The Two Types of Wingmen [Bakawks] - Part 15

[Click for Ch14]

Katsuki was surprised to see Aizawa sitting in the pretty living room, but he supposed it made sense. Until he graduated, Aizawa was supposed to be the one in charge of his schooling and career or whatever – he just wished someone had told him, so they could have talked about it, instead of making him look like he was trying to hide it or something. He gave Aizawa a nod in greeting as he sat down, followed by his new PR person – well, Endeavour’s PR person, really – who sat down at Katsuki’s side. She built a weird kind of a barrier between him and Keigo that he wasn’t used to – he’d grown so accustomed to having Keigo right by his side, holding his hand or something.

“So I guess the first thing we should do is make it clear where things stand,” Aizawa said, his voice even more exhausted than usual. “Bakugou, are you and Hawks dating?”

“Yes.”

He surprised himself a little with how easily it came out. He didn’t blush, didn’t look to Keigo for permission, didn’t grumble and complain about people getting in his business, and honestly? It felt good.

“It wasn’t our intention,” he continued, with the words he’d practiced over and over in his head. “At first he was just letting me use the gym at his agency, while ours was closed, but we spent some time together as he showed me around and sparred with me, and things just… grew.”

“The major question, then, is if you want to deny it to the media,” Katsuki’s PR person said – he really should have learned her name. “There are pros and cons to both sides, of course, and ultimately what you need to think about the most is the potential impact on your careers. Bakugou, you haven’t fully established a reputation as a hero yet, so you could make the next few years of your life very difficult for yourself with this.”

“Why would they be difficult?” he asked.

“Even the hero world isn’t as queer-friendly as we’d like,” Aizawa explained. “It could be hard to establish yourself once you graduate, and Hawks stands to drop in the rankings if the wrong people get loud enough.”

“What?” Katsuki demanded, head whipping across to look at Keigo. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I’ve never cared about rankings,” Keigo assured them all. “I’ve never talked about my sexuality because I didn’t have a reason to, but I’ve never made an effort to hide it.”

“Bakugou,” Aizawa said quietly. “There’s a possibility of it affecting your ranking, too. Or even your career opportunities in general.”

“You think I won’t get a job if I tell people I’m gay?” Katsuki asked, disbelieving. “No way, there have to be thousands of queer heroes out there who would be happy to have me.”

“How many heroes do you know who openly talk about being queer in public?”

Katsuki paused to think about it, shocked to realise he couldn’t think of a single big name, no matter how hard he tried.

“I’m not lying about my sexuality,” he said firmly. “I don’t give a shit what happens, I refuse to lie about who I am.”

“It’s not lying,” his PR person said. “Just… avoiding the discussion.”

“No. Not happening. This is completely independent of me and Hawks. I’m open to discussion on that, because I don’t want to fuck up his career, but I’m never going to lie about my own sexuality.”

“Okay,” Aizawa agreed, even though Katsuki’s PR person looked exasperated about it. “That’s completely up to you, and we all respect your decision.”

As much as he wanted to pretend it was for altruistic reasons, to be the person who made it okay, or to inspire other people to be more open themselves, the fact was that the opposite just made Katsuki feel nauseated. Brushing it off when reporters inevitably asked him, cracking dumb jokes or something to avoid answering, acting like he didn’t mind having women hitting on him in the streets like they did to Keigo; he just couldn’t handle that.

“We’re on the same page,” Keigo spoke up. “I have a good reason to talk about it, now.”

“Hawks-sama,” his PR person whispered. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’ve never been more sure in my life,” Keigo assured him. “If my rank drops, so be it. I’d much rather be honest with the world and let them see me for who I am. See how happy I am. Isn’t it important to share that with the world?”

Despite his concerns, Katsuki flashed Keigo a quick smile. He was sure as hell glad that Keigo was happy, he just had to hope the rest of the world would be, too.

“Okay,” his PR person sighed. “I understand.”

“So how do we want to handle this?” his own asked, the pair of them turning to each other without a care for the heroes in the room any more. “Media statement to everyone?”

“Hawks wants to post it on social media,” the man sighed again, making Katsuki grin – he didn’t know Keigo had already had that conversation with them.

“We talked about me modelling some of his new merch, a while ago,” Katsuki explained, when Aizawa raised an eyebrow at them all. “After those viral photos.”

“I think that’s still fine,” Aizawa said knowingly. “If you wanted to deny the rumours it would make it tough, but if you’re going to make a statement anyway, it makes sense.”

“I want to post them captioned ‘buy my boyfriend’s new stuff’,” Katsuki finished.

Aizawa groaned, and it took all of Katsuki’s willpower to not laugh at him – he was pretty sure Keigo was going through the same struggle.

“The announcement will get a ton of attention either way,” Keigo pointed out. “We may as well capitalise on it, right?”

“He thinks it will help Bakugou’s following,” the PR guy added. “To mitigate future issues.”

“Bakugou, Hawks, I need to know,” Aizawa began, rubbing at his temple. “You’re envisioning this very differently than the rest of us, aren’t you?”

“Positively?” Keigo asked, grinning. “Yeah.”

