Hawks-Sensei

by GC4life

After the incident at USJ the Hero Public Safety Commission is concerned about the security of UA. With All Might still a target and a member of the staff they offer to add another hero to their roster to boost their security as well as appease the public. Hawks does not want this job. He has many other jobs that need doing. The kids are kind of cool though. They make him laugh.

28. Even Hopeful Wishes Can Hurt

Oof. This took some time, huh? I re-wrote this so many times T-T But! I think I finally got down the tone I was aiming for and the puzzle pieces I need for later! I'm actually pretty proud of this one. And dang, it's long as heck compared to all the other chapters. Sweet! Thank you all for being so wonderfully sweet and encouraging! You're eighty percent of the reason I was able to fight through and get this as perfected as I could!

Hawks talks to an old friend

You don't need to wear shoes to ask for help

Aizawa induces panic attacks with resting bitch face

All Might is a sweetheart

Hawks plays note-taker

It's time for an overdue meeting

Sweet victories turn sour

Sour victories even worse

-00-

Even Hopeful Wishes Hurt

-00-

Hawks looked at the text he was about to send to Chisaki with a thoughtful frown. He turned it around to show it off.

We need to talk

"What do you think?" Hawks asked. "Do I sound too much like someone wanting to break up? It's such a stereotypical line but I mean, if it works it works, right? I even left out the period to really show off how angry I was."

He was met with judgemental silence.

"Fine, fine, I'll send it," Hawks flipped the phone back towards him and hit send before setting it aside. "Sorry. That wasn't actually what I wanted to talk about. I'm in a bit of a situation and I have three outcomes I need to plan for. This is a whole new experience for me so I need a good listening ear to hear me out, you know?"

Hawks tapped his talons along the sides of his arm, mask falling. The wooden floor of his kitchen wasn't the best place for an important strategy meeting but the chill seeping through his skin dressed in only a t-shirt and shorts made sure he stayed completely focused on the task at hand.

"Worst case scenario, Aizawa already knows it was me," Hawks stared at the floor, eyes eerily wide in the comfort of his own place. "Something gave me away definitively and he believes I am an illegal vigilante or, worse, a villain. He hasn't informed the police yet, nothing has shown on their database even the ones I'm not technically supposed to have access to. No heroes have stormed my apartment. He's keeping this information to himself if he knows. If I tell the Commission that I am potentially compromised at this stage it would be handled before it became a problem. Under the Undercover Operations Agent Protection Laws, the Commission would have the legal right to pull Aizawa into protective custody until I am no longer undercover. Which would mean Aizawa being taken from UA."

Hawks brought his wings around his shoulders, wings brushing the cabinets and floor around him. He placed a fist on his chin, frowning.

"You don't know Aizawa. At least, I don't think you do. You're not one to team-up with underground heroes like him. So you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that has to be the absolute last resort. UA needs Aizawa. He gets through to those kids in a way no one else can, and removing him now would be a huge blow to both the students and staff. It would seriously mess up the progress of our future heroes and that's what I'm actively working to stop right now."

Hawks did not mention the fact that he had grown increasingly fond of Aizawa over his months at UA and of all the people in the world Aizawa was the least deserving of having his entire life upended just because he was doing his job. If anything jeopardized that and Hawks was to blame then he would never be able to look anyone in the eye again without lying. He'd leave UA the second it happened.

"So," Hawks clapped his hands, blank-faced and sarcastic, "problem solving that mess. If he knows, Aizawa hasn't informed the police for sure and if he's informed any other heroes it's the ones on the staff with him. Any other hero would have barged in here already or reported me themselves. So I have a small window of opportunity to talk with him myself first. Aizawa has been an underground Hero for years. He's done several undercover operations himself. He would know how important they are. If I explain the situation to him I'm pretty confident that he'll keep it to himself and it would be good to have someone at UA that could cover for me if anything happens."

Hawks rolled his neck back to stare at the ceiling.

"But… I can't say for sure that he'll leave me alone about it. He's as grumpy as they come- even compared to you and that's saying something- but he's also the near-perfect personification of the word 'hero'. He'll complain about it but he is driven to stick his nose in every space it isn't wanted only he does it subtly which is worse. He views me as a kid at times too, which means if he thinks I'm not handling everything well he'll try to find ways to step in. So, you know, the endangerment of others thing I always complain about. And if you endanger Aizawa you are absolutely endangering his kids too because they would literally follow him into hell even if he told them not to. Probably because he told them not to. So there's that."

Hawks breathed in heavily through his nose.

"Pushing that to the side for a second, there's situation number two. Where he doesn't know for sure but he's suspicious that it could be me. I don't even know if that would be better or worse. If he's suspicious he's going to do things to try to prove his theories. It'll be like walking on a tightrope around him and I can handle that of course, I'm already doing that with a bunch of people, but I don't want to-"

Hawks pressed his lips together, lifting the collar of his shirt to press against his mouth before he said anything else.

He tapped his other hand along his knee.

"Technically," he said slowly, dragging the words from his throat, "this is a problem because of my personal attachments."

The silence around him felt stifling. Hawks stretched out his left wing, pressing it against the fridge so he could feel the vibrations of it through every feather.

"I know, I know," he huffed, lowering his head under the judgemental gaze. "Care but don't prioritize. The third scenario is more a hopeful wish of mine than anything else, but it is still a possibility. Where he has no suspicions about me at all and everything is completely normal. Feathered wings are rare, large ones even more so, but that doesn't mean he'll suspect it's me. He's smart but I don't think I did anything that would give me away. And I know I was planning to drop some hints here and there to draw in the League but I've barely even started that plan thanks to the Shie Hassaikai."

Hawks pursed his lips.

"Chisaki is just weird. He shouldn't have any real reason to think Raven and Hawks are connected. He's just paranoid."

Hawks thought about it.

"Aizawa is pretty paranoid too, though. But so am I. I could be blowing this completely out of proportion. Still, Aizawa has trained for years and worked in an area of heroics that really capitalizes on reading people. If anyone at UA was going to put the pieces together I would place my bets on him. Or Nezu."

Hawks rubbed at the goosebumps that erupted over his skin at the mere thought.

"Fuck. What if he told Nezu? Nezu wouldn't send heroes to my apartment, he'd wait for me to show up to UA where I'd be surrounded by his personal security system and Aizawa's Erasure quirk. But would he really confront me at UA when the students live on campus now? That would put them at risk. Nezu knows I wouldn't hurt the students though. Would I? What if I'm in a situation where I have to risk a student for something? What situation could possibly happen that would make that a choice I have to make? I don't know if I can-"

Hawks cut himself off sharply, dragging his talons through his hair.

"Ugh. Okay. Going way off topic there. The three scenarios. Regardless of what happens because of those scenarios those are still the main ones I need to plan for. Whichever it ends up being I need to choose between telling the Commission and not telling the Commission."

Hawks scowled at the harsh look directed his way.

"Yeah, yeah, rules are there for a reason. But Aizawa's a really good guy. That's the problem. As an underground hero I could totally trust him to keep this to himself, but as Aizawa I can't trust him to not interfere if he thinks I need help. Which is bad. So it's either ruin his life or risk his life."

Hawks reached out with a pointed finger, pressing in just the right spot to let out a long-winded 'fwoosh' noise.

"I don't have enough information to make a choice yet. So play the waiting game and dig. I'm good at that. Aizawa's blunt, I should be able to figure it out pretty quick."

Hawks sighed. He scratched through his hair with one hand, grabbing his Endeavour plush with the other. He was careful of the arm, the stitching was wearing thin there again.

"That's about as good as I'm going to get right now, isn't it?" he fiddled with the bit of string coming off the side. "Well, I know it was a waste of time but thanks for listening to me anyway."

Hawks squeezed it again, sighing along with the sound effect. "I should probably get going. I've got morning patrol of the dorms."

Lifting himself from the ground Hawks went to his hallway closet. Inside were a few extra blankets and the last gift basket he had gotten, still unopened, from the staff. He glanced at it, giving it a pout since he couldn't open it yet.

"Keep an eye on things for me," Hawks told Endeavour, setting him right down next to the basket. "Hopefully I'll be back later without messing everything up."

With a backward wave, Hawks went to face the day.

-00-

There were no pro's waiting to arrest him on campus. No Commission members or police officers either. Which was a good sign, of course.

Hawks did his rounds, turning into the small beams of the sun as it slowly appeared over the horizon. Everything seemed calm. The few feathers he had with the students were quiet, tucked away for the night.

It was when he was passing over the courtyard in front of 1-A's dorms that he heard it.

