Chapter Text
Hawks ducked inside the regular cafe he visited. They had the best coffee on the street, and the fact it was close to where he lived didn’t hurt. It smelled thoroughly of chocolate, overpowering most everything else. He, being the number 2 hero, turned a couple of heads as he entered. However, most everyone was so used to his presence there they hardly noticed. He got in line, pulling out his phone to check his social media pages. Naturally, his latest picture of the previous night’s sunset (as taken from above the clouds) had gotten a lot of likes and comments. The cafe was quite full, so Hawks wasn’t surprised a lot of people decided to leave the cafe rather than find a place to sit. Nearby, he overheard a couple of people having a conversation.
“I got tea, what did you get? Looks like coffee.”
“Oh heavens, no. I hate coffee, can’t stand the taste of it.”
“Really? Never would have thought. How about the smell?”
“Even worse. Yick.”
“Oh well, to each their own.”
Hawks kept up with the moving line, quickly arriving at the front.
“Ah, Hawks, there you are. The usual, I presume,” The cashier at the front said, already scribbling down the order.
“Mhm,” Hawks hummed, tucking his phone in his pocket.
“Alright, one caramel frappuccino, three extra shots. Coming right up.”
“You guys know me too well,” He chuckled as he looked around the cafe. As far as everyone else was concerned, he was absently observing, probably bored or looking for something. He ruffled his wings a little, shaking off a feather or two. It looked like a stretch, like he’d just woken up ten minutes ago. He tilted his head to the side a little, as though he was trying to listen to the quiet background music being played on the small bluetooth speakers the baristas had.
The truth of it all was he wasn’t idly observing the cafe because he was bored or stretching because he was stiff or even trying to hear the barista’s music. Rather, he was listening and watching for any form of danger or an attack. He sent the fallen feathers outside under the double doors, sending them through the streets to look for any crimes. The cashier handed him his drink and he passed over the money needed to pay for it. “Thank you, come again!”
“Always will,” Hawks said, sitting down at an empty table. Hawks felt a few droplets of water on the feathers he sent out. Rain? He looked outside. It had started sprinkling, at least he thought so. Even he could only see so much through a tinted window. He recalled the feathers. A minute or two later, the feathers squeezed under the door and reattached to his wings. The coffee was nice, it was warm and smelled nice. Over time, the drum of rain on the roof got louder. It had started pouring, A loud bang sounded, and a young woman walked in, covered in water.
“Just my luck,” she muttered bitterly and shuffled up to the counter, ordering a hot chocolate. Hawks stared for a second or two. She looked like a hero, either that or a cosplayer. The outfit was simple, built in shades of dark blue, purple, and cyan. It had golden accents around the wrists and collar. The collar of the suit reached the top of her throat and a black and gold varsity jacket was hung over her shoulders like a cape. At the base of her hips was a fan of peacock-like feathers so long that they dragged behind her on the ground like a bridal train. She received her order and looked around, seeing no empty seats. She walked over to Hawks’ table. “May I sit here?”
“Be my guest,” Hawks said simply, sipping his coffee.
“I’m (Y/N), by the way.”
“Hawks.”
“Oh, you’re a hero too?” She smiled brightly. “My hero name is Juno.”
“Really? Sounds cool.”
“It really is,” she replied, absently stirring her hot chocolate. “What’s your favorite movie?”
The pair of heroes started a conversation, exchanging favorite movies and favorite songs and favorite tv shows and the like.
“So, what’s your quirk?” Hawks asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you on TV.”
“I just moved here, that’s why.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve got an agency just down the road. I’ve been here for a few months so I’ve got some sidekicks, including one from where I moved from.”
“Sounds interesting. What are the feathers for?”
“Yeah, my quirk has all to do with these,” she said, shifting so she could show them off. "I can sharpen them or make them duller at will and they’ll regenerate as quickly as I detatch them, if at all, and they’re pretty stiff when they detach. They’re pretty good for combat. Really they’re just swords when they’re not connected to me.”
“Wow, that’s a good quirk.”
“Well, what about you?”
Hawks swallowed the sip of coffee in his mouth and leaned back in his chair. He willed a feather to detach from his wings and start to fly around the table. Abruptly, he sent it flying towards his straw, shaving a couple of centimeters from his straw before returning the feather to his wing.
“That’s actually really cool.”
“Thanks.” Hawks smiled warmly. He hoped quietly that they would become friends.
The two of them ended up exchanging numbers once the rain had stopped, promising to text each other later. Both heroes ran off to do their hero work, Hawks taking to the skies and Juno running in the opposite direction, heading to her agency. Though they had just met, Hawks felt a little sad, wishing they could spend more time talking.
(Y/N) skidded into the building her agency was in just a few minutes early, shaking the water and dirt out of her tail feathers. “Ah, hello Juno,” her secretary chirped brightly. He had stopped furiously typing to greet the hero. “Thank you for shaking out your tail feathers outside this time, the carpet isn’t too good with water.”
“I know, Ryochi.”
“Mariposa wanted to talk to you. She’s in your office.”
