#dabihawksweek

He’d been late for practice and decided to sprint from his dorm to get his heart rate up and make up time, two birds with one stone as they say. Practice was after classes but before dinner, so most students studied or got in another nap during that time. That assumption was what landed Keigo on his ass after smacking into the lanky art major.

He’d ran square into the chest of Touya, knocking the wind out of him as Keigo was knocked to the ground.

“Shit! My bad!”

Keigo was on his feet again in the bat of an eye, hovering by Touya, who was doubled over wheezing as he tried to regain his breath. Keigo never paid attention to students that didn’t want his attention, so it was the first time he’d seen this art major, or rather the top of his head as he inhaled raggedly.

He was dressed in mostly black aside from an old and slightly oversized sweatshirt which was zipped halfway over a band tshirt from which Keigo could see the letters ”ED ZEP” in red. Touya’s charcoal jeans were torn at the knees, cuffed at the bottoms to sit above the all black Chuck Taylors he wore.

As he stood up Keigo could see his face, which was set in a scowl. If he weren’t looking at Keigo so murderously, Touya would probably be handsome, if not a little rough around the edges. His hair was an ashen white, sweeping in front of intense turquoise eyes narrowed at Keigo. He had enough piercings to set off a metal detector. Most were on his ears aside from a triple nose stud in his right nostril, snake bites and a bridge piercing which Keigo couldn’t decide if it looked painful or not.

A pair of black painted fingernails snapped in front of Keigo’s face. “Hey birdbrain! The fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Keigo blinked. “Uh. Going to practice?”

“And trying to kill people in the process?”

“No. Sorry I just didn’t see you there man.”

Keigo put on one of his signature smiles, getting a scowl from Touya in return. Keigo put his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Really it was an accident.”

Touya stooped down between them, picking up a pencil that was snapped in half. He held it in front of Keigo’s face.

“You owe me a new pencil.”

Keigo pushed the pencil out of the way with a finger. “Oh come on. It’s just a pencil bro.”

“I’m not your bro and I don’t care.” Touya pressed the broken pencil against Keigo’s chest. “Don’t you dare get me one of those soft tips. 3B or higher, got it?”

Keigo nodded despite having no clue what 3B meant. Touya pressed the pencil harder against Keigo, who brought a hand up to catch it when Touya’s long fingers drew back. The art student gave Keigo another murderous scowl before trudging off towards the dorms, leaving Keigo with a broken pencil and a blush on his cheeks.

Touya was his type and then some. An artsy “bad boy” with blue eyes and gorgeous hands. It was like one of his fantasies had come to life. Except Touya had made it very clear he loathed Keigo. Keigo didn’t blame him as he had knocked the air out of him pretty bad. But all the fuss over a broken pencil? It seemed a tad excessive.

Keigo held onto the pencil, tucking it in his drawstring bag and forgetting about it until he tossed the bag onto his bed later that night. Practice had been a doozie and he was sore as fuck. He flopped down on his bed, pulling the pencil out and turning it over in his fingers.

The tip of the pencil was rounded and worn down, the eraser merely a nub. It was clear it was a well used tool. Keigo’s fingers brushed over teeth marks on the end of the pencil. Of course Touya chewed on his pencils, how could he not. He probably let them hang out the side of his mouth absentmindedly.

Keigo shook his head as his mind began to wander. He hadn’t anticipated being hit in the face with well, a crush? And especially literally. His ass was still sore from hitting the pavement.

He sighed and let the pencil drop to his chest. At least his assignment to replace the pencil meant Touya would have to see him again. But first he needed to figure out what the fuck 3B meant.

.

It didn’t take Keigo long to find another pencil. The campus bookstore sold them by the pack so he just grabbed the one that had 3B on it. He tapped the pack against his chin in thought as he made his way to the art building. A couple of freshmen in the lobby gave him odd looks. He supposed he didn’t look like an art student.

He was wearing his varsity jacket and his favorite pair of jeans, which were crisp and a deep denim. He pushed his aviator sunglasses up over his messy golden locks.

