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I saw a bird coming back north, the note read, along with the response, location and time. Hawks took a moment to memorize it before casually shredding it into pieces with one of his feathers. A cafe, he noted. It wasn’t often he relayed his finding to an informant to make it to the president. He preferred to bring the information straight to the Commission and keep his special extra missions to as few people as possible, but with the League of Villains and the Paranormal Liberation Front on his tail, he had to resort to agents disguised as normal civilians so as to not call attention to him leaking information.
The night was quiet, the background noise of the area full of lazy chatting and eager orders and the bustling of busy people with money to spend. The wave of noise washed over him soothingly, lacking the tense undercurrent of apprehension and tension that set his feathers on edge during the day. This was the place where the well off gathered, too secure in their own money and power to truly worry about seeing the next day the way most civilians did. He didn’t like to associate himself with such places too much, but these areas fit his persona well so he often made a few frivolous appearances to flaunt his wealth and enjoy glamorous cooking. Besides, the uppity calm was a welcome distraction from the stress of the day.
He entered the cafe and sauntered over to the counter, scanning the floor for any potential villains and evacuation exits before wondering which person was supposedly the informant if they were already there. He was disguised roughly, with a baseball cap over his head and an expensive jacket covering his wings, enough to throw off the paparazzi for a little while but nowhere near enough to hide him from eyes who knew what to look for.
He drummed his fingers along the side of his leg as he waited in line to order, wondering idly if maybe the catchphrase would be incorporated in the order - he had put his money on the informant being the efficient barista taking everyone’s orders. The door swung open, ringing the little bell and he felt the air shift as someone walked towards him. He waited for a moment and then turned casually to catch sight of who it was. Oh. He allowed his eyebrows to raise in surprise as he registered the girl standing behind him. Her white hair with the red feathery streaks was pulled behind her into a classy bun and she was wearing a rather nice dress and tights with a coat over her arm, making her look like she’d just come from a fancy dinner of sorts or perhaps a formal meeting rather than the elementary school he knew she worked at. Then again, he mused, a fancy dinner was entirely plausible considering her father. Her bangs were carefully swept off of her face and her rectangular glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She was cute, he decided. Much cuter than he’d originally thought when he’d first met her. Her eyes met his and he watched the recognition dawn on her face.
“Oh, hello,” she blinked, surprised to see him. He winked at her and held a finger to his lips before leaning close to her to whisper.
“Best not let everyone know I’m here,” he said quietly before he drew back and gave her a flirtatious smile.
“Of course,” she agreed easily and he nodded, turning back to the board to decide what to order.
“You know,” she mused aloud, and he turned again to give her his attention politely. “I do believe I saw something strange on the way here.”
“Did you, now?” he asked non committedly. She hummed in agreement.
“Yes. I saw a bird coming back north,” she said smoothly. Hawks stiffened, shooting her a suspicious look. How did she know that? She met his eye and cocked her head to the side, waiting for his answer.
“You know what they say,” he smiled easily at her, the corners of his eyes tightening as he wondered how likely it was for her to be an imposter. “The early bird always gets the worm.” She nodded, satisfied, and he felt his heart drop into his stomach despite the friendly smile on his face. She waited a beat before raising an eyebrow to prompt him for the information but he allowed some of his suspicion to show on his face. Her smile faltered and she huffed.
“It’s your turn to order, sir,” she said quietly and Hawks turned back around to the barista with a blinding smile.
“Ah, my bad,” he chuckled. “I’d like your daily special, please, and whatever the lovely lady behind me wants,” he said, gesturing magnanimously to the woman behind him. She blushed prettily and ordered a jasmine green tea. He paid graciously and they stood off to the side to await their orders.
“Well?” she turned to him expectantly. “You’ve been awfully close lipped. What updates do you have?”
“Fuyumi Todoroki,” he said contemplatively, scrutinizing her face. She was unfazed.
“Yes, that’s me,” she answered coolly. He squinted at her, keeping his smile on his face.
