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Hawks Agency loomed over the street in downtown Fukuoka, a modern steel-beamed building with polished glass windows that soared forty floors above street level. It wasn’t the tallest building in the area, or the most impressive, but standing looking up at the huge hero emblem on the side of the building, Kaminari Denki couldn’t help but be a little intimidated. Up until this moment, he had remarkably limited interaction with highly ranked pro heroes, despite his classmates seemingly meeting them at every other turn.
After his embarrassingly easy defeat in the first round of the school festival, he hadn’t had many pro heroes reach out to him for internship placements at the start of the year. He had ended up working with a hero agency north of Tokyo that probably had more sidekicks than they had strictly needed given how few incidents they had needed to respond to over the week that he had been there. Everyone at the agency had loved him, and he’d had a lot of fun, but he hadn’t learnt much.
Coming back from internships and listening to everyone talk about their experiences, and then watching the skills they had developed as a result was the first time Denki had noticed it.
The chasm between his skills and the skill levels of his classmates.
He had known Shouto was strong. He had known Katsuki was. Momo had the most incredible quirk that would be virtually limitless once she extended her knowledge and stamina.
But everyone else, at the start of the year, seemed like they were more on his level. With a quirk that could be powerful, in time, but one that they were still refining and came with some pretty heavy blowback.
Except, after internships, it wasn’t like that anymore.
Izuku had taken leaps and bounds in the week (despite having spent three days in hospital – it took months before they found out about the fight with Stain and Katsuki had been pissed), and Tenya’s whole perspective seemed to have changed. And the rest of the class wasn’t going to be left behind, so suddenly everyone who had had okay quirks had incredible quirks that they were perfecting.
And Denki was… short-circuiting his brain anytime he overloaded himself.
He liked that people found it funny. He liked the attention. He wasn’t likely to be forgotten while he was making people laugh, but at the same time, he knew he wasn’t progressing at the same rate as the rest of his classmates.
Mr. Aizawa’s training had focused on him developing a higher tolerance for electrical currents, but he had also failed his mid-term exams, so he had been useless in the fight against the League when Katsuki had been kidnapped.
And then, despite feeling just as useless as Denki, Eijiro – who was meant to be one of his best friends, hadn’t come to him to rescue Katsuki. He’d teamed up with Shouto instead and gone with Izuku, Tenya and Momo. Denki liked to think that if Eijiro had asked him privately, rather than just telling his plans to Izuku in front of their whole class, he would have gone with them.
But Eijiro hadn’t, and they had saved Katsuki without him.
And come back again another level stronger than Denki.
Deepening the chasm, pulling further away from him.
Sure, Hanta and Mina hadn’t gone either, but they also didn’t have the same flaws to their quirks that Denki was still struggling around. They were also quicker thinkers in fights, and could more easily team up with people.
He had thought, for a brief moment, that maybe he had caught up to Eijiro and Katsuki at the provisional licensing exam. He had saved them from the yucky goop student from Shiketsu, and had earnt his license when Katsuki had failed.
Not that he wanted Katsuki to fail. At all. Katsuki was a dedicated student and would be an amazing hero, but if he could pass the exam where Katsuki had failed, it meant that he had something Katsuki lacked. Which made him feel like maybe the chasm wasn’t impossible to bridge.
But then Eijiro had been given a work studies placement with Fat Gum and had an amazing debut as Red Riot (Denki was so super proud of him, and his complaining wouldn’t change that – he had the first fan-made Red Riot hoodie and he wasn’t ashamed of that fact). The fight with the Shie Hassaikai had the same effect of Eijiro that the fight against Stain had on Izuku though, and then Katsuki had received his provisional license and the window of time that Denki had thought he’d had to catch up to them had closed.
And he was on one side, struggling to make full use of his shooter gear and short-circuiting when he wasn’t paying enough attention, while Katsuki and Eijiro kept running on the other side. Chasing down their dreams of being top ranked pro heroes, leaving Denki behind, on the wrong side of the chasm.
He had liked when Hitoshi had started to be involved in more of their training sessions, in preparation for his movement into their class in the second year. At first it had been because he liked the thought that because he hadn’t gone through the experiences their year had gone through, his skills might be closer to Denki’s own level. So, he would have a friend he could grow with.
Except, it had quickly become evident that Hitoshi had been grossly misplaced in the general studies course, and his control of his quirk was practically perfect. Not to mention the intensive physical training that Mr. Aizawa had put him through brought him up to speed with the rest of the class in terms of combat abilities.
