Chapter Text
It wasn’t that Hawks didn’t appreciate modern medical science. He did, he really, really did. When it came down to it, the hormones did their job and every time he looked in the mirror he looked more and more like the person he wanted to look like. But god, the side effects were such a pain. Most of it Hawks could handle, easy peasy. Being part bird helps out, he didn’t sweat much in the first place. Mood swings could be a bit of a pain, but he knew how to handle them. The extra muscle mass and body fat getting moved around was downright useful. There was only one side effect that really got to him. The hunger.
Hawks couldn’t stand the hunger.
As it stood, Hawks didn’t usually eat a lot. He didn’t have time to. When he got the chance he’d shovel something into his mouth, enough to keep him moving, and that was it. Maybe if he got home with a bit of time to spare and there was food in his apartment, he’d throw something together before he passed out. At some point he’d gotten used to it. Hunger was just a part of his life. Hawks accepted that. But the hormones made it near unbearable. His stomach ached and groaned, as if it was trying to digest itself, even though he’d already eaten today!
He didn’t have time to stop and eat again. He had a night patrol tonight, he was supposed to write up reports for the past week of missions, two of his sidekicks had asked him to look over a collection of evidence, there was a rash of car thefts near 6th street that he needed to investigate, not to mention-
"Hawks? Are you alright?"
Oh, right, and he was currently stuck on a patrol with Best Jeanist of all heroes. Just like he’d been for the past week and a half. Ugh.
Hawks could’ve put up with almost anyone else. Even someone who was slow or who had dumb ideas. He knew how to deal with that. Best Jeanist was just about the only hero he couldn’t stand. The guy had it out for him. Sure, plenty of heroes were jealous or judgmental towards Hawks. Whatever, Hawks was 18 years old and he had his own hero agency. He wasn’t climbing the ranks, he was soaring through them, and people would always get bitchy about that. Problem was, unlike other heroes, Jeanist didn’t just bitch about it. The guy had a chip on his shoulder and seemed determined to prove Hawks couldn’t handle himself.
In the seven months since his debut, Jeanist had done everything he could to get under Hawks’ skin. Everything from offering ‘advice’, to saying he could take some of Hawks’ workload if it was ‘too much’, to straight up bitching at the Hero Commission about the number of missions he was being assigned!
Just two months ago, the man filed a formal complaint with the Commission about ‘overworking new heroes’ and he’d stirred up enough of a fuss that the Commission actually lowered Hawks’ formal work hours from 90 to 60. Thankfully, it didn’t mess with the amount of work he did. Hawks was still on-call 24/7, so the hours were just listed different, but the audacity of this guy!
The worst part of it all was that Hawks couldn’t tell him to fuck off. Somehow, despite the fact Jeanist was well known as a trouble-maker to the Hero Commission, the public loved him. He’d always been careful in how he caused problems, so the Commission couldn’t do much about him. Plus, he was unfortunately good at his job. That meant he did well in the rankings, so Hawks had to play nice.
Usually, he just avoided the guy. They worked in different areas, so it shouldn’t have been hard. Then a drug ring had popped up with dealers in both their patrol areas, and somehow Hawks was stuck working with Jeanist for two weeks while they busted the operation. It had been unbearable .
Every goddamn day the guy was watching him for weakness. Asking how much sleep he’d gotten, asking about his workload, giving out stupid compliments he didn’t mean, and checking if he’d eaten breakfast. As if that mattered in the slightest. Worse, their patrol went over lunch and Jeanist insisted on Hawks getting food every single day. Like they both didn’t have more important things to be doing. Hawks’ only comfort was that he only had a few more days of this left, and then he could-
"Hawks!" The sharp tone from his patrol partner jerked him back to the present.
Jeanist was looking at him with those damn judgemental eyes again. Shit.
Throwing on a bright grin, Hawks scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Sorry, got kinda lost in thought there."
