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Hawks figures that, by this point, he’s good enough friends with Endeavor to be comfortable in his house, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s just not good in houses, in general.
His boots are drenched where he leaves them at the door, and he cringes when his socked feet make a squelching schlop on the wood. It’s rude to fly indoors, he was always told—this isn’t the pigsty you were born in, Hawks, you can’t do that here—but he’s never really cared about that. He keeps his wings pressed to his back but detaches a few feathers that float him to the living room.
On the rug, his wet footprints are less obvious, and it’s a relief when he sits down. The couch is comfy, easy to drape his wings over, and he pulls his legs up and crosses them under him to hide his wet socks.
Endeavor’s in the kitchen, said he’d be right back out, but Hawks calls out anyway.
“Hey, you’ve got really nice couches, you know? Comfy.”
“Thank you,” Endeavor says, coming out of the kitchen with tea. “My daughter picked them out. She’ll be here in a few minutes, along with Natsuo.”
“Oooh, the one with the glare?”
Endeavor sighs.
“That’s… probably Natsuo and Shouto.”
Hawks leans forward to take the tea Endeavor offers. It’s a bit of a stretch, sitting like he is. He has great core strength and flexibility, great torque, but it’s been a bit since he did any real stretching routine. Maybe there are some old Commission habits he needs to pick back up.
Endeavor continues, “Don’t worry, they weren’t glaring at you. That was for my benefit.”
Hawks tilts his head back in a laugh. “Oh, don’t worry, I know.”
“You’ll like Natsuo,” Endeavor says. “He’s around your age.”
Hawks takes a sip and nods knowingly, even though for him, it’s easy to forget that Endeavor’s so much older. They work together, they get along well, and Hawks teases him relentlessly.
But yeah, every once in a while there’s a reminder that… right, Endeavor is in his forties, and Hawks is just shy of twenty-five.
“Neat.”
“He’s transferring to a school on Kyushu next semester.”
“Oh? Good taste.”
Endeavor sits in the chair across from him. “He’s studying health and welfare.”
“Didn’t want to be a hero, then? Follow in the footsteps of his Pops?”
Endeavor pinches his lips together and looks up from his tea. “No.”
“Shame.”
Endeavor squints for a moment, then continues. “I’m glad you’re here, Hawks. Because you’re… You’re… “
“I’m?” Hawks could fill in the words for him, but that would just lead Endeavor to get fed up with it and blurt out what he was trying to say, which is no fun. There’s something about watching him think and try so hard—he’s really just a man, under all that. Hawks is talking with Enji Todoroki right now, not Endeavor.
Also, it’s kind of funny to watch him think. It’s like he’s out of practice.
“You’re… gay.”
Hawks sputters and quickly wipes up the tea that falls on his chin. “I… yes. I am. Bisexual, actually.”
Endeavor is looking at him so intently.
He’s in his forties; and Hawks knows how people in their forties are. And Endeavor has always been so stubborn. Hawks steels himself to brush it off and fire an insult back—he’s sure there’s something to be said about Endeavor’s family values.
“Right,” Endeavor says. “So is Natsu. He’s… he likes women and men. And he hasn’t been to a family dinner since he… opened up about it. So you—”
“So I?”
“Dammit Hawks, stop mocking me! You could…”
“Yeah, I certainly, uh, could.”
Endeavor throws his hands up. “I don’t know! Be nice! Be friends! Be something! I just don’t want him to get all… sad like he does. Especially after his girlfriend broke up with him.”
At this point, Hawks knows more than he ever expected to about Natsuo Todoroki: he’s bisexual, he doesn’t want to be like his father, he “gets all sad”—depression?—he studies health and welfare, he’s going through a breakup.
Well. Hawks feels a sort of bond, now, he supposes. A sort of sympathetic pity for the kid whose father tells his coworkers all of his personal struggles.
Hawks’s own mother doesn’t do that, he’s sure. There’s some sort of non-disclosure agreement there.
“Yeah, I’ll be nice to him, don’t worry. Is that why you invited me?”
Hawks has been here before, but only for lunch while he and Endeavor worked on planning press conferences right after the war last year. Never for a family dinner. It makes sense now, he supposes. And also that he’s the only one here—needed to get Natsuo’s life story first, apparently.
Mostly, though, he likes watching Endeavor panic. It’s kind of fun.
