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Keigo's goose day started the way everyone's does: narrowly surviving a goose attack. He was startled out of his sleep by incessant pecking at his side and tried in vain to kick the goose away, only receiving more harsh jabs for his trouble.
"Ough, get off," He hissed, using one of his wings to swat the bird away, succeeding only for a few seconds before the bastard returned to its violent wake-up call.
"Stupid bird..." He mumbled, before reality finally caught up with him, his eyes flying wide open. He shot straight out of bed, inadvertently throwing a blanket over his goose, who squawked in protest and did its best to flap its way out from under the cloth. Keigo ignored its distress, processing what this meant.
It was his goose day. His Goose Day . He was going to meet his soulmate today. His future spouse, his perfect match. The idea was daunting, but his excitement was stronger than his hesitance. He just had to deal with the goose first.
He looked back to the goose, his goose, still struggling under his blanket, and pulled the fabric back to relieve the bird of its fruitless battle. It immediately honked angrily at him and got back to attacking him; pecking at his shins at a frightening speed. Keigo squawked back at it, flying up a few feet to keep his legs out of the goose's range.
This backfired, as Keigo promptly realized geese could fly when his goose got up in his face and tried to peck his eyes out. He abandoned his hovering, instead sending out some feathers to hold the goose in place a few feet from him.
Keigo stuck his tongue out at the bird, smug and victorious.
"Suck it, goose."
The goose did not respond, just stared at him with unfiltered bloodlust in its eyes. Keigo barely suppressed a shudder at its sheer malice, quickly getting dressed for his morning patrol before he remembered that he was currently struggling with the presence of his goose. That would certainly pose a problem; his crime-fighting would most likely be hindered by an evil goose that followed him everywhere. Plus, he didn't want to make his soulmate wait any longer than they already had.
Making up his mind, Keigo quickly dialed his agency's number, tapping his fingers against his dresser while the phone rang.
"Hello, Hawks Agency, how may I help you?"
"Hey, Yuuki! I'm sorry to do this, but I need to take the day off. I'm having, uh, personal problems," He said, glaring at his goose while he spoke. He turned to gaze out the window as Yuuki began talking.
"You're... taking a day off. Is this a joke?" They said, and Keigo could feel their suspicious stare from his apartment.
"No! Is it really so hard to believe I-" His whining was cut off by a sinful honk, a horrifying omen that preceded his goose attacking his legs again, with far more force than before.
" OW ! Shit , how did you get loose?!" He yelled at the menace, sending more feathers to hold it back. He briefly forgot he was on the phone, condemning the beast under his breath.
"Uh. Hawks," Yuuki said, bringing his attention back to his phone, "Was that... a goose?"
He could hear their smile over the phone, and panicked, "Uh, no! No! I have a, um, dog."
"A dog."
"Yes."
"What's its name?" Yuuki asked, clearly skeptical.
"Uh. It's... new. It doesn't have a name yet." Keigo replied, floundering pathetically.
"Yeah, okay, Hawks. Happy Goose Day, I'll make sure we have someone to cover your patrol."
He sighed, defeated, "Yeah, thanks, Yuuki."
The call ended, and he held his head in his hands, disappointed in himself. After a few seconds, he pulled himself together, checking his goose to make sure it was still safely contained. It honked but otherwise was unable to hurt him, thankfully. Keigo stripped his hero costume off, putting on a plain outfit that consisted of jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket.
"Okay! I've got this!" He said, grabbing his keys and tucking them into his pocket. Quickly, he looked around his apartment for something that could help conceal his goose. The media loved him and his personal life, but he couldn't exactly return the feeling, and his Goose Day was something he wanted private. Plus, his PR agent would definitely maim him for publicizing something this big without giving her at least a three-day warning.
He stared at his goose -still held back by his feathers- as if it held the answers to his dilemma, but the creature just squawked at him angrily. For lack of a better idea, he sent a few more feathers to secure the bird, procured a towel from his closet, and wrapped his goose in the cloth.
"Perfect!" He said, ignoring the violent wriggling and squawking that emanated from the bundle. Keigo grabbed the duffel that was laying on his couch; his standard method of hiding his wings in public. He swapped out his jacket for the only one without wing holes he had, a brown bomber jacket that he bought in the sketchiest store he'd ever been in. A few weeks after he bought it, he busted the place for being a gang front, but the jacket was good quality, so he kept it.
"Okay bird," He started, picking up the bundle of goose and holding it tight to his chest, "here's the deal: you need to get me to my soulmate, I need to do that undetected. We can work together here. You just jab me whenever I need to take a turn, and we can find my soulmate like that. Deal?" The goose did not respond, but it did stop squirming and honking, so Keigo assumed they were in agreement.