“You guys know… uh.”Shit. He had no idea what the guy’s name was. He cleared his throat, “I’m looking for a guy, bout this tall, white hair, blue eyes, looks like he’s trying to bring punk back from the dead?”

One of the freshmen rolled their eyes. “Todoroki. He’s probably on the top floor.”

Keigo thanked the freshman and made his way to the stairwell. His sneakers squeaked on the tile as he rounded the stairs, jogging his way up to the top floor. He pushed the door open, poking his head out into the hall.

It was quiet. He let the door shut, regretting it as it slammed loudly. No one came to chastise him so he made his way down the hall. He peered into the rooms as he passed. They were empty, probably for the best as he knew it would be odd to see someone with their nose pressed up to the glass window in the door.

When he reached the last door he noticed it was open a crack. He slipped inside, taking care to shove the doorstop back in place so the heavy door didn’t shut. The room was full of easels, some with canvases and some without. Keigo peered at the canvases as he made his way further into the classroom.

The canvases that were there each depicted the classic bowl of fruit he’d seen in so many artsy movies. Each piece was a different style. Some were messy, others crisp and clean. One was merely colors where each fruit should be. An easel on the far side caught his eye.

The piece sitting on it was black and white, like an old photograph. Eerily like a photograph. The lines and shading were so precise it looked like someone had just taken a picture and placed it on the canvas. Keigo stepped closer, peering at the differences in shading.

There was an area that was very dark. It looked almost raised due to the amount of layers that made up the shading. Ever curious and obvious Keigo put a hand out, tracing it with his finger and regretting it imminently. The charcoal smudged messily as he heard a voice behind him suddenly.

“Wow you are good at fucking things up.”

Keigo spun around. Touya was standing a few feet from him. He was dressed in the same outfit aside from a fresh tshirt. Keigo put his hands up as though he’d been caught, which technically he had.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think it was gonna smudge like that.”

Touya sighed. He made his way over to the canvas, producing what looked like gray play dough from his pocket. He took the object and rolled it between his palms a bit, forming it into more of a oval. He put it against he canvas, using it like an eraser to get rid of the smudge Keigo had made.

Keigo’s eyes boggled and he pointed excitedly to the gray lump as Touya pulled it back, “What is that thing?”

Touya raised an eyebrow, but let Keigo inspect the blob and he answered, “It’s a kneaded eraser. Makes it easier to fix mistakes.”

He emphasized ‘mistakes’ and Keigo knew it was a jab at him. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Oh. Right. Uh..” He remembered the pencils. “Check it out! I got you backup ones even.”

Keigo presented the pencils to Touya like they were the greatest gift in the world. Touya took the packet from his hand, inspecting it before handing it back with a tsk of his tongue. Keigo’s excitement vanished and he gave Touya a confused look.

“Those are a shitty brand,” Touya said dismissively.

Keigo put his hands in the air. “A shitty- what? How am I supposed to know who makes good pencils?”

Touya shrugged, and put a hand in one of the deep pockets of his jeans. He fished out his phone, ignoring Keigo as he pulled the bulky headphones round his neck over his head. Keigo stared at him dumbfounded for a moment as Touya started to walk away. Touya made it halfway to the door before Keigo was in front of him again, his arms out as though he were somehow capable of blocking his path.

Touya didn’t take his headphones off as he asked, “Did you need something else? I got another class to get to.”

Keigo bristled with indignation. “What the hell dude? You’re just gonna blow me off like that?”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Touya pushed past him, leaving Keigo gaping like a fish. He’d never been so annoyed and intrigued at the same time. Touya was an enigma and Keigo desperately wanted to know more about it. But it would have to wait till after practice, and maybe some research on what the best brands of pencils were.

.

Keigo’s next encounter with Touya was much sooner than he expected. It was only a half hour later, on the rugby field where he noticed none other than Touya sitting in the bleachers. He was sprawled out, one leg resting on the bench in front of him while his arms draped over the one behind him. Despite it being hot as hell, he was still in that blue hoodie.

