Chapter Text
Touya sighed, watching his breath rise up in a white fog. The night air was icy cold with it still being early January, but Touya didn’t bother wearing his jacket, keeping to his light, long sleeved dark blue shirt that had a fiery symbol on its back. Despite being the city, stars shone in the inky sky, the moon setting a gentle glow unto the cityscape below. He was outside, taking a breather from the partying.
It was with loud fanfare and a half-hearted promise to their boss to not get his son blackout drunk that the Flaming Sidekicks dragged Touya to an izakaya for his twentieth birthday. The legal drinking age. Despite his many shortcomings in life (setting himself on fire, almost burning the house down, physically scarring his mother, emotionally scarring his siblings, punching a little girl, almost crashing Kurumada’s car two days ago), Touya had never drunken alcohol before. So Kido, the self-proclaimed sake connoisseur, was set on teaching Touya on the beauties of Japan’s alcohols. Safely and responsibly, as he’d promised Endeavor.
Nobody wanted to get fired for getting the Number Two’s eldest baby boy so drunk he threw up.
Touya did feel a bit embarrassed and guilty about being so loudly celebrated, mainly because it was also Burnin's birthday, and he didn't want to hog all the attention. The green-haired woman had barked a laugh and slapped him on the back with enough strength to make him stagger.
"I organised this! I'll have plenty more birthdays but you're only twenty once!" She said as she hooked arms with him and dragged the taller man out of the Agency, followed by equally enthusiastic sidekicks.
This being a birthday celebration instead of the typical nomikai the sidekicks liked to partake every once in a while, all etiquette went straight out the window and it was all about having fun and celebrating Touya. Burnin’ and Onima enthusiastically ordering food, Kido suggesting drinks and explaining the process of how they were made, older sidekicks reminiscing on baby Touya and how cute he was with his red hair and how he’d grown into a solid young man with a bright future. Hair ruffles, back slaps, hands shakes and smiles all around, Touya was almost overwhelmed with how his father’s sidekicks were spoiling him.
Kido made a very big deal about Touya trying his first sip of sake. It was the purest form of sake, the true original, so Touya could know what to expect. The white haired man couldn’t hold in his snickering as he took his first sip with how they all watched him with baited breaths.
“Oh, that’s actually pretty good.” He said, genuinely surprised he liked it.
Cheering broke out and another round of drinks were ordered. Onima was already drunk, Kido was on his way to getting tipsy and Touya could feel the burn of alcohol in his stomach, hence the need to step out and feel the cold air.
He wasn’t tipsy yet, but he felt warm. It was nice. Almost dangerously so, because it was the closest feeling since he was a child to what using his Quirk had felt like before it hurt him. It felt nostalgic, comforting even. This could become addictive if he wasn’t careful. He’d long stopped harming himself with his fire, he didn’t need to pick up a new bad habit when he was doing so well. Drinking with friends would be fine, but he’d never drink alone.
He promised himself that. Hence why he wasn’t drinking from the glass in his hand, about half full of an amber liquid he couldn’t recall the name of.
“Hey, you good?” Burnin’s voiced made him look back to the entrance of the izakaya, hearing the excitement from inside the building for a moment before it became muffled as the fiery haired woman shut the door. “Saw you slipping out.”
“Yeah, just taking a breather. It got warm in there.” Touya grinned from where he was leaning against the building, swirling his drink a little with no intention to sip it before he went back in. “Probably because of the alcohol. Wanted to clear my head a bit.” He breathed in deeply as the noise of the sidekicks celebrating his birthday in the bar dulled out, Burnin’ coming to lean on the wall with him. “Thanks for organising this.”
“Obviously.” The woman grinned, elbowing him in the arm. “Gotta get you out and about on your own birthday. Pretty sure Onima brought a cake for you to cut in…” She looked at her watch. “Ten minutes, if you’re up for it.”
“The real question is if Onima’s up for it.” Touya laughed. “Two beers and he was gone.” Burnin’ laughed in turn, knowing how much of a lightweight her coworker was despite being one of the regulars of their drinking outings. “At least he’s just a laughing drunk.”
“Yeah, he’s totally harmless. Me and Kido’ll take care of him, we’re used to babysitting the guy.” Her hair flickered in the light breeze, crackling like a campfire yet without the intense heat. He couldn’t help but stare at it. Her fire was such a beautiful, bright colour, it attracted him like a moth to light. “You gonna continue staring, or are you finally gonna ask to touch it?”
Touya made eye contact with Burnin’s red-orange pupils.
“You’d let me?” He was surprised.
“If you give me the rest of your drink.” The woman snickered, taking Touya’s half full glass and downing the entire thing in one go. She licked her lips and put the glass down on the floor. Touya watched her every movement unblinkingly, like he’d miss something important if he did blink. “Here, extend your hand out.”
Touya hesitated, the hand he’d been holding the glass with twitching.
“Burnin’, you don’t have to…” He muttered.
