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Today was the day. Tokoyami was finally going to turn in his letter of resignation. It had sat in his desk drawer for two weeks now, the timing never right. But this was finally it. He’d had enough of cleaning up after Hawks.
“Yo Tskukuyomi, mind getting me a refill?” Hawks called out, waving his empty coffee mug above his head, not even looking up from his phone.
“With all due respect, sir, I am not your intern,” Tokoyami bit out.
I’m supposed to be your partner.
Six months ago, Hawks had proposed promoting him from sidekick to full-fledged co-owner of the agency.
“After three years of putting up with me, you deserve it,” Hawks had told him. “We’ll put your name on the sign outside and everything.”
Grandiose promises that had amounted to nothing. It wasn’t that Tokoyami cared for the pomp and circumstance of title, the attentions of the bourgeoisie. It was just that sometimes he felt...underappreciated.
“Welp, looks like we’re all set to roast this bad boy,” Hawks announced, launching himself off the couch in a flurry of feathers. “Just got an email saying the police finally got the warrant and we have the go ahead. Can you print the paperwork out so we can bring it with us?”
“I am not your secretary. ”
His complaints fell on deaf ears. Hawks was already out to the door, no doubt gathering the rest of the sidekicks and telling them to suit up. With a sigh, Tokoyami did as Hawks had asked.
“Let’s play hooky,” Dark Shadow grumbled from within the folds of his cape. “I bet he wouldn’t even notice if we didn’t show up.”
“Silence yourself,” Tokoyami ordered, not rising to the bait.
They had been working this case for a month now, and it was the only reason Tokoyami hadn’t stormed out weeks ago. As much as this place felt like purgatory for sins he had not committed, Tokoyami had too much professional pride to leave in the middle of a big operation. He was going to see this through, if only because it was his heroic duty to make sure justice was served.
And definitely not because he knew if he left Hawks would shoulder the entire workload himself.
He shoved the forms into his satchel. After a moment of deliberation, he retrieved his resignation letter and slipped that in, too. Best to be prepared. He hurried down the stairs, leaping them four at a time. Years chasing after Hawks had taught him the importance of speed. Or, as his mentor frequently and memetically advised, “Gotta go fast.”
The team was already racing out the doors. Of course they hadn’t waited for him. The culmination of a month of stake-outs and espionage, and they were ready to leave him in the dust.
“There you are!” Hawks said as he caught up. “I’m going on ahead to scope out the situation. You got things here?”
“This is a team effort, Hawks,” Tokoyami reminded him. “You can’t charge in there yourself. You’ll be overwhelmed.”
“Relax! It’s just a bit of scouting to make sure nothing catches us with our pants down!” Hawks reassured. Before Tokoyami could reply, Hawks took off with a mighty sweep of his wings. He had the audacity to give Tokoyami finger guns as he flew away.
“Why does he always do this?” Tokoyami growled. His shadow seconded the sound, echoing his frustration.
“You know Hawks,” Toridachi said to his left. He was next in charge after Tokoyami, and the only one who had managed to work for the insufferable man for longer. Most of Hawks’ sidekicks burned out after around a year. “He can’t bring himself to wait.”
“I’m going after him,” Tokoyami said, summoning Dark Shadow from the folds of his cloak. “I fear what sort of misfortune that fool will bring down on his head. Can you handle things here?”
“You got it, chief,” Toridachi affirmed, saluting.
With that, Tokoyami launched himself into the air, Dark Shadow wrapped around him like night come early.
“If he injures himself before we get there, I’m not rushing in to save him,” Tokoyami muttured under his breath. A normal person wouldn’t have heard him over the whistling of wind, but Dark Shadow and he were so intertwined that words were more of a formality than necessity.
Dark Shadow just laughed, disbelief evident in his tone.
By the grace of someone unknown deity, Hawks had managed to contain himself. He was perched atop a building across from their target: an unassuming churchhouse. It was a front for a Nomu research facility. The hope was that if they struck as a coordinated front, they could apprehend the ringleaders before any Nomy were activated.
“Is everyone here already?” Hawks asked.
“No, sir. Some people have to use public transport. I came ahead.”
To make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Hawks flopped onto his back in a show of childish petulance. His wings fanned out beneath him like an exorbitant blanket.