“I thought you were a teacher?” he asked, trying not to sound accusatory. He saw her clench her jaw under her pleasant smile.
“I am,” she replied. “Among other things.”
“Right,” he agreed flatly. She sighed. “Look, I know I’m not what you were expecting, but it made the most sense to send me since we do have enough of a plausible connection to explain away our interactions.” Hawks nodded. He supposed that made sense. But it was jarring to see his coworker's sweet daughter meet up with him to share and convey important information about the Paranormal Liberation Front to the Commission for him. It was yet another harsh reminder that you truly couldn’t trust anyone and that people were never what they seemed.
“It’s just hard to wrap my head around,” he admitted quietly. He caught sight of the barista coming towards them with drinks in her hands and smiled automatically as he turned to thank her.
“I’ll answer a few questions,” Fuyumi told him softly as they turned to the door. “Just give me the message so I can report back and then you can ask away.”
“Why?” he asked, unable to keep the suspicion out of his tone. She rolled her eyes and he bit back the amusement and unease of seeing such a sassy response from her. “You’ll have access to my files if you ask for them,” she shrugged gently. “You might as well hear it from the main source. Here,” she handed him her cup as she paused to put on her coat before they exited and he fought back the strangest urge to put it on for her like she was a lady. “Thanks,” she took her drink back.
“Very well,” he acknowledged. He took a large slurp of his drink and then motioned for her to do the same. “They’ve managed to recruit a couple more hundred in the past few weeks,” he muttered quickly. He saw her grip tighten around the paper cup and concluded she’d been able to hear him. “And eighteen more heroes have been compromised. And five of the sidekicks I approached last week have proven themselves trustworthy.” She nodded and brought her phone out of her coat pocket before tucking her drink in the crook of her arm and beginning to type.
“Well?” she looked up at him expectantly. He took a sip of his drink, a little sweeter than he’d like but not terrible as he let the comforting caffeine work its magic. He cast a look towards the Todoroki, trying to catalog her tells and dig until he could decipher her genuine reactions. She was still acting sweet, which contradicted every interaction he’d had with a Commission agent aside from the starry eyed rookies begging for autographs. He couldn’t tell if her gentle demeanor meant she was a rookie or just that good at being unassuming.
“How long?” he asked.
“A few years,” she responded. So, still rather new, but probably proven trustworthy and reliable. He supposed that made sense for her. “They approached me for information and I eventually accepted.” He cast a curious glance at her. There was a story there, he knew. “I wanted to help my family,” she admitted. He frowned.
“And you figured the best way to do that was working for them?” He didn’t say Commission, mindful of them being out in public which made it both easier and harder for them to be overheard. Was she one of those people who blindly believed in the goodness of the Commission?
“Not really,” she laughed. “I mean, we all work for them, in some way,” she said bitterly. “Natsuo’s going to become a specialized doctor to deal with extreme cases, but that really means he’ll just be patching up the people they don’t want the public to know about, and Shouto and Dad are heroes. You know what that’s like,” she sighed. “The Commission has a say in their rankings, in their presentation, in the cases they give them and whether or not to help them when scandals come to life. I wanted to become a teacher originally because I thought that working with kids during such an important time in their life could help prevent things going wrong in the future. And that’s what I do. They allow me because they want scouts for ‘young talent’ but I haven’t come across one yet.” Hawks sucked in a harsh breath as he thought of his intensive upbringing and felt anger rise within him before he caught sight of the dark look in her eyes. “No child should be subject to that,” she spat. “But at least working on the inside gives me a heads up so I can spring into action.” He nodded cautiously, allowing a trickle of admiration to run through his dam of suspicion regarding her.
“The information they wanted -” he began.
