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The worst part was that it wasn’t even Dabi’s fault.
Not that Hawks would tell him that. Oh no, as far as Hawks was concerned anything remotely relating to the words fire, smoke, or even spark could in some way be tied back to Dabi so the man could take full blame for whatever frustration Hawks faced that day.
Which meant, of course, that the raging fires that had been sweeping the nation because the world decided Apocalyptic Days of the Month should be a thing (Hawks had a particular dislike for Tuesday’s after the last Tsunami but this brand of Friday was getting up on the list at record speed) were really, in all fairness, Dabi’s fault. Even if Dabi didn’t even know the fires were a thing until smoke started to fill the air even cities away. Even if Dabi’s flames were blue and these were a thick, roaring mess of orange, yellow, and red. Even if Dabi wasn’t anywhere near the evacuation zone Hawks was currently zooming over trying to make sure no one got left behind and the fires were as contained as possible (which, honestly, was not a lot).
It was Dabi’s fault, even if it wasn’t.
Most of the water user heroes were on the other side of the fire trying desperately to stop it from reaching the city, as opposed to the tiny town of 200 Hawks was helping. A rough choice to make, and Hawks saw why it had to be made, but when he had to dive into the flames to pick up an elderly woman that had fallen and no one noticed he was a little miffed that they hadn’t at least spared more than the two water gun (because their quirks weren’t strong enough to be anything else but simple water toys against these flames) heroes that were younger than him, technically sidekicks for an agency he’d heard of maybe twice, and were running dangerously low on energy.
So things were not great.
On the plus side, Cementoss had sent out word a while ago that the emergency houses he had made in the designated areas very far away were ready and open to the people he was currently rocketing away from their homes and livelihoods. Hawks had been assured by Satou from the Commission’s main Committee that there was a large abundance of resources already in place for anyone that would need to stay there until the fires were quelled and restoration efforts could be put in place.
Hawks, knowing Satou for years, would be hanging around the evacuation areas for a while to make sure that was true. Mera-san and Tatsu-chan were also helping with getting all the paperwork and necessary agreements in place so Hawks could stand to wait a few days to take matters into his own hands.
“Hawks,” his headphones crackled. The raspy quality of the voice had nothing to do with the static and everything to do with the billowing smoke trying to suffocate them all. Hawks hated the filtration mask he had strapped strongly over the majority of his face but at least it kept his lungs relatively safe.
Relatively. Because with this much smoke over a prolonged exposure time there was only so much the filter could do.
“I’m here,” he turned on comms, unblinking as he scanned the burning mass beneath him.
“We just finished the headcount. We’re missing one.”
“Where were they last seen?” Hawks cursed in his head. He prayed it wasn’t at the edge of town that had been closest to the fire at the start. That part was completely engulfed. Anyone left behind in there would already be dead from smoke inhalation even if they had found a good place to keep out of the flames.
“Near the main street with the shopping stalls. He was setting up when the evacuation order came in and no one has seen him since.”
“I’ll check it out. How long until the full evacuation is complete?”
“All the emergency vehicles are here and some are starting to take people to the hospital or the refuge area. I’d estimate two more hours at most.”
“Good,” Hawks flipped, grimacing at the heat building in his overworked, overexposed wings as he made for the center of the small town where the shopping area was. “You and your partner get yourselves looked over too. I’ll let you know if I find the missing person.”
“Okay,” the other coughed, rough and jagged. “Good luck. Be safe out there.”
“You know me!” Hawks chirped, not bothering to admonish the sidekick for forgetting to provide a description of the missing person. He had all he needed to try to find them. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
He turned off his side, leaving the comm line open in case they called for him again, and dove down.
The heat boiled off the ground in waves, worse and worse as he got closer. Hawks desperately wanted to take off his jacket but he knew that would only make things worse in a situation like this. He stopped above the tops of the buildings, sending as many feathers as he dared to flick through the crumbling streets.
“Come on,” he breathed, focusing fully on the vibrations around him. It was nauseating, hearing every snap and crack of the flames eating the wood around him. The burning prickling every barb of every feather. The sharp sound- the feeling - of the air warping and twisting.
The muffled sounds of someone choking.
A smaller voice sobbing.
There were two people in a half-collapsed building on the furthest edge of the shopping area. The man must have run all the way back after the fire jumped the river.
“Hello!” Hawks yelled, circling the house and drawing his feathers (well, most of his feathers, two got caught by a sudden spark) back so he could locate where in the house he needed to go.
“H-help,” a deep voice croaked, worryingly weak.
Hawks narrowed in on where the roof had caved. With the way it had fallen, it would have created a very small space between the back wall and the debris.
