The Two Types of Wingmen [Bakawks] - Part 3

[Click for Ch2] 

If someone had told Katsuki a year prior that he would end up with a regular weekly dinner at the Todoroki household, he probably would have punched them in the face. And yet there he was, showing up for the second Saturday night in a row to eat with Shouto and his siblings, Hawks and Endeavor to join them when they finished work for the day. He didn’t even see his own family that frequently.  

This week he’d brought a dish of his own to contribute, so he wouldn’t feel like such a burden on Fuyumi – she seemed to enjoy having him over, but he’d hate to overstay his welcome – and it had given him an excuse to experiment with new recipes, too, which was nice. Not to mention he’d get to see Hawks eat the food he cooked, he wouldn’t admit how weirdly excited he was for that.  

He had not spent an evening going through old hero interviews to find out Hawks’s favourite foods, and he definitely hadn’t enlisted Deku to help him do so.

He offered the plate awkwardly when they met Fuyumi in the kitchen, his cheeks glowing slightly pink, and the smile she gave him in return was blinding.

“You didn’t have to! You’re so thoughtful!”

“Just wanted to help,” he grumbled. “You always cook for me, I should at least help sometimes.”

“That’s so sweet of you! Thank you!”

In the end, he’d put together some neat little pastry pinwheels filled with a spicy chicken mix. They were finicky, and a general pain in the ass to construct, but the end result looked pretty professional and he was kind of proud of them, really. The few that fell apart or burned had been fed to his classmates with their iron stomachs, plus a few he’d left behind because he’d gone a little overboard in making them, and now he had a tray piled with a neat pyramid of pastries. He cracked a smile when Fuyumi praised them, eyeing every detail, but he did his best to brush it off as no big deal.

“They just need a minute or so to reheat, do you want me to help out or anything?”

“That’s okay, I’m almost done here! I have some roast vegetables finishing off, I’ll put them in to heat up with them, the timing is perfect.”

She directed the boys to the table, just like the week prior, and for a few minutes they just sat and chatted with her through the kitchen doorway, watching as she finished putting out serving plates. Before long, the front door was opening, but when Katsuki looked up expectantly, he fell dead still.

“What happened?” Shouto asked bluntly, eyes raking over the myriad of scrapes and bruises, a few wounds bleeding through their costumes. “Tough villain?”

“Group of them got the jump on us,” Hawks laughed, despite the way he leaned on Endeavor for balance. “No big deal, sorry for the mess.”

“Go get cleaned up,” Fuyumi instructed, sighing. “Shouto, do you have something Hawks can wear? That costume is barely hanging on.”

“I’m okay, honestly,” Hawks assured her. “It’s no big deal.”

“I have some old stuff I never wear,” Shouto told him knowingly, pushing his chair back to get up. “I can cut some wing holes, it’s no big deal.”

“You don’t have to-”

“It’s fine.”

With a little sigh, Hawks conceded a nod, his eyes softening a little.

“Thanks, Shouto. I appreciate it.”

“Let me,” Katsuki spoke up, when Hawks began to straighten up, wincing a little as his weight shifted. “Um, Endeavor, you should take care of yourself too. He can lean on me.”

“Thank you, Bakugou,” Endeavor agreed, surprisingly gentle in tone compared to his usual brashness.  

His hand trembled as he reached it around Hawks’s waist, but he swallowed hard and managed to get a grip on him, supporting his weight as they headed for the guest bathroom. When his arm brushed against scarlet feathers he opened his mouth to apologise, but Hawks just smiled knowingly, shaking his head.

“It’s fine, they’re just like any other part of me, it doesn’t hurt or anything.”

“They’re soft,” Katsuki said stupidly, blushing immediately. “I mean-”

“It’s okay,” Hawks laughed. “Really. Thank you for the help.”

“Seems a little pointless when you could just use the damn wings,” Katsuki huffed, hauling him into the bath area all the same. “You’re bleeding a lot.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Ugh. Take some damn care of yourself.”

He reached for Hawks’s shirt to help, hesitating again as he gripped the material. How did he even get the damn stuff on with those massive wings in the way?

“Oh,” Hawks said knowingly, glancing back over his shoulder. “One sec.”

One by one at first, and then all at once in a heap, Hawks began to shed feathers. Katsuki watched in awe as they flew away from him, forming a neat pile out near the sink, where they wouldn’t get wet or be in the way.

