Warning

An un-named character attempts suicide.

Hawks shook his head as he dropped off another criminal off at a station then continued his rush to get to his next checkpoint, that was the fifth mugger and he was behind schedule as it was, sure he wasn't going to get anything on Deku-Sensei by sticking to it but his handlers would be upset if he stopped following orders.

So, reaching the water tower Hawks didn't even have a moment to land before he took off again for the next point and if he hadn't been eating more meat he wouldn't be able to handle it and would have keeled over by now.

Thinking of that Hawks couldn't help grinning, Tuesdays were now his favorite day of the week because he had figured out a perfect system so he could meet up with Zuri safely, all he'd have to do was pretend to go to sleep early and he could be free to go for an hour.

Zuri hadn't seemed to mind doing his shopping later in the evening with him and Hawks was so happy he could still see his friend, he couldn't remember when was the last time he could talk with anyone as a person and not a hero before Zuri, and loved every second of it.

Sure, the meat was why he started seeing Zuri regularly but it was the companionship that made it worth the risk, Zuri was a great kid and Hawks loved listening to Zuri ramble on and on about whatever while he ate his meat, and while most people wouldn't understand how hearing about ants would be more thrilling than heroing Hawks very much did not care.

Hawks wondered just what he should get himself this time around though, maybe he could try the lizards Zuri suggested or should he stick to mice since their bones were easier to chew through.

As he recently learned when he brought that rabbit a couple weeks ago, the fact his teeth were "fixed" to look more human meant they weren't as strong and couldn't chew through larger bones which would've sucked if Zuri hadn't shown him a way to break open the bones so he could get the marrow inside.

Maybe a bird would be better? They should have fragile hollow bones perfect for his dull teeth to crunch through, but they might cut up the inside of his mouth because they break up so easily, he'd need to ask Zuri since he probably knew about that kind of stuff.

Hawks landed on a perch staring at a bridge and took a deep breath and a sip of water, glancing over at the water and wishing he'd have the free time to try something Zuri had shown him, some birds that would graze the water with the tips of their wings, mainly because that it had looked so cool and would be a great P.R. move during a charity function by the water.

While he was lost in thought he felt a sudden change in the wind pressure and having been jumped by Raijin so many times Hawks reacted at once, flinging himself into the air and two long feathers in hand searching for any trace of rabbit ears.

"Well, you're a jumpy one ain't ya kid?" a woman said, and he saw Mirko, the rabbit hero and he couldn't help wishing he could scowl at her.

"Heroes are supposed to be ready for anything right?" he coolly replied setting himself back down as he took another sip "What are you doing in my neck of the woods? Weren't you patrolling up in Hiroshima?" Hawks questioned.

Heroes weren't supposed to change patrol routes without a heads-up at least, much less without coordinating with the heroes already working the beat a hero wanted in on, it wasn't even all about marketing mumble-jumbo either because heroes needed to know who was around to plan their patrols accordingly.

Mirko scoffed "Hiroshima's stomping grounds are getting too crowded, need to scout out new territory and I heard you've got yourself a rabbit problem up here." Mirko told him with a sly grin as she leaned an arm on his shoulder.

Hawks held back his wings from doing anything more than twitching with his irritation.

Mirko was a "free spirit" as people nicely put it but Hawks bitterness with her blatant liberty compared his own made him think of her more as an intrusive species that went wherever she damn well pleased, he wasn't the only hero who had a problem with her breezy attitude and horning in on their patrol territory.

But it was her mention of rabbits that made him even more sour with the woman, it had been no secret that the Vespas were getting bold with the heroes down here, or more specifically that Vespa Raijin loved to strike during his patrols and would lead him on goose-chases before knocking him out cold with an electric kick, Hawks hated the large horse pills he needed to take now to keep his brain safe from the recurring shock damage.

