Hizashi hummed as he leafed through his disks until he found the track he was looking for and popped it in "And now for a very special request by a Jiro-San, who requested we play the song the two of you sung on your first date, happy seventeen years of marriage you two." Hizashi said into the mic before he played the correct track and muted himself with a smile.
His audience probably knew those two love-birds name and song by heart at this point, it was still really sweet that the guy always went out of his way to plan something special for Mika every year, most couples in the music business couldn't boast about seventeen years like the two of them could.
Just another reason Hizashi loved to collab with the two of them, well they had great taste in music too but them being a happy couple helped.
Taking the four minutes he had Hizashi searched through his collection for his next line up, it was feeling like PQ '20 Indie day so he went to that section to skim through the titles for four different songs to fill the airwaves until his interview block was ready.
Sunday live with Mic was quite popular if he said so himself, It was just a simple Q&A that lasted for about an hour where his listeners could call in and ask him and his co-host questions, normally his co-host was his assistant, Miko on the other side of the sound booth but every other Sunday he'd have another hero be his co-host.
And while that might draw in some people he was certain it was Nemuri's trolling that made people tune in every Sunday, she been calling in since he first took to the air mainly to distract him so he wasn't completely worried about making a fool of himself and it had become just too much fun for her to stop.
Not that he could blame her, her crank calls were funny.
However, due to his guest for the show tonight he'd have to make the screening a bit more strict, while Nemuri's occasional thirst calls were fine he doubted Hawks would be comfortable having a bunch of teens squealing at him over the phone.
The kid was quite tough for someone so young and Tsunagu might have decent competition for hottest hero this year, and Hizashi was looking forward to meeting the kid to get a feel for him as a person himself.
It was pretty tricky to get this whole thing arranged though, Hawks assistant giving him the run-around for like a week before they got the woman to put them through to Hawks to pick a date.
Apparently, the kid was super busy and Hizashi could understand that, he had the same numbers as Best Jeanest and that took time, a lot of time to get to those numbers. And with how young the hero was it was a bit concerning, mostly because he was hardly much older than his third-year students.
Hizashi wondered if the kid had any down time or if he just made all of his friends at work like he and Sho did, which was fine because work friends can become just like family, he and Sho were pretty much brothers at this point and it was hard to see Nemuri anything less than a teasing older sister.
The lights were flickered, and he jolted, turning straight to the window and saw his assistant who signed 'Song almost over.' to him.
Hizashi nodded giving her a thumbs up and went back over to his wheely chair and set the discs aside and he waited for the song to finish before introducing the next couple of songs.
Hawks arrived about six minutes before they were supposed to go on air, Hizashi watched as his assistant and the hero talked some waiting for him to put on the next song so he could come inside the booth.
Once he was done and cut the mic he motioned the kid to come on in, noticing that firstly Hawks had shed his fluffy navigator/bomber jacket, and his wings were far smaller than he remembered.
Hizashi stood up and offered his hand to Hawks "Hiya Hawks! Welcome to the studio, great to have you here!" Hizashi cheerfully greeted.
Hawks smiled back instead of using the lazy smirk-like grin he usually had "Happy to be here Mic, just heard from Shelly over there that my assistant wasn't very helpful." Hawks replied motioning to Miko.
Huh, Miko must have liked him well enough if she used her nickname "No troubles, buddy. Wouldn't doubt that you're busy with all that patrolling." Hizashi told him with a dismissive wave.
Hawks huffed bemused "Oh definitely, but it's nothing I can't handle." Hawks said with a teasing wink.
Hizashi chuckled "Sure, come sit down and I'll show you my rig." Hizashi replied waving him over to the controls on his side of the booth.
Hawks came over and made the appropriate hemming and hawing from someone who didn't have much experience with radio equipment, he was quite a bit more restrained compared to other avian-quirked people he had and hadn't made any attempts to touch or press the buttons on the console.
"We've only got a few more moments before we're on the air, it should be just like any other interview you've given, just we can't see them." he told the kid, Hawks nodded and pulled out a tiny water bottle from one of his pants pockets and took a sip from it.
"Alrighty, we'll be live in three, two, one- Hiya little listeners! Hope you're ready for Sunday live with Mic cause I can't wait to introduce you to my lovely co-host, who has so generously found the time to come join us." Hizashi enthusiastically greeted motioning for Hawks to speak.
"Awe, you flatter me Mic, it's my pleasure to be here." Hawks said back, a hand over his heart.
Hizashi chuckled "And we are delighted to have you, and for you eagle-eyed listener your ears aren't deceiving you, Hawks will indeed be my co-host for the evening." Hizashi confirmed "Anything you want to say to the little listeners before we start asking questions?" Hizashi asked.
Hawks gave a slight hum as he leaned back in his chair "Afraid not, I don't quite have your gift of gab Michael." Hawks joked with a shrug and causing Hizashi to snort.
"So you say, but we'll see about that. Now let's get through our usual questions for co-hosts. I know you've been asked this before but tell us Hawks, when did you first want to be a hero?" Hizashi asked.
