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It wasn’t unusual for people with animal mutant quirks to share similar traits with said animal, in fact, it was pretty standard. Selkie is an incredible swimmer, Gang Orca has the same power as a killer whale and Mirko has insane leg strength, just like a rabbit. Sometimes, animal quirks can take a few too many features from their counterpart though - your mind instantly racing to how Mirko had to get special, extra strength birth control created just for her.
It made sense to you that Hawks would also have these extra traits, but after learning about his childhood and upbringing, it dawned on you that the HPSC definitely erased and trained out any of those ‘negative’ attributes.
When he finally felt comfortable to show you the sides of him that no one else gets to see, you were overjoyed.
It was a late Saturday night, maybe around 9 or 10pm. Both you and Hawks were currently seated on the roof of the apartment building, doing some star watching. The sky was incredibly clear and had no clouds in sight - just the twinkling stars and moon. You were pretty sure you could see Venus too.
“Is that Venus?” You ask quietly, pointing with your finger to the sky. Taking his head off your shoulder, Hawks turned his attention from his phone and tried to follow your pointer finger. He squinted his eyes and you softly smiled, gently grabbing his arm and trying to direct his own hand to where you were looking.
“I think so,” Hawks replied and you hummed. He rested his head back on your shoulder again, eyes locked on what you both assumed to be Venus.
“Oh shit!” He exclaimed and plopped his phone on the ground, scrambling around in his pockets for something. Hawks was still in his hero costume, only getting off work an hour ago. You stared at him curiously, watching as his movements were almost panicky. A millisecond before you were about to ask if he was okay, he let out a slight sigh of relief and pulled his closed fist out of his pants pocket.
He put his left hand on your thigh, and slowly opened his right hand, palm facing the sky.
“For you,” Hawks quietly said, almost mumbling it. He gave you a shy and soft smile, a slight pale pink blush coating his cheeks.
“It’s pretty,” You replied in the same soft voice, taking the item out of his hands.
It was a small clear glass marble, with streaks of colour that matched the exact same shade of your eyes, swimming around inside it. It had maybe glitter, or some sort of reflective particles in it, because it sparkled under the moonlight.
“Where did you find this?” You question and stare lovingly at him, grasping his hand with your free one. You rubbed your thumb over his knuckles - you could kinda tell he was slightly anxious about this gift. He couldn’t meet your eyes and his foot was bouncing awkwardly.
“I found it on the ground when I was flying around today,” He answered, shrugging, “I tried to ignore it but it was shining in the light and reminded me of you - fuck, it’s kinda a lame gift, huh?”
You bump your shoulder against his, knocking him over slightly, “What? No! It’s really pretty, thank you Keigo,” You say earnestly and roll the marble between your thumb and forefinger.
His wings instinctively puffed up and fluttered slightly, and you laughed endearingly at it. Hawks looked backwards and glared at them as if they betrayed him.
You looked back up at the sky and held the marble up next to Venus. Letting out a shocked breath of air, you grinned at him,
“It’s not Venus, it’s Mars!”
A cute anime film that you insisted on watching had both you and Hawks glued to the screen. Soft blankets covered you both, and Hawks’s wings laid over the edge of the couch, resting on their own little blanket you lovingly put on the ground (The wooden floorboards get cold as fuck in the winter).
Turns out that the cuteness was a disguise, and it was in fact one of the most saddest, gut wrenching, romance films you have ever watched. It was short, just over 45 minutes, yet it still had both of you crying as it came to a close.
You stared blankly as the credits rolled, and Hawks quite literally had his head in his hands, tearing up, as he cuddled up next to you. Instinctively, his hand grabbed yours and squeezed like no tomorrow.
You looked down, broken out of your shock like trance, and laughed.
“How are you fucking laughing after that? That was awful!” He yelled, obviously joking. He seemed to not notice that he was holding your hand with a force you didn’t know was possible. It didn’t hurt, surprisingly.
“You’re holding my hand like I’m gonna float off the earth,” You say and nudge him, laughing harder as he looks to where your hands are connected.
“I can’t let go,” Hawks says, blankly, not moving his eyes. You lift your free hand and try to pry his fingers off yours, and they don't even budge. “What? Why can’t you let go?” You ask, still giggling slightly.
“You know how you use a stress ball when you feel a lot of emotions?” He asks, and you nod, “Uh- It’s kinda like that. It’s called stress grip. When I get overstimulated, I just kinda grab onto something and can’t let go,” Hawks explains.
“Bird thing?” You question and he nods sheepishly. “Does it only happen with bad emotions?”
Hawks shrugs, “Usually yeah, but sometimes it’s when I’m happy,”
You let out a small ‘Ah’ and couldn’t help but smile. Learning more about his avian type instincts and actions filled you with a sort of pride. He didn’t try to actively hide this type of stuff, and the fact that he trusted you enough to explain what things like this meant, made your heart flutter.
“Wait, is that why you have trouble letting me out of bed in the mornings?” You pry, smiling even wider as he blushed and didn’t meet your eyes as you leaned into his view.
“Shut the fuck up,” He grumbled and gave you a kiss on the forehead.
His grip significantly loosened on your hand, but he didn’t let go.
You loved watching Hawks fly.
The way he was completely in his element and always had his charming grin on display made you smile with him. On days like today, where he was surprisingly free of duties and commitment, he asked if you wanted to come and fly with him in a park. The ‘park’ itself was just a clearing in a forest, but you supposed he wanted privacy to be able to fly freely without worrying about fans or other heroes.
