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The door slammed shut behind you as you flew into your apartment’s living room. Pure rage radiated from your body as you blindly tore off your boots, throwing them against the front door. You barely noticed that the rubber scuffed the paint, not that you would’ve cared anyways.
You had been at your breaking point for weeks, always teetering on the edge with no end in sight. Constant exhaustion racked your body from working full time. This year just sucked. It sucked so fucking bad. After finishing up school, you felt extremely directionless. Getting a job in the real world was awful, after spending literal years training and studying for it to be absolutely useless in your actual job as a pro-hero. Your hands threaded through your hair and you screamed, so frustrated with the world. The power in your apartment surged as your quirk activated, seemingly triggered by your agitated state. Everything became too much at once. You tore off your jacket, your socks, and the extra bits to your hero costume, trying to reduce external stimulation as much as possible while remaining comfortable. Of course, now would be the most fucking perfect time for your quirk’s side effects to bother you.
You suddenly became conscious of your pacing, but you couldn’t do anything to stop it. The metaphorical holes that you carved into the floor with your motions were the only things you could recognize as a form of stability. It felt as if your body was on autopilot, your mind so frazzled that you couldn't think of anything other than rage, grief, and sadness. Everyday was like a new traumatic incident. While on patrol today, this creep grabbed you while his buddy had you distracted. It was their whole plan, apparently, to “grab some hero tits.” Apparently, you were “a little too rough” when bringing them in. You were sent home early and told to relax, but you knew you were being punished for your actions.
All of this bullshit was so hard to deal with on a daily basis. You worked so hard as a pro-hero, barely affording rent and your piling debt, with no free time to do anything fun. Money as a concept pissed you off, and the fact that you had to pay to stay alive made your blood boil. It was impossible to take care of yourself and do your job well. You were so close to snapping, more or less ready to lose it every day. The power surged again as your quirk reactivated, causing your head to throb and your jaw to clench.
You were suddenly filled with an urge to destroy, to harm, to break. Thoughts of throwing yourself off the balcony, kicking holes in your walls, intrusive thought after intrusive thought entered your mind. And what exactly were you supposed to do with that? As much as you hated to admit it, you could understand why people became villains. The bureaucracy of hero society was fucked up, and you could admit that. It threw so many people under the water, only to drown and struggle to remain afloat. If your circumstances were maybe slightly more unlucky, you were sure that you would’ve been one of them. You let out another scream, fed the fuck up with your thoughts and the overstimulation of existing right now. And you snapped. Like a rubberband, it was violent and sudden.
Grabbing pillows, blankets, books, whatever you could get your angry little hands on, you flung your belongings around the apartment. An assortment of obscenities flew from your lips, enraged and exhausted. Water and flowers showered your rug as you knocked a vase off the coffee table. The sound of shattering brought you back to reality, broken glass embedding itself in the carpet fibers. You just stood there, defeated, looking at the crumpled flowers that your boyfriend had given you yesterday laying all over the floor. Intense guilt flooded your heart, and your back hit the wall behind you. You slid down, tears spilling off your cheeks and onto your knees. For what felt like hours, you sat there, fingers threaded roughly through your hair. Gently, your body rocked you back and forth in a calming motion, the repetition becoming obsession, and you couldn’t will yourself to stop.
Your mind raced a mile a minute in that position, thinking about everything and nothing. Disappearing seemed so appealing to you. Nobody would really care, and those who did would only get a mild burden off their backs when they came to terms with it. There were ways that you could fake your death. There were ways you could have a genuine death. Either option seemed extremely desirable, an opportunity to escape from this horrifying monotony that no amount of training could’ve prepared you for. The intense thinking seemed to pull your mind and body out of its trance, and you repeated to yourself things that you learned in therapy a while ago. This isn’t productive, be kinder to yourself, try to slow your mind and think rationally.
Trying to calm yourself down, you stood up and walked to the kitchen. You got a glass down from your cabinet and filled it with water from the tap, standing over the sink. Your shaky hand lifted the glass to your lips and feeling the water slide down your throat only made you choke and gag on your anxiety. The glass fell from your hand, shattering in the sink. In a panic, you started trying to pick up the shards of glass from the sink, not wanting them to go down and clog the drain. You didn't even recognize when the water in the sink ran red, your mind so numb to the pain and stress. The sound of the balcony door sliding open didn’t even register in your hazy mind.
Two hands wrapped around your wrists, snapping you back to the present. Pain radiated up your forearms, and you lifted your eyes to meet golden ones staring at you with concern.
“Hey dove, can you answer me?” Keigo spoke to you with honeyed words, dripping with worry and gentleness. He had turned off the water, moving your hands onto the counter top to carefully dry them and inspect the damage from the glass.