His "companion" Mirko was quite well known throughout the hero community for being able to catch the Vespas like no one else, probably do to the fact she had a quirk that let her move just like them and had their hearing so it would be much harder for them to lose her, and he had not appreciated the reminder of his failing.

His handlers had already been quite clear with their... disappointment.

"Right," he pleasantly responded wishing he could have spat the words out instead, but he had some pride when it came to his persona as a "carefree" hero himself "Hope you find somewhere to settle soon Mirko, I need to get back to it before someone at H.Q. gets on my tail for lazing about." Hawks said with a wave and he shot off into the air, hoping he wouldn't have any other run-ins with her.

That hope was dashed when not seconds later Mirko jumped up in the air with him "Don't think you're going to ditch me that easy Tweety, let's have a friendly competition yeah?" Mirko boastfully told him before falling back to the ground.

His reaction to the sudden usage of the nickname was all but visceral *You don't get to call me that!* he screamed in his head with his fists clenched, he didn't expect that he would be so angry over it since Raijin called him that from time to time but it felt so wrong to hear Mirko say it.

Tweety was a name that was special, Raijin might have been the first to call him that but Zuri had made it his, and it was a name that was only to be used for his time with Zuri and when he was free of all the things that being Hawks required.

"Let's see how many crooks we can catch before the end of your shift Tweety!" Mirko challenged with a smirk after she bounced up in front of him breaking him out of his thoughts quite sharply, but he grinned down at her with a pointed one of his own.

"Think you can actually keep up?" Hawks replied and dove down and picking up a good eighty Kilos from the dive, the goggles were the only reason he could do this since his eyes watered from this kind of thing, he used to not need them but after his... operation he couldn't keep his eyes open for his dives anymore.

Hawks was glad he lost Mirko over an hour ago, the woman had been thoroughly testing his patience with each and every second of the patrol, he had gotten back on track at least if nothing else to get away from the woman but he was more ragged from it then he would ever let on.

No, he wasn't allowed to be tired as Hawks, that would have to wait until tonight when he was with Zuri and could be Tweety again. Unlike Hawks Tweety could be meek, tired, earnest, and everything else he couldn't when he was Hawks.

And Hawks knew he could trust Zuri with all of this even if he wasn't aware who Tweety was to be that vulnerable with the boy, Zuri was just so earnest with Hawks that he'd never think otherwise, even if Zuri seemed oddly dispassionate about heroes for someone in their generation he was sure Zuri likely wouldn't go public with his meat eating if he ever revealed his true identity to the boy.

Hawks had returned to his perch on a water tower Hawks popped a few peanuts and took a swig from his water bottle, he stretched his wings and scanned the area completely unsurprised that the place was dead since the sun went down over an hour ago, Hawks prepared to take off when he spotted something from the corner of his eye.

He couldn't make it out at first given it was just at the very edge of his field of vision but he swore it was a person on the roof of a building outside of the warehouse district, immediately a single thought entered his mind and he was back in the air and racing towards the figure.

Getting closer he easily made out the person's features, they were an alarmingly young boy with tangled black hair in a school uniform and red shoes he had come to know by heart because they were Zuri's, a young boy that stood on the every edge of a ten story building with his intentions very clear to him and his heart began racing.

Suddenly while he was still too far away the boy jumped off the building to his panic Hawks tried to push himself to go even faster but he knew deep down he would not make it and he'd only be in time to hear the kid's skull break on the sidewalk.

To his great relief however someone suddenly leapt from somewhere to the left and caught the boy and they fell to the ground together, likely hurt but most importantly alive.

Hawks let himself slow down and he landed on a roof nearby with a sigh and a hand on his heart, he had no idea how he'd be able to look Zuri in the face if the boy had been successful in killing himself, the guilt was usually suffocating on its own but he'd probably be unable to handle it now that someone he knew personally looked like someone he failed to save.

Turning to look at the where the people had landed Hawks' relief vanished as he saw that the boy was not saved by another hero or a civilian that used their quirk on instinct like he believed but by Raijin.

