Nicholas woke in his bunkbed at Hawks's agency like he would any other day.
Sluggishly coming back from his unconsciousness to his phone's alarm blaring in his ear, one of his hands blindly looking around for the snacks he always had nearby, numbly grabbing a lump of charcoal, and bringing it to his mouth.
The taste of ash helped to further jog his mind to consciousness, and he struggles to not chew the lump instinctively, instead he struggles to swallow the charcoal, the lump a bit too large but Nicholas manages to somehow get it down.
And for a minute he just breathes in and out waiting, waiting for the rush.
Then as sudden as a strike of lightning he felt the flare of his core and energy surged through him, not much but more than enough for him to feel real again as his sight returns to him.
Others had asked him if everything faded to black when he could not see; it did not; he did not think there were any words he could use to describe the way things swam when his vision returned or clouded over with the sheer nothingness of true blindness.
Not about to let his small amount of energy be wasted staring at the ceiling pondering about nothing, Nicholas swung his legs over the edge of his bed and grabbed the neon red bag of charcoal and began to eat the rest of the bag.
Each lump of charcoal going down much easier than the last, his core flaring with each addition to its fuel until the bag was emptied and he considered eating it as well but dismissed it and merely crumpled it up and tossed it into the wastepaper bin.
He ran a hand through his hair, then looked over the holes in his arms, each still holding onto their beads and removed the two closest to his hands on each arm, hot puffs of heat being released with each one removed and the building tension in his chest was loosened.
Nicholas looked down to his legs and removed the lowest pair of beads from each leg as well, allowing even more of his vents to work as they were intended to, then he got up and went over to the provided closet and started to get dressed for the day.
*I need to ask Hawks for another bag of charcoal.* was Nicholas' first thought of the day as he brushed his hair back into a ponytail, then he carefully slid his helmet onto each of his prongs before securing it into place.
Nicholas took a second to look himself over, making sure his armor plates were all correctly in place, down from his boots and up to his helmet.
His sight lingering on the burnt flesh by his glassy eyes before deciding all was in order and turning to leave his room, slipping the beads he had removed into one of his many pockets, and made his way down to the mess hall to get himself something more filling to eat.
Charcoal was an effective way to wake up but would not last him long, already he could feel his energy dwindling with each step, his body seeming to get heavier and heavier.
Thankfully, Hawks had set him up in one of the bunkrooms nearest to the mess hall and he made a B-line over to the prey section, grabbing up a few of the slabs of venison then moving away to eat them in private.
Animals and meat gave him far more energy than anything else he could eat, and raw meat would give him even more things to digest.
Nicholas bowed his head and began his mornings prayer, his mouth and tongue feeling heavier with each word he spoke.
Once he finished, he took out his fleishig knife and fork then carefully cut each slab into strips, eating each one with as few bites as he could manage, the less stuck to his teeth the better, he needed every little scrap he could get to keep his energy levels up.
After finishing his fifth slab Nicholas felt comfortable with his energy levels to get to work, cleaning his mess and removing another eight of his beads from his various limbs, hiding them away before going off to look for his mentor.
Working with Hawks was much easier than he had thought it would be. The man did not seem to be the most serious of people, but Nicholas had been pleasantly surprised by the amount of thought the man had given to him for just being an intern.
His dietary needs, while excessive, were being met and the man had been sure to be very accommodating to even his wants as well.
Finding kosher meat was not easy after all but the man had gone the extra step for him to eat within the guidelines he wanted to upkeep.
His patrol times were also always scheduled to have a break for his afternoon prayers and end before sunset, so he was able to finish work before the sun went down, the before sunset was a weirder step but one, he appreciated all the same.
Thankfully, Nicholas did not have to walk around for long before he found Hawks, enjoying what looked like a milkshake and holding a bag in the other hand.
"Oh, heya Squeaker, always up with the sun ain't ya?" Hawks teased then offered him the bag.
"I got you something on the way up." Hawks told him with a silly grin on his face.
Nicholas reached forward to take the bag and could not help a small smile seeing the mini cans of concentrated lighter fluid, nodding his head in thanks.
Those would be helpful on patrol to keep his energy up, liquids were not as helpful but lighter fluid was a solid choice to keep his core thrumming with energy.
"Glad I got the right thing, wasn't sure if there was like some kind of kosher brand you'd have to drink instead." Hawks mentioned.
Nicholas shook his head, raising one of his hands to sign.
'No, when it comes to stuff like this, we treat it like we do medicine, it doesn't strictly need to be made by one of us or blessed by a Rabbi.'
"Cool, cool. Ready for patrol then Squeaker?" Hawks asked before sipping on his milkshake.
Nicholas grabbed a can, opened it, and downed it like a shot, a massive flare of energy from his core that made him feel oddly floaty and loose in his joints in ways that normally only happened when he had a big feast.
He nodded to Hawks happily adding half of the others to his pockets and planning to put the others in his locker, and walked away with Hawks to the locker rooms, Hawks humming some song Nicholas did not know as they went.