He could tell Jeanist didn’t buy it. Green eyes narrowed as he looked over Hawks again. "Are you sure you’re fit to be on patrol? You’ve been… oddly absent minded today. Did you sleep well last night?"
Deep breaths. Don’t let him get to you. Keep smiling. So what if he hadn’t slept last night? Or much the night before. That wasn’t any of Jeanist’s business. These were just the wrap up patrols anyways. Make sure they’d gotten all of the ring. Reassure the affected population. Easy stuff.
"I’m fine, just thinking over the case. It was a weird one, huh?" The blonde gave a minute wince as another sharp hunger pang hit him. What the hell? He’d eaten some toast this morning, and it was barely noon.
"Hawks..." Jeanist’s voice was disgustingly soft. Hawks paid him no mind, plowing on.
“I definitely didn’t expect that guy with the frozen acid. Man, quirks just keep getting weirder and weirder, huh?”
The older man watched him for several long seconds before relenting with a sigh.
“Personally, I was far more taken aback by the one with the contact invisibility quirk. I nearly had a heart attack when they tripped and made the entire floor vanish.”
Hawks snorted, “See, that’s why I fly. Though I’m kinda disappointed I missed seeing everyone else freak out.”
He couldn’t see Jeanist’s face, but he was pretty sure the other hero was smiling. The guy was surprisingly good at emoting even with his face covered. Regardless, all Hawks cared about was not thinking about the pain in his stomach. Five more hours of this, and then he could grab something on his flight back.
God, it didn’t help that he was stuck walking alongside Jeanist rather than flying. That was a part of the whole shtick though, showing the public that they were working together. Despite his growing popularity and rapidly accumulating successes, Hawks was still a fresh faced hero. That meant the Commission wanted him seen ‘learning’ from as many older heroes as possible. It was part of why they’d agreed to partner him with Jeanist in the first place, even though they hated the guy.
Or, as the written report had put it ‘Best Jeanist is a competent and well-loved hero in the public eye, but he had a nasty habit of privately demeaning, disobeying, and disregarding the Hero Commission’. A nice way of saying the guy thought he was better than everyone else. They’d warned Hawks about spending too much time around him. The patrols were fine as long as he knew not to fall for any of Jeanist’s faux niceties.
Speaking of which, Jeanist had taken the lead and he seemed to be headed off route. Where were they going? Shouldn’t they be stopping by Jeanist’s agency for a beak soon? Hawks had been planning to use their usual lunch break to do a second (faster) run of their patrol route and-
Huh, they appeared to be coming up on a farmer’s market.
Jeanist didn’t slow until they reached the first row of booths. The whole area was an open air venue with different stalls, food trucks, and local stores participating. It looked nice enough, but for the life of him, Hawks couldn’t figure out what they were doing here.
Was something going on? Were they looking for someone? Hawks didn’t recall any reports of the ring operating during day time hours, let alone in this market, but maybe he missed it?
Hawks watched Jeanist to see if he was watching anything in particular, but it didn't seem like it. When Jeanist glanced back, his posture was at ease and his eyes had a sparkle to them that Hawks couldn’t translate.
"Ah, I almost forgot that you don't live nearby. The West Market runs twice a month, and it's quite popular among the residents of this area. I always make sure to stop by when I can. The food is lovely, and it's a good opportunity to slow down and talk to people. It helps put the public at ease, particularly after such an event I thought it’d be important to make an appearance. I hope you won't mind joining me today?"
Ugh, the asshole. Hawks had no choice but to smile and chirp out an agreement. Guess he'd have to do his speed run afterwards. In the meantime, he threw on a bright smile and forced a bounce into his step as he trailed after Jeanist through the crowds.
