Keigo Takami met Lyla Boyne when he was seven and she was six. He found her crying in a room by herself when he was sneaking away for a snack. It took him a while to understand that she was upset because she was essentially sold into Project Eta against her will, unlike him who agreed to join.

The next day Espionage was formally introduced to the rest of the children. Her pretty blue eyes were still puffy from the previous day, but when she caught sight of him as she stood at the door of the large dining room, she smiled.

They were both nine when they spent a whole summer's worth of mornings running around the wooded government property they lived on until their legs threatened to fall off and their lungs were on fire. She was always just a little faster than him whenever he kept his feet on the ground.

They were ten when they laid in his bed just talking through the night about their short life before Project Eta. When he found out why she knew three languages at such a young age and when he recalled his mother's beautiful wings for the first time in a long time. They had their first unique excuse for a sleepover where just the presence of his best friend pushed away all the insomnia Hawks had been experiencing.

They were eleven when they met Toya Todoroki, son of the number two hero, Endeavor. Espionage took interest in the fourteen year old's strange situation, but kept mostly to herself while Hawks couldn't keep his own excitement contained. He wanted to discover everything there was to possibly know about his favorite hero and pestered the bright red-haired teen at every opportunity. Even at a young age, Espionage was mature enough to pull Hawks by the collar of his shirt to relieve Toya of the incessant questions that he didn't want to answer. Hawks honestly believed that it was because of Espionage that Toya finally let his guard down around them, quickly becoming the closest thing to a sibling both kids ever had. The hero's son almost constantly got in trouble for skirting around orders that he was given and had a temper that Hawks thought literally heated up a room, but that attitude seemed to slowly dissolve around the two younger kids. Granted, the boys still got along like stereotypical brothers would, which is why Toya gave Hawks the nickname 'Tweety bird' due to his nonstop annoying babbling. He never called Espionage anything special besides her name, but he was much softer around the girl than anyone else.

Toya was sixteen, Hawks was thirteen, and Espionage was twelve when she gave the winged boy the nickname 'Icarus' and first started training with guns. She spent days doing nothing but typical morning exercises, a little bit of book work, then shooting until nightfall. While she was still present at breakfast so she didn't exactly starve, lunch and dinner were considered a privilege until she learned to make perfectly aimed shots the way they wanted her too. Hawks and Toya ended up loosening up a floorboard under her bed to hide snacks under.

Espionage started having her night terrors only a month after her thirteenth birthday. They occurred after a particularly weird training task- eliminating roaches that their instructors let loose in an empty room. It ended up being step one of the morbid process to desensitize the kids to death and the idea of killing, but Hawks didn't realize that at the time. He was just grossed out by it all. The task hit Espionage differently. She came out of the room with her face paler than it normally was and after dinner she sat outside by herself with the small amount of free time they were gifted for the evening. Hawks ended up watching Toya talk to the girl from one of the windows, his heart aching when he saw her hug the older teen like her life depended on it. That's when he devised his little feather trick; if she looked dazed, he'd give her a feather to not only provide the therapeutic comfort she got from playing with it, but also to have a way she could summon him from afar if she needed someone. A selfish part of him wanted to use the process in reverse, because there were times he needed her and knew she'd come running if she had a way of finding out, but he didn't want to add to her worries, so he learned to grin and bear it. Her nightmares continued for a few months after her first one, starting out pretty frequently but becoming less so as time went on.

Ironically, the last one, at least that Hawks knew about, was right before Toya died. Apparently it was caused by some sort of training accident in late November. Toya was usually taken somewhere far from the Project Eta headquarters whenever he trained with his quirk, though since he hated showing it off to the younger kids, they never quite figured out why that was necessary. Hawks did remember flying over the mansion that day during one of his own exercises and seeing flickers of blue light and large plumes of purple smoke in the distance right before hearing the news. Hawks and Espionage were given no time to grieve and went into the next stage of their desensitization training the following day.

