Thread by @Iracebeth3

3. ... Goodbye, NightMight

"You don't have to leave."

Mirai's shoulders tense, just as he closes the zipper of his last suitcase. He scolds himself on his foolishness — did he really think he'd be able to avoid Toshinori? Was he really planning to leave their apartment+

https://twitter.com/Iracebeth3/status/1393447685303246848

like a robber in the night? To disappear without giving the other man an explanation?

Apparently, he was.

He turns around, feeling his heart clench in his chest when he catches sight of Toshinori. They left him out of the hospital, so he's wearing regular civilian+

clothes: jeans and a t-shirt. Mirai wishes he could only see that: the expansion of his muscles under the t-shirt and those strong thighs on the jeans. He wishes he couldn't see the deep dark circles under his eyes, or those thin lines exhaustion is already drawing+

on his face. He wishes he could close his eyes and forget the bandages — make his way to the man and kiss him welcome, and then force him to eat something healthy for dinner for a change.

But he can't. Even if he could, he wouldn't.

Toshinori is giving him a sad /hurt/ look, as if Mirai was hurting him. He guesses he is, in a way, but he can't help it.

"When you said you wouldn't- did you mean-?"

"Yes," Mirai says, closing his arms around his chest, "when I say I wouldn't stay to see you destroy+

yourself, I meant it."

His wording probably hurts like a stab. It's what he wants, deep down. Maybe, if he says it once more, All Might will understand. Maybe, if he says it one more time, he'll finally listen to reason.

Life wouldn't have it, though.

"Where will you go?" He asks, taking a slow, unsure step towards him, as if he wanted to touch him but wasn't sure he'd be allowed to.

Mirai finds himself smiling grimly. It's unfair, in a way: Mirai had to insist so much to be with All Might; press every button he knew of to defeat the man's wariness to have him, first as his sidekick and then as his lover. It was foolish, to expect any kind of insistence+

from this man. Mirai had been pushing their relationship forward all along. It was only natural that, once he stopped pushing, it'd crumble down.

He knows that, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. He changes his weight from one foot to the other, stomach tight.

"Not far," he answers, finally, letting out another long sigh, "I already have the paperwork to start my own agency. You're welcome to look for the address if you want to have information on my whereabouts."

"Mirai-" Toshinori starts, but he stops mid-sentence. Mirai knows he wanted to promise something — offer him something, anything, so he'd stay. But Mirai already put his cards on the table: either Toshinori passes One For All or he'll leave. And being All Might is+

too important to Toshinori; an integral part of who he is and what he wants. It's more important than his own health, more important than his own life.

Definitely, it's way more important than Mirai.

He sighs again. He lowers the suitcase to the floor and rolls him. It's heavy on his arms, and he reminds himself he'll have to start training his body. He won't be half of an agency now, a brain to All Might's brawl. If he wants to make it a single day out there as a hero, he+

better starts getting in shape.

It's just another one of the tasks he'll have to add to his list.

He walks the room, the suitcase wheels the only source of noise in the quiet room. He passes All Might close by, so close he can smell his body; the stench of the+

ointments and medicine they're still covering his wounds with. It feels wrong in so many ways it makes Mirai's stomach curl.

Thick arms surround his waist, bringing him closer. There's something desperate about Toshinori now; as if he was now realizing maybe he didn't want+

to lose Mirai, even if he didn't know how to keep him- how to keep him and All Might in his life at the same time.

It makes Mirai smile. A little bigger than his last grimace, but at least ten times more painful.

He turns around on the embrace, golden eyes facing Toshinori's blue ones. He sees a desire to ask, to beg if necessary. Toshinori has been alone for so long, and Mirai can see his desperation at the perspective of being alone again.

Mirai smiles, and then stands on the tips of+

his toes to kiss him. His lips taste just like they always have: no medicine or blood or anything else. It's all Toshinori; vaguely sweet and masculine and /his/. It feels good to have that again. He'll enjoy to have that to remember.

Then, they separate. Mirai opens his eyes first, but Toshinori hasn't opened his. They're clenched tight, because he knows this will be the last. He knows that, as soon as he opens his eyes, they're over.

It breaks Mirai's heart. He doesn't know if he's smiling, or+

what other kind of weird thing his face is doing. It's not like it matters. When he speaks, his voice sounds cold and distant.

"Good luck, Toshi- All Might," he says, clearing his throat once, "I hope you survive."

And then he turns around, to make his way to their front door. Their apartment is eerily silent, memories of what they lived there wanting to break Mirai's resolve. But Mirai keeps walking, stubbornly, knowing too well that if he stopped, he wouldn't be able to keep+

going. He makes it to the living room, the genkan, and the front door.

And then he's gone.

(~end)