Just Say No

Feeling

    After dinner, Keigo walked home alone. He sighed, breathing in the cool night air. As much as he wanted to stay the night with Dabi and the league, he knew that he couldn't. He stayed quiet with his hood up over his head to hide his hair and face. The happiness of coming out earlier in the day and the steamy moment with his boyfriend had melted down into a deep melancholy. Dabi had gone upstairs right after dinner without even sparing Keigo a passing glance, and when Keigo had gone to check on him, he'd already gone to sleep. 

  "At least it isn't raining," He mumbled to himself as he kept walking along. He took a deep breath and took a look up at the sky. The city lights made the stars neigh impossible to see, but if he squinted hard enough, he could almost make out Orion's belt. His heart started to pound as he kept on walking. As he let himself drift off, he was thrust back in time. 

                                                                                              ~

    Keigo was curled up on the roof of the commission building with his knees pulled to his chest. He was crying softly into his knees. His long blonde locks hung limply around his face like a mourning veil that had been made of fine gold... no... not his hair. It was Asuka's hair. If he squinted hard enough, he could almost see Asuka, his other self, curled up in front of him. The phantom girl was staring out with eyes that looked like cold citrine. 

  "I want to go home," Asuka said. Her voice sounded like a baby bird's chirp, small and helpless. She tried to dry her tears, only for them to start streaming down her face once again. Keigo's tear ducts mirrored those of the girl. She looked up at Keigo for a moment before disappearing in a wisp of smoke. Keigo choked back a sob. Something cold and damp seemed to brush against his ear as he started to hear his own voice or something like it in an icy hiss. 

  "Yes Keigo, why can't you do better so that you can take the poor girl home?" The voice laughed cruelly. Keigo stood up all too quickly. His breaths turned to glass in his lungs, ripping him apart from the inside out. The ten-year-old shuddered at the feeling. He backed up in a vain attempt to escape from the invisible voice that was cackling in his head. He almost screamed when he suddenly backed up into his roommate who had been standing right behind him. 

  "Woah! Hey, Asuka-chan it's okay. It's just me," Eito said, stumbling back a bit, "A-Asuka-chan?" Keigo could barely hear the boy's voice over the horrible cackling in his ears. Blindly, he fell back, scrambling away. His heart was beating too fast as sobs ripped their way from his throat one after another. Keigo pulled his knees closer to his chest as he started to gag from how hard he was crying. He barely noticed Eito kneeling beside him.

  "H-help- help. Help... H-h-he-help," Was all that Keigo could get out between sobs. Without thinking, he started to scratch at his arms with his newly de-clawed hands. The scratches left bloody trails on the boy's arms. They weren't from his arms, but rather from his stumpy mutilated fingers. It didn't help at all that his best friend was calling him by someone else's name. Eito gently took Keigo, lying him down and brushing the hair out of his face.

 "Asuka... hey. It's okay. Just focus on me, got it? Breathe with me. You're okay," Eito said. He gently cradled Keigo's head on his lap, stroking his soft hair. He kept his strokes in a rhythmic pattern, doing soft bird calls as he did so. Keigo took shaky breaths, leaning into the touch. "There you, you're doing so good. Good girl. I've got you." Keigo felt his heart skip a beat. It was still hammering in his chest, but it didn't quite feel like it was trying to break him anymore.

  "M-more... tweet..." Keigo mumbled, starting to relax. Eito smiled gently and kept letting out little tweets. Keigo looked at him for a moment. The pale silver moon cast an eerie light over him, illuminating his bright eyes and the crystals that grew from his head.