Chapter Text
Fuyumi was indifferent on the topic of heroes.
Natsuo hated most things hero related, and was often found rolling his eyes when heroes were brought up. Shouto was, of course, trying to become one, and therefor likely paid attention to most things hero related.
Fuyumi wasn’t a person who could ever truly hate anything, but that didn’t mean she was going to join her coworkers in stalking hero news. Her students enjoyed heroes, like any modern child did, and she entertained that to the best of her ability. One day a student even brought her a small Miruko plushie. It was very kind, and it was why she would never completely block heroes out of her life.
They had their good aspects. They did protect many people from villains and other things, no matter their intentions or actions off of the job. For the students who saw them on television and in their books, the heroes were like beacons of hope for everything they could be.
Especially with the strange shift in their society, with more villainous crime than there had been in her lifetime and heroes working more often than ever, the heroes served as a light for her students. She would never be one to crush that, no matter her thoughts on the subject of heroes and what really entitled one to be called a hero.
She didn’t care about the philosophy of it. Being a hero was a profession, just like being a teacher was a profession. If her coworkers were less than honorable people when they went home, the same went for heroes and any other people in any other profession. If she did have a problem with any of it (which she didn’t), it would lie with the people who acted as if the people who worked as heroes could never do wrong behind the scenes, in a way as if they truly knew their motives. Unfortunately, that was most of society, and she couldn’t spend all her time preaching to everyone how they should be thinking.
In reality, she didn’t think about it all that often. It wasn’t worth her time, and she spent enough years growing up hearing Natsu (and for a time, Touya) preaching about it. It was long enough for her to develop an opinion, but not one she truly cared about.
That was the reason that the small Miruko plush sat on her desk, and why she didn’t sigh melodramatically when hero news came on the radio while she drove home. She listened, acknowledging that she had to know what was happening in their society. Especially with the unsteady feeling that had been building for far too long.
Fuyumi walked into her house, setting a pot of water to boil for a cup of tea. She had papers to grade, not to mention lessons that had to be done. It was also one of the better days, one in which she didn’t plan to make dinner and eat alone. Making plans had become something of a regular event for her, and it was something she had actually begun to enjoy.
It seemed that everything always led back to heroes, somehow. She didn’t actually want to be too involved in heroic affairs, but the world always had other plans for her. She’d been born into a family made to create heroes, for starters. That turned out a large failure for many years, and somehow she ended up with a brother as a hero. Which, wasn’t shocking considering it was their purpose since they were born.
That could have been the end of her interactions with heroes, or heroes in training, but nothing ever worked out easily for any of the Todoroki’s. Fuyumi had the misfortune of running (once quite literally) into Hawks, the number two hero multiple times.
Now, Fuyumi had watched her coworkers coo over his attractiveness more times than she could count. She heard how girls squealed when his name or picture was brought up. It wasn’t that she didn’t see it, it was simply that she didn’t exactly see it in any men whatsoever. So, meeting the number two hero was nothing to fluster her.
She grew up around the former Number Two hero, it was nothing to be around the next in line of heroes. She’d first met him while she was grabbing coffee one morning, and she’d gone to turn around only to walk straight into a large red wing. It had been quite the wake up call, if nothing else. After a large amount of apologies that she brushed off, she had been making her way out of the cafe with an only partially spilled cup of coffee and an interaction that she hardly even noticed had been with a top hero.
Of course Fuyumi noticed who he was, but she shelved any reaction that she might have had about it. He almost seemed to expect some sort of reaction from her, and she saw the way his eyes (quite literally like bird eyes, that was the most notable part of the interaction) had flitted around awkwardly as she walked past him without making a scene of his identity.
The second time had been while she was walking out of a department store. She had to go to get some school supplies and a large amount of papers printed, ones which she didn’t feel like buying the ink for to print at school. She was holding them all in her hands, stacked rather high, and the wind was inconveniently strong that day.
If she could have fit all of the papers into her bag or school binder without shuffling the careful order they were in, she certainly would have. Except the order was very specific, and she didn’t feel like adding another task to her already long list of tasks for the day by turning her work into a puzzle.
So when a particularly strong gust of wind knocked the top twenty-or-so papers off the two, she had been convinced that the world was out to get her. She barely noticed when a collection of red feathers came to pinch the papers, stacking them carefully back on top in what was hopefully the correct order.
