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Izuku woke to the sound of quiet beeping and the feeling of soft warmth. His mind was fuzzy, slow to start, and it took him several minutes to remember anything of importance.
He’d been in Hosu, with Hawks, hadn’t he?
Something had happened.
What had happened?
There were bandages on his arms, thick and tight. He knew, instinctively, that if he tried to move either, he would be greeted with the itchy strain of new stitches pulling at tender skin.
How had he gotten cut so badly?
There’d been a fight.
Hosu, a fight.
The Hero Killer.
The Hero Killer.
Iida.
“Iida!” It all came rushing back and suddenly Izuku was wide awake and jerking upright, ignoring the way the stitches in his arms stung and the throb of pain from his foot that hinted at a broken bone or two. “Todoroki!” The room around him was bright, too bright, and Izuku could barely make anything out from the sudden bout of tears and splatches of colors that rushed into his vision.
“Woah, now! It’s okay, kiddo. Everything’s okay.” Izuku’s vision was suddenly obstructed by red. Lots and lots of red and yellow and then a face made of golden skin and golden eyes and he didn’t fight as he was pushed gently back down onto the bed by strong, taloned hands.
“Hawks,” Izuku’s voice was brittle, scratchy. He’d screamed and yelled a lot, there was no wonder his vocal cords would protest at each sound, but Izuku’d had worse. There were more important matters than his own pain, anyway, and he forced one of his hands – the left, less-injured less-painful – to raise up and clutch at Hawks’ hand before it could move away. “Hawks, is everyone – are Todoroki and Iida, and Native, Native was there, we couldn’t get to him and he never woke – are they all – “ Izuku’s voice trailed off fearfully. Todoroki had been alright, he remembered that. He’d been checking the Hero Killer. Iida had been conscious but there’d been so much blood, so much blood.
And Native hadn’t moved at all, hadn’t so much as twitched. Had he been dead the whole time? Had it been too late?
The quiet beeps suddenly blared up, a warning as Izuku’s heart raced and the hand he was gripping like a lifeline squeezed his shoulder. “Hey, calm down, kiddo. You got to breathe, can you breathe with me? Inhale, inhale for me now.” Hawks’ face came into his view again, looming over him and Izuku watched as the man took a deep breathe and held it. He struggled to do the same, his throat catching on his panic, but he did. Hawks exhaled. Izuku exhaled.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
The beeping slowed again and the tight hold on his shoulder loosened but didn’t move away.
“There you go, you’re doing great. One more, okay? One more good breath.” Izuku obediently demonstrated that he was in control of his breathing and Hawks seemed to relax more fully.
“Everyone’s fine. Native got a hard hit to his head which knocked him out but he woke up on the way to the hospital. He’s got some blood loss and he’ll have a nasty scar on his abdomen but no permanent injuries. As for your friends –“ Here Hawks, backed up a little so Izuku could make out more of the room.
His vision had cleared enough that Izuku could make out two hospital beds lined up in a row with his, and he could see two figures laying on them. Izuku stared.
Their chests were rising, now falling. Rising again.
They were breathing, they were alive.
They were okay.
Izuku nearly crumpled. Iida, Todoroki, Native – they were okay. Todoroki and Iida were just feet from him, breathing evenly, peacefully asleep.
The relief would have been crippling, Izuku was tempted to collapse fully into the warmth of his hospital bed but there was more. There had been more people, before Stain.
Did Hawks know about them?
“T-the boys?” Izuku couldn’t give in to the relief and comforting lull of more sleep without knowing. “There were two little boys, I left them with a police officer, he said there was an evacuation center for them. A-and there was a man, their dad maybe? He was hurt in the hotel, I left him with a hero – I left them all, are they okay?”
“Hey, hey now.” The beeping was back, a shrill sound, loud enough to wake the others, if Izuku wasn’t careful.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
The beeping was calmer again.
