Chapter Text
Stealing Hawks' phone seemed like a fun idea. A great idea even. Getting to know the Number 2 Hero was exciting and feeling like they were doing something illegal made them giggle evilly; at first.
The idea came up when Fumikage was talking about his mentor and how obvious he can sometimes be. The more Fumikage gets to know Hawks, the more he understands that Hawks is simultaneously a genius and the dumbest human on Earth. The man has his habits, and his aloof and bored bachelor demeanour isn't fooling his student. Spending time with him helps Fumikage to slowly recognise the patterns in his behaviour and though he still doesn’t know Hawks as well as he wants to, he’s starting to get the man a little bit better.
For example, Hawks always gets fussy as soon as he gets hungry. He does a poor job at hiding it, really. It’s obvious as soon as he starts to bounce on his feet, his speech quickening slightly like he can't wait to be done with the conversation. Fumikage has come to realise -at his utter dismay - that his mentor is hungry often. A matter Fumikage has taken into his own hands, getting Hawks sidekicks to feed their boss properly by pointing out one day he was able to lift Hawks -grown ass man, wings and all- earlier that day without the help of Dark Shadow, which he, as a teenager, shouldn’t have been able to do.
Fumikage is glad to see Hawks’ sidekicks almost force feed him bentos the following days.
The next point is Dark Shadow’s discovery: Hawks separates his paperwork into neat piles on his desk before starting to work on it. It makes Fumikage huff when he manages to steal a quick glance at said paperwork. Hawks labels each pile with sticky notes with titles going from 'Slightly fun' to 'less fun' with variations in between like ‘absolute bore’ and ‘kill me already’. Hawks always starts with the worst pile to finish with the best one.
Hawks is also very bad at lying. In Fumikage's eyes anyway. Hawk's smile widens whenever he tries to hide his exhaustion or how painful an injury is. His eyes stay dead though, which is a hard giveaway and always has Fumikage fussing over him until he is forcefully removed from the area by a few red feathers. Doesn’t stop him and Dark Shadow from trying.
His mentor has become familiar to Fumikage. He can read him with ease -at least as much ease as he can manage in these conditions. Even the way Hawks talks has no -or few- secrets for Fumikage anymore.
Therefore when he jokes that his mentor's password would probably be elementary for him to guess, his classmates decide to verify the theory.
Event that launches the ‘steal Hawks’ phone’ project.
Idea that started as pure teenage fabrication suddenly evolves into actually defined plan of action, which does not sound great to Fumikage’s ears. He has no business invading his mentor's privacy and lets it be known that he will not help any of his classmates to carry it out.
At least, that was his stance on the matter before the absences started.
Gone for what feels like days on end, Hawks is not his usual self when he comes back. He seems full of nerves, constantly checking his phone and sometimes has a weird gleam in his eyes. A gleam that appears a bit wild, drunken.
The timing of his disappearances is odd too. Sometimes he is gone too long for it to be a toilet or lunch break, too short for it to be a patrol. Sometimes he disappears for a few days, with no explanation given other than ‘I lost track of time’.
Hawks does not lose track of time.
In reality, Fumikage would not have noticed a thing if Hawks hadn’t started cancelling and rescheduling his training hours. The first couple times, he takes it in stride, but the third, fourth, seventh time it happens, Fumikage starts to pay closer attention to his mentor’s whereabouts. Dark Shadow and him keep a little notebook where they keep track of Hawks comings and goings, innocently questioning the hero’s sidekicks when they get the chance to do so.
Fumikage tries not to worry. After all, Hawks is a pro hero and the second-ranked in the country at that, so who is he, mere high school student, to police him? However, it is hard not to fret when Hawks is so obviously exhausted. At some point, he even starts falling asleep on his desk whenever he stops by the agency.
Fumikage’s attempts to ask what is wrong are met with a wall of fake smiles and forced laughter.
Mentioning anything to one of his classmates turns out to be a mistake because before he knows it, the whole classroom is insisting he carries out their brilliant plans of thievery. And the more they insist, the more the idea starts to sound appealing. A small seed has been sowed and it tentatively pushes for the light.
The high schooler makes a decision the day Hawks welcomes him one morning sporting, under his eyes, the darkest circles Fumikage has ever seen – and knowing his homeroom teacher is Aizawa, it is a feat.
“Hi Tsukuyomi!” Hawks beams at him -or attempts to. “Beautiful day isn’t it?”
The dark circles under his eyes are so dark they almost swallow the markings around them.
“Did you…sleep, Hawks-san?”
