This is the end of the 2nd arch.
The 'training' and getting to know each other arch.
The 'intro' arch was chapters 1 - 3.

Chapter Text

The sun was setting. Water coloring the sky with magical hues that danced across the horizon.

The sounds of the cars driving in the distance mixed with the light breeze of the air flowing across the roof top. She could hear herself breathing and being in the moment.

Though Yuri's senses picked up the vibrations of all of these miniscule things around her she was still jerked to the present with the light touch against her cheek. A red feather in her peripheral.

"Just us today? Thought you said we all needed to get along." Hawks chuckled as he walked closer to her. His feather retreating back to his wing.

Yuri didn't turn to him. She wasn't angry with him for ignoring her. If anything she was confused by the whole thing. Pushing it aside she needed to talk to him about the mission and about her decision to leave the commission.

Hawks knew that Yuri wasn't going to be happy about him ignoring her. He left their last meet up on a sour note. But now that he was in front of her and watched her eyes glint in the setting suns rays, he felt the weight of guilt.

He sits next to her and places a hand on her bent knee, "I'm sorry for before."

She shifts and turns face to face with him and he wondered what she saw. Did she see past the mask that the commission cultivated for him? He knew she did, and that she was probably the only one.

Even if he didn't fully remember their time at the cabin, she did, and sometimes she looked at him like she was looking into his soul.

Like she was now.

Like she had been since that last day he woke up with a foggy brain after their last night of her training.

For the longest time he thought it was simply just the results of them being physical or her quirk. But Yuri was just Yuri and there was always the forbidden pull.

Heroes of the commission couldn't be that close. Friends or coworkers. But the weight in his chest didn't equate to either of those.

"Hawks." Her voice was just barely above a whisper, almost lost in the breeze, "I know that our circumstances for being in the commission are different." Her lips held a soft smile, "I know how much being a hero means to you and I know why." She held his eyes with her own.

It was an admission. A silent one because he doesn't recall ever telling her about how he ended up at the commission. He didn't want to break the trance and nods his head for her to continue.

"But I don't share those same ambitions." She turns back to the setting sun, "I turn of age during this mission and the commission won't be my legal guardian anymore."

Hawks' brows scrunch, "What do you mean? Your contract is up for renewal?"

He notices her fidgeting with the fingers.

"Hawks, I'm not technically contracted with the commission the same way you are. I know we're not supposed to talk about this, but I don't get paid for my missions. The fancy silver card I get to use is the equivalent to using Mommy and Daddy's money. I get an allowance and I don't get paid till I'm contracted. Which is supposed to be after this mission."

His head was about to spin. All this time he though she was contracted like how he was. The commission was more like a foster system for him. Hawks would never admit to Yuri that he had looked into her personal file before. He already knew that she was born into the commission.

He just assumed that they put an account to the side for her and had annual contracts like he had.

"You said 'supposed to'." He felt a weight in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm going to leave." She turned and the joy in her eyes lit up. Adrenaline rushed through his veins. This was good. She wouldn't have to be under her handler or the Head of the Commission.

. . . .

She wouldn't be at the commission house. She wouldn't be around for him to just pop in.

Hawks forced on a smile. His golden boy mask, "That's great. So, no more being Daddy's Girl?" He said it to be joking.

Yuri was quiet.

"Not exactly." She laughed nervously, "I don't really know much outside of what the commission has shown me. Midnight is going to introduce me to a place called Linda's. It's a-"

"No." Yuri turned her head to the curt voice.

"What?"

Yuri noticed his avian eyes sharpen as he seemed to evaluate her.

"Linda's is a top BDSM club. It's exclusive. I've heard about it in passing. If you're going to leave the commission you should do something to improve yourself. You're still going to be turning tricks at Linda's."

She heard an edge in his voice. Frustration and annoyance. But she only recognized it because it was starting to build in her as well.

"Are you serious? Did you forget that I don't know anything else?" Her voice was getting louder, "I'm the commissions dirty pigeon and you're their perfect dove." Yuri leans in to draw her point, "Did you forget that you're a caged bird too?"

She should have felt guilty when his face dropped. Her words hitting home.

Hawks shakes his head and rakes his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry. I - I just. Hhh. The commission won't be the same without you. Maybe you could put in a request to leave the undercover sector-"

"Hawks."

"I was going to start hiring sidekicks-"

"Hawks."

"You could-"

"Kei-" His head turned at her pronounced slip, "Hawks." Yuri positions them so that they are sitting cross legged in front of one another. Their knees touching and she grabs both of his hands.

Grounding them both with each other presence. She could almost feel tears in the back of her eyes.

"I'm leaving the commission." She squeeze's his hands, "I'm not leaving you."

"Then why does this feel like a goodbye?" Hawks leans forward and their foreheads are touching.

She squeezes her eyes shut so to not cry.

"It's not supposed to."

She opens her eyes and she's in tranced with his sharp features.

Yuri hated that she could see his eyes looking from hers to her lips. She could feel that they were too close and that the emotions were too high.

She wets her lips, "I could make this easier. I could use my quirk." It was a whisper.

Hawks hated that she said those words. He hated the empty spaces in his memory. He hated that she knew him and he couldn't enjoy that or share it with her.

"Don't use your quirk on me." He didn't want to pull back anymore. He didn't want her to go. Hawks moves his lips so that they were just a breath in front of hers, "Not unless you're giving me my memory back." He was going to break their space only she turned her head.

The rejection sliced him but he refused to feel the sting.

With his forefinger and thumb he pulls her face back to his.

"Hawks, You know I can't do that."

"Then don't." His eyes bore into hers, the tears had fallen from her eyes, "But if this is going to be a goodbye. At least give me something to remember this time?" He was sure he sounded desperate and pleading. He hoped that his up turned lips help mask it.

Yuri chuckles and rolls her eyes, "We shouldn't."

"I know."

She tired to think of another excuse but it was lost when his hand gently cupped her neck pulling her in. Their lips touched and his fingers were tender to the touch.

Yuri felt a new set of tears begin to fall.

It was so unfair. How soft his lips felt and how they made her melt...

And how much this did feel like a goodbye.

The kiss was short but self like a lifetime.

When his hand slipped away she kept her eyes closed when she felt the brush of a breeze. She knew that when she opened them he would be gone and the water colored sunset would be a black clouded sky.

When she entered the apartment she felt numb and empty. Aizawa didn't ask any questions when she sat next to him on the couch. She was really grateful for that. She was even more grateful when he didn't ask any question when she leaned her head against his shoulder and some of her tears dripped onto his long black sleeve.