Someone was breathing, very quietly, tucked into one of the benches. Hawks squinted but he couldn't see anyone.

They sniffled.

Hawks touched down right next to the bench, stretching out his arms before plopping down on the other side. He turned his gaze to the horizon, giving her some privacy.

"You want to talk about it?" Hawks asked, keeping his eyes on the sunrise.

Hagakure hiccuped. "Y-you knew I was here?"

Hawks nearly turned to her because that was not the usual voice he heard from her. It was something soft and unsure. A bit broken.

"Of course," he stretched his neck to the side, as casual as possible. "It's why I sat down."

"Oh."

Hawks stretched his wings out behind the bench, letting the tip of his primary brush her shoulder. She sniffed.

"...I'm okay," she said and he could feel her look down. "I get like this sometimes, but I- I always bounce back quick. I'll be fine for training."

Hawks hummed thoughtfully. "That's pretty impressive. When I get sad it takes a bit longer than that."

She turned to him now but he kept looking out. Instead, he let his feathers brush her shoulder again.

"You get sad too, Hawks-sensei? I mean- I'm sorry. I know everyone gets sad sometimes. I just meant-"

"I get it," he laughed lightly. "Everyone else seems to have themselves so together, right? It's hard to see sometimes."

"Yeah," she said softly, lifting her hands and curling her fingers in and out. "You always seem so happy. Confident. I didn't… I didn't think you could be sad."

Hawks hid the bitter twist of his lips with an easy smile. He'd long since gotten used to the hollow, cave-like feeling in his chest and most of the time he didn't even feel it anymore. It was just there, and sometimes it ached a little stronger than usual but otherwise, he'd learned to live with it.

"Life is hard sometimes," he said. "I'd bet you know that pretty well yourself."

Hagakure rubbed at her face. "It's not so bad. Not usually. I have a really good life. And I get to go here and follow my dream. I've made a lot of friends and it's so much fun even though it's really scary sometimes."

Hawks nodded along, propping his arm on the armrest so he could rest his temple on his fist. "But?"

She breathed in shakily. Hawks could feel her fiddling with her fingers, running the tips of her index finger along the dips and divots of her knuckles and palms.

"If I came and sat out here during the afternoon, when everyone was walking by, and I cried like this," she looked up and around as though imagining it, "no one would notice."

Ah.

Hawks pictured it. A teenage girl, so overwhelmed by the world all she could do was cry out. And at a school full of heroes in training, what better place to do so? What better place to look for help?

What a terrible place to be overlooked.

"It wouldn't be their fault," Hagakure said quietly. "I'm not even wearing my shoes. It's not like I'm trying to be noticed."

"No one else has to wear shoes for someone to care," Hawks pointed out for her, turning to look at her now with a sad smile.

She sobbed. Hawks wrapped his wing carefully around her shoulders and she leaned into it. He could feel her arms raise so she could bury her face in her hands.

Hawks let her rest fully on his wing but didn't touch her otherwise. He curled one knee up, wrapping his arms around his ankle and resting his chin on his knee. "I'm going to take a wild guess that the attacks on the school haven't made you feel any better," he said lightly, making sure not to add any pressure to his voice.

She shook her head.

"I-," she choked, curling into a ball. It was a lot easier to wrap her fully in his wing, giving her a cocoon to hide in and it helped that with his feathers he would be able to hear what she said even if she mumbled.

Which she did. Barely audible, hands clasped over her face and shaken.

"I was right there. Right where they took him. Jiro-chan and I were both unconscious and- and Aoyama was the only one awake with us. He's not strong enough to carry us both. If he'd had to- to pick one of us to save first he would have-," she shook, raising her knees to bury her face in them. "He should pick Jiro-chan. I'm less likely to be noticed by the villains, it would have made sense to get her first and then come back for me but maybe he wouldn't be able to even find me again. Maybe someone would step on me. Maybe no one would and the gas would keep me unconscious until I died."

Hawks frowned, knowing she couldn't see him with her face covered and body turned into his feathers. That… was horrifying. Just the thought of being left behind and forgotten in such a situation (in any situation) would scar any adult, but a teenager?

"Have you talked to anyone about this before?" he asked softly. "Your parents?"

"No," she gripped at her hair, tugging at the short strands a bit. Hawks let a feather drift loose, slipping between her fingers so she would stop and focus on that instead. She jolted. "Um," she seemed startled, her choked breaths stuttering for a second and Hawks gave himself a little pat on the back for getting her a bit out of her thoughts, "n-no. They already worry about me. If I talked about something like this they would never let me be a hero."

"Fair enough," Hawks said, because he had no idea what to say to that. Logically he could try to tell her that 'they would understand, they're your parents' but his only base of knowledge for that was foggy memories and the Commission. Not great comparisons. "What about Hound Dog? I know all of the hero course students are required to meet with him a few times a month, especially now, but you can always set up more with him."

Hagakure breathed out softly, trying to calm herself down. Hawks wasn't sure how to feel about the easy way she managed to do it. She had stopped sobbing, her shoulders barely trembling, and her voice was stronger now. If he hadn't watched her break down he might have underestimated how upset she was.

"I… I should talk to him. He's here to help us and Aizawa-sensei is always telling us that it's important to talk about our feelings because if we bottle them up and ignore them they're just going to get us and the people around us hurt when bad things happen."

"Well," Hawks blinked, "yeah, I can see that, but dang he's kind of a little blunt with that."

She giggled softly. Hawks tamped down on a victorious smile but his feathers puffed up a bit tellingly.

"Aizawa-sensei sounds mean, but he's a big softy. He loves us a lot, even if he pretends he doesn't. He told me to talk to Hound Dog-sensei too, and I should, but I just-," she huffs, suddenly frustrated.

Hawks went back to staring at the rising sun, waiting. This was a great distraction from his spiraling thoughts about Aizawa and potentially ruining the man's entire life, and if this ended up being his last interaction with one of his students then he would make sure it was one where she got some of the help she needed.

"I don't know," she sighed, poking at his wing with her index finger. "This- being invisible is something I've always had to deal with. And I can, it's stupid to be so worked up about it now- hey!"

Hawks used his other wing to give her a light thwap on the head.

"Being invisible is hard, right?" he asked seriously.

Hagakure rubbed at her head, face as still as stone despite the cheer in her voice. "I mean, sometimes, but everyone has things they think are hard, right?"

"But it's hard sometimes?" Hawks pressed.

"...Yeah," she admitted softly.

"Then it's not stupid to ask for help," Hawks told her. "Especially after everything that's happened. You guys were attacked, twice, and feared for your lives. That's traumatizing whether you're a hero or not, and you're just students. Being invisible in a situation like that sounds horrifying, and you had to live through that fear. Of course you're going to feel even worse about everything now, that's only logical."

Hagakure huffed out a tiny laugh. "You sound a lot like Aizawa-sensei."

Hawks blinked. He mentally berated his wings for fluffing up at the praise. "Then that just means I'm doubly right. You're going to experience a lot of scary things as a hero, Hagakure-chan. And any fears you have now are only going to get bigger. If you push them away like that and never try to face them then they're going to hit you when you least want them to."

Hawks had learned that the hard way, and he still struggled with it at times. Finding moments where he could sit and process everything he'd pushed away was difficult and uncomfortable but the longer he went without trying the more damaging it was when he finally let it out. He didn't want to see his students getting into the same habits.

"You have to find a time to deal with these emotions," Hawks said, lowering his wing so she could see him. He stared right at where her eyes were. "I don't know how to help you with that, but Hound Dog does. And if, for some reason, he doesn't he knows to start looking for people that can help you but he's not going to start until he knows it's something you need."

Hagakure looked away first.

"I," she hesitated, before clenching her hands into fists and shaking her head, "I can try."

He reached out to place a hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit. It was shorter than he thought it would be. About the same length as Bakugo's but with only a slight curl.

"That's exactly the kind of bravery that will make you an amazing hero."

"Hawks-sensei," she warbled. "Can I- can I have a hug?"

Hawks had barely lifted his arm before she was squeezing him around the waist with her face pressed sharply into his arm. He couldn't quite stop the wheezing breath from the strength of her grip.

"Oh man," he patted her head, breathing in deeply around her death grip. "You are a lot stronger than you look."

"Y-you can't e-even see me," she sobbed and giggled, loosening her grip just enough that he could take a less strangled breath.

"Not with my eyes, no," he patted her head again, letting his wings curl around them. Poor kid. Hawks didn't know the feeling of being unseen like she did, but-

'I don't want to. I'm scared. Why won't you just listen to me! I don't want to! I understand. I understand.'