“That family’s fine too. The little boys were completely unharmed, and their dad woke up on route to the hospital. Shaken up, but fine, all three of them.” Hawks’ voice was soothing. The hand was back, too. A gentle, reassuring pressure on Izuku’s shoulder. It was nice.
Relief soothed away Izuku’s anxiety, leaving him floaty and sleepy. He was probably on some pain medicine; pain medicine always made him fuzzy.
The bed really was quite warm, softer too than the beds in the UA hospital wing. There was a comforting scent in the air that he couldn’t quite pinpoint.
It reminded him of his mother, even Uncle Masaru, a little.
Izuku was too drowsy, too floaty to latch onto the half-formed thoughts nibbling at the back of his mind.
He was back asleep before a single one could solidify.
He woke again to the sound of muffled, loud voices.
Izuku was more alert this time, more aware. The pain medication must have begun wearing off because his mind was clear, his memories coming back to him easily, all at once, rather than tumbling through the foggy, floaty high they’d been lost in earlier. His arms stung, distantly, and his ankle throbbed.
None of that mattered. The voices were getting louder, clearer. As though they were heading straight towards Izuku’s and others’ hospital room. Biting back any sounds of pain, Izuku quickly sat up to prepare himself.
He was surprised to see a small mountain of blankets fall off him and onto his lap. He didn’t think hospitals gave that many. Had someone else piled them on him?
It didn’t matter, he quickly decided, as the voices solidified into distinct, angry tones.
He wasn’t the only one that had awoken from the noise. Todoroki was also sat up amidst his own formidable heap of blankets, his body tense but face carefully neutral. Iida, on the far side of the room, was also struggling to rise, unable to use his right arm, bandaged up tightly and pulled up to his chest in a sling, to hold any of his weight or pull any of his own blankets away from him.
Izuku nearly rose to help his friend. He’d had one foot on the cold hospital floor, his blankets haphazardly pushed aside, when the door clicked open.
“What are you doing?” That was Hawks’ voice, tinged with an anger Izuku had never heard, and the sharp look sent his way was enough to make him instinctively yank his free leg back onto the bed. “None of you should be getting up right now.” Hawks leveled the same at Iida and Todoroki. Todoroki remained expressionless but Iida, who had managed to push himself up, immediately flinched as though Hawks had yelled.
“It seems they are all awake. No reason to postpone anymore than, is there?” Another voice, deep and rumbling, spoke out from behind Hawks and Izuku found his eyes drawn to the small crowd behind his mentor.
Manual, his uniform scratched and frayed but the man himself unharmed, stood to the right of Hawks, looking deeply unhappy. A plain-faced police officer stood on the opposite side of Hawks but Izuku barely noticed him, not once his eyes caught who stood just slightly behind the trio. It was an incredibly tall man in a nice suit. Even if he hadn’t had a distinctive dog-mutation quirk, Izuku probably would have recognized him.
He’d seen too many speeches given after major villain attacks, to not recognize the chief of police, Kenji Tsuragamae.
Why the chief of police, of all people, was standing outside his hospital room, Izuku couldn’t even begin to fathom.
He knew, given everything that had happened, that some sort of statement would have to be given but this seemed like overkill.
Hawks seemed to agree, judging by the way his scowl sharpened. “Just because they are awake, doesn’t mean they’re able to make statements. These are kids who just went through something traumatic. They need to rest, not get bullied by the police.”
“This is a time sensitive matter, Hawks, woof.” Chief Tsuragamae’s voice was matter-of-fact, with perhaps a tinge of apology as he came more fully into the room and looked around at the three boys. “They may just be children, but they got themselves involved in something highly dangerous and it needs to be investigated now. You’ve stalled the investigation long enough while they were asleep, as it is, woof.” Was it Izuku’s imagination running wild at the strangeness of the situation in front of him or did the chief’s tone actually turn sharp, with the barest hint of an unhappy rumbling?