He still liked him though. Hitoshi had a great sense of humour, even if it was a little dark, and he was the right kind of intelligent that Denki actually understood when he explained something.
Studying with Momo was a test of his mental capacities, because the extensive charts, colours, palm cards and analogies most just left him more confused after the session than he had been before it. Katsuki kept neat notes, ordered by topic, that he spent hours summarising into exam ready cheat sheets that didn’t have enough detail for Denki to understand, though it seemed to work well enough for Eijiro and Hanta.
Hitoshi though, Hitoshi got it. He understood that sometimes Denki just needed the same instruction repeated to him five times before he started to comprehend it, and that the only way he really memorised anything was practicing again and again and again. Reading was hard because his comprehension skills were sorely lacking but he could write excellent essays as long as he was given the time to understand what he needed to argue.
English was easily his worst subject because if reading in Japanese was hard, reading in a foreign language was worse. He aced any verbal test Present Mic gave them, but because of the structure of Japanese education courses, spoken English wasn’t considered a key skill so those exams were only worth a measly ten percent of his overall grade. His theoretical studies, overall, were a nightmare.
But he had studied hard enough to get into UA, he wasn’t going to flunk out of the top hero class. All the same, when Hitoshi moved into the 1-A dorm in final term, it had been a relief to have someone who he could study with who understood that the way he learnt was just a little different to the rest of his class.
Not that Eijiro and Katsuki had ever gotten annoyed with him when they could see he was trying, but Katsuki sometimes was a little quick to call him an idiot and it wasn’t always in the fun, loving kind of way that Denki could just laugh off. He didn’t just take it, but it still hurt even when he turned around and snapped at Katsuki for being an asshole.
So, the chasm existed.
In both his ability with his quirk and his actual studies. A chasm that, despite his best efforts and Hitoshi’s tutoring, wasn’t going away.
Which was why, when Shouto had reached out to Fumikage about Hawks being sus, Denki had jumped at the opportunity to be helpful. He didn’t want to get in trouble, and he didn’t want to jeopardise his provisional license, but the reality was that unless he started putting himself out there, the chasm would keep growing.
Katsuki, Izuku, Shouto and many of the others had started operating like heroes, thinking about the broader implications of the issues they encountered and it was largely due to their experiences. Denki couldn’t compete if he was just going to sit comfortably in his dorm room or classroom, and in reality, it wasn’t even a dangerous mission.
They were just snooping.
At the same time, Denki had never met one of the top ten heroes aside from All Might (and he wasn’t sure he counted anymore after Denki had watched him mess around in their hero studies course like he was still a teenager as well), and the training session they’d had with Hawks two months ago. He hadn’t really met Hawks at the training session though, and the hero had seemed a little unengaged and very uninterested. He’d left pretty much immediately after class. So, the idea of stealing highly classified data from him was making Denki him a little nervous.
He must have paused for too long, because Katsuki smacked him over the back of his head and took a handful of his jacket, dragging him towards the revolving door that was the visitor’s entry to the Agency. Eijiro looked completely at ease as he strolled on Denki’s other side, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans, while Izuku chittered scoldingly at Katsuki from Katsuki’s other side.
Shouto had arrived on an earlier train because he didn’t want to have to explain to Endeavor why he was travelling down to Fukuoka. Shouto had mentioned in passing that Endeavor’s relationship with Hawks was… not great, which Denki found a little strange because, despite his performance at the Billboard Awards, Fumikage had mentioned on more than one occasion how much Hawks admired Endeavor.
Denki didn’t want to say it, but part of him wondered if Endeavor had spent too much time fighting zealously for the Number 1 spot that now he had it, he was paranoid about anyone coming up behind him. He wondered if that paranoia was driving Endeavor’s struggles to settle into his position, or connect with the other heroes in his ranks.
The media channels had spent the last six months comparing Endeavor to All Might, and finding him lacking. The change would be difficult for anyone who had to replace All Might, but despite his prowess as a hero, there wasn’t the same faith in Endeavor that the public had placed in Endeavor.
Denki could understand why, even without understanding the toxic family dynamic that Shouto had grown up in (if toxic was even the right word), Endeavor wasn’t… particularly likeable.
So, Denki could understand Shouto not wanting to explain that he was going to see one of his school friends in Fukuoka and was going to have a poke around Hawks’ agency.
