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Hawks didn't like the dark. His handler said he had to face his fears if he wanted to be a hero, but he wasn't afraid, not really. He just didn't like it. His eyes could see fine, but everything felt quieter, like the dark was a blanket draped over the world to muffle it. Hawks was loud. He lived for attention, thrived when all eyes were on him, but when it was dark, no one was looking at him. It was just him, alone, by himself.
He didn't like being alone, either.
He wasn't supposed to feel alone. The words written on his stomach meant there was someone out there for him. Maybe romantic, maybe platonic, but someone who would love him no matter what. Even when he messed up and his handlers made him train more, work harder, do better, and they were so disappointed in him, his soulmate would be there for him.
He had to be a hero for them, to keep them safe, to make sure they would want him too. People love heroes, right? And Hawks would be the kind of hero everyone loves.
He traced the words, up and down the dramatically scrawled strokes, and pretended the feeling was his soulmate writing. Is that the only reason you asked me to come here?
He wondered what kind of situation they'd meet in. He wondered what kind of person they were, why their handwriting would look like this when he met them. He'd love them, he knew he would.
He already did.
Fumikage was born with two things; his mother's mutation, and words spiraling down his arm. Dark Shadow would come later, but for now, he had two constants in his life. His parents, and his soulmate.
When he was too little to read the kanji, his parents would read them for him, over and over again. They were the first thing he learned to write, something his parents would gush about to any relative that would listen, to his older self's embarrassment.
When he laid awake at night, never truly alone with Dark Shadow by his side, he would trail his hand in circles around his arm, following the hastily scrawled characters, lines jammed together and connected by trailing ink. Hey, little chick! I've got a few questions about what happened at the USJ. He wondered what would happen at "the USJ", why they were asking him about it.
He wondered who his soulmate was, why they were in such a hurry, whether they'd like him when they realized he and Dark Shadow were a package deal.
Your soulmate was supposed to love you for who you were no matter what, but Fumikage outgrew childish notions of unconditional love from a stranger around the time his peers decided having a bird head and a sentient shadow was something to be made fun of. His soulmate might like him, but he didn't need them. He didn't need anyone else in the world.
He could revel in the dark by himself.
Hawks's soulmate words were a favorite topic of tabloids, gossip magazines, most of his fans, and the hero world as a whole. He'd attracted a lot of attention as the youngest hero to ever break the top ten, and within four years of his debut. The Commission had told him to keep them a secret; both to prevent fans from trying to claim they were his soulmate, and because the mystery would increase his popularity. Pretty much every hero had their soulmate words covered, but people seemed to care a lot more when the hero was as young and charming as he was.
He was happy to comply. He might thrive on attention, but his soulmate was personal, private. They were the one who gave him comfort on lonely nights, promised that he was never truly alone in the world. Someone out there would care about him, he just had to find them.
In the meantime, he'd just smile and wink like he was keeping the most tantalizing secret in the world.
Fumikage's class was going on a field trip. Rescue training. He didn't really know any of them yet, which made it easy for him to sit in the back of the bus and observe instead of participate, keep his distance.
When Thirteen introduced the place they were training in as the USJ, his eyes flicked toward his covered arm, thoughts sent swirling in a dark storm. What happened at the USJ?
Should he say something? He didn't know that the words were related to this USJ. It could mean Universal Studios Japan, like Kaminari had commented on. It could be another USJ entirely. He didn't have a reason to speak up yet, not really. He didn't even know that whatever might happen would be bad.
He ignored the void in the pit of his stomach, the urge to pull his teacher aside and inform him that something might go wrong. His soulmate words were one of the many things he didn't want to be seen, to be known. Telling his teacher when he wasn't even sure if this was the relevant USJ would be pointless. Besides, even if it was, this was UA. Nothing truly bad could happen.
When a sinister cloud appeared below and villains began to pour out, he regretted not speaking up sooner.
Hawks knew about what happened to class 1-A. Everyone in Japan and a lot of people outside it knew what happened to class 1-A. It's not every day that a group of villains attacks a class of the most secure hero school in the country. It shook a lot of public trust in the school, in the heroes in charge. There were even rumors floating around about the rising of a new group of villains. A League.