They entered school a few months later as third years at a nearby junior high, posing as Daichi Kato and Akinara Omori, two kids in foster care who recently moved homes. Since Espionage's birthday was at the end of May, to everyone else it looked like she skipped a grade. While Project Eta's advanced, fast paced coursework and her own intelligence made normal classes easy for her, the age gap earned her some teasing almost immediately, but she was good at ignoring it, though Hawks never let it fly when he got wind of any of their words against her. Sometimes he wished she'd show off the feather necklace he gave her, since it would remind everyone that if they messed with her, they messed with him too, but she always kept it securely tucked away under her shirt.

They got into a private senior high school that conveniently specialized in hero courses and advanced studies through 'special recommendations'. While it was filled with obnoxious rich kid hero wannabes who realized that their parents couldn't buy their way into U.A. or Shiketsu, Hawks still enjoyed his time there all the same. But that was mainly because he got to spend more time with Espionage where they both didn't have to worry about being supervised, though he wouldn't deny the pleasure he got from pretending like he was living a normal life for eight hours a day, five days a week.

He confessed to her when they were both seventeen in their third year of senior high. It felt good to admit the feelings he had for almost his entire life not only to her, but himself. The pair lived in a blissful secret relationship for six months, stealing kisses and passing secret love notes whenever they could. It was probably the best time of his life. No, not probably. It definitely was. He couldn't remember a time when he was ever happier than that.

Then she was gone. Suddenly and for no explainable reason. The worst part was that he couldn't properly care. Hawks felt the mysterious hole in his chest, but at the time he didn't recognize Espionage's back as he watched her be escorted away from the window of his room, recovering from lingering injuries he didn't remember getting.

Hawks sat back against the couch of Espionage's residence in Deika, breathing deeply as the dizzying pain in his head started to fade. It was all so confusing. Now that he realized it was Espionage in his life the whole time, he wanted to kick himself for not recognizing her sooner. Even though he knew that for five years it was impossible to remember her properly, he couldn't physically imagine how he managed to let himself forget.

She was with him from the beginning.

It had always been her.

Espionage.

His best friend.

His dove.

Lyla.

When his mind stopped racing, Hawks looked up, finally noticing that Espionage wasn't beside him anymore. He didn't see her leave, but he knew she must be in the bathroom, remembering once when she was asked to use a powerful suggestion out of the blue during training that caused her to throw up before her migraine had a minute to properly set in. The theory was confirmed when the hero stood to find the hall bathroom door closed.

Hawks approached it, reached to knock, but stopped himself. Not quite the best idea to make a sudden loud noise when someone's head was pounding. So instead, he put his back to the wall next to the door.

"Lyla?" he said softly, but also loud enough to let his voice carry through to the next room. "Are you okay?"

It was a stupid question and he knew that. Of course she wasn't okay, but what else was he supposed to say? Especially when he was at a complete loss for words like he was now.

The response to his question came in the form of a faucet being turned on, followed by a series of coughs. He waited. A bitter taste settled in his mouth as he grew more and more annoyed with himself at his inability to help her in that moment. Though it's not like he was a medical professional who could actually do anything anyway. Well, there might be one thing he knew of.

"Do you have that pain medication that you used to take? I can grab it for you," he offered, still gently.

There was a pause before her voice sounded from the inside. "My room. In the nightstand."

Hawks rushed into action, literally flying up the stairs to where she instructed. In the top drawer was a white bottle with a prescription label he didn't even want to attempt to pronounce, but it looked familiar. He remembered that it was some heavy-duty medication that fixed her up pretty quickly. It wasn't a miracle cure and she was still obviously in some pain after taking it, but it allowed her to function.