Suddenly self-conscious, it felt stupid to be indulged like this just because he was fascinated by the woman’s hair. It felt childish. It also made his heart beat nervously in his chest. His father’s sidekick didn’t say anything for a moment, before nonchalantly tugging Touya’s wrist up closer to her, holding his hand in hers open palm up.
“First off, I’m off-duty, so call me Moe.” She started, catching those nervous turquoise eyes. “And secondly, I know I don’t have to. But I want to. I know you’ve been wanting to ask for ages, even before your research.” She could’ve almost started laughing at how Touya’s face flushed, embarrassed at being so easy to read. “Think of it as a birthday gift.” As if that did much to better this.
“Okay…” Touya sighed, fully facing Moe to watch what she did. “I won’t burn, will I?” He had to ask.
“If you think for a second I’m gonna be on the receiving end of Endeavor’s wrath for burning you, you’re very wrong.” Moe barked out a laugh as she reached for her blazing hair with her free hand. “Don’t worry, it’ll be body temperature.”
Just with that, Touya had a hundred and one questions on the implications of what she could do, even though they’d already spoken about it extensively for research. He just wanted to hear Moe talk about herself. She was always so bubbly and enthusiastic, never ashamed or shy.
His thoughts were cut short when she pulled out a handful of fire, compact and flickering in her hand. Resisting the urge to flinch, Touya still winced when she gently placed the fireball in his palm, her now free hand protecting it like she was defending the flame from the breeze. Touya momentarily wondered if it was to keep the flame stable in his hand now that she wasn’t holding it.
It felt warm, like when he held hands with his father as a child. It felt like home.
This was the first time he’d held a flame that didn’t instantly burn him since he was a toddler. His throat constricted and he swallowed, blinking rapidly as his eyes started to burn. The flame flickered gently in his hand as if it could have been his own, despite being a different colour. His hand relaxed, held up by Moe’s.
“It can’t be easy, being a fire wielder and never being able to use it. Our flames are comforting.” Touya inhaled shakily when he heard Moe’s voice, gentler than her usual bark. She sounded distant yet so close to him. “I’m sorry you can’t be comforted by your own.”
Always with the darned tears, Touya let out a soft sob as they dripped down his face despite desperately trying to swallow the sound down.
His fingers trembled a little, still held by Moe’s surprisingly soft hands. For all the field work she did, everything about her was sleek. From her costume to her hair, she looked after herself, proud of her appearance and of who she was. Touya wanted to feel like that way too, every day, like Moe.
Because no matter how well he did, there’d always be that little nagging voice of all his shortcomings.
But right now, with a flame happily dancing in his hand held by another, even with the tears stubbornly dripping down his cheeks, his thoughts were silent. No nagging voice, no thoughts of research or the future or his career or how to help people, how to help Tomura, how to make up to his family for all the suffering he put them, none of that.
Just a silent, comforting hum that sounded like the homey roar of a fire.
Eventually, Moe’s flame flickered out, no longer fuelled by its master’s touch. Still, Touya’s hand trembled. He took in a belly-deep sigh.
“Thanks.” He whispered out, not bothering to wipe his tears. There’d just be more.
“You okay?” Moe asked softly, replacing the flame with her hand. She felt Touya’s fingers curl instinctively around it. The man nodded. “You’re crying.”
“I always cry when I’m emotional.” He hiccupped a laugh and sniffled, blinking away the rest of the dripping tears. They made his eyes watery and sparkle in the moonlight, turning his turquoise eyes into shimmering pools of soft blues. Beautiful in their own way, Moe thought, but she didn’t want to see Touya sad. “I’m happy, I promise. Thank you.”
“Okay.” Moe murmured, before hearing Kido’s voice raise from inside. She caught the word ‘cake’. “Are you ready to face the crowd again?” Touya inhaled deeply and straightened his shoulders, before exhaling.
“Yeah.” He smiled.
Moe crouched down to pick up the almost forgotten glass, before guiding Touya make inside, not letting go of his hand. Touya made sure to wipe his face dry before rejoining the sidekicks. Thankfully, they were all too tipsy and in a fun buzz to realise the slight redness of his eyes.
An hour later, Touya’s social battery was empty and coughing dust. Full of alcohol and cake, he was ready to go home. He sent a text message to his dad that he was ready. Endeavor hadn’t left the office yet, not caring to go home when his son was out in the city. They might as well go home together.
As Kurumada’s car pulled up to the izakaya, Touya said his various goodbyes and thanks to the sidekicks, then hesitated, before hugging Moe goodbye. A soft ‘thanks again’ left him.
“Anytime.” She grinned as they pulled away from each other. “And I mean it. Anytime.” Touya smiled to her and headed out.
Instantly, Enji noticed the lessened redness around Touya’s eyes, now a soft pink that could have easily been mistaken for a drunken blush. But Enji knew better.
“Everything go okay?” The worried father asked but was reassured when the birthday boy shoved himself in and smiled tiredly to him.
“Yeah, all good.” He nodded, smiling apologetically to Kurumada who still gave him a stink eye for almost crashing the car while trying to teach the young man how to drive. “Just…Moe, uh, yeah, Moe, let me touch her fire. Got choked up, is all.”