“No, no! I mean, I just wanted to… I haven’t invited you over for a long time. Thought it would be nice to… catch up?”
---
By the time the family arrives, Hawks’s socks have dried enough that he feels fine walking. Plus, everyone else’s shoes are soaked through, so he wouldn’t be the only one leaving wet footprints.
“I wasn’t expecting the rain!” says Fuyumi. “It was supposed to be dry this week!”
And filing in behind her is Natsuo.
Endeavor shoots Hawks a look.
Then, Hawks understands what Endeavor must be doing. Hawks, you like men, right? You know who also likes men? My son! You’re the only person I ever seem to be nice to, which probably means that I trust you. Would love to have you as a son-in-law!
It’s touching that someone would want him in their family, makes him all warm and fuzzy inside. But there’s something that prevents him from actually feeling happy about it. He feels warm, but at the same time, stupid and disappointed.
He curls his toes in his socks, just in case they’re still wet after all.
When everyone’s there, Endeavor awkwardly seats them at the table and heads to the kitchen to prepare the food. Hawks, of course, has been seated next to Natsuo. Touya, of course, is not there.
“Nice of your dad to invite me,” Hawks says, throwing an arm over the back of the chair to sit in a nice slouch. “Not often I get to hang out with people my own age, I swear it’s like I’m getting older by the minute.”
No one laughs at his joke.
Shouto gives him a deadpan look, though. “You are getting older by the minute.”
Well, someone got it at least, even if he didn’t laugh.
Endeavor brings out a clear pan full of…some sort of casserole. It’s obviously very hot; the cheese is still bubbling. But Endeavor holds it with his bare hands, no oven mitt.
Show-off.
Well, Hawks can show off too. He sends his feathers to lift the casserole out of his hands and carry it to the table.
Fuyumi smiles at him, and he grins back. He wants to look at Endeavor to the side, but he doesn’t. His feathers tell him his face has relaxed into a smile, and Hawks really wants to look.
The dinner starts off awkward; poor Fuyumi is struggling to keep her family together, so Hawks decides to step in and help, making himself the center of attention. Endeavor phases himself out in the background, but the kids are fine.
Fuyumi is nice, and Shouto is blunt. And Natsuo does not seem aware of his father’s plan to set them up, which makes it harder for Hawks to snipe at him like he wants to. Damn his morals.
None of them are very nice to Endeavor, not even Fuyumi, who acts like she’s being nice, but really, she mostly ignores him and tries to smooth things over with her siblings. Knowing what Hawks does, he can’t blame them. It’s amazing they’re even eating dinner with him at all. Kind of inspiring, honestly. They’re a good family.
Hawks remembers that he’s being set up with Natsu. He doesn’t really think it would work, honestly. They seem to have a bit of a different outlook on things, if the way he treats his father is anything to go by.
He’s cute, though. Looks a lot like his dad.
At the end of the dinner, Fuyumi moves to clear her plate.
“Whoa, whoa, hey,” Hawks interrupts. “You sit back, relax. I’ve got it handled.” He clears all of the dishes with a flurry of feathers, and leans back in his chair while his feathers get started on washing in the kitchen. Natsuo leans to look.
“Thanks, Hawks. You sure you don’t want help?”
“Nope,” he says. “Trust me, my feathers are way faster.”
“Alright, then. I’m headed out. Fuyumi, Shouto, I’ll see you tomorrow. Nice to meet you, Hawks.” Then, turning to Endeavor, he grimaces, and says with a nod, “Thanks.”
Hawks waves goodbye. Nothing there, no spark, no chemistry. Hawks doesn’t even really know what to look for, but he’s sure it was not there.
Fuyumi and Shouto leave next, and Hawks has work to talk with Endeavor, so he stays. The stubborn asshole tries to join his feathers cleaning the kitchen, so Hawks drags himself in there and sits on the counter while he tries to beat Endeavor to the longer chores.
“Your kids are nice,” he says, leaning back on his hands and looking at the ceiling. There are some old oil splatters, so he sends a few feathers to scrub it up. “Nicer than you.”
“Nicer than you, too,” Endeavor bites back. Oh ho ho, look at that, old man standing up for himself. For once, goddamn.
“Yeah,” Hawks says with a charming smile.
Endeavor glares at him, and Hawks uses the distraction for his feathers to snatch the broom from his hand and finish up the last of the sweeping. “We still on for Wednesday?” he asks.