The feeling of his hands on your arms grounded you. “What? I didn’t hear… I’m sorry,” you mumbled, embarrassed at the state of yourself and your apartment, still a bit dazed from the hysteria.
You could tell that he was trying to push himself out of his initial panic upon seeing your upturned living room. It probably seemed as if somebody had broken in with the way everything was strewn about. Kei looked at you, and you shied away from his gaze, still embarrassed. “Are you okay, y/n? What happened? I came in and everything was just, well, yeah,” he murmured. One of his hands left your arm and came to cradle your cheek, moving your face to look at his.
Still overstimulated from your quirk, you flinched away. “Too much, sensitive,” you whispered.
Keigo understood this side effect of your quirk and took his hands off you. You listened to his feathers moving around the apartment as he moved a chair to you, motioning for you to sit. His feathers brought over a towel that Keigo lightly pressed into the cuts on your hands, trying to stop the bleeding, as well as some first aid stuff like bandages and whatnot. You weren’t all there to process what was happening.
“I’m sorry angel, I know that it’s uncomfortable, but I have to pull the glass out.” You could somewhat recognize tweezers in his hand, pulling at the glass in yours. There wasn’t much pain though, as your body went numb to your surroundings, going full circle on the overstimulation scale.
“Kei,” you murmured, looking the bloodied towel, conscious of how incredibly ashamed you were at your own mental state.
“Hey, there they are. I was missing you.” His voice was gentle, comforting.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I just got overwhelmed and… I’ve been having a harder time lately than I told you.”
He finished bandaging your hands and moved a hand to your knee, looking up to see if it was okay for him to touch you. You weren’t overstimulated anymore, and it felt nice to have physical contact with your boyfriend. He worked a lot, and you worked a lot, and nights together have been scarce lately. Lips gently brushed over your knuckles, a comforting gesture from him, and you met his eyes.
“Everything is okay, dove. You’re safe now, I’m here. Let me take care of you,” he motioned to pick you up, and you nodded your head.
His arms were safe and comfortable, strong and sturdy. Hard muscles flexed underneath you as he lifted you into his chest. Naturally, you leaned into him, your nose finding his neck. He smelled like pine, something like wet grass, a little sweaty from his patrol shift. It was undoubtedly his smell, a scent that you associated with home and safety. Keigo could feel you shaking and pulled you tighter into him.
Your body ached from overuse, and the winged man could feel your tight muscles beneath his hands. “Would you like a bath, angel?” When he felt you nodding against his chest, he turned towards your bathroom and his feathers begun preparing your bath. Times like these made his quirk invaluable to you, the way that he could hold you while doing some other task.
Steam from the water filled the air. You smelled the epsom salts and bubble bath that he poured into the water. Relaxing into him, you grabbed at his hero costume as much as you could without hurting your bandaged hands.
“I’m right here,” he cooed at you, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.
You were placed on the edge of the tub, Keigo never taking his hands off you. “Is it alright if I undress you? Your bath is ready, love.” He dipped a hand in the water, double checking to make sure that it wasn’t too hot for you.
With your nod and ‘mhm’ of confirmation, he knelt down and started to take off your socks with slow, gentle movements. The man was always so considerate and aware of your feelings when you were feeling tender. Warmth and gratitude flooded your chest, tears pricking at the corner of your eyes as he moved to take your shirt off, and you diverted your eyes so as to not worry him. Kei slipped your shirt over your head and injured hands carefully and helped you stand so he could slide off your pants.
Freshly naked, you were guided into the warm tub, feeling instant relief to your tense muscles. Your boyfriend shucked off his boots and rolled up his pants. His legs touched your hip as he dipped his feet in the water with you, sitting on the edge of the tub. It was so domestic and safe, you felt yourself finally relaxing into the water.
Your hand reached out for his, and he complied, lacing your fingers together. His thumb rubbed over the back of your hand in a gentle rhythm, and he lifted it to his lips in order to press soft kisses against your bandaged digits.
“Do you wanna talk about what happened?” He wasn’t pressuring you to talk, you knew that, but you could feel tension creeping back into your shoulders.
Golden eyes met yours, and you knew that you needed to tell him what you were feeling. Everything in his eyes screamed worry worry worry, and you didn’t want to hide from him anymore. The burden of feelings you were holding inside had become too much to contain, you knew, and here Keigo was, offering to lighten the load for you. Emotional repression was not a good look for you, judging by the state of your hands and your living room.
Nodding, you confessed everything that had been going on, the incident during the patrol you were on tonight, the immense amount of stress and loneliness. You could tell he was listening intently, not speaking and just acknowledging your words and lamentations. When you started crying, he handed you a washcloth and a small smile. The way he allowed you to break down in front of him was healing, and you could feel weight lifting off of your chest. He was patient with you, careful and kind. You felt something like love bloom about your heart.
“The bath is cold, Kei,” you murmured. “Will you help me out?”
