Birds of a Feather Collection

Music to One's Ears

— Soulmate au. Music guides the heart and soul to where it belongs. Hawks had never heard of such thing; only droning white noise for the whole of his life. Until one day he hears it: the lilting sound of chimes.

Music.

The idea of something so simple sounding and yet so foreign to his own ears fascinated Hawks for a couple of reasons. First, because it was what all those lovebirds that found one another heard whenever they were with each other. Stories he'd heard made them sound quite like the magical experience. Surreal and rather mystical to a fault.

And second because he hadn't heard any such thing he could define as 'music'. Though he supposed that with no real gauge to compare it to, he wouldn't really know what it was even if he happened to hear it. "You'll know,"was what those he knew who had told him, "You'll feel it and you'll know."

But even twenty two years of hearing nothing but white noise didn't bother Hawks. Hearing that fantastical sound that everybody described and finding that 'right' person was never his priority. He had other things to worry about being the No.2 hero; people to save, crimes to stop, people to capture. Hero stuff. And it never bothered him once in those twenty two years that all he ever heard was the monotonous noise of his life.

That changed one day when the softest of chimes reached his ears. He'd been flying over Kyushu doing his routine patrols when he heard it. At first he thought they were wind chimes. They sounded like it anyway. But something about them had been different. The gentle sound of them for that brief moment stopped in his tracks to listen, and the chime reached him again.

Soft. Light. Sweet.

There wasn't another way to describe it. But as fast as it came it was gone. Like the ring of a bell or the flash of a light, it disappeared. As soon as he realized it was gone, his heart sunk. Hawks clutched at his chest puzzled. What the hell made him feel so empty all of a sudden?

Curious, he lowered himself to the ground, his massive crimson wings gently grounding him. The sun was barely setting and it bathed the streets of his town a hue of red orange that he had to ignore for once. Right then what was most on his mind was finding the source of that lilting chime.

Then it rang. His head whirled in its direction, hair sweeping with him as he took flight as close to the floor as he could while chasing that sound. It grew and grew in volume and as it did it sent chills down his spine the like he'd never felt before. They were warm, gentle. Unlike anything he'd ever felt.

But he was so fixated on getting to that sound that when he turned a sharp corner onto the next street he crashed right into someone else. Expected with how low he'd been to the ground but Hawks hadn't thought much about it. He hadn't given thought to much of anything when thinking about those chimes. Chimes that were now oddly louder than they had been before.

"I'm so sorry!" he called out, instantly springing to his feet and helping round up the things the person had dropped because of his carelessness.

When you didn't respond that brought his attention to you as you hurriedly tried collecting all your belongings. When you finally met eyes with him, you flustered at recognizing one of the top heroes in the country. But you didn't speak. Instead you bowed seemingly trying to apologize for what happened.

"It wasn't your fault."

Not wanting to make this any worse, Hawks calmed you down and helped you while apologizing all the while for crashing into you. All you could do was try and be understood.

"Sorry, really. I didn't mean to crash into you."

Realizing that nothing of what you did would get your point across, you simply smiled. Hawks' brow knitted down—not just because he could hear the chimes louder than ever now but because they started forming a pattern. One that he could only describe as beautiful.

Like you.

You motion with your hands at yourself and bow. Fixating on that oddity, he finds himself blurting out. "Hey, can you speak?"

Your lips purse as if thinking how to respond. Suddenly you point at your ears instead and open your mouth to let a garble noise out, dissonant and unlike those chimes that he could still here.

" 'an't 'ear."

Oh.

His wings fell almost touching the street, belying the emotions that had built up in him and tried to hide. "I'm really sorry."

You shake your head and smile, genuinely seeming like it didn't bother you that you had to do that just then. It wasn't until a full moment later that Hawks realized he was still holding onto something of yours and passed it swiftly back to you.

"Um," he rubbed the back of his head and gave you a small smile to return the ones you'd given. "Are you heading home?" You nod. "Train or car?" You point to the sign that leads to the station. Without missing a beat, he asked, "Mind if I walk you to the station?"