Hitoshi was already waiting inside the clean marble foyer, looking perfectly comfortable in a slightly oversized black hoodie, ripped jeans and ratty Converses, despite the curious glances from the office workers in pressed suits, pencil skirts and clickity heels. Hitoshi had been a little cagey about where he had been travelling from but had insisted that his train line was different, so he’d come separately to the rest of the group.
Denki didn’t care, if he didn’t want to talk about his family he didn’t have to, but he was curious. He’d never heard Hitoshi say anything about his parents.
He had been standing next to Shouto, talking calmly about something that Denki was too far away to hear, but he stopped when Denki launched himself at the other teen for a tight hug.
“You guys are early!” Denki grinned, hanging off Hitoshi while Shouto stared at him for a moment and then sighed.
“Good morning Kaminari,” he shook his head in exasperation.
Hitoshi just looked down at him with an expression that indicated that he was neither particularly fond of, or in want of, the physical contact but he was tolerating it for now.
“Dunce face, stop fucking throwing yourself around and behave,” Katsuki snapped, “shitty hair, control him.”
“Kacchan-“
“Zip it, Deku. What’s the plan IcyHot?” Katsuki growled when Izuku tried to protest, probably about his language.
Eijiro came up behind Denki and touched a hand gently to his shoulder, and Denki unlatched himself from Hitoshi obediently, stepping back to press his shoulder against Eijiro’s. Hitoshi, admittedly, looked a little relieved to have his personal space back but Denki knew he liked it really. He seemed like he didn’t get enough physical contact.
“Firstly, I think we all need to calm down before we get thrown out,” Shouto replied calmly.
He looked maybe a touch too dressed up, in an open dark blue button up shirt, over a black T-shirt and black jeans. Denki, on the other hand, had thrown on what was probably his cleanest pair of jeans (apparently now he’d moved out he was responsible for his own laundry – which was bullshit. What use was it having two mothers in a stable and loving relationship if they were going to abandon him like this at sixteen?), a plain white T-shirt, a necklace that had a heavy charm that was meant to give wisdom that sat over his collarbone and a pair of boots. This far south, he didn't really need a jacket for the warmer spring weather, but he had worn one anyway.
“Tokoyami said he would collect us from the lobby at nine,” Hitoshi shrugged with a yawn that he stifled in his scarf, “Hawks has agreed to take us on a tour of the agency, though.”
“That’s kind of him,” Izuku perked up with a genuine smile.
His notebook (number 14) was poking out of the messenger bag that he had slung over his shoulder and Denki wondered how long he’d be able to resist starting to draft notes about the slew of heroes they were likely to meet.
“I thought Hawks didn’t like kids, I didn’t really expect to see him to be showing us around?” Eijiro raised an eyebrow curiously.
Shouto shrugged, “does it matter? We’re here to see Tokoyami anyway.”
Denki watched nervously as a group of three sidekicks passed them with barely a sideways glance.
Was it obvious that they were here to infiltrate Hawks’ office and steal confidential information? Or try to anyway.
What would happen it they got caught? What if they couldn’t pull it off? Or they got caught but they didn’t find anything anyway?
Maybe they should be trusting the pros to do their jobs? Maybe Tenya was right, they were interfering without any real justification and could do serious damage to Hawks’ ongoing investigations by breaching his privacy.
Eijiro elbowed him and he winced, rubbing his side.
“What was that for Ei’?” Denki grumbled.
“You were behaving like a twitchy space cadet, this isn’t some underground mission, we’re just here to have a look around,” Eijiro murmured softly, under the general chatter of the lobby.
“The abuse that I tolerate between you and Katsuki is unbelievable. I need new friends,” he complained with a smile.
“Katsuki and I are basement bargains, we’re the best a poor fool like you could afford,” Eijiro smirked as he watched him from the corner of his eyes.
Denki poked his tongue out at him.
“I could make other friends! Hanta and Mina like me too!” He griped quietly.
“Yeah, and they don’t abuse you at all. Mina hits you more than Katsuki does, and Hanta just likes you because you’re more portable than his power bank and he doesn’t want to miss the next legendary bird that comes out in gyms,” Eijiro laughed.
“Hitoshi likes me!”
“Pity, I think it’s out of pity,” Eijiro nodded wisely as Denki gasped with mock hurt.