Fuyumi couldn’t tell why a top hero was in the parking lot of a department store, or why he was keeping the world from damning her again, but she wasn’t going to complain. He landed a fair amount of space away from her, keeping the papers from breezing out of the stack again.
“Thank you,” she’d told him truthfully, though curiosity slipped into her tone.
“I figured out who you are.”
“Pardon?”
She was a civilian, and hardly considered herself a recognizable face. No one knew that she was Endeavor’s daughter, and considering she couldn’t remember the last full conversation she had with the man, she didn’t think it was anyones business. It would only bring about a whole lot of questions she could never answer, not with the state of their family. That was why she had hid the truth of their family ever since there was a truth to hide, and it worked that way. Despite her consistent nagging wish of wanting to fix their family, she wouldn’t go and tell the world everything just for that. It’d do much, much more harm than good.
“You’re Endeavors daughter.”
Fuyumi had resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “That is why you just kept my papers from flying all over the place?”
She was appreciative, truly, but slightly surprised that of all reasons for a hero to assist her it was the one thing that had never provided her a single privilege in her life.
Hawks eyes had widened, “No! I mean, I recognized you since I figured out who you were, but I wasn’t going to fly down until I saw your struggle.”
It was a quick interaction, and soon she was tucking the papers into the backseat of her car and driving off, after politely wishing the number two hero a good afternoon.
After that she ran into him thrice more, supposedly completely coincidentally. She even asked him if he was creating such interactions on purpose, but it seemed it was all purely circumstantial. Fuyumi wasn’t the most social person her age, and she focused mainly on doing the best she could for her students. So to run into someone who she didn’t truly know so many times, in particularly social situations, was very odd.
It was the second time she saw him in the cafe of their first meeting, though the fifth time she ever ran into him, that she finally caved and asked if he wanted to grab a cup of coffee. He’d raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, before she made it clear that she wasn’t interested in the way he was likely used to.
The world had a habit of damning her, but if it kept throwing the birdlike hero into her way then she was going to make something out of it. She’d been told by practically everyone in her life that she needed more friends, and she didn’t think that the busy hero had too many friends either. Heroes didn’t exactly get that luxury, she had seen that with her own very eyes.
He’d agreed to a cup of coffee, though it couldn’t be in public due to prying eyes who couldn’t respect a heroes privacy. That was how, in the least suggestive way possible considering it turned out that neither of them had any interest in the opposite sex, they made a routine out of making coffee, or tea, in his very roomy yet very empty apartment.
That was how Fuyumi ended up finishing only half of the work that she had to do before hopping back in her car to drive the rather frustratingly long distance to Hawks’ empty apartment. She had found that she didn’t exactly mind the routine platonic coffee dates, which had turned into dinner meetings, but she did wish that they didn’t have to meet in a place so far from her own place of residence.
Hawks was a workaholic. He did his hero work, and only his hero work, and whatever else he had to do for his job. She never asked details if she wasn’t given them, because she didn’t want to know the dark parts of hero work. It was simple, because he never provided them.
Fuyumi was not a workaholic. She couldn’t be. She did all of her work as much as she could, but there was only so much in the first place. She had no social life, and other than the books that her elderly coworkers recommended her, there was nothing else for her to do. It always led to her making extensive lesson plans that she only ever used half of, which turned into being a waste of her time. There were too many hours in the day for her to work and do the house chores, all while having no hobbies or friends to speak to.
Despite the odd change in her routine that the meetups provided, it was a welcome one. It always led to her staying up late trying to complete the things she neglected earlier in the day (mostly due to the extensive driving she had to do for the meetups), but she wasn’t one to go to sleep early, anyways.
She pulled up the long, winding driveway of the large building. Hawks lived out of the city, in a slightly secluded area with no close neighbors. She supposed it made sense, not having to deal with the whole world finding out where he lived the moment one person saw a red feather on the ground. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t complain about it the moment she got in, and then proceed to deny any and all gas money he offered her because her complaints were only that, complaints.
It was a particularly dark day, with clouds filling the sky and rain coming and going. The sun was already low, and she took a moment to look at the stellar view from the driveway. She had to admit, despite the secluded area, it was beautiful. Of course, Hawks didn’t even need a driveway, and she saw a red blur appear in the sky like a new star.