Raijin who was now comforting the sobbing boy who must have puked in the second he wasn't looking given the small puddle of vile nearby "Hey, hey. Things are going to be okay kid, we'll take care of you." Raijin said rubbing the boy's back.

"N-no it's not! I'm a useless h-husk that can't do anything right! I can't e-even die right!" the boy exclaimed through his weeping with an odd hitch in his voice Hawks only heard from really drunk people, Zuri had it too once and he said it was just the hiccups when Hawks had freaked out thinking he was drunk.

Raijin's ears folded in anger "Kid, listen to me. Just because you don't have a quirk doesn't mean shit." Raijin firmly told the boy "I have a good friend who is a two-toes and he can do a lot of things that everyone thinks would be bullcrap but he damn well does it, so don't let the media brainwash you into thinking quirks are everything." Raijin encouraged.

Hawks perked up hearing the term, Raijin was friends with a two-toes? He wasn't surprised that Raijin knew the preferred name for quirkless people but he didn't know Vespas made friends with them before.

But as Raijin continued to hush and calm the boy Hawks could believe it as he seemed to know the right thing to say even if Hawks swore those were all of the things that he was taught not to say to someone that had recently tried to kill themselves.

The boy was calmed after a few minutes and the two were waiting for another Vespa to come help the boy home, one that was on scene in seconds and when the boy thanked Raijin for staying with him Raijin scoffed and waved the boy off "It's nothing kid, and if things ever get too much for ya just come find one of us. We can find ya somewhere safe to stay and a job, Deku-Sensei would never turn a two-toes away." Raijin promised with a wink.

Hawks blinked, Deku-Sensei had a fond spot for two-toes? Well that was interesting to hear though he wasn't sure how useful the knowledge was for his investigation into the man, maybe Deku-Sensei was close to someone quirkless and had a soft spot for them in general?

The boy was taken aback "Really? Even though I, I just-" the boy stopped ducking his head hugging himself.

"Of course, kid, Deku-Sensei knows the statistics for two-toes. He'd be more surprised if he met a two-toes your age that hadn't tried to off themselves at least once." Raijin assured and Hawks knew he was saying something else but his mind was hung up on those two sentences.

Statistics? What statistics?

Hawks knew two-toes were rare in Japan but what the hell did Raijin mean by that? And why would anyone think that a two-toes trying to kill themselves was to be expected?

Hawks knew there were a lot of things he didn't know because it wasn't relevant to him as a hero so the commission hadn't bothered to teach him about it but maybe he should've looked into two-toes more since Zuri was one and it had bit him the ass once before with the hiccup misunderstanding, even if Zuri had laughed it off at the time.

While he was pondering things he was distracted, and Raijin must of have noticed he was there and shot up after him "We really need to stop meeting like this love bird." Raijin teased a kick aimed for his head, the fight brought him out of his thoughts, and it went as well as it always did when they fought, Raijin and he both got in a few blows with Raijin teasingly flirting with him before he knocked Hawks out with a punch this time.

When he woke up he was being looked over by a medic and once he was given a good bill of health sent off to get back to work, but his work was a touch sloppy because he couldn't put all of his attention in to his work as his mind was preoccupied with what Raijin had said.

Try as he might nothing could get himself to force it out of his mind and when he thought it was safe to do so Hawks left his apartment in disguise as soon as he possibly could and though he knew that Zuri would be willing to tell him he wasn't sure he would get a straight answer from the boy about this, instead he stopped inside a small public library and went to one of the computers.

Hawks had a phone and a laptop but he would never dare search up anything related to Zuri on his devices, while he didn't know for certain if they just bugged his accounts or the devices themselves Hawks did know they saw everything he did on them and he wouldn't risk doing anything that could hint about his special time with Zuri even though it made him feel like a paranoid idiot sometimes with how far he was willing to go.

Hawks hadn't even needed to look too hard to find the answers he was searching for and he only grew more and more horrified as he kept reading article after article about two-toes.