“You’re so cruel to me,” he pouted, poking two fingers lightly against Eijiro’s ribs to channel a spark of electricity, no stronger than a static shock, into the other teens body.
Eijiro jumped, wrapping him in a firm headlock before he could move to avoid it or retaliate.
“Admit it Denki, we’re the best friends you’re going to get and you’re happy with us, abuse and all,” Eijiro laughed, hardening his skin when Denki went to electrify him again.
The downside of having a friend who could turn his skin as hard as rock, was that he could ground himself in those moments, making him immune to his quirk. The upside was that, if he ever needed to, if he was fighting alongside Eijiro he could go all out without worrying about hurting him. With notice.
“No, you’re terrible friends,” Denki growled, struggling, probably in vain, against the headlock.
“Admit it,” Eijiro laughed, tightening the hold slightly.
“Never!”
“Admit it,” Eijiro teased, holding him locked against his side while Denki struggled.
“No!”
“Shitty hair let Pikachu go, you’re making us look like fucking idiots!” Katsuki snapped without even looking back at them.
He was talking to Shouto, Izuku tucked between them, while Hitoshi looked like he was going to fall asleep on his feet at any moment.
“Admit it,” Eijiro murmured bravely.
Eijiro was one of the few people to dare disobey a direct order from Katsuki, but he didn’t often suffer (much) blowback from his disobedience. He wouldn’t dare hold him too much longer though, if Katsuki had to repeat himself they’d probably both end up on the receiving end of a series of explosions.
“Fine, fine, I love you, even if you’re an asshole,” Denki sighed in defeat.
“Great, love you too,” Eijiro grinned, letting him go, “now stop freaking out, you’re a key player and we watched you practice twenty-three times on Friday. If Katsuki has faith in you, have faith in yourself.”
“Have you thought about going into motivational speaking?” Denki asked dryly as he straightened and brushed off his clothes.
“No, I think being a great hero will take enough time,” Eijiro laughed.
“Such a missed opportunity,” Denki replied, his tone heavy with sarcasm.
Whatever Eijiro’s response was going to be, it was interrupted with a small hush fell over the lobby when the elevator doors opened and Hawks trotted out, his wings glistening with the morning light and fluttering happily while he talked to Fumikage, who followed him out, shrouded in his black hero uniform. Denki liked Fumikage’s uniform, it was cool. He wasn’t cool enough to pull off something that alternative, but Fumikage definitely was.
Izuku perked up and waved enthusiastically at Fumikage, who nodded a greeting at them as he walked over. Denki’s eyes slid over to Hawks curiously as he approached.
He was the youngest hero in the top ten, and this was largely attributed to his intensive training that he undertook with the Hero Commission during his high school years. He was known for being congenial and easy going, easy to get to know and kind and generous to his fans. He had one of the largest social media followings in the world, and had been considered year after year to be Japan’s, if not one of the world’s, most eligible bachelors.
He was young, successful, good looking and heroic.
Denki knew all of this, even without Izuku’s obsession with pro heroes, but he struggled to see it in the man that approached.
Obviously, he was good-looking (Denki wasn’t blind), but everything else? Denki didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if it was just Shouto’s paranoia that had put it in his head, or if it was something else, but Hawks didn’t quite look carefree and friendly.
He was smiling, sure, but his eyes weren’t as inviting as his smile indicated. They were cool, inquisitive, and analytical. Not the eyes of someone known to be a media darling without too many hidden depths.
He was watching them while they watched him. Izuku was eager to meet him properly, he probably had an item of Hawks merchandise stashed away for a signature, but Katsuki was a little stand-offish. Shouto was almost glaring at him as he approached, and Izuku had to gently nudge him for his expression to clear.
Was this the face of the League of Villains?
Denki didn’t know.
He hadn’t met the League after the first incident at the USJ, but he had been following the news along with the rest of their class. They knew the League’s power was growing and their patterns of attack were growing increasingly illogical, which frightened the public.
Katsuki was right when he had said that there had been other heroes that had changed sides when they sensed a change in the winds. There had been five well-known heroes who had been arrested for working alongside the League already, two of whom were ranked heroes. It should have been impossible for Hawks to be a traitor as well, with his ranking as high as it was, but it wasn’t.
It shouldn’t have been fair that Endeavor was an abusive asshole who had tried to twist Shouto into his perfect weapon, but hero society had nothing to do with fair.
That was what they were learning anyway.