"You want to take the training wheels off today, Squeaker? Or just wanna hover again?" Hawks asked once he returned.
Nicholas weighted both options in his head, he had been feeling better about moving in the air and that he would not suddenly run out of energy and collapse mid-flight with the 'energy-drinks' Hawks gave him, however he'd need to use a lot more energy to fly even higher than for hovering.
And running out of energy was not an option for him.
'Let me drink another can before we go out and I think I'll try a short flight.' Nicholas answered.
Hawks's eyes widened, and he grinned "Go right ahead Squeaker, I'll be up on the balcony waiting for you." Hawks informed him, already heading off.
Nicholas was quick to grab a can from his locker and used the elevator to get up to the 'balcony', which was a glorified helicopter launch pad, and he only drank the second can when he was up there, his core practically vibrating in his chest making him 'hum'.
"Ready to go?" Hawks asked already hovering in the air, his wings lazily flapping.
Nicholas nodded a bit sharpish from the excess energy, he removed more of his beads from his arms and placed them away and put his legs' beads back in.
Then he re-focused his plasma to his legs, lifting off the ground and carefully moving through air to be at the same height as Hawks.
"You good Squeaker?" Hawks asked over the comms.
Nicholas clicked his tongue twice, his version of a yes without actually using his voice, talking took up way too much energy compared to clicking his tongue or signing.
"I'll take your word for it; I'll go slower so you can keep up better. Don't need you to tap out on me mid-air." Hawks explained to him.
"Take off in 3, 2, 1!" Hawks counted down then flew off.
Nicholas was quick to follow, forcing more energy out of his feet, thankful for the gulf stream meaning he did not need to put out as much energy to follow him.
After he felt better about his balance in the air Nicholas glanced down, the sight turning his non-existence stomach somewhat, but Nicholas did not look away from the ground.
If he was going to be in the air more, he would need to get over any wariness he had about heights.
"Swooping down for a robber, stay up here Squeaker." Hawks warned him.
Nicholas's stop was not smooth, but he was proud he had not gone more than four meters off his mark and watched as Hawks speed escalated well past what he was going for the pass ten minutes when he was leading Nicholas around.
The man reaching the ground in what felt like the blink of the eye, easily clearing the hundred meters in seconds, dealt with the robber and was back up in the air in a matter of seconds.
"Ready to continue Squeaker?" Hawks asked him.
Nicholas pointed down at the robber.
"Don't worry about him, the guys will pick him soon." Hawks brushed it off, like he always did when it came to his sidekicks.
Nicholas clicked his tongue twice and they were off again.
His stops and turns getting better with each time Hawks stopped to deal with someone but it was a serious wear on his energy.
So, when he touched down for his afternoon prayer and to re-fuel it was not on some roof but the ground so he could hover for the rest of the patrol.
Hawks took the time to interact with his fans, and he was currently doing an interview with someone while Nicholas sipped on one the lighter fluid cans.
"Hey kid, might not want to drink something like that in front of impressionable kids." someone commented, Nicholas looked up at the person and saw it was one of the sidekicks that followed Hawks around.
Nicholas frowned and continued to drink his can, turning away from the sidekick. The man was trying to be light-hearted about it but that did not really matter to him, he agreed about the risk of other kids trying lighter fluid was something about which he would worry.
But considering he could pass out or die if he did not properly fuel his core, he was not going to stop drinking his can.
Besides Hawks had gotten it for him and he was going to drink it.
"Heya Squeaker, all done with the masses. You ready to go?" Hawks shouted out from where he was over by the crowd already moving over to him and the sidekick.
Wanting to get away from the man Nicholas downed the can and popped another can and downed it too, the sudden rush of energy making him feel like his frame was vibrating and clicked his tongue twice and kicked off of the ground.
He had not told Hawks about wanting to hover and was thankful for it so he would not need to fall back and hang out with the rest of the sidekicks like normal.
Hawks had tried to hide it and maybe if Nicholas was someone else, he might not have noticed it, but when you were the quiet one that fell into the background you noticed things most people forgot to hide from you.
And Nicholas could tell that Hawks did not trust his sidekicks, it was hard not to reach that conclusion when Hawks always seemed to interrupt anytime one of his sidekicks had approached him alone or would not leave him alone with any of them.
Not that Nicholas had any problems with that since they always were making backhanded comments like about his lighter fluid cans when they tried to engage him.
It only made him feel even more endeared to Hawks, the man already in his good books for how much he defended Deku-Sensei and his support of their protest in Deku-Sensei's name.
Hawks even went out of his way to get him flavored metal pellets, which were more expensive, especially pareve ones so he could eat them whenever and not just before he went to bed.
It was no wonder that Deku-Sensei liked him as a hero.
Fun fact: baby doves are sometimes called squeakers, a small fact that I found and made my day when I was researching for this chapter :3