Hawks knew better than to ignore rumors. He needed to talk to one of those kids.
The Commission had allowed him the day off to watch the sports festival. They were letting him pick his own intern, so long as he "chose wisely and maintained his image". Don't pick anyone weak, don't pick anyone with too scary a mutation. Easy enough. He ignored the way his vocal cords wanted to chirp in distress; giving in to his animalistic urges never made anything better.
(He ignored the way he wanted to pick the kid with the biggest mutation just to spite them, to show that kid that there were heroes on their side.)
He watched the sports festival and knew the Comission would want him to extend an internship offer to the Bakugo kid or the Todoroki kid, even the Iida kid. But Todoroki and Iida had hero families they could intern with, and he honestly just didn't want to deal with a week of explosions and yelling. Besides, the fourth winner had a bird's head; it was practically fate. He'd needed a kid from class 1-A, so bonus points for that.
He'd used the bird connection and the kid's performance in the sports festival to convince the Commission of his choice, and they'd agreed. Now he had a student from the USJ Incident and with a mutation Quirk. He knew how to play his cards.
A few days later, his intern arrived. "Hey, little chick!" He turned around on his couch to greet the kid with a signature carefree grin. "I've got a few questions about what happened at the USJ." He got straight to the point. He didn't see the purpose in wasting either of their time on pleasantries.
His intern's feathers twitched in irritation, a move Hawks only caught because his own used to do the same. When he spoke, though, it was with the same grave seriousness he'd had on the broadcast.
"Is that the only reason you asked me to come here?"
Hawks froze.
"Hey, little chick!" The number three hero turned around on the couch, flashing Fumikage a smile. "I've got a few questions about what happened at the USJ." More? Fumikage felt his feathers twitch. He'd been hounded by reporters at home and on the way to school already about the most traumatic event of his life, and now the hero who'd offered him an internship was asking about it too? Would he never be free of his mistake for a single moment?
He'd already molted in guilt twice over the training period for the sports festival. He hadn't been able to bring himself to apologize to Aizawa-sensei and Midoriya yet, even though he knew he needed to. And to his entire class. What happened was his fault. He'd known in advance and hadn't said a word. His inaction allowed the events to occur. He could've done something. He could've done something.
And now Hawks, a hero he'd been hoping to learn from, was asking him too?
He'd never been very emotional, at least on the outside. He relied on that now, to push aside his frustration and answer with minimal reaction.
He was so aggrieved by the question that he didn't even recognize the words that had spiraled down his arm from the moment he was born.
"Is that the only reason you asked me to come here?" His tone was as neutral and serious as ever. Hawks's eyes widened.
"C-Come again?" Hawks finally forced out, his feathers fluffing in a nervous habit he hadn't had since he was seven. He stilled them immediately, but the damage was done. Tokoyami was looking at him more cautiously, more suspiciously.
"I said," he repeated himself hesitantly. "Is that the only reason you asked me to come here? Sir?" He tacked on at the end, as if the problem here was a lack of respect and not that Hawks's soulmate, the person he'd been waiting his entire life to meet, was standing right in front of him, and Hawks had never been more aware of his every flaw and imperfection and the way he was outright staring at this kid who was also his soulmate—
"Is there a problem?" He asked, and Hawks blinked, tried to reboot his brain. The kid— Tokoyami hadn't reacted to his first words, so maybe it was just a coincidence. "No, not at all." He forced his most familiar mask back into place so he could reel in safety behind it. He needed to figure out if Tokoyami was his soulmate before he did anything else. "Please, have a seat." He gestured at the couch across from him. "You want something to drink?"
"No, I'm fine." Tokoyami said, sitting down. The proximity of another bird-Quirked person made his instincts whisper flock, as they always did, but he swore they were a little stronger this time. Like his bird brain knew something he didn't. "You wanted to ask me about the USJ?" Tokoyami prompted after a moment, and Hawks realized he was probably acting really weird. In front of his soulmate.
