Chapter Text
Present Mic is no stranger to fans, especially with his radio show. But something in how Hawks allows his fans to be so touchy and the questions they ask, has always worried him. Of course the voice hero has never had a chance to talk to the younger about this. Only ever seeing him in passing at hero events, public and official ones, never private ones. But finally is a chance, the usually busy hero currently surrounded by fans, signing autographs and answering reporters' questions.
He slides up to the others side in time to hear a reporter ask if he’s into bondage. Seriously, doesn’t this bother him? But Hawks just laughs and says something just mysterious enough to satisfy those who want it either way. A hand reaches out and pulls on his wing, plucking out a feather. If Hizashi wasn’t highly empathetic and trained to read others he never would’ve noticed the hand twitch. So small and clearly hidden but it did hurt when they did that. When another hand comes up, the elder grabs it gently and smiles.
“Ah come on guys. Hawks fights with those. If everyone took one then he wouldn’t have any to take down villains with.” The younger looked up to him with barely hidden confusion.
“It’s fine Mic.” He slips back into his regular, and clearly practiced, smile. “They like little keepsakes and I have plenty to go around.”
“It’s a piece of you, not a souvenir.” Hizashi frowns while trying to show seriousness at the subject. “You have no obligation to give away your weapons nor a body part.”
“I really don’t mind-”
“What if those small feathers are what stands between saving a civilian's life and not? What if it’s just barely not enough speed? What if you need a small distraction but there’s nothing left?” Finally something got through to Hawks. By now Hizashi had figured out that the younger is somewhat uncaring about himself so at least he can call on those dependent on him.
“Well I…” He trails off considering. “I suppose when you put it like that.”
He tucks his wings in slightly when another hand reaches out. After a shaking of his head, the person backs off and nobody else tries. But all Hizashi can focus on is how for a brief second nothing but pure terror flashed on the younger's face. Looking for denial to setting boundaries. Like Eri and Hitoshi.
He’d always accounted the lack of media boundaries as him just being a little self-sacrificing, or overly friendly with his fans. But now he was starting to suspect that the kid had just never had his personal choices respected. And that was not okay.
After all the questioning wrapped up and the crowd had dissipated, Hizashi spun on his heel and grabbed the younger to keep him from running. Hawks started slightly trembling and froze at the contact, his breath locking up. Was he..? The voice hero slowly drops the other, regretting that move. He really should’ve known better than to touch someone without their permission. He’d just wanted to keep the other from running off.
“I’m sorry for touching you like that.” Oh gods, he was already getting hopelessly attached to the younger as he looked confused at the idea.
“You don’t have to apologize.” He mumbled out.
“Yes I do. And so should anyone else who makes you uncomfortable.” The two lock eyes and Hawks looks very doubting at the statement. “Anyways, I did have a reason to talk to you.”
“Yes?” Hizashi gives one of his Shouta designated ‘Sunshine smiles’ to lighten the energy.
“Would you like to come over for dinner sometime?”
“Wow Mic.” Hawks drawls out with a raised eyebrow. “Aren’t you a bit old for me?”
“Not like that!” He feels his blood rush in embarrassment at his phrasing. “I’m married.”
“And I’m even less interested.”
“No, just-” The older blonde struggles to get his words in order.
“I’m just messing with you man. If you want me to come over for dinner then whatever.” Hawks shrugs, his posture relaxed.
“Oh cool. When are you free?” Mic’s smile gets larger at his win.
“I could do tonight if you want?”
“Sure!”
“Cool. See you in what,” He pauses, pulling out his phone to check the time. “An hour or so?”
“You can just come with me.”
“Okie dokie.” Somehow the winged hero makes even that sound laid back.
“I’ll call my husband to pick us up.” Before Hizashi can finish pulling out his phone he notes how the youngers wings twitch ever so slightly. “Unless you’d rather fly us?”
“Sure.” Hawks drawls out but seems slightly more relaxed at the idea. Having those large wings must make it difficult to do usual things like riding in cars. Good thing we own some stools.
-
Hawks feet touch the ground in front of Mic’s house. It’s big enough to be a family house but not in a way that flexes money like Endeavors. The house is painted a soft orange, dark wood framing the windows. The hero in question walks up to the door and types in a code, the handle makes a loud noise that grinds on Hawks feathers before the door is unlocked.
“It’s not much but welcome to our humble house!” It’s nicer than the one Hawks grew up in, and has a homey feel that the commission never had. If it was up to Hawks, this was one of the best houses he’d ever seen.
“It’s nice.” He offers and Mic smiles. His smiles are gentle and genuine. Unlike mine.
“Papa?” A small girl pops out of a nearby room rubbing her eyes. She has soft blue hair and red eyes.
“Hey Eri. Were you taking a nap?” She nods looking up at the stranger.
“Hi.” Hawks cringes at the simple greeting, he’s never been good with kids.
“Hello.” She softly responds. He notices a small horn on her head. “It’s part of my quirk.”
“Ah.” The air grows stale as Present Mic had wandered off at some point. Presumably to the kitchen. He shifts his wings. “This is part of mine.”
“Is it a good quirk?” She looks hesitant to ask the question, setting off a few red flags in the elder.
“I suppose. Depends on which part of it.” He finds himself half admitting to his more… unsightly traits.
“My old caretaker said mine was bad but everyone now says it’s good.” Ah so that explained the way she acted.
“Your old caretaker sounds like a bad person.”
“He was.” Those red eyes look at him in that way children do. “Did you have a bad caretaker too?”
He freezes at the question. Why are kids always so perceptive? It’s clear she wasn’t going to be easily lied to, so he goes for a half-truth instead. “When I was younger.”
“You didn’t deserve that.” She reaches up and he bends down obediently. Her small hands cup his face, gentle yet calloused. Her eyes are soft yet searching.
