Synopsis: Slightly AU. Hawks is cast out of his home as a child because his own parents feel he is a burden. Enter Azumi. A nurse working for a clinic that can barely support herself. Through thick and thin, they help each other as only two neglected souls can. Starts while Hawks is a child and goes all the way to the Manga timeframe.
Author's Note: Contains some spoilers for the show and Manga. Rated for content and potential triggers throughout the story. Azumi is my character but for the rest I don't own MHA and am simply writing this because I had the idea and haven't found nearly enough Hawks Family Hurt Comfort style stories.
Chapter 1 - Found
Azumi sighed deeply as she walked down the street towards the darker low end part of Fukuoka. She had stayed an hour past closing at the clinic where she worked as a nurse. She missed the bus which would have taken her right to her apartment building, and now had to walk in the cold. Azumi didn't regret staying late though. The soup seller had been cut deeply on his hand and needed stitches. The doctor who was on evening duty requested Azumi to help with her quirk so he could work on the poor man without needing to get a number of expensive medications out that the uninsured soup seller, Wu, wouldn't be able to afford. They were able to finish in only 50 minutes and were both given bags of fish soup by Wu's daughter Mii as a thank you. Since she got free dinner, Azumi did not regret missing the bus.
She pushed some of her blue hair back and cast her purple eyes to the windows of the shops in passing. She wasn't tall, topping out at 5' 5". Her hair was varied shades of blue and her eyes were bright purple. Fair skinned with a scarf and long coat, she radiated calm and comfort, which was part of her quirk that made her such a great nurse. It was called Relax. The more she spoke, the more she could relax someone mentally, physically and emotionally. This helped with violent aggressive patients, overwhelmed families that came to the clinic, and in extreme cases, she could relax a person to the point that they felt no pain. Making her invaluable to a clinic that was lucky if half of their patients could even finance their bills. Unfortunately her quirk didn't work on herself, and she had to work extra hard to stay positive enough to use it on others. If she were not in enough of a calm state of mine to activate it and speak, it wouldn't work.
Her black bag was over her shoulder and she was gripping the hot soup in both hands to help keep her warm on the way home. The tall overcrowded two room apartments looming in the distance. Becoming more aware, Azumi walked a bit faster. This part of town is where most of the low life addicts and criminals lived because of cheap rent. Heroes or sidekicks rarely patrolled here because of the poorly lit streets and dangerous trashy alleys or sidewalks. Azumi was being paid by the city to work at the clinic. Barely enough for her food and board in a limited income building with two meals a day. She was working hard to save money to go back to school and finish her degree, becoming a real doctor, but for now it was overtime hours at the clinic which meant long days of dead tired nights.
A rattling noise caught her attention one block from her building. It was accompanied by a child's sneeze and whine, Azumi slowing her pace as she peered around. Criminals would use any trick to get someone walking home late to stop so they could get mugged. Azumi thought about her soup and how she didn't want to lose a free meal to thieves. She was about to pick up her lace again when she heard the child sneeze again, the rattling noise identified as the sound a trash can bumping a dumpster would make, as a single red feather drifted from the alley to the sidewalk in front of her. It landed on the concrete, twitched and shot back to the alley. As Azumi peeked into the alley, she saw a large red mass huddled by the dumpster, feathers shaking. Looking around a moment, Azumi decided the risk was worth it, and stepped to the end of the alley.
"Are you alright?" She took the time to activate her quirk, allowing the calming words to leave her lips. The rattling stopped and Azumi realized the mass of red was in fact beautiful red feathers from a set of wings that came to almost three feet off the ground! They were every which way accepted straight and smooth, with a few moving apart to reveal the face of a small boy. His hair was on the shaggy side, dirty blonde, although from the dirt on his face, she wondered how much of it was his real color and what was dirt. His eyes were lined with black ending in points on either side, full of tears that tracked down tk quivering lips showed her he was only five at the most. His golden yellow irises caught her attention though, as they stared intently at her, reminding her of a scared bird. Azumi didn't move closer, but she did crouch down to be closer to his height.
"Do you live around here?" she spoke calmly, willing her quirk to try and calm him down. His wings rustled as he was shaking, eyes still staring at her as he shook his head no. Tears falling as he sniffed.
"You must be lost then. You look so scared, What's your name?" Azumi spoke softly feeling her quirk starting to work on him. He slowly unfurled his wings, which she could now see were attached to his back. They were large enough to cocoon him as he sat curled up on a trash can lid. He was hugging himself against the November cold dressed in a small white tee shirt that was missing the back where his wings came through. He was barefoot with a pair of blue and grey pajamas bottoms one size too small. He spoke with a shaky whisper as if afraid to be loud.
"K-Keigo."