As they moved through the market, plenty of people recognized Jeanist and stopped to greet him. Some of them recognized Hawks too, though usually only after they'd seen the older pro-hero first. It was all easy stuff; smile, wave, respond to compliments and simple questions. He was able to run on autopilot for most of it. The Commission had drilled public relations training into his head for years, and honestly, Hawks enjoyed interacting with people. He loved making people happy, and he adored the positive attention. He had to fight back the urge to fluff his feathers when someone told him he'd been amazing, or thanked him for his service. At some point he was sure the novelty of it all would wear off, but today was not that day. All the fuzzy feelings helped distract him from the ache in his stomach, and surprisingly, he found he wasn't jealous of all the attention Jeanist was getting.
For all that Hawks didn't like Jeanist, he had to admit the guy was good with people. Jeanist was a charmer as he worked his way through the market. He asked after families, remembered the name of every stall owner, and exuded warmth even with most of his face hidden. Guy wasn't a glory hog either, he always made sure to introduce Hawks, mentioning his part in the raid and adding in names of sidekicks and police officers even Hawks didn’t know. If Hawks hadn't known better, he might've even liked the guy.
Watching Jeanist work, it wasn't hard to see how he maintained his high position in the popularity polls. Maybe this wouldn't be a total waste of time after all, if nothing else, Hawks was pretty sure that his own ranking would be getting a decent boost from all this public interaction, and the Commission would be happy about all the photos that would be making their way onto social media soon enough. He probably wouldn't even get yelled at for wasting time. Probably.
The two of them wandered through the stalls, doing all the usual meet and greet stuff before Jeanist paused to get himself something to eat. At the start of their team up Hawks had expected him to only eat in private or something like that. But as he quickly discovered, Jeanist simply shifted the fibers of his collar around food as he brought it up to his mouth so he could eat without revealing his face.
Actually, that brought Hawks to another reason he knew the guy couldn't be trusted, his damn insistence on hiding his face. It was the sort of thing that conspiracy theory blogs loved, magazines ran stories on every so often, and that screamed of the guy being untrustworthy. Jeanist had been keeping his face hidden since his UA days, and nobody, not even the damn Hero Commission knew why. Nobody knew what was under there, despite any number of attempts to find out. The fiber hero was too vigilant about keeping his mask up, something heavily aided by his quirk.
Hawks had asked him about it directly on their third day working together, trying to keep his tone light and casual, despite the curiosity eating at him.
"I gotta ask, what's up with the whole collar thing? You hiding something cool under there? Or like, an extra mouth or something?"
Green eyes shone with amusement as Jeanist tilted his head to the side and considered his question.
"Who said I'm hiding anything at all?"
All Hawks subsequent attempts were met with some version of that answer. Jeanist was very insistent on implying he wasn't hiding anything, without outright stating it. Which was just ridiculous. Who on earth would expend so much energy to keep their face covered unless they were hiding something important?
Whatever. Guy could keep his stupid face hidden for all Hawks cared.
It wasn't like it'd change anything if Hawks knew whatever dirty secret he was keeping under there. And it wasn't like Hawks didn't have a few secrets of his own. The very thought made his hands and feet twitch. Even now Hawks could feel his sharp talons kept carefully concealed under specially made gloves. The scales on his feet itched in the thick boots he had to wear to correct his stride. The Commission had been very clear that his less desirable bird traits were to be kept firmly under wraps. The wings were great, they brought angelic comparisons to mind and looked stunning. Everything else was an unfortunate side effect to be kept away from the public eye. For now, he just had to keep them hidden. Eventually, when he was completely finished growing they would fix those imperfections permanently.
Hawks gave himself a light shake to stop that train of thought. He didn't want to think about that right now. He didn't really want to think about it ever, but right now in particular there were more important things he needed to pay attention to. Like the booth that they'd just slowed to a stop in front of. Hawks refocused on the present just in time to hear Jeanist greet the older woman running the stall.
"-Manami, it's been far too long! How is Kasumi doing?" Whoever the woman was, Jeanist clearly knew her because she gave him a grin and pulled the fiber hero in for a hug without any hesitation.