“Wow,” Katsuki mumbled, blushing when he caught Hawks smiling again. “Don’t start.”

Hawks kept his mouth closed obediently, letting Katsuki help him slip off his beaten up jacket, then pull away the scraps of his shirt. He reached for his own pants when he was bare-chested, and Katsuki looked away pointedly, getting a little chuckle for his efforts.

“So innocent,” Hawks teased. “Don’t you live in a dorm?”

“Believe it or not, I don’t spend my days stripping my classmates.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Shut up.”

Katsuki picked up the shower head, turning it on to a slow stream, making sure the water was pleasantly warm before he let it touch Hawks’s skin. With the softest touch he could muster, he cleaned away blood, grimacing at the fresh wounds that still produced more. Hawks just watched in silence as he worked, golden eyes following his every move, but Katsuki tried his best to ignore the gaze.

“You’re surprisingly gentle,” he explained, when their eyes met briefly. ”You talk a big game about being an asshole, but you don’t exactly walk the walk.”

“You want me to ditch you, prick?”

“No,” Hawks laughed. “I appreciate the help. You know I’m right, though!”

“Shut up.”

When Shouto knocked at the door, he came with his arms loaded up – two towels, one old and one new; a change of clothes that would hopefully fit him okay, seeing as they were close in height; a first aid kit with plenty of bandages; and right on top, a pair of scissors.

“Do you need any help?” he asked, as he set it all down on the counter. “That’s a lot of blood.”

“It’s okay, it’ll stop soon.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki glared. “Stop doing that shit.”

“I have a rag here,” Shouto offered, picking up the old, worn-out towel. “I can cut it into smaller pieces to put pressure on the wounds.”

“Yeah, that’d be good,” Katsuki agreed. “Oi, birdbrain, hold your arm up higher so it doesn’t bleed as much.”

Hawks raised it up silently, watching as Katsuki accepted a strip of cloth, wrapping it around the gash on his bicep firmly.

“Hold this,” he instructed, waiting pointedly for Hawks to reach across with his good arm. “Put pressure on it, damn you.”

He was eerily quiet as Katsuki wrapped his wounds, inspecting each gash to make sure it was properly clean. As the smaller ones began to slow their bleeding, he taped gauze pads over the top and wrapped them neatly in bandages, until they were left with just the big one on his bicep, and the swollen ankle he struggled to walk on.

“Here,” Shouto broke the silence, offering a package of sticky strips from the first aid kit. “For the arm.”

“Thanks,” Katsuki mumbled awkwardly, still so unaccustomed to the word. “Alright, Hawks, let me see.”

Shouto seemed to sense the hesitation in him as he said the words, the sudden second-guessing, and Katsuki kind of hated how well the guy could read him.

“Hawks is Hawks,” Shouto shrugged. “I don’t think my father even calls him by name.”

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Hawks nodded. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Or maybe Bakugou is just hinting that he wants you to use his first name. It’s Katsuki, for the record. He’ll be too stubborn to tell you.”

“It’s just a name, I don’t give a shit.”

“Oh. Then can I call you-”

“No. Fuck off, halfie.”

“One day,” Shouto sighed. “When will you admit that we’re friends?”

“Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged.”

“Piss off,” Katsuki snorted. “I’ve got it now, let your sister know we’ll be there in five.”

“Will do. And Hawks, don’t worry about returning any of the clothes, I don’t use them, so cut them up, do what you want with them.”

“Thank you, Shouto. I appreciate it.”

He showed himself out, and then Katsuki was alone with an almost-naked Hawks again, trying his best to keep his eyes averted from the thin, damp boxer shorts.

“Take better care of yourself,” Katsuki grumbled, as he carefully closed the wound with the stick-on stitches. “What are the damn civilians gonna do if you get yourself hurt? You think they’re gonna trust you to save them if they see you getting yourself injured stupidly?”

“Sorry,” Hawks smiled faintly. “I’ll be better.”

“Good.”

He wrapped the arm in another bandage, keeping it clean and covered, then wrapped the much newer towel around his shoulders, bundling him up to get dry.

“I didn’t know you had such a protective streak,” Hawks smiled wryly. “Are you like this with all your friends?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m just lucky then, huh?”

“What did I just say?”

“Oh Bakugou, you think I can’t tell when you don’t mean it?”

“Katsuki.”

“Yeah?” Hawks grinned. “You want me to?”