The house was on a sort of hill, and she lowered her eyes to the suburbs in the distance. Even further, so far off that it was blurry, she could see when the buildings began to stretch into the sky. A few taller buildings stood in the suburbs, but it was nothing compared to the ones all the way in the city. She knew that even further in that direction was Yuuei, where Shouto was hopefully safe and not exhausting himself. In the opposite direction was Natsu’s school, where he was probably gallivanting around with his friends and the girl he liked while ignoring his schoolwork.
A small smile crossed her face, quickly falling as she felt several small raindrops on her skin. She reached into the backseat of her car and pulled out the bag of cooking ingredients she had brought from home. While the routine meetups had originally been for coffee, they were also after both of them finished for the day which didn’t make too much sense. She also learned that Hawks’ diet consisted of mostly chicken and vending machine snacks, and she had immediately resolved to cook dinner instead. She enjoyed cooking, anyways, and it was always fun to see someones reaction to her food.
“Open the front door, please!” she shouted as she saw Hawks enter his house, though from the opposite side on the balcony.
She walked quickly to the door, sighing as the rain continued to grow stronger for the twelfth time that day. She had no doubt that in the next few minutes it’d start pouring, and she had no interest in being outside when that happened.
It didn’t take long for the door to open, and she walked inside quickly, looking around the empty place. It was furnished, but in the most modern, lifeless way possible that told her it came pre-furnished when Hawks bought the place. The couch was one of the most uncomfortable couches she had ever had the misfortune of sitting on, and the kitchen table had been untouched before she ever walked in.
Though, she had to admit, the kitchen was lovely. It was also completely unused, considering her winged companion had no clue how to do anything in the kitchen, but it was perfect for her.
“Hello to you too,” Hawks said, looking through her bag of ingredients as if he had any idea what is consisted of.
“Hello,” she sat on a stool by the counter, “This weather is atrocious.”
“At least you didn’t have to fly around in it all day.”
He pulled a can of coffee out of his ridiculously large pocket, and she turned her head in supposal. She pulled things out of her bag, wasting no time as hunger stirred in her stomach. The last thing she had eaten was her small homemade lunch at school, and she was sure that Hawks had eaten even less than her.
“Fair point,” she smiled.
“So, how are your students this week?”
He had no clue of how kids worked, so most of his questions about them were pretty vague. Thankfully, her brothers also had no clue how children worked, so she had experience answering such questions. She also loved her students and could go on about them for hours, no matter how it started.
“They’re good, though one of them, the one with the plant quirk I told you about, had a quirk outburst on accident and overgrew half of the plants in my classroom. It was a mess.”
“Yikes, I once encountered some guy who could bring up all the roots from under the ground and pavement. Lots of damage, no one was happy about that.”
“Well for once I relate to one of your stories in some way, then.”
“No, then the roots tried to strangle me.”
She set down the pot she had pulled out from a cabinet, giving him the same look she often gave her students. It sent him into a fit of laughter, making her wonder how she became friends with someone who might as well have been one of her students considering how he acted. He may have been incredibly birdlike, but he also reminded her of a large fluffy dog sometimes. It was comical, considering he was the man making pivotal statements about hero society and saving lives all day.
They continued to make conversation, speaking about their days, albeit very different. Hawks had worked about twelve hours with few breaks, something that always made her feel like a nagging mother while she tried to tell him not to do that. It was impossible to get him to stop, not until the very far away idea that there simply wouldn’t be enough crime for him to spend all of his time working would be achieved. If she didn’t know that he was extremely used to such a rigorous schedule, she’d have been wondering how he was even conscious.
Soon enough she’d finished cooking, and they sat at the previously unused table. He grabbed water for them, having practically chugged his coffee before she even began to cook.
“You’re cooking might be good enough to rival with chicken, sometimes.”
“Well that’s the best compliment, coming from you.”
“You should cook chicken sometime, combine the two best food things.”
“Food things,” she laughed.
“Yeah, you know what I mean.”
“What should I make with chicken?”
He sighed loudly, though his mirth was clear, “Well, I dunno, I’m not the chef here.”
“Technically, neither am I. I just know how to cook.”
“In here, you’re the chef.”
Conversations carried on, and soon enough they finished eating. She didn’t leave for another hour, as they talked and enjoyed the company. Neither of them were very social people, and the occasional once-a-week dinners was a break in routine for each of them to look forward to.