"Oh that's easy. I've wanted to be a hero as long as I can remember, but I didn't get really serious about it until I was, what? Six I think?" Hawks answered rubbing the back of his neck.
"Hm, is that so? What happened around then to make you get serious about it?" Hizashi inquired rather interested.
Hawks wings twitched a bit "Ah, well you see there was an accident and I can't really talk about it for confidentiality reasons, sorry to disappoint but it will be another twenty-five years before I can actually talk about it openly." the kid replied looking a touch more nervous.
"Pfft, don't worry Hawks, I'm sure my listeners can understand that we can't talk about everything. For personal reasons or otherwise." Hizashi reassured with a wave of the hand.
"Now let's move on to our next question, did you have any particular heroes you looked up to when you were a kid and as a pro-hero now yourself do you still look kindly on them?" Hizashi asked.
Hawks averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle "This, is will probably be unexpected but my favorite hero back then was actually Endeavour, he wasn't the nicest person but of all the heroes I knew of back then, and even now he was the only one aiming to surpass All Might and become the number one hero." Hawks answered.
"I mean, by the time I was a kid All Might being the number one was just sort of a given, like him being the best was just a universal rule or something, and the way everyone talks about All Might just cemented that belief." Hawks explained, his hands unconsciously moving along with his words, and Hizashi was nodding along, this air of untouchability around All Might's place as number one was palatable, even in his generation ten years before Hawks.
"So, to see someone challenge that was weird, but also inspiring I think." Hawks commented "As an adult and a pro to boot, I understand that All Might despite how strong he is, he is human and he won't be around forever but having been raised only knowing him as the number one, I find the thought we are getting closer to the end of All Might utterly daunting... which is why knowing there is at least one hero out there trying to close this massive gap All Might's made between us and him is inspiring." Hawks elaborated his head leaning to the side.
"Endeavour has flaws as a hero, as does everyone but at the very least I can still respect how he doesn't see All Might as something other than human, and that for all his power he too can be overcome one day. That the day All Might is no longer the number one won't be nearly as upsetting as I dread it will be because there will be heroes like him there to take his place." Hawks added a bit more somber.
The next second however Hawks sat up straighter and rubbed his neck slightly flustered "Sorry about that folks, didn't mean to rant like that." Hawks apologized.
"Not a problem Hawks, I tend to ramble myself and that was certainly an interesting outlook on the number two I've haven't heard anywhere before, but I can see where you're coming from." Hizashi replied.
Hawks wasn't wrong, most heroes he knew would joke about aiming for number one but there was this unspoken but fully understood knowledge that no one would ever actually be number one except All Might, and All Might had been around long enough that it was really hard for Hizashi to think of what a world without All Might could ever be like.
"That would certainly be something I'd love to talk with you about some more, but it would probably take longer than the time we have left, so let's put a pin in it for the next time we have you on the show Hawks." Hizashi told the kid.
"That's fine with me Mic." Hawks responded.
"So, let's get to the last question before we let the listeners have a crack at you themselves, if you couldn't be a hero what do you think you would be doing instead?" Hizashi questioned and Hawks head tilted back.
"Huh, haven't really thought about it before. It's kind of hard to picture myself doing anything else but I guess I might have gone into modeling maybe? My wings would make going into most lines of work hard but they be a nice prop in magazines." Hawks pondered out loud rubbing his chin.
At the mention of his wings Hizashi couldn't help glancing at them, size aside they were a much darker color almost like blood instead of the bright cardinal red Hizashi distinctly remembered from Hawks debut and the faintest signs of a striped pattern could be seen now along with their glossy shine.
"Oh, speaking of your wings, they're not as big as they look in your pictures and videos, hard to think you'd get enough lift with them." Hizashi commented and Hawks chuckled at that.
"That's because they aren't Mic, I left about half of them each in another room, sound booths like this tend not to mix with my full-size wings and I hate to knock us off the air by stretching them." Hawks replied by removing a feather then re-adding it to his wing to demonstrate.
Ah, that did make sense and was awfully considerate of him, he might be speaking from experience though even if Hizashi hadn't found anything about Hawks giving a radio interview before.
"Ah, yeah wouldn't want that. Well, I think I've hogged the number four here long enough so why don't we let one of you little listeners ask him something." Hizashi said pressing a button on the console "You're on the air little listener, what's your question?" he asked.
"Hi Mic-San, and hi Hawks! I have wings too but they're too small for me to fly with them, I wanted to know if Hawks's wings used to be small like mine and what it was like the first time he flew." a young boy asked and Hawks ruffled his wings with a smile.
"Hi to you to kiddo, when I was younger my wings weren't nearly as big as they are now. And I can't even begin to tell you how freeing it felt when I managed to get off the ground for the first time." Hawks told the kid "Being able to fly almost anywhere is one of my favorite parts of being a hero, thanks for your question little chickadee." Hawks added.
Thankfully the screening was pretty effective as the rest of the questions were fairly wholesome like the first one, people asking about what things he used to clean his wings and even an older sister helping her younger brother ask what Hawks favorite color, some of the older callers asking about how he trained to become a hero and what his exercise route was like now.