-he could empathize a bit with being ignored.

The sun was lifting off the horizon now. His patrol was technically over by now but he had a few feathers still flying around campus just in case.

"Hey," he rested his hand on her head, ruffling it again just to make her laugh. "I'm not going to lie and tell you that you'll find people that will always see you. Even if you get a miracle and manage to find that, holding out hope for it is only going to hurt you. But I can definitely promise that you'll find people that will always be happy when they do see you. When they hear you and know you're there. I'm not all that knowledgeable about your weird teen friend dynamics but I'm pretty sure you're already making a good start with that too. You have some friends, yeah?"

Hagakure nodded, pulling back and wiping at her face. Hawks couldn't see her do it, his wings were letting him know what was happening, but he could see the reflection of the light on her tears.

"All of the girls in class," Hagakure sniffled and Hawks could feel the way her cheeks lifted as her lips curled up a small bit. It was the first strong shift of expression he'd sensed from her. "And some of the boys. And Ojiro-kun."

"Oh~?" Hawks cupped his chin, smirking. "Why isn't Ojiro-kun included in the boy's group? Is he… special somehow?"

Her temperature rocketed up as she sputtered, her hands flying spastically around her.

"Hawks-sensei, you can't just go around asking things like that! Especially to girls! They won't like you if you do that!"

Hawks laughed, hopping up and stretching out his wings. "I'll have you know I'm considered a hot commodity to ladies and gentlemen everywhere."

"That's only because they don't know you," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Good looks only get you so far!"

Hawks mouth dropped a bit. "Hagakure-chan! When did you get so mean!"

She giggled. Her arms dropped and she stood up as well. "I'm sorry, Hawks-sensei. I was just teasing you for being tactless."

Hawks held a hand to his chest dramatically. "Wow. My own student, turning against me like this. Alright, fine, I'll take your cruel words into consideration."

Hawks batted his wings at her to make her laugh again. She flapped her hands at them, hitting them away before they could make her stumble.

Hawks let a feather shake loose, floating it over to curl in her hand. "Hold on to that."

She looked down at it, the skin around her eyes tense as she stared.

"If you keep this on you then it doesn't matter if you're invisible or not," Hawks told her. "I'll be able to find you."

"Hawks-sensei," she said.

She punched his arm.

"Wha-," Hawks rubbed at the light sting, stunned. "I thought Bakugo was the aggressive one, you can't just hit your teacher!"

Hagakure tucked the feather away in a pocket, Hawks blinking as it disappeared from his eyesight even though he could still feel it.

"What do you mean? I didn't hit you, Hawks-sensei!"

"Uh, yes you did?"

"Can you prove it was me?"

Hawks clicked his tongue. "Wow. You know, I've learned a lot about you Hagakure-chan."

"Like how I'm the best?"

He snorted.

"Sure. It's just about breakfast time. Come on, hatchling, I'll walk you back."

"Thank you!"

As they walked back together Hawks kept a wing curled up and out so it rested on top of her head. Hagakure didn't seem to mind it, jumping into a re-telling of yesterday's breakfast where Bakugo had made food for himself and refused to share with anyone other than Kirishima.

"Oh! And Momo-chan! She tried to make something- I think it was rice?- but she burned it so bad he gave her the leftovers of the food he made. Momo started crying because she was so touched and Bakugo started yelling and he ran off cause he was embarrassed."

"Bakugo-kun? Embarrassed?" Hawks opened the door to the dorm for her, one eyebrow raised.

"I think," Hagakure lowered her voice to a sneaky whisper (so of course Hawks had to lean in with a 'gossip circle' smirk), "he was trying to thank her for going to save him, because I see him try to approach Iida-kun and Todoroki-kun sometimes before he walks away like a grumpy tortoise. And he's been so nice to Kirishima-kun! Well, he's always been nicer to Kirishima-kun but that's because Kirishima-kun has the heart of a puppy and everyone loves him too much to ever be mean to him even the people that are inherently mean. Not that Bakugo-kun is very mean anymore- he still yells all the time and I'm pretty sure he's forgotten everyone's names on purpose this time- but he's a lot quieter than I thought he would be when we all first moved in. And he's so clean! He cleans the kitchen every morning and night after he makes food so if we make ourselves something before he does he'll clean up our mess too!"

"Wow, you guys rea-ahhly," Hawks jumped when he saw Aizawa standing in the common area with his arms cross and irritated expression clearly visible with all his hair pulled back in a messy bun, "have a plan worked out. Haha, hopefully Bakugo-kun doesn't catch on!"

"Even if he does I bet I can still sneak stuff in," she tapped her chest proudly. "Oh! Aizawa-sensei, good morning!"

"Hagakure," he scowled at her. He looked between them for a moment. "Training starts in an hour. Go get ready."

"Yes, sir!" she saluted. Turning to Hawks her voice got softer, more genuine. "Thank you for talking with me, Hawks-sensei. I'll… I'll go make a meeting with Hound Dog-sensei after training."

Hawks smiled, offering her a high-five.

She gave one happily before rushing down the hall.

Hawks, taking a brief moment to think about the hypocrisies of life, took all of his rising fear and shoved it down as hard as he could.

"Hey, Aizawa!" he grinned, waving.

Aizawa glared.

Hawks mentally patted his heart before it could leap. Glaring didn't mean anything, Aizawa could just be grumpy that Hawks was so energized when the sun was barely up.

"I'd ask if she was okay, but you seem to have gotten through to her."

"Huh?" Hawks tilted his head.

"Hagakure. She's been going out every morning."

"Ah," Hawks crossed his arms, leaning casually more on one leg. "She was thinking about the training camp."

Aizawa sighed, the bags under his eyes seeming to grow in size with the exhale. "They're all struggling. Thanks for talking to her."

"Of course! It's what we're here for right?" Hawks grinned, base feathers twitching when Aizawa suddenly squinted at him with a firm frown.

"You're joining the training today."

Hawks blinked, laughing as his heart raced. "The quirk training? I thought you had enough volunteers for that."

Aizawa finally turned, trudging towards the door like he didn't just put Hawks under a very burning spotlight. "I need you to do something specific."

What- what did that mean. Was there something he needed to see to-

His wings. He'd knocked Aizawa away by blowing him back with his wings. Just like he did with the kids. Wings strong enough to do that would be noticeable. It would be filed somewhere, and as an underground hero Aizawa would have access to a lot of those records. If he'd looked through those, looked for someone with wings with that level of strength-

Hawks was the only one. The only ones with wings that big at least. He'd stretched them out fully last night, there was no way Aizawa hadn't noticed the size. Siren's were too small, and the kid in the lesser-known school wasn't even fully grown.

Hawks face went blank. He followed Aizawa silently out, lagging behind as they went to the teacher's dorm.

"How was patrol last night?" He asked casually, debating. Tell the Commission or trust Aizawa wouldn't do anything to endanger himself to help Hawks.

...Why did Aizawa have to be so good?

"Irritating," Aizawa huffed. He slumped into the kitchen as soon as they were through the door. Hawks trailed after, steeling himself. "As usual. How many do you want?"

Hawks smiled reflexively when he turned, pausing when he saw the egg carton in Aizawa's hands.

"How many what?"

"How many eggs do you want? Mic is sleeping in, but I can make this much at least."

Hawks gave a disbelieving laugh. "Are you… cooking me breakfast?"

Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "I was going to skip it. Then you walked in and I don't want to deal with the guilt trip later."

"Nemuri is going to be so proud of you," Hawks took a deep, subtle breath through his nose. Okay. Okay, so chances were high but not assured. Would Aizawa be so casual if he knew? Or if he suspected? Maybe he wanted Hawks to do something else with the training.

He'd play the waiting game a bit more. Just to be sure.

Aizawa sighed and moved to put the eggs back.

"Three," Hawks said quickly. He honestly wasn't feeling very hungry right then, even though he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday, but it would be foolish to refuse. If Hawks went along with everything and willingly put himself near Aizawa that might get rid of any worrying thoughts Aizawa might have. "Please. And, uh, thanks."

Aizawa yawned, pulling out a pan and starting to make the laziest scrambled eggs Hawks had ever seen. Aizawa used the whole carton of eggs, cooking them until they were just shy of burning and dumping them all into a bowl.

"So, are there any other kids I should be worried about?" Hawks leaned against the counter, curling his wings around his shoulders. He needed to talk. He was always talking when he was around Aizawa, it would be suspicious if he was quiet now. "I mean, they all must be going through a rough time right now but is there anyone specifically I should be keeping a close eye on?"

