Chapter Text
Danny grumbled as he walked into school. He successfully avoided a conversation about his second round of the sports festival over the weekend. At the expense of agreeing to see Hound Dog once a week. Danny didn’t have anything against the U.A councilor, just something against therapists in general. No offense to Jazz and all. But in his defense Spectra did try to kill his sister and plunge Casper High into a cesspool of despair and misery. Multiple times.
He wouldn’t have to worry about it until classes were over though, since that was when he would be meeting with Hound Dog. Danny slumped into his seat only looking up when he saw Iida and Midoriya walk into class. “Iida! How’s your brother?”
Iida gave him a small smile. “He’ll pull through, no need to worry yourself.”
“I’m going to worry either way Iida.” Danny said. “What about you? I know if Jazz got hurt that badly I’d be pretty shaken up.”
“Like I said, no need to worry yourself. Everything is fine. Class will be starting soon, better not to waste our time with idle chit-chat.” Iida said, taking his seat.
Even Danny could tell that was a lie, but he wouldn’t push. Iida would talk to them about it if he felt like it. Kaminari came into the classroom at the very last second. Danny tried grabbing his attention but Kaminari wouldn’t even look at him. Danny supposed he couldn’t blame him, since he was at ground zero during Danny’s sports festival freak out, but it did kind of hurt.
Once class started Aizawa explained how they would be picking hero codenames for their internships. A graph appeared on screen showing how many offers each student got for internships. Danny wasn’t expecting many offers, or any at all to be honest. He did have a freakout on public television afterall. Which is why he was surprised to see his name right between Todoroki and Bakugo’s. That couldn’t be right. All of Japan and then some now knew how weak Danny was. Danny was even more surprised to see Midoriya only got a few offers. Though he did break half the bones in his arms to be fair.
Nemuri walked in, she’d be helping them pick their hero names. Not like Danny needed help with that. He watched as each of his classmates went up, their names either being accepted or rejected by Nemuri. It did look like he needed a descriptor in front of his hero name though, or at least that seemed to be the norm. Danny soon ran out of time to decide as Midoriya, the last student other than Danny, announced his hero name.
“Danny that just leaves you.” Nemuri called him up. Danny sighed and walked up whiteboard in hand. “Please don’t just have your name written down.” She whispered to him.
Danny turned the whiteboard around to show the class. “The Haunting Hero: Phantom.”
“Are you sure? That doesn’t seem too approachable. Phantom seems so spooky. Sorta menacing.” Nemuri asked.
“I’m not changing it.” He had a hero name already, he wasn’t going to go by anything else.
“If you insist, Phantom it is!” Nemuri said.
“That was an option?!” The class shouted out, as Danny went back to his seat.
“Now, back to internships.” Aizawa started to explain how the internships worked, they’d be a week long, and would stay at the agency the whole time. Students who didn’t get any offers would choose from a list of forty agencies who volunteered to take them on.
Danny started to look through his offers, it was a lot though. He hardly recognized any of the names, but he didn’t know too many heroes. Just the ones Midoriya talked about really. He did recognize a few, Sir Nighteye, Mirio’s mentor, Yamada sent him one too, though Danny wasn’t sure he would benefit too much from interning with him since he was able to train with him whenever he wanted to. But for the most part most of the names were gibberish to him, Hawks, Death Arms, Ms. Joke, and on and on.
“Hey Midoriya? Can you help look these over with me?” He asked during lunch. “I really don’t know any of them.”
Midoriya nodded his head grabbing Danny’s list from him, scanning it over. “What are you trying to achieve with the internships?”
“I’m thinking of someone with a more martial focus. I have too many different powers with my quirk that focusing on just one wouldn’t do me much good. Plus I have a pretty good handle on them, but you can always benefit with learning more fighting styles. That or a focus on rescue work.” Danny said.
Midoriya hummed looking over the names. “Mirko would be good for a new fighting style. She has a rabbit mutation quirk. I don’t see you kicking all too much unless you're in the air. Plus she’s the number seven pro hero. Though speaking of the air, if you want to practice aerial combat as well as a mix of combat and rescue you could go with Hawks, he’s the number three hero. His quirk is Fierce Wings. He uses his feathers as swords so you could also learn from that, since you used an ice sword in the sports festival briefly. You also got an offer from the Wild Wild Pussycats who are a well respected rescue hero team of four, their mix of quirks all work really well together. There’s Sir NIghteye too! He’s All Might’s former sidekick! He’s not as much of a spotlight hero, but he’s no underground hero either. Since his quirk, Foresight, only can be used once per day he’s had to hone other skills to make up for that fact, like analysis and combat.” The rest of lunch was spent with Midoriya going through the pros and cons of a bunch of heroes.