“I’m here to help,” Hawks flew to the back of the house, directly opposite of where the man’s voice had come from. He had feathers detach, flying through the holes and feeling for the stability of the walls. The man was curled around someone small, probably a child, who was crying. They were both pinned by some of the debris but they didn’t seem horribly injured.
“Sir, I’m going to start cutting off pieces of the wall from the left of you. Are you going to be able to crawl towards me?”
“I-I don’t… know,” he wheezed. “My daughter-”
“She’ll be okay,” Hawks promised. “I’ll start cutting, keep me updated on what you see.”
Hawks kept careful track of the the wall's stability, only cutting near the hole that had formed as the wall warped and cracked under the pressure of the roof. The fire hadn’t reached this side of the house but it was only a matter of minutes. The entire area behind Hawks was aflame as well. Their only way out would be the sky.
As soon as the hole was big enough Hawks had his feathers curl into the man’s clothes. “I’m going to use my quirk to pull you out now!”
Once he was sure the daughter was safely secured Hawks carefully tugged them out.
The man was shaking, covered in sweat, ash, and debris. The girl was unconscious, tear tracks making clear paths down her cheeks.
“Please,” he coughed.
Hawks took off his jacket. “I need to put this on her,” he told him, lifting the girl enough to wrap it around her and pull the hood up. She was unconscious but her breathing seemed fine. Hawks couldn’t hear much rasping and she was taking even breaths with an occasional cough.
The man was wheezing, barely able to breathe at all. Hawks pulled his filter off his head, securing it over the man’s mouth. These were the last two, he wouldn’t need the filter after this and the man clearly had the more pressing breathing concern.
“Okay,” he said right as the house gave a bone-chilling creak. The wall next to them exploded out. Hawks lifted his wing quickly, curving it around the pair as he lifted them into his arms. Burning wood and concrete rained on his wings, one large piece making a cracking sound when it clipped his wing bone.
Hawks scooped the man fully into his arms, the girl tucked into her father’s chest. Before any of the house could fully fall on them Hawks jumped back and beat his wings hard, ignoring the sharp pain of his fractured (hopefully not broken) wing and taking to the sky.
The smoke was so much worse without his filter. Hawks could feel it, crawling into his lungs and making a home there. Burning him from the inside.
‘Fuck you, Dabi,’ Hawks thought, just to make himself feel better. It was nice to have someone he could just throw the blame on. Very cathartic. He could see why the Commission did it now.
“Hawks!” Aqua waved his hands in the air as if Hawks wouldn’t be able to see the congregation of people a few miles out of town. “Did you- he found them! Any available paramedics, we need you over here!”
Hawks touched down and let the two exhausted, tense-looking paramedics take the girl first before removing the man from his arms. Hawks wasn’t really expecting his jacket back at this point so he didn’t bother to follow.
“-arms, and where is your smoke filter?” Aqua’s voice suddenly registered. Hawks turned to blink at him. “Hawks?”
“What’s up?” he smiled tiredly.
Aqua looked even more concerned, which didn’t really seem possible. “You- you're covered in burns. And your wing looks broken. How long have you had your mask off?”
“Uh, honestly? Not sure. Couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen minutes,” Hawks said as he raised his arms. Huh. They were definitely a shade of red they shouldn’t be. He’d flown a little close to the ground with the fractured wing (not broken, not broken, he hated dealing with breaks) but he hadn’t noticed the heat being any worse than it already was.
“You’ve been out there for hours, even with the filter you would have inhaled some but without it? Hawks, you need to get looked at.”
“Story of my life,” Hawks muttered, moving to brush his hair that was feeling significantly gross back only to abort the motion halfway when the burns decided to actually do something besides look bad. “That stings.”
Aqua looked like he might actually try to fly with the way his hands flapped. “Hawks. Please let someone look you over.”
“Sure,” Hawks agreed easily. “As soon as everyone else is covered I’d love to just kick back and let someone else take care of me.”
Aqua deflated.
Hawks tuned him out after that. The kid wouldn’t try to force him, not that he’d get far, and Hawks was more concerned about watching the fire in the distance to make sure it didn’t suddenly gain sentience and come charging after them across the large scratch of land. He’d seen weirder things, it didn’t hurt to be vigilant.
In the end, the fire didn’t gain any semblance of intelligence and it did seem to be crawling rather slowly compared to the start once it had no more houses to eat, so Hawks let one of the paramedics lead him to an ambulance to check his lungs.
He kept them tuned out too, he’d read over the directions of what he needed to do to get rid of the cloud of death still trying to wage war in his lungs later when he had time. Instead, he watched the last people to be fully evacuated getting loaded into the final ambulance.