“Me? Of course I did,” said Hawks, one of his eyelids twitching.
Fumikage and Dark Shadow exchange a glance. Wordlessly, they decide right there and then that they are going to find out what is up with their mentor. They just needs to figure out how…
Fumikage first tries to follow his mentor when he leaves in a hurry one afternoon. He has been able to catch up to him before on patrols, so he is pretty confident about it. No sooner has he thought this that he sees Hawks turn into an alleyway a few paces ahead, and vanish. No traces of the hero anywhere for Fumikage to see. Just gone.
He attempts to question his mentor's sidekicks discreetly. To no avail. His questions are shrugged off as if everyone is oblivious to Hawks’ strangeness, or has given up on him already.
Same thing when he tries to spy on Hawk's conversation with his friend Miruko. They talk work, tease each other and that’s it.
After a couple of weeks, short of options, Fumikage chooses to see Hawks forgetting his phone on his desk as the sign he has been waiting for.
One second the phone is half hidden under leaves of paperwork, the next it is safely tucked in Fumikage's pocket.
—
“I'm warning you, we are only looking for something out of the ordinary. This isn’t an opportunity to go on his socials to prank people, understood ?” Fumikage pins his classmates with a severe look.
He still thinks this is a terrible idea. It is a terrible, terrible idea.
They have regrouped in their common room. It is a weekend morning, so they are free from classes. The whole thing has an air of sleepover, what with the snacks, blankets and pyjamas they have brought. The early morning sun pours through the windows and helps everyone wake up slowly, but the spell of sleep is still palpable.
Some of their classmates - Iida, Aoyama, Ojiro, Sato and Mineta - went home for the weekend, but the rest quickly organise the common space to welcome Fumikage and his treasure.
When Fumikage showed them the phone a few days earlier -albeit reluctantly - it was the event of the week -month even. All were excited about the prospect.
Midoriya, Todoroki, Uraraka, Shoji and Koda seem to take Fumikage's warning seriously. The others whine a bit. Some are still half asleep, languidly rolling themselves into blankets, feeling the warm rays of sun on their faces.
“Come on man,” Kaminari starts. “It's not every day we get our hands on a pro hero's phone! Promise we’re not going to do anything naughty, but you can’t forbid us from exploring…”
“It’s the Number 2 Tokoyami! If we can't be nosy, where's the fun in that ?” Ashido pouts.
“And it’s Hawks, come on man, you can’t do this to me,” Sero pleads- if his themed pajamas were not enough to guess, he is a Hawks fanboy. He was so happy for Fumikage and very vocal about his jealousy when his classmate got his internship at the Pro’s side. To alleviate his pain, Fumikage asked Hawk’ to sign an autograph for him. He thinks he’s never seen Sero more emotional than the day he handed him the crumpled and grease-stained napkin.
Sero currently can't believe his luck. His whole body is vibrating with excitation, he has to grip the armrest of the couch to remain seated. He has been a Hawks fan since the hero opened his own agency. The sheer force of will someone so young has to have to climb up the rankings and establish his name as one of the best heroes of his time -or ever- is simply mind-blowing.
“Okay, so I'm not doing that with you then,” Fumikage moves to pocket the phone.
“Alright alright we'll behave, just give us the thing so we can try to guess the password,” Ashido extends playful grabby hands at the phone.
“If you block it I swear…”
“Yeah yeah, stop being so grumpy about it, Featherbrain.”
Fumikage huffs and passes the phone to his classmates who start to examine it. It is a simple black phone, with a feather-themed case. Nothing fancy, to their surprise. They were expecting it to be a luxury brand of some kind. Fumikage was not. Not only because he has seen the phone before, but also because he is aware that the man’s flashy personality is just a persona. Hawks himself is surprisingly modest.
Todoroki, Tsu, Koda, Shinso, Shoji and Fumikage watch from the side as the other teenagers are busy with the phone. Yaoyorozu has opened a bag of popcorn and is leaning against Jiro as she munches on it, while Hagakure plays with her hair. Sero, Kirishima, Bakugo, Kaminari and Ashido are currently fighting Midoriya and Uraraka over what password to try first and who will get to hold the phone.
The Baku Squad eventually wins, and Ashido brandishes the phone triumphantly.
She snickers, cradles it in her hand and feels its texture under her fingertips. This is going to be awesome.
It doesn’t take long before they have to wait to be allowed to try the password again -just a few unsuccessful tries and near-destruction outbursts from Bakugo.