You don't know that for sure, his brain reminded him.
Flock, his instincts argued.
He wondered if Tokoyami felt it too.
Before he could respond, Tokoyami's Quirk, which had started hovering behind him, gasped. It lunged at his covered arm, tugging away the wrapping. Tokoyami immediately started fighting his Quirk, fussing at it and trying to get it to behave, before Hawks caught a glimpse of writing on his skin and Tokoyami froze. He looked over, his beak dropped open, and Hawks knew.
Flock.
Fumikage eyed the hero sitting across from him, unsure what to make of him. Hawks wasn't acting like he was used to seeing in interviews, talk shows, news footage of fights. He was… nervous, if Fumikage had read his feather fluffing correctly.
What did the number three hero have to be nervous about?
Hawks continued staring at him, easygoing smile in place that Fumikage only knew was fake because he'd seen the conflict within the hero in the moments before it was spread on his face like butter. It looked as genuine as any other. He had to give the man credit for his performance abilities, even if he still didn't know why he was acting strange.
Dark Shadow, drawn by his negative emotions, had appeared to hover quietly behind his shoulder. At least they hadn't started pestering Hawks with questions.
"You wanted to ask me about the USJ?" He reluctantly asked after the moment stretched on and Hawks showed no signs of speaking. Before the hero could respond, Dark Shadow gasped and dived at his arm. They started pulling at the wrapping around his soul words.
"Dark Shadow! Stop this!" He demanded, tugging at them, but it was hard to get a grip on the shadowy void of their physical form. "Fumi, it's him!" They insisted, and he didn't know what they were talking about but he demanded that they cease this at once, Hawks was sitting right there, he looked like he had no control over his own Quirk in front of the number three hero, what were they doing—
They pulled more, and he saw some of the characters on his skin. —what happened at the USJ.
I've got a few questions about what happened at the USJ.
The words rang in his head, for once not in his own voice or his parents'.
In the voice of the man who had just said them to him. His soulmate.
He looked over. Hawks was still smiling at him. His soulmate.
"Hey, little chick."
Hawks didn't usually play favorites with his sidekicks, but he definitely was now. In his defense, he had a good excuse; his intern was his freaking soulmate. He had a soulbond with the coolest kid in UA. Flock, his feathers rustled, and for once he didn't argue. Tokoyami was flock.
That didn't mean he was exempt from a little bullying, though, once the grandness of it all had started to wear off and they'd spent some time getting to know each other.
"C'mon, you can be faster than that!" He called down with a shit-eating grin as Tokoyami raced after him on foot.
"I'm… going to catch up… with you!" The kid swore between gasping breaths, and Hawks decided to give him a little break. They got fried chicken and sat on one of his favorite rooftops, watching the sun go down.
He was sitting next to his soulmate. Had been for a few days now. No big deal.
He was pretty sure Tokoyami still had mixed feelings about him. He couldn't deny that hurt a little, after his soulmate had been the only person in his life besides his handlers for so long, but he understood. Tokoyami was a loner, and right now he didn't need a soulmate. He needed a mentor, someone to teach him how to leave the nest without falling, to spread his wings and fly.
Hawks could be whatever he needed to be. And he could do it while poking at the kid with his feathers to try and get a smile on that grumpy face, maybe even a laugh.
He could do anything for his soulmate.
Fumikage wouldn't lie and say he wasn't a little conflicted. His soulmate was the number three hero, after all. News like that would rock anyone's world.
He'd spent so long convincing himself that he was fine with it being just him (and Dark Shadow) against the world, preparing himself for the possibility of rejection, that he hadn't considered what he would do if it didn't come. His soulmate had welcomed him with open arms and a desperate smile hidden beneath a shiny one, and Fumikage had no idea what to do with that. He'd never really imagined this outcome.
He definitely hadn't imagined someone like Hawks.
Someone who would laugh as easy as he breathed, fly around like he didn't have a care in the world, poke him with feathers to try and make him 'lighten up'.
Someone who also stopped villain attacks without looking, hid smiles under smiles, bullied him into running faster while making sure he could still keep up.
