Work Text:
Hawks let a sigh of relief escape his mouth, as he slowly descended through the clouds and onto the empty roof of the building below him. He flapped his wings a few times as his feet made contact making sure he didn’t hit the roof too quickly. Solid ground. Well not the ground, ground, but its a roof, so it’s a surface. His large red wings folded, coming flush to the Winged hero’s back, as he let himself relax his body.
“Finally... some peace and quiet...” he said to himself, as he stuck the tips of his index fingers into his mouth, before biting down onto his faux-leather gloves, pulling them off with a swift tug. Before quickly storing his gloves in his pants pockets. He held out his freshly exposed hands, analyzing the familiar sight. His hands were callused, scarred and rough, his fingernails black, and if left to grow out, sharp and hard, like his namesake. Unsightly... well to some they were unsightly. But to him they were normal. But sadly not everyone was okay with his "normal".
Sighing the hero turned his head, surveying his surroundings... empty... that was good. He had chosen a good building, much taller than all the others. And the cloud layer had been a lot lower today, enough so he wouldn’t be spotted making his landing. Sometimes he needed a little bit of peace and quiet, and most times he wouldn’t get that. So every once in a while he had to make time. A familiar crackle of sound, awoke him from his daze of self-reflection.
He sighed before pressing his finger to the base of the headphones speakers. A soft beep told him that the call had been both denied. So it meant it wasn’t the Commission, he couldn’t block their calls. This was his time. Well his therapist said he needed to have his own time. He had only started seeing a counselor after Rumi had pretty much forced him to. Saying he had too many issues to be dealing with on his own.
“This is Haw...” he stopped himself before finishing the affirmation “... No... this... this is Keigo time...” he said quietly. Before sweeping a hand through his hair, letting his nails gently scratch his head, before lifting them up, allowing his thumb to snag the band that connected his headphones, pulling them off. The release of pressure on his head was instant. It was calming.
Keigo, let a hint of a smirk cross his handsome features, before carefully striding towards the edge of the building. Crouching down he placed his headphones next to the wall that surrounded the roofs edge... what was the word... Tokoyami had told him it’s name recently. “Oh yeah... parapet...” he laughed quietly, as he thought about the young hero. He was a good kid... weird... and peculiar at times... but that’s why he admired the kid... he didn’t stray away from the “strange”.
Now as he stood, Keigo looked out at the town beneath him. It was beautiful, the sun was low in the sky, only a few hours from setting, but with the low clouds it wasn’t blinding. The area was serene, he was at the edge of the city, where it became more urban before civilization ended and the forest began. Kiego rarely came out this far, it was often that the buildings were to low, and the cloud cover usually being too high for him to swoop in unnoticed. But today was perfect for him to sneak out here and relax, and enjoy the view. And from here he could see all of it. He loved being high up, like a hawk, his vision was perfect from a distance. It was views like these that made it worth it to have eyes like his. He could appreciate the beauty of being high up.
But, something was wrong... it was a little dimmer than he thought it should be... it was only 4:30... it shouldn’t be this dark out... he frowned for a second. “That’s weird...” he mumbled. He probably had something in his eyes. That had to be it... he quickly brought his fingers up to his face. Only to be stopped by a few centimeters from his face by his tinted goggles.
Thoughts escaped him as if someone had pressed pause on his brain... not sure what was going on. But as it slowly dawned on him a large smile broke out across his face. And it was only moments before he burst out into laughter... a type of laughter he hadn’t laughed like that in quite a while.
“I’m a god damn... idiot!” He managed to get out in between his loud cackling. As his laughter tapered off the winged man wrapped his talons around the nose bridge of his goggles, before wiping away the tears from his watering eyes.
Carefully he set his goggles down next to his headphones. Letting his eyes take in his surroundings properly. “Much better” he whispered to himself. He could now feel the wind on his face, the steady breeze blowing through his hair. It was nice... freeing. Most would hate this much wind, it would hurt their eyes... but Keigo didn’t mind it.
Despite what his goggles and headphones would lead most to believe, his entire body was well adjusted to flight. He was lucky... he had got all the mutations to make his quirk actually work. Like his secondary eyelid... Tokoyami had told him the name... it was something membrane... definitely a membrane of some sort. Keigo let out another laugh... his intern... a kid... was teaching him about his physiology. At first he was embarrassed, but the kid was understanding, he was a literal bird after all.
No one had told him what the eyelid-thing was, only that it was gross when they spotted it closing. So it was added to the list of things that Hawks kept secret... his smile started to falter. His face becoming unreadable. He stood there for a moment, his eyes diming as they glazed over in thought. But slowly he shook his head, trying to rouse himself before he spiraled into self doubt.
“Keigo time...” he said to himself, repeating the mantra he had worked on... “Keigo is important too” he whispered. He carefully stretched his arms as he centered himself. He stood for a moment quietly considering what he should do.
He remembered what his therapist had talked with him about... that it would take time before he could really feel comfortable being himself. As he stood motionless he felt his wings twitch, and an idea drifted into his head... something he hadn’t done is ages. Maybe he should preen his feathers... he used to... but as he pondered more on the idea. It caused him to grimace... he didn’t even remember how to do it... the Commission had trained that instinct out of him.
