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Hawks was exhausted. He had done a double of patrolling today starting at 6a.m. before even his mother was awake, and going until almost midnight. It wasn't the criminals that wore him out, or the villains causing trouble. It wasn't the fire rescues or people saying hi as they waved from the ground when he sped past then in the air. Since getting his Hero License and doing freelance work for the Commission, he only had one thing that exhausted him.like this.
Paperwork
He spent hours doing paperwork for every criminal he arrested and each person he saved. He wrote reports, added details, descriptions, and he hated it. Hawks hated that it slowed him down. Made him stop. He couldn't stop. Stopping meant he had nothing to do and he needed to be the best. A few more months and he could open his own agency. Get his own sidekicks and have them do the paperwork. Except for Jin, hero name of Echo. If Hawks ever asked Jin to do paperwork, he was certain his best and oldest friend would skin him.
So Hawks had sat at his small office in the Commission building with a large window entrance that was just for him. Filling out his paperwork for the double patrol he had done at his own request. It gave him more time to look up details on Dabi while he was out. To make sure the Commission wasn't too close on his tail of catching his other childhood friend. He got all of that done by midnight, and used his feathers to float the documents into a tray on the floor secretary's desk. Then he went out the window and flew home.
Hawks landed on the balcony of the apartment and slipped inside. It had always been a house rule even before Keigo had come to live with Azumi. The balcony door is never locked. There was a momentary pause at the doorway to listen, his feathers fluttering but remaining attached to his wings. The house was silent. Soji and Azumi were cuddled in bed asleep. He knew Soji had worked overtime to be able to take both Keigo and Mila to the Festival that weekend. Azumi was sleeping soundly, she was going to wake up early and make pancakes as she did every Friday morning.
Mila was cooing in her sleep. Her little futon was in his parent's room for now because she cried at night if she was alone. She had been living with them all for a month, already much more giggly and playful than the first week she was adopted. He loved his little sister immensely. Her wings were similar to his and he was looking forward to teaching her to fly after the festival this weekend. Soji had expressed concern she would fly off and get lost if she wasn't supervised during flight lessons. Keigo agreed and promised to take responsibility for her and her flying. That meant it was on his schedule for her learning.
Deciding the house was safe for the night, Hawks slipped into the bathroom and took off his hero gear. His feathers flew it all into a pile as he stepped into the hot shower and let out a soft chirp of relief standing under the warm shower spray. Once done, he brushed his hair, shook his wings dry, and then headed to his room. Dropping all of his hero gear onto his desk, Keigo flopped onto his bed and sighed as he closed his eyes and let his wings relax, drifting off to sleep at 12:50am.
1:30 a.m.
"Nii chan? Nii chan." A small whisper was breaking through his blissful sleep. Cracking one eye open, he was greeted with two bright blue eyes surrounded by silvery eyeshadow and black eyeliner markings, framed by short white hair. "Mila….what are you doing awake and in my room?" Keigo mumbled. She blinked, her blue wings wrapped around her like a blanket and her pajamas poked out from underneath. "I can't sleep." She whispered.
Keigo blinked both eyes open now and squinted at the clock. "It's too early for you to be up. Go back to bed." She whined and made a sad chirping noise. "But I can't sleep." Keigo huffed and rolled over. "Go lay down and count to ten. If you mess up, restart. That will help." He could imagine her nodding seriously as he heard her whisper "Ok." And then the tiny patter of her feet on the floor as she left his room.
1:40 a.m.
"Nii chan? Nii chan?" He heard her whispering again, right when he had fallen back to sleep. Groaning, he turned to face her, both eyes open. "Mila. What?" She looked down whispering. "There's a monster in the room." He blinked at her and tilted his head, only slightly annoyed. "A monster? In mom and dad's room?" The four year old nodded quickly. "Yes. It sounds like this." She started making a sound like snoring and Keigo shook his head, smirking. "That's dad snoring." Mila whined a bit, grabbing his hand with both of hers as if to tug him along with her . "But it's coming from mommy's side of the bed." Keigo chuckled and flopped back down. "Then it's mom snoring. Go back to bed. Lay down and count to ten."
Mila shook her head, still holding his hand and her wings fluttered. "I tried that. It didn't work." He covered his face with his hands and brought his wings up to cover himself. "Try again." She huffed and he heard her wings flap in annoyance as she tiptoed out of his room again.
1:45 a.m.
He heard her before she even said anything. The tiny pitter patter of feet and the quiet chirp as she walked up to his bed. This time, Keigo held still, hoping against all that was holy she would not try to keep him awake. And then there was a reluctant whisper.