“I stalled you?” Izuku knew for sure he wasn’t imagining the anger in Hawks’ voice. The man sounded nearly as irate as he had when Izuku’d first overheard him on the phone what felt like years ago as he swirled to face the chief with a flurry of crimson feathers. It would have looked almost comical, with how much smaller Hawks was to the chief, if the man’s anger wasn’t so frankly terrifying. Izuku couldn’t help but shift back a little in his bed, as though he could bury himself under the sea of blankets and hide. “So sorry making sure these kids get some medical treatment and rest stalled your investigation.” The sarcasm was biting, acidic and it obviously had the desired effect. Not from the chief, who looked as unruffled as ever, but from Manual who started at the words as though they were a declaration of war.
“Hey now, you’re not the only one that cares about the kids Hawks. That’s my intern over there,” he gestured towards Iida and Izuku winced in sympathy as the other boy seemed to curl in on himself as though struck. “I don’t really want to be up here either, but the chief is right. This is time sensitive and the sooner we find out what happened, the sooner we can get ahead of this media storm.”
“Oh, don’t give me that, Manual. This whole situation wouldn’t have even happened if you’d kept an eye on your kid and we all know it.” Izuku flinched at that, shooting another look at Iida. The boy looked gutted, as though Hawks had laid the blame entirely at his feet outright. “And as far as the media is concerned, they can go f-“ Izuku suddenly found himself interested in the blankets on his bed as Hawks’ words turned vividly colorful.
“Don’t go blaming me! That attack came out of nowhere, anyone could have lost somebody in that disaster. You weren’t even with –“
“That is quite enough, the both of you.” There was definitely the hint of a growl in the chief’s words now and both men immediately quieted, although the look on Hawks’ face was no less murderous. “There is no point placing blame on something that has already happened and I would expect two professional heroes to know better than to act like this. You –“ he shot Hawks a pointed look, not quite a glare but probably as close as the famously unflappable chief would get, “know better than anyone how important the media can be for a case like this, woof. Wasn’t that what you were working with Mr. Midoriya on?” Hawks’ glare sharpened at that, as though he didn’t appreciate that being thrown into his face. “And children they may be, they did something incredibly dangerous, not to mention illegal, and their punishment mu-“
“No.” Hawks interrupted just as, out of the corner of Izuku’s eye, Todoroki jerked forward, a fierce expression on his normally impassive expression.
“No?” Izuku didn’t know whether it was because of surprise or annoyance that someone had dared to interrupt him, but the hint of a growl was back in the man’s voice, although his face was still impassive as ever. It was frightening, either way, intimidating in a way that had Izuku sitting back further in his bed.
He knew what the chief was talking about, knew how important it was to get statements early on. But that didn’t mean he wanted to talk about the attack, not quite ready to relive it. And there were still so many questions left unanswered.
Who had been that man that had shown up? Had he really been a part of the League?
How had Hawks gotten there so fast?
Were his phone calls related? Were they something else entirely?
Would Izuku unintentionally implicate Hawks if he mentioned them? Were they important enough to say anything about at all?
And what exactly had the chief meant when he said they needed to be punished? Certainly what they did hadn’t been great, but they hadn’t had a choice. The Hero Killer would have murdered Iida. That counted for something, right?
“No.” Hawks repeated, as though perhaps the chief just hadn’t heard him right. The anger was still evident in his voice but it had been mellowed out by something Izuku couldn’t quite place. An almost smugness, maybe, as though Hawks knew something no one else in the room had quite gotten yet.
“Perhaps I was wrong, woof. Maybe you are too young to know the implications of a matter such as –“
“Oh no, I quite understand, chief. I understand perfectly, probably better than you do, it seems.” That was definitely smugness. Izuku just couldn’t seem to get why. “You said they committed a crime? Well, that means this isn’t a statement, it’s an interrogation. And last I checked, the law clearly states that a guardian must either be present or give explicit consent for the police to interrogate their child. Have you spoken to their parents, chief?”