“We’ve tried the day he debuted as a hero, his birthday, the official start day of his hero agency, Rumi’s birthday, the dates of his biggest hero fights, what could it be ?” Sero looks utterly frustrated. His knowledge of his favourite hero is useless. He racked his brain in search of inspiration but somehow, hours passed researching the hero are gone in the wind.
“You think it could be 'chicken'? He likes chicken.” Kaminari bounces on a yoga ball as he opens a bag of crisps.
“For the last time we're looking for numbers you idiot,” Bakugo growls.
Kaminari sulkily throws some crisps in his mouth and says: “Could you not somehow write 'chicken' using numbers ?”
“If you can, I'm not sure Hawks had the brain capacity to think of it. And please don’t speak with your mouth full,” Fumikage deadpans from his corner, to which Kaminari answers by masticating his food obnoxiously before Bakugo throws an All Might-themed cushion to his face.
Dark Shadow lunges to defend their mentor, all black and gloomy. The room’s shadows extend a little, making the teenagers lounging in the morning sun whine at the loss of light. “Hawks is very intelligent! How dare you slander his name ?”
“Dark Shadow stop that. Hawks doesn’t have the time to search for something so complicated. He’s always so busy working- that’s why I suspect he went for something way easier and quicker to remember. And that he probably hasn’t changed it since he got the phone. Try Endeavour's birthday.”
He is well aware of his teacher’s admiration for the hero…though it has seemed more complicated as of late. Fumikage observed that Hawks’ smile gets strained when the number 1 hero is mentioned, and he displays his fake cheeriness almost painfully when he meets with Endeavour. Not that Endeavour seems to have noticed.
That change in Hawks is one of the things that makes Fumikage so distraught. How could someone go from almost adoration to such tense rapports in such a short amount of time?
—
Shoto frowns from his blanket burrito hearing his father being brought up. He feels his scowl deepen when he glances towards the phone Bakugo has stolen from Ashido. Hawks’ admiration for his father is one of the reasons he is not a fan of the hero. How bad can someone’s taste be that they like his old man of all things? He buries his nose in the soft blanket tucked under his chin, almost jumping as Sero facepalms on his side.
“My god I’m such an idiot.”
“Oh, that's right! Hawks loves Endeavour!” Midoriya exclaims. He bursts out of the pillow fort him and Shinso have been building and takes a big breath as if to start rambling. The incoming lecture is killed in the egg by Bakugo's hand over his mouth. The strength of the gesture almost tackles him to the ground. Midoriya immediately starts to struggle against the hold, glaring at his friend. Rival. Frenemy.
“Keep it down you worm, we know. Seen some interviews too. Here, enter the birthday, nerd.”
“No way that's gonna work,” Kirishima laughs. Fumikage shifts positions and leans forward. Now that he thinks about it, he’s afraid he guessed wrong, though Hawks being constantly busy, changing his password is likely the last thing on his mind. So despite the recent odd dislike Hawks seems to have developed against Endeavour, his hunch might still-
Midoriya, still muffled, gives up on trying to dislodge Bakugo and enters the date on the phone.
It works.
—
The room stares at the phone. Disappointment can be read on faces.
“No way. That's ridiculous.” Bakugo groans. “What a loser.”
Todoroki agrees grimly, glaring at the phone like he wants to set it on fire. Bundled as he currently is, the effect isn't very threatening. Yaoyorozu and Jiro try to hold back a smile at the vision. They are cuddled together on the floor, against a massive pile of coloured bean bags and pillows. One has Hawk’s smiling face on it, and Jiro immediately knows it belongs to Sero. She and Yaoyorozu are enjoying the show as they whisper sweet nothings to each other.
Hagakure has abandoned Yaoyorozu ’s hair a while ago to sit next to Koda and his bunny, in a pool of sunlight near the windows.
“Well, now that it's open, let's dig into this !” Ashido exclaims. She steals the phone from Midoriya, twirling as she gets up, a maniacal expression on her face. She nearly knocks Shinso up with her knee, topples a few pillows and breaks a wall of the fort. Shinso scowls at her.
Fumikage narrows his eyes. He does not like that enthusiasm in her just now. She notices his warning look from across the room and rolls her eyes. “We got it Fumi, don't worry.”
The teenagers regroup around Ashido. Some slide or scoot over enjoying their blanket-made capes, and peer at the screen. Kaminari and Kirishima hook their chins on both of Ashido’s shoulders, and they all look down at the device in her hands.