“Man, I can’t wait to catch a break after this is all over,” Hawks whined, draping an arm across his face.
“You? Take a break?” Tokoyami asked incredulously.
“Yeah, maybe kick back for a few days, catch up with some friends.”
Tokoyami let out a harsh bark of laughter.
“We both know you’ll be in the office first thing tomorrow.”
In all the time Tokoyami had known him, Hawks had never so much as called in sick. Oh, he had been sick, but he had dragged himself to the office nonetheless, and spent the whole day breathing raggedly as he raced around town. It had been one of the few times Hawks had trouble keeping up with him, and not the other way around. Then when his cold spread to Tokoyami, and the young man had dared take a few days off to rest, he had received endless ribbing for it when he returned to work.
“Hey, how ‘bout we go out to dinner tonight to celebrate, just you and me?” Hawks asked, head still buried in the crook of his elbow.
“A little premature to declare ourselves victorious, don’t you think?” Tokoyami observed.
“I think you mean to say ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch,’ right?” Hawks joked, peeking one amber eye out to wink at Tokoyami.
Tokoyami responded with a groan, which only served to increase Hawks’ mirth. However, the prospect of one-on-one time with Hawks was alluring. It would probably be the best way to let him know of of Tokoyami’s intended departure, away from the attentive ears of office gossip-mongers.
The radio at Tokoyami’s waist crackled into life, letting him know that Toridachi and the men were in position. The police were also on standby.
“Notice how they tell you and not me,” Hawks observed, pushing himself up.
It’s because I’m the responsible one.
“I’ll let you give the official mark, if it eases your bruised ego,” Tokoyami said.
Not batting an eye, Hawks pulled out his own walkie-talkie and spoke into it.
“All right team, this is your captain speaking. We’re just about ready for departure. Everyone ready to go at my signal,” Hawks ordered, crouching and flaring his wings even as he spoke. “3...2...1...Get ‘em, cowboys.”
Hawks sprang off the rooftop with such force the wind almost knocked Tokoyami off his feet. However, he was only moments after the other man, springing after him.
He and Hawks were airsupport. Their job was to cause enough mayhem so the main team could get through the front doors.
“Don’t forget to shield your eyes!” Hawks shouted over his wingbeats, lowering his visor.
Then, with the predatory velocity of his namesake, Hawks plummeted feet first through the skylight. Tokoyami was right after, pulling Dark Shadow over his body like a cowl to protect himself from glass shards.
Identify the marks. Two by the backdoors. Four by the front doors. Two next to Nomu cages. Three gathered around a table.
“I’ve got front!” Hawks called. He was already surrounded by a whirlwind of feathers.
That left neutralizing those by the Nomu cages before they could unleash the monsters inside.
“Dark Shadow!” he called.
“Got it!”
The black streak raced forth, even as Tokoyami darted for cover. He saw the men at the table reaching for weapons, and he wasn’t about to be caught unawares. He threw himself behind a stone pillar. Gunshots. A chunk of rock chipped out of the side of the pillar. Good. They were aiming for him, not Hawks. Dark Shadow wrapped around one of the men by the cages, snapping his hands to his sides.
Don’t kill him, Tokoyami thought forcefully, and he felt Dark Shadow’s begrudging acceptance. The second man by the cages reached for what looked like a control panel. At Tokoyami’s command, Dark Shadow swung the man he was holding, using him as a living mallet to knock the other down.
Shuffling of feet. Close. They were coming around the pillar, putting Tokoyami in their sights.
Dark Shadow, return. Black Ankh Mode.
A blinding flash. No sound, just light as bright as the surface of the sun radiating from somewhere beyond Tokoyami’s field of vision. One of these thugs had some sort of pyrotechnic Quirk. The result was that Dark Shadow screamed and writhed, its pain echoing distantly through their connection. No time to worry about that. There was a man shoving a gun in Tokoyami’s face. His Aikido training kicked in, and he grabbed the man’s hand in a wristlock, redirecting his force so the assailant stumbled past him.
Dark Shadow. Status.
hurtsss
The creature was too disoriented to relay more information than that. Another gunshot, but further away. Firing at Hawks? Where was the rest of the team?