“Yes,” Endeavor replies, looking around the kitchen for a chore only to see that Hawks has cleaned the whole thing. “Your agency, eleven o’clock?”
“Yep. Thanks for having me over, Endeavor.”
Endeavor looks so stern in response. Like he’s about to scold Hawks the way he does with his interns. “At this point, Hawks, call me Enji.”
That’s nice. Skipping over Todoroki, straight to Enji. Makes Hawks feel kinda good—trusted, even after everything. But truthfully, Hawks never likes it when people give him permission to call them by name, because he can’t give his in return. Can’t—won’t. The world knows it all by now, but he can’t imagine wanting anyone to call him that.
So he just hops down from the counter to walk by Endeavor and give him a pat on the back. “Sure thing, Enji! You don’t mind still just calling me Hawks, do ya?”
“No!” Endeavor’s gone stiff. “Of course not! I didn’t mean to—”
“Relax,” Hawks interrupts, and puts his hand back on Enji’s shoulder. He’d love to trail his hand down, lean on Enji and wrap his arms around Enji’s bicep like those girls do with their boyfriends on TV. “It’s fine, really, it’s no big deal. Thanks again for having me, I’ll see ya Wednesday!”
Enji walks him to the door and watches as Hawks slips back on his boots. He tries not to show his grimace at the soggy texture, then leaves Enji with a wave as he flies out into the rain.
—
The weather in Kyushu is decidedly a lot nicer than in Shizuoka. Hawks entertains himself thinking of Enji showing up ready for Shizuoka weather: all bundled up with mittens, hat, puffy jacket, the works. Sadly, Enji shows up in his usual outfit, and Hawks remembers that Endeavor doesn’t change his outfit for winter like the other heroes. Shame.
As always, they’re dealing with some fallout from everything that happened earlier in the year. Regular civilians, people who would never be villains otherwise, have clumped together in little floaty groups with leftover PLF fighters, like chunks of soggy bread in water. Hawks supposes that the public opinion of him and Endeavor has directly contributed, but he’d do it again.
And he’d expose Endeavor again, too, if Dabi hadn’t. Rip the bandaid off, even if it took skin with it. It’s something the people should know about their heroes. Hawks is glad he does, at least.
“You know,” he shouts to Enji, “this is reminding me of the good old days!”
Enji growls as his fire flares hotter toward the villains. “Right. You setting a trap for me, I remember that.”
Hawks slices down the mud creature in front of him then slides over the resulting mush to barrel into its creator, then springboards off of her while his feathers click cuffs around her wrists. He lands behind the villain Enji’s fighting and grabs his arms to cuff them as well.
“Yeah,” he says. “Back when you were an asshole.”
The fire dies down, and Enji starts to hang his head. Of course; it’s always this. “Relax,” Hawks says, waving to the police who are taking the villains into custody. “Don’t worry, you’re still an asshole.”
Endeavor grunts.
Now that their team-up objective is accomplished, Enji is one hundred percent free to leave. He has his family to get back to, after all, even if they don’t want him. Maybe Enji’d see that as more reason for him to head back—work to do, the past to atone for, groveling to be done, et cetera. Maybe more wallowing, even, as if he doesn’t already do enough.
“Thanks for the help,” Hawks says, even though he didn’t really need it. It was mostly for publicity’s sake. Even after Twice and the reveal of Hawks’s murderer father, the public still largely approves of him. Pity, maybe. Endeavor, on the other hand, has been trying for the first time to get a good approval rating, but failing miserably.
Hawks, as the number one, has a duty to help him out. He’s changed, he tells the press when they ask him. He doesn’t say, trust me, if anyone knows the difference, it’s me. And today, he drags Enji along to let everyone see how much Hawks likes him.
He supposes, if he dated Natsuo, that would be a pretty good demonstration. Funny, though: if he dated Enji, it would really show everyone how much Hawks liked him, but it would probably be worse for his image because Enji’s so much older. A predator, they’d say. Abused his children, abuses his young partner.
But, again, Hawks believes he’s changed, and he’s ready to bet on it.
The rest of the day is pretty manageable, maybe even boring—hopefully Endeavor’s not bored. Hawks is usually the type to bore pretty easily, but poking fun at Enji to watch his reactions is pretty entertaining. It’s always been a hobby of his to set people off balance, but with Enji he usually nudges him back to center.