"The problem children," Aizawa grunted, staring at the toaster like it was a villain. Hawks watched the encounter with an eyebrow raised. "Aoyama. Kirishima. Yaoyorozu." He slotted in the pieces of bread, fiddling with the knobs. "Tokoyami. Besides Hagakure those six are struggling the most with what happened."

"Do you know anything about the 1-B kids?"

Aizawa grunted. "I'm busy enough keeping track of mine. Ask Vlad."

"Gotcha. That's, uh, looking a little burnt there man," Hawks scrunched his nose as the darkened piece of bread popped out. "Didn't you put that at the lowest setting a second ago?"

Aizawa angrily threw the toast away. "It never works."

"The toaster? I saw Ectopasm use it a few days ago. It came out fine."

Aizawa ignored him, scooping up the bowl and walking out. Hawks, despite the strong line of tension in his spine, chuckled. At least he wasn't the only one that was kitchen challenged. And he could make toast, at least.

They split the bowl, Aizawa mostly poking at his serving until Hawks stopped eating to stare at him. He waited until Aizawa took an irritable bite before continuing his own meal.

"Good morning," Cementoss said brightly, walking in with a spring in his step.

Aizawa looked ready to die.

"Morning!" Hawks grinned.

Some of the rest of the staff filtered in, going about their morning routines and getting their own food ready. Hawks blinked when a plate was set in front of both him and Aizawa. As the others sat down to eat they all pushed a portion of their meal onto the plates.

"Thanks?" Hawks laughed.

"You are not eating just plain eggs for breakfast," Nemuri shook her head, giving Aizawa an amused smile. She ran a hand over his hair when she passed, which only made him look even closer to sleep. "I'm glad you didn't burn them, Shouta. Hizashi will be so proud."

Hawks watched them all sit down, Yagi disappearing into the kitchen for longer to make everyone some coffee. He sent some feathers to help, wondering how exactly the man had planned to carry anything more than a single cup when one of his arms was still in a cast. He glanced around.

No one was looking at him. Or, at least when they did it was to smile and say good morning. So Aizawa definitely hadn't told any of them. The jury was still out on Hizashi, and Hawks was a little concerned that the man chose today of all days to change his morning routine, but at the very least he could be certain that no one here knew.

"Internships are starting soon. Are you planning on taking anyone?" Snipe asked him suddenly.

Hawks tilted his head, talking around a mouthful of eggs. "Am I supposed to?"

"Ew," Nemuri scrunched her nose, laughing. "Chew with your mouth closed, hon. Most hero Agencies take on an intern each year. After getting to know them I thought you might actually do the same this year."

Hawks thought about it. He wouldn't mind having one of the chicklets at his Agency. Fukuoka was a great environment and even if he didn't have time to babysit them if they couldn't keep up his sidekicks would be able to teach them a lot. The three of them had made it clear they never planned on leaving his agency to pursue stronger hero careers of their own but it would be nice to give them the experience of looking after the next generation.

"Maybe," Hawks shrugged. "Haven't thought about it too much. I can only take one right? If favoritism is such a problem with the students here wouldn't it be bad for me to take someone as one of the top three? It could make things worse."

"There isn't a limit on interns," Aizawa said, rubbing at his eyes. "Larger agencies have taken on several students at the same time. So long as they are able to handle several interns fairly then the school will approve more to a single place. For favoritism, it's not ideal but you shouldn't throw away their opportunities to learn because of it. The others will just have to get over it."

Hawks lowered his fork. "Are you trying to convince me to take someone?"

"I think it would be a great idea!" Thirteen said happily. "You're really dedicated, Hawks, so whichever student or students you picked I'd be confident that you'd take care of them well!"

"Being able to observe and work with a top-ranked hero is an amazing opportunity," Ectoplasm pointed out. "Whatever problems you are worried about are far outweighed by the benefits the students would receive."

"Huh," Hawks said, glancing at Aizawa. The man was actively encouraging this. Aizawa, who Hawks was pretty sure would cut off his own arm before allowing harm to any of his students, was agreeing that it would be good for the kids if they interned with him. "I'm not against it. I can think of a few that would be great matches with my sidekicks quirks and abilities. Fukuoka would love to see some fresh faces too."

Hawks could already imagine the ribbing and teasing he'd get on the streets once kids started hanging around the place.

"Honestly, I'd be relieved if you took all of them," Vlad rubbed at his face, dark circles under his eyes. "With how often they've been placed in danger Fukuoka seems like the safest place for them to be during internships. I've been up all night thinking about the trouble they could get into."

Aizawa folded, pressing his forehead to the table.

"Oh," Hawks suddenly realized, horror flooding his veins. "They get in so much trouble here, if they're alone at another Agency- are you sure it's a good idea to do internships this year?"

"I understand your concerns," Nezu said from the seat next to Hawks. "But these internships are crucial in preparing students for graduating as pro-heroes. The experiences they face during this time of year are not things that can be replaced by in-class learning."

All of the feathers along the base of his wings sharpened. Hawks smiled at the tiny Principal, heart racing. "Heya, boss! Didn't hear you come in."

Nezu laughed lightly. "I am rather small, it can be hard to hear me sometimes. I'm sorry if I startled you."

Hawks laughed too.

Why was Nezu here? He rarely visited the dorms unless he had a specific announcement to make outside of meetings that required more than an email. Aizawa had looked up when Nezu spoke but he was giving them the usual disgusted face he made whenever Hawks and Nezu talked. Nothing seemed off, but why was Nezu here?

"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, everyone," Nezu tapped at the little folder he had placed in front of him. He slid it over to Hawks. "I had something to talk to Hawks about."

Oh god.

Hawks morphed his internal self-destruction into casual amusement. He picked up the folder, flicking it open to see what it was about.

His wings puffed up.

"Really?" he beamed, wings flapping a bit as he hastily flipped through the pages. "I won't allow any take-backs you know, this is set in stone!"

"I don't see why we can't let them have some fun, and it would be a valuable learning experience," Nezu chuckled. "I'm impressed, Hawks. This was very well thought out."

Hawks lifted the file up so the others could see the final draft of his project plan. "We get to destroy the city!"

"You're teaching them to *save* the city," Aizawa corrected with an eye roll. He sighed when the others started clapping.

"But the other group gets to destroy it," Hawks closed the folder and held it happily between his hands. "And that counts!"

Hawks relaxed his wings, tamping down on his concerns once more. This was exciting, of course, because he'd put a lot of work into making this 'Nezu Approved' but he was far more relieved that Nezu had a valid reason for searching for him. Aizawa was leaning fifty-fifty right now but that was a lot better than Nezu who would probably only need ten percent of thought to figure everything out.

"I'm AwAKe!" Hizashi skidded into the room from the door behind Hawks, tripping over his feet and nearly faceplanting before Hawks' feathers could catch him.

"Whoa there," Hawks directed them to tug him up, dropping him in the chair Ectoplasm kicked out near the end. "You okay there?"

Hizashi panted, hair plastered to his rosy face. Hawks stood up when he felt the heat radiating off the man through his feathers.

"Hizashi, you're burning up," Hawks frowned. Yagi peeked in from the kitchen, the sound of the coffee pot going off, and Hawks quickly sent a feather to tug him back in. "Don't come out here for a sec, Yagi-san!"

"I'm what?" Hizashi wiped at his forehead. "I'm sorry, I didn't wake up to my alarm and-"

Nemuri grabbed one of his arms, Aizawa up and slinging the other over his own shoulders. The lifted him to his feet and started to drag him out of the room.

"Guys, what are you doing? I gotta-"

"Sleep," Aizawa pushed him onwards. "I turned off your alarm this morning you idiot, you're sick."

"What? No I'm not, I feel-" Hizashi slumped, groaning. Nemuri made a soothing noise in the back of her throat, holding him up easily. "Ugh. Nevermind. I feel like shit."

"See? Go back to bed, I'll bring you something to eat later," Nemuri scolded softly. "Did you take the medicine we left?"

"You left me medicine?"

They both sighed.

Hawks watched the three of them leave feeling guilty for the wave of relief that rolled down his back. Hizashi was sick. That was why he wasn't up this morning.

"Is everything alright?" Yagi called from the kitchen. Hawks could feel him poking at the feather he had floating next to him.

"It's okay!" Thirteen said back. "Mic is sick but Aizawa-kun and Nemuri-chan are taking care of him!"

Hawks let his feather spin, sending it to snag the cleaning spray and towel by the sink. "One sec, man, I'm gonna kill the germs so you can come back out."

If his feather hadn't been in the kitchen Hawks wouldn't have heard the soft 'oh' Yagi made.