By the end of the day Danny almost forgot about his impending appointment with Hound Dog. Or he would have if Aizawa didn’t tell him to stay after class. Danny waved for Midoriya and Uraraka to continue without him, Iida had already left.
“Do I really have to do this?” Danny asked, rolling his eyes.
“Yes. You’re going to at least four sessions before you get to decide to drop them or not.” Aizawa said flatly.
“But that’s a whole month! You want me to stay after school a whole month?”
“One day a week for a month, stop being dramatic. You won’t even be going next week due to internships, so it’s actually a month and a week.” Aizawa pointed out.
“You’re even making me walk home alone after this. This is child abuse.” Danny crossed his arms. Jazz was doing something with Nezu afterschool. Apparently some sort of field trip, Danny didn’t bother to ask where. Too busy sulking.
“Some of us have hero work after school, would you prefer civilians to be in danger? All of your classmates also walk home alone, you’ll be fine.” Aizawa handed him some cash. “Here’s some money to buy something on your way home, so don’t complain. Also I should have a list of acceptable heroes for you to intern with from your offers by tomorrow. Now get going, you don’t want to keep Hound Dog waiting.” He shooed Danny off.
Danny made his way to Hound Dog’s office and knocked on the door. He heard a muffled growl in response. “Come in.”
Hound Dog gestured to a variety of seats across from the couch he was sitting on. Was this some sort of test? Did the seat he chose say something about him? He certainly couldn’t just stand though. He took the seat closest to the door. “Aren’t you supposed to have a desk?”
Hound Dog shook his head. “I feel like that would just create a barrier in what should be an open environment between me and the students who see me. Now Danny, what brings you into my office?”
“It was either this or have my dads’ and Jazz keep looking at me in concern. And that got old the moment it started.” Danny was staring at the floor.
“Understandable. It can be hard managing others' worries for you. Have you done any sort of counseling or therapy before?” Hound Dog asked.
“Yeah. She tried killing my sister and experimenting on me for eternal youth.” Danny said.
“I see. Is there anything you wanted to talk about in particular? Eraserhead trusted me enough to fill me in on you and your sister's situation, so don’t feel like you have to hold anything back if you don’t want to.”
“Not really. I don’t think there’s much to talk about.” Danny shrugged.
“That’s fine. Why don’t you just tell me about your day then?” He suggested.
Danny didn’t see how that had anything to do with ‘getting help’ but if it meant he could avoid talking about other things he’d comply. Better than sitting in silence for half an hour. So he told Hound Dog about his day, picking hero names, getting internship offers and how he didn’t know who to choose, the math test coming up. Just a general play by play about what happened during the day. Towards the end he brought up how Kaminari was avoiding him, seeming to find any reason not to talk to Danny.
“Why do you think he’s avoiding you?” Hound Dog asked.
“What, not going to ask me how it makes me feel?” Danny raised a brow.
Hound Dog shook his head. “I don’t think that’s what the issue is here. So, why do you think he’s avoiding you?”
Danny laid his head back against the back of the chair. “Isn’t it obvious? You were at the sports festival. I wasn’t able to keep a hold of my powers, and Kaminari was right next to me when it happened. Him being scared of me is a completely normal reaction…him just being scared is better than what else could have happened. I’m just glad he’s not hurt.”
“Because he’s your friend? And you don’t like seeing your friends hurt?” Hound Dog supplied.
Danny looked at him. “Of course I don’t like seeing my friends hurt? Who would?”
Hound Dog took a deep breath. “We don’t have to talk more about it if you don’t want to, just let me tell you this. What I saw at the sports festival wasn’t someone who didn’t have control of their quirk. What I saw was a very scared kid trying to protect himself. I do not know what it was that made you react like that, nor do I expect you to tell me right away, or at all, if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. But you must remember you are fifteen years old, a child still. I’ve seen pro heroes react much worse at remembering traumatic incidents than how you did. Did it ever cross your mind that Kaminari might also not like seeing his friends hurt, that maybe he realized it was his fault you reacted like that?” Hound Dog paused. “I might be wrong. But wouldn’t it be better to ask than assume such things?”