So, while it wouldn’t have been fair, it wasn’t unreasonable for Katsuki to assume that if Hawks was poking his nose into something he shouldn’t be, it might be League related.
And looking at the hero now, Denki just didn’t know.
He wanted to be fooled by the friendly face and the warm smile, but he just wasn’t.
He knew that smile.
It looked back at him in the morning sometimes.
They were the mornings that Eijiro dragged him back to his bedroom until he’d finished a cup of tea and a plate of cinnamon toast, and then spent the day being louder and more boisterous so Denki didn’t have to be.
Hawks was talking, Denki realised belatedly, though he didn’t seem to be paying him much attention. He seemed intrigued by Hitoshi, and curious of Izuku and Shouto, but the rest of them were just background ornaments. Which probably made it easier.
“Thank you for having us, sir! Sorry to disrupt your day with Tokoyami,” Izuku grinned happily, clutching a pair of bright red sneakers to his chest, freshly ensigned with a sharp signature in black pen.
Katsuki was standing close behind him, shoulders curved in protectively. Denki didn’t know exactly what was going on between the two of them, but he was fairly certain that if they didn’t make it clearer soon then Shouto was going to make his move.
Though Denki hadn’t decided who that was going to be on.
Tsu and Momo seemed to agree that it had to be Izuku, it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. Mina and Kyoka said it was Katsuki, since they’d grown closer after putting up with each other so much in the make up tests for provisional licensing and the edge had gone from their arguments. Ochaco couldn’t reasonably be expected to give an opinion, because she was still getting over the crush she’d had on Izuku earlier in the year.
Denki hadn’t formally weighed in with the girls, though he was happy to spend evenings on the couch listening to them gossip while they braided the longer strands of his fringe. He quietly was fully supportive of Shouto making a move on both of them.
He was slightly scared that Izuku might just let Katsuki walk all over him in a relationship, and Shouto would protect Izuku from that, while providing an outlet for Katsuki’s explosive personality traits.
That being said, relationships between students in pro hero programs were dangerous to the point of being openly banned in several schools. The fallout that came from a broken teenage heart could be devastating to someone’s professional relationship in the future.
Denki just wanted Katsuki happy though, whoever that might be with. Or without. Whatever.
Hawks had replied while Denki was zoned out again, and the group was following him towards the elevators while he chattered at them. Denki tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans, checking for what had to be the hundredth time that he still had the blank phone and sim card, fully charged and on him.
He had left his actual mobile in his back pocket, so that he wouldn’t accidentally grab it in the heat of the moment and wipe all his own data. He wouldn’t put it past him.
He frowned, touching a hand to his back pocket and then pulled out the slim smartphone with a Pikachu key charm and bright yellow case. He handed it to Eijiro without a word, who glanced down at the phone and then put it in his jean pocket for safe keeping.
He wasn’t going to grab the wrong phone from Eijiro’s pockets.
Probably.
That would be embarrassing and not very subtle. Just shoving his hand into the front pockets of Eijiro’s jeans for his phone while trying to clone Hawks’ phone.
Denki blushed as his brain ran away on him and shook his head to clear the line of thought.
It wasn’t an issue. He had the blank phone.
He could do this.
They just needed an opportunity.
The plan had been that they would simply pick-pocket him. Fumikage had told them that he kept his phone in the outer right pocket of his uniform jacket unless he was flying or in a fight. It was a large, loose pocket and the phone was the only item usually kept in it.
Izuku had suggested that all they needed to do was bump Hawks at the right time from his left side, and someone could swipe the phone while he was focused on his left side. Hanta had the lightest fingers of their year, but he wasn’t invited because they didn’t want the group to be too large. At seven people it was already a larger group than had been dispatched for any other stupid and ill-advised 1-A mission, so necessary cuts had been made.
Of the group that was included, Fumikage would be the least noticeable. Hawks was probably used to his presence enough that he would barely pay him any attention, even if he was right against him. But Fumikage had flat out refused to actually be involved in the heist, and had further refused to use Dark Shadow to help either.
Izuku was ruled out because it was virtually impossible for him to blend in, he was too loud, too happy, too energetic. He was a better distraction. Shouto was similarly ruled out because they already knew that Hawks was interested in him because of his family, so he was likely to be slightly aware of him at most times.
