Are You Mine? - A Cheating Hawks story

The Realisation

"K-Keigo?"

The word sounded like a gunshot, both through the silence and through my heart.

This had to be a joke, a cruel twist of fate...right? Or was I dreaming right now? No, the pain in my ankle reminded me that this was, indeed, reality. My eyes began to ache with dryness as I realised that I hadn't taken them off of the gruesome scene in front of me, not even to blink.

The man that sat in chains in front of me was a shell of his former self; beaten, bruised, withering away. Clothes tattered and burnt from a lost fight. And his wings...how had I not noticed the plumes of feathers covering the ground around him before? What happened?

He worked to lift his head to make eye contact. God, those beautiful sunset eyes. I could see from where I was that they had lost their sparkle.

"B-baby B-bird," his voice was hoarse and dry, "wha...how...did you find me?"

I couldn't answer him. I couldn't even answer the questions flying through my own mind; why is he here? How is he here? What's going on?

"Baby Bird?" though his voice was weak, Keigo could still command my attention. I looked up at him from my kneeling position, brain still trying to comprehend everything.

"Where's everyone else?"

Everyone else? What did he mean by everyone else?

Internally, I was fighting between scrambling over to hug him and tell him everything will be fine and screaming every cuss word under the sun at him. Flashbacks of him in bed with someone else lingered at the forefront of my memory.

Laughter echoed around the room; I only noticed that it was mine when I ran out of breath. My chest heaved, trying desperately to get oxygen back to my lungs, "this...this is a joke, you're not done tormenting me, so you've set this up...right? Right?"

That wasn't it. It wasn't what I wanted to do, what I wanted to say.

"W-wait, what do you mean?" Keigo's eyes were hurt, confused.

It's not too late, just shut up and hug him!

"Where is she? Is she in on it too?" My head twisted to look around the room maniacally. My eyes had become custom to the dark now, so I quickly learnt that it was otherwise empty.

"KID!" The sudden rise in his voice caused me to halt, and him to cough and groan in pain.

I felt the all too familiar sting of tears in my eyes as I dropped my head.

"Where. Is. Everyone. Else?" Keigo said this between clenched teeth, desperation seeping into his words.

"I don't know what you mean by 'everyone else'!" I swung my head back to look at him, holding back the tears with the venom that saturated my words, "were you fucking around with others too? Hm? Shall we just invite them all here so we can have a fucking orgy?"

He recoiled from my unabashed anger, sullen eyes now wide with bewilderment, pain, turmoil. Silence fell between us again for several moments.

"I...don't understand..." Keigo's voice was small, childlike, "I'd never, ever cheat on you." If his hands were free, I could tell they would be clutching my face right now.

"Don't fucking lie to me! I walked in on you the other day! "Sorry, Songbird," was it?" It was no good, the tears won and started to descend my face in unending streams. I couldn't look away from him though, I needed him to see how much he had hurt me.

"The other da..." the bewilderment in Keigo's face was replaced by confusion, then realisation, and finally blatant and profound anger. "Those FUCKING..." He started to cough and wince before he could finish his statement. Blood sprayed from his mouth, painting the ground between us. This time I rushed to him, ignoring the searing pain throbbing through my ankle.

"Shit, shit! Keigo!" I precariously placed my hands on either side of his injured face, crimson streaks running down his chin. My spitefulness had been replaced by concern as the hero in front of me paled. "Keigo?"

He steadied his breathing and forced his tired eyes to stay fixed on me, "Baby Bird, I...I never made it to my work trip...I've been stuck here all that time."

Everything came to a halt - my tears, my breathing, my heartbeat.

He's...been here...

Guilt rushed over me like a tidal wave, consuming every fibre of my being. The cogs in my mind worked to piece everything together; if he's been here this whole time, then who did I see in the apartment?

"Oh, Keigo," I gently caressed his cheek with my thumb, "I'm so sorry...I...how? Who? What did they do to you?" I glanced at the feathers mindlessly floating around my feet. Something's not right.

Keigo's lips forced themselves into a small smile, I could tell he was trying to comfort me, even in the state he was in. The smile faded as he began to recall the traumatic events.

"I had made it out of the city and was flying over an abandoned suburban area when I was intercepted by the League of Villains. Obviously, I put up a hell of a fight," he huffed a small, proud laugh, "but something was off, I...I didn't...I couldn't..." Keigo's brow furrowed in frustration, sitting in a thoughtful silence for a few moments before continuing, "no-one was around to help, I was about to call for backup but...someone...somehow they outwitted me and injected me with something...and then I woke up here." He leant into my palm, I didn't know whether it was out of love or exhaustion. I couldn't say anything, what could you say in this sort of situation? But Keigo wasn't finished. "I woke up as Toga was draining me of blood and Twice was blabbing about a new experimental drug they were testing on me." The whole 'being drained of blood' would explain his lack of colour, but what about the drug?

"What dru..." my sentence was cut short, feeling Keigo's tears trickle over my fingers.

"It's gone," his voice cracked through the lump in his throat.

"Wh..what's gone?" I was trying desperately to keep the fear out of my question. I hoped with everything I had that he wasn't about to confirm my deepest suspicion. The broken hero refused to look at me as the next words fell from his mouth,

"my quirk."

Red feathers floated lazily across the room in mockery, only small, soft down remained where his regal wings had once expanded. It explained how he hadn't just escaped; the number two hero could have easily freed himself if this were any normal scenario. What do you say to someone who had just had their quirk taken from them? Especially if that person's entire existence was based solely on it? Though, there was still something niggling at the back of my mind that I had to ask before anything else.

"Keigo," I tugged gently on his face to look at me, "if you've been here, then who did I see at your apartment?" Tears still lingered in his eyes, he opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a gush of wind.

"Awww, isn't this nice! The two love birds, reunited," I recognised the raspy voice before I turned to see him emerging from the warp that had opened, "and how virtuous of you for forgiving that cheating bastard!" A crazed laugh filled the room as the rest of Shigaraki's crew seeped through the blackness. Dabi stepped out last. His appearance stirred up a number of emotions, lust, guilt, sadness, but nothing could compare to the seething betrayal that threatened to bubble over and attack him. He didn't meet my stare and instead found interest in a wayward feather on the ground. It had taken me a while to comprehend Shigaraki's words, then the realisation hit like a shit tonne of bricks.

"Cheating bastard?! How could he possibly cheat if he were here this whole time? You fucking set this up!" The fear I initially had felt for him was overtaken by rage and hatred. I stood, letting my uninjured ankle bear my weight as I shielded Keigo to my best ability. This time it was Toga's piercing cackle that breached the area as she took a few steps forward, bringing a small vial out of her pocket and quickly downing the dark liquid contents as she began to rid herself of her clothes. Her form shifted and rippled before us, almost as if she had bugs under her skin. The air left my lungs like a punch to the gut as I comprehended what was happening.

Crimson wings flourished before me, attached to a familiar muscular frame adorned in a fur-lined coat and black top. A menacing smile crept onto a well-structured face, golden eyes glistening sadistically behind yellow glasses. The figure swaggered forward until they were within arm's reach, then bent forward condescendingly to look me dead in the eyes, face so close I could feel hot breath tickle my skin.

"Hello again, Songbird."