Sometimes Fuyumi thought back to her brothers. Shouto didn’t seem to mind Hawks, though according to him they’d never met. She wasn’t sure he had ever spoken about the winged hero. Natsu would probably try to lecture her if he found out she was friends with a hero, let alone the second ranking one. She wasn’t a fool, and she was slightly offended when he assumed that she was stupid enough to fall into a heroes arms how their mom had their dad's.
She didn’t lie to Natsu, she’d feel guilty doing so. It was strange to hide something that she had actually begun to look forward to from him, but he was getting busier and busier so it wasn’t as difficult as she had expected. So, she simply didn’t talk about her weekly dinners and expeditions up to the near empty house.
Shouto had begun to speak to her more, but it was slow progress. He was busy with school, and they had just implemented dorm systems, too. She had a feeling if it weren’t for whatever had happened at the sports festival he’d never come home unless asked, but she could see an effort being made. It meant the world to her, so she returned it wholeheartedly.
Hawks didn’t know everything about their family. A large part of the reason she never got too close with anyone was with the fact that she refused to say some things, both out of attempt to keep up good appearances and to keep away nagging questions. Of course, Hawks already knew she was the daughter of the top hero. She didn’t tell the whole story, but he was clearly intuitive as a hero, and he likely already knew that something was off in their family before he even met her.
She never gave the reasons for how or why their family was so discombobulated, but with how her life functioned (and her lack of interactions with the father whom she lived with) he definitely knew something was off. He even asked, once, but she skirted around the question as she had trained herself to do. She didn’t miss his eyebrow raises at some odd details of her life, specifically around her family, but she was accustomed to ignoring such things. She was also used to ignoring the guilt at hiding something from a genuine friend. She had enough things to be guilty about, most of which outweighed simply hiding a truth that she’d been hiding her whole life.
Somehow they’d ended up on the topic of movies, which always led back to her teenage attempts to watch popular movies that she never understood. It was laughable, and a story she often used as an icebreaker, but it was much more truthful while they laughed about her foolishness. It always led back to why she didn’t make friends in the first place to watch those movies with, and she instantly verged off the topic as quickly as possible. It was getting more difficult to keep important details of her life hidden from someone who she spent a relatively large amount of time speaking to.
“Oh,” she said suddenly, getting up and walking to her purse.
She dug out the small Miruko plushie, turning around and holding it out with a smile.
“One of my students gave this to me!”
“Aw, cute,” he paused, “Y’know I could get her to meet you. She doesn’t seem to like me that much but she does answer my texts.”
“What?” she asked, setting the small plushie back into her bag.
“You did say that one time that Miruko wasn’t that bad looking," he said as if in throught.
Fuyumi did not expect the turn of conversation. It was one thing to speak to Hawks about their days and anything else to come to mind, but she did not expect whatever he was suggesting.
“What?” she asked, though her voice had rose considerably higher and her face was warm.
It sent him into a cacophony of laughter, something that made her pull the plushie back out of her bag and throw it at him. He picked it up a moment after, throwing it back to her and waggling his eyebrows. She caught it with a very loud heavy sigh. Though, the heat certainly had not faded from her face yet.
“Do you want her number?”
“I’m not taking a random persons number!”
“I mean, it’s just like a friend of a friend, that’s pretty normal.”
“I think we’re both far past normal, no other friends and no hobbies.”
“Speak for yourself, I have friends. Miruko. And Jeanist, maybe,” he began to laugh, “Endeavor?”
She let out a loud laugh at the last one, shaking her head.
“You just said Miruko doesn’t even like you that much,” she said once recovered.
“Only because she once kicked a bus at me, but that was sorta my fault.”
“And you’re trying to set me up with the person who kicked a bus at you?”
“I never said setting up, you did, which means I should definitely give her your number.”
“Okay, I’m leaving.”
He burst into laughter, though he was still on his phone. She wasn’t strictly opposed to the prospect, but getting involved with more heroes didn’t seem like something she wanted to do. Yet, Hawks didn’t lie, she did think Miruko looked nice. She wasn’t going to deny it completely, even if it felt like digging her own grave. If she had to worry about anymore heroes wellbeing she might give herself a heart attack.
“Oh, wait!”
“Yes?” she asked, folding the bag that formerly had ingredients and tucking it into her purse.
“I don’t really wanna, but could we make this dinners like every other week instead?”
She turned to look at him, standing behind her, “May I ask why?”