“Of course, dove. I told you that I was going to take care of you.” Lips kissed your cheek as he stood up, pulling his legs out of the water.
He grabbed the fluffy towel from behind him with his feathers and reached under your arms, hoisting you against him, not caring if he got wet. The towel wrapped itself around you, cradling your tender body in its soft fuzziness. Keigo scooped you into his arms again, still wrapped in the blanket, and carried you to your bedroom. The bed dipped beneath you as he set you down on the edge.
Letting you go, he strode over to your dresser and rooted through the drawers, finding you something comfortable to wear. You rolled your eyes as he lifted a lacy pair of underwear in your direction, waggling his eyebrows.
“Ooooh,” he hummed with a goofy grin. A laugh erupted from your chest, feeling full of love and contentment. Even when you were having a tough time, Keigo never failed to make you laugh. It would be nice to have him around you more often, but between your busy work schedules and his apartment being across the city, the only times you really spent together was through specific planning and the occasional balcony visit from the winged hero.
It’s not that you were ungrateful for the time you spent together, no, you were greedy about it. You wanted more, you wanted to spend all your waking moments with the golden haired man.
After gathering your clothes, he carefully dressed you and kissed your forehead. “Kei, these are perfect. Do ya know, you picked out my favorite pjs?”
A sly smirk slowly grew across his face. “I know.”
You hummed in contentment, yawning and suddenly realizing how tired you were. It was the kind of exhaustion that went to the bone- the kind you get after an emotional episode when you finally relax.
Keigo sat down on the bed, right in the middle, stripping off pants and carefully pulling his shirt over his wings. “You look tired, dove. Would you like to rest?” He grabbed you around the waist, pulling you between his legs. Your back became flush against his chest as he pressed kisses into the back of your hair.
A sigh left your lips, and you relaxed back into him. His hand brushed your hair to the side. Soft lips met the sensitive parts of your neck, right where it connected with your shoulder. Goosebumps spread across your arms, the sensation giving you chills and causing your face to flush a bit.
“Only if you stay,” you whispered. It never took Kei much convincing to spend the night with you, but the apprehension felt heavy in your stomach.
His chest shook as he chuckled, “Of course I’ll stay.”
You were scooped into his arms as he moved towards the top of your bed. Keigo tucked you into the sheets, and the thought of being swaddled by his wings came to mind. He quickly turned off the lights in your room, positioning himself next to you. Naturally, your body found its place against his, tucked into the crook of his arm, one arm draped across his chest. Shifting, he slipped you on top of one of his wings in order to wrap it around you. The silky feathers were cool against your skin, feeling like a blanket around your shoulders. One of his arms found its way to your waist, slightly dipping under your shirt, as he shifted, suddenly looking at you face to face. Even in the darkness, you could feel his eyes on you. His long eyelashes tickled your cheeks as he leaned in to kiss you. It felt so natural for you to be cuddled up to the winged man, lips locked and his hands against your bare skin. Keigo’s lips were soft, despite being mildly chapped. He tasted sweet, an indistinguishable sweetness that always lingered on his tongue.
Parting from the kiss, you gasped, realizing the mess in your living room. “Keigo, my living room is trashed,” you groaned. This was going to be so inconvenient for you in the morning. Recalling the spilled flowers, the broken glass, the empty bookshelves and their books all over the floor, you mentally kicked yourself for being in such a reactive emotional state.
Keigo gently squeezed your side, “Don’t worry about it. I cleaned it up while you were in the bath.” A feather tickled your nose as you realized that he used his quirk to clean up after you. You clung to him, a couple of tears pricking at the corners of your eyes.
“Thank you, Kei. You are such a miracle,” you sighed. “I feel like I don’t deserve you.”
He squeezed you tighter against him. “Dove, I mean this with all the love in the world, but shut up a little. I would give you the whole universe if I could,” he murmured into your hair, the last bit a little quieter. He kissed your forehead, and whispered to you, “I love you so much, it aches.”
The world spun a little slower in that moment, your ears registering that his words were words and not the echoing of your own brain. “I love you too, Keigo. You are my whole universe.”
He wrapped his other wing around you, his feathers vibrating against your skin. You could feel his grin as he pressed his nose into your neck, peppering it with small kisses. “I was so nervous to say that,” he confessed, “but I’ve been wanting to for months.”
A small laugh left your lips, tickled by his kisses and feathers, but also at the realization that Kei was just as nervous as you were.
“I always … want you ... by my side ... angel,” he mumbled in between kisses, his voice growing sleepy.
As well as you could hold him with your tender hands, you held his cheeks between your hands, bringing his face to yours and kissing his nose. One of your hands slid down, resting on his chest, right over his heart. Through the dark, your eyes met, your voice barely a whisper, “And you’ll always have me, right here.”