The hero alerted the spy of his return with the gentle shaking of the pill bottle so the capsules rattled against the plastic. The door opened, revealing an exhausted looking woman with a flushed face and tear trails down her cheeks. Her eyes already looked bloodshot as she squinted against the additional light that opening the small, white tiled room brought in. Wordlessly, Hawks handed her the medication and she popped two pills into her mouth, sticking her head under the faucet to get some water to wash them down with.

It hurt Hawks to see her so broken after being apart for so long. Though he did technically reunite with her under slightly better conditions two months ago, it wasn't the same since he couldn't recall all the little details about her, like the amount of freckles on her face, the exact shape of her hairline, and the way her clothes would hug her small, hourglass frame. Wasn't the same as being able to look into her blue eyes and see his past, present, and the stupidly optimistic future he'd always wanted, but knew deep down he'd never get the chance to experience.

"Fuck," Hawks muttered as she stood straight again. "God damn it Lyla, what did they do to you?"

"What did they do to me?" she croaked, her voice hoarse from a combination of things- the pain, the coughing and dry heaving, the exhaustion. "You should see what you did to yourself. How pissed was Kobayashi when you got those earrings?"

"Don't change the subject, dove."

"I'm not. I'm just…" Espionage paused. She strained against the light to get a good look at him, her eyes glittering with the moisture remaining in them. "I'm scared. Did it...did it work?"

"Yes. It did. I remember it all. Every stupid thing we did, every breakfast by your side, every time you managed to tackle me during drills. I even remember the time I thought you overdosed on those damn pain killers. That was stressful," Hawks chuckled.

Espionage laughed too, though it sounded forced. "You know, I'm still convinced you let me tackle you down. You were always too fast for your own good."

"And you were always too quiet. Hard to run from something that I don't know is there," he smiled. "Not like I ever wanted to run from you anyway."

He took a step closer and brushed his fingers against the soft skin of her cheek. The hero felt sparks before, but now it was as if a raging inferno began beneath his fingertips. The love and need for her was the same as it was years ago, if not stronger. Espionage froze against his touch. His hand lingered there, allowing her time to give into the sensation. Her eyes closed and breath slowly let out of her lungs in a deep sigh. The tension melted from her face as her head leaned into him.

"Keigo. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Lyla. And before you say it, because I know you will," Hawks said as her eyes fluttered open. "I didn't need to properly remember you to miss you. I knew something was missing from my life from the day you left. I spent so long trying to hunt down the feeling you gave me and never found it. Hell, I couldn't even forget you properly."

Espionage's head lifted from where it rested against his palm. "What do you mean?"

Hawks grinned as he looked at her. "Your eyes. I never forgot them. Every single fake person I knew still had your beautiful eyes. I couldn't place why, I thought I was going crazy for a while, but now it makes sense. There was no way I could possibly forget the way you looked at me."

"Speaking of crazy- how are you feeling?" Espionage asked, nervously shifting her weight between her legs.

"How am I feeling? I think the better question is how are you feeling? Here, let's get you back in bed. I know your head is killing you," Hawks insisted. The hero gently scooped her into his arms and carried her back upstairs, earning soft protests from her that he ignored.

"I'm fine. I've felt worse," she admitted and he fully believed her. Hawks had seen her in so much pain that she couldn't speak, so the fact that she was responding was reassuring. "Seriously Icarus, are you okay? I just need to know if- "

"If my mind is exploding?" he finished for her. The winged man set the woman down in her bed, nestling himself against her as he sent a few feathers to close the door behind him. A comfortable darkness fell in the room, the only light coming from the dim display of the digital clock on the nightstand and the small crack of very early morning light peeking between the curtains of the glass door.

"Yes. That," she sighed, her voice already relaxing as the lack of light relieved some of the pain.

The hero thought before he answered. If it were anyone else, he'd just keep dodging the question. It was his usual tactic to avoid uncomfortable topics. He'd even distract himself with various activities to keep from answering the questions in his own head or facing the reality of his past. But he knew skirting around her questions wouldn't work; she's had years of experience with his unhealthy coping mechanisms, so there was no fooling her.