Instead of responding, he smiled. It was tinged with sadness, and her answer was already given. She could only assume he was assigned something else, possibly something that’d make him more busy than he already was. Maybe something that put people around him in danger, but that already came with associating with heroes.
“Well, I’ll miss our weekly dinners. But, take care Hawks, don’t go flying into any windows.”
“You too! Well, don’t drive into any, or whatever!”
She smiled, walking out with a wave. Despite the uneasy feeling in her gut, there was nothing to be done. He never said it aloud, just as she never said her families problems aloud, but she could conclude that he was certainly trapped by the commission. The smile on his face had been one to answer her question silently, but it came with a lot more. It was rather uneasy, and she could almost say he looked worried.
In all the times she had spoken to Hawks, he did not often look worried. She watched slowly as their interactions went from awkward and guarded to slightly more truthful, but he still didn’t portray worry often. He wasn’t as confident or arrogant as she had once assumed he was, but he still believed in the heroes enough to not show worry.
So what he had been tasked with must have been something that she couldn’t even imagine. The small amount of worry he had shown had spread to her, and with her habit of overthinking it only grew as she drove home through the rain. She didn’t want to know the dark stuff of hero work, but not knowing what people she cared about were getting themselves into was going to drive her crazy.
A week passed, and she sat down for dinner by herself, despite being accustomed to spending Thursdays with a friend. Much to her surprise, her father sat down with her. He had been speaking with her randomly, thanking her for dinner or asking if she needed the scratch on her car repaired. She didn’t quite know what was happening, and it felt like a sick joke in some ways.
When her father sat down with her, she was told something that surprised her to the uppermost level. She knew that her dad had visited Shouto at his remedial courses, but that sort of thing had never been any of her business before.
Her dad told her he was putting in some sort of effort to rebuild their family. It was words that she never even dreamed she’d hear. Somehow, that day, her wish to somehow have a real family again came back into view and seemed possible.
The dinner had been awkward, with her mostly talking about her students after her father had dropped such a large piece of information on her. She had to act like the little girl within her wasn’t jumping with joy, even crying at the prospect of a happy family. It certainly was not an easy thing, but it was possible.
The next week continued the same, with her dad awkwardly eating dinner with her whenever he got home in time. She was not in any way accustomed to it, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t get used to. She dreaded finding out what Natsuo would say to the whole thing.
Finally, two weeks after Hawks had given her that worry-filled smile, she was beginning to throw ingredients in a bag to make the long drive up. Her phone dinged, and when she looked at it she sighed and unpacked the bag. Hawks had told her to wait until the next day, but his wording was specifically strange, acting as if she wasn’t able to the next day. She assured it was fine, and had a new day to look forward to.
The worry from the last time she had seen him began to churn within her again, because he was trying to get her not to come over. She wasn’t stupid, she knew a brush off when she saw one. It was still odd. She wasn’t overly confident in her interaction skills, but she had a feeling it wasn’t only because she had gotten boring. She hoped that wasn’t why, at least.
She ate dinner with her father as she had been, informing him she wouldn’t be home to make dinner the next day. He never said anything the prior times that she neglected to make dinner, so she hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. He seemed surprised, which said a lot to her social life, but he didn't mind.
The next day she packed the ingredients and drove the long drive to Hawks’ place, pulling up just as the sun was going down. The sky was clear of clouds, and she looked out over the suburbs as lights began to turn on. Hawks was late, and it wasn’t long before she got a text that he wouldn’t be there for a bit longer. He specifically told her to leave if she didn’t want to stay.
He was trying to get her to leave, but against her better nature, she stayed. Being a hero was a job, and it wasn’t going to stop her from enjoying dinner and him from speaking to someone outside of work.
It was half an hour later when he landed, and she saw his head turn to her, even from the further distance. She waved, walking up to the front door while he landed on his balcony. She was curious to see what his deal was, but she had a feeling she might not even get a straight answer.
When he opened the door, his eyes looked anything but joyous. It was a bit of a punch to her ego, but she still refused to believe this wasn’t related to whatever hero work he’d been assigned with. As he waved her inside his actions were much more artificial than usual, almost like how he acted to civilians. As he spoke to her, she realized it was exactly the same stiffness he’d had when they first began speaking.
She had been considering telling him that her father was speaking to her, despite the lack of sense it would have considering all that he didn’t know. Except, he was acting much stranger than she could have expected, so she wasn’t sure it was the best idea.
