Chapter Text
“I want to make a world where heroes have time to kill,” he’d once said.
Sure, he didn't have much time to kill, even now.
But, now, his life wasn't a constant act. It'd almost been a relief, after the media stopped hounding the heroes, to have his past out in the open.
He could tell people his problems.
But… his gaze drifted out over the window. Who could he talk to about this…
He sighed and returned to his paperwork.
Hawks had once helped people by being a hero. Red wings, and a winning smile. Ending fights with criminals before they could really begin.
Then, he’d lost his quirk. He still reminded people–and himself–of a bird, between his golden eyes and funny eye markings. A lot of people thought it was eyeliner. It wasn’t. A small black triangle at the corner of his eye, and a wing of sorts where fashionable sorts did wear eyeliner.
Now he was the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission. He carried a katana, and still got involved in fights, but he wore a suit instead of his hero costume. He still went by Hawks, his hero name, most of the time, but now, more than ever, he thought of himself as Keigo.
He finished the sheet he was working on, and filed it.
Underneath was a complaint. He sighed. Against who?
Dynamight. Ah. Of course. He was a popular hero, but he also had a hot temper.
Hawks glanced out the window. He hadn’t received many complaints when he’d been a hero. He’d been approachable, easygoing, and friendly, but he hid his secrets behind a smile, was constantly gathering information, and had few friends.
But nobody knew this. Of course, as with any hero that hid his real name, there was a bit of a buzz, but nobody seriously cared.
Keigo Takami.
The son of a petty criminal.
He’d been unconscious, very unconscious, when Dabi had denounced some of Japan's most admired heroes publicly. But, like many other people, he’d gone back and watched the video later.
“I’ve killed over thirty innocent people. And I’d like you to know exactly what drove me to such despicable acts.”
It’d been Endeavor, Dabi said.
A hero Hawks had deeply admired. Sure, Dabi didn’t have to kill those people, and he’d been manipulated, at the beginning, by All for One, but in the end, he’d been acting of his own volition. But still.
Endeavor… had arrested Keigo’s dad, while not being much better himself.
If Hawks… If Keigo had known this earlier, he might have ended up like Lady Nagant. In Tarturus.
Or, like the League of Villains and the Paranormal Liberation Front. Some were in jail, now. Some, the very luckiest, had gotten a second shot at being a hero, or a teacher, or a civilian.
The most famous had died.
Keigo looked up at a bookshelf against one wall. Most of the books on it, he was a little ashamed to admit, he’d never read. Some he’d leafed through. But he’d read a few multiple times.
Iguichi Suichi, The League of Villains.
If he’d known the truth of what Endeavor was hiding, would Keigo have ended up a villain? Would he have joined them? He’d thought about it for a moment, standing in that dark alleyway, watching Dabi walk away. What if I played both sides? What if I double crossed the commission?
He was an optimist, but he wasn’t naive. Hawks wanted to do the right thing, but often it felt like he was on a knife’s edge, balanced between two equally bad choices, with no good option. So fine. He’d save everyone, and take the fallout when the League got suspicious. "Hey, no use making the commission suspicious of me," he’d said.
Dabi had been unconvinced.
“What gave me away?” he’d asked, desperately trying to buy time.
“Gave you away?” Dabi said, a slight smile on his patchwork face. “Nothing. I never believed a thing from the start.”
Then things had just gotten worse.
In the end?
“Is that the face of a man who just watched a friend die!?” he’d shouted. There was no more time, just fire and pain.
Dabi was grinning. He’d never seen Dabi get emotional before. And he certainly hadn’t been expecting sarcasm.
“Hey now! That’s rude! I haven’t cried since my tear ducts burned shut!”
Hawks still wondered. Had Dabi actually cared? Could Dabi have saved Twice, if he really wanted to? Did he want to? Could I have saved him?
In the end, several months later, Dabi was defeated by Shoto.
Dabi’s trial had been delayed indefinitely, due to his condition.
He died a year later.
Hawks had been one of the first people to hear. He elected to inform the Todoroki family. It’d been hard.
He admired Endeavor as a hero, and would, he supposed, consider him a friend. He admired Shoto for forgiving his parents.
Natsuo hadn’t. It wasn’t Hawks business. After all, Hawks had never faced his parents.
Either way, Endeavor was the absolute last person he’d want to ask about relationships. He and Rei were still together, but Hawks didn’t know if they were in love. From what he garnered, they’d forgiven each other, and were friends, in a way.
Well, he’d have to talk to Endeavour eventually- seeing as Fuyumi was his daughter.
He didn’t know. He liked her, for sure, but…
“Hey, Mera-san?”
Mera sighed and poked his head in. “What is it?”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Not really,” Mera said. “Why?”
Hawks hesitated. He glanced at the sticky note he’d written himself.
“No reason.”
Coffee with Fuyumi, the note read. 5:30.
+++
Keigo got off work at four thirty. Early, and maybe, just maybe, he should have started the paperwork that was due the day after tomorrow, but he’d have to go back in, anyway. But either way, he didn’t want to be late. After all, he supposed, it was a date, and there wasn’t any harm in getting there early.
He never made it to the coffeeshop.
+++
‘HERO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION PRESIDENT KILLED IN VILLAIN ATTACK,’ the headline read.
The villain had gotten angry, or something, and gone on a rampage, leveling a couple of abandoned buildings. He hadn’t intended to kill anyone, and while there were a few non life threatening injuries, nobody else had died.
Hawks had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They’d found him crushed under debris from a pillar, in a warehouse.
Nobody was quite sure what he’d been doing there, but it was no secret Hawks still sometimes went after criminals, quirkless as he was.
Fuyumi wasn’t sure. He’d promised to meet her for coffee that afternoon. He never missed an appointment, without an explanation. Perhaps he hadn’t been planning to miss… it was a date, wasn’t it? Why would he go to the opposite side of town, after villains, (which always meant more paperwork for him) when he was supposed to meet her half an hour later?
Shoto and her parents and Tsukuyomi agreed. It wasn’t like him. But in the end, there might have been something funny going on, but there quite simply wasn’t much to investigate, and the case was closed within the week.