"I wouldn't say I'm exploding, but it's confusing. I know you and all we went through. I know how powerful your quirk can be, but I just can't believe I forgot so easily. Especially now that memories are right there, clear as day. Like they were always there. And yet, I know there was years of my life where I physically couldn't think about you, and it just makes sense that I couldn't? But now I don't remember what those fake people looked like even though I could ten minutes ago, and it seems more and more impossible that I believed they existed in the first place. It's… really conflicting."

Espionage squeezed Hawks tight, burying her face into his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to, but I-I couldn't..."

"You did what you had to do, dove, so really there's nothing to forgive you for. I don't blame you and I'll get over it. Honestly, I'm just so, so happy to have you back," Hawks muttered, his lips pressed against the curls at the top of her head. "Although, I can't decide what hurts more- losing a ton of people over time, or just losing you. It's nice to know that I didn't fail a dozen of my friends in my life, but at the same time, I failed you of all people. Wait. No. Yeah, that definitely hurts more. Shit."

The hero felt the need to punch himself in the face. How could he just let that happen? Just let the only thing in his life that he cared about slip through his fingers like water. He didn't even remember what caused her to leave. Everything was fine as far as he was concerned. They were excelling at whatever they were told to do, both in school and in Project Eta. What could've prompted the sudden shift? How could he have messed up that terribly?

"You didn't fail me. Please don't ever think that," Espionage whispered, her tone hurt.

"Why shouldn't I? What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was us in the car heading to some sort of training arena, and then you were gone," Hawks recalled.

Her head lifted from his chest. In the low light, he could see her eyebrows furrowed together, her eyes searching the face in front of her that she could barely see. After a moment of thinking, she hummed and bit her lip.

"I guess that's from the concussion. I didn't tell you to forget that."

"Concussion? When did I get a concussion?"

Espionage sighed and began to recount what happened, her voice cracking at various points in her story. Silent tears fell as she relived the most painful moments of her past. Furry rose in Hawks as he listened. It made him wonder what else she had to do for Project Eta that she'd never told him about. How else they used emotional manipulation against her. How many things they made her to do under the guise of trying to make her into a 'stronger' agent. It was all just a ploy to kick the humanity out of her. No matter what she did, it was a win-win situation for their supervisors. If she became a living, unfeeling robot, she would follow through her tasks without question. If she held onto her feelings, they got to use them as a bargaining chip; they were a way to remind her of her shortcomings during training and get her to make up for them by exerting herself past her limits, or give her an ultimatum to force her hand. They would make her to choose between terrible situations, intentionally making the result they wanted the lesser of two evils.

The entire story made all Espionage's fears and anxieties since their reunion make sense. Anyone in her situation would be afraid to get close to someone again, or make others promise to stay away if she landed herself in a tight spot. She didn't want a repeat of the hell she'd already walked through.

"The only good part about all this is that they did make sure you were taken care of quickly. They called Recovery Girl in and everything. She made sure that nothing those machines did to you had any lasting damage. I'd be surprised if you even had a scar from it," Espionage finished.

She wasn't crying anymore. In fact, her voice was somewhat monotone, like the entire time she spoke she started to disassociate from herself and the event. Hawks brushed his hand through her soft hair and pulled her in again, his own anxiety mounting.

"So, Recovery Girl knows about our situation? Project Eta?"

The spy shook her head against his collar bone where her head laid. "No. Trust me, they made sure I took care of anyone that ever met us during training practices that weren't a part of the usual staff. It's how I got most of my practice with memory altering. The only one that might know about Project Eta is Endeavor, but I seriously doubt it. Toya… he didn't seem like he talked to him much, if at all. I remember him saying that whenever he went home, it was only to see his younger sister and brother and he was supervised the whole time. Plus, after the, uh, accident, I don't think anyone in the Commission would've wanted any loose strings like that hanging. I don't know exactly what they could've told him, but I think he was somehow left in the dark about what they were really doing to us."