Sticking low to the ground, Tokoyami darted out from behind the pillar. He was just in time to see one of the thugs from the table making a beeline for the control panel. Tokoyami slammed into him with all his weight. It was enough to knock the man over, but the result was they were both prone on the ground. Dark Shadow loomed over him, fast enough to block a couple more gunshots. The creature screamed through their connection, making Tokoyami dizzy with the sound of it.
Hold out, he begged. We can do this.
That man you’re on, Dark Shadow responded, regaining his senses enough to communicate a coherent thought. He hurt me. I think...turns sound into light.
With all the gunshots going off, he had plenty of fuel. Tokoyami pinned his wrists down, but unfortunately the man had at least 50 pounds on Tokoyami’s bird-like frame. He threw Tokoyami off, then pressed his palm to Tokoyami’s face.
There was a light so bright Tokoyami was blinded, the whole word spinning white, even as Dark Shadow screamed. A hand grabbed the back of his head, fisting his feathers and slamming him beak-first into the floor. They probably expected him to blackout. Fortunately, his face was more durable than the average human’s. Tokoyami grabbed at the hand holding him down.
You think I’m helpless without my sight? he thought.
Throwing his weight up, he forced his shoulder into the armpit of his opponent, then yanked down. By folding nearly in half, he used his body as a lever to toss the other man.
Dark Shadow! What can you see?
Weak as the creature was to light, his incorporeal body recovered faster from injuries. Meanwhile, Tokoyami still saw stars.
Man with gun at 4 o'clock, man with Mutation-Class Bull Quirk charging at 11 o'clock.
Take the man with the gun! Tokoyami ordered. He felt his shadow surge out, quick to obey. Meanwhile, Tokoyami sprung into a low defensive stance. He couldn’t dodge what he couldn’t see coming, so he just had to brace for impact.
The hit came in the form of two bright points of pain to his chest. Tokoyami was prepared for it. Even as he was knocked off his feet, he snagged the twin horns piercing him and turned his fall into a roll. He landed square on his back, which was painful, but it freed his feet to jettison up, launching his foe in an overhead arc. He heard the visceral plop as the body landed a few feet away.
“Tokoyami!” Toridachi’s voice came.
He hadn’t heard the doors open, hadn’t heard anyone else enter the building, but he’d been preoccupied. There were the echoes of several sets of footsteps. Someone held him down as he tried to get up, and he prepared to grapple with them until Hawks’ voice reached his ears.
“Woah, stay low little crow. Fight’s over. We got ‘em.”
Something was pressed to his chest, and he noticed distantly that he could feel blood soaking his shirt.
Dark Shadow?
Police are here. Hostiles are on the ground. No immediate threat.
Good work, friend. We’re done for now.
The creature gave a low purr of satisfaction, retreating into Tokoyami. His vision was coming back in streaks of color, but the shapes still swam. He was pretty sure the large blotch of red was Hawks, though. It radiated smugness.
“It’ll be a few minutes before the medics get here,” Hawks informed him. “You’ll be fine, though. Puncture wounds aren’t that deep, maybe a couple of stitches. Anything broken?”
“Bruised surely. Broken I doubt.”
“The way you talk always cracks me up, kid.”
Tokoyami sighed, letting his head fall back down. He could tell he was in for one hell of a headache.
“So we still on for dinner tonight or what?”
Tokoyami’s first instinct was to refuse. He was injured, in case Hawks hadn’t noticed. But he thought of his resignation letter tucked into his satchel. Best to end it before he got suckered into working another case.
“Fine,” he whispered in response, resisting the urge to cough.
“Great! See you then!” Hawks said, his blurry shape rising from Tokoyami’s side.
Sure, leave me bleeding on the ground like carrion for the beasts.
“By the way, you owe me a jacket!” Hawks shouted as he disappeared from sight. Tokoyami didn’t understand what he meant until a few minutes later when his vision was back and he saw Hawk’s distinctive flight jacket pressed to the wounds on his chest.
A medic came and examined him, telling him he didn’t need stitches but he should probably take it easy for the next few days.
Well, I’m soon to be between jobs, so that should be a simple matter.