"Tsunagu, it’s good to see you again! Kasumi’s doing well, she’s just at home watching the grandkids today.” Her voice was nice, kind but with a strong edge to it she released Jeanist from her hug.
“I heard all about your most recent mission. My goodness, to think there was a drug ring running around in such a lovely community. The world's turning to some awfully dark places these days, but I'm glad we've got heroes like you to put a stop to it.” And then her focus was turned to Hawks and he instinctively wanted to shrink under her scrutiny.
“Speaking of which, who’s this with you? He doesn't look like any of your sidekicks that I’ve met before."
With a grin in his eyes, Jeanist gestured for Hawks to come closer, and he did, abit a little bit shyly. The woman, Manami, wasn't having any of that though, she strutted right up to him to look him over. As if searching him for something.
"Manami, this is Hawks, he's a new pro-hero who I worked alongside for this case. He only debuted about six months ago, but he's already running his own agency and making a name for himself. Hawks, this is Manami, she and her wife have been attending this market since it was established and has known me since before I could walk."
Nodding politely in greeting, Hawks didn’t expect to get poked in the side and glared at by the older woman before her glare turned to Tsunagu who looked almost sheepish.
"Goodness Tsunagu, he's hardly more than skin and bones. And a hero agency at 18? He'll run himself ragged. God, I thought you were bad when you were his age. What are you doing letting him go around like that?"
Quickly, Hawks jumped into the conversation to defend himself.
"It's nice of you to be concerned ma'am, but I'm fine, I promise!" Red wings stretched out behind him, just long enough to make his point. "My quirk burns up a lot of energy, and it's pretty important that I stay light on my feet. Otherwise, flying gets kinda hard. And I'm more than capable of handling myself. I've been trained for it most of my life!"
She didn't seem convinced, her gaze still suspicious, but let the matter go. Sort of.
"Have you eaten lunch yet? Actually, nevermind, I don't care if you have. Both of you are still too darn thin. What do you like? I already know Tsunagu's favorites." Shuffling back into her stall, she set about collecting a variety of fruits and vegetables into a paper bag.
Hawks' mind flashed to his training. He wasn't supposed to accept gifts from anyone. He knew that, the Commission had made it extremely clear that heroes didn’t accept gifts for their work. But he wasn't exactly sure how to say no, particularly when Jeanist looked resigned.
The fiber hero must've seen the conflict on his face because his gaze softened and he leaned over to whisper to Hawks conspiratorially.
"There's really no use in fighting. I've been trying for years to tell her I'm fine or at least to let me pay her for the food, but she won't hear of it. She does this to everyone."
Well, if she was going to insist, he didn't want to be rude by refusing. That might offend her, which would be Bad. And if it was something she did for everyone, then it was okay since it wasn't because he was a hero, right? Jeanist was doing it too, so it was probably fine?
"Well dear, what do you like? I know you two are busy, but I won't be letting you run off without something decent to keep you going."
Ah, Hawks had gotten lost in thought again. He stumbled, freezing up for just a moment as he tried to remember what foods he liked. Usually he just ate whatever was easiest. He said the first thing that came to mind.
"Uh, peppers I guess? Honestly though, I'm fine-"
She didn't listen to anything beyond that. Her gaze narrowed appraisingly, and then she turned back to her booth to collect a variety of peppers into a paper bag. Hawks had been expecting her to give him a few peppers at most, but she heaped them into the bag along with some greens and something that looked like a granola. That was way too much, and he tried to refuse when she shoved the bag into his hands, pressing a matching one into Tsunagu's. His protests were waved off though as she turned back to her work.
"Nonsense dear, you're young and you need to keep your energy up. Besides, I always have too many peppers left at the end of the day. They're not very popular this time of year. Anything you're taking is less that I have to haul back home."
Jeanist replied to her this time, cutting off Hawks’ protests to dip his head politely with a fond look in his eyes.
"Thank you Manami, we appreciate it."