Katsuki had originally volunteered himself to be the person to lift the phone from Hawks’ pocket, until Hitoshi had pointed out that as the winner of the sports festival, and his history with the League of Villains, if Hawks was compromised, he would be keenly aware of Katsuki’s presence. Even if he wasn’t working with the League, then Katsuki was too bigger personality to really be unnoticeable.
Eijiro hadn’t even really been considered, he wasn’t very soft handed.
Which left Hitoshi to be the person who would be responsible for actually taking the phone from Hawks. Hitoshi would lift it when Izuku accidentally bumped into Hawks, and then pass it off to Eijiro, who would hand it for Denki, who would clone the phone, and then hand it back.
The plan was that the phone would be lifted, copied and returned within the space of ten minutes and two light touches.
Of course, a large part of their plan hinged on the fact that, as students, Hawks wouldn’t be on his guard around them. Which would remain to be seen. If Hitoshi didn’t feel Hawks was suitably distracted, they would need to quickly pull together a plan B.
Hawks’ agency was incredible. There were entire floors dedicated to forensics, product development, support gear development, training rooms, meeting rooms and offices. Denki could tell, even without paying full attention – the view was pretty and the day was clear and blue, that Hawks was proud of his agency and his staff.
Denki couldn’t quite understand how someone who was this passionate about their work and their agency would betray everyone they worked with to join the League of Villains, but if he could understand the way villains thought, he might have bigger problems on his hands.
They were walking down a quiet corridor on the twenty-seventh floor, looking into rooms that were testing various support gear items. It was the first floor they had come across that there weren’t other heroes or staff loitering in the halls to talk to Hawks, which was why Denki wasn’t surprised when Izuku seemingly tripped over his own feet and careened into Hawks’ left-hand shoulder.
Hawks looked a little surprised, but reached out to steady Izuku with a genuine smile.
Denki’s heart was hammering in his throat as he watched Hitoshi barely brush past Hawks on his other side and then hand a slim silver phone, with a black case back to Eijiro. Hitoshi stepped away from Hawks’ side before Hawks had even finished steading Izuku. Katsuki was right next to Izuku, playing up the over protective friend to draw more attention to the pair of them while he growled for Izuku to be more careful.
Eijiro handed Denki the phone, and Denki took it with his right hand, quickly sliding it into his pocket as he wrapped his left hand over the blank phone in his other pocket.
This use of his quirk was… unusual, and it wasn’t something he really advertised. He didn’t consider it a marketable skill, somewhere along the lines of being able to absently charge any electrical device.
Phones were essentially just the movement of electrical currents to communicate information. He couldn’t explain exactly what it was, he didn’t know enough about the science of phone or communication devices to explain how it worked. All he knew was the he had always known that communication devices were a natural extension of his quirk, which was why the only aspect of his first hero uniform he had incorporated was a comms device that he could tune to either listen to or communicate with any radio station or phone number.
He had been cloning his phones since he had been given a phone, because usually when he overcharged himself and short circuited, his phone was usually on him and ended up getting completely fried. He could transfer the data faster than any person working in a phone store, so he had taught himself.
Now he could move his own phone data with his eyes closed.
Hawks’ phone wasn’t as simple as his, it was encrypted with numerous layers of security, which Denki had to be careful not to clone because otherwise they’d have a phone they were locked out of.
The transfer took four minutes and seventeen seconds. Denki could feel the data copying across, byte by byte. Hawks didn’t seem suspicious; he had turned to start talking energetically to Fumikage while they moved up to the next level of the agency which seemed to be predominantly offices.
Hawks was talking about his agency’s closure rates and the recent changes he had started incorporating for political reasons around All Might’s retirement. Denki was mostly just still terrified as he handed Hawks’ phone back to Eijiro without looking at him.
He glanced down at the phone as Eijiro took it and smiled. There was a black Tsukuyomi case protecting the back, a digitally enhanced photo of his classmate in his hero uniform in front of a full moon.
Denki wanted a copy of that phone case if Hawks had started producing it commercially.
Eijiro handed the phone back to Hitoshi, who pocketed it until there was an appropriate moment to return it.
There wasn’t a good moment.
The next twenty minutes were spent following after Hawks as he led them higher and higher in the building, showing them examples of the residential apartments for his junior sidekicks. There were still people around them, making it difficult to have a good moment where they could be sure they weren’t being watched.
Denki was starting to get nervous that they wouldn’t be able to return the phone when Eijiro grinned excitedly when they walked by a huge window that overlooked the bay.