Enji stayed silent, and looked at his son’s cheeks turn a shade of red. That’s new.
“Understandably.” His father muttered, then reached out to smoothen his boy’s hair. It didn’t matter if he was twenty years old, he’d always be the baby that fit in his palm. “You and Burnin’ get along well.” Touya’s cheeks burned a brighter red, but he didn’t pull away from his father’s touch.
“I get along with all the sidekicks.” He argued softly. Enji wasn’t blind. He knew Touya was always careful with his emotions. They were strong after all and influenced more than just his mood. “How was it for you and mum?” Touya asked in a small voice after a moment.
“Unexpected and sudden.” Enji replied with a chuckle, Kurumada making sure to mind his own business at the wheel. “And fast paced. We didn’t waste any time getting married.” He retrieved his hand. “But we were both on the same page, so it wasn’t rushed. It happened at the perfect time for us.”
“How do I know if things are happening at the perfect time for me?” Touya asked, looking to his father. “You were Number Two at twenty, you were married and had me by twenty two. Natsuo’s already completed a rescue mission at sixteen, Hawks just turned nineteen and is already in the top ten…Am I wasting time?”
He doesn’t want to be left behind.
“You’re not. You’re going at the pace right for you and what you’re doing. You can’t rush medical school. Being patient and letting things naturally fall into place is just as important as hard work.” Enji reassured, smiling a little at his son. If his father hadn’t tried to knock that into his head since he was a teenager, Enji was sure he never would’ve learned that lesson, not even as a full grown man. “I, I know what it’s like, feeling impatient.” He’d never shake off the vast ravine between his and All Might’s power. Even now, with his injuries, Toshinori was impressive. Touya blinked, catching to the slight shake in his father’s tone. “And feeling like you’ll never achieve what you want. But sometimes…what you want isn’t actually what’s good for you. Or what you need.” His smile never wavered. “Take your time. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
Touya nodded and sighed a little, looking out of the window. He watched the moon as it followed them.
His phone buzzed. Looking down at it, he saw a text from Hawks. A late happy birthday. The last message had been from a couple weeks ago, wishing the blonde man his own happy birthday. Touya smiled and sent him a thanks in reply.
He doesn’t want to be left behind.
Ouch, okay, he’d need to tell Doctor Tsuzura about that at their next session. That thought was getting uncomfortable.
He closed his eyes almost painfully and let out an exhale through his nose, leaning his head against the car window. Small, breathing exercises to keep him grounded, flexing his hands to keep him in reality and stop him from slipping into his mind.
His hands still felt warm, the way he remembered feeling after using his fire as a little kid. He focused on that, on the emerald-green fire, and on the woman it belonged to, the way she held his hand and smiled at him. A smile of his own tugged at the corner of his cheek.
If nothing else, he had a great friend in Moe.
It was almost midnight when they got home, and Enji thanked Kurumada. Same time tomorrow, yessir.
Touya dragged himself into the house and sighed heavily. He wasn’t actually sleepy. For a moment he stood there in the quiet house. Everybody else was asleep. Harusame was probably waiting for him on his futon, by his Endeavor plush.
“You should head to bed. You have classes in the morning.” Enji said softly, patting his son on the shoulder as he passed him. Touya nodded. His father was right, as he was with many things. Not everything, but many things.
The previous shake in his voice still bothered him. Almost as much as his own thoughts.
“Dad…” He started, getting a look from his father. “How come you never did therapy like the rest of us?”
Enji froze.
Rei, Fuyumi, Natsuo and Shoto had all stopped therapy ever since Touya had been released from hospital, but Rei still checked in every once in a while with the kind Doctor. Haruo and Touya still had monthly sessions.
Enji hadn’t ever gone to any.
“I just don’t want to.” He replied. The scowl from his son told him that wasn’t a satisfactory response. “Touya, I…there’s some things I’d rather not figure out.” He muttered, bordering on humiliated at saying anything. But he didn’t want to lie to Touya. “I’m fine as is and dealing with it, I don’t want or need to talk to Doctor Tsuzura.”
Touya crossed his arms.
“Now I see where I get it from.” He hissed, but with no bite behind his words. Enji just looked away awkwardly. The freshly twenty year old couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His father was trying to rush putting his slippers on to clearly get away from his son poking at a sensitive subject. “You’re seriously going to be a mule about this, to me?”
“Yep.” Enji replied curtly. “Good night. I hope you had a good birthday.” Touya scoffed at the ridiculousness of this, and grabbed his dad’s arm so the taller man was practically dragging him.
“So you get to yap at the rest of us about accepting help and not being so hard on ourselves, but the same doesn’t go for you?” Touya wheezed in the effort to keep hold of his father as they reached the stairs. “I won’t accept such double standards.”
“Rules for thee, not for me.” Enji replied flatly, before easily picking up Touya by the middle and carrying him up the stairs since the young man was set on clinging on to him like a sloth. Touya let out a whine at being so easily manhandled. “You might be an adult, but you’re still my son.”
“Painfully aware of that fact.” Touya cackled. Enji smiled.
They were far too alike, those two.