"Nii chan? Nii chan?" She moved one of his feathers to try and see his face. "Nii chan are you awake?" He rolled his eyes and whispered back. "No, I'm asleep." There was a pause before she whispered. "Oh. Nii chan, wake up. Nii chan?" He opened his eyes and blinked at her. "Mila. What is it?" She bit her bottom lip and was twisting her fingers nervously. "I counted to ten, again, and still can't sleep." Keigo rubbed a hand over his face mumbling. "When I had this problem, I just curled up in mom and dad's bed and fell asleep. Have you tried that?" Mila thought about that and shook her head no, disappearing out of his room again.
1:50 a.m.
Keigo had placed a pillow over his head to prevent himself from hearing her whisper in case Mila came back. He was tired, wanted to sleep and didn't really know what else to do if she came back. His wings felt her in his room. He could hear her whisper through his feathers as she stood next to his bed. "Nii chan, mommy and daddy's bed is too small for me to fit." He didn't move trying not to laugh. Soji had bought him and Azumi a king sized bed when he moved in. It should have been big enough so the thought of them sprawled all over it was making him want to laugh.
Mila climbed onto Keigo's bed and started trying to shake him awake, whispering for him, ending up tickling his sides and stomach without meaning to. He struggled to remain still and failed as Keigo squawked and laughed. He quickly sat up, reaching out to scoop her into his arms and sit her in front of him as he sat cross legged on the bed. With his wings and feathers moving so quickly it all happened too fast and Mila had no chance to even make a noise before she was nose to nose with her older brother. "What do you want, Mila?" He whispered as he gazed into her wide blue eyes with his golden ones, head tilting to the side.
Mila blinked at him and reached her hands out to put her hands on his cheeks. Tilting her head to match his tilt, she smiled so wide her eyes closed and whispers. "I can't sleep." He blinked and started laughing softly. "I couldn't tell. Mila you have to go to sleep and so do I. It's pancake day in the morning plus Jin is coming to look at apartments with me and I worked all day so I'm really tired. Plus you and mommy are meeting Sion tomorrow. She used to watch me when I was little and you want to be well rested for that." Mila let go of his cheeks and pouted. "But I can't sleep." Keigo sighed and dropped his head.
"Well what do you want me to do?" She pouted and rested her forehead on his, speaking clearly and without any hesitation. "You're a hero, heroes help people. Help me go to sleep." He blinked at her and wasn't sure how to respond to that. He had told her that after he got his license. She asked him almost every day if he helped people, and Keigo always replied that he did. Mila was now looking at him seriously, hopefully and with all the trust she could show in her eyes.
He sighed and picked her up, gently setting her on the floor of his room. "Alright. I'll show you a secret technique to sleep. It works every time, without fail, but you can only use it when all other options have failed. Ok?" She nodded, wings flapping excited as she hopped on her feet. "Ok!" Keigo put a finger to his lips. "Shh, mom and dad are still asleep. Waking them up is not good." Mila curled into herself, her wings coming around protectively as she nodded and whispered. "Ok, Nii chan." Keigo nodded and handed her his pillow. "Carry that."
He began to scoop up all of his bedding, blankets, sheets and a giant stuffed animal. Moving out of his room with everything, a few of his feathers moved through the air to give her a gentle nudge after him. She followed hugging his pillow until they were at the large L shaped sofa. Keigo dumped everything on the sofa and began arranging the blankets and sheets into a large nest. Mila watched with wide eyes as he added a pillow and the stuffed toy. He finally took the pillow from her and dropped it in. Then, he detached some of his feathers and let them float around the nest, slowly resting in various spots on the bottom of the nest.
Keigo climbed into it, reaching his hands out for the little winged 4 year old, and helped her climb onto the nest on the sofa. He laid down and Mila immediately curled up against him sticking her left thumb in her mouth. Her wings came around like a shawl and he draped one of his large wings over her to help keep her warm. Mila made a cooing noise as Keigo trilled and hugged her close, sighing as his eyes felt heavy. Her coo's became more spaced out until he felt her breathing even out. In a manner of minutes, she was asleep, and Keigo could barely keep his eyes open.
7:30 a.m.
Azumi woke up to find Mila's futon empty. Soji was sound asleep and looking around, she couldn't find Mila anywhere in the bedroom. Climbing out of bed, Azumi put on her large sweater and walked into the living room, hearing soft chirps and coo's that reminded her of when Keigo was little. She walked over to the sofa and saw a small nest of blankets and pillows in the corner of the sofa. Keigo was curled up hugging Mila, who was nestled against him with a thumb hanging out of her mouth. Her wings were draped over his arm that was holding her protectively, and both of his wings were draped over them like blankets. Red feathers were all over the sofa and nest, mixed with soft blue and white downy feathers that must have fallen or drifted from Mila's wings.
Sneaking back to her room, Azumi got her phone and quickly took a few pictures before she saw a golden eye open halfway. He made a soft chirp as Azumi leaned over to run her fingers through his hair and Mila made a soft coo when Azumi traced her forehead with her fingers.. "Go back to sleep my baby birds, I'll make pancakes later."