Help Me Stand
Keigo watched as the troops continued to pick up rice late through the night. Leaning against one of the wooden pillars that held up his tent, Keigo felt a familiar figure slide up next to him.
“Rumi,” Keigo grunted in greeting.
“Long time no see, Birdbrain,” Rumi chuckled. Keigo just rolled his eyes fondly at the nickname.
The two lapsed in silence. Though it was unusual for the two to be so quiet, their silence held a conversation within itself.
Keigo had known Rumi since he was a child. After being adopted by an army General and forced to train like his life depended on it, Keigo had been forcefully dragged around to function after function for ‘educational purposes’. He frequently saw Rumi there – the daughter of high-ranking officer – and the two had quickly become friends.
Though Rumi herself was not born and raised for war like Keigo, the woman could still pack a punch and was already highly qualified as a soldier. Keigo couldn’t help the selfish relief at the fact that his best and only friend wasn’t being shipped off to war where he may never see her again.
Keigo was glad that they could spend this time together, even if it was spent preparing for their death.
Keigo ignored the slight furrow that grew between Rumi’s brow – the woman was obviously thinking about something, but he didn’t think he could deal with anything else on his mind right now.
Sighing softly, Keigo found his eyes unconsciously seeking out the burnt beta from beforehand.
The man was tall, taller than Keigo himself, but he was as skinny as a twig. Pale skin that was pulled taught across his face by surgical staples glimmered in the evening sunset, and turquoise eyes that glowed like the bluest of fires flickered lazily around their surroundings. But there was something odd about the beta…
Keigo had noticed that the man’s hands were dainty, clear of any callouses that would’ve arisen from any work he would’ve been tasked with; and a spacious gait that utilized the movement of the hips when the other walked, as well as fluffy hair that appeared to be well looked after unlike many of the other soldiers’ dreadlocks.
So, Keigo could admit that the beta intrigued him; and not only due to his attraction to the other man. But Keigo also knew that he could never allow himself enjoy even a simple one night stand – he was destined to be given some random omega to fill with his pups and, until then, he must abstain from such pleasure.
“I’ll admit, he does have a nice ass,” Rumi commented.
“Wha-what’re you talking about!?” The blond startled, trying to fight down his blush.
“Don’t even try that with me,” Rumi scoffed, rolling her eyes before pointing towards Dabi. “You’ve got the hots for Mr. Scars over there.”
“Stop it,” Keigo snapped, batting away the woman’s hand and quickly checking his surroundings to see if anyone had noticed her not-so-subtle motions.
“So? Watcha gonna do about it?” Rumi asked cheekily, eyes lighting up in mirth and leaning towards Keigo.
“Nothing,” Hawks grumbled, pushing away the alpha.
“Naw! Don’t be like that!” Rumi pouted. “I’m sure you can tap that.”
Keigo sighed, resolutely deciding to ignore Rumi and pushed himself off of the wooden pillar he was leaning on.
“Stop fucking around Rumi,” Keigo muttered. “We’ve got work to do.”
Keigo sauntered off, missing Rumi’s meaningful look that she sent his way. Rumi’s eyes flickered over to the burnt beta who seemed to be being harassed by a young, blonde girl, before Rumi turned away and jogged after Keigo.
Touya was already regretting this stupid idea of his.
First of all, he was woken up at the ass crack of dawn by having some idiot dumping water on him, soaking both him and his cot (obviously the prick hadn’t gotten over Touya spilling dinner last night). Secondly, the other stupid recruits hogged all the food so Touya didn’t get anything to eat this morning (seriously, you’d think Touya had killed someone rather than spilled some rice); and lastly, the world was now teasing him with gorgeous, sun-kissed skin.
Their Captain and commanding officer, Hawks (as the man had introduced himself as), had rallied them all together before taking off his shirt like he was doing a strip tease and started barking off orders or whatnot.
Touya’s ears couldn’t hear the words that the man was saying as his omega was howling with delight at the muscles that tanned skin was pulled taut over. Every twist of the torso and that delicious six-pack would flash Touya’s way, and every wave of his hand, the blonde’s biceps would bulge with contracted muscles.
If the training didn’t kill Touya, this man would.
“Dabi!”
Startling, Touya’s head whipped up at the sudden shout. Belatedly, Touya realised that someone had called out his name. Not even a second later, Touya also realised that it was Hawks who had called out to him. Hawks who was frowning up at Touya; Hawks who was very close, and was shirtless. Fuck.