You whooped as he did a series of dives and tumbles at fast speeds, flying high up into the sky just to drop and spiral towards the ground. His spectacular manoeuvres were a site to behold, and you could only watch in awe.
You had an idea as to what he was doing. It was a courtship flight - male red-tailed hawks would pretty much show off with their flight skills to try and woo their potential mate. If Hawks was aware that he was doing exactly that, you weren’t sure, but you suppose it was working on you regardless.
“That was so fucking cool!” You yelled out, cupping your hands around your mouth, “Do it again!” You continue, referencing the literal barrel roll he just did. You could hear his laugh, but he accepted your request and did it again and again.
As he came down to the ground and landed a few feet away from you, you stood up from your seated position and clapped while jumping towards him. Hawks laughed at your slightly childish display.
“Do that with me, please,” You beg, grasping his shoulders, staring into his dilated pupils. Oh, he knew what he was doing with that display of tricks.
“What if I drop you?” He questioned. You knew he wouldn’t ever drop you. His question was just a bit of banter.
“As if! Just fly high up enough so that if I do fall, you’ll catch me before I turn into fertiliser!” You reply.
Hawks hummed in fake contemplation, before opening his arms in a hug. You cheered, wrapped your arms around his neck, and jumped. His hands caught your thighs and let you wrap your legs around his waist.
You rested your head on his shoulder but not before giving his neck a quick kiss.
This time, with you in his arms, he continued his onslaught of tricks. Barrel rolls, dives, swoops, tumbles and more. If a red-tailed hawk accepted the courtship ritual, they would fly around and copy the tricks their mate was doing. Since you couldn’t fly though, this was the next best thing, and it made your heart swell.
“I love you, Keigo!” You screamed out in between your hollers, laughs and whoops of joy.
“I love you too, little bird!” Hawks replied before ruffling your hair affectionately, and dipping into a spiralling dive towards the earth.
You loved watching Hawks fly, and you loved flying with him - and more than anything, you love that this little courtship dance was only shared between the two of you.
Your music played loudly through the speakers as you cooked dinner. The warm white lights illuminated the modern kitchen perfectly, and you couldn’t help but relax in the comfy environment.
It was a pretty hectic Tuesday, the evening news outlined quite a few major villain fights that involved top heroes, and from Hawks texting you occasionally on his small breaks, he was involved in quite a few.
Knowing he was probably going to walk through the apartment door absolutely beat from the tough day, the least you could do is make a nice, warm, homemade meal to combat the chilly and shit day. You weren’t much of a cook in your mind, although Hawks tended to disagree, considering he adored everything you made.
As you plated up dinner, and sat down at the kitchen island, the telltale sound of the apartment door open and clicking shut announced Hawks arrival home. You could hear him take off his boots as they slapped against the wooden floorboards, and the tired, quiet, sigh.
“Welcome home, birdie!” You announce and watch as he peeks his head into the open plan kitchen, giving you a worn out smile. “Hey sweets,” Hawks replies and tilts his head at the already prepared food on the table.
“You had a tough day,” You state and shrug, “So I made dinner that isn’t KFC,” you lightly jab and smile as he laughs. He plops down on the chair next to you and lays his head on the cold, granite kitchen island. “Fuck, you’re the best,” He states, watching you with loving eyes.
“I know,” you reply and begin to eat, urging him to do the same.
You didn’t turn off the music so it still played through the speakers, and you watch in amusement as he starts to bop his head to it. The song currently playing had a pretty obvious beat, and he matched it.
Humans could easily recognise patterns and rhythm in music was no exception. Still though, watching Hawks do it was somehow funny. Maybe because in nature, he was pretty bird-like so it looked a bit different. Maybe it was because he had giant wings and they were also kinda moving with the beat. Maybe it was because he seemed to not even notice he was doing it, but you couldn’t not let out a small smile.
Hawks turned to look at you and pointed a fork in your direction accusingly, “What?” He asked in a content tone and you shrug. “You know how some birds can sense rhythm?” You question and watch as he nods slowly.
“You just- bop to music but in a bird way more than a human way,” You explain and watch as he chokes on some water.
“What the fuck does that even mean?” He laughs and you shrug, but in a more defensive manner. “I don’t know!” You reply and reach for your phone, pulling up YouTube.
Wordlessly, he watches over your shoulder as you show him a video of some birds dancing to music (most of them being cockatoos, surprisingly).
“I do not look like that!” He scolds jokingly and you put your phone away, focusing back on eating dinner. “Whatever you say, birdman,”
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, downtime and the both of you vibing to the music, Hawks washes the dishes as you become a personal DJ. While scrubbing a metal, reflective pan, he pauses in his actions and turns to look at you.
“Maybe I do look like those birds,”
He must have seen his reflection. You grin in victory.
“Don’t worry, it’s cute,” you reassure, and walk over to him. Softly holding his chin, you turn his face to look at yours and give him a gentle kiss on the lips. “All of your little bird traits are cute, I’m happy you trust me enough to show them to me,” You continue and watch as he gives you a charming grin.
“Your bird noises, your love for shiny things, impressing me with your flying tricks, your stress grip, your bird rhythm, and even that one time you flew into our glass window - all of it. I love them all,” You state.
“It was one time I flew into the window,” He pouts, snaking his arms around your waist and bringing you in for a loving kiss.
Hawks may be his persona he puts on for the public and for hero business, but around you, he is different. Around you, he is Keigo Takami. He shows you sides that no one else sees or even knows about. He is vulnerable and soft and full of light, and he is yours.