want Touya to worry. He went quiet a moment, taking a deep breath.

“Look, I know I said I'd only be here for one night but I might have to stay for longer now, because…things have just gotten complicated. I honestly don't know how to summarise everything up for you but…before I go I just want to tell you that-”

The line beeped.

Keigo's amber eyes widened. “No…no, no, no!” he exclaimed, beating the machine with his fist. Like that would make it work better.

“Oh, for the love of- just fucking work, you piece of shit!” The phone machine stubbornly refused as he gave it one last punch - more out of anger than to try and make it function again.

He frantically searched his pockets for coins but found none, groaning as he hung his head in defeat, running a hand down his face.

I just want to tell you that I miss you.

Keigo frowned.

And I…love you?

The man pulled his hand away from his face when realising that his knuckles were bleeding, and he sighed. He stepped outside, shutting the door roughly, frustrated. It slammed loudly, but he didn't hear it well because his mind went back to the events earlier that day. He touched his ear now - the blood was crusted around and had also made its way into his hair, which didn't feel nice. And to go with his injuries, he was cold and hungry. All of his food and money were in his rucksack in his room, and because he only had small feathers left, he couldn't fly, so slowly began his walk back to the hotel, shoving his hands in his pockets.

How he wished he had a place he could call home, a place where it could just be him and Touya together. A place where Keigo could go to for comfort and safety, where all his troubles melted away.

Instead, they just kept piling up.

Endlessly.

By the time Keigo reached the hotel, he could barely stand from tiredness. It had taken him a good three hours to walk back at his slow pace, but now he felt like he was going to collapse again. Walking with a limp didn't help at all, each step sending a throbbing pain through his leg.

The way up to his room's balcony was far too high for him to climb in his weakened state, so he just went into the reception and signed in, saying he had been a day late due to transportation delays.

Because of no feathers, he could easily hide his true identity - I mean, his wings were his most distinguishable feature, why would the average citizen pay attention to anything else? It wasn't like the wings would just disappear one day, right?

Wrong.

Though Keigo wasn't going to correct them.

When he finally reached the top floor, he was breathing heavily, not used to so much exercise. The keys in his hand slipped out of his fingers and he mumbled a curse, sighing through his nose as he picked it up and tried again. At last it fit into the keyhole and he twisted it, grateful for the familiar smell of lemon scented air freshener.

Keigo practically fell onto the bed after fumbling around with his phone charger, and glorified the soft, cozy mattres. He closed his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately. The last thing he thought of was the moment he'd be going back to Touya, and be greeted by his handsome face.