“Is Natsuo still gay, or has he changed his mind?”
He floats alongside Enji and pats him patronizingly on the back as he sputters and chokes.
“Changed his mind?” Enji asks incredulously.
Hawks gives a noncommittal hum and a flitting wave. “Didn’t seem all that into me, is all I’m sayin’.”
Enji huffs. “No, he hasn’t changed his mind. He’s still bisexual.”
“Oh, okay, sweet. Me too.”
Enji frowns at him very dramatically, his entire forehead furrowing and his eyes turning a darker shade of blue in the shadow of his eyebrows. Hawks grins in response.
“Natsuo is… not open, about these things.”
“You mean, he’s not open about these things, with you.” Hawks feels accomplished when flames pop up over Enji’s face instead of that pathetic head-hanging acceptance. He continues, “Give it time. He’ll open up. Or, he won’t, and you’ll accept that.”
Enji ignores that, and instead says, “Why do you care if Natsuo’s not ‘into you?’”
Hawks pauses outside his agency to hold open the door for Enji. “I—don’t?” he says. “Just letting you know that I won’t be your future son-in-law.”
Enji rips open the next door himself before Hawks can get there. “Oh, God, no. I—that would—I wouldn’t deal well with that.”
Hawks raises an eyebrow. He’s not sure what that means, so he’s not going to take it to heart—he knows Enji doesn’t dislike him. He softens when Hawks is around. He invites him over for family dinner, he teases Hawks back with that scrunch to his face that means he’s trying not to smile.
“Oh,” Hawks says, deadpan.
“That’s not what I—I didn’t mean it like that!”
Hawks turns the key to his office. “Sure ya didn’t, buddy.”
Enji follows him in. “You’d make a good son-in-law, Hawks,” he says with a sigh.
“Th—“
“You’re kind. I’ve never seen someone who so genuinely wants to help people. And you’re…” He paces closer to Hawks. “You’re so bright, you make somewhere a better place just by being there.” Enji eyes the open door, then nudges it closed. “If you want to date Natsuo, I… will give you my blessing. He couldn’t ask for a better man.”
Hawks takes a few steps back to hop up and sit on his desk. The air’s gone out of him; he’s a deflated balloon. “I don’t want to date Natsuo.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” Enji says with an awkward neutral expression.
“I just thought you were trying to set us up, but I guess not?”
Enji pulls up a chair to face Hawks and sets himself down in it with a pained laugh. “No, I—no.”
“Well, good,” he says, hopping down. He’s still taller than Enji, who’s hunched in that chair.
“I just—” Enji says, “I wanted to show him he’s not alone, but I’m not quite ready to—” his eyes flick up to Hawks, reaching perhaps his chin, then return to looking at the floor. “To come out yet.”
“Oh.” Hawks’s heart speeds up a little, but it’s dumb. As he was about to point out earlier, just because two people can be attracted to each other doesn’t mean they are. And plus, this is about Enji, not him. “No, absolutely, that’s fine. You do what’s best for you.”
“I can’t be that selfish anymore, Hawks.” He finally lifts his head to meet Hawks’s eyes. He looks so serious and determined, and—is Hawks reading this right? He can’t be, that can’t be what Enji’s thinking. Can it?
He’d sounded so morose when he’d told Hawks to go ahead and date Natsuo, and he’d said… what had he said? He couldn’t deal with Hawks being his son-in-law? Because… well, why?
Screw it. Hawks has never been one to play it safe.
“Hey,” he says, taking a step closer so Enji has to crane his neck to look at him. “What are you implying?”
“I’m…” He steeples his hands together in front of his face and exhales steam.
“Hm?” Hawks stays still despite his pounding heart.
“I’m not.”
“You’re implying that what you want is to date me, but that you think that’s a bad idea.”
Enji stands up. “Dammit, Hawks! Yes, alright?”
It’s Hawks’s turn to look up at Enji. “Can I have a say?”
Enji does that thing where he just… softens. The creases on his face even out, and his shoulders relax. “Yes,” he chokes out.
Hawks puts both hands on his chest and walks him back into the chair. He feels Enji’s heartbeat, as quick as his own. Slowly, he moves forward until he’s straddling Enji, then scoots onto his lap and sends a feather to lock the door. He leans to whisper in Enji’s ear.
“I’d make a great son-in-law.”