"Good, now off with both of you. I know you have plenty of work to get to, and villains stop for no one." She paused, turning back to glance over the two of them one last time.
"You keep your eye on him Tsunagu, you hear me? He's the sort to dig his own grave while insisting he's planting a garden. Too many kids these days get themselves into trouble that way."
Hawks again tried to protest, but Jeanist only gave her a soft nod and an amused look.
"I will Manami, tell Kasumi I hope I’ll see her around soon."
The stall keeper nodded firmly in reply, then shooed the two of them off. There was a new tension to Hawks' shoulders. He didn't like the implication that he couldn't look after himself. The Commission had picked him for a reason! He could handle anything they threw his way. He almost wanted to not eat the food in protest... but he was already carrying it. And the ever present ache in his stomach damn near staged a revolt at the thought of ignoring food when it was already in his hands.
He unrolled the top of the paper back to snag a nice looking pepper, a carolina reaper if he remembered correctly, and popped it into his mouth. He wasn't sulking as he chewed through the sweet fruit. He wasn't. Hawks kept up his mental insistence as he popped another pepper into his mouth. God, he'd forgotten how good these tasted. It'd been ages since he’d eaten anything fresh. His stomach was certainly happy with him. Though he'd have to be careful not to overeat with all this food in his hands. That was a hard lesson he'd learned during his teenage years when he stopped having enough time for full meals.
When he looked up after grabbing a third pepper, he was surprised to find Jeanist watching him, with some mix of concern and horror in his eyes. What? Did he have something on his face? Whatever it was, Jeanist didn’t say anything and Hawks didn’t particularly feel like asking. Instead, he turned his focus back towards the route ahead. A minute or so passed by in an awkward sort of silence before Jeanist finally spoke.
“Don’t take what Manami said as discouragement. She means well, she really does, but she and her wife lost one of their children to heroics. He was barely 20, far too young to be taking on as much as he was.”
There was an awful clench in Hawks’ gut, and for once it had nothing to do with hunger. He wasn’t sure he wanted to listen to this story, but he didn’t have much of a choice.
“He overworked himself, pushed himself further and further, and well, that sort of thing catches up with you eventually. For him, it was sooner rather than later. He went into a fight when he was sick and shouldn’t have been out of bed. Didn’t even call for backup.”
Very suddenly, Hawks found himself entranced by the paper bag in his hands. It wasn’t that he was avoiding looking at Jeanist, it was just that he really, really needed to study this bag. Maybe it had all life's answers hidden in it. Only one way to be sure.
“His death was completely preventable, if he’d only slowed down and not pushed himself so hard. And while any death hurts, the unnecessary ones hurt more. They leave a scar on those left behind. As such, Manami always worries about younger heroes, it’s her way of coping.”
Jeanist kept his voice soft so that only Hawks could hear him as they made their way out of the crowd and down the street. Even though he didn’t want to, Hawks found himself looking back up at Jeanist as he tried to find his own words. Those green eyes had a meaningful glint to them as they glanced back at Hawks, but Hawks didn’t want to think too hard about it.
“Oh.” Fuck, Hawks winced as he realized that was kind of dumb reply, but what else was he supposed to say?
Quiet stretched between them for a few long moments. Hawks meant to leave it there, but a question slipped from his lips unbidden.
“Were you close to him?”
The change in Jeanist’s mood was subtle. Shoulders tensed slightly, his gaze fell, and his pace slowed the tiniest bit. All together it spoke volumes even before Jeanist let out a soft sigh and replied.
“We grew up together. He was a year older than me and I saw him as a brother. Both of us attended UA, and we worked at the same agency afterwards. I looked up to him, so much so that I failed to push the issue when I saw he was overworking himself. He was invincible in my eyes. Nobody is truly invincible though. There’s always a breaking point.”
Pausing both in his words and his stride, Jeanist turned to look at Hawks directly, searching for something in him. Whether or not he found it, Hawks couldn’t tell. The moment lasted an eternity before Jeanist spoke again, a seriousness in his voice that Hawks had heard several times previously but never fully understood.