Touya caught Keigo’s eye as the latter trotted onto the field for practice. He gave a wry smile followed by flipping him the bird. Keigo’s fists clenched angrily. Touya was taunting him now, clearly already aware of how to push his buttons. It was working a bit too well.

Touya’s presence on the bleachers turned out to be a huge distraction for Keigo. What made things worse was that Touya was now ignoring him. He was scrolling his phone, paying zero attention to the practice or to Keigo who kept glancing over to him.

Keigo missed a couple passes, then a few goals, and finally the massive senior in his peripheral. The guy slammed into him like a brick wall, knocking him face first into the turf as the ball rolled from his arms into the hands of the other team.

As he painfully propped himself up, spitting dirt from his mouth, he noticed Touya had finally looked his way. Just in time to see him eat shit and cause his team to lose the practice. Keigo’s cheeks were red from more than just skidding against the pitch as he limped off field.

He wasn’t seriously injured, aside from his pride. His teammates were pissed at him, rightfully so. But he didn’t want them to know the real reason for his distractedness. A hot guy wasn’t an accepted excuse for throwing a game. In the end he faked a headache, excusing himself with numerous apologies.

Keigo skipped dinner at the cafeteria. He didn’t want to have to answer why he was limping and why his face looked like someone had scrubbed it with the rough side of a sponge. His cheeks were ruddy and stung a bit from the astroturf, so he decided to swing by the campus nurse to get some salve.

His stomach growled as he walked out of the office, prompting him to make a beeline for the campus café. It had coffee, snacks to grab, and quick meals for students who had to skip the cafeteria in favor of studying. Keigo rarely went to the café, preferring to visit with his entourage of buddies in the cafeteria at mealtimes.

He tucked his hands into his varsity jacket as he sauntered into the café. There was one other student aside from the barista behind the counter next to the coffee machine. Keigo gave a nod to the student waiting for food as he made his way to the register.

He leaned an arm on the counter, turning on his charm as he asked, “So what’s good here, huh?”

The smile faded from his face as the student turned around. It was Touya, who gave Keigo a small smirk.

“Oh look who it is.” Touya’s tone was mocking as he crossed his arms and leaned on the counter with a hip, “That was some fall, champ.”

He popped the ‘p’ and gave Keigo a shit eating grin. Keigo’s face went redder. He tried to keep his cool, crossing his arms and tilting his chin up aloofly.’

“And who’s fault was that?” he chided.

Touya let out a chuckle. “I take full credit. It was spectacular, and red’s a good color on you.”

Touya gave him a wink as Keigo flushed all the way down to his neck. Of course Touya was also a barista. As if he wasn’t hot enough already. Keigo was losing a game he didn’t know he was playing. Touya had the upper hand and seemed to be a step ahead. It wouldn’t surprise Keigo if he had swapped places with the actual barista just to mess with Keigo further.

Touya leaned forward, his long fingers tapping on the countertop, black painted nails clicking.

“I would say I feel bad, but I don’t. What do they say? An eye for an eye? Guess we can say a pencil for a wipeout, hmm? Lucky you didn’t break your face though. That would have been a real shame.”

Keigo rolled his eyes. “Great. Now we’re even.”

“Not quite,” Touya quipped.

“Ugh. Don’t tell me I have to buy you more pencils.”

Touya waved his hand. “Nah. Just buy me dinner instead.”

“Dinner?”

“Wow you really don’t have anything going on in that pretty head of yours, do you?”

Keigo stood there stupidly until Touya sighed heavily. “I’m asking you out, birdbrain.”

Keigo’s eyes went wide. “Huh?? Really? Wait I thought you didn’t like me?”

“I don’t. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try to change my mind.”

He grinned and Keigo felt a flutter in his stomach. He quickly put his golden boy façade back on, leaning on the counter.

“Joke’s on you. Everyone likes me, eventually?” He gave Touya a smile and put a hand out for him to shake. “Keigo.”

The pads of Touya’s fingers were rough as they brushed against the back of Keigo’s hand. His grip was firm.

“Touya.”