“Hey Hawks, is that the Ji-Hotishi Building?” Eijiro asked, pointing to their left at a large grey building they could see in the distance.
Hawks paused to follow where he was pointing to and nodded, “yeah, it is.”
“That’s where Crimson Riot fought Fossil!” Eijiro grinned excitedly, launching into a play-by-play rendition of the fight.
Izuku looked absolutely fascinated and Hawks was amused, listening with the same patient expression that Mr. Aizawa sometimes adopted with Izuku, while Hitoshi slipped his phone back into Hawks’ right pocket.
Denki released a soft sigh of relief and glanced at Shouto, nodding ever so slightly.
They’d done it.
In a few hours’ time, tucked away safely in a hotel room in downtown Fukuoka, they would know if Hawks was working with the League of Villains, and, maybe, why he wanted to know about Shouto’s family.
It took a long time before Denki’s heartrate settled, and he was still nervous that someone would know that they had done something, even when Hawks received an alert on his phone for a villain attack at the docks. Fumikage looked at Hawks to see if it was a call out that he would be invited for and Hawks nodded.
He made his apologies, and he and Fumikage left through a balcony door. Denki watched them fly off together with a small smile and then let go of a deep breath.
“Do you guys always feel so nervous every time you do this?” He huffed, leaning against his hands on his knees for a moment.
Katsuki rolled his eyes as Izuku and Shouto glanced at each other and then shrugged.
“This is different, every other time has been a fight. Covert missions are a different kind of difficult because there’s no immediate outlet for your adrenaline,” Shouto offered consolingly.
Denki nodded, taking his time to get his breathing back to normal.
“Did you actually manage to do it Pikachu?” Katsuki grumbled, bumping his shoulder affectionately.
“I think so,” Denki nodded, looking up to make eye contact with Hitoshi, “we did it?”
Hitoshi chuckled softly, “let’s get out of here.”
* * *
Fumikage didn’t finish work until almost seven in the evening. Apparently the quiet of the morning meant that the criminals in Fukuoka didn’t stop giving Hawks work until well into the evening.
Shouto had agreed, somewhat reluctantly, that they wouldn’t look into the phone until Fumikage was there with them as well. Denki had double-checked that they could unlock the phone, but beyond that, it had sat, chirping with alerts occasionally, on the bedside table next to Shouto’s bed.
They had booked one night in Fukuoka in two conjoined triple rooms so that they didn’t need to rush home on the same day, and had time to discuss whatever they found together. Eijiro had ordered pizza for them all as soon as Fumikage texted to let them know that he was headed over, and it arrived five minutes after Fumikage did.
He looked exhausted, but Denki knew that the benefit of all the hard work he was putting into his internship now would mean that he would be qualified for his full license almost immediately upon graduation.
Six pizzas, three rolls of garlic bread and a full superhero movie later, Shouto shifted to grab the cloned phone off the bedside table. He held it in his lap, staring at the blank screen.
“What happens, after all this, if we haven’t gotten any information?” Shouto asked quietly.
Denki shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he would have let down his friend if that eventuated.
“Fucking half-and-half bastard,” Katsuki growled, “don’t be wishy-washy. We went through all of this for you.”
“I’m not, but we might not have learnt anything,” Shouto glowered at Katsuki.
“Who doesn’t keep their lives on their phones?” Hitoshi pulled a face.
“Mr. Aizawa,” the other six teenagers responded at the same time.
Hitoshi groaned, “anyone who isn’t a paranoid conspiracy theorist?”
“Does it count if his conspiracies are usually accurate?” Fumikage asked, slowly eating last slice of meat lover’s pizza.
“IcyHot, just fucking unlock the phone and see if he has anything saved on his phone that is of any bloody use to you,” Katsuki rolled his eyes.
“It is close to Kacchan’s bedtime,” Denki teased, dodging under the dictionary that was thrown at his head.
Shouto rolled his eyes but opened the phone. Izuku sat just behind Shouto, reading over his shoulder while he scrolled through his text messages first.
“He’s been talking to Mr. Aizawa a lot,” Shouto informed the room eventually, “it looks like he met up with him on Sunday to pick up some information about an ongoing case.”
“Would Mr. Aizawa be working so closely with him if he was involved with the League?” Eijiro asked, leaning his chin on a huge cushion from the couch.