The answer was clear from the way the plain-faced officer shuffled uncomfortably. “We have been unable to reach Endeavor, as he’s helping with the aftermath of the Hosu attack. Mrs. Midoriya is on her way, we didn’t see the importance of worrying her any further with the details of the attack until we knew more, and Mrs. and Mr. Iida are currently awaiting news about their eldest child’s surgery, and won’t be able to arrive until tomorrow morning. We didn’t think it was wise to continue bothering them until we knew more, once we confirmed with them that their youngest was stable with relatively minor injuries, woof.” The chief spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully, but it no longer mattered. The law was the law, and Izuku knew, even in cases involving hero students, there was no getting out of this one.
“So, you didn’t.” Izuku could hear the smirk in Hawks’ voice as the police chief confirmed. “Well, then. I think we’re done here, don’t you boys? Come back when you’ve got permission.”
“Now, Hawks. I’m sure we both know the law can sometimes be… postponed in cases like this. We can’t let the media get a hold of this story before we’ve confirmed it. Thanks to overhead media surveillance of the Nomu attack, there’s already footage of you leading the boys out of the alley with the Hero Killer tied behind you. They are going to be involved, no matter what, there’s no preventing that. Waiting for permission will only make it that much harder to get ahead of the media circus. These boys broke the anti-vigilante law using their quirks without permission-“
“Do you even have proof of that?” Hawks wasn’t about to back down, it seemed. Izuku’s stomach gave an unpleasant swoop. He couldn’t be charged under the anti-vigilante legislation, but he didn’t know if the police chief or Manual or the other officer knew that, and he wasn’t sure he wanted Hawks revealing that. And Todoroki and Iida couldn’t be saved from that by a legal loophole.
“-not to mention your intern disobeying direct orders from Manual not to engage –“
“I’ll let his mother know you’d rather be dealing with his dead body.”
“-and they severely injured the Hero Killer. The man has third degree burns across the majority of his body, if the hospital didn’t have a specialist with a burn-healing quirk on site, he probably wouldn’t even survive the night. Even full-fledged pro-heroes would be investigated for that much force –“
“That wasn’t us.” The conversation halted immediately as for once, it wasn’t Hawks who ruthlessly cut through the chief’s arguments. All eyes, including Izuku’s, swiveled to the middle bed where Todoroki sat.
The anger in his eyes hadn’t abated and his face was carved into a deep scowl as he stared down the police chief, apparently unselfconscious about all the attention on him.
“Your pardon?” The chief recovered the fastest but Izuku could hear the confusion in his voice as he spoke. Apparently, the surveillance that caught Hawks leading them out of the alley hadn’t caught sight of the other villain at all. Perhaps the camera hadn’t been on them for long then, as there certainly would have been questions about a heavily scarred man strolling into or – assuming he had left the way he had come in – out of the alley.
“He can’t talk to us without our parents present, but we can still talk to him, right?” Todoroki ignored the chief, aiming his question straight to Hawks. Hawks probably hadn’t known about the man either, unless Iida or Todoroki told him about him after Izuku had fainted but his face, suddenly neutral with only traces of his anger in the sharpness of his golden eyes, gave nothing away as he nodded wordlessly.
Todoroki gave his own nod in thanks before his gaze shifted towards the chief. “You think I did that with my fire, don’t you? I didn’t. My fire barely grazed the Hero Killer, he was too fast. I hit him with my ice more than I did my flames and even then, I mostly only managed to keep him away from myself, Iida, and Midoriya.” Izuku gave a sharp breath as he tried to hold back a groan and he knew he was gaping at Todoroki. The boy may have been explaining the Hero Killer’s injuries away, but he had still admitted to using his quirk.
“That I had explicit permission from my old man to do after the attack began, which you would have known had you followed any of your own protocols.” Todoroki didn’t hide his glare as he spoke and Izuku watched as Hawks hastily hid what sounded like a snort behind a suspiciously timed cough.
The police chief seemed to consider Todoroki for a long moment. “You expect us to believe the number two gave his son permission to use his quirk without supervision during a city-wide emergency in his first internship?” He finally asked. Todoroki’s eyes narrowed, this time with suspicion.