"Great! Off we go, then!" He proclaimed, opening his front door and immediately getting jabbed by the goose to turn left, toward the elevator.
"I knew that, prick, you don't need to remind me."
-
Please tell me it's not Endeavour. Keigo thought to himself, standing in front of the man's agency and ignoring the prodding from his goose to enter the building. Yeah, Keigo admired the guy, but he also was half his age, and not particularly into half-giants. As far as he knew, Endeavour hadn't met his soulmate, but he did have a wife, so maybe he was off the hook? Keigo shook the thought from his mind; dwelling on who it could be wouldn't do him any good. Plus, there were plenty of people who worked at the agency. Keigo was pretty confident in the chances of his soulmate not being Endeavour.
He opened the door to the building, mentally bracing himself. The receptionist offered a cheery greeting.
"Oh, Hawks! Almost didn't recognize you without the wings! We weren't expecting you, Endeavour isn't patrolling today, but he's still in. I'll call him down now." The man said, already dialing Endeavour's number into the phone.
"No!" He exclaimed, startling the poor man so bad his quirk activated, his hair standing up straight, "Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to yell, but that's... uh, not necessary. Really. I'm just here to...take a walk."
The receptionist frowned skeptically at him, then finished dialing the number into the phone.
"Right. I'm sure Endeavour can give you a tour of the agency for your... walk."
Keigo sighed, defeated yet again by a receptionist. He sat down in the waiting area, grimacing as the goose took to pecking him again. A minute later, the elevator opened, revealing Endeavour himself, wearing civilian clothes and frowning heavily. He looked odd without the flames that typically adorned his face, but even weirder without the hero suit.
"Hawks. Why are you here." The man asked, already sounding pissed off with him.
Keigo chuckled, standing up to join him in the elevator. Endeavour's frown deepened, but he pressed the button for the fifth floor without saying anything else.
"Can't a guy just want to visit his friend?" He asked, clutching his bundle of goose closer to his chest.
"No." Ouch. "Don't you have patrol today?"
"Oh, it's my... day off." Keigo said, wincing at how unbelievable that was.
"Don't lie to me, Hawks." Endeavour said. His eyes traveled to the bundle Keigo was holding to his chest.
"What is that, Hawks."
Keigo looked at Endeavour, then back to the towel-covered goose he was holding, then back to Endeavour.
"You have to promise not to get mad at me." Endeavour didn't say anything, just stared at him with distaste.
"I'm not telling you until you promise." Keigo said. While waiting for Endeavour to make the promise, he took off his jacket and unzipped his duffel, letting his feathers come back to him. He sighed in relief, the unsettling feeling of weightlessness on his back disappearing.
Endeavour sighed, palming his face with one hand, frustrated.
"Okay, fine, Hawks. I promise not to get mad at you."
The second he stopped speaking, Hawks dropped the goose, the bird protesting its rough treatment by honking loudly and attacking Keigo's legs again.
"Ow, no, bad goose!" Keigo yelled, restraining the cretin with his feathers once again. Silently, he thanked whatever god existed that Endeavour wasn't his soulmate.
"That is... a goose." Endeavour said, staring at the angry monster.
"Sure is." Keigo said, picking up his towel and slinging it over his shoulder.
"So. Why are you here, and not following your goose?"
Keigo laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck, "I did, this is where it led me."
Endeavour sighed again, muttering, " Of course it did. "
Keigo just hummed to himself, his eyes tracing the corner of the elevator to avoid looking at the other man.
All too soon, the elevator dinged, announcing their arrival on the fifth floor. Endeavour gestured for him to go first, so Keigo set his goose free and followed it down a hallway he'd never been through before. He noticed Endeavour following behind him but didn't comment on it. He supposed the man wanted to make sure Hawks didn't cause too much havoc during his journey, which was... a reasonable worry.
The goose stopped in front of a heavy door, which, when opened, was revealed to hold a descending staircase. The goose flapped down to the fourth floor, tailed by its entourage. As Keigo opened the stairwell door, leading them out into a generic-looking office space, he asked, "So what's on the fourth floor, anyway? Don't think I've ever been in here." He looked around curiously, studying the empty desks and listening to the muffled sound of what was presumably a meeting a few doors down.
Endeavour was frowning heavily when he looked back at him, but muttered, "My legal team." Keigo nodded, trotting after his goose, who skipped past the room where the meeting was being held to the corner of the open space, where two doors with plaques on them stood. The first read Head Legal Consultant while the second read Assistant Head Legal Consultant . Keigo's goose stopped in front of the latter. He breathed in deeply, holding out his hand to knock when-
"No!" Endeavour exclaimed, with such urgency that Keigo had at first thought there was a villain nearby and sharpened his wings on instinct. But there was no one else around, just Endeavour, who was standing in front of the door his soulmate was behind with wide, panicked eyes. Keigo looked at him, confused.