It was the father and daughter from before. They had switched places, apparently. The Dad was unconscious on a gurney, an oxygen mask firmly in place and the girl was crying over him with a little one of her own to match. She was still wearing his jacket but he’d let her keep it. She needed it more than he did.
“-awks. Hawks .”
Hawks smirked over at Aqua who only fluttered nervously again.
“Are you sure he’s okay? He keeps spacing out,” he asked the medics.
“He’ll be fine. The burns are going to hurt but they aren’t bad enough to warrant a hospital stay and his wing is only fractured. He should monitor his breathing, he’s going to be in a lot of pain as he heals from everything else but he doesn’t need to be intubated right now. If his breathing gets worse or he gets an infection that could change but as long as he takes it easy he should heal just fine.”
“That’s great!” Hawks clapped his hands together, ignoring the now harsh pinch of the skin on his arms when he moved them. “I can go then?”
“Go?” Aqua looked startled. “How are you- are you going with the ambulance? You can’t fly Hawks, your wing is fractured!”
“It’s not broken though,” Hawks flexed his hands along the metal beneath him, not quite ready to push himself onto his feet. He was feeling very tired all of the sudden and the warmth bubbling beneath his skin was giving him a headache. “I’ll be fine.”
“Hawks,” the medic looked very stern all of the sudden. “You should not be flying. Any strenuous activity or thinning of the air around you could seriously hurt you.”
Hawks did not groan like an angsty teen but he was tempted. He just wanted to go home and sleep. If they drove it would take forever and everyone here had so many other things to do. They didn’t need to be spending any of their time taking him anywhere when he’d be fine on his own.
“I’ll take him.”
Hawks felt his eyebrows rise so fast he thought they’d fly off. That would be funny. If his eyebrows could fly. He could use them like his feathers then. He wondered what the kids would do if he just set his eyebrows loose in the middle of class.
Edgeshot, dressed in casual clothes that still made him look like a ninja because the man had an image and he stuck to it in the way Hawks could appreciate for the dedication, looked down at him with a furrow in his brow.
“I’m glad I got here in time. Rumi warned me you’d try to go off on your own and I was afraid you’d be gone before I could stop you.”
It took Hawks a full three seconds to figure out what he was saying which was, frankly, embarrassing.
“Rumi sent you here?”
“Yes,” Edgeshot accepted the papers the paramedic gave him, looking them over as the furrow between his eyebrows grew deeper and deeper. If Hawks was standing or could lift his arms, he’d poke the dip just to feel how ingrained into his head it was. “Once she heard about the fire, and that you would be helping rescue efforts, she was concerned you would be injured in some way. Unfortunately, she has her own duties to deal with today but I have several days off so I volunteered to come get you in her stead.”
“Uh,” Hawks tilted his head. “Thanks? But you don’t need to. I’ll be fine-”
“Thank you so much, Edgeshot!” Aqua bowed. “Do you need help getting Hawks to your car?”
Hawks felt insulted. Even the paramedic seemed all for this abrupt kidnapping seeing as how they didn’t even hesitate to give Edgeshot the forms Hawks needed. Didn’t this go against some kind of rule? He was pretty sure it did.
“I would appreciate that, yes.”
“No,” Hawks said, not fighting it when they took up a post on either side of him, careful to hold him up without touching his arms. “Oh, hey. My arms are bandaged now.”
He was wondering why they were so white. That medic was seriously skilled to get the bandages on without him noticing.
Or he was just out of it, because both men looked doubly concerned now. They could form a full canyon now between the two of them. Hawks would visit in the summers, just to dive between the rocks and pull off tricks. It could be a tourist spot.
“Why is your car so big?” Hawks asked when they got to the large van. “You rarely drive.”
Edgeshot gave him a weird look, unlocking the back and revealing the most beautiful pillow haven Hawks had ever seen. The seats in the middle had been laid flat, pillows lining the entire back of the van.
“I’m curious how you know that, considering we so rarely talk, but this isn’t mine. Ryukyu lent it to me when she heard what was going on.”
“Conspiracy,” Hawks sang under his breath as they helped him crawl in. Hawks collapsed on the pillows, arms carefully laid at his sides, as his wings relaxed along his back. He couldn’t stretch them out, not even to half their size, but this was a lot better than any other car ride he had ever been in.
The cool fabric of the pillows touched Hawks cheek and he was gone.
Later, when he woke up in Edgeshot’s home that looked like it came straight out of that one anime he watched as a kid, he applauded Rumi for her skill in choosing his captor.
Edgeshot was still enough of a stranger that Hawks didn’t want to press his buttons too much because he had yet to figure out which buttons went where and which ones to avoid. Edgeshot, similarly, gave Hawks a lot of privacy while still managing to mother hen him to a frankly ridiculous degree.