“No,” Hitoshi shook his head, “he’s been very… careful about who he’s been working with because of the leaks from UA to the League.”
He sounded certain, which was good enough for Denki. Fumikage looked a little relieved as well, some of the tension in his shoulders dropping away immediately.
“It’s not proof,” Katsuki reminded them, but didn’t argue that they could trust Mr. Aizawa.
“We don’t always need proof, we have to trust each other as well,” Izuku murmured quietly.
Katsuki shot him a look that Izuku met with a stubborn twitch of his eyebrow. Katsuki looked away first, glaring at Shouto instead.
“Shut up Deku.”
Izuku smirked as Shouto continued to scroll through the messaged on the cloned phone, ignoring the incoming alerts for criminal activity around the city. He paused several minutes later.
“He has a contact number for someone called Touya…” Shouto looked up, seeking out Katsuki, who shrugged.
“Your brother wouldn’t be the only one with the name, what are they talking about?” Katsuki asked, leaning back on his palms.
Shouto glanced back down at the messages, reading through them slowly.
“I… don’t know. Nothing really,” Shouto replied eventually with a frown, “Touya checked when Hawks was getting home last Tuesday, which was the day I had my interview with him, and reminded him to bring home mochi. The day before Hawks asked if he had left his glasses at his house. A few days before that Touya asked for Hawks to pick up dog food, hair dye and milk. Hawks asked how the build was going and asked if the wall was straight yet. Touya sent back a series of expletives.”
Shouto stopped talking to continue scrolling through the messages.
“It’s…”
“It sounds domestic,” Eijiro chuckled, “should we be reading his messages with his boyfriend?”
Denki smacked him gently with the back of his hand.
“This is important, Shouto wants to know what Hawks is doing with his brother, if we need to listen to what they’ve been sexting, it’s just part of our duty as heroes,” he smirked.
Eijiro took his cushion and held it over Denki’s face, pushing him back on his back and pinning him to the carpet.
“That is not part of a hero’s duty,” he rolled his eyes, waiting until Denki gestured that he gave before he let him up.
Denki sat up with a sharp breath and glowered at Eijiro.
“Ass.”
“Pervert.”
“Dunce face. Shitty hair,” Katsuki growled, “pack it up. Is there anything in their messages that would confirm that he’s your brother?”
Shouto was silent as he kept scrolling back through the messages slowly. He stopped again, a pained expression falling over his features as Izuku wrapped his arms around Shouto’s shoulders reassuringly.
“He called him Todoroki… in one of the messages. He tells him to clear off, and calls him Todoroki…” Shouto replied eventually, his tone quiet.
He looked up slowly, his expression largely unreadable. Denki thought he could see confusion and pain, but Shouto was hard to read at the best of times.
“That’s great!” Izuku grinned, hugging Shouto a little tighter, “so where is he?”
“Itoshima… he’s in Itoshima,” Shouto replied, showing Katsuki a pin saved in Hawks’ maps app labelled as home.
Everyone knew that Hawks’ apartment was in downtown Fukuoka, at the top of a skyscraper that had been developed seven years ago.
If he had a pin called home in another city, it wasn’t his home.
It was the home of the person he was texting talking about bringing home dog food, hair dye and milk.
“How far away is Itoshima?” Hitoshi asked, leaning over to look at the navigational pin.
“Less than an hour,” Fumikage replied, “it’s just a little to the south of Fukuoka.”
“Will you come with us, Tokoyami?” Denki asked softly.
He could tell from Shouto’s expression that the next step would be finding his brother, and that it wasn’t negotiable. It was okay. Finding someone who had been missing, presumed dead, for seven years was not illegal or dangerous. Treasure hunts were fun.
“Hawks gave me the day off to spend with you all, so yes, I will come,” Fumikage nodded.
“We’ll go in the morning then,” Katsuki informed them.
* * *
This was all well and good, of course.
The progression of Denki’s life up to that moment made sense.
The chasm had been a pressing and imminent concern that had driven him to actively assist Shouto in finding out what Hawks was doing asking about his supposedly dead brother. Straight forward enough, right?
Of course, now that he was sitting uncomfortably between Eijiro and Katsuki in a living room that was in the process of being renovated, staring at a wanted A Class criminal and his unhinged colleagues, Denki wished that he had cared less about the chasm.
Because there was a very real possibility that the innocent treasure hunt they had left on in the morning, may very well end in his fiery death.