“Have you even met him?”
The police chief’s face seemed to twitch as Hawks coughed again. Izuku finally found his voice. “H-he’s telling the truth, sir.” And suddenly all the eyes in the room were on him and Izuku resisted the urge to grab a hold of the blankets around him and hide under them. Hawks’ gaze, in particular, was frightening. All traces of the brief humor was gone, and his expression was guarded, as though whatever Izuku was about to say was even more important than he knew. As though, perhaps, the man knew more than he should.
Iida and Todoroki had probably already told him, then. And he was waiting to hear it in more detail. Maybe he even had suspicions on who the figure had been.
Perhaps it had been about him that Hawks had been sent to Hosu for, not the Hero Killer at all.
Izuku didn’t know, he didn’t know, and it was all a confusing mass in his head. But everyone was staring at him expectantly now and he had to speak. He couldn’t let the chief think Todoroki was lying, especially when Todoroki wouldn’t have even been involved if Izuku hadn’t specifically brought him in. Izuku was responsible for anything that happened to the other boy and he couldn’t just sit by and let him take all of the heat now. “N-not about the quirk use permission. Um, I mean he could be, but I wasn’t there when he talked to Endeavor so I – I don’t know.” Izuku’s face was flushed, he could feel the heat but he kept his eyes trained on the police chief’s face as he spoke.
He wished he was better at gauging the emotions on the man’s impassive face but he had never spent much time around dogs – his mother was afraid – and he couldn’t read anything on the police chief’s face. Was that offensive, to compare the police chief to actual dogs? Izuku didn’t mean to be, he had just never met someone with a dog-mutation quirk to –
Izuku shut down that half-panicked line of thoughts before it could derail him completely. “B-but there was someone else.” Was that interest on the chief’s face now? Izuku still couldn’t tell, but the man wasn’t interrupting him so Izuku took that as permission enough to continue. “A-a villain. With blue flames and a lot of scars.” Out of the corner of his eye, Hawks shifted slightly.
“What makes you think this person was a villain, woof?” The police chief spoke, keeping Izuku from looking towards Hawks. The man’s voice was level as ever but there seemed to be an undercurrent of interest, as though he did actually believe Izuku.
“T-the way he spoke. He talked to the Hero Killer like they were old friends. Or rather, he was pretending to, to annoy him, I think. He said he’d been sent there by his boss.”
“His boss? Did he give a name?”
“N-no. The man didn’t. But the Hero Killer did. The man works for the League of Villains.”
The reaction to Izuku’s words were instantaneous. The officer who came with the police chief and Manual flinched as though Izuku had yelled, Manual hissed under his breath and even the chief’s face, as impassive as it had been before, darkened into a true scowl. Hawks’s wings fluttered out, massive and eye-catching, as though he could bat away Izuku’s words if he just stretched enough.
It was Hawks who addressed the sudden, heavy silence. “The League? Midoriya, are you certain?”
Hawks’ voice sounded genuine, equal parts worry and surprise. Izuku found himself nodding. “Yes.”
“What all did he say to you? Did he try to attack you?” That was the chief again, interrupting before Hawks could edge another question in. All traces of blaming the boys seemed gone, in favor of this new, dangerous unknown.
“N-no, he didn’t. I thought he would, but he was only interested in the Hero Killer. He actually – when the Hero Killer was attacking me, he stopped him with his fire. His quirk burns hotter than anything I’ve ever felt before. Definitely stronger than Todoroki’s flames and probably more than Endeavor’s too. But I don’t think his body handles it well. The scars all over him looked like burns, like his skin was melting –“
“Focus, kiddo.” That was Hawks’ voice again. Izuku flushed as he realized he must have been rambling and an apology was poised on his tongue when Hawks spoke again. “What did he say to you? Did he say anything memorable?”
