Work Text:
Aizawa looks up when Shinsou walks into the meeting room at UA. “Who let you in?”
“Nezu, duh.”
“Why?”
“I thought you could use some help. Taking down the Hero Commission isn’t exactly a one-hero job.”
Aizawa raises his eyebrows as Shinsou takes a seat next to him and holds out his hand. He passes Shinsou a folder. “A detailed list of every hero the Commission trained themselves. Some went to hero schools and were trained further by the Commission after. We’re interested in the ones who never went to a high school — or any school, really.”
“Gotcha. What are you looking at?”
“Various tasks Hawks undertook for the Commission. He kept copies of all his mission reports, which is helpful now. Some of them are downright villainous.”
“Yikes.”
“Mhm. I’m gonna have to ask Nezu to assign someone to take over my homeroom class until this is done. I wonder if any of the teachers are available.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I called Kendo. She’s not exactly teacher material, but it’s just homeroom and she’s good at imparting important lessons about being a hero and keeping track of everyone’s schedules.”
Aizawa sighs. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. So, let’s get to work, then.”
Two hours later, Shinsou is tapping a folder against his head and Aizawa is dully thudding his head against the table.
“This is agony,” Aizawa states.
They both look up when the doors open.
“Sorry we’re late,” Midoriya says.
Aizawa blinks at some of his and Vlad’s old students as they file into the meeting room. “Huh?”
“About damn time,” Shinsou grumbles. “I texted you losers an hour ago.”
Midoriya laughs and rubs the back of his neck. “We got held up in the courtyard. Kacchan didn’t want to sign any autographs so we had to pacify him first.”
Bakugou huffs and looks away.
Aizawa turns to Shinsou. “Huh?”
“Apparently,” Shinsou says, “this isn’t a two-hero job either.”
“I never liked the Commission,” Shoji says as he takes a seat and thanks Shinsou for the folder he receives.
“Me either,” Shishido adds.
“So,” Yaoyorozu says once everyone is seated, “what’s the plan?”
Touya pokes Keigo’s cheek. It’s dark and everyone else in the house is already asleep — hopefully — but the two of them are wide away. “Are we going to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” Keigo whispers.
“Bolt. I’ve never seen you kill anyone before.”
“Murder is not something to get horny about, baby.”
Touya glares at him. “I am not.”
Keigo raises his eyebrows.
“Anymore,” Touya adds. “Moment’s passed. Also, fuck you for bringing that up. I was thinking about taking Kumi to see Tenko’s therapist again.”
Keigo smiles. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Tenko lectured me on the way back from the station yesterday. He’s taking her with him for his next session. Speaking of him, did he tell you he’s taking a job with Eraserhead?”
Touya nods. “Good for him, honestly. He needs a job anyway.”
“Mm.”
“Are you worried?”
“Kinda.”
“It’ll be fine. Tenko trusts Eraserhead. And it’s about time your stupid fans know that you’re fully taken. I get very jealous, you know.”
Keigo kisses Touya’s forehead. “I love you.”
“Then do the goddamn dishes once in a while.”
“Woah, I don’t love you that much.”
“Asshole.”
“I’m kidding.”
“I know. I love you.”
Touya watches Keigo’s eyes drift off into space. “Kumi’s gonna be fine, Kei. She deserves to tell her friends at school who her parents are. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
“I love you,” Keigo says again.
“I know,” Touya says smugly.
“After all of this is settled, I’m gonna marry you.”
Touya stares at Keigo for a moment before his face grows hot and he turns over, burying his face in his pillow. “Go to sleep.”
“Okay,” Keigo says, the echo of laughter in his voice.
After a moment, Touya mumbles, “You better ask me properly after everything or I won’t marry you.”
“Okay,” Keigo whispers.
Tenko wasn’t expecting Aizawa to work as fast as he did. Two weeks after the incident, Tenko wakes up to a barrage of calls and texts from Natsuo and Ichika. All of the texts are asking if he’s seen the news yet.
He trudges out of bed and wanders into the living room to see Keigo and Atsuhiro on the couch, eyes glued to the TV, where the news anchor is reporting over chaotic footage of what looks like an angry mob outside the Commission headquarters.
“. . . live at the Hero Public Safety Commission, where earlier this morning, the Commission President and several board members were arrested on allegations of, among several other crimes, child trafficking, inhumane hero treatment, murder, extortion and perjury.”
“Jesus,” Tenko mutters.
“It’s on every news channel,” Atsuhiro says. “Radio and television. It’ll probably make the front page everywhere by the end of the week. It’s already trending on every platform.”