“Do I need to repeat myself?” Hawks asked, lifting an unimpressed eyebrow.
Touya would like to say ‘no’, but unfortunately Touya had legitimately not heard what the blond had said and so he instead replied with a begrudging, “yes.”
Huffing, Hawks stepped back. “Well, I guess you can volunteer then Dabi.”
Wow, life was really making sure Touya regretted every decision he’d made that led up to this moment, wasn’t it?
Grabbing Touya’s wrist, Hawks grabbed a rope that had a weight tied on the end of it and shoved into onto Touya’s hand before dropping his wrist. Touya’s centre of gravity titled and he almost fell over with the unexpected weight. Wincing, Touya tried to ignore the staples that tore at the sudden movement.
Hawks grabbed his over hand and unceremoniously dumped another weight onto it. “These represent both Strength and Discipline,” The blond announced. “You’ll need both the reach the arrow.”
Touya frowned. “What arrow?”
The blonde’s eyes lit up as a smirk twisted his lips, before he pointed over Touya’s shoulder. Looking over, Touya saw a large wooden pillar. Looking up, Touya saw an arrow that was very high off the ground.
Well fuck…
Gulping, Touya awkwardly dragged his lanky body over to the pillar, the weights scraping at his wrists and digging into his staples. When he made it over to the pillar, Touya could feel the familiar burn of humiliation creep up the back of his neck.
Touya was painfully aware of his lack of muscle, and so, he knew that he wouldn’t even be able to lift himself a foot off the ground – especially with the weights attached to his wrists.
Scowling, Touya wrapped his arms around the beam and attempted to scuttle upwards. He didn’t even get a metre off the ground before he was sliding back down.
Chuckles echoed through the crowd and Touya cursed everyone as Hawks took the weights off of him and gave them to the next person.
Thankfully, Touya’s dignity was revived with even the buffest of Alphas not even being able to make their way to the top. The person who had come the closest to reaching the arrow was a darker-skinned alpha woman with snow white hair and alarmingly long eyelashes, who was in arms reach of the arrow before she lost her balance and went pummelling to the ground.
Touya startled a little when someone nudged him in the side.
“Hey are you okay?” Tenko asked, a small frown present on his face.
Touya was definetly not okay. He could feel the blood continuing to drip from his wrists and the blood loss was starting to make him feel light headed – he was probably as pale as a ghost and Touya wouldn’t be surprised if he was swaying slightly. Touya made a mental note to try and sneak off and jab himself with some medication before he fainted.
“Yup,” Touya huffed. Tenko just levelled him with a flat look, obviously not believing him, but thankfully, didn’t say anything more.
Thankfully, there was a gap between switching from shooting arrows to practicing with bokken which allowed Touya to swiftly slip away without anyone noticing.
Hurriedly walking through the maze of tents, Touya quickly made it back to his own before rummaging through his meagre belongings and pulling out one of the glass syringes.
Sighing, Touya uncapped the needle before pushing the sharp tip into the crook of his elbow where he supposed there was a vein (he’d actually never done this before and hoped he didn’t accidentally end up killing himself or some shit).
“I thought it was common sense not to take drugs here – or are you just that dense?”
Oh shit.
Despite this being Keigo’s first time in charge of new recruits, he was immensely thankful for the presence of the Emperor’s advisor, Nemuri Kayama.
The woman was a beta with long purple hair that cascaded down her back and had red-rimmed glasses that framed her face. Despite betas being known for their calm and level-headed nature, Nemuri was not.
The woman was a spitfire and flirted with everything that so much as moved. Her clothing was also highly inappropriate since it was obviously three sizes too small and hugged her body and pronounced her cleavage.
But despite how distracting her presence was to the other soldiers, Keigo found comfort in the woman’s boisterous nature and booming laughter. Keigo also respected the woman since she herself was a very successful soldier on the battlefield before she became Emperor Aizawa’s advisor (she also talked a lot about the Emperor and Keigo wasn’t so sure he should know half of the stories he did of such a high ranking man).
So, needless to say, when he saw one of his soldiers slip away from the group, he was immensely grateful to be able to turn over command to Kayama as he tailed the other.
Belatedly, Keigo realised that it was Dabi whom he was following.