"Uh, buddy, I need to get through that door." He said, watching as Endeavour calmed down a bit but only got more firm in his blockade.
"I'm sorry Hawks, but I cannot let that happen." The man said, grave and cryptic.
Hawks frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and letting his wings flare out just a little bit, "And why is that?"
Endeavour was noticeably fumbling but kept up his poorly executed facade, opening and closing his mouth multiple times before he finally settled on, "There's... a fire."
Keigo made a show of slowly looking around the room, even examining his own body, before turning back to Endeavour.
"Okay. Where?"
Endeavour blanched, seemingly not expecting his foolproof excuse to fail. Keigo could see beads of sweat trailing down his forehead, which was frankly kind of alarming, but he had bigger priorities. The man lifted his hand, and before Keigo could ask his question again, he lit fire to the towel draped over Keigo's shoulder.
"What the fuck!" Keigo yelled, his wings beating in a panic behind him. He tore the towel off himself and threw it on the floor, stomping on it until the burnt end of the fabric was completely fire-free. After a second of staring at his charred towel, he looked back to Endeavour, who somehow looked even more panicked than before.
Pissed, Keigo repeated, "What the fuck?" Glaring at the other man.
Before he could answer, though, the door to his soulmate opened from the inside, prompting both Keigo and Endeavour to immediately turn to the person who opened it: a young man, probably around Keigo's age, with fluffy white hair and glaring blue eyes. Large swaths of his skin were covered with what looked like old scars, a light purplish shade to them. He wore a crisp grey dress shirt and dark brown slacks, and holy shit Keigo was so gay .
"Alright, what the hell is- is that Hawks?" The man asked, blinking confusedly at him and squinting at Endeavour disdainfully. Keigo had never seen anybody wear suspicion so well.
"Uh," Keigo eloquently answered, gaping in awe at the man. It was registering, all at once, that this was his soulmate. A glance at the man's feet only confirmed it, as there the goose was calmly sitting, looking like a smug little bitch. When no one responded to his questions, the man followed Keigo's gaze to his feet, eyes widening at the sight of Keigo's goose lounging comfortably next to him.
Endeavour took that moment to step between the two, firmly stating, "This is a misunderstanding! Hawks, leave immediately. Touya, go... do your work!" Touya . That was his name. Keigo paid no mind to Endeavour, instead looking past him to where the man- Touya -stood, gaping back at him.
Touya swallowed once, then quickly said, "Fuck that," and pushed past Endeavour to where Keigo was standing. Touya extended a hand to him, wearing an almost mean-looking grin (and wasn't mean a great look on him), and proudly announced, "Todoroki Touya."
Keigo's eyes widened, but he got over his surprise quickly, holding his own hand out to Touya's to shake (which was admittedly a little bit weird between soulmates but he wasn't complaining) and responding, "Takami Keigo." Before he could take Touya's hand in his, though, the other man's fingers suddenly shot up and pulled on the collar of his jacket, dragging Keigo in enough to be kissed firmly. Touya pulled back quickly but stayed close, his eyes giddy and locked on Keigo's. Without checking, Keigo knew the goose had disappeared, but he was more concerned with the adorable way Touya's eyes scrunched up when he smiled.
"Stop!" Endeavour bellowed, his trademark fire hair blooming on his face once more. He took firm steps toward Touya, grabbing him by his shoulders and staring deeply into his eyes.
"Touya," He said, voice desperate, "I cannot have Hawks be my son-in-law. Please."
Keigo squawked in offense, but Touya just pried his father's (holy shit his soulmate was Endeavour's child, what the fuck) hands off of him and walked back over to Keigo, lightly grabbing his wrist and pulling him toward the elevator.
"You doing anything today?" Touya asked, hitting the down arrow. When Keigo shook his head, unable to do much other than gaze at his soulmate in awe, he turned back to Endeavour and said, "Tell Shimura I'm leaving for the day." He then stepped into the elevator, which had conveniently opened just then, and waited for Keigo to join him before hitting the close door button repeatedly.
"Touya, get back here! We need to talk about this! Hawks, don't you d-"
"I'm sorry Endeavour I can't hear you, the elevator is closing!" Keigo grinned, watching the man's image be replaced with the metal of the elevator doors.
"So..." Keigo said, turning back to Touya, who was smiling at him, amused, "What kind of food do you like?"
"Anything but fish." Touya responded, watching him take off his feathers and shove them into his bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder when he finished and nodded firmly, a bright grin on his face.
"I can work with that."