"Well Keigo, my name is Azumi." She shifted her bag of soup to her left hand and used her right to point to her building. "I live in that building right there, on the sixth floor. That window with the flowers? That's my home." She noticed he was leaning to see where she pointed, still hugging himself and sniffling. He was a bit more calm, although he was still shaking from the cold without his wings around him.
"I was going to go home and eat this nice warm soup. But I would feel better with someone else to eat it with me. Would you like to come with me tonight? And I will help you find your home in the morning? It's a bit late and cold, and I have so much soup." She waited as he seemed to be thinking, her quirk having relaxed his fears. Part of her wanted him to say no. To point out she was a stranger and she should call the police to help him get home. Another part of her, the part that was an observant nurse at a clinic knew he wouldn't say that. He was wearing clothes too small for his build, and was skinnier than most five year olds she saw. His hair and wings looked like no one bothered to try and take care of him for a few days, and she saw purplish bruises on his lower left jaw, left shoulder and around his right forearm.
Keigo finally nodded, sniffling again as he slowly hopped off the trash can lid and walked to her. His wings seemed heavy and were dragging behind him a bit, feet clacking as she saw small talons in his toes, adding to the bird features of his quirk. Azumi's smile never faltered though, as she double knotted the bag of soup to put it in her shoulder bag. Opening her arms to him, she waited as he got closer, seeing the smile and open arms. Keigo only paused a moment before he threw himself into her arms, hia wings shuddering. Azumi helped him to lift his legs onto the sides of her hips, his hands gripping her jacket and his face buried in her shoulder. Standing she put her arms around him to hold him close as the little boy shivered and wrapped his wings around her to keep them out of the way. They were very warm, and Azumi understood why he had curled up in them.
As she walked, she talked about herself and her job, asking a few questions here and there to make sure he was awake. She particularly enjoyed the way he trilled when he liked something she said, or the way she caught him peeking up at her with a look of wonder in his golden eyes. As if he couldn't believe someone was being so nice to him. They were in her building and up the stairs, walking through her door in no time. Keigo stood a bit away from Azumi looking at his feet on her carpeted floor as she removed her shoes and jacket, hanging up her bag and scarf and removed the bag of soup. When she walked to the kitchen, he finally looked around the warm softly lit apartment.
The entire place was carpeted, which felt soft and different under his taloned feet. The front door opened into the mainroom. The far left wall has a series of shelves and drawers with a tv in the wall. An L shaped sofa in front of the TV was the only real furniture. The wall opposite the front door was large windows that had flowers painted in them, like she had said, with a sliding door that led to a balcony. The right side of the room had a kitchen built into two thirds of the wall. A half wall island built in to separate it and act as a table with folding seats built into the half wall. Immediately to the right of the front door was the bathroom. Simple with a shower tub and toilet. A small doorway behind the kitchen led to the bedroom. More built in shelves and drawers and a closet with a large queen size futon bed in the middle of the room. Overall it was the nicest place Keigo had seen, and Azumi laughed when he said it out loud.
Azumi started the rice cooker and poured the soup in a pot on the stove, the chunks of fish looked huge now that it wasn't in a bag. Realizing the rice was going to take a bit, Azumi looked at Keigo, who was still near the doorway with his wings shielding him a bit. He looked filthy, and she was still in her scrubs.
"Keigo, would it be alright if I drew you a bath? And some clothes that fit you while the rice cooks?" Azumi motioned to the bathroom and saw the little boy tense, his wings shaking from fear and his eyes staring at the bathroom, which didn't go unnoticed by her.
"W-was I b-bad, Azumi?" Keigo struggled to speak clearly and not whisper, Azumi stayed where she was in the kitchen. She started to use her Quirk again, speaking gently.
"No Keigo, you've been a very good boy since I found you. Don't you want to be clean and in new clothes?" She thought for a moment and added, "I can make the bath and leave the clothes in there. You can do it all by yourself. I won't even go in. How does that sound? Better?" Keigo nodded quickly and followed her slowly as she started a warm bath for him. A set of her gym shorts with a drawstring on the front folded on the towel and washcloth. Once he was in the bathroom with the door shut she dug out her smallest tee shirt that didn't fit anymore. Taking a pair of scissors to it, she cut two large slits in the back for his wings, smiling at her handiwork as the rice cooker dinged. Adding the rice to the soup she stirred while yelling towards the bathroom that dinner was done. Listening, she heard him getting out of the bathtub, thinking about how he had reacted to mentioning a bath. And then she heard it.
It was the sound no woman with a maternal instinct ever wants to hear. A child crying with such fear and anxiety as to almost wail. The stove was turned off as Azumi hurried to 5he bathroom door and knocked.