Cementoss was the one who wiped down the spot Hizashi had sat at, Snipe going to get some spray to clear the air. They opened the window and while everyone held their food Hawks flapped his wings to get some fresh air going.

"That should be good, right?"

"Yes," Nezu said, smiling at all of them softly.

"Great," Hawks clapped his hands together, looking away. "Yagi-san you can come in! Sorry about that."

When Yagi walked in it was with a steaming cup in his uninjured hand, hunched shoulders, and red-tipped ears. "You all," he said, soft and warm and paired with a crooked smile, "are far too kind. My immune system is not so compromised that the slightest germ would kill me, but your care for my health is heartwarming. Thank you."

"We won't be taking any chances if we can help it," Ectoplasm told him firmly. "We value you greatly."

Even with all his internal stress Hawks couldn't help the genuine smile on his face when Yagi sputtered and shuffled.

"Well, you only have a few more minutes before you all must head out so I'll be going," Nezu stood up. "Have a great day everyone, please make sure to have all of your lesson plans for the first two weeks of school submitted by tomorrow."

Hawks made sure to look particularly smug.

He could hear Aizawa and Nemuri come back down the elevator. Hawks grabbed his plate and shoveled the last of his food in his mouth. When they walked back in Aizawa was carrying several notebooks in his arms. Hawks blinked when he dropped them next to him.

"These for me?" he wondered.

Aizawa nodded, slumping back into his seat to finish his own meal.

"This is also for you, Hawks," Yagi stepped over, offering him the mug he'd walked in with. "I've been working on my coffee and I think this one came out rather well."

Hawks wiggled his fingers, happily taking the drink and knocking it back like it was a shot. The taste of it was stronger this time, but with a vanilla-like after taste.

"This is great," Hawks told him, licking off the coffee mustache he'd made for himself. "Is there more of this?"

"Of course," Yagi smiled, "I'll go get the pot so everyone can have some."

"Don't worry about it," Hawks sent a feather, opening the first notebook only to find it completely blank. Odd. "You haven't sat down since you got here, take a load off."

"Let's go," Aizawa stood up, Vlad jerking awake from where he'd been napping. "The students will be there soon."

Hawks saluted him, gathering up the empty notebooks and trailing after him again. Things were looking positive but he wouldn't make his decision yet. The break in tension was because of the others, Aizawa might want to wait until they were alone before prying.

Which wouldn't be for a while, from the looks of things. Ectoplasm, Nemuri, Thirteen, and Snipe all stood up to go with them. They had volunteered to help with quirk training today as well it seemed.

Hawks chatted with them as they walked, waiting for Aizawa to say or do anything that might give away what he was thinking.

Aizawa looked like he was sleeping with his eyes open.

Most of the kids were waiting for them outside the training area when they got there. Hawks waved at them cheerfully, feeling oddly happy when some of them paled. His training wasn't that bad, was it? He only teased them a little.

"Head in and start stretching. We'll start in ten minutes," Aizawa wasted no time, unlocking the doors and letting them in. Snipe and Ectoplasm went off to the mountain structure to start climbing up while Nemuri and Thirteen went to help with the stretches.

Aizawa turned, right at the threshold, and stared at him. Hawks licked the back of his teeth.

"Uh, so who am I helping?" Hawks wondered.

Aizawa glared at him and Hawks made a show of zipping his lips.

"Observe. Tell me what you notice later. Fill those out with anything you think is important," he motioned to the notebooks.

"I don't have a pen," Hawks told him. Aizawa pulled out one from his pockets, tossing it at him. He pointed to an area out of the way to the left. "Stay over there. You'll be able to see everyone."

And everyone would be able to see him, Hawks couldn't help but note.

"Sure," he agreed easily, flapping his wings to carry him the short distance quickly.

Hawks offered a cheeky thumbs-up as he plopped down, cold sweat building when Aizawa's eyes narrowed even further.

Thankfully, Yagi walked in just then.

"I am here! Once again, even after yesterday's events," Yagi smiled almost bashfully, his free hand rubbing the back of his head.

"What happened yesterday?" Hawks asked.

"He was almost injured for standing too close," Aizawa answered for the taller man. Hawks let out an interested hum when Yagi wilted. Aizawa actually seemed to pause. "Your advice seemed to be helpful. The student's appreciated it. If you hang around, just do it from further back."

"Ah, of course, Aizawa-kun. Thank you," Yagi smiled, the skin around his eyes tight. Hawks frowned.

"Don't thank me," Aizawa sounded frustrated. "Just... keeping working. You're doing fine."

He turned and walked away before Yagi could do anything that would embarrass him. Like thank him again. Hawks huffed through his nose.

Hawks stood up.

Aizawa turned to glare at him, hair starting to rise.

Hawks curled his lips over his teeth and sat back down.

Okay. So. That… was a little odd. Aizawa really wanted him sitting right here.

"Hey, Yagi-san," Hawks waved at him. "You can come take notes with me if you want! Aizawa said I can't move apparently, and it's boring doing this alone. Good view though, you can see everything from here."

Yagi looked over at the students gathering around Aizawa and the other teachers. The feathers at the base of Hawks' wings twitched at the melancholy tinge his smile took. Yagi shook his head and walked over.

"Thank you, Hawks. This does seem like a good spot. Unfortunately, I won't be able to join you in note-taking."

"Aren't you left-handed?"

"Ah, yes, well," All Might tucked his left hand behind him, almost unconsciously. Hawks narrowed in on the movement. His arm was shaking. "While it's not broken I fear my left arm also sustained some damage from the pressure I put it under."

Hawks patted the ground next to him, offering him one of the notebooks from the stack he'd brought. "No worries, I can help you out."

Hawks reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out one of the small ink containers he often carried for Pictorem in case they ever worked together and the man ran out. He popped it open, letting one of his feathers dip in.

"Here," he let it float over. "Just talk and I'll write it down for you while we go."

"My, you can do that?" Yagi looked at his feather with wide eyes. "Young Hawks, that is very impressive!"

Hawks waved away the praise with a smile. "With just one feather I can do a lot, Yagi-san. Whenever you're ready just start talking, okay?"

Yagi sat down, flipping open the notebook. He looked a little at a loss so Hawks turned to his own notes until he could get his thoughts together. He stared out at the students with his visor down so he didn't make any of them freak out. They were each getting the rundown of how to start thinking about their training so he made quick tables in his notebook for each of them. Each student got their own page with a sketched out table to organize physical ability, quirk, mental acuity, and the improvements they will be trying to make. Yagi seemed to still be thinking so he directed his feather to make similar charts on his to help the man organize. It had been a while since he'd needed to use a feather to write, but after so many years of intensive training he was able to get back into it easily.

He wondered what his old trainers would think of him using the information gathering skills they had worked into him were being used to help an injured man take notes.

The thought almost made him smirk.

Yagi taking a while. Too long to just be gathering his thoughts. Hawks glanced up.

Yagi was staring at him with wide eyes, looking between the papers, the feather, and him.

"Something wrong?"

"I am amazed!" Yagi motioned between him and the feather. "I was not aware you had this level of control, Young Hawks! Or that you could do so many things at the same time. I do not think you even looked at this book while filling it out."

"I was looking," Hawks laughed, turning to look back at the kids when they broke apart to their separate areas. "I can use my feathers for a lot of things."

"Yes, I am starting to see that," Yagi said, a spark in his eyes that reminded Hawks uncannily of Midoriya.

"Looks like they're starting," Hawks said to stop whatever excited quirk rambling the man might jump into. Or worse, whatever praise he might try to give. Yagi rarely held back with his compliments and while Hawks was used to receiving them there was something about Yagi's in particular that made him want to stop them before they started. "Don't worry about talking slow or anything. I'll keep up."

Then Hawks turned and let his focus tunnel. With only one feather to control it was easy to match Yagi's pace and track the students at the same time. He started scribbling, flipping back and forth between the various pages to keep track of their statistics. It would have been easier to assign a feather to each page but he didn't want to draw that much attention to himself. This kind of thing was a trump card in information gathering, it would be better if no one knew exactly how far he could take it.

Yagi occasionally trailed off, and Hawks was eighty percent sure it was because he was staring at the organizational guidelines Hawks followed to keep all the student's information in order. He'd seen Yagi's notes before. They were well thought out but they were displaced and messy. It made it hard for him to find what he was looking for hours after the fact. Hawks kind of wished he'd had more than just black ink on him. It would have been even easier for Yagi if he'd been able to color-code everything.