They shook hands like they were making some sort of business transaction. Touya’s pointer finger brushed against the inside of Keigo’s wrist as he let go. Whether intentional or not, it made Keigo’s heart beat faster. He was going to win over Touya one way or another. Even if it meant he had to eat shit on the pitch again.

.

Wooing Touya was much more difficult than Keigo anticipated. The other student was hard to read and rarely laughed at Keigo’s quick witted jokes. He’d just raise an eyebrow or let out a dismissive snort which Keigo took as a laugh.

As far as conversation went, Touya never started any. They’d sat in silence for a good half hour the first time they went on a “date.” It was a little coffee shop down the street from the campus. Keigo insisted on paying for the drinks, practically preening as he brought Touya’s coffee over.

When Keigo had finally broken the awkward silence they fell into a conversation with no real direction. Keigo asked the typical questions to which Touya would give one worded replies.

Siblings? Three. Favorite food? Hot soba. Favorite drink? Black coffee. Alcohol preference? Whiskey. Favorite season? None. Favorite sex position? Next.

Keigo was a little disappointed Touya hadn’t answered his last question. But he rambled off his own answers for the questions. No siblings. Fried chicken. Condensed coffee. Beer. Spring. And reverse cowgirl.

Touya had rolled his eyes, but then surprised Keigo with the question, “So bottom then?”

Keigo had choked on his iced coffee a bit, coughing before finally saying, “Uh. Yeah. Usually.”

Touya had nodded and then leaned forward with a vulpine grin to say, “Sounds like we’re a good match. Oh, and it’s doggy style.”

Keigo had spent the rest of the outing trying to fend off seriously dirty thoughts. A good match? Doggy style? Touya just kept getting sexier, and Keigo kept getting klutzier. In his defense, Touya was very distracting. He had a couple habits Keigo had noticed during their dates that always caught Keigo’s attention.

Touya never sat fully still. He was always tapping his foot or fingers, seemingly restless all the time. Even standing he would shift his wight back and forth from one foot to the other. It was endearing for some reason. Touya’s habit of running his tongue along his bottom lip however, was not at all endearing.

Keigo would have to stop himself from staring when the tip of Touya’s tongue would start to poke out of his mouth. It happened when he was deeply focused on something, like his art. He’d let Keigo chill with him a few times while he completed assignments in the top floor of the art building. When Touya got really into a piece, his tongue would occasionally poke out the corner of his mouth, swiping along his lip as he’d walk back to get a better view of things. It seemed like it was subconscious, but it drove Keigo crazy.

Though Touya in general drove Keigo crazy. He found himself wanting to spend more and more time with Touya, even ditching practice a few times to go sit in the quiet art room and watch him work. There was something extremely calming about how Touya sketched. He was very detail oriented and used a ridiculous amount of different pencils to create pieces that Keigo could stare at for hours.

While Touya’s drawings were already beautiful to Keigo, Touya would always tell him these were just practice. Keigo didn’t understand what he meant and kept asking Touya what the finished product could possibly be since he felt the sketches were too good to be merely practice. Touya always told him he’d show him at some point, but Keigo got the feeling he wasn’t quite at that point in their friendship, relationship?

They’d been on established dates and were gradually spending more and more time together but had yet to define what they were. There was definitely flirting, especially on Keigo’s end. Touya would respond though, usually with an eye roll and a bump of his shoulder agains’t Keigo’s or by pulling Keigo’s baseball cap down over his eyes playfully. It was a nice dynamic and part of Keigo was nervous to try and make it something more.

He finally decided to shoot his shot one evening while they hung out in the art building after dinner, almost a usual routine at this point for Tuesday nights. Touya was working on a mid semester assignment that was a big portion of his grade, so Keigo had taken on the role of cheerleader and sustenance runner. It was coffee he was currently trying not to spill as he sprinted lightly up the stairs to the top floor.

He handed Touya his coffee as he took his usual seat near Touya’s feet as he worked. Touya was already immersed in the project as evidenced by the tip of his tongue poking out the right corner of his mouth. Keigo glanced up at the canvas, watching Touya add more charcoal to the depiction of a flame which covered the canvas.