“Sources claim that several heroes, including Hawks and Lady Nagant, were bought by the Hero Commission and trained as, quoted from our source, ‘mere lapdogs’. Commission employees claim that Lady Nagant, who has been imprisoned in Tartarus for killing a fellow hero in an argument, is believed to have been innocent in that matter.”
“Holy shit.”
Tenko and Atsuhiro glance behind them to see Himiko entering the living room, her hair still unbrushed and her eyes blown wide.
“That was quick.”
Tenko shrugs. “That’s Eraserhead for you.”
Shuichi stumbles into Himiko. “Sorry. Have you guys looked at the internet yet?”
“Just to see what people are saying about the Commission story,” Atsuhiro says.
Shuichi reads off his phone. “Musutafu Police claim that after thorough investigation, the now disbanded League of Villains’ goal was ultimately to take down the Hero Public Safety Commission by dismantling the hero society in its entirety.”
“They’re covering for us?” Himiko asks.
“Looks like,” Shuichi says, scrolling a bit before reading again. “Former League of Villains to receive pardons in return for community service and regular check-ins with a designated Pro Hero.”
“Wait, what?” Atsuhiro asks.
“There’s a bunch of criticism over it but people are fighting for us. Someone said something about how there’s no proof we actually ever killed anyone and therefore, that makes us better than the Commission.” Shuichi looks at Tenko. “We’ve totally killed people, haven’t we?”
Tenko shrugs at them. “We tried very hard to with heroes and failed embarrassingly often but we were careful about other villains and people who attacked us first.”
“They say anything about Kumi?” Himiko asks, peering over Shuichi’s shoulder.
“Not that I can see, but there’s a bit about several people charging to our defense. GU — the entire company, not just Inaba’s store — released a statement about employee treatment that’s pretty much just thinly veiled Commission bashing. It says the original article was written by Tanaka Nori. Oh, Iori’s hospital’s chief is rumoured to be doing an interview on the Commission’s training methods and its relativity to a decline in stable heroes.”
Himiko’s phone buzzes. “Oh my god. My restaurant is giving out coupons to anyone who posts about the things we’ve done to help. I’m pretty sure the Komori kids down the street just lied about Jin walking them to and from school for an entire month because some bullies were following them.”
“No, that’s true,” Shuichi says. “He’s still taking them to school with Kumi. He picked them up this morning again.”
Himiko scrolls through her phone. “This is a lot of people. Shu, your gaming nerds are posting about you.”
“What? What are they saying? Let me see!”
Himiko taps on a post. “Reasons why Spinner is the kindest person I know — a thread on their interactions with my nine and twelve year old children in RPG games.”
“You play with kids?” Tenko asks, wrinkling his nose.
“Sometimes. Mostly just kids my friends know, like their siblings or neighbours or whatever. It’s fun. You shouldn’t, though. You swear when your teammates suck and kids tend to suck a lot.”
“Atsu,” Himiko says, “Maki just posted a thread of pictures the foster kids made about you. Apparently, Ichika told her to do something creative with them so they all drew what they like most about you. There’s like five pictures of a clown-looking magician.”
“Oh, Ichika mentioned that. One kid said I’m the nicest clown he’s ever met. Kumi laughed until she tripped over.”
“Why are you all talking so loudly?” Touya asks as he pushes past Himiko and Shuichi to get to the kitchen. “I just woke up.”
“I didn’t know you taught kids pottery!” Shuichi shouts after Touya.
“Huh? Oh, some of the employees bring their kids to work but they threw tantrums about being bored in the shop front so I started taking them to the workshop and it just kinda snowballed from there. They think my scars are badass. We’ve been thinking about expanding the workshop and opening official classes. I’d be one of two teachers unless the store hires more people.” Touya returns to the living room with a mug of coffee. “What are you all doing?”
Himiko gestures to the TV. “They’re covering the Commission exposé.”
Touya nods to Keigo. “What’s with him?”
“He’s been staring off into space since I got here,” Atsuhiro says. “I think the fact that the president was arrested on live TV knocked him off his balance.”
Touya sighs and leans over the back of the couch to put his mug in Keigo’s hand. “Morning.”
“Hm? Oh, hi. Did you hear the news?”
“Mhm. Do you wanna go back to bed? You look a little dazed.”
“Mm. I’m fine. I think I’m . . . relieved.”
Keigo looks away from the TV when Jin walks in, calling out that he’s back. “I think I’ll pick Kumi up from school today.”
Jin glances around before he nods. “Okay. Just don’t forget the Komori kids. One’s in her class. The other is in fifth year.”