That part of the night was still a blur, everything had happened so quickly once the man had come onto the scene. But there had been something hadn’t there? Something that had struck a chord in Izuku’s mind, even through the terrified haze of adrenaline that had kept him going.
“Whatcha waiting for, fledging hero?”
It had been the word fledging, someone else had called Izuku a fledging. He hadn’t been able to remember where he had heard it at first, but now, with Hawks’ familiar, sharp, golden eyes piercing into Izuku’s, he remembered exactly where he had heard it first.
“-no way they’ll tolerate someone like you around the fledging.”
Izuku wanted to call it a coincidence, but it was an odd word, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a common way of addressing people, not the word choice of the average person. And how many coincidences could Izuku entertain before he had to acknowledge what was in front of him?
What were the chances that Hawks would have a phone call with an unknown person that sounded like they were involved in the League and then just a day later, an unknown person involved in the League would appear speaking the same way as Hawks and it was all completely unrelated?
The chances weren’t good.
Hawks’ gaze was heavy, too heavy. Izuku knew he’d have to speak soon but what could he say?
He called me the same word you did in a phone call I wasn’t supposed to overhear, and I think you know exactly who it is. That wouldn’t go well, would it? Izuku couldn’t just accuse the number three hero of being involved with someone in the League to the Musutafu police chief. And besides, even if Hawks was involved, that didn’t mean something bad necessarily.
Hawks had done nothing but protect and help Izuku, he was still protecting Izuku.
The man had protected Izuku, too, in his own twisted way. He had horrifically hurt the Hero Killer, nearly killed him if the police chief was being truthful. He could have easily killed Izuku and the others, but he had let Izuku go, had neglected to attack the tiny stronghold of ice Todoroki had managed to erect. Had kept the flames, even, from reaching Native.
If Hawks did know the man, had he sent him? Would he have trusted the villain that much?
Was it all in Izuku’s head?
Izuku didn’t know; he needed answers. But he wasn’t going to get them accusing Hawks in front of people.
“N-nothing specific. He let me go to Todoroki, though, who had brought up some ice to protect him and Iida. I don’t think he wanted to hurt us.” Izuku ducked his head as he lied, but he made sure to glance up as he added the last part. Hawks’ expression was unreadable; if the words landed in any significant way, Izuku couldn’t tell.
“If he’s part of the League, he might have been the one that unleashed the Nomu. I wouldn’t necessarily call that not wanting to hurt any of you.” That was Manual who spoke, his voice contemplative.
“Midoriya is right. League or not, if that man had wanted to kill us, we wouldn’t be here.” Todoroki spoke up again, his voice testy as though Manual had personally offended him.
Manual held up his hands in an appeasing gesture. “I didn’t mean to imply Midoriya was wrong, I’m just trying to state the facts here. The League isn’t against attacking children, both the USJ incident and now this Hosu attack show that. But the man was only interested in the Hero Killer; that’s odd.”
“Manual is correct. It is not unusual for villain and villain groups to fight occasionally, but this is unprecedented. Both that the League would instigate such a widescale, destructive attack just to take out one man and leave witnesses is quite concerning. As is the knowledge that such a powerful villain has become affiliated with them. It is a lot to think about, woof.” The police chief carefully intervened, his tone the same as ever.
Hawks took the open opportunity. “Are we done here, then? I think we can all agree this new villain is a lot more important than three first year boys.” Something passed across the police chief’s face, but whatever it was lost itself in between the folds and whiskers.
A moment passed before the police chief let out a small woof. “We still need to get full statements, and they aren’t quite off the hook, but yes. For now, in exchange for the information they’ve provided, I’m willing to wait until their parents arrive for any further questions and I’ll redirect the media’s attention.” Izuku released the breath he’d been holding as the police chief gave them all a final nod before turning around and leaving the room without another word, the unnamed officer following close behind.
Todoroki muttered something low and heated under his breath but the room remained otherwise quiet for a few moments as Hawks and Manual stared at each other. Izuku didn’t quite know what was happening as the men had their silent standoff, but it didn’t seem to matter. After a few tense seconds, Hawks let out a hiss of annoyance and stepped aside in a flutter of postured wings so that Manual could step further into the room.