There was a roar from where Tokoyami was training. Hawks frowned, flipping to his page and jotting down notes. The kid was really struggling with controlling his quirk. Dark Shadow certainly grew stronger at night, but it also looked to be tied to Tokoyami's emotions enough for that to affect his rate of control. If Tokoyami panicked for even a second Dark Shadow would take over. Then, in trying to so harshly restrain his quirk Tokoyami would just fuel Dark Shadow's desires to lash out. Tokoyami needed to learn the balance. To allow enough freedom to exert a more perfected form of control-

Hawks paused. That sounded odd. Not wrong, but-

He shook his head. Whatever was niggling at his brain had nothing to do with Tokoyami, he was certain of that at least. It could wait.

"Hawks?"

"What's up?" he offered a brief smile, looking over Yaoyorozu reading as she made some kind of flash bomb, Uraraka as she started to turn a shade green as she spun rapidly in the air, and Kirishima who was hunched over gasping for breath after trying to go over his hardening limit. He flipped through the pages rapidly.

"Ah, nothing. Just wondering if you had any insight on, um, Midoriya-kun."

Hawks gave Yagi a quick side-eye of amusement. That was definitely not been what he'd been wanting to say, though he'd believe Yagi wanted to know his thoughts on Midoriya.

"I see he's finally working on utilizing other parts of his body," Hawks tipped his head in the green-haired boy's direction. Midoriya was working with Iida today, the taller boy showing him different forms of kicks. "Uraraka-chan started taking self-defense lessons from Gunhead, right? It'd do Midoriya-kun some good too. All of them, actually. Gunhead is busy with his own hero work, he can't teach all of these kids, but Kendo-chan from 1-B is experienced in teaching others and her family runs a dojo. They could take lessons from her and her family. It would teach them a lot of useful skills and I bet it would help them come up with different ideas for their quirks too. Iida-kun, for example. He uses his legs as much as Midoriya uses his arms. Even with the injuries on his arms, it would be a good idea for him to get used to using them more. If something gets passed his legs when he kicks his arms will be his last line of defense. Ah, but you wanted to know about Midoriya-kun. He needs to upgrade his costume even more. The arm braces and shoes are great. His hood is made of cloth, as his everything covering his chest. Midoriya is a frontline type of fighter and he's going to be taking hits for others. He already does. If his quirk doesn't strengthen his skin in any way then he needs to add something to his costume that can absorb the blows and protect his body. The mask over his mouth could be better too. There's no filtration system in it. Its only use right now is to hide his face and I swear he keeps it off the majority of the time he's in his costume anyway so it's nearly pointless. If there's a filtration system implemented in it at least he'd be able to put it on in cases where he would need it."

Hawks clicked his pen a few times, moving his gaze to Bakugo, Satou, and Jiro. He flicked to Bakugo's page. The boy seemed off. He was as explosively powerful as always but there was a weird hesitance in his movements. A split-second, nothing much, but Bakugo never hesitated. That was his greatest strength and weakness, and Hawks was pretty sure he hadn't thought about it to the point of needing to change it yet so where was this pull back coming from?

"Those are very good observations," Yagi said slowly and it took Hawks a second to backtrack to what he'd been saying about Midoriya. "Do you have similar ones about the other students as well?"

Hawks glanced at him again. This, at least, he didn't need to sugarcoat. Yagi, of all people, would get it. "These kids are so inexperienced and young it hurts to look at them. They're making a thousand mistakes and it's irritating that we can't just tell them and have it fixed."

Because UA didn't do it that way. They guided their students into finding their own answers and that was great. Hawks loved it even as a part of his brain screamed about how inefficient this all was. If Uraraka stopped taking breaks the second she got too nauseous she would feel horrendously sick for days afterward but she'd improve faster. If Yaoyorozu was forced to create under pressure of attack over and over regardless of her mental state she'd be able to make anything no matter how stressed she became. If Satou was forced to keep fighting even when his sugar levels dropped and left him feeling faint he'd know how to push on even with the threat of passing out hanging over his shoulders. Tokoyami could be forced to activate Dark Shadow and left restrained until he had to learn to control them just to be able to get out of the cave. There were so many things they could do to rapidly increase the progress of each student's growth. It was the most efficient way to make them strong and get rid of their weaknesses.

Hawks was so very, very glad UA did things differently.

"It is frustrating," Yagi agreed with a sigh, looking out at them all. "But I see the value in it. Of a strength earned through your own efforts. It makes it more real. More unbreakable. They are certainly making a great many mistakes as they walk along their paths, but the spirits they are forging are ones that will always remain undefeated."

Hawks looked down, away from everything, for a split second. An undefeated spirit, huh? That would be nice.

"Yeah," he said. "They're going to be amazing."

Hawks couldn't wait to see it.

By the time training ended Hawks had a notebook-and-a-half full as well as several pages of Yagi observations. Hawks was interested in the things he'd mentioned about tactical application of each student's quirks and environmental reliability. He'd have to sit down with him at some point to go over those.

Aizawa walked over to them just as everyone was wrapping up and Vlad arrived at the doors with his class.

"Here you go," Hawks handed over the journals, stretching out his arms and legs. He'd perched on the balls of his feet for the majority of the time, pretty much frozen as he watched, it felt nice to shake his limbs out. His wings fluttered behind him as he let them have a much longer, even nicer feeling stretch.

Aizawa opened the full journal, giving it a cursory look through. His eyebrows rose.

"What?" Hawks asked. "Did I miss something?"

Aizawa looked at him like he was an idiot. "...No. Thanks, these will help a lot."

"He helped me with my notes too," Yagi said, although Hawks thought he was trying to whisper. He showed the papers to Aizawa.

Hawks couldn't read his facial expression, which was... irritating. He wondered if Aizawa drove his body to such extreme levels of exhaustion because it helped hide all of his natural reactions when his facial muscles were too tired to so much as twitch. Hawks was almost tempted to try it.

A familiar head of black hair walked in with Vlad's class.

"Can I steal Yaoyorozu-chan and Awase-kun from you for a second?" Hawks asked as the classes prepared to switch.

Both students froze at the mention of their names.

"Make it quick," Vlad grunted. Geez, he looked almost as bad as Aizawa. Hawks was inifintely glad he was not on the dorm parent list. The job looked like more trouble than it was worth. At least tomorrow was Vlad's last night. He'd get a break soon.

Aizawa stared at Hawks, eyes narrowed. Hawks smiled back.

"...They're done for the day. Send her back to the dorms after."

"Of course! Yaoyorozu-chan, Awase-kun, come with me for a bit!"

Said students had a telepathic conversation that Hawks picked up so easily it may as well have been spoken aloud. They knew what he was going to talk to them about.

He led them just outside the building, bringing them over to the nearest tree.

"Take a seat," Hawks told them, smile sliding off his face.

They shared a nervous look, dropping into the grass with their backs as straight as steel.

"Awase, I've already talked to you about our encounter with the Nomu," Hawks didn't bother beating around the bush. He sat down as well, crossing his legs. "Yaoyorozu, you know how I feel about it, don't you?"

"Yes, Hawks-sensei," Yaoyorozu looked down at her hands. "Awase-kun talked to me about what you said to him, and I understand what you meant. We shouldn't have given up."

"No," he said slowly, eyes narrowing, "you shouldn't have."

He let them sweat for a second. If any moment were to be ingrained in their heads he wanted it to be this one.

"What should you have done?"

They looked up.

"Sensei?" Awase frowned, confused.

"I know you've thought about it," Hawks motioned between them. "Trauma aside I told you, Awase, to work to find new ways so you should have been thinking about this and Yaoyorozu if you haven't been thinking about that situation analytically then you wouldn't be a top student in 1-A. What should you have done differently that night?With your skill level at that point and what you had in that exact moment what else could you have done?"

"Um," Awase scratched at the side of his neck, "we could have run differently."

Hawks folded his arms. "How so?"

"We, uh, we ran in a straight line through the trees. We could have weaved, or something, to get trees between us and the Nomu. It wouldn't have caught up as quickly."

Hawks made a non-committal hum in the back of his throat. That would have been better. The Nomu would have still caught up but it would have extended their time. The Nomu didn't have the mental processing power to dodge and weave, it would have plowed straight through the trees. Easily, given it's strength and chainsaw covered arms, but it would have added precious seconds to their time.

Yaoyorozu made harsh fists, pressing her knuckles into her thighs as she grimaced. "I should not have made a shield. Right before you saved me, Hawks-sensei, I had tried to make one to stop the blow."

Hawks focused, unblinking, on her. "Why was that a foolish choice?"

