"Hey. You lost?"

Keigo Takami looked up to see a white-haired boy staring down at him from a window of a studio apartment above.

"You've walked this road like five times already. What are you doing? Where are you trying to go?" he asked, voice growing increasingly sharp.

"Just walking around," Keigo shrugged. He noted that the other boy seemed rather distrustful and judgmental, but unlike him, Keigo didn't care enough to let it bother him. He was just killing time before he had to go home, and why would he want to go there even a second before he had to? So perhaps this encounter was fate, for although Keigo hadn't planned on making a friend that day, that was exactly what happened.

The white-haired boy, Toya Todoroki, was wary, but curious. After all, what else would explain how he knew how many times Keigo had walked in front of his studio? Life could be lonely, but unlike Keigo, there was no chance for him to go home. His father mumbled out some excuse about taking a break and taking time apart, and although Toya fought like Hell to stay close to his father, Enji was even more stubborn than him.

The studio wasn't terrible, but it was terribly isolating. That was how and why Toya noticed Keigo so quickly the first time he walked by.

He's a quite extraordinary personal beauty… Toya thought, but he was so preoccupied with the fact that he'd never seen the other boy before that he wasn't even aware of the second thought lingering in the back of his mind. Little did he know, Keigo felt the same.

He lives alone, Keigo quickly realized, and instantly, his heart went out to the other boy. A kindred spirit!

Perhaps he was only projecting, but Keigo couldn't help but imagine that perhaps Toya had a broken family and abusive father too…

In the days and weeks to come, Keigo visited Toya's side of town and the studio became his second home. It was cramped even before he got there, and it was even worse after, but perhaps the intense closeness was exactly what the two boys needed most.

"I'm a hawk spirit, you know?" Keigo told Toya one night, reclining on his makeshift mattress of spare and stolen pillows.

"What? No way!" Toya scoffed. Keigo only winked and reached down the back of his jacket, pulling out a Chinese sparrowhawk feather.

"You could've hidden that there beforehand!" Toya scoffed again, but Keigo only held the feather out to him with an unreadable smile.

Finally, Toya took the feather. A smile slowly spread across his face. He didn't even seem to notice, but Keigo certainly did. That feather was going to become Toya's most prized possession, his first, favorite, and only gift from his first, favorite, and only friend. Keigo was thinking the exact same thing as he watched the smile spreading across Toya's face.

ooo

Emperor Hawks slouched on his throne, legs spread, elbow on a gilded armrest as his cheek rested on his knuckles. Why couldn't Endeavor do this? Wasn't he supposed to be the team's #1? And yet, here Hawks was, #2, and he was China's newest emperor. It was a job he despised, for it afforded nearly no free time. And speak of the Devil! The door to the throne room was opening. With a sigh, he sat up and tried to look presentable.

The visitor, meanwhile, was anything but. He was tall, thin, and lanky, dressed in a plain baggy robe as black as his hair. The most striking thing about him, however, were the scars that littered his body, particularly the lower half of his face. He introduced himself only as "Dabi", but as the day turned into evening, Emperor Hawks would learn that he used to know Dabi under a very different name, place, and face.

"I lived," Toya chuckled darkly. "For better or worse…" The last time he and Hawks ever saw one another, Toya was so unhinged and desperate for his father's love that even Keigo didn't matter to him anymore. The time after that, Keigo would come back to nothing but ash. Toya's studio burned down and no body was ever recovered.

"Why are you here?" Emperor Hawks demanded, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes.

"Old friend can't just drop in and say hi?" Dabi asked sarcastically. Inside, he was laughing. O, great and mighty Emperor, I have changed far more than you know, and WE are only just getting… warmed up… It was all he could do to not actually laugh out loud.

But while Dabi seemed to be itching for a fight, Emperor Hawks only shook his head disapprovingly. He gestured for Dabi to follow him away from the throne room with a wing. Dabi smirked as he followed quietly after the other man. Keigo hadn't been lying about being a hawk spirit, and had in fact used this fact about himself to help secure power as the Emperor. After all, who didn't want a powerful, benevolent spirit as a leader? It was all a marketing ploy, Hawks more a mascot than anything. Why else would they call him Emperor Hawks rather than Emperor Keigo? He was garish and overdressed, and so were his wings, and Dabi was torn between wanting to taunt his old friend and being disgusted by the vanity.

Emperor Hawks led Dabi to his private chambers and Dabi couldn't hold in a taunt any longer. "Not even a royal banquet first?"

"As you said, this isn't official business, and you know I was never one for unnecessary labor or formalities." He held open the door for Dabi, and even though Dabi was still wearing his smug, skeptical, amused smirk, he entered without resistance.

It was the strangest, tensest evening of Hawks' life, at least involving "dignitaries". It was all about trying to find the balance between the old Dabi, and this new Toya. And I wonder, is he here for Keigo, or Hawks?

Dabi wasn't sure either. All he knew was that his empire, although he was not the Emperor, was growing. It was only a matter of time, so if Dabi wanted any sort of closure with Keigo, it had to happen now.

I hate you, Emperor Hawks. And I even hate you a little bit too, Keigo. Why weren't you enough to save me? And yet, here Dabi was, still unable to make his snark as sincere as he would've wanted. Oh, the sarcasm was real, but the flames of hatred in his heart were weaker around Emperor Hawks. Whether or not Dabi was willing to admit it, he had indeed missed Hawks, especially in the beginning of their separation. The only thing that got him through any of it was the feather he still had tucked safely away in his pocket. Even though the feather belonged to a boy who would one day have to be his enemy, until that day, Dabi insisted that he could carry the feather with a clean conscience.

The men talked well into the evening, pausing only for Emperor Hawks to shout through the door that he was fasting that night and would not be at dinner. It was a random and cheap excuse, but he knew he wouldn't be questioned. When he turned back to Dabi, Dabi was smirking again. The only thing that could wipe it from his face was sleep. Whether he meant to or not, at last, he did indeed drift off.

I wonder, when's the last time he had a warm bed? Emperor Hawks' thoughts were interrupted by another servant knocking politely on the door, only this one was for a meeting rather than dinner, so he could not forgo it. Frowning, he made to stand up, only to realize that Dabi had fallen asleep on part of his robe's long sleeves.

Emperor Hawks smiled despite himself, and without hesitation, cut his sleeve off. I'll be back soon…

Emperor Hawks was more cheerful than Dabi, but he was not stupid. He knew just as well as Dabi that the future looked grim for both of them, and yet, watching Dabi lying on his bed with his sleeve acting as a pillow, Emperor Hawks couldn't help but smile. He imagined Dabi wrapped up in his wings, the part of his cut sleeve a mere symbol for how completely he wished he could embrace the other man.

I've missed you… Toya…