Icepacks that barely melted before they were replaced. Never-ending access to freshwater. Homecooked meals that ruined Hawks for a great many restaurants he frequented. If there wasn’t an AC in the house Hawks was pretty sure Edgeshot would use a giant leaf fan to keep him cool as he lounged about the guest room that was so clearly designed for someone that couldn’t sleep on their back Hawks wondered how exactly he had time to plan all this out. The man even brought him books. Stacks of them, all on varying subjects. With how peaceful and calm this place was Hawks honestly felt like he was in a little space tucked away from the rest of the world where all he had to worry about was what book to read next.
“Look,” he said when Edgeshot walked in with the third glass of water that morning along with a roll of fresh bandages. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate this, I really do man, but this is a lot . I can’t just take up your home like this when I could do all of this perfectly fine at my own.”
Edgeshot didn’t even blink and Hawks sighed. Exactly how much had Rumi warned their fellow pro of Hawks habits?
“Your arms,” Edgeshot held out his hands, bandages at the ready.
Hawks huffed, cheeks puffing up a bit as he lifted his arms up.
Edgeshot was careful but quick as he reapplied the gel and wrapped them. Tomorrow Hawks would be able to keep them off to let them air out and that would be great. Would hopefully stop the itching.
“This is no trouble to me at all,” Edgeshot said softly, wrapping his wrist with a look that made Hawks feel like the fire was back at a slight boil. Uncomfortable and weird.
But not bad. He guessed.
“I used to think you were quite a brat,” Edgeshot continued, moving to the other arm. “And, to some degree, you certainly are. But I have noticed that you hold a deep compassion in your heart for everyone around you. It is admirable and a true quality of a hero. I see now why you are such a beloved hero.”
Hawks laughed to roll out the awkward feeling in his chest. He coughed, still not quite ready to take any really deep breaths. “Being faster than the guy in front of you usually helps you win the race.”
Edgeshot finished the bandages and finally looked up. Hawks twitched under the amused gaze.
“I wasn’t talking about your skills, although those are quite impressive as well. I visited Fukuoka a little while ago. You were the talk of the town.”
Hawks couldn’t help the smile at the mention of his city. “Well, I should hope so! It’d be kind of embarrassing if my own city didn’t like me.”
“They like you,” Edgeshot said so easily it made Hawks feathers puff up. He’d been joking but Edgeshot seemed to have missed it entirely. “Everywhere I went I heard mention of you. Just not in the way I am used to hearing civilians talk about heroes.”
Hawks frowned. “What’s that mean? Were they making fun of me again? I run into a billboard once and all of a sudden it’s all anyone can ever remember!”
Edgeshot laughed, gathering up the plates from breakfast. “No. Well, there was a bit of teasing here and there. That is part of my point. They didn’t just talk about you as a hero, Hawks. They spoke of you like you were a member of their families. Someone to be proud of. Admired. And yes, teased a little.”
Hawks stared at him as he rose to his feet, easily balancing all the plates in one arm.
“You are a good man,” Edgeshot said casually like he wasn’t crashing straight through every social wall Hawks had ever built. “And I am honored that you would let me help you. Ah, Rumi said she would be coming by to see you today. Around lunchtime, I believe. I’m not used to having someone with so much energy in my home, I’ll be interested to see how loud noises flow though the halls.”
Hawks reached up and scratched his nose as Edgeshot walked out like the conversation was done. Which, he guessed it was. What could he possibly say to all of that ? Thanks? That didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like enough .
Hawks coughed, wings fluttering out. His fractured wing still kind of ached but not nearly as much as it usually would have if he were taking care of himself and moving around.
Did the people of Fukuoka really talk about him like that? He knew they were casual with him, but that’s how he liked it. He’d encouraged that from the start but there were a lot of heroes that were open with their fans. What made this so different?
Hawks shook his head and reached for the next book. One about Avocados and the best ways to raise them. Maybe he’d try growing one in the dorms. At his apartment it would just wither and die but with some extra hands to help it out it might actually make it.
Hawks paused, the cover just barely cracked open. He’d almost forgotten.
He grabbed his phone, pulling up the now familiar number.
I can’t believe you set the country on fire
BurntBacon: What the fuck? I had nothing to do with that, feathers
Even for you, that’s a pretty shitty move
BurntBacon: I didn’t fucking do it!
Dick move, man
Hawks smirked and tucked the phone under his pillow. He could feel it buzzing furiously, like a bee wanting nothing more than to strike. He’d be in for it later, but it wasn’t like Dabi could prove it wasn’t his fault.
‘This is nice,’ Hawks thought.
He opened the book and started to read.