The other was stumbling about as if he were intoxicated and Keigo was half surprised that the beta hadn’t fallen over. It was also mildly concerning that Keigo didn’t even have to try to hide his presence, feet stomping loudly against the soft ground beneath him.
When the other practically dived into their tent however, Keigo couldn’t help but raise a brow in questioning.
Sighing, Keigo thought he might as well get this over with and strode over to the opening of the tent.
Pulling back the flap, the blond was met with Dabi hunched over, syringe in hand, needle buried in his elbow, and his thumb about to press down on the plunger.
Well, the stumbling suddenly made sense he supposed – withdrawal symptoms most likely. Though Keigo would admit he felt a little affronted that the son of one of the best war heroes in their time was ditching training to get high in the middle of a dirty tent. Honestly, what was this guy thinking?
Keigo sighed softly, before drawing up his shoulders and straightening his posture. “I thought it was common sense not to take drugs here – or are you just that dense?” He drawled.
The burnt man jumped, fumbling with the needle and causing the sharp metal to cut through his purple skin. The ravenette’s head whipped around violently, turquoise eyes landing on Keigo, and, in that moment, Keigo realised that the man looked scared. And not the kind of scared that one would be at being caught red-handed.
The man’s position shifted instinctively, arms moving upwards – ready to shield his face at a moment’s notice, and his feet scooting back to create a better distribution of weight. Dabi’s eyes were wide, breath a little too fast, and body language basically screaming ‘fear’.
Keigo frowned when he saw blood coating the other’s hands, sluggishly dripping onto the floor below.
“I-uh- it’s not drugs? Well, I mean it technically is, but, like, not- uh, not really,” Dabi stumbled over his words, shoulders relaxing slightly at the sight of Hawks but still ready to flee at the drop of a hat.
Keigo blinked. “Well, what is it then?” The blond asked, feigning disinterested as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Um…Medication,” Dabi said.
“What for?” Keigo questioned, still feeling vaguely suspicious of the other.
“I-uh, have haemophilia.”
Keigo cocked his head to the side, his brows drawing together in confusion. He was no doctor, but the term rang a bell.
Dabi elaborated at the obvious confusion on his Captain’s face. “It means that my blood doesn’t clot properly. So basically, my wounds don’t heal no matter their size and I’m just left to bleed out unless I take this,” Dabi said, tilting his chin in the direction of the syringe.
What The Actual Fuck? This dude can literally die by a single scratch and he was sent here for war!?
“Don’t look so surprised Birdy,” Dabi rolled his eyes. Keigo decided not to reprimand him for not addressing him properly – the man looked like he was going to drop dead.
Keigo sighed, crouching down to grab the syringe that had clattered to the ground (surprisingly the glass hadn’t shattered when Dabi practically threw it on the floor).
The beta eyed him wearily as Keigo shuffled over, grabbing the other’s arm and ignoring the flinch that came with it. Looking it over, Keigo frowned at the blood that continued to bubble up from the recent cut.
Humming, Kiego silently gestured for Dabi’s other arm which the man hesitantly gave.
“How did you find the vein?”
“I didn’t,” Dabi shrugged, ignoring Keigo’s shocked look. “It’ll get into my blood stream eventually.”
This man was suicidal. No one should just take medication in such a reckless way!
Keigo huffed frustratedly. “I’ll inject it into one of the veins into your hands and show you how to tell the difference between a vein and an artery, so you don’t end up killing yourself.”
Dabi blinked, obviously taken aback. “I-… Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Touya watched the alpha carefully as the man showed him how to safely inject himself with his medication and then proceeded to wrap Touya up in bandages – completely ignoring Touya’s protests – and then shooed Touya into another tent where he then shoved some bread into Touya’s hands and waited for him to eat.
Touya was confused as to what brought on the sudden doting behaviour – was it some sort of alpha thing? No, it couldn’t be. Enji had never treated Touya with such human decency and he was his son.
So, Touya chalked it up to the other simply feeling bad for startling him or something – Touya certainly didn’t miss the flash of guilt that crossed the blonde’s face when he realised he’d accidentally inadvertently pulled Touya’s staples out.
Either way, the man wasn’t particularly bad company once he loosened up. Touya enjoyed the blonde’s presence and his omega was making it very clear that they did too.
Sighing softly, Touya watched the man sharpen his sword whilst he waited for Touya to finish eating.
Perhaps this wasn’t so bad after all.