“Neither did you.” He finds himself responding. Both staring into each other's eyes, souls mirroring each other.
“Hey guys!” Mic pops into the room and the moment is broken, Hawks blinking before standing back up. “Come sit down.”
“Alright.”
The two lead him to a living room, the small girl hopping up on the couch and grabbing the TV remote. Hawks is guided to a stool that's been moved into the room. He noticed? The small gesture makes him want to coo but he bites it down. Other than the front entrance and hallways, the main areas of the house seem open-plan. The kitchen is visible from here, as well as the dining room.
“What do you wanna watch?” The winged hero looks over to Eri to find her asking him that, Present Mic once again wandered off.
“It’s your house, what’d you wanna watch?” He deflects back since he never really watches TV that isn’t approved by the commission.
“Do you know any pre quirk shows?” She asks with a grin on her face, looking like she doesn’t know much about smiling but still is trying to show her joy.
“Not really.”
“Well you're gonna like this one.” With that she put on some show with yellow-skinned characters and a monkey person. The two sit and watch the show, giggling at the jokes and awing at the fight scenes. It really isn’t bad and Hawks wishes he could finish it.
-
Shouta enters his house, everyone else home already except him. Or at least he hopes Mic remembered to bring Hitoshi home. Said boy comes out of his room at the sound of him taking off his shoes, rubbing his eyes with a blanket in his arms.
“Hey Hito! Glad to see you up.” Hizashi slips into the room with a smile on his face. “Dinners almost ready so go get your sister and our guest sat at the table.”
He nods and wanders off.
“We have a guest?” Shouta asks while pulling off his capture weapon.
“Yup!”
“And who is it?” The underground hero asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Hawks!” The ravenette nearly stumbles at the name.
“As in the number two hero?” His husband nods. “Hizashi, how the fuck- Scratch that. Why the fuck.”
“Language!” He scolds with a shake of his head. “And he clearly doesn’t understand consent or boundaries.”
“And how is this our problem?”
“Shouta, he’s been mistreated. We have to adopt him.”
“He’s a grown adult.”
“But he’s just like Eri and Hitoshi!” The puppy dog eyes as the voice hero says that definitely isn’t what convinces the other. Definitely not. His husband has no power over him and is definitely not cute.
“I’ll meet him.” He relents. The grin that breaks out over his husband's face tells him that the other had been completely faking, well faking the expressions, the blonde did seem quite worried about Hawks.
The two walk into the room and bright red wings that could only be one person is indeed sitting at the table, the table actually set for once. Considering that his kids never do it, Shouta can only assume it was the guest that did it.
“You guys set the table!” Hizashi exclaims from his side.
“Hawks did, but I showed him where everything was.” Eri puffs out her chest with pride and Shouta comes over to gently ruffle her hair. Said hero is trying his best to cover up his staring at the underground hero.
“Did you need something?” The ravenette finally asks.
“Oh sorry!” Hawks smiles so bright that the ravenette almost doesn’t notice how fake it is. “It’s just…”
“Yes..?” He prompts the younger to continue. The shutting down over a question was indeed a red flag for whoever raised the hero.
“You’re Eraserhead right?” He blurts out with stars in his eyes. Shouta nods, a bit shocked that he recognized him. “I love your work. I don’t really meet a lot of underground hero’s but I find that line of work really important. I mean of course daylight hero’s are important too to keep the people's faith and trust, but underground hero’s handle the less showy stuff. Sorry for rambling.”
“It’s all good.” Shouta blinks a few times in shock. He hadn’t been expecting the number two hero of all people to appreciate underground work so much.
“Wow, you really think about how it’s all structured huh?” Hizashi laughs as he says. Hawks turns slightly red, his wings twitching mildly.
“A little.” He admits. “I actually wanted to be an underground hero but my quirks a bit too flashy, plus I like being able to inspire people.”
Shouta bites back a remark on how his quirk seems perfect for underground work other than the colour. Besides, someone does have to handle the public aspect and Hawks seems quite good at it.
“I do my radio show for a similar reason, although I’ve never wanted to be an underground hero. I enjoy talking to my fans.” Hawks nods along with a smile, it looking a bit more genuine this time.
“I love it when they give me little gifts. One time this little kid gave me a really smooth rock they found by a river. It’s sweet.”
“Oh! One time a young lady sent me a really sweet letter talking about how I’d inspired her to start her own podcast. I have it framed in my office.”
The two start sharing stories on things fans have given them, both moving animatedly. Noticing Hizashi's attention shift, Shouta comes over to the kitchen to finish dinner. Eri gets in on the talk at some point, talking about how she wants to be a hero to help people. Both adults turning to her, Hawks questioning her quirk then listing ways she could use it in hero work causing stars in her eyes.
But at some point the food is ready and set at the table, which the underground hero can now see is set perfectly in a pattern. From his own etiquette classes in youth he recognizes the style.
“Hawks?” The winged hero looks up. “Did you grow up rich?”
“Huh?”
“This table setting. It’s a high level etiquette style.”
“Oh, well the hero training I went too taught that kind of stuff.”
“So you weren't rich?” Something in the younger looks uncomfortable at the mention of his childhood financial state. Before Shouta can back off he gets an answer.
“Not at all.”
“So what kind of hero training taught you this?”
“Oh ya know, I don’t really talk about who trained me, they prefer to remain anonymous.” The blonde brushes off the question with a shoulder shrug and hand flip.
“Let's just eat!” Hizashi cuts in seemingly not happy with the interrogation going on. A hard glare from his husband and Shouta backs off. Small amounts of relief appear in Hawks, not enough to be noticeable to most. Whoever trained him was very thorough. But Mic was right, something about the kid screams traumatized.