“The media loves to praise those that take on just one more burden again and again, pushing past their limits no matter how much it pains them. The world practically expects it of heroes. But they always want more. They’ll push for more and more until that person breaks, then they write it off as a spontaneous, unexplainable tragedy, and move onto the next one.”
Hawks’ very soul was on display and Hawks couldn’t breath.
“You are young, and you’re new, and you have a wonderful heart in you. There’s a bright future ahead of you, and I have no doubt you’ll do amazing things. But be careful, be careful of the lie of ‘just a bit more’, be careful that they do not make you the next one. The future ahead of you is bright, but don’t get so caught up in your rush to meet it that you forget to care for yourself now.”
Another pause, and Jeanist sighed again, heavier and more weary this time.
“My apologies, I’m rambling. Just… be careful Hawks. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. There’s no shame in calling for backup when you need it. Okay?”
The sudden emotional weight behind Jeanist’s words hit Hawks like a brick. Sure, the older pro-hero had said similar things before, about slowing down, about asking for help, about what the world demanded of heroes but it had been different before. Before, Hawks had dismissed it all without a second thought because he’d been sure it was mockery. Now though, puzzles pieces started falling into place and Hawks thought he might understand the older pro-hero a bit more. He didn’t want to. Understanding was a slippery slope to believing, and believing someone like Jeanist was dangerous.
“The Commission trusts you to be smart and not be swayed by his false ideals.”
The initial briefing he’d gotten before their team-up started had said.
“Be careful around Jeanist, he’s good at winning people over. A snake-oil salesman with a pleasant smile.”
His handler had warned before his first day working with Jeanist.
“His sort will lead you down the wrong path. Stick to your guns around ‘em.”
One of his Commission appointed sidekicks had advised as they prepared for the raid on the drug ring.
Hawks should know better. He did know better. All he needed to do was agree, maybe thank Jeanist for the advice, then completely forget about it. That was it.
“I’ll keep it in mind.” His traitorous mouth said instead. It wasn’t an affirmation, wasn’t a promise or gratitude, but it was worse, because as the words left his lips he knew he meant them.
Unwillingly, a strange warmth spread in his chest as Jeanist smiled at him softly. Even though he couldn’t see the man’s face, he could still tell that the other was smiling. Crap. He stuck another pepper in his mouth to cover up his emotional conflict. With his mind abuzz and his stomach feeling much better, Hawks picked up his pace so he was walking alongside Jeanist, and the two of them continued on their patrol route with a newfound comfortable quiet between them.
At the end of their patrol, Jeanist asked Hawks if he’d like to get dinner together, just as he had every day before. Hawks turned him down, just as he had every day before. This time was a little different though. This time he hesitated before declining. This time the reason he offered, an assigned night patrol, was genuine. As was the regret in his apology as he declined.
As before, Jeanist accepted the rejection without pressing the matter. He definitely picked up on the change though.
“Maybe tomorrow then.” he hummed, green eyes meeting gold with that same meaning to them. “Take care, Hawks.”
“I will.” Hawks replied, and he wondered why the words tasted like a bitter lie rolling off his tongue.
Hawks hadn’t been planning on going back to his apartment that night. After his second patrol of the day, he had a million things to do in and around his office. But after he got back, he realized that the produce Manami had given him would go bad if he didn’t get put it in a fridge.
The reports could wait for one night, couldn’t they? It’d be downright rude to treat a gift poorly, and Hawks hated the idea of letting the food go to waste. So he went back to his apartment near midnight. A few of the peppers and some granola was pulled out for snacking and the rest was tucked into the fridge.
Falling asleep hadn’t been apart of his plan. He’d meant to get started on a few other projects. Review sidekick’s reports, go over applications for an open position, and so many other little things he needed to do. His bed looked so soft and inviting though… Maybe he’d just catch a quick nap. That couldn’t hurt anyone. A quick nap would clear his mind and let him get back on track. He nestled down into his pillow planning on being out for 20 minutes and not a moment longer.
