Decided to put up the collection of HawksxReader/OC oneshots I've been writing up here too. They'll all be unconnected unless stated beforehand and have a little sum of what they'll be about. Mostly they're just random oneshots that I like writing from time to time. Hope you enjoy :)

Birds of a Feather Collection

To Protect the One's We Love

— Doubt lingers in your heart when what once was a sweet relationship starts turning sour. You don't know how or when it started, all you know is that you need to find out why.

You knew that it was normal for couples to not be lovey-dovey all the time. You've had previous relationships were most of the time speaking sweet nothings on one hand and shouting obscenities at each other on the other was the norm. You had your temper and you had your buttons that weren't to be pushed. But you thought the years and finally meeting someone who took you and your somewhat abrasive personality in stride had mellowed you out for the better.

Or so you had thought. Yes, ever since you and Hawks started dating a good year ago, things had been far from perfect, but you were happy. Hawks told you he was happy, too; that he would never change anything about you or your relationship even if he could. So it was normal when you guys would sometimes bicker over nonsensical things for the hell of it. You both knew neither of you meant what you said in anger or in annoyance, but these past few weeks had been different. You couldn't quite say what by name but you knew something was terribly amiss.

It all started after All Might's retirement, Endeavor's rise to the top, and Hawks' placement into second seat. You knew he hated hero politics and avoided them altogether like the plague he saw them as. Though he never was one to keep to himself when things seriously irked him, that he would announce his displeasure with the world and its view on hero society as things stood after having lost such pillar, in live television no less, struck you as odd. Not so much by what he said but by the way he said it. Almost like he was pining to make his views heard loud and clear, and to not be easily forgotten.

You asked him what that whole thing was about after he got home from the event but Hawks simply shrugged it off as something normal. "You know I don't keep my mouth shut when I should."

True but that he was admitting something like that only added more to what you were already worried about. You set the feeling aside though knowing it could very well just be your imagination overreacting from the upheaval of the very foundation of your society. That certainly sounded like it could mess with your head if you let it too much.

But after the announcement of the new top ten, you began noticing Hawks acting weirder than usual still. At times you would find him missing from bed either ridiculously early or late with no word or note left in regards to his sudden absence.

Chalking it up to his hero duties worked at first but not for long.

More and more often than not, Hawks would come home irritated about something he wouldn't say. It didn't matter how much you asked. And boy, did you ask until he finally snapped. And when he did when all you wanted to do was figure out why he wasn't acting like his usual self, you couldn't help but snap back at him too. Never had your fights gotten so bad that he took off from your apartment, using the balcony to take flight where he knew you couldn't follow.

Fine, you thought to yourself, if he was going to be like that then you wouldn't bother.

The day after, though, a sense of regret sunk into your stomach, twisting your gut and making you sick. As mad as you were, it didn't warrant such behavior. You knew this. By the end of the day, all you wanted to do was get home and hopefully find Hawks to apologize. You hurried through traffic and angered drivers in vain: Hawks was nowhere in sight. It didn't even seem like he came home after he flew away the night before. So you waited all night in the hopes to find him coming home ridiculously late as he did as of late.

Sleep beat you around the time 5am came around. But you weren't at the couch where you had fallen asleep, you were in your bed. Alone. Crimson feathers scattered around you and on the floor. Your heart broke a little at having had missed him.

One day, out of desperation, you did what you thought youd never do. You followed him out of work. You swore you never would do something as despicable but as things stood you didn't know what else to do. Hawks took longer and longer to reply to texts, and those replies were monosyllabic at best. Any calls would be sent straight to voicemail. At this point, she supposed that the idea of him cheating on you wasn't far-fetched but if that was so, you wanted to verify it with your own eyes.

It'd be easier to part with him and forget about him then.

But tailing him proved an utter failure too. Hawks was too sneaky for her. She didn't know how though taking into account how conspicuous his wings were. Yet you had and he was gone. Exhausted both mentally, physically, and emotionally over the past few weeks, you chose to give up for the day. Maybe for good. This was simply too draining on your mind and heart.

Finding a small cafe nearby, you took a table for yourself and ordered a coffee to swallow down the bitterness you tasted in your mouth. The rain pelleted the pane glass wall just behind you, a lulling sound to you ears, and the entrance being so nearby let the scent of dew waft into your nostrils. It was somewhat relaxing for all that it was worth. The coffee you ordered came in a colorful, ceramic mug, steam of the freshly brewed drink coming off into the air and mixing with the smell of fresh rain. It was a nice change of scenery after so much heartbreak.

"Falling in love at a Coffee Shop" came from the cafe's speakers in a low hum and you strained your ears to listen to the melancholic tune. So focused were you that you didn't hear the bell of the door ring, though you smelled the rain again, and you certainly didn't hear someone taking the chair across from you until a deep, raspy voice spoke up.

"You must be y/n."

Hearing your name coming from a stranger's mouth snapped you out of your stupor and you lifted your gaze to meet a strangely dressed man seating across from you. The first thing that caught your attention about him were his stark icy blue eyes and then the stitches around his mouth and burnt skin on his jawline. A hood hid that well enough from the crowd and seeing as there weren't that many others in the cafe, nobody seemed to noticed such an odd looking man. Those icy blues stared straight at you making your blood run cold from the mere gaze. He knew your name, so there was no mistaking that he'd been there to find you.

"Do I know you?" you dared ask feeling a tiny bit safe in a public space.