“I think it’s gonna kick ass,” Katsuki confirmed. “You guys have gotten me a little paranoid with that ranking stuff, but I think we both see it going the other direction.”

“Kids who get to grow up seeing queer people in the spotlight,” Keigo clarified. “Heroes who are scared to come out until someone else makes the first move.”

“Teenagers having someone to look up to, when the shitty kids at school are picking on them for their sexuality.”

Aizawa nodded faintly, understanding, but the PR people just exchanged exasperated looks. Despite their disagreement, they clearly knew they’d lost.

“Work on the wording a little,” Aizawa suggested. “Something a little more professional than just buy it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Then from the school’s side, you’re free to do what you want,” he finished. “I’ve given you the warnings I needed to give, made sure you’re aware of potential consequences, what you do with that information now is up to you.”

“Thank you.”

Aizawa showed himself out, leaving them to it, but before long the PR team was standing as well, and Katsuki was surprised to get no final warnings or lectures in their wake.

“After the shoot, then.”

“Let us know what time you’re planning to post, so we can be prepared. You’ll likely get interview requests right away, so we should set some time aside for that quite soon afterward.”

“Deal,” Keigo agreed. “We’re doing the shoot tomorrow evening, they’ll probably edit the photos and have them ready the next evening to post. I can field media during my work hours the next day, and Katsuki will be at the agency for work studies that afternoon if you need him.”

“We’ll be in touch.”

Katsuki suspected the pair was about to go off and conspire together, come up with some kind of damage control plan, but he wasn’t sure he even cared. It was really happening.

———

“Turn this way a little, and arch your back so we can see both wings – that’s the one, hold right there.”

Modelling, it turned out, was awkward as hell. It was all just standing in dumb-looking positions that didn’t make sense, holding it until your muscles began to hurt while cameras flashed at you, and then repeating it all over again in a slightly different spot. The only bright side in it all was that he got to finish out the day in his favourite hoodie, all cozy and warm, posing with one of Keigo’s long feather-swords just for fun. It had been his own suggestion, a random whim when he felt like he needed something in his hands, but they had run with it, and he was actually kind of enjoying playing with the thing.

Only bright side was probably a bit of an exaggeration, because he also had a stack of new Hawks-branded t-shirts waiting for him to take home, and he was pretty gleeful about that, too. Most of them came in shades of red and brown, which worked well with Katsuki’s wardrobe anyway, but there was also a black-and-gold one patterned just like the one Keigo wore under his jacket, and Katsuki had taken a weird amount of enjoyment in wearing that one. It was athletic wear, where the rest were all casual, so it clung in all the right places, and Katsuki had thoroughly enjoyed having Keigo’s eyes burning into him the entire time he’d worn it.

“Alright, Hawks-sama, you can get in here.”

Katsuki turned to look, surprised to see Keigo setting his phone aside – he thought he was so sneaky with his photos, but Katsuki knew better – and reaching for something on a rack. Katsuki hadn’t heard anything about doing photos together, even though it made sense, but he kind of loved the idea. It was like a much more minor version of one of those weird, clingy photoshoots people did when they got engaged.

“What the fuck,” Katsuki blurted out, when Keigo pulled a black hoodie over his head. “Where did that come from?”

Keigo just grinned at him, shifting the fabric so the orange cross laid straight across his chest, and Katsuki felt himself turning bright red in response – the cameras were gonna have to wait a few minutes.

“Am I even allowed to have merch?” Katsuki asked, grabbing a fistful of the hoodie – it was just as thick and soft as his Hawks one. “When the hell did you do this?”

“It didn’t take them long,” Keigo laughed. “There are no rules against it. They might write some soon, but not so far.”

“You’re taking that thing home with you.”

“You finally understand,” Keigo teased, reaching out to play with a little stuffed wing.

“Shut up,” Katsuki complained, unable to shed his grin all the same. “You look good in my colours.”

“I’m glad, since it seems like I’ll be wearing them more often.”

They finally walked back onto the set, the crew pointedly pretending they hadn’t heard anything – not that it really mattered, when they’d be shouting it from the rooftops in just one more day. Katsuki couldn’t believe how much he was looking forward to it, in all honesty. He’d had a brief moment of reconsidering, when the PR team had seemed so reluctant, but a solid ten minutes with Keigo had set him back on the right track.

Unfortunately, the poses the crew suggested were cheesy as hell, and soon Katsuki was gritting his teeth as he held position, well aware that the photos were gonna turn out terrible. Even if the poses turned out okay, the awkwardness from each of them was enough to ruin it immediately.

“Let’s try a simple one,” the director spoke up. “Just stand back to back for me.”

Katsuki turned a little, letting Keigo step in, bumping him lightly and making him shift a foot to keep his balance. He leaned back hard, forcing Keigo to hold them both up, and a triumphant grin grew on his face when he felt Keigo hunch slightly under his weight.

“Do you think I could make my feathers into explosion shapes?” Keigo asked, apparently forgetting about the cameras as he began to reshape his wings, gathering clusters of feathers in his hands. “It’s hard with only one colour.”