When his eyes flickered open, his alarm clock read 6:02 AM in glaring red numbers.
Fuck.
Hawks was out of bed and gathering his shit to get out the door in a matter of seconds. How the hell had he slept for 6 whole hours? He never slept that long! Red feathers darted every which way around his apartment to collect all his papers as he wrestled on his hero costume and nearly tripped over himself to get to his balcony. It wasn’t until he’d shoved the glass doors open that he realized one of his feathers had grabbed a few of the peppers and the rest of the granola.
In the back of his mind, Hawks could hear his handler’s voice telling him he didn’t deserve to eat. Not after he’d already missed two meetings this morning. Wasting a gift was insulting though, and he was hungry, so Hawks shoveled the food into his mouth, slung his bag over his shoulder and took flight.
The Commission was upset with him. He could feel the disappointment radiating off the three members who’d been sent to wait for him after he’d failed to show up. Hawks apologized. Of course he did. But that didn’t change his fuck up, so they didn’t care.
His only saving grace was his patrol with Jeanist starting at 8 AM sharp. The Commission didn’t like to punish him right before he had to work with another hero, and particularly not Jeanist. They wanted Hawks performing his best, lest he leave a bad impression or show weakness. This time he got off with a warning.
Guilt weighed Hawks' mind down as he flew out to meet the other pro-hero, but he couldn’t help but notice how good he felt physically. His stomach had largely quieted, and he wasn’t fighting to keep his mind from descending into a fog for once. Odd.
Patrol that day passed much as it had every day before. Only, now Hawks found it harder to see the insidious motives he had been so sure must be behind Jeanist’s every action. Now a quiet, traitorous part of him started piping up.
What if Jeanist was just mislead? What if Jeanist was just being overprotective because of what happened to his friend? What if his concern was… real?
The little voice of doubt wouldn’t leave his mind. During his lunch break that day, Hawks returned to his apartment, intending to grab some forgotten reports and finish up a few others. Since it was already there, he polished off the rest of the peppers and some of the vegetables while he worked.
Towards the end of his break, his thoughts grew more and more distracted. He found himself switching to google several times before he forced himself to refocus on his work.
Finally, he couldn’t take the curiosity anymore. Opening up a new tab, he plugged in ‘20 year old hero died in battle’.
The first thing that hit him was just how many results there were. He had filter down the search to include only UA graduates, the particular year, illness, and incidents from Jeanist’s sector. But he found the reports.
Articles highlighted how hard working the man had been. How kind. How giving. How willing to go above and beyond for others. How it was so brave of him to rush into battle despite his condition. What a shame, the articles all said. What a shame his career was cut so short. What a shame he never got the chance to do more. What a shame that the world had lost such a fine hero too soon. What. A. Shame.
It was the photos that got to Hawks most. The hero had sandy brown-blonde hair. His eyes were orange instead of yellow, but Hawks still saw a faint reflection in them.
With shaking hands, Hawks navigated to a confidential record retrieval program for Hero Commission files. He wasn’t supposed to use this for anything outside of official cases. That didn’t stop him from typing in the name.
The man’s file was sparse, but there were several notes in an unlabeled section at the top.
‘Potential candidate’
‘Ideal personality’
‘Initial missions assigned and completed.’
‘Told to engage despite condition, failed.’
Slamming his laptop shut and powering it off, Hawks did everything in his power to erase everything he saw from his mind. He shouldn’t have looked. Shouldn’t have even thought about it.
It didn’t matter anyways. The Hero Commission kept their eye on lots of aspiring heroes. It meant nothing to him if they’d been watching someone Jeanist knew ten years ago. Nothing. The word played on repeat in his head as he took flight to meet back up with Jeanist, and he tried desperately to believe them.