Yaoyorozu wilted under the words. "The Nomu was much bigger than me, and physically stronger. The shield would have done nothing to stop the blow and it may very well have given me a concussion if it had been hit back into my face. I would have been lucky to stay conscious at all after getting hit and I would have left Awase with the decision to try to save me, dooming us both, or leave me which he would never have forgiven himself for."

Awase looked pale and shaken just thinking about it.

"Is there anything else you could have done in that situation?"

Yaoyorozu bit her lip. "I- not that I could have done at that time. I have looked up a few things that might have helped me then but that was after the fact. The only thing I could think of was something similar to the shield but with the metal twisted to match the blow of the Nomu so I could try to deflect instead of standing my ground."

Hawks turned back to Awase. "Anything else you can think of?"

"We should never have stopped running," he closed his eyes. He was pale, they both were, and Hawks felt bad about so bluntly bringing up something that must have horrified them. But this was necessary. "You were right. It would have cut through all three of us in one swipe. I could have pushed you two away and-"

"Stop," Hawks wings raised, furious. "I did not talk to you about this so you could turn the situation into even stronger levels of self-sacrifice. If that is the answer you came up with then you have completely missed the point of this lesson."

Awase flinched. Hawks swallowed, licking the back of his teeth.

"Yaoyorozu," he turned to her instead, breathing out the angry spark that had ignited in his chest. "What else could you have done at the end?"

"I-" she looked down, hands clenched and trembling, "I don't know. I'm sorry, Hawks-sensei, but at the time there is very little I could have done."

He stared down at them for a long moment. His heart clenched and twisted at the expression on their faces. "Alright. Thank you, both of you, for being honest with me. And I'm sorry." They jerked up to look at him, surprised. "I didn't ask you both out here to make you relive everything and feel hopeless. It's true, there was not much else you could have done. There were still thing options you missed to give us more time, as you noticed every single second counted until it retreated. But your options were extremely limited If you're fighting a battle that you can't leave because you're the only one there to fight it, then you need to do whatever you possibly can to extend the time you have. That's what I wanted you to think about. What can you do now to make sure in a situation like that you have more time? Think about what you couldn't do, what you could have done but failed to do, and take the steps you need to in order to make sure that next time you're ready."

Crap. He was messing this up, wasn't he? He was being too harsh. Was he being too harsh? He could certainly be worse. That wouldn't help them though. Probably.

They looked at each other again and Hawks offered himself at least one pat on the back. Speaking to them together had been the right choice. It gave them someone to draw strength and encouragement from. Yumi-chan27 was right once again, it seemed. Children were more confident when there was someone at their side.

"We stopped running because we couldn't carry you," Yaoyorozu looked up at him now, meeting his eyes for once. There it was. The steel he loved to see. "Even between the two of us, a grown man's dead weight, as well as our already exhausted bodies, meant we would falter quickly. Physically we need to be much stronger."

Hawks nodded, letting his face soften and narrowing his eyes so they wouldn't appear quite as intense. "That would be a good idea. In evacuation situations, you are not always going to have the time to wait for someone to come help you carry someone away. You need to be strong enough to carry them by yourself."

"I need to get better at dodging," Awase clenched his fist, also looking up. Hawks felt a thrum of pride, his wings puffing up a bit behind him. "When that Nomu hit me, I almost dodged it but I wasn't fast enough. I froze for a second. It was the first real fight I'd ever been in."

"Real-life situations are hard to predict and train for," Hawks agreed. "You can try sparing with your classmates. You all have been working on your individual skills and team-ups at times, but in actual combat you are lacking a lot of experience. Ask your homeroom teachers if they can set up a time where your spars can be supervised until your experienced enough to run them on your own."

"I can ask Kendo-chan!" Awase perked up. "Her family runs a dojo and she's been in a lot of sparring matches! I'm sure if I asked she'd say yes, she said she loves teaching!"

Yaoyorzu looked at him with interest. "Would you mind if I came with you to ask, Awase-kun? I would also be interested in learning from her if that is the case."

Awase looked startled. "Oh, um, yeah! Sure, of course! I didn't think, since we're 1-B and all..."

Yaoyorozu frowned, confused. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," he scratched the back of his neck, flushing. "We can ask her together."

"Thank you!"

"I'm glad you have that part settled," Hawks said, amused. They both looked embarrassed. "Is there anything else you think you need to work on?"

"I need to learn how to make more tools that immobilize," Yaoyorozu placed a hand on her cheek. "The caltrops were useful in buying us a few seconds but I need to be able to make more than that. Perhaps a more liquid solution, to trap anyone that walks through. Or something that delivers a shock to paralyze the muscles."

"Those would be great," Hawks agreed. "Awase-kun?"

"I was thinking about this earlier, but my quirk is practically useless in a fight right now. But I was thinking, I could use it on my opponents as I fight them by welding them together in different ways. Like, if I dodge a punch just right and then I can weld their hand to a part of their body. Or I can do that thing Midoriya did at the Sport's Festival where I fling them over my shoulder but I weld them to the ground when they hit it so they can't get back up!"

Hawks thought about it and nodded. "That would give you a lot of options in a lot of different situations. It also ties in with you learning how to fight better. Tieing in several goals to one thing is good, but keep in mind that having too many can make you lose track of important steps or blind you to new paths. Don't let what happened at the Training Camp hold you back. Think back on it when you need to. Put the you of now into your shoes back then and figure out if what you have would work. And if it doesn't find another way. Take every fight from now on and do the same thing. Let your losses make you stronger."

"Yes, Hawks-sensei!"

Damn, these kids.

"Alright," he waved his hand at them. "That's all I wanted to talk to you about. Now that I see you understand I expect to see some improvements in your training."

"Of course!" Yaoyorozu stood up, a bundle of energy once more. "I have so many new ideas now! I must go study at once! Oh, but first we should go see Kendo-chan. If it is alright with you, Awase-kun may I wait for you after your training today so we can speak to her together?"

"Sure! I'll make sure to ask her to stay behind."

"Excellent!"

Hawks watched them go with a lazy smile. That had ended well.

Hopefully, this next conversation would too.

"Did you need something?" He tilted his head back, still smiling.

Aizawa stepped out from the side of the building. The opposite side of where the main door was. He must have doubled around. He didn't say anything, just choosing to stare at Hawks for a long moment before moving to lean against the tree he was sitting under.

"You've been acting odd all day, man," Hawks pointed out, resting his weight on his hands. "It's kind of freaking me out."

Aizawa sighed, heavy enough to sound like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Hawks looked away, choosing instead to fiddle with the grass by his boot.

"Some things," Aizawa started, "have been brought to my attention."

Hawks closed his eyes, face turned enough that Aizawa wouldn't see. "About me, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah." Aizawa looked up at the sky. "You've taken on a lot of responsibilities lately. More than one person is usually able to handle."

Hawks huffed out a laugh. This was really not helping his optimistic 'Aizawa won't endanger himself' hopes.

He paused. Blinked.

Wait.

This sounded almost... familiar.

"Pro-hero. Your own Agency. A teacher. Each of those is a full-time job in its own right. You're doing all three and who knows what else in your spare time."

"You do regular patrols, teach here, run an Agency, and hold a vast amount of public attention wherever you go."

"Your eating and sleeping habits are fucked up too. Almost as bad as mine," Aizawa nearly sounded amused. Nearly.

"I have noticed you sleep and eat about as much as I do. And I am more than twice your age and missing vital pieces of my body."

Hawks felt hope kickstart his heart into third gear. Was his third scenario actually possible? Could Aizawa really have no idea, no suspicions at all? Life was not usually so kind to him, but- but UA was different. UA had been good from the moment he walked in. Why wouldn't this be good too?

"These words are seeming very familiar," Hawks teased, twisting around now just so he could see better. Just so he could be sure. "You haven't been talking to Yagi-san by any chance, have you?"

Aizawa looked down at him, frowning. Hawks beamed up at him.

Aizawa shrugged.

Then he looked away.

Hawks grin turned genuine, his wings fluffing up so much he had to stretch them a bit to keep up. "Aizawa, are you worried about me? I knew you liked me! I'm your favorite, right? I promise I won't tell the others, your secret is safe with me!"

Aizawa groaned. He pushed off the tree and started to walk away. Hawks jumped up to follow.

"Does this mean I can call you Shouta now?"

"No."

"But I'm your favorite!"

"I don't have a favorite- stop following me."

"Nah," Hawks snickered, arms behind his head. "You're going to go see Hizashi, right? I need to tell him what a softy you are. Don't worry! I'll leave out the part where I'm-"

"You're annoying," Aizawa growled, scrubbing at his eyes.