Fumikage had been quiet all his life. He learned to be observant as soon as he realized people forgot he was there, so when he saw Hawks, he saw beneath the shiny veneer he painted on for the cameras. Maybe he was helped by the soulbond, maybe not, but he saw. And he wanted.
He ran faster, swatted at feathers, scooped up everything Hawks threw his way because he wanted to be a hero. Intelligent, capable, strong as the darkness hidden within. He wanted to be a hero like his soulmate was. He wanted to fly.
As they faced work studies, villains, and bad takeout together, Hawks could feel their bond starting to grow. It was the way his feathers could pick him out of a crowd of a thousand, the way Tokoyami let him sling an arm over his shoulder without grumbling or puffing up. The way they texted, where Hawks shared memes and cool views while flying and funny stories about patrol and Tokoyami responded with ominous phrases and homework questions and 3AM links to Instagram reels.
The way he'd figured out the villain stealing Quirks was going to Nabu Island and his heart dropped into his stomach and all he could think was Tokoyami's there, he's going to face this monster, my soulmate's in danger—
The way he flew across miles of ocean and dug the kid out of rubble with his bare hands, pulling him into a hug when he emerged mostly unharmed, and the way Tokoyami allowed it, leaning further into him in a move that was basically hugging back.
The way he'd managed to convince him that what happened at the USJ was not his fault, to talk to his teacher, and he'd been waiting with ice cream the next day when Tokoyami told him they'd all forgiven him.
The way he'd been begrudgingly invited to dinner at the Tokoyami household (Tokoyami was quote "told to invite his soulmate over because it's high time they met the nice young man looking after their son"), and he'd been so nervous he'd preened three times and Rumi had to force him out the door, and it actually was one of the best nights of his life because Mrs. Tokoyami was warm and welcoming and wow was this what having a real mom not high out of her mind was like? And the way she'd wrapped him up in a hug and shoved leftovers into his arms and made him agree to a standing weekly invitation and he was now a fixture at the Tokoyami house on Monday nights.
The way Tokoyami had come to him the moment he and Dark Shadow had figured out how to fly together, and Hawks beamed so wide his cheeks hurt and ruffled the kid's feathers and immediately challenged him to a race, and he kept his feathers at the ready but never needed them because Tokoyami could fly and he was so full of pride he was surprised he hadn't exploded, because he'd known his little chick could do it.
The way he'd introduced Tokoyami to Rumi and Best Jeanist and Endeavor and pretty much every other Pro he knew because networking was an important part of heroics and he definitely wasn't using it as an excuse to brag about how he had the best student ever, no way. Tokoyami was lucky to have such a connected mentor who was happy to use his power to further his flockmate's career.
The way he'd thought he was going to die in a blaze of blue flames and unbearable heat when Tokoyami swooped in like an avenging angel, holding Hawks when his body gave out and he wanted to scream at his young soulmate to run, following his directions and saving both their lives like a true hero, and carried him to safety when Hawks couldn't fight the pull of unconsciousness any longer and was dragged under no matter how much he didn't want to leave the kid on his own.
The way Tokoyami had texted him every single day while society was collapsing around them and Hawks was doing his best to support the only person who could do anything about it, and every message reminded him that his soulmate was safe at UA and the one thing he didn't need to worry about, and his every response told Tokoyami that he was still alive and kicking out in the warzone that used to be their country.
The way Tokoyami had turned and hugged him, a real hug, before they separated for the final battle against All For One and the League. The way he'd warned Hawks not to die, or Tokoyami would summon him back just to pluck the feathers he had left. And the way Hawks had hugged him tight and said the same, because war was not a place for promises but he knew he'd crawl his way through hell to come back to this kid.
And it was the way how after the war, when Hawks was the president of the Commission that tried to break him and remake him but only trained him to cover up his cracks, and Tokoyami was a star of the next generation rising through the ranks with the rest of his class, they still went for fried chicken and sat on rooftops and talked about everything. Now Tokoyami was the one in the sky while Hawks was on the ground, but he didn't mind.
He was happy his little chick had left the nest and found he'd always known how to fly.