“Look what your boyfriend’s boss did,” Himiko says, shoving her phone in Jin’s face.
Jin flushes, as he does every time he’s reminded that he’s dating Kosuke. “Hm? What did Tanaka do?”
“She wrote an article about employee treatment and GU as a company published it as an official statement!”
“It’s basically a slap to the face for the Commission,” Shuichi adds.
Jin takes the phone and skims through the article. “Woah. Wait, so does this mean that Eraserhead pulled through?”
“It’s all over the news,” Tenko says. “Apparently, they made the arrests when you took Kumi to school.”
Tenko jumps when his phone rings. He answers without checking the ID. “Hello?”
“You start work on Monday,” Aizawa says and hangs up immediately.
“Who was that?” Touya asks.
“Aizawa. He said I start work on Monday.”
“Good for you!” Himiko says, beaming widely. She turns to Shuichi. “You should get a job too.”
“Haha. No.”
“I’ll help you look for one if you want.”
“I’m good.”
“I’m gonna help you look for one.”
Shuichi sighs.
Keigo glances at Touya to see him already staring. Touya smiles in a way that says ‘I told you everything would be fine’. Keigo smiles back.
Kumi is tying her shoes when she hears one of her classmates trip and fly straight into the wall beside the window.
“Look, it’s Hawks!”
Kumi whips her head up. Keigo’s never picked her up from school before, so she’s not sure why he’s here now. Maybe it has to do with work. She wonders if she has to pretend he’s a hero she doesn’t know.
“Kumi!” A familiar brunette almost barrels right into Kumi, just barely managing to stop in front of her. “Are you ready to go? Mori-neesan is waiting outside.”
“Stop sprinting at me, Sana. One day, I’ll punch you off your feet. And Moriko will thank me.”
Sana rolls his eyes. “You’re so mean, Kumi.”
“No, I’m not. Daichi says I’m super kind.”
“Daichi doesn’t have to sit in front of you in class.”
Kumi rolls her eyes as they begin their walk to the front gate, where Moriko is waiting for them. “I threw one paper at you, Sana.”
“Neesan!” Sana shouts, grabbing Kumi’s hand and dragging her up to his sister. “Kumi threw paper at me in class!”
“I'm sure you deserved it,” Moriko says.
Kumi throws Sana a smug grin.
“I don’t see Jin anywhere,” Moriko says. Then she leans down to the pair of them and whispers. “But Hawks is here! Look!”
Both of them turn in the direction Moriko nods her head to.
“Kumi, you’re brave. Go ask him if he’ll sign my notebook! I’ll buy you sweets tomorrow.”
Kumi thinks Moriko will pass out if she tells her that she can give Moriko a photo of the great Hawks passed out half on the floor, half on the couch.
When Keigo sees them, his face breaks out into a huge grin and he waves. Moriko squeals and waves back.
To Kumi’s great surprise, Keigo walks up to them, smiling. “Got all your things, my angel?”
Kumi nods mutely.
“You must be Komori Moriko and Sana, right? Jin told me not to forget about you two.”
Sana, who’d been staring in dumbstruck silence, suddenly starts jumping on the spot. “Kumi! You never told us you knew Hawks! Is he friends with your parents? Do you know other heroes? How do you know Kumi, Hawks? How come you never told us, Kumi?”
“Well, it was dangerous,” Keigo answers for Kumi. “We didn’t want any bad guys coming after Kumi, you know.”
Kumi blinks at Keigo before taking the hand he holds out to her. Then she smiles up at him. “Can you sign Mori-Mori’s notebook for her, Papa?”
“Papa?!” Moriko shouts.
Kumi grins happily. “Mm! Hawks is my papa!”
“C’mon. Let’s go home.”
Kumi giggles and squeezes Keigo’s hand. Moriko is quiet nearly the entire walk home.
“Did you see how many kids were staring at us?” Sana asks. “We’re popular now!”
“Don’t get a big head, dummy,” Kumi says. “If you stop sprinting at me, I’ll introduce you to more heroes.”
Sana begins to practically vibrate with excitement. “So you do know other heroes! How many? Which ones?”
“I know Eraserhead and Mirko and Shoto. Oh, and Mindjack, a little bit. And I’m gonna meet Dynamight soon. I love Dynamight!”
“We know,” Sana says, rolling his eyes. “Can you get me an autograph from Shoto? I want an autograph from Shoto. Please!”
“Duh! Shoto’s my uncle!”
“Moriko,” Keigo says, “are you okay, there?”