“Iida,” the man said and Izuku winced in sympathy as his friend, who had stayed uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire altercation, flinched in response to his name and ducked his head in shame. “Whatever the police chief decides tomorrow, I want you to know that what you did was incredibly reckless and unbecoming of a hero.” Manual wasn’t one to pull punches, it seemed. Even if the person he was lecturing had, in Izuku’s opinion, more than paid for their mistake. “I hope you learned something from this. In this field, you can’t let your emotions get the better of you, no matter what.” Izuku flinched as each word seemed to send Iida sliding further onto his bed.
“Yes, Manual, sir. I understand,” Iida’s voice was meeker than Izuku had ever heard. Any residual anger Izuku had felt drained in an instant. He sounded small, Iida; Izuku had never heard him sound so tiny and he never wanted to again.
Manual must have felt something similar because the man, rather than continue his lecture, let out a quiet sigh and put a hand on Iida’s shoulder. The other boy didn’t even look up. “I’m glad you’re alright, Iida, I really am. Get some rest until your parents get here, okay?” If the mention of Iida’s parents was meant to reassure the boy, it had obviously failed judging from the way he slumped even further, but he gave a soft nod and Manual patted his shoulder twice more before nodding towards Todoroki and Izuku and leaving the room.
Hawks didn’t even wait until the door was fully closed. “I can’t believe them,” he muttered as he stalked over to Iida first, his wings fluttering agitatedly. “Three in the morning and they decide to start interrogations, unbelievable.” Iida squawked as Hawks unceremoniously pushed him back fully onto the hospital bed and began covering him back up with the mountain of blankets.
“Um, Hawks, sir –“
“Nope. No talking. Bed all three of you.” Hawks neatly interrupted, his voice stern. It seemed he had recovered from the surprises of the night faster than anyone else – or perhaps, an unsure voice whispered in the back of Izuku’s mind, he hadn’t been surprised by any of it at all – because he had absolutely zero interest in questioning them any further or doing anything at all except get them back into bed.
It was strangely reassuring, in a way, to see Hawks hover around his friends – Todoroki had quickly sunk himself back into his bed when it came clear he was next but that hadn’t saved him from being nearly swaddled by the suddenly doting hero. Someone secretly evil wouldn’t take the time to tuck highschoolers in, would they?
Perhaps they would. Or perhaps Hawks wasn’t evil at all but was involved in something.
Izuku wanted answers and something must have shown on his face when the hero finally turned to him. “Hawks –“ Izuku didn’t know what he was going to say – he couldn’t exactly blurt everything out right in front of Todoroki and Iida but his suspicions were burning holes in his mind – but Hawks hushed him with a knowing look.
“Tomorrow, kiddo. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Izuku wanted to argue but any protestation died on his lips as Hawks began to haul the mountain of blankets onto him and Izuku caught sight of a familiar red and white pattern.
Probably it was a coincidence, being covered in a blanket that had the same pattern as the one back in Hawks’ apartment. There was no way it was the same blanket and Hawks’ agency was known for making charitable donations to children’s hospitals across Japan. But there was something about it that was comforting, more so than the defending and the doting and everything else Hawks had done, and Izuku found himself running his left hand in between the blankets to catch the feel of the soft material along his fingers.
Hawks was gone from his side before his thoughts had caught back up with him and with the hero went any chance of pressing for answers.
In the morning then. Izuku would confront Hawks in the morning and get his answers.
Izuku didn’t think he’d fall back asleep, between the fear of getting into trouble and the burning suspicions still plaguing him, but the blankets were warm and his body still ached. Exhaustion took him again, and he fell into an uneasy sleep.
He didn’t wake again until someone was calling his name, hours later.
When he opened his eyes to meet the dark, furious gaze of his homeroom teacher, he rather wished he could fall asleep again.