“It’s my name,” Katsuki shrugged. “Not like I care. You call the halfie by his first name, may as well use mine too.”

“In fairness, it’s difficult to handle four different Todorokis in the same house.”

“It’s difficult to deal with one.”

“I meant the name, Katsuki,” Hawks snorted, much more open and uninhibited than his usual chuckles. “Shouto is a great guy, you know he is.”

“Like hell I do.”

“Make the most of your friends. The higher you climb in the hero charts, the lonelier you tend to get.”

“Stop being depressing, it’s not like you’re dying.”

“Sorry,” Hawks grinned. “For all this, too. You came here for dinner and to hang out, not to bandage my wounds.”

“You don’t know shit about what I came here for.”

“I thought it was to hang out with your boyfriend, at first.”

“Boy- Haaaaah? Him?!” Katsuki demanded. “Why the fuck would you think that shit?”

“My bad.”

“Ugh. I just came for the damn tofu, Fuyumi is a good cook.”

“And yet you’re back again tonight.”

“Because you walked me to the station like a damn child and I’m not gonna stand for it again. If I didn’t come back you’d have a hundred-percent record.”

“Oh Katsuki, you’ve just sealed your fate. I’m gonna be walking you home every day for the rest of your life.”

Something about the idea made Katsuki’s stomach flip, and he forced himself to shove the thought aside. He didn’t need to entertain those thoughts when they were alone in a bathroom with hardly any clothing between them.

“You don’t seem too angry at that idea,” Hawks smirked – damn perceptive bastard. “What, you like it when I walk you home?”

“Fuck off,” Katsuki growled, resisting the urge to punch him for the teasing. “You keep that shit up while I’m messing with your ankle and it’s gonna get you hurt.”

“Duly noted.”

Katsuki knelt down to examine the swollen, bruised mess, a little afraid to even touch it. Hawks was one step ahead though, as always, already shaking his head when Katsuki looked up.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Katsuki couldn’t see it, with his head down, but the entire time he inspected the foot, Hawks watched him with a fond little smile. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had given him so much care and attention – well, maybe the last time he was in hospital, but those people were paid to give him attention, so he was pretty sure that didn’t count.

They hadn’t been nearly as gentle, either. Hadn’t taken their time cleaning and inspecting each wound, grumbling at him about taking care of himself the entire time. And most of all, they hadn’t been a teenager who was notorious among the heroes for being a stubborn loud-mouth who rarely used his manners. If he hadn’t seen the videos for himself, he wasn’t sure he’d have believed it.  

“Alright, how’s that?” Katsuki asked, sneaking a glance up at the quiet hero. “Feel okay?”

Hawks couldn't help but be a little impressed by the neat bandaging – clearly someone had paid attention in first aid class.

“Much better,” he agreed. “Thank you.”

“It doesn’t look broken, at least. Use those damn wings of yours for a few days, hear me?”

“Yes Sir,” Hawks smirked. “Whatever you say.”

“Don’t gimme that shit. I’ve seen you carry people around with a single damn feather, you can cope without using your feet for like a week.”

“You’ve been watching my fights, huh?”

“Shut up.”

He picked up the clean boxers from Shouto’s pile, tossing them into Hawks’s hands, then turned away pointedly to wait. He could already feel the teasing about to begin, was tempted to just walk out of the room and avoid it entirely, but for some reason his feet stayed rooted to the tiles.

“You aren’t gonna help me change my underwear?”

Yep, there it was.

Katsuki’s brain was immediately flooded with possibilities, but he forced himself to ignore them – he wasn’t living in a damn porn movie, after all. He took a deep breath instead, shooting Hawks a quick glare over his shoulder that thankfully seemed to do the trick.

“How high up do I cut these holes?” he asked, distracting himself quickly as he reached for the scissors and the old t-shirt. “In line with the sleeves?”

“Ah, yeah, thank you. It’s not super finicky, honestly, I’ll cope.”

Katsuki looked over at the blood-covered jacket he had helped peel away not long ago, doing his best to mimic the size and placement of the slots, but when it came time to turn around, he just handed it over. No matter what kind of reassurances Hawks gave, he was still super paranoid about those wings. He’d never been able to fully grasp how it all worked, let alone if the stubby bases were at all painful or sensitive. He wasn’t ready to risk that just to help the man dress himself – not yet, at least.