“Mhm.”
“She’s starstruck,” Sana says, “ignore her. You’re neesan’s favourite hero.”
“Am I?”
Kumi groans. “You’re all Mori-Mori ever talks about, Papa.”
“Kumi! That’s embarrassing!”
“Aw, it’s cute,” Keigo says as they walk up the pathway to the Komoris’ front door. Sana knocks loudly. “Here, pass me your book.”
Moriko’s pretty brown eyes sparkle. “Really?”
“Yeah, Kumi said you wanted one.”
Moriko and Sana’s mother opens the door to see Hawks handing Moriko her book back and her staring at it like it’s glittering treasure. Their mother’s greeting to Jin dies on her tongue.
“Hi, I’m Keigo. I’ll be taking over from Jin now and then.”
“Mom!” Sana cries. “Hawks is Kumi’s dad!”
Their mother smiles. “Oh, I knew that already, baby.”
Keigo’s eyebrows lift slightly. “You did?”
“Of course. Everyone on our street knows. We just haven’t said anything because we know better. It’s nice to finally meet you. Komori Hekima.”
Keigo shakes her outstretched hand. “Hi-Hinotori Keigo, nice to meet you, too.”
Kumi squeezes Keigo’s hand and giggles softly.
“Moriko, sweetie, come inside.”
Moriko snaps out of her daze and looks up at Keigo. “I’m going to treasure this forever.”
Kumi rolls her eyes. “Sell it online. I’ll get you another one.”
“Never!” Moriko practically yells. “This one is special!”
Keigo smiles as Moriko rushes in after her brother, clutching her notebook tightly.
Hekima gives Keigo another smile. “Let us know if you need anything with all that’s happening.”
“Thank you.”
“What good are neighbours if we don’t take care of one another, hm? Take care.”
Kumi waves as they leave, still clutching Keigo’s hand tightly. “Does this mean we don’t have to hide you away anymore?”
Keigo nods. “From now on, you’ll be able to tell everyone who your parents are.”
Kumi skips a step and laughs. “This is awesome!”
Three weeks after the Commission President was arrested alongside several of the higher-ups, nearly a hundred reporters crowded into a room for Hawks’ first public appearance since the news made headlines.
Keigo is expecting the clamour of voices the moment he steps onto the little stage and waits a moment for them to realise he hasn’t said anything yet and will not while they’re all shouting.
One reporter’s hand goes up.
“I haven’t even said anything,” Keigo says with a grin before gesturing for her to speak.
“Usually, when there’s a call for a press conference, there tends to be a topic to invite interested parties. You said you have something important to declare, but you haven’t given any indication as to what it is. Why is that?”
“Well, I like surprises. And my guest likes big crowds.”
“Guest?”
“It’s nothing to do with recent events. Hawks Agency is still finding our feet now that we have freedom to act as other hero agencies do without the Commission breathing down our neck. We’ll keep everyone informed, rest assured.”
Another hand goes up. “If it’s not to do with recent events, what is the purpose of this conference?”
“I just wanted to tell you heathens,” Keigo points to the corner where he knows the gossip magazine reporters are and grins, “to stop slapping my face on your top ten bachelor lists.”
His grin broadens when several of their hands go up. He turns to the side and motions for someone to join him. Every reporter, even those who only turned up to get a statement from him regarding the Commission scandal, eagerly turns to see who Keigo is calling.
Touya leads Kumi up to the stage and lets go of her hand when Keigo picks her up.
“Say hi, angel.”
“Hello!” Kumi tells the room brightly. “I’m Kumi!”
“As you can see,” Keigo says, directing his words to the gossip magazines, “I’m very much taken. Stop making my fiancé jealous.”
Kumi smiles widely when the cameras start flashing, turning slightly to one side.
“Poser,” Touya teases.
Kumi sticks her tongue out at him. “I want them to get my good side. You should turn around. You're really red.”
“Thank you, that’s it,” Keigo says, grabbing Touya’s hand and ignoring the calls for Hawks.
“Did you have fun, chicken?”
“Absolutely. Hey, do you think your brother will get mad if we get married before him?”
Touya grins. “Oh, he’ll be pissed.”
“Let’s do it.”
Touya brings their linked hands to his lips and kisses the back of Keigo’s hand. “I adore you.”
“I know,” Keigo says with a teasing grin.
“Do you think I look good in the pictures?” Kumi asks.
“I’m sure you look lovely, birdie.”
“Can we get ice cream?”
“Of course, angel.”
Before the week is over, Hawks is trending on all platforms again, this time for his secret relationship and child.