He wasn’t sure what to do with the jacket. Throwing it away seemed like a waste, but it did have blood on it. In the end he folded it up and shoved it in his satchel. Hawks was nowhere to be found, so he was left to fill out the paperwork, making sure the right authorities filled it out.
“Another victory for team Hawks, huh?” the police captain remarked, signing off on the form with a smile. “He was so fast they couldn’t even get the Nomu’s out of the cage.”
Actually, that was my doing.
“The man is something else,” Tokoyami agreed, trying not to sound snide.
The rest of the day was spent managing the other sidekicks, sending them on patrol and coordinating with the Hero Agency staff for press interviews regarding the latest incident. Hawks was nowhere to be found. Not unusual. The man had an unquenchable thirst for crime fighting, but no appetite for managerial work. Despite still being labelled a sidekick, Tokoyami was often the de facto leader of the agency.
Not after today, he thought to himself, packing up the few personal items he had at his desk. I am leaving this bastion of corruption and bureaucracy.
Yeah! Dark Shadow cheered in his mind, parroting his enthusiasm. And we’re gonna burn it to the ground before we go!
No.
Aw. You never let me have any fun.
Tokoyami arrived at the restaurant early and asked to be seated. Honestly, he was feeling woozy, and he wanted nothing more than to go home and bury his head under the covers. The sooner he could get this over with, the better.
A few minutes after he arrived, Hawks showed up, waving to him enthusiastically with one hand. The other arm hung at his side, nestled in a sling.
“You’re injured!” Tokoyami exclaimed. “But when?”
“Oh this?” Hawks remarked casually, like Tokoyami had asked him where he had picked up a new shirt. “Got it in the operation earlier. One of those punks had a teleportation Quirk, and he dropped a statue on me. Me and that madonna got real well acquainted today.”
“But...why did you tend to me, instead of seeking medical treatment?”
“Couldn’t have my best bird boy bleeding out on me, could I?” he asked, giving Tokoyami a wink as he slid into his seat. “Right, partner ?”
Tokoyami ground his teeth, refusing to take the bait.
“Anyways, you want to start off with the yakitori or the tsukune?” Hawks asked, looking over the menu.
“Unbelievable,” Tokoyami sighed, bringing his hand to his face. “You broke your arm and you still insisted on going out to eat today.”
His dour attitude did nothing to deter Hawks from requesting 2 sets of yakitori and an order of toriten. He dug into his food ravenously, while Tokoyami could barely stomach a few bites.
“You know, it’s not much of a celebration meal if you don’t eat,” Hawks chided, reaching across the table to snatch a piece of Tokoyami’s oyakodon.
“I’m not in the mood for revelry,” Tokoyami muttured.
“Why not? You did good work today. Oh, and thanks for keeping the office running while I took care of this,” he said, absently wiggling the broken arm.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to take time off to recover, are you?” Tokoyami asked.
Hawks looked up at him with mock-seriousness, mouth crammed with food.
“Crime doesn’t take a day off.”
Tokoyami rubbed the space between his eyes, willing his headache to dissipate.
“Not everyone can keep up with you, you know,” Tokoyami chided. “You push everyone forward so hard, that in the end you just push them away.”
“I know.”
“Do you now?” Tokoyami said, narrowing his eyes. “Then why don’t you change it? There’s a reason we can’t keep staff for more than a few months. Look at yourself! You can’t be bothered to launder your clothes half the time, you can’t hold down a relationship, you’d eat nothing but chicken nuggets and food-cart takoyaki if I wasn’t there to remind you to consume a proper meal once in a while!”
Tokoyami realized he was shouting, so he shut his mouth. However, Hawks didn’t look even remotely phased.
“What can I say?” he shrugged. “I couldn’t function without you.”
He always does this! Right when I’m about to leave, he goes and makes me worry about him.
Dark Shadow growled in his mind, feeding off his frustration.
Tokoyami forcibly untensed and resumed picking listlessly at his dinner. Finally, with a sigh, he reached into his satchel and pulled out the forms he had completed.
“Here’s all the paperwork, sir.”
Not even bothering to wipe his hands, Hawks took it from him. His fingers left a greasy imprint on the pages, making Tokoyami wince.
“Is this everything?” he asked, clumsily flipping through the pages one-handed.
