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There was nothing more than Hawks loved to do than fly.
Ever since he was a child, he knew that flying Quirks were rare and were highly valued for giving people the gift of being in the air for long hours. There were Quirks that could keep people up in the air or launch them up high, but it was not the same as genuine flying. Going through the clouds, feeling the rush of the wind, the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he soared higher and higher and as the world got smaller below him- it was a rush like no other. Nothing from the recreational drugs Hawks took when he was a young teenager and feeling rebellious could ever match the high that came from flying. Only those with wings could understand the feeling he got from it, but he was one of the few known people in Japan that had them. It was hard to get in touch with people these days considering how busy he was with his official Number Two hero ranking, aside from Miruko (who would literally ring up his phone five times in a row when she wanted his attention) and Dabi (although he hardly count due to texting him at random times for meetings not even worth ten minutes).
Despite the enjoyment he got from flying, Hawks knew that it was part of his downfall. The moment he swooped in to save those other kids from the car crash that could have taken their lives was the mark of his freedom being taken away. He could have declined the offer to train to become a hero, his parents had assured him, but he took it anyways. Their living situation hadn't been the best back then and if he hadn't taken the scholarship offers, he knew that it could have gotten worse for them. His wings offered him the freedom he craved, but they were the reason he was trapped in his current position. The irony of his Quirk was laughable, but Hawks took it with pride. It had been his decision and when he stuck his mind to something, he was going to go all out to complete the goal.
That mindset is what exactly led to Hawks sitting on the railing of his balcony, staring over the city. He had just finished patrolling an hour ago and while it was tempting to call it a night and watch something on Netflix, the desire to fly out over the city was calling him. Usually, when he was on Hero duty, he stuck to the ground to catch crimes that could escape his vision easier before they could happen. Flying took too much energy at times and it would impact his performance while on the job. Most of the time, he was able to control the urge to leap into the skies and take off, but now his wings were twitching relentlessly from the desire to spread open. Hawks kept them folded back to his spine, savoring the cool breeze that brushed against his face from the high atmosphere. The cool night air felt good against his feathers. His apartment was on the very top floor of the building, giving Hawks a view of the city with its sea of different colors below.
Inhaling as much of the cold air as he could until his lungs couldn't contain any more of it, Hawks breathed it out slowly. The night was calling out to him, begging him to spread open his wings and take advantage of no one bothering him during the little free time he had between his patrols. His next meeting with Dabi to discuss plans for the League of Villains wasn't set in date yet, but if the villain was to text him during a flight, it would give him an excuse to stay out longer. Anything to use as an excuse to fly longer was a good cause in Hawks' book.
The calling was beginning to become too much. Exhaling and inhaling the night air once more, Hawks stood up, his wings slightly spreading to keep his balance on the railing. He flipped his visor down, encasing his surroundings in a deep tone of watery blue. He always had multiple pairs on standby in a large array of colors in case one broke while he was working; such had been the fate of his last one when High End's attack barely got his face. This was a darker shade from the last, but it just highlighted the beauty of the stars that could be seen through the nightly clouds in the sky.
Turning his back to the city, Hawks closed his eyes. Normally he wouldn't do this with the risk it took to perform this stunt, but tonight he felt like it. Letting his body relaxed, the blonde tipped backward and let his body fall.
The wind smacking against his back as he dived down was almost enough for Hawks to open his eyes, but he scrunched them closed.
His heart was racing.
Blood pounded in his ears.
His wings were aching to be let open.
It wasn't until Hawks was more than halfway down the height of the building did he finally open his eyes and his wings snapped open. With one twist of his body, he was upwards and facing away from the building. Hawks' crimson wings flapped. The power in that single motion launched Hawks high into the air, away from the apartment complex, over the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, and past any power lines. Flapping his wings, going higher and higher, the grin on his face widening with every foot he climbed, Hawks loved it. With the distance expanding between him and the ground, it was as if the stress of being the number two hero, a double agent, and a child prodigy, was being left behind. It was nothing but him and the air, his wings carrying him to where he could feel free.
Laughing as he twisted and turned, Hawks looked down. The view of the city was truly a breathtaking sight, the multicolored lights blending together into a rainbow canvas against fields of black. Hawks breathed deeply, smiling widening as he relished in the feeling that not many were granted an opportunity to witness something like this. This was something he could claim as his own by his own desires and not have to share with anyone else. This is what it meant to feel freedom by his own choices with no one else around to tell him how he should feel over this. Running a hand through his messy hair, Hawks sighed with his eyes closing, his wings flapping to keep him in place. He honestly wished that he could stay like this, trapped in the air with nothing other than the sound of his wings flapping and his feathers rustling to accompany him. That was physically impossible because sadly, his body needed to rest like all other human beings on the planet, hawk mutant or not. This was only a moment of peace and freedom, not something that could ever be permanent.
Gliding along the windy night currents without caring about how much time he was wasting away, Hawks finally felt his body begin to feel heavy as opposed to feeling light like it did earlier. His wings were flapping less, simply spreading out to keep him in place. The adrenaline was fading away, his eyes dropping. Covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawned, Hawks turned back in the direction of his apartment complex. He internally groaned in disappointment as he looked at his watch, realizing that he hadn't spent as much time as he would have liked to flying around. Dealing with multiple interviews and meetings with his supervisors after the High-End incident earlier that day must have taken more out of him than he thought. He dragged out the time it took to reach his apartment complex just to savor the small moment he had to himself.
Briefly, he wished that Dabi could send him a text asking him to meet him somewhere just so he could have that excuse of flying to another location, keeping him up. He shook the thought away, huffing. With how his energy was draining, it would be too much of a risk to fly over to a secret meeting with a villain and in the aspects of a fight breaking out, unable to defend himself properly. His hollow bones- thank you mutated hawk genes- were beginning to feel like lead the more he dragged this out, but his apartment was finally in view.
Hawks' steps were light as he landed on the balcony, his wings spread out behind him. He looked back, flicking his visor up. With his wings spread outwards, the edges of his crimson feathers were catching all of the speckles of light that came from below, a rainbow captured in Hawks' wings. He smiled at the beautiful sight, making sure that this would be a memory he would keep around for a long time as he savored the view. Folding his wings back, Hawks yawned as he walked back into his apartment. He shut the blinds across the balcony doors, blocking out all of the city lights. He didn't need the lights on as he moved through his apartment, memorizing where all of the furniture was and keeping the floor free of any clutter that he could trip over. He's careless with his clothes as he makes his way to his bedroom, dropping them onto the hardwood floor; he'll just pick them all up tomorrow when he wasn't so dead tired.
Flopping onto his large bed among the soft pillows, Hawks yawned deeply. His wings spread out, the tips of the primary feathers going over the edge of the bed and brushing against the floor. Tomorrow he was going to have to resort back to being the sassy hero the public knew him as and the traitor the villains suspect he was towards his own co-workers. For now, he was going to let the buzzing in his head from his late night flight aid him in his sleep.
As he drifted off, Hawks' memories began to blur together all of the times his wings brought him higher and higher into the sky, away from everything; the exact type of dream he needed. Flying was going to give him the energy he needed to make his goal of giving heroes more freedom in a safer society. When that happened, Hawks knew he would then be able to fly all of the time. Away from the responsibilities of being a hero. The stress of being a double agent. The facade he had to put every single time he interacted with the public.
That was the type of freedom only flying could give.