The home screen is almost empty. There is the Gallery, four apps, including the Hero’s socials, and the agenda. Nothing else. The home wallpaper is a picture of the morning sky taken from a high point. Hawk's own work if the Hawks-shaped shadow projected on a cloud is anything to go by.
“That's cool,” Jiro points at a beam of light piercing through a cloud. She is smooched against Kaminari who is, in turn, pressed closer to Ashido. They almost fall over but Kirishima steadies them. “Better than some Endeavour fanart.”
Fumikage could swear it has been an Endeavour fanart at some point. He’s caught a glimpse of it a few weeks before…whatever has happened between the two Pros.
“Could we please stop talking about my dad? Thank you.”
Sero reaches over Shinso to affectionately ruffle Todoroki’s hair before Bakugo throws a blanket over his head.
“Hide in there you whiny Half ‘n Half, we'll probably hear about your dad a whole lot more until this is done !”
Ashido, who is still miraculously holding the phone, starts looking through the gallery. She is expecting to find boring photos of the sky, like the background wallpaper suggests, so the countless selfies she discovers are a surprise. “Well, this should be quick work, he has like five apps. Thought Hawks of all people would have a little more fun with his phone.”
The selfies are with fans mostly, but a few with pigeons too, the hero grinning, a peace sign thrown at the camera. Another couple are of Hawks with birds hanging out on a roof in the background. She taps on one photo at random. It’s a gym selfie that gets whistles and snickers out of the teenagers.
“He's so hot,” Sero groans.
“For real” half the room answers.
“So manly.”
Hawks isn't one of the most popular Heros for nothing. Mina hasn't enough fingers on both hands to count the number of times she has stumbled upon Sero fawning over a picture of the hero. She bought him the Hawks calendar special for Christmas. The poor guy turned redder than his favourite Hero’s wings.
She throws him a quick glance. He is flushed with excitation, his boxy smile on full display. It is contagious, and she feels her lips stretch too.
Meanwhile, the exploration continues.
They find a lot of cat pictures. Strays mostly, Hawks’ gloved hand caught on screen a few times as he pets or feeds the little ones.
Again lots of pictures of the sky and the city, taken from up high.
A few pictures of the Pro Hero Mirko, flipping the camera off on most of them.
“I love her,” Jiro sighs.
“Too old for you freak!”
Bakugo dodges a blow.
“So you find Hawks hot and it’s fine but I find Mirko hot and it’s not ?”
“EXACTLY.”
“You're an asshole. And gay. Like really gay.”
Before Bakugo can murder Jiro, a delighted exclamation catches their attention.
One folder is titled NSFW. Ashido lunges for it.
Unfortunately for her, the folder is locked and the only way to open it is Hawk’s fingerprint.
“You wouldn’t happen to have one of Hawks’ fingers on you by any chance, Fumikage ?”
“I’m afraid not Ashido, sorry to disappoint.”
Midoriya lets out a sigh of relief that makes Shinso and Jiro cackle.
“Oh no, I wanted to see what type of stuff Hawks was into,” Kaminari snickers on Ashido’s shoulder, right next to her ear. She shrugs him off. Kirishima goes with him. Their heads are empty but surprisingly heavy.
“Probably chicks.”
“That was a terrible joke dude,” Kirishima chuckles.
“Why're you laughing then Shitty Hair ?”
“Remember we're supposed to figure out what's wrong with Hawks, guys, not invade his privacy- as best as possible,” Fumikage tries to get the phone back. His classmates do not cooperate.
—
The phone has been passed to Jiro who is going through text conversations on the few apps present. Most of it is uneventful, they click on a few with Rumi -who is named Big Sis Mirko “that's freaking adorable”- but wince as soon as they read a few messages. The woman seems to have the same sex drive as the rabbit she is because most of them are...horny. Teasing Hawks about his lacking sex life or complaining about her own. There are a few tough love messages thrown in there, the mention of a new girlfriend, and some boring paperworky Pro Hero stuff, but they choose to exit it quickly. Not very informative.
Everyone winces seeing Endeavour's name pop up. Nothing of note, just two messages have been shared “remember our meeting on thursday” and “No problem! Will be there.”
Fumikage is secretly glad Hawks hasn't named Endeavour after some of the terrifying sobriquets he knows Hawks is capable of inventing. He remembers Hawks referring to the Number 1 Hero as a Hot Daddy a few months back. He still has nightmares about it. He wonders what he would call him now that they seem at odds with each other. Probably something along the lines of Boo Boo Matchstick.
Fumikage is still deep in thought when Tsu pipes up.
“Hot Stuff?”