It wasn’t the quiet silence of peace. It was the tense kind, heavy with unspoken words, vibrating like a faulty alarm.

Since he had lost his quirk, he was different, and you could see it in every single gesture.

You no longer knew how to talk to him. Every sentence felt like a mine waiting to explode.

It was never over big things, but over dishes left in the sink, clipped replies, nights when, waking up, you found him sitting on the couch in the dark… sitting far from you.

The fights continued, chewing you up, like embers no one ever bothered to put out.

You kept telling him he wasn’t alone, that together you could get through it; but he never seemed willing to let you help. By now, you were tired.

After another argument, you reached your boiling point. You seized a jacket, your hands shaking as you opened the door to your shared apartment.

“I think… we should take a break”.

you said.

The sound of the lock then turns was much too loud for the silence that filled the room.

“Don’t go.”

His voice was different: no irony, no lightness.

You heard his footsteps behind you. He held your wrist, not squeezing his grasp, as if he was afraid a touch might send you away.

“Please.”

That was when you turned around.

Keigo’s eyes were glassy. He wasn’t crying, but he was on the brink of something that he had been suppressing for far too long.

“Don’t take this away from me too… us”.

The words just hit you right in the gut.

“If you leave… I don’t know what I’ll have left.”

And then came the tears, silent, angry, painful, human. It was the cry of a man who was bred to be an object, who suddenly could not recall who he was without his wings.

“I know I’m a mess, I know I’m hurting you. But… please… Stay.”

He collapsed against you, his forehead resting against your shoulder.