“Sorted?” Katsuki prompted, when Hawks was decent again, dressed in Shouto’s clothes that were somehow too big for him.

“Sorted,” he agreed, red feathers swarming back to him and gathering into wings. “I don’t think I can fly indoors though, so you’re gonna have to put up with me walking.”

“You can lean on me, it’s fine.”

With another smile, Hawks nodded, draping an arm around Katsuki’s shoulders for support. He’d practically had to beg Endeavor to help him inside, when he’d realised his wings wouldn’t cut it in hallways and under ceilings – but here was Katsuki, offering himself up with zero hesitation, as if he did it every day.

“You’re gonna be a great hero,” Hawks informed him, making Katsuki burn bright red. “I’m serious. I know you’ve had some rough experiences with other heroes and stuff, but I can see it.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“I’m looking forward to next year. When you graduate, you and I can have some fun competing for number one. I bet I could do it, with you challenging me.”

“You’ve met Deku and Shouto,” Katsuki pointed out, his voice quieting a little. “There’s plenty of us coming through to challenge you.”

“Good, I’m looking forward to it. Although Endeavor might not let us follow him home anymore when we knock him down a few places.”

“I’ll have a place to live by then, you and Fuyumi can come to mine instead.”

“Aww, Katsuki is gonna cook for me? I’d like that.”

“I like to cook.”

“Yeah? I can’t wait to try it.”

“You don’t have to.”

He set Hawks down in a chair, surprised to find the Todorokis all ready and waiting, patiently chatting rather than start without them.

“Sorry,” Hawks smiled, though Katsuki couldn’t help but notice it seemed more fake than the ones he’d just been watching. “I got a little beaten up, I guess.”

“No need to apologise. Are you all sorted now?”

“Yeah, Katsuki got me all bandaged up.”

“He’s good at that,” Shouto nodded, sipping at a mug of tea. “He and Midoriya injure each other a lot when they train together, they got used to patching themselves up.”

“You just don’t train hard enough.”

“Only according to you two.”

Fuyumi brought the plates of hot food to the table, somehow not dried out or overcooked while they waited, and Katsuki gave her what he hoped was a grateful look when she smiled at him.  

“Dig in, everyone. Bakugou brought the pinwheels, I can’t wait to try them.”

Hawks reached for one immediately, as if it didn’t take even a second of thought to decide to go for them first, and Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to watch as he took a bite.

“Wow, amazing,” Hawks praised, barely stopping to swallow. “Are these chicken? I love chicken.”

“He knows.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki growled, shooting a glare at Shouto for the words. “Don’t start this.”

“What did I say?”

“Ugh.”

Conversation quickly turned away from Katsuki, thankfully, as people shared stories they’d gathered over the past week. Even living in the same house, the Todorokis didn’t end up eating together most nights, so it was a good time to catch up on each other’s goings on – and thankfully for Katsuki, that meant plenty of opportunities for distraction, the ability to get through the meal without the question being asked.

“I’ll walk you to the station,” Hawks said with a grin, when Katsuki eventually began to excuse himself.  

“You can’t even walk, asshole.”

“Then I’ll fly beside you while you walk.”

“I don’t need your protection.”

“We’ve already talked about this, Katsuki,” Hawks chuckled. “You’re going to lose this battle.”

“Goodnight, both of you,” Shouto offered with a wave. “Take care of yourself, Hawks. You too I guess, Bakugou. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded, turning to bow to Fuyumi again – slightly less awkwardly, he hoped. “Thank you for dinner.”

“And you! Those pinwheels were delicious, we’ll have to trade recipes again some time.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Thank you.”

The door didn’t close until they’d reached the gates, Fuyumi and Shouto watching them leave and waving goodbye, but when they’d rounded the corner, Katsuki raised an eyebrow at Hawks’s smug look. Quickly, though, he found himself distracted by the way Hawks moved, his wings moving gently in the breeze – just enough to keep him hovering off the ground, rather than firing through the air like when he fought. He really did have an insane level of control over those feathers, like people had always said – and the guy wouldn’t hate him if he asked a question or two, right?

“How do you do this stuff?” he asked, nodding toward the wings. “Do you have to think about it much?”

“Mm… Not really. If I want to control a lot of them simultaneously, sure, but when they’re clustered like this it’s no effort at all. I basically just have to think what I want them to do, so it’s not too strenuous.”

“It must be cool.”