He led their conversation while she began to cook, and anytime she began to talk about her students too specifically he’d take over. It was all very nonchalant, and she wasn’t even sure that she'd notice if she hadn’t had dinner with him plenty of times before and become accustomed to more relaxed conversations.
Part of her wanted to ask what the change was for, but something in her head was telling her that asking such a thing was a very bad idea. She couldn’t be sure why, but it felt like the wrong thing to do, so she avoided it.
“Hey, you read books, right?” he asked randomly.
“Yeah,” she nodded.
He pulled one out of his jacket, and she saw the corner of a second one sticking out of his pocket. She couldn’t imagine why he was carrying books around in his jacket, especially when he had expressed disinterest in books whenever she brought them up in the past. He was full of contradictions to everything he had said or done in the past that day. He held out the book with a grin.
She reached out a hand to take it, reading the front.
“Paranormal Liberation Front?”
“Yep, really interesting stuff. You talked about how weird society is, and I figured you’d like it. Especially with everything you’ve told me about your family.”
A million different warning bells went off in her head. She had told him nearly nothing about her family, which he knew. Even if he had figured stuff out himself somehow, he wouldn’t make a mistake like that. She kept her reaction off of her face, smiling and taking the book as he practically shoved it into her arms.
“I’ll give it a read,” she flipped through the first few pages briefly.
He was acting as if they were in a public space, pretending they didn’t know each other. Except, they weren’t in a public space, and she couldn’t imagine why he was acting such a way. After just looking at the first few pages she saw a load of things that were already completely nonsense. She told him society was a mess, not that it was ‘weird’. He knew that.
They weren’t in a public space, so she couldn’t imagine why she was acting like his behavior was normal and why his behavior was so abnormal. It was as if there were people listening, but a few quick glances and a trip to the restroom proved her wrong.
Unless, people were listening. He once let it casually slip that the commission had looked over his house before he was allowed to buy it. She wondered if they still had access, and could somehow bug it with microphones or cameras. Except, she didn’t understand why that would make him act so contradictory, he wasn’t even this strange in public. Besides, she didn’t think that having his house bugged was something he’d have been alerted to ahead of time, as he had certainly been alerted to something before their former dinner.
As the evening carried on he said even more outrageous things, and acted even more comfortable in his place than usual. He laid down on the uncomfortable couch and complained about the performative tendencies of many, if not most, heroes. Her mind was working overdrive, but she couldn’t possibly figure out what was happening. Their conversation was definitely being listened in on, that much was obvious. She just couldn’t work out why, and she didn’t think any amount of deep thinking would lead her to whatever insane conclusion was correct.
So, she went with it. She wasn’t a hero, and had little interest in what they actually did. Therefor she didn’t have their wonderful deduction skills, and she had a feeling this wasn’t something she could mention to anyone. She’d have to live in the dark, like the rest of the population. She was used to that.
It wasn’t until they were sitting down that he stretched, rather obnoxiously. His wings outstretched, and her gaze was always drawn to them, as anyone's would be. It was due to that fact that she saw the small, nearly unnoticeable, black dot in-between feathers. She didn’t stare, making sure to look back at her food.
Someone had literally bugged his wings. He knew, obviously. He was keeping up appearances all of the time for that fact? Something angry grew inside of her, because what in the world was the commission having him do? She let a small smile onto her face despite everything, looking at his eyes, which were rather serious and
He had really, really wanted to cancel dinners on her completely. It was fun, but not worth the risk.
When he’d first been infiltrating the lower ranks of the league he hadn’t worried, and then he had begun to interact with and work for Dabi.
Dabi, the man who had a strange, though very intense, hatred for Endeavor. And of course, Hawks was friends with and had weekly dinners with Endeavor’s daughter.
He should have ghosted her completely, but he had a feeling she’d have kept texting him about it and he couldn’t have the league catching onto a sudden change in his schedule. Improvising and trying to paint her as a person who hated Endeavor was the best thing he could do.
He was just thankful she didn’t ask about his strange behavior. It would have been the worst possible turn of things. She caught on relatively quickly, but he didn’t want to rush giving her the book.
Blatantly lying was the best thing he could think of. Except, he wasn’t lying to her. He was lying to the damned microphones in his wings, and she could hopefully figure out that someone else was listening.