Hawks took Nemuri's crank call well too, staying PG about it and quite funny too.
"Alrighty listeners I think we have enough time for one last question, so lay it on us listener." Hizashi said pressing another button and let another caller through, and almost instantly regretted it as a familiar voice came on.
"Hello Mic, I called because I wanted to hear Hawks opinion on the ridiculous new rule U.A. is trying to pass to let the quirkless into their hero course." The sour man said.
This quirkist man had called in more than once using different phones so the usual method of blocking him didn't work on keeping him from calling in, which majorly sucked because he never failed to say something controversial, many of his calls had ended up the subject of talk shows and people arguing over what he was saying.
Hizashi turned to apologize in hero sign while reaching over to for the disconnect button and was ready to apologize to his audience, but he froze upon seeing Hawks's reaction.
Because while the kid hadn't made a noise, physically speaking was a whole other story.
His hands were clenched, the arm rests and while his face was neutral his wings were raised in a tense and intimidating stance "Excuse me?" Hawks lowly questioned, his tone on the very edge of being polite.
The sour man huffed "Oh come on, surely a high-ranking hero like yourself knows how stupid it is to think a quirkless could actually do anything, much less be a her-" the man spat but he was cut off by Miko's timely intervention, which was probably for the best because the man's rant would have only gotten worse, and Hawks was already murderous looking.
"Apologizes listeners, despite our best attempts dedicated callers like that are hard to deter. Why don't we find you a different-" Hizashi said shaking himself from his stupor only for Hawks hand to shot out and grab his wrist preventing him from doing anything.
"No need Mic, they've asked me a question and I intend to answer." Hawks cooly replied and if Hizashi wasn't in the same room and had his wrist in Hawks death grip there would be no way to tell how utterly pissed Hawks looked from his voice or his face.
"As naive as it might sound, there are many types of heroics and the ones like me that you see on T.V. are a small portion of the industry and I firmly believe that anyone can become a hero if they have the right drive and enough training. Because regardless of your quirk, or lack thereof in this case being a hero is all about helping others and you don't need a quirk for that." Hawks said, not once wavering in his words.
Hawks's closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he released his wrist and leaned back in his chair wings tightly curled to his back and his hands were digging into the arm rests again.
"While I wouldn't encourage giving people like the last caller any of your attention little listeners, I do agree with Hawks that technically anyone could be a hero. And that what your quirk is or isn't doesn't matter, only your own skills and hard work." Hizashi commented "And unfortunately we're all out of time today, can't keep our guest here for much longer. So, let's get back into our regularly scheduled programming." Hizashi added before muting their mics and putting on one of his playlists.
As soon as they were cut Hawks was on his feet and stormed out of the booth leaving all of his feathers behind in a lump on the floor, Hizashi shared a look with the equally worried Miko before he got up and followed after the kid, he didn't have to look for long as he found the kid scowling at corner in an empty room.
"Hey, you okay buddy?" Hizashi asked, Hawks eyes went flickered over to him then the kid sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Yes, sorry for- for overreacting, and grabbing you like that, it was quite unprofessional of me." Hawks apologized.
Hizashi waved his hands "Nah we're all fine kiddo, I am surprised you'd feel so strongly about quirkless discrimination but that's hardly a bad thing kid." Hizashi assured the guy.
Hawks eyes widened and he tensed before he crossed his arm looking away from him "There's this kid- one of the staffer's kids, he's quirkless. I see him every once and while and he is just the sweetest person to exist, he'd buy me things with his pocket money and the idea that anyone could look at him and say he is worthless because of a toe-joint of all things is just... I can't stand it." Hawks explained far less put together, the last part said through gritted teeth.
Oh, oh that made so much sense, of course he'd be overprotective when he had a cute kid around and likely greatly affected by said quirk discrimination, Sho was a furious mess whenever one of his kids turned out to be abused at home and was always heavier handed with those cases, he wasn't much better though.
Something about seeing one of your own hurt like that just triggered a primal rage he supposed.
"I understand, I'm a teacher and would rage for my students too. Anything you need? Water or something while you calm down?" Hizashi offered and Hawks was about to shake his head before his eyes went wide.
"You're a teacher at U.A. right?" he asked Hizashi.
"Uh, yeah." Hizashi confirmed a touch baffled, it was public knowledge afterall.
"That means you work with Eraserhead right?" Hawks asked stepping closer.
"Yes?" Hizashi replied confused where the kid was going with this.
Hawks immediately leap at him smiling again "Can you get me his autograph? The kid, his nickname is Zuri, his favorite hero is Eraserhead and if you can get me his autograph, I swear I will come back on your show four more times." Hawks pleaded, his hands on Hizashi's shoulders, a determined gleam in his eyes.
Hizashi blinked surprised and bit his lip, Sho never gave out autographs but Hizashi might be able to bug him into doing it, especially if he leveraged it was for a quirkless kid given Sho had a major soft spot for kids.
"Okay, I think I can do that, but it'll take time." Hizashi promised and if he still had his wings Hizashi would have sworn that Hawks's wings would be fluttering from how happy he looked.
"Thank you." Hawks breathed out.