"Not particularly, that is unless you've seen the news lately." The comment startled you and did jog your memory somewhat but he didn't allow you enough time to make out exactly from where. "But that's not why I'm here. You see, a little bird's been flying around our nest and we'd like to let him know where he stands." His hand reached out to the coffee that you held tightly now in yours hands and wrapped over them. His were warm. Too warm. Extremely warm. By the time you tried prying your hands away from the heat coming off of his, he reached out with his other hand and held your hands in place.

"Your face is too cute though. So your hands will have to do this time."

Certainly panicked but not daring words to come out of you throat, your widened gaze turned up to his face again. Oddly enough, his cold stare wasn't on you anymore and instead looked out through the pane glass wall behind you. Ice blue locked outside onto something, attention rapt on whatever was there for a minute longer before a crooked smile came to their stitched up lips and he turned back to you.

"Don't take this personally, princess," he said, hands getting hotter by the word. "This is just a warning. And if the bird behaves, it'll be the first and last." The heat turned unbearable and it seared your skin making you yelp in pain and pull your hands away from his as strongly as you could. The coffee came with you and the liquid spilled all over the table, floor, and your hands. But the coffee held no candle to the throbbing pain from the heat that had come from his hands.

All the attention came onto you and the stranger for a moment, said stranger holding a napkin to your hands trying to clean off the liquid and you feel the low heat still lingering on his palms. No seems to notice or recognize him. As he finished cleaning your hands, he leaned over near your ear and softly spoke into it. "Tell him next time it won't be just your hands."

The threat chilled your blood and didn't let you move or speak even as the man left the cafe. A waitress came over and offered to help but before she could accept or deny it, the door's bell rang again and heavy footsteps carried over the air stopping near you. You couldn't help jumping at the strong grip on yours arms but the panic that rushed through you quickly left when you met a pair of warm, amber eyes on a familiar face adorned by windswept locks.

Hawks expression was frenzied in a way you've never seen it before. Distress and panic wasn't a look he fancied showing but now he didn't bother hiding it. His hands took yours instinctively and you flinched from his touch, the skin raw from the burns. Hawks didn't wait nor asked and took you straight home and said nothing all the way there.

You had many questions. But after the encounter that left you injured and utterly perplexed and frightened, all you wanted was to get home too. Once there, Hawks flocked over you like he used to, but instead of love and fondness smoothing his expression, stress and apprehension furrowed his brow. He spoke in rapid mutters as he led you around the house to soothe the burns om the back of your hands. Skin raw, it hurt immensely to even have cold water running against them but it also felt somewhat soothing.

Once properly treated and bandaged, Hawks brought you to your bed and simply sat there with you and held you close from behind, soft apologies muttered under his breath near your ear. You didn't know what to say. Or how to ask what had been in your mind the whole way back.

Finally, after minutes of silence, you mustered the words.

"Why are you apologizing like this is your fault?"

"Because it is," he whispered, lips so close to your neck that you felt the warmth of his breath on your skin. Heat made you feel sick. "I should've been more careful. I should've left you live your life in peace when this started. I know I should've but I couldn't. I didn't want to." He was making no sense whatsoever. And when you told him this, Hawks tried to explain.

It took sometime and much assurance that you were alright until he finally told you what little bit he felt comfortable with. About how the police has asked him to work with them in a mission, how, it involved him delving into things he'd rather stay away from for your sake, and how it brought him to interact with people like the man from the cafe.

Finally, after he told you vaguely what he could, your mind put two and two together. Finally you realized why that man had appeared so familiar. You had seem him on TV when the news had been broadcasting Yuuei's attack during their summer camp. A man who's Quirk allowed him to control blue fire, a man with burnt, stitched-together skin. A man in alliance with the infamous League of Villains. Things slowly fell into place after that. Why his personality had changed so drastically overtime. Why he kept leaving early, getting home late. Why he reserved his text replies to simple and answers and didn't answer her calls. Why he seldom wanted to be seen in your company.

"You were trying to distance yourself to keep them away from me?"

"I couldn't tell you," Hawks explained, turning your body slightly sideways so he could lay his forehead on your chest. "I didn't think there was a need to if I was careful. But I'm a fucking idiot for thinking I could keep you out of this."

The rustling behind you caught your attention and you noticed at last how his wings had been cradling you in place, the soft feathers touching your legs and arms tenderly, protectively.

"I agree," you say at last, his head jerking somewhat at your words. Bringing your arms up to wrap them around his neck, you held him close and felt his hands trail up her back and hold her close, red wings curling around them. "But you won't have to worry anymore. I'll leave and stay with my folks for how long this takes; they won't mind. I won't walk home or go out without someone going with me if I can help it. I won't say a word about what you're doing either. You know your secret's safe with me." His shoulders visibly relax and you feel the deep sigh he releases. "You have to promise me something in return though."

"Anything, my angel."

Ignoring the pain from your burnt hands, you reach down to cup his face in them. His stubble pricks at the tips of your fingers and a little through your bandaged hands. Amber eyes meet your own with the most adoring gaze you'd ever seen him give you. Gently you leaned your forehead against his and close your eyes to savor what you missed for the last weeks. His hold around you tightened and he, in turn, inhaled deeply taking everything about you in that would soon be missing from his life.

"Be careful." Your lips brush against his briefly as you speak. "And please, don't die. I want to come back home to you after all this is over."

Your bluntness drew out a dry chuckle from him and you heard it rumble through his throat. "For you, my love, I'd come back from hell if it meant I'd get to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Let's keep you away from there for as long as we can."

For once after such a long time, you felt the air around you lighter and it lifted some of the weight from your shoulders. What weighed down your heart wouldn't disappear that easily though. Not until this mission of his ended and Hawks returned to you unharmed.