It was a study in values, meaning the light and dark of the piece was the focus from what Keigo had gathered. There were no lines anywhere, just meticulous shading that somehow made a black and white representation of flames licking at the canvas. It was impressive and seeing the process from concept to final product was fascinating.

Touya downed his coffee in nearly one sip, holding the empty cup out for Keigo to take and toss into the trash can by the door. He gave himself a self five as the paper cup banked off the wall into the bin. He’d learned it was best if he was quiet while Touya worked. Distractions tended to throw him off and make him have to get into the right headspace all over again.

Nearly another hour passed and then finally Touya clapped his hands together, shaking off some of the charcoal on them, a telltale sign he was done. As some point Keigo had taken to leaning against Touya’s chair form his spot on the floor. It put his head level with Touya’s waist and in the perfect spot for Touya to drop his arm down and rest his hand atop Keigo’s head.

Keigo perked up at the touch. Touya had used him as an armrest a few times before, but it was the first time those long fingers were touching Keigo’s scalp. His heart nearly burst out of him as Touya’s fingers worked their way into Keigo’s messy locks. It wasn’t exactly a head massage, but it was intimate in a way Touya hadn’t touched him before.

Touya twirled a strand of Keigo’s hair between his fingers as he said, “Guess this is a good as it’s gonna get.”

Keigo tilted his head up slowly to look at the canvas, trying not to move Touya’s hand out of his hair. The piece was gorgeous. A white hot flame that looked as though it would burn if you were to touch it.

“You’re full of shit,” Keigo retorted, “This is amazing.”

Touya chuckled. His fingers slipped lower, lightly caressing the back of Keigo’s neck for a moment. It sent chills down Keigo’s spine and he decided it was now or never. He reluctantly stood up, causing Touya’s hand to leave the top of his head. Touya looked up at him, ever so slightly shorter from being perched on the chair.

“Hey, uh,” Keigo felt anxiety blooming in his chest, but he pressed on, “Now that your project’s done would you want to, uh. I mean we’ve been kinda skirting around, uh, you know, and I, uh…”

The words died in his throat as Touya laughed suddenly. It was a heavenly sound, an actual laugh that echoed through the small art studio. It was the first full laugh Keigo had ever gotten out of Touya. While he wanted to fist pump in triumph, the laugh had been at his attempt to have a romantic relationship with Touya.

His cheeks burned and he stuttered, “What’s so funny?”

Touya wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and stood up. Keigo crossed his arms moodily, waiting for an answer and purposefully not looking at Touya. Touya sighed and his fingers carded through Keigo’s hair again, coming to rest his hand at the back of Keigo’s neck. His other hand moved to cup Keigo’s face, moving it so

Touya could look at him properly.

Touya’s eyes were soft as he said, “You really are a birdbrain, Kei.”

Keigo’s stomach clenched. Touya had called him a nickname. He could feel his cheeks getting hot but then Touya’s lips were against his and it felt like time was standing still.

Touya’s lips were soft and warm. Keigo wanted to melt into the floor as Touya swiped his thumb over his cheek as he kissed him. There were little fireworks going off in Keigo’s mind, making it hard for him to reciprocate. Touya separated their lips for a moment and Keigo quickly grabbed Touya’s hoodie, yanking him back into a near bruising kiss.

They were both breathing a little harder when they finally separated. Keigo’s hair was messier than usual and there was the hint of a blush on Touya’s cheeks. Keigo felt drunk, floating on a cloud as he stayed pressed against Touya.

When they parted a bit another small laugh came from Touya. “Shit. I got charcoal on your face.”

“Huh?”

Keigo reached up to his cheek, pulling his fingers back to see gray smeared over them. He snorted, but didn’t make a move to wipe the smudge away.

“Maybe I should be your next art project…” he teased, smiling with his tongue between his teeth.

Touya smirked and tucked a strand of hair behind Keigo’s ear and Keigo continued, “You’re gonna draw me like one of your French girls, right?”

Touya laughed again, a sound that was quickly becoming Keigo’s favorite.