Hawks pulled out the eyedrops he had in one of his inner emergency first aid pockets.

Aizawa looked at it for all of a second, glancing up to squint at him, before sighing and using it to help the dryness of his eyes.

"Always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," he muttered under his breath.

Hawks shrugged. The man wasn't wrong. He did like to snoop.

As they made their way back to the dorm Hawks couldn't help but flutter a bit as he went. His third scenario had been more of joke than anything else. He'd always been taught to treat his opponents like they were greater or equal to him in ability. That way he was either prepared for anything or pleasantly surprised. Aizawa not harboring a single doubt? Ridiculous. It was Aizawa. Hawks had seen his track record, you didn't get as far as Aizawa did without some seriously honed instincts and observational skills. But here he was. Ninety-nine percent sure that Aizawa didn't suspect him at all. Maybe Aizawa was having an off night last night. Maybe he hadn't been paying attention. Maybe the lighting was worse than Hawks thought (that happened sometimes). Maybe-

Maybe Aizawa trusted him enough to have cleared away his own doubts when they first appeared.

Hawks wings stopped fluttering.

Maybe Aizawa didn't doubt him because... because he thought Hawks was a good person too.

"Are you coming or not?" Aizawa finally turned to see him, holding the door open for them both.

"Coming!" Hawks hopped over, thanking him dramatically and getting gently nudged (kicked) through the door.

This victory suddenly tasted a lot more bitter.

-00-

"So," Chisaki said as soon as he was through the door, "you got away."

Hawks slammed the door shut with an angry twitch of his wings. He would have honestly preferred the door open but that was more of a mental comfort than any actual physical one.

"You set me up," he hissed, low and deep in his throat.

Chisaki adjusted his gloves, picking up his pen to continue his work. "All of those were optional. You didn't have to show up."

"You knew I'd go," Hawks rolled his eyes, flinging his hands out. "I bet you heard back from your lackeys from the first one! I wanted to see what these extra jobs were all about, and it just ended up being harassing and mugging people? And then you have me run into Eraserhead? Have you even heard of the stories about that guy?!"

"I have," Chisaki replied blandly. "He's a target I'm very interested in, actually. I was impressed to hear you got away. I need that."

Hawks stared at him, mouth agape. "So, what, you just send people to him and hope you'll find someone smart enough not to get caught? What the hell kind of plan is that?"

"One that worked." He clicked a button on his computer. "I just wired you thirty-thousand-yen."

Hawks froze. He pulled out his phone to check, and yup. He suddenly got a lot richer in his fake account. "I didn't even do anything."

Chisaki looked up and Hawks felt the strong urge to step back. There was a gleam in his eyes that made Hawks feel like the smartest thing in the world to do right then would be to run.

He stayed put.

"You proved your worth. Here," Chisaki tossed the object at him.

Hawks caught it, grimacing when he realized what it was.

"...Thanks," he grumbled. "Not tacky at all."

The mask would cover his entire face, hooking around his head and ears. It was completely black, even the eyes, and there was of course a beak. At least it was a small one, and it actually looked like a Raven's so kudos for the aesthetic match.

Hawks frowned. His feathers buzzed. Running a finger along the inside of the mask he scowled at the barely noticeable bumps along the inside where it would rest against his temple.

"Did you put a listening device in here?"

Or a tracker. Hawks couldn't place what was giving off the electric buzz but he didn't like it.

The look in Chisaki's eyes only got brighter. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything and just run some tests on his own, regardless of the suspicions it would place on him. "I'm surprised you noticed. It's a communications device. It will make it easier to keep you up-to-date on any changes since that bothers you so much."

Hawks gave him a sour look. He believed about ten percent of that. Whatever it was probably allowed communication, sure. He doubted that was all. He would need to keep the mask in his duffle bag and hide it randomly throughout the abandoned areas of the cities. There was no way he was bringing this thing to his apartment.

"Do I have to wear this?" he asked, flipping it back and forth. There were little stylized feathers drawn into the front of the mask. There sure was a lot of effort in the design. The masks clearly meant something about the hierarchy of power, but most of the ones he had seen were fairly simple. The pure black ones all belonged to low-ranking members but the high-ranking ones had a style of some sort added to them. This mask was a weird mix of both.

"When you are working for me, yes."

Hawks made a show of looking at his phone, sliding his thumb over the screen that displayed the money transfer success display.

"Yes, boss," Hawks said as sarcastically as possible. He slowly slid the mask over his head, pulling his hood low once he was done. Ugh. He hated things covering his mouth. It always made it harder to breathe.

At least with the mask on, he didn't have to hide the creeped-out grimace when he realized it fit his face perfectly. What, did Chisaki have the ability to just eyeball someone's face and know the perfect contours for mask making?

Chisaki's chair creaked as he steepled his fingers across his stomach. Hawks debated on doing a dramatic bow but that was more 'Hawks' than 'Raven'. So instead he just flipped him off.

Chisaki's eyebrow raised and he looked amused.

Hawks hated this man.

"Now that I know you're worth the effort, I think it's time you get a little more involved," Chisaki stood up. "Come with me. You should meet the others."

Hawks huffed and grumbled but complied. He kept his hands in his pockets and the mask on his face. He'd won trust and lost a piece of freedom.

He was getting tired of the bitter-tasting victories.

-00-

My Discord darlings, a very special thanks to you. You have kept me so motivated and positive, making me feel happy every day and I am extremely grateful to you. I adore you, dears!

Jackejsh: Thank you for taking the time to leave review! I appreciate it so much, it was very sweet of you!

hinatayvonne: Chisaki keeps wanting to creep more than I want him too. I'll be writing a scene with him and then pause and have to go back because 'huh. That escalated quickly' and I need him to chill for a bit longer. Gosh dang it, Chisaki. XD For people getting into his space I feel like Hawks would be used to it. Like when it shows him on the streets and people are just... all over him. Tugging at his clothes, feeling his wings, and he just chills there. Touch starved for touches with the intention of care behind them yes. Touch-sensitive, probably not. That's just my take on it though! It's always so flipping nice to be able to hear from you, I can't believe you're still being so kind and supportive! T-T You are such a gosh darn sweetheart!

anonymouslyme: Oh geez, you are giving me way too much credit my dear! But dang if I don't appreciate the heck out of it! Thank you!

ChaosHearth: XD I'm gonna put you down for the "Aizawa Defense Squad", that sound good? XD

Blackdrake: Hawks and tightrope walking always seem to go hand in hand. Drake, you always make my day, dear. Seriously, you've been so supportive for so long I don't know how you guys do it. You're just... constantly melting my heart over here. I'm a permanent puddle T-T

fencer29: Nezu is just about done with all their crap XD

GrimReaperLaw: I'm glad you have such similar Hawks love to me friend! He's so flipping complex! I love getting to explore that! I'm pleased as punch you like the Thirteen headcannon! I love them :D The Uwabami walk home was my favorite scene to write for the last chapter, it let me have some comedy while heaping on that angst train at the exact same time. XD Thank you for the info! That helps with a scene for later, I greatly appreciate it! You can never ramble to much to me, Grim. I don't think you realize exactly how much I love hearing from you. Well if you guys are gonna die from sweetness, know that I am right there with you! You guys are killing me with all this love! (You see nooootthing~ XD)

Rosto'sGirl: I'm glad you liked it! I was super iffy about the whole chapter for a while but now I feel like I set up some of the things in it well. All these supportive comments and friendly words definitely helped curb my worries with that. Whcih means, of course, that you also helped me out so much! Thank you, sweet bean!

FrostyEmp: Oh. My gosh. MULTIPLE SHOTS FIRED! I am DOWN. How the heckity heck can you- how can you be so nice?! That's- that's so much high level, top-tier praise and support?! I do not know how to handle this! My entire heart! My entire HEART! You are sending me into overdrive, dove! Thank you so much, this honestly just boosted my mood for the entire week when I read it and then it kept boosting it because I had to keep coming back to see if you were real and I didn't just dream all of that up. Holy smokes! Thank you!

sad boi: Voila~! Sorry it took so long. I re-wrote this one so many times because I just kept missing the pieces and tones I was wanting. I really like how it turned out though. I think this is the best I can get it and I like how it turned out. I hope you did to!

binton: That love is returned TEN FOLD!

Guest: Well, I can certainly put it on the list but I have quite a few things I am both writing and plan to write so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to this one dove. But gosh dang, that sounds so interesting! If I ever manage to get to it is has so much potential for growth, angst, fluff! My three favorite things!

CherryPop0120: If he became a teacher in canon I would lose my mind