“Which part?”

“All of it,” Katsuki shrugged. “It’s a cool quirk, I guess. Powerful, heroic.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“And flying. Most of us can’t do that. Not the way you do, anyway. Endlessly.”

“You wanna try it?”

“Haah?”

Before Katsuki could even register what was happening, Hawks was wrapping his arms around his waist, hauling him up high above the footpath and into the skies. He almost fought the grip, almost tried to pull away, but by the time they reached the rooftops he quickly fell still – he really didn’t need to test Hawks’s reaction speed by needing to be caught.

“I’ve got you,” Hawks assured him. “Just breathe, and look. Everything is different up here.”

After a moment to gather himself, he let his eyes begin to wander. The city below was a sea of lights – car headlights, street lamps, buildings and signs and windows – it all blurred together, in a way, and seemed so damn small.

It took him far too long to realise they’d passed the station, that Hawks hadn’t descended to drop him at the doors where they’d parted a week prior – no, he was heading straight toward the school across town, apparently delivering him to his door like a damn flying taxi.

“I told you I’d walk you home,” Hawks teased, when he heard Katsuki huff. “It’s the least I can do, after you took such good care of me.”

“Just keep your damn mouth shut, don’t go telling people that shit.”

“You don’t want people to know you have a soft side?”

“God no.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

As they flew over the city, watching kids point and wave as the massive wings passed over them, Katsuki started to realise exactly the position he’d found himself in. Hawks, his lifelong crush, now apparently considered him an actual friend. Enough to even open up to him about his work and his life a little. They’d only really spent two evenings together, other than a few brief meetings on the job over the course of two years, and even the evenings were a week apart, but somehow it felt like a lot longer, like they’d known each other for a long time.

Then again, that was probably because Katsuki had kind of stalked the guy.

“Shouto mentioned you guys blew up the school gym. You must be looking forward to some time away from it.”

“It wasn’t us,” Katsuki corrected him. “Just because I have the explosion quirk doesn’t mean I blew up the building.”

“Your class, I meant.”

“Oh. Then... yeah. It was meant to be able to withstand all our quirks, but I guess it was old or something. They have to rebuild some stuff and reinforce the existing structures or whatever. It’s a pain in the ass.”

“How come?”

“Now I have to run in the cold in the mornings instead of working out in the gym, and I can’t use my quirk anywhere to actually practice shit properly. I’m gonna forget how to fight by the time they fix it. And some of the idiots are going to a public gym, but when you sweat nitroglycerin that doesn’t seem super smart.”

“You wanna come use mine?”

“Haah?”

“I like to slack off, personally, but I still have a top of the line set-up in my agency building. You can use it if you want. It’s probably not very convenient for before classes, but you could come by after school.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. Give me your phone number when we land, I’ll text you.”

“Sure,” Katsuki agreed, swallowing hard but failing to move the lump in his throat. “Um, thanks.”

“And it’s all explosion proof,” Hawks assured him. “And… Everything else proof, pretty much. You can bring a couple of friends if you want, if you have any workaholic buddies like you.”

“Thank you, that’s uh, really cool of you.”

“My pleasure.”

He set Katsuki down lightly when they reached the U.A. gates, grinning when Katsuki found himself lost for words.  

“Cool ride, right?”

“Really cool,” Katsuki agreed, before he could think better of it and attempt to be nonchalant. “Um, I’ll give you my number.”

Hawks handed over his phone, letting Katsuki program it in for him, and for a moment Katsuki wondered if the guy was too trusting. He probably had a ton of private information on that phone, his name if nothing else, but here he was, handing it over like it was no big deal.

“Maybe we can have that rematch, when you come visit,” Hawks offered. “You know, see who’s faster?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki grinned, a much more familiar sharp-toothed smile. “I’ll prove once and for all that I can beat you.”

“Sounds like fun. I’ll text you my hours, let you know when I can meet you. But get some rest, first. Your schedule exhausts me to even think about.”

“You as well. Stay off that damn ankle, the arm too.”

“I will. Have a good night, Katsuki.”

“You too.”

Hawks waited until Katsuki was safely through the gates, into the safety of U.A. security, before he took to the skies once more, and for a long time Katsuki just watched him go. Until he was just a tiny dot in the distance, disappearing into the clouds, Katsuki remained in that spot.

Fuck, his pre-teen self would be so damn proud.

[Click for Ch4]