Your eyes widen but then you smile and nod. Hawks takes his time falling in stride with you as the two of you head there. It's not until he runs over what had just happen in his head—chimes still loudly ringing and lulling him into a calm he couldn't explain—that he realizes something.

Tapping your shoulder to get your attention, he said, "How do you understand if you can't hear me?"

She chuckles, maybe because it took him that long to notice that, but she didn't do much chiding aside from that. Instead she pointed first to her eyes and then tapped her lush full lips with her finger. Brow furrowed, Hawks thought about it for a second before figuring it out.

"Lips—oh, you can read them." You nod enthused at his understanding. Hawks chuckles at how long that took him and rubbed the back of his neck again out of habit. "My bad. The hit must've knocked my brains around a bit."

You chuckle. What sounded like one at least. Hawks found it charming and light. Like those bells he could still hear chiming in her wake. He followed behind you, enjoying the quiet that let the chimes be heard.

Hawks didn't know what to think of what he heard, in reality. He'd never heard that kind of sound before but he knew what it was when he heard it. Weird how all those people were right all along. There wasn't a need to know what it was. Just what it made them feel.

And he felt at ease.

He liked that feeling.

The station came into view far too soon and Hawks pursed his lips, sorry that he hadn't started any idle chatter with you for as much as that'd be worth. When you both reached the entrance, you stop with him skipping a step at the abrupt stop. You turn on your heels and share a smile with him, apparently grateful from the look you gave him.

"Well," he let out a long breath, readying himself for you departure. "Guess this is where you and I part."

You gave him a tight lipped smile and the look on your eyes seemed thoughtful. Almost as if you were trying to think of something to say...ironically enough. Eventually you nod and turn to leave. Hawks watched your receding back, feeling his chest tighten as the sound of chimes started to quiet down.

Damned white noise never sounded more dull than now that you were gone. Funny since he'd just met you by accident.

Yeah. Accident.

Resigning to the idea of never hearing that sweet sound again, Hawks spun around himself and stepped out of the station before stretching out his wings to prep to take flight. But just as he was about to give a massive flap of his wings his body stiffened at the sharp sound of chimes a second before a body crashed into his back. The moment he peered over his shoulder amber eyes widened at the sight of you rubbing your nose that'd been squished at you smashing into him.

"Hey," Hawks couldn't help the hopeful tinge in his voice as his heart skipped a beat to the rhythm of the chimes. "You're gonna miss your train."

Your mouth opened and closed a couple of times as if trying speak but eventually, you gave up, opting instead to take his hand to press a folded piece of ripped paper into it. Seemingly curious, Hawks opened the folded paper to find your name jotted down on it along with a number.

His eyes opened wide as saucers at the straight forward approach of yours but a cheeky grin came to his lips and his feathers preened.

"You the type to give your number to strangers?"

He was joking but he found the tinted hue that bloomed on your cheeks as you shake your head adorable. Hawks twirled the piece of paper between his fingers pensively. One question rose above all else in his head and unable to stop himself, he asked it aloud.

"Why?"

Your eyes go askance for a moment as if debating whether to tell him. But a sweet smile comes to your lips just when the chimes seem loudest. Even those quiet down though when she meets your gaze again.

You pointed at yourself, to your chest above your heart, to your ear, to him, and finally motioned your hand up from the base of your throat out towards your mouth. And with you mouthing each word as clearly as you could, it didn't take Hawks anytime at all to figure out what you meant.

"I like the sound of your voice."

Hawks chuckled under his breath and palmed your number into his pocket where his phone was.

"That being the case, may I text you later? You know, just to make sure you made it home alright."

You chuckled at the attempt to brush such thing of as suave. But you nodded in the end and jogged into the station when the two of you noticed you'd miss your train if you didn't hurry.

With you gone, Hawks went home. Once there and comfortable, he sat back against the railing of his balcony phone open to your contact that he'd saved as soon as he got home. He wondered about texting you. Of whether it was alright to do so. Remembering the sound of those sweet chimes though made his mind up for him, and his fingers went to work.

He found the one melody only he could hear.

And apparently, so had you.