"I see."

Hawks didn't know if that made him feel better or worse. Not like he wanted the pair's dirty laundry to be aired out to the world. It would earn them too many questions, too much sympathy. As much as he wanted to be understood by people, hollow words of comfort from someone who didn't get the half of it wouldn't help in any way. But if people on the outside did know, at least a little bit of it, maybe things could be different for the two of them.

"Don't blame yourself for any of this, dove. I know you wanna think you could've done something differently, but you couldn't. You were damned if you did and damned if you didn't. We both know that. If I didn't protect you, those things would've crushed you. If we were successful, they would've found a new way to get you to comply. You'd be backed into a corner with only two ways out. The first is to do what they want and the second meant…"

A lump formed in his throat from the words that couldn't come out. The second option meant getting dismissed from Project Eta for persistent insubordination. The most popular reason for kids to be dropped out. If they didn't comply, they weren't useful. What left was there to possibly do with a bunch of kids that were too broken and too powerful to fit in with society? That was potential villain material.

"You know, it might have been a blessing in disguise that you had to fuck with my brain. I don't know what I would've done if they… did whatever they did to the others. Not the fake kids, the real ones. Katana, Mirror, Tsunami, and everyone else."

"I guess it depends on who you ask. Seeing you fall like that made me wish I took the opportunity," she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

"No," Hawks said firmly. "No. We're both alive and here because of what you did. We have a second chance. It hurt, but I refuse to believe it wasn't worth it. I love you too much to just let you give up like that."

"A second chance to do what, Keigo?" she asked, a sarcastic laugh echoing from her chest. "Another chance to get beaten half to death? At best, we'll never see each other again, and then what?"

"I already told you I'd find you. We'd find a way to keep in contact."

"We can't and you know that."

"Says who? I can't just keep living knowing you're out there and not doing anything about it. I'm too selfish for that. I already live a life of luxury, but all the riches and fame and fans don't mean anything to me. Being a real hero matters. Being your hero matters! If I can't help the most important person in my life, what else can I possibly do for everyone else?"

"You can do so much, with or without me. Can't you see that?" Espionage cried, pulling away from him again. The room was growing lighter by the minute and now he could see frustration in her face. "You're Hawks. The number two hero in both billboard standings and popularity. You've helped so many people. Saved so many lives. You're an inspiration to kids. You make people happy and help them feel safe. Sure, they don't understand what it took to get to where you are, but you've had such a positive impact on people's lives regardless. You've had a positive impact on my life. You've saved me in more ways than one already. You can do so many things in the world that other people can only dream of. You can't just write it off so simply like that."

Her words sat like led on his chest, choking the air from him. His wings twitched under the invisible pressure. Though Hawks paraded around like he was hot stuff, it was all an act. A rouse. On the inside, he never felt like he was worthy of such praise because according to the Commission, he could always be better. That was part of the reason he wanted to stay in the lower hero rankings; he never felt he earned the titles he held. Hearing Espionage speak so highly to him, sharing how much she admired him, just felt different. Her words and feelings mattered more to him than anyone else's, so he was actually inclined to believe her. But genuine compliments like that after so long without them felt strange. Like hearing a foreign language he knew the bare basics of.

"You know, you helped me even after all that bullshit happened," Espionage continued. Her voice was quivering ever so slightly. "I don't remember the first year of missions. I know they started me on them the day after I left the mansion, but I couldn't tell you what they were. I went through everything so blindly. I did whatever they wanted me to do without question, going through motions, not ever thinking about what it was I was doing. Time went by so fast and I didn't care. But then I saw you."

A small sigh escaped her, her blue eyes closed, and a smile played on her lips. Hawks felt himself hold his breath.