“You’re making them too thick. Make layers like fire and smoke instead of just drawing spikes and shit.”

“I’d like to see you do better,” Keigo teased, obeying all the same. “Show me your wings, ‘Tsuki.”

“Don’t test me,” Katsuki smirked, taking a step away from Keigo to give himself some space. “You think I’ve never played this game before?”

He turned his back on the camera, though in the moment, he kind of forgot it was even there. Both hands went out, right at his shoulder height, and he took a moment to build up some sweat, to focus on making the smoke bomb-style explosions he’d practiced with for the sake of obscuring villain vision. A short, sharp burst came out, and he swung his hands down, making an arc of smoke that ended in a narrower point at the bottom. Another blast on his way up turned it thicker, before he added one more, much bigger, right at the top again, and turned around to put himself in position. Keigo watched him with both awe and amusement as his wings of dark, drifting smoke settled in place, and Katsuki gave him a smug smile as he felt the smoke begin to dissipate a little.

“It works better with a camera,” Katsuki said, shrugging. “With a long exposure I can shape the explosions themselves, but smoke puppets are fun too.”

“You’re so fucking cute,” Keigo whispered, making Katsuki blush once more.

“Um, we have long exposure options,” one of the camera crew pointed out, making them both jump. “Should we turn the lights down?”

Before they could even answer, the portable lights were being turned off, someone running for the overhead switches too. Katsuki just shrugged, setting himself up where they asked, and firing off short, sharp bursts of explosion at angles he’d practiced far more times than he’d ever admit. There were only so many ways a pre-teen could practice in their home garage, alright?! Sue him!

Keigo watched intently as he worked, eyeing every inch of heat and smoke that came off him, and as soon as Katsuki finished, he was taking his place, holding out his hands with feathers swirling around them.

“I think I’ve got it, this time,” he said, with a sharp grin that caught Katsuki off-guard for a second. “My turn.”

Katsuki stood back to watch, amused when Keigo began building thin layers of feathers around his hands, occasionally firing a couple of them away at sharp angles. The rest of the feathers shifted and vibrated in the smallest amounts, until it was their turn to launch, and Katsuki finally understood, when he glanced over at the camera crew. All pieced together, the same way Katsuki’s explosions were to make his wings, the feathers actually looked kind of passable as some kind of red smoke.

“Not bad,” Katsuki admitted, when Keigo was done. “A for effort and speed, B-plus for execution.”

“I’ll take it,” Keigo laughed. “By anyone else’s standards that would be A-pluses all ‘round.”

A little guiltily, Katsuki stepped back onto the set. He hoped the pictures would turn out useful, because he’d entirely forgotten for a moment that they were meant to be modelling, and not just fucking around. He did his best to go back to following directions, but it was so hard to resist sticking a foot out to try to trip Keigo when he wasn’t paying attention, and Keigo seemed to be struggling too, considering right when Katsuki managed to get what felt like an okay pose, he found a massive fluffy wing wrapping around his face and making him sneeze.

When he threw an arm around Katsuki’s shoulders, though, dragging him a little closer, Katsuki couldn’t help but lean in, tilting his head slightly to grin at him. Even though he knew they were making the job take way longer than necessary, it was kind of nice to just screw around and be silly with his boyfriend.

“Hold that, that’s perfect,” the director called, when Hawks turned his head slightly to smile back at him. “Get that shot.”

Katsuki cursed himself for it internally, knowing how damn goofy his stupid smile was gonna look, but he held it obediently, struggling to keep from laughing or blushing with Keigo’s face right in his.

“More of that,” the director said, when the cameras had finished flashing. “Do what feels natural.”

“Do you think he’ll be mad if we make out?” Katsuki mumbled, making Keigo burst out laughing. “Might be worth it for the reactions.”

“God you’re cute,” Keigo teased, grabbing him in a headlock and pulling him closer.

“Shut up,” Katsuki complained, more for show than anything else. He gripped Keigo’s arm with both hands to pull it off, but the camera flashed before he could put any force into it, so he paused for a second to allow it. “Now it just feels like I’m helping you walk again.”

“We both know you’re just thinking about seeing me half-naked again.”

Katsuki twisted out of his grip easily, grabbing him by the hair and shoving him downward, blushing despite Keigo’s bright laughter that usually made him smile.

“You’re the worst,” he complained, a little offended when one wing swatted him off Keigo like he was a damn bug. “How are they supposed to get any good photos when you act like this?”

“Okay, okay,” Keigo caved, still chuckling to himself. “Let me go, we’ll behave for a bit.”

Katsuki let him up, a little wary, but sure enough Keigo just straightened up, holding out an arm toward him. His wing went with it, stretching out toward Katsuki in sync with his arm, and Katsuki took a step closer, still a little awed by the massive swathe of feathers. The arm wrapped around his shoulders, and Katsuki reached out, putting his own around Keigo’s waist fondly.

“Hey,” Keigo said softly, squeezing him a little tighter.

“Hey,” Katsuki said back, cracking a smile that stretched a little too wide for his comfort – damn heart.

“Thanks for coming, ‘Tsuki.”

“Stop being sappy, you damn Horned Screamer.”