"Keigo? It's Azumi! Are you ok? Can I come in?" She was struggling to calm herself so she could use her Quirk to calm him down. If she wasn't calm it wouldn't work. She heard the struggling breath as he was trying to speak, but out came another cry as she tried the doorknob finding it unlocked.
"Keigo, I'm coming in. I just want to make sure you are ok. I'm opening the door now." She turned the knob and opened the door to see the small boy standing in the middle of the bathroom crying wearing her shorts and the towel at his feet soaking wet. His hands were over his face in defeat, his wings splayed out behind him as much as they could in the small bathroom. The bathwater was a kurky brown, and he looked clean and new as a shiny yen coin. His hair was the same golden yellow as his eyes, currently wet and messy. His skin was as fair as hers showing the bruises more clearly than before. The feathers on his wings were damp and fluffed up, which led her to look at the rest of the bathroom that was sprayed with water. She understood what had happened immediately. Like anyone with fur or feathers that got wet, he had shaken the water from his wings and then failed to clean it all up. Azumi kneeled on the wet floor. Not caring if her scrubs got wet as she gently grabbed a fresh towel from a drawer.
"I-I'm so-sorry-y! I-I tri-tried not to!" Keigo was hyperventilating as he struggled to speak through his tears. Azumi gently used the towel to brush at his hands and face until he opened one golden eye to look at her. She was smiling and didn't look angry in the slightest. Gently moving to dry his hair, she remained quiet as he hiccuped while trying to calm down, his golden eyes on her as she continued to dry him off. Once he was all dry she gently patted his wings with the towel and then wrapped her arms around him in a hug whispering.
"It's ok Keigo. It's just water. It's ok." She smiled a bit sadly to show him she meant it, and took one of his hands, slowly standing up.
"Let's get a shirt on you and get some food in you. How does that sound?" The small boy took a shaky breath as he nodded and gripped her hand in his walking with her out of the bathroom.
Keigo was both grateful and confused about how Azumi was treating him versus his own parents. His mother had told him acting on his animal instincts was disgusting and wrong. Shaking out rain or water from his wings usually had her screaming that he was acting like an animal. It would result in a night in the closet like a dog would be kenneled. But Azumi wasn't even upset that he had shaken water all over the bathroom. She had let him take a bath alone, instead of trying to scrub him with ice cold water. She was sharing her soup with him, gave him clean new clothes and had cut holes on the back of a shirt for his wings, smiling proudly that she got the sizing right. His heart was clenched at how kind she was to him, a total stranger, a monster with a disgusting animal quirk that made him not human. But she spoke soothing words to him, gently rubbed his back where his muscles ached from his wings growing. She even started straightening and grooming his wings for him while he had seconds and thirds of the delicious rice and fish soup. Keigo was starved for kind affection and she was indulging him without any hesitation or fear.
By the time the clock in her living room struck midnight, he was laying on the sofa with his head in her lap as she gently ran her fingers through his hair. His eyes were drifting closed because he felt clean, warm, full of yummy food and he felt wanted. He wished this could be every night he would help Azumi with anything around the house or any of her errands if it meant he could stay. But places like this, people like Azumi were for good boys. And Keigo was a monster. His thoughts were interrupted by Azumi speaking softly.
"Keigo? Are you willing to come with me to work tomorrow? I would like the doctor there to look at you and make sure you are ok. Especially because of these." She gently touched his jaw where the bruise was, earning a flinch from the boy in her lap. Her hands moved back to his hair speaking softly. "Did your parents do that to you?"
He nodded as he gripped her pants whispering. "I was bad." Azumi didn't ask anymore questions. Instead, she moved her arms under his to lift him into her lap, cradling him as she had when she walked with him. His wings shuttered as he gripped her shirt and buried his face into her shoulder as she rocked him gently, one arm holding him to her while the other gently stroked his wings. Azumi kept quiet, letting him drift to sleep until his wings her limply draped around her since he was in her lap. Standing carefully, she moved to the bedroom and tucked him into her bed watching his wings curl around him in his sleep. She slipped from the room to dry what hadn't air dried in the bathroom and clean up dinner. She sent a text to her boss before changing into her own pajamas and curling up in the bed next to Keigo.
Azumi couldn't have children, which was one of many reasons she lived alone struggling to make ends meet and get back to school. She watched Keigo sleep and struggled to keep her anger in check at his parents. He was such a sweet little boy, with an animalistic quirk that they didn't seem to understand how to handle. She would take him to work with her and let her boss take a look at him and tell her what to do. He had a family, even if all signs pointed to the fact they were cruel to him. Legally, she couldn't keep him without some serious trouble. Azumi felt Keigo curl into her side and grip her tee-shirt in one hand, the other had a thumb in his mouth. Her heart melted as she put her arms around him protectively. For tonight, she could pretend he was hers and she would take care of him. Her eyes drifting shut as his wings draped over them both.