Chapter Text
It’s one thing to be dirty. Hawks is used to dirty. If he hasn’t worked up a layer of sweat over his body, it’s a bad day in hero society. He likes the effort. He likes to push himself and have that visceral satisfaction. If he gets a little grubby, so what? He can wash, and Hawks loves nothing more than a hot shower at the end of a long day or night.
But to be filthy? No, thank you.
That’s exactly how he’s feeling now slumped in a puddle of thick, foul smelling mud that coats his wings and torn hero costume. He’s worked up such a sweat today, he’s over it. At this point, it’s too much effort and he would very much like it to stop so he can go home and clean himself up.
But alas, the villains are still coming at him and his sparse feathers, and despite his exhaustion and gasping breaths, he’s still a hero. He has a job to do and he’s the number two, so he does it well.
Shooting a vanguard of feathers, he keeps the villains away from close-combat range. He doesn’t have the physical strength or stamina. His day has been too long, too hard, and Hawks knows his limits.
He doesn’t like listening to them, though.
Hauling himself to his feet, Hawks allows one of the villains to come at him. Some big fucker with meaty hands and a nasty expression on his face riddled with cuts from Hawks’ feathers. Hawks darts out of the way, stabbing at the back of the man’s knee to limit his mobility before hurrying in to knock him out with a hard elbow to the back of the guy’s head. Usually, Hawks uses his fist, but he needed the extra weight to get the guy down.
He keeps up that pace, allowing one villain to come in at a time while his feathers keep the rest occupied. Hawks really should call for back-up—his fellow heroes and sidekicks are out and about trying to keep up with Hawks—but despite the filth and grime, Hawks likes the burn in his muscles. He’ll pay for it later, no doubt while getting chewed out by Touya, but it’s worth it. Besides, it’s rare he gets the opportunity to go hand-to-hand with villains when his feathers usually do all the heavy lifting.
As he takes out another of the little group—he’s about three-quarters of the way through them—his headphones start ringing.
“’Lover boy’ is calling. Accept call?” says the automated voice.
Hawks grunts and dodges a punch. “Accept.”
“Connecting ‘lover boy.’ One moment.”
Hawks’ headphones ring as the villain goes down in the mud Hawks is now covered in. He curses the rainy season and the quirk that caused the mcuk as his boots slip and Hawks almost eats a face-full of the stuff. That’s the last thing he needs.
“Hey, babe,” Hawks says when the line connects. He tries to hide how winded he is.
“What’re you doing?” Touya questions.
“Nothing, how about you?” Hawks parries a blow aimed at his gut, using the force of the blow to knock the villain off balance and toss him over Hawks’ shoulder with a cry.
“Doesn’t sound like nothing. And you’re breathing hard.”
“I’m on a run.”
“Please,” Touya snorts. “We both know you hate being on the ground, let alone running.”
“You like my running shorts, though.”
“That’s because they’re tiny and make your ass look fantastic. I’m a man first, a judgey bitch second.”
“Touya. Dear. Can I call you back? I’m a little occupied.”
Another villain swipes at Hawks with her quirk activated, making light blaze over her fingertips in a threatening manner he has no desire to experience.
“Thought you were just on a run, birdie.”
Even through the speaker, Hawks can hear the knowing smile on Touya’s face.
“Alright, alright, I’m fighting some villains but I—hey, watch it!” Hawks dances out of reach, again almost slipping in the mud when his boots lose traction. Again. “I’m okay, I swear. Just a little occupied.”
“Are your sidekicks there?”
Hawks grunts as he dodges another blow. He doesn’t like being so defensive with anyone, especially villains, but without knowing her quirk and his feathers becoming more and more sparse, he can’t help himself.
“Keigo.”
“No, they’re not,” Hawks snaps. “Happy?”
“No. Call them.”
“I’m fine—oh, seriously?” The villain opens her mouth, her jaw unhinging and a long, barbed tongue extending like a whip towards Hawks, throwing globs of saliva his way. “That’s disgusting.”
“Call your sidekicks, Hawks,” Touya says, his voice lowering into a threatening register.
“You sound like your father.”
Touya gasps in mock-outrage, losing the commanding tone. “How fucking dare you. I am nothing like—”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Can we please do this later? It’s a lot harder—shit—with you on the phone.”
Touya is silent for a moment.
Hawks continues, once the lady with the whip tongue is down, “I want to give you all my attention every time we talk, and at this point, it’s a habit, but it might get me killed with this group. I’m almost done with them, though, I swear, and then you’ll have me for the rest of the night. After I shower, though.”
“You’re too fucking nice,” Touya grumbles, but Hawks knows he’s blushing. He grins, breathless as the last two villains stand there, assessing how to come at Hawks.
“I know. And you get all of me. I’ll call you later on my way home?”
“Call me when you’re done with the clowns you’re dealing with right now. Also, drop me a ping of where you are in case they knock your stupid ass out. Someone has to be a hero for the hero.”
“And there’s no one better for the job.” Hawks whips out his phone, sending the GPS drop to Touya’s number. Thank god for the efficiency, because the two villains charge him, thinking he’s distracted instead of entertaining the whims of the love of his life. “There. Happy?”
“Now I am.”
“Good. Gotta go. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye, birdie. Come home.”
“I will—fuck.”
One of the villains knocks Hawks’ headphones off his head, effectively disconnecting his call. They land in the sucking, disgusting mud. His support department is going to be so pissed at him for breaking another pair, let alone replacing whatever else has been ruined by the muck and Hawks’ negligence.
“Okay, you guys are really starting to piss me off,” Hawks says to them. With a shift of his feet, he goes offensive, driving back the pair with the threat of his feather blades in hand. He’s done with hand-to-hand if that’s how they’re going to treat him. The nerve of some villains.
Hawks finishes off the last two without any further hitches. He doesn’t have the right amount of quirk suppressant cuffs on him, so he calls in the group to the police, agreeing to wait the extra five minutes to monitor since his fellow heroes and sidekicks are nowhere to be seen. He uses his few remaining feathers to line the villains up. He cuffs who he can based on the dangerousness of their quirk after the combat he just went through.
As he’s walking the line, one of the first people he took out starts to stir. Hawks stands there and watches the person, trying to assess if he needs to knock them out again. However, they still and that’s good enough for Hawks, especially with how antsy he feels with his body covered in mud.
He’ll have to scrub himself three times over to get it all out. He can’t neglect it, either, because if Touya catches so much of a whiff of the stuff, he’ll throw a tantrum and make Hawks shower again until he’s satisfied.
Hawks doesn’t want to relinquish any time showering again he could be spending with Touya instead. Balancing the act of boyfriend and pro-hero is precarious, but he tries his best.
Hawks makes another pass by of his villains, restless.
He doesn’t notice the silent hand reaching for his bared skin through a tear in his canvas pants and flightsuit until it’s too late.
In a flash of light, Hawks disappears.