“My dad, yeah,” she confirmed. “He’s … a good hero, but he can be a bit of a liability. He’s the number one hero now, and everyone is looking to him to provide an example, so they need to keep certain things under control in order to do so.” She twisted her hands. “He - hasn’t been the best with parenthood but I do believe he is what’s best for the public. But symbols are dangerous if they get out of hand, so that’s why they have me. I am insurance to keep him in check. I invite him to dinners and try to patch up his relationship with his sons so that they’ll help defend him when the time comes. He sometimes takes his files home to look over sometimes so I can see what kinds of cases have caught his interest and keep track of his location if he takes my bentos.” Hawks fought back the sickness that crept up in his throat at the thought of the daughter of his favorite hero disguising spying on him in the carefully packed bentos he’d seen the man smile at in moments of privacy.
“You don’t have to approve,” she said as she read the expression on his face, a note of defensiveness seeping into her sweet voice. “You really don’t know anything about our relationship and … maybe it’s nice to have something over him for once,” she admitted shamefully, her innocent face twisting into something angry and hurt and hungry. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach at the implications of that statement. She blinked and the expression was gone, replaced by her gentle civilian persona. He was taken aback at the fierceness in her previous expression and how easily she hid it. It rather reminded him of the quiet assassinations of villains he’d perform before appearing out in public again to help the people and cheerfully take pictures and shake hands like he was nothing more than a pretty model on display for everyone. No one had ever seen his face twist in rage at the unfairness of it all when he got home injured and sore and lonely and spent the night watching idealized renditions of a life he’d never gotten a chance to have on tv.
“It’s none of my business,” he said flippantly, flapping a hand at her irreverently. “So you’re more than what meets the eye. Nothing wrong with that.” She stopped walking and turned to study him. He met her gaze, a wave of nervousness washing through him as he felt her peel back his layers to observe him properly. He’d never paid much attention to her eyes before. Granted, he’d never really had a reason to but had thought they were rather dull and useful like pencil lead. Now he thought nothing of the sort. Her eyes were as sharp and cutting like gleaming steel, and he felt his heart stop a second as he wondered just what she was seeing as she cut him open with her gaze. He took the time to observe her, too, fitting in all the small pieces of her he’d managed to scrape together and add them to his mental picture of her. The innocence behind her eyes was erased, replaced with a carefully concealed cunning and promises of retribution. The rough outline of her figure was replaced by surer lines that traced her curves and made note of her unblemished skin that showed no signs of the dirtier work the Commission liked to dole out. She finally hummed and broke eye contact with him and he bit back to urge to ask her what his verdict was after her leisurely perusal of him.
“You’re not what I was expecting,” he admitted softly. She hummed again.
“I think I’ll take that as a compliment. It’s rather hard to catch someone like you off guard,” she checked the watch on her left wrist. “I should get going,” she said softly and he nodded after deciding not to offer to walk her home. If she worked for the Commission he’s sure that she can take care of herself, besides being raised in a house with one of the top heroes.
“Will I see you again?” he asked. Do I continue to tell you the information I’m gathering? She translated. She hesitated.
“That’s for them to decide,” she said slowly. She may not be high enough on the Commission’s scale to qualify for being the vessel of so much confidential information that would make it easier for her to connect certain dots. “But it makes sense, so probably.” He’d ask them, he decided. Passing messages to a girl he frequently ran into when she dropped off lunch for her father and at occasional formal gatherings would hardly raise any suspicion and hopefully rid him of Dabi’s residual distrust. She was an enigma hiding in plain sight and his feathers rustled under his jacket in anticipation at the challenge she presented. He usually raced against himself to see how fast it took him to figure people out, but she looked at him so clearly he wondered if she might figure him out before he’d get to the bottom of who she was.
“Well then, see you around,” he waved a hand lazily in goodbye and she sent him a polite smile before turning and walking away. A feather dropped silently out from under his jacket before zooming off to follow her until she stepped safely inside her house.
“Goodbye, Hawks,” she called. His eyes widened as the name registered in the vicinity and he was suddenly attacked by fans faster than any villain. His mouth dropped open he fixed his face into something appropriately flirty and presentable as he devoted his attention to understanding the chorus of voices thrown at him. The cacophony wasn’t enough to drown out her tinkling laugh as she turned a corner and he found himself smiling to himself.
Cheeky little bird.