“Thank you.” Juno hurried down the hall, hanging a sharp right and ducking into her office. Mariposa was sitting on an ottoman. It was quite hard for the brown-haired sidekick to sit in any chairs with a back due to her quirk, so Juno had insisted on putting at least 5 places to sit without backs in each room for the express purpose of accommodating people with similar limits that came with their quirks. The thought of Mariposa and her wings reminded Juno of Hawks. She mentally shooed the thought away and sat next to Mariposa. “You wanted to talk to me?”
“Yes, ma’am, I just wanted to let you know I was going to start my own hero agency.”
“Well, that’s great! You’re going to be an amazing hero!”
Mariposa tilted her head in slight confusion. “You’re not going to miss me?”
“Well, I will, a lot. You’re a great sidekick and your powers are a good asset to the agency, but you deserve to live your full potential. I wish you luck!”
Mariposa smiled brightly, hugging Juno tightly. “Thank you for believing in me,” she murmured, joy almost radiating off of her.
“I’m proud of how far you’ve come,” Juno hummed back. “You’re gonna do great.”
Truly, Juno was proud of her sidekick, a bright-eyed UA graduate who had decided on her agency. Mariposa was perfect for the hero business, pretty enough to be popular, powerful enough to defeat villains without much trouble. She would rise in the ranks easily. She would miss the butterfly-winged woman, but it was nice to have had her there while she did.
Later, Juno left with a few sidekicks, as the agency had received a call to stop a bank robbery. She wasn’t too fond of bank robberies. Boring things, they were. Pretty easy things to take care of, but mostly because they were predictable. “Bet you 300 yen there’s three of them.”
One of the sidekicks snorted. “Well I bet you another 100 that at least one of them has got a gun.”
“You think they have hostages?” Another sidekick asked.
“It’d certainly be more interesting than normal,” The fourth sidekick added. All of the sidekicks were fresh out of hero school, bright eyed and bushy tailed and a bit of a nuisance sometimes. The fifth ‘sidekick’ was a second year on a work study.
“Well that would make our job harder. With that we need to watch over human lives. If there are hostages, I need you guys to get them out quickly and safely. Are we understood?” (Y/N) looked at her sidekicks, making sure they understood.
“Yes, Juno,” the teenagers chorused. The six of them arrived at the bank, where the police were just outside. Juno vaulted over a car and ran in, her sidekicks just behind. They burst into the bank, finding three robbers, one with a gun, and a few hostages off to the side. The quick rustle of money changing hands was heard before the team launched into action, the surprised murmurs of civilians not recognizing her.
“It’s Juno!” Someone cheered. Juno gave a quick two-finger salute to the civilian who had recognized her and dropped to the ground, kicking one of the robbers’ feet out from under them, sending them tumbling to the floor. The other two were defeated quickly by her sidekicks, who had gotten the four hostages out as soon as the action had started. Juno broke a feather off from her tail and pointed it at the robber. Cheers rose up around the room. Juno took a bow and the police shuffled into the building, handcuffing the robbers and hauling them away. The sidekicks celebrated while Juno comforted the hostages, one of which was a six-year-old girl. She had candy in her pocket for this exact reason. She passed the little girl some chocolate and hauled her sidekicks to the next case.
Meanwhile, Hawks was flying through the city, stopping villains and helping people out so quickly most people didn’t notice he had even passed until he was gone and his sidekicks were taking care of any aftermath. Hawks scanned the streets below, looking for trouble. Meanwhile, he was mentally counting how many crimes he had stopped that day. Just as quickly as he finished stopping crimes, he had tallied them up. 87 in thirty minutes. Not too shabby. In the streets below, he spotted the telltale colorful tail feathers of Juno. He smiled and slowed down, staring at the city below. Juno knocked over someone who had stolen a woman’s purse. Hawks turned a few lazy circles in the air before speeding off and continuing with work.
The two of them returned to their respective homes, (Y/N) collapsing on her couch. She looked around her living room, bare as it was. A lot of her belongings had been lost in the move because of her shady moving company, and therefore as a result she had no TV and knew nothing about the local heroes. She wondered how popular a hero Hawks was. She opened her phone, deciding to text the aforementioned bird man.
(Y/N): Hey, it’s Juno!
Hawks replied a minute or two later.
Hawks: Hey, it’s great to talk to you again!
(Y/N): Yeah, how was hero work today?
Hawks: Yeah, I go home in about 30 minutes, but it’s been great.
Hawks: Stopped a lot of crimes, saved some people, the usual.
Hawks: You?
(Y/N): I stopped a bank robbery and a murder today.
(Y/N): Also a few other things but those are the notable ones.
Hawks: Impressive!
(Y/N): Bank robberies happen all the time.
(Y/N): Criminals get less and less creative every day.
(Y/N): But yeah it was still notable, there was this little girl, she was cute.
Hawks: Aww, lucky
Hawks: Didn’t see anything interesting
Hawks: I mean I saw you stop a guy from stealing from someone so that’s notable
(Y/N): creep
Hawks: wait no that’s not what I meant
(Y/N): Haha sorry I was kidding I saw you making your rounds around the city too
Hawks: never do that again
(Y/N): You’re a really fast flier
Hawks: …
Hawks: yeah
(Y/N): Yeah
(Y/N): You wanna talk at that cafe again tomorrow?
Hawks: sure, you’re cool.
(Y/N) smiled brightly and hugged her phone to her chest. A friend, her first real, out-of-work friend in Japan. This was the best news she’d had in forever.