“Yes, it’s all there.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“No it’s not,” Hawks said, staring directly into his eyes. “You have something else for me, don’t you?”
Tokoyami sucked in a breath. He wasn’t sure how his mentor did it, but the man had an uncanny knack for reading Tokoyami’s mind. Not breaking eye contact, he reached into his satchel and pulled out his resignation letter.
“I-I’ve been thinking about this for a while, sir,” he said.
“I know,” Hawks replied, taking the letter from him. He looked it over, face unreadable. “Do you know why I like you so much, kid?”
“Because I can keep up with you?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. No one can keep up with me,” Hawks rebuffed. “It’s because you let me use you.”
Even as Tokoyami bristled, Hawks’ face took on a more grave air than usually graced his features.
“Let’s face it- you’ll probably be happier if you leave and start your own agency. Someone as talented as you won’t have a problem making it big on their own. But you know, deep down, that we’re more efficient together. That you’ll save more people by my side than alone. And if you leave, you’ll have to live with the guilt of knowing you’re operating below maximum-capacity, forcing people to suffer just so you can take it easy.”
“Is that why you push yourself so hard?” Tokoyami asked. “Because you feel every second you take for yourself would be better used helping another?”
Hawks shrugged, idly picking his teeth with a yakitori stick.
“You can’t live like that indefinitely,” Tokoyami reasoned. “Eventually you’ll burn out.”
“Yeah, well, who’s going to stop me?” Hawks laughed, but his eyes shone with the intensity of a predator, drilling into Tokoyami.
“You’re trying to guilt me into staying.”
“Yes.”
They stared at each other across the table, and inside him Dark Shadow screeched in indignation.
Don’t let him sucker you into being his stooge.
“You see me as a tool.”
“Mmm,” Hawks deliberated, tapping his chin with the same chewed up bamboo skewer. “I think it would be more accurate to say you’re one of my dearest friends, but I’m not above using you as a tool if it’s to make a better world.”
A better world. The desire burning inside Hawks, keeping him going past the point of rationality. To the public, he appeared as a laid-back manchild with not a care in the world. They didn’t know him like Tokoyami did, couldn’t see the untameable force beneath the facade that threatened to tear the man asunder if he slowed down.
He was the most heroic, selfless person Tokoyami had ever met, to the point of being terrifying.
“Promise to take the day off tomorrow,” Tokoyami whispered.
Hawks guffawed, but Tokoyami held his ground.
“Either lose one day to recovery, or lose my aid forever,” he threatened.
Hawks raised his eyebrows, impressed.
“Finally ready to play hardball, huh?” he said. He chewed his lip, obviously weighing the choices in his head. “Fine. I’ll take the day off tomorrow, but in exchange you have to work with branding to get our sign changed.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“Well we need to get your name on it, obviously.”
“So you were serious about that? It wasn’t just another manipulation to keep me in your employ?”
“Of course I was serious,” Hawks defended, putting a hand to his chest in mock-affront. “I meant to do it ages ago, but, well, it was always a choice between doing that or going out to help more people, so obviously you came second.”
“As I suppose I shall continue to place for quite some time,” Tokoyami grumbled.
“Yeah, well, if it’s any consolation, I did give you that discussed pay raise months back. I don’t think you even noticed.”
Tokoyami hadn’t. Most of his payments were automatic, and he lived well beneath his means. He had little use for material goods.
“So this is the fate I am cursed with,” Tokoyami growled, glaring into his bowl. “Being worked to the bone by a cruel and uncaring taskmaster, all while making sure said taskmaster doesn’t drop dead himself.”
“Aw, see, I know you can’t be too upset, because you’re being extra again.”
Tokoyami’s death glare only sent Hawks into a round of laughter. After he had calmed down, the man held out his glass
“To a long and fruitful partnership,” he said.
With a beleaguered sigh, Tokoyami also raised his glass.
“To working ourselves into an early grave.”
“Cheers, I’ll drink to that bro.”
They tipped their heads back and drank in unison. Tokoyami knew he had just made a terrible decision, but he found he was oddly at peace. As exhausting as Hawks was, he was a man with searingly pure convictions, enough to incinerate friend and foe alike.
Tokoyami could be satisfied with that.