Danny rubbed his neck. “So I should talk to him tomorrow?”
“Only if you want to, but I would suggest it. You’ll have to tell me how it goes during your next session, we are out of time and you’d best be getting home. Of course you are always welcome to stop by whenever.” Hound Dog said getting up to open the door for Danny.
“Right of course.” Danny paused half way through the door. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled, the smile was full of sharp teeth, it reminded Danny of the same way Wulf smiled.
As Danny made the walk home he supposed it wasn’t that bad of an experience. It was nice when his school counselor wasn’t trying to kill him. While it was nice he tried to help Danny with Kaminari, Danny still didn’t think he actually needed therapy. But if the next three sessions went as smoothly as todays it wouldn’t be as awful as he was expecting. Plus once he was done it’d get his family off his back.
Danny was contemplating on what to buy on his way home, ice cream maybe? It was starting to get warmer out, summer break was just under two months away. He could get a pop and some candy or chips, there was a bakery on the way home he had enough for a cupcake. His internal debate was interrupted by the sound of someone quietly landing behind him.
Danny’s steps only faltered slightly, that was until he felt the person almost directly behind him. Danny continued for a few more paces turning a corner as he went, maybe he wasn’t actually being followed…He was. Danny turned around aiming to punch whoever decided it would be a good idea to try and stalk him.
His fist was caught by an amused looking man with markings in the corner of his eyes and bright red wings behind him. “Woah there spitfire. Assault isn't too heroic if you ask me. I would know.” His head cocked to the side. “About the hero part, not the assault part. Don’t break the law.”
Danny stared at the man in front of him. He couldn’t be older than his early twenties at most. “Who are you?”
The man laughed. “Good one.” He saw Danny’s blank look. “Oh shit you’re serious. Don’t repeat that word.”
“I’m not five? And you still haven’t answered me. You know, following a teenager into an alley is usually only a thing shady people do.” Danny pointed out.
“Woah no need to jump to conclusions. I’m the Wing Hero: Hawks, y’know the number three hero?” His wings spread out as if to show off.
Hawks? Why did that sound familiar? “Oh! Wait I recognize your name, Midoriya told me about you. You have sword wings right?”
“Sword wings?” Hawks blinked. “I use two of my primaries as swords, but they’re not actual swords. I just can control each feather individually.”
“Dang, wings made out of swords seems like it would be cool. Did you need something from me by the way? Or do you make a habit of accosting random teens on the street?” Danny asked.
“Please stop making me sound like a creep, it’ll be bad for my image.” Hawks said.
“Then stop seeming like one? And you’re avoiding the question.” Danny crossed his arms.
“I mean I guess you got me there.” Hawks smiled. “I’m just making sure everything is alright. It’s a hero's job to help people out, even if it’s little things like making sure a kid gets home safe and sound.”
“Yeah sure. Shouldn’t a high ranking hero have better things to do?”
“Nah I need a break. Patrolling from the sky gets lonely.” Hawks said.
Danny could relate to that. Back in Amity he really didn’t have a choice but stay high in the sky when patrolling since he had to cover so much ground at once. Though he supposed since this world had tons of heroes they could relax every once in a while in their patrol routes.
“Plus I recognized you from the sports festival. A little birdie told me you got an internship from yours truly! You should accept.” Hawks smiled.
Danny knew there was another reason than just wanting a break. At least he knew he could trust the hero in front of him. He doubted U.A would let someone who’d be a danger to their students offer internships. Plus All Might was a good man from what Danny could tell, he didn’t think someone only two ranks below him would be bad, nor would they make it to the top ranks. “Why?”
“We both can fly so I wouldn’t have to carry you the whole time. I saw you flying during the side games and it was pretty fast, so I doubt you’d slow me down too much which is important when you’re a high speed hero like me. Also your quirk just seems pretty cool and I want to know more. Because I’m the number three hero of all Japan? And I get all the fun strong villains to deal with so you’d have more experience with those right out the gate. Also since internships are a week long you can see the life of a pro who's at the top outside of hero work before you reach the top, and I’d have to buy you meals because I can’t cook well so you can order whatever you want.” Hawks explained.
“I’ll have to think about it.” Danny said. “I got a lot of offers and I want to choose who I can improve the most with. If you want I will take you up on the food offer though.” Danny would have to order food or cook himself anyway since Yamada and Aizawa both had hero duty.