He learned that by the time two-toes were at the age to start middle school they would likely have tried to commit suicide at least once, the same age Zuri was.

He found out that the majority of two-toes were successful in killing themselves and that it was their main cause of death in Japan, and the ones that didn't were killed by the hands of others... mainly family.

And the worst part of this all was the fact that the most recent article he could find on the topic was from twenty-five years ago and predicted that it would only get worse for the future generations, for their generation.

Hawks suddenly found himself questioning a lot of things about his friend Zuri.

Was Zuri safe at home? What about school? Was Zuri even safe going outside at all? Would he even tell him if he was? Was that why Zuri thought he didn't want him around after he said he was a two-toes? Why did he expect it at all? Did Zuri feel like he was a useless husk like the boy Raijin saved? Had Zuri ever considered-

*No!* Hawks thought shaking his head and clutching his head unable to bring himself to even think of Zuri like that and pushed himself to leave the library.

Hawks had never once asked himself why Zuri was so willing to meet up with a random stranger that was clearly lying about who he was, one who he didn't know well in a secluded park after nightfall because Hawks was so caught up in his freedom, if it was anyone else meeting up with Zuri he would be gravely concerned what the person's intentions were with his friend.

God there was no way to see their meetings as innocent with this in mind so why would Zuri willingly walk into a stranger danger situation that was literally out of the damn handbook?

Was Zuri as lonely as he was? Did no one his own age want to hang out with him just because he was a two-toes?

No, Zuri talked about his friends a lot but what if he was lying about having any like he did when Zuri asked about his friends? Where was his family and why weren't they worried about Zuri being outside so late in the day? Didn't they care?

A protective rage was planted with that last thought, because Zuri was a great kid that had gone out of his way for anyone, he had offered to help pay for whatever animal Hawks craved eating and he always ponied up when he didn't have the money to pay for live food.

Zuri didn't have a mean bone in his body, much less speak a bad word of anyone.

The thought of someone hurting Zuri just made him grit his teeth.

It was likely his hindbrain that caused this protectiveness and with how much Zuri did for him it would only be natural for him to get attached to Zuri the way he has.

Birds were supposed to be super attached to their owners because of the way they took care of them and that tracked for him because the only other time he felt this protective was over an old handler that used to sneak him a bite of her meat sticks.

The woman got caught and he never saw her again but he remembered fighting so hard to keep them from taking her from him... they gave him an operation to remove his talons the next day and changed his teeth the day after that one.

"Hi Tweety!" Zuri's voice shocked him but he quickly turned and saw Zuri barreling towards him and the boy hugged him, Hawks arms went around him and he crushed the boy to his chest "Hey, you okay Tweety? You're shaking." Zuri asked worried as he looked up at him and Hawks struggled to remember if Zuri always looked so small.

Hawks opened his mouth but nothing came out, unable to bring himself to say anything about what had happened "Nothing Zuri, just had a tough day." Hawks half-lied keeping his arms around Zuri.

Hawks hated how Zuri's eyes softened into something so understanding "I get it, I have those a lot." Zuri said and he felt his heart twist hearing that, Zuri was a kid and shouldn't be able to relate to him in that way.

"Want to go get some ice cream before we go shopping? Ice cream makes everything better." Zuri innocently asked him.

"You know what, yeah that sounds great kid." Hawks answered trying to calm himself down from the stupor he had worked himself into, he released Zuri, but he kept his arm securely around Zuri's neck and kept him close to his side.

Zuri hadn't said anything on the odd gesture and just began telling him about the little ice cream shop and suggesting different flavors for him to try.

Hawks stared down at Zuri who was lost in his rambling and pursed his lips, his thoughts still haunted by what he discovered and pulled Zuri even closer to his side.

Hawks hoped to god he'd never see Zuri on a rooftop, and if he ever read Zuri's obituary... He didn't want to think of what he'd possibly do.