“No...” he mumbled ”I should get going...” he sighed before crouching to grab his goggles and headphones. “This was dumb...” Hawks whispered to himself. But as before he could move any further, he heard the rustling of wings and the sounds of quiet chirping. He paused shifting his focus over to see a hawk... a mother hawk to be exact. He hadn’t noticed the nest that was sheltered in the thick branches of a very large nearby tree merely inches from the edge of the roof. He rubbed his eyes, just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, because if this was a message from the universe, it was way a bit more on the nose than he would believe to be real. But when he brought his hands down the birds were still there.
Hawks frowned... mentally berating himself for flinching at the sound of baby birds. The mother began feeding her babies. And Hawks chuckled. “At least I didn’t have to deal with that...” he mumbled to himself. Only to have the mother hawk stop and turn her head to look at him. Before letting out a caw, like she was chastising him for talking back, before going back to feeding her babies.
His mouth hung open. He had been disciplined by a bird. He shook his head again, before letting out a small laugh... “...I’m reading way too far into this... it’s just a coincidence... it’s not a sign...” and he turned to leave. Only for the hawk to caw once again. He slowly turned towards her, and saw her staring at him... almost expectantly... as if she was telling him to come closer.
“I’m going insane...” he whispered before turning around and crouching to pick up his stuff. “This took much longer than it should have...” he muttered, stress starting to creep back into his body. “The Commission is going to be so f-” his rambling was cut off by another caw.
He was going crazy he had to be... there is no way this is actually happening. He slowly turned his yellow gaze upwards. To find the mother hawk perched on top of the parapet, before she planted a soft but still disciplinary peck on his forehead.
“This is really happening isn’t it?” Hawks asked quietly, only for the mother Hawk to let out of a soft coo. “Fine what do you want me to do?” He asked again... starting to feel like he really was going crazy. She turned her head as if it indicate she was telling him to go towards her nest.
With a sigh he nodded. “Alright got it...” he said. With his agreement, the mother hawk took flight. “I can’t believe I’m being bossed around by a bird...” he mumbled as he made his way towards the nest... soft chirps from the fledglings getting louder as he neared. The mother hawk landed gently in her nest. “What now?” the winged man asked, only to have the mother hawk tap her talons on the nest.
“You know I won’t fit in your nest right?” Hawks grumbled, only to have her tilt her head as if to say... I know that... and then pointed her beak at the thick tree branches next to her nest. “Oh...” Keigo said quietly. Carefully he hopped upwards unfurling his wings, and letting out a few flaps, propelling himself into the air. He carefully let himself land on the branches behind the nest, the branch barely twitching underneath his weight.
Carefully his bent his knees and crouched down on the branch. He was perched... like a bird in a tree... well it wasn’t an incorrect statement. But that was besides the point. He turned his head towards the mother hawk, who now stood at the edge of her nest closest to him. Mirroring his position.
“So what’s next?” Keigo asked, the female hawk turned face him directly before sitting down... “You want me to turn?”
She nodded.
“So I’m facing you?”
She nodded once more.
“Why?” Keigo’s asked quietly. His eyes meeting with the hawk, she seemed surprised. But the emotion Keigo thought to be shock was soon gone, and she lifted her wing, and began to preen them. She did this for a few seconds, before stopping and looking back at him then down at her fledglings. And his brain began to put things together. “S... sure I can look after them...” he stuttered.
The feeling that began to fill Keigo’s chest was one he hadn’t really felt before... something he couldn’t describe. Carefully he turned so he was straddling the branch and scooched forward so he was close to the nest.
The mother slowly took off from her nest, and a few seconds later he felt her land on his back. Carefully he splayed out his wings, giving the motherly bird of prey access to massive wings. Carefully she ran her beak across the underside of a few of his shorter feathers at the base of his left wing. Pulling at a few to reposition them... and to put them back into place.
As she continued to preen his feathers, his muscles began to relax and he leaned forward towards the small fledglings, not even noticing that he began to let out a soft hum. Which for whatever reason made the babies chirp.
“Awe” he cooed as he stretched out his palms towards the three chicks. They were small, so very small. All together they were barely even the size of his palms. The chicks huddled up towards his warm hands, and he felt their tiny talons clutch onto his fingers. The smile on his face only grew, as he gently rubbed his thumbs on their tiny heads. He sat their for what felt like hours. Softly cooing the fledglings while also trying to pay attention to what the mother hawk was doing so he could preen his own feathers in the future.
When she finally finished she fluttered down and back into her nest. And Keigo smiled warmly at her, slowly setting the sleeping fledglings down underneath their mother. “Thank you” he whispered quietly, still bent over so he was almost face to face with her.
The mother hawk cooed before rubbing her beak in his hair. “I’ll make sure I visit again soon...” he said, before slowly getting up from the branch and taking off and gently landing on the roof top. A smile was on his face a genuine smile. Not the one he’d give for the camera, the one when he was actually happy. The one he hadn’t worn in a while, the one he had worn when Rumi had told him she was proud of him for seeing a therapist... the smile he wore when felt loved.