“Sweet. How do you feel about fried chicken?” Hawks asked.
“Eh indifferent.” Danny said with a shrug.
Hawks gasped. “Blasphemy, I tell you, blasphemy. I know a good place just down the road, we’ll get one of those big buckets. You’re a growing kid right, you must eat a lot.”
Danny felt like he just wanted an excuse to get one of the buckets, but if he was paying Danny wouldn’t complain. They got the chicken and Hawks led him up to a rooftop where they sat watching the people below. “You’re not going to arrest me for quirk usage?” Danny asked landing on the roof.
Hawks scoffed. “If I arrested everyone I saw using their quirks I’d have no time for actual villains. Plus I told you to follow me, it’s fine if you’re under the guidance of a pro like me.”
“I see.” Danny watched Hawks take a bite of his food. “Is this cannibalism for you?”
Hawks almost choked on his food. “No?”
Danny hummed. “I suppose not, you give more of a bird of prey vibe than that of a chicken. Though chickens also engage in cannibalism. So it wouldn’t be a bad thing if it was cannibalism. Gotta listen to those instincts and all that.”
“What?”
“People with animal mutation quirks often inherit instincts from the animal their quirk is based off of, that’s what Midoriya says at least. Anyway, did you offer an internship to anyone else, or were you just really hoping for me?” Danny asked, tossing a chicken bone into the now empty bucket, he was pretty sure Hawks ate more than he did.
“I offered one to that Tokoyami kid, the one with the bird head?” Hawks said.
“Really? Why? Not that I don’t think he’s a good student or powerful fighter but you said you wanted someone in the air right?” Danny asked.
Hawks looked Danny in the eye, and for just a split moment each of them were looking into the eyes of a predator and each of them unknowingly were the prey. Hawks broke eye contact with a laugh. “We’d make a full bird, obviously.”
Danny laughed with him. He looked down at his phone to check the time. “Oh shit!”
“What did I say about not repeating that word? I can’t have people thinking I teach kids swear words.” Hawks frowned.
“I didn’t realize how late it was. I need to get home, I still have homework to do.” Danny stood up.
“Don’t sweat it. Just give me directions I can fly you there. I shouldn't encourage too much public quirk usage after all. Your parents are probably worried you’re not home yet.” Hawks stood up stretching, his wings giving a small flap.
Danny shook his head. “No my dads have hero work today.”
Hawks straightened his posture. “Oh? Your parents are heroes too, what’s their hero names? Is it a legacy family thing?”
“Yeah they are. Present Mic and Eraserhead.” It was nice saying that out loud. Eraserhead and Present Mic, his dads. He couldn’t talk about it with any of his classmates, other than Iida. “Not a legacy thing, just sorta happened this way I guess.”
“I see. Well, hang on tight. We’re off.” Hawks said, grabbing Danny from beneath his arms.
Danny could no longer blame Sam and Tucker for how they freaked out whenever he flew them around at first. Flying when you weren’t in control was terrifying and he knew he could just fly on his own if he was dropped. It didn’t help Hawks decided to do a few loops and dive bombs on the way to the apartment building. Danny had never been happier to touch the ground since he accidentally flew for the first time and couldn’t figure out how to get back down.
“Well then I should be off, a hero's duty never stops after all. Think about that internship offer though, I’m sure we’d both have a lot to learn from each other.” Hawks gave Danny a two finger salute before taking off.
Danny made his way up to their unit, feeding Arson once he got inside and giving some of his leftover ecto-infused food to Laika. He finished his homework as fast as he could. He was looking up more info on Hawks when Jazz and Yamada got home around the same time. From what he could find he was a well respected hero just like he said. Often helping civilians with small things in between villain attacks. A fan favorite among young men and women alike due to not just his look but easy going and open personality according to one article. It seemed to match up to how the bird hero acted earlier so he didn’t have any reason to doubt him.
That was good to know. But Danny still did want to do some more research before deciding on who to intern with. Not to mention he sorta wanted to intern with Mirio, the older teen seemed very excited about the process when Danny texted him earlier that day. Mirio even mentioned that Sir Nighteye actually chose to offer the internship himself, Mirio didn’t even have to suggest it.
After today it seemed like he’d probably pick one of those two, they were both recommended by Midoriya as well. Still Danny had to wait until Aizawa vetted the list of offers before he really looked at them. Though he couldn’t see a reason why either of the two heroes would be removed from it.