Chapter Text
“Think you can do that for us, Hawks?”
Keigo’s grip on his phone tightens. His jaw stiffens as he affirms, “Of course,” his voice never wavering from the smooth confidence the Commission instilled in him, “You can count on me!”
His words seem to satisfy his handler and she hangs up.
It’s five in the morning, and Keigo is seething.
Every year, without fail, he takes January 18th off. Today was supposed to be no different, but the Commission called to assign him a minor villain case a town over. Then they assigned him another case. And another.
Any hero could do this assignment in Hitoyoshi. The Commission picked him for a reason.
Hawks arrives in Hitoyoshi in record time. He arrests the criminal even quicker.
He runs his fingers through his hair as he assesses the situation. From the looks of things it’s your average bank robbery. Low-priority, but he was sent regardless. He grits his teeth and readies his feathers.
The criminal is inside the building, but doesn’t have a weapon according to the report, preferring to utilize their mantis-like arms. He approaches the entrance calmly. Opening the door, he prepares in case he needs to protect the civilians inside. It’s darker than it should be, the lights busted or shut off in some way. Hawks’ eyes lock onto a shouting figure in the middle of the bank and he launches himself into a tackle.
For what it’s worth, the figure manages to dodge before he hits them. It’s not often a hero can match his speed, let alone a small-time villain. He turns, shooting off his feather to restrain the figure. The villain’s wide, bug-like eyes lock with his.
They look scared.
Hawks flinches. His feathers slow a fraction without thought, reaching a speed the enemy could catch. He blinks and shakes the feeling off. He flings more feathers at the mantis heteromorph– never letting his feathers sharpen more than absolutely necessary– and opens his mouth to speak. His voice rings clear throughout the large room.
“Please stand down. I don’t want to harm you.” He dodges a swing from the villain’s left arm. “Surrender peacefully and everything will be okay.” The villain only huffs and swings again.
He dodges and distracts the villain, sending feathers to pull hostages to safety. It doesn’t take long for him to restrain his opponent. They writhe and snap at the feathers binding them.
“Let go of me!”
“No can do, man,” he flashes a grin. He hates the way they look at him in distress.
Hawks alerts the policemen outside. As he watches the villain be led into the police car, he catches their gaze towards his wings. Their face is twisted in envy. He knows why.
Hawks reaches for his phone the second before it rings. He answers, already knowing it’ll be his handler.
“Ma’am.”
“Hawks. There’s a car pile-up thirty-three kilometers away from you. I’ve sent you the location.” She hangs up before he can respond. He sighs.
Keigo rolls his shoulder and wing in unison, cracking his neck while curling his lip. The Commission knows exactly what today is to him.
Today is the birthday of his best friend.
Touya.
It’s clear the Commission believes that mourning for a dead kid shouldn’t be at the top of Hawks’ priority list anymore. Keigo can’t help but disagree.
Touya. Hawks banks left, following his internal map of Japan. It’s your birthday today. His eyes scan the land below him, his feathers ruffling in the wind. I wonder if he even remembers.
It takes him barely ten minutes in a rush. During the whole flight he can only hope no-one was gravely injured. The commission knows perfectly well that it’d be far more efficient to call on a hero closer to the pile-up. Keigo knows they don’t care about that.
Hawks shifts into a dive immediately upon seeing the pile-up; swooping in quickly and launching feathers to pull apart cars and rescue trapped passengers. He grins and waves at fans gathering on sidewalks, the distractions never once breaking his focus on his feathers. Hawks is a well-trained hero, after all.
Once he’s rescued the last person, he’s swarmed by reporters. It’s just the same as an hour ago; cameras, microphones, questions. Hawks smiles his way through the brief interview, then tosses some excuse to leave with a wink.
His phone rings the second he’s in the air.
An entire day running around as the Commission’s errand boy. Keigo knew they wanted to run him ragged but he didn’t think they’d go this far. His wings felt like they were about to fall off. They probably will once he falls into his bed.
He brings a sluggish arm up to unlock his apartment door, head already swimming with thoughts of how cozy his dozens of pillows must be right now. He lets out a long-suffering groan and practically collapses through his door, barely managing to shut and lock it behind him.
“Long day?” A familiar voice calls from the kitchen.
“Natsu,” he says blankly. “Fuck.”
All he gets in response is loud laughter. It brings a small smile to his face. He stumbles his way to the kitchen. Natsuo glances up at him from the chicken he’s chopping, sympathy in his eyes. “That bad?”
“Probably the busiest day I’ve had in months,” he grimaces. “You’d think my body would be used to this level of stress by now,” Keigo sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair.
Natsuo shrugs. “Maybe it’s used to taking today off.”
The reminder of the date sobers the playful mood instantly. They’re both silent for a few minutes as Natsuo cooks.
“Na-”
“I can’t believe they didn’t let you take today off. Today. Of all days,” his words are sharp and his shoulders are tense. “You always take his birthday off. What made today any different?”
Keigo sighs, “I don’t know, Natsu. I think they’re sick of my grieving.”
No words are exchanged as Natsuo continues to cook. Keigo silently prepares the table. The apartment is quiet for the rest of the night; though it’s not an unpleasant quiet. Nothing is said during dinner. Nothing is said as they pick which movie to watch (always a childhood favorite, always one of Touya’s first choices).
Keigo and Natsuo sit side by side in silence and in mourning.
“I miss him,” is uttered softly as the movie comes to a close. Keigo looks at his friend out of the corner of his eye.
“I miss him, too.”