"Not really, anyway. I saw you on the front page of a paper right after the fall Hero Billboards. Of course, an eighteen year old being in the top ten heroes was going to make national news, so I saw you everywhere within a few days. And then there were the modeling shoots you got and…"

Espionage cut herself off with her own embarrassed laughter. "Point is- seeing you woke me up. Reminded me that you wouldn't want me to live that way. And that I didn't want to live that way. There wasn't much I could do to change my situation, but at least I was brought back to reality. So, please don't think what you do is all in vain. Every action that you and a lot of other heroes take means something to people. Sure, the Commission is corrupt and some heroes are in it for status or money, but I know there's still some sort of merit in it all. I know you, Keigo, and I know you want to make people feel safe. You always have."

Hawks didn't respond at first, instead opting to stay silent as her words swirled within his mind. His hand brushed against her cheek, following the curves of her body over her shoulder, across her side, to her hips, before slowly dragging it back up. This earned an involuntary shiver from her that made him smirk. Despite the seriousness of the moment, it was reassuring to know that he still had that effect on her.

"It's a shame they decided to keep you in the dark. With speeches like that and the skills you have, you'd make an excellent hero. Or at least one I'd actually enjoy listening to," he sighed.

"Don't be stupid, Icarus," she laughed. Espionage sat up slightly to glance behind him, groaning as she let herself flop back down onto her back, her orange curls spreading wildly behind her on the pillow. "We need to get up soon."

"Why?"

"Because we have reputations to keep."

"Dove. We bolted from the party after I kissed you in front of everyone. Any reputations we had are gonna be changed," he chuckled. "Besides, who could really judge you? A devilishly handsome birdman ready and willing to sweep you off your feet would make anyone swoon. And who could blame me? If people don't think I'm the luckiest guy alive, they need to get their eyes checked."

"Keigo," she giggled.

"Just a few more minutes, Lyla," Hawks said. The hero wrapped an arm around her stomach and pulled himself closer to her, resting his head in the crook of her neck while one of his crimson wings draped over top of her. "If you're right and you do manage to slip away from me once all this Liberation crap is over with, then I want to enjoy the moment. We can say Mari Yoshioka had a little too much to drink when we escaped last night. Or isn't it technically this morning? Anyway, it'll explain your headache and why I stayed here so long, because I'm a nice hero who wanted to take care of you."

"Always quick with the excuses."

"Mhm," he mumbled. He let himself relax for a moment, but his heartbeat quickened as his brain caught up with the fact that he was so close to her once again. Hawks lifted his head, a mischievous glint in his golden eyes. "Besides, I haven't gotten to kiss you yet."

A blush spread across Espionage's face. "You kissed me multiple times a few hours ago."

Hawks snickered. In a fluid motion, he pulled himself up so that he was halfway on top of her. Her breath hitched as he stared down at her, one of his hands reaching to cup her cheek before sliding down to the back of her head so he could lace his fingers between the strands of her hair. Her sky-blue eyes widened as she glanced from his eyes to his lips and back again. She looked as hungry for him as he felt for her.

"It's not the same."

The feeling that burst within Hawks's chest was strikingly similar to the first time he kissed her against that brick wall in the alleyway. His pulse quickened and he was suddenly breathless, like he had just run a marathon. Her heart was beating so hard that he could feel it against his own chest. The temperature of the air around him seemed to elevate as he pulled away from her only to get a quick breath and send his lips crashing into hers again. She melted into him as his tongue teased the corners of her mouth. One of her hands moved to lock itself into his hair above the back of his neck, the other slid to the base of his right wing, where her fingers gently stroked and tugged at the small, fluffy feathers that grew there. It was a familiar sensation, but made him feel prickles go down his spine, nonetheless. Hawks moved back again, reveling in the blissful look on Espionage's face. She looked as if she forgot about her worries and the terrifying world around them, like she was truly happy, if only for that small moment. She was just as gorgeous as he remembered.

"Fuck, Lyla," he groaned as he continued to look her over. "I love you."

"I love you too, Keigo."