He didn’t know what exactly was up with the Todoroki’s, but something was incredibly off. She never specifically gave an answer, and he had a feeling it wasn’t something simple. So, he just had to pretend that he knew everything and hope with everything that he had that Dabi didn’t ask him about it.
It was incredibly risky, but lying was becoming second nature rather quickly. He was incredibly thankful with how she didn’t vocally question his actions and even went along with it, managing to keep surprise off of her face relatively well.
He contradicted himself every chance he got, fitting the narrative he had set with the league. Even small things that they might not even catch, things he had said to Todoroki, he switched around. Every time he saw the small moment of realization within her, and hoped that it wasn’t something someone who didn’t know her could notice.
It was another large risk to stretch his wings, but he’d been doing it for days just to prepare for that moment. Making it seem like a normal thing to do whenever he sat down, and with the way Todoroki was clearly impressed by his wings, he caught the very moment she saw the microphone.
Once again, she didn’t linger her eyes on it and continued looking at the rest of his wings. Of course there was more than the singular microphone there, but it was okay. He just needed her to know that, so that she wouldn't vocalize any questions. She hadn't noticed the others times he sat down and stretched.
He was just hoping desperately that Dabi, who had most certainly informed himself on who Endeavor’s family consisted of, wouldn’t go after Todoroki the first chance he got.
staring right at her.
“I’d die to have your cooking more often,” he said, eating much quicker than anyone ever should, though that was normal.
She figured his schedule was even busier, with whatever was going on. He didn’t even have a coffee when he showed up, but she had been focused more on other things.
“Please don’t,” she smiled, trying her absolute best to keep it natural.
She was still trying to process everything. For some reason, someone, likely the hero public safety commission, bugged his wings. He was passing out books, holding multiple of them, that were absolutely insane. She had stopped flipping through it when she saw the term ‘quirk marriage’, absolutely surprised with what was going on.
She got up shortly once dinner was finished, exhaustion filling her with the amount of surprise and faking reactions she had done that night. She quickly folded the food bag into her purse, as always.
“I guess I’ll see you next month?” he asked casually.
Her hands paused within her purse, disappointment settling within her. He was trying to limit their contact, definitely because of whoever had bugged his wings. He was faking everything, likely keeping up the act full time. If he said another month then it was likely not going to end anytime soon.
“Of course.”
“Food was good as always.”
“Of course,” she repeated herself, a grin growing onto her face.
“Stay safe, Hawks,” she told him, the first completely genuine thing she had said to him all afternoon.
“Yes ma’am, you too.”
Then the door was pulled shut and she was driving away, left to wonder what in the world had happened. That was exactly why she didn’t want to interact with many heroes, she couldn’t take the worry and stress of whatever they were doing, especially when faced with it so literally. His spuriousness had been incredibly sudden and alarming.
She wasn’t going to ask her dad, as tempting as the idea was. Instead, she tried to distract herself from it. She even agreed to go out with her coworkers one night, finding that she didn’t hate the prospect of being social and actually having friends, despite all that she refused to say. She had enjoyed the weekly dinners more than she thought she would, and in turn missed them too.
Shouto mentioned running into Hawks one day, and something about a book. Fuyumi tried not to be overly curious, and asked nonchalant questions. Natsu ended up prying about why she cared, but she managed to play it off well enough.
A month later nothing seemed to have changed. The next month he was caught up and couldn't show up at all. She had other things to do, but it was still disappointing to miss something that had been a good part of her week. It wasn’t getting her too far down, but she was worried for all of the heroes in her life if someone was going as far to bug Hawks’ wings.
A few more months passed, and the tradition fell away. She got accustomed to it, and tucked the bag she had previously used to bring ingredients back away into her closet. She had actually been cleaning things up, because she had been informed that her father was getting a place for whenever her mother got out of the hospital, which seemed to be coming up.
It was early in the morning, before Fuyumi had work. She looked at the messy state of her closet, having not been cleaned out since she was a teenager. The food bag was folded in-between an old box of random things and a photo album.
She shut the closet door and grabbed her purse, heading to work. She didn’t notice the scarcity of heroes on the streets, nor did she listen to the radio to hear other peoples strange observations of the lack of heroes that day. She had no clue that it was like the heroes simply disappeared.
The day went regularly, with her teaching her students. Heroes weren’t even a thought in her mind as she focused on what was in front of her.
That was before a coworker of hers ran in and shouted at her to come look at the television in the staff room, airing some sort of villain broadcast.