Chapter Text
“Why?” I ask myself.
Today had started out like any other. I got ready for work and left for my train with my little cloak jacket. Covering my wings was a choice. After the rise in popularity of a certain pro hero people would see a winged silhouette and think I was him. Obviously after they noticed the obvious black color of my wings, they would sigh and leave me alone. But the attention alone made me uncomfortable, hence the cloak.
Oh right! My quirk is a relatively simple animal mutation. Classified as crow, on top of my wingspan, I’ve got a bit of a tail, my nails usually stay sharp and black but generally human shaped. Besides the physical traits, my memory is also better than a lot of people along with the ability to find objects easily. Of course if they're shiny I like them better but luckily pattern recognition is a strong suit. It really helps at my job.
After making it to work I settle into my cubicle, freeing myself from the cloak and allowing myself to get into the groove of the usual work day. Shuffling through statistics of hero work and crime. There's always plenty of data to work through thanks to all the thorough reports from heroes across the country. but this is where the daily normalcy ends.
The building started to shake, it's odd no earthquake warning, but it only lasted a second so many of my coworkers shrugged it off including myself. That is until some of the lower level employees bust in and start barricading the door in a panic.
“ There's villains in the building!! We have to hide..” They hiss in a whisper yell. Quickly all of us burst into action closing blinds, locking and blocking doors, and turning lights off to make it look vacant and empty. More shakes to the building motivate everyone to hurry.
Time is passing quickly. Before I know it, it's already been 20 minutes. We don’t know if any heroes have been notified of the dire situation.
“We need to call for help” “the lines are cut” “what are we going to do?” people are panicking. when one of them looks at me and then more eyes turn to me. I feel my feathers puff in a panic, why are they all looking at me like that…
“y/n.. You have to go for help you're the only one that can make it from this height!” one pipes up.
“Wai-” I start. But they're already ushering me to the window. my throat dried, we were on the 18th floor. Another shake to the building only heightens the panic.
“You can just fly to the hero agency next to us and get some help, right? Hurry!”
“But I-” they break the window as quietly as possible with the fire emergency axe. Now multiple people are shoving me, reaching the window.
“H- Hey! HEY I CAN’T-” I start yelling but they won't listen and in a blink of an eye they're shoving me out the now open window. The loss of purchase under my feet makes my eyes widen. I feel my wings expand in panic.
“I CAN’T FLY!!!” rips out of my throat as I start my descent to the ground. Attempting to turn around in the air makes me start to tumble through the air, wings flapping clumsy. All I can do is scream while I try to straighten myself out. Hoping for a miracle. But at this point I’m losing hope. My life events start to pass through my mind, time seems to slow.
why? Why didn't I just learn to fly? If only those elementary school bullies hadn't clipped up my wings. It wasn't fair I could have learned but never even got the chance to. Sure they grow back in a year when my flight feathers molt like any other birds. But that precious time I lost and the fear that my feathers could no longer hold me up ate away my confidence.
Tears start streaking out of my eyes, not sure weather from fear or the wind whipping around my face. I squeeze them shut, I’m getting dangerously close to the ground now. Even if my wings miraculously decide to catch flight I doubt I'd be able to save myself.
I've given up just waiting for the end, I go limp.
“I don't want to die” I sob, arms crossing over my face.
It's sudden, I feel the world turn up right as arms encircle me, a warm, firm chest pressed into my back. My eyes snap open, I look around. I'm no longer falling. Air returns to my lungs, taking in the scene around me. Two- no... three pro heroes making their way into the office building.
Relief washes over me, “were saved” I mutter. A chuckle worms its way into my ear, a shiver goes down my spine. Startled, I look behind myself as my feet meet the pavement.
There he is, the number two pro hero is setting me down. I can see some of his feathers already at work as he smiles at me before turning back to the building with a quick “gotta go, kid” as he takes back off to finish his hero duties.
Adrenaline is finally wearing off as I collapse to my knees. My legs are like jelly. The world is still spinning, it's starting to hit me.
I almost died.
Police are tugging me up before I know it. They have to evacuate the area, not knowing how messy this battle will get smoke coming from the building indicates it's probably not going to be safe for long.
The rest of the day is a blur. The police question me. I can barely reply but I recount what I can, there's not much I can report anyway. After the paramedics make sure that I’m alright they give me the go ahead to go home. There's a crowd watching as the heroes take down the villains. I decided to wait nearby to calm down. There's no way I can walk after that near death experience, my wobbly legs wouldn't let me no matter how much I wanted to be home. I wrap my arms and wings around myself to relieve some of the panic that still holds on to me. I’m not sure how much time passes but the villains are apprehended and everyone is safe for the most part. There's a few injured people but because of the swift action of the heroes no one died.
I spot him. Hawks is directing the people from the building with his feathers while reporting to the police.
A shiver runs up my spine as I swear I make eye contact. His golden eyes shining in the light. He couldn't be looking at me, there's no way right? As soon as I think his eyes are on me he’s looking back to the police with his trademark smirk. Leaving me questioning if he had even seen me. With that I decide to get up and make my way back home, too exhausted to deal with the crowd any longer.
The next morning the incident at my office is all over the news. What shocks me is the footage of me being pushed out of the window and free falling to the ground before hawks snaches me out of the air before I hit the ground to be playing as one of the highlights. the reporter on the original clip starts confidently “ Oh good they can fly they have wings!... wait why aren't they flying.. Oh my god they can't fly!!!!” By the time I’m over halfway to the ground the reporter is in full panic before hawks swoops in “Thank god for hawks” she sighs in relief. Fear prickles up my neck as I watch just how close to death I was. A wave of nausea hits me.
How terrifying...
How embarrassing…
Maybe hawks should have just let me hit the ground. No.. I shouldn't think like that. Sighing, I start rubbing your face in frustration. Besides all of the phone calls from my family, making sure I’m okay, I treat it as another day off. Everyone will have a few days from the office so they can repair damages.
I had to spend all night preening through my wings to fix them, that tumble really did a number on my feathers. Bent all out of order and uncomfortable, the effort left me so exhausted. I decided to run to the coffee shop down the street. Without my cloak, which I'm sure was burned up at the office somewhere. I’d have to get a new one some time.
Sitting outside of the little coffee shop I take a sip and sigh, the tension slipping from my shoulders, wings puffy from being relaxed.
“There you are, kiddo”
The voice startles me, my eyes widen at the man standing in front of me.
“H-hawks, ho- what are you doing here, eh, I mean.. Thank you for saving me!” I basically word vomit out. Very smooth, I grimace inwardly. He chuckles, I can feel my face heat up in embarrassment as he sits down with his own to go cup in his hand.
“ no problem kid, I assume you're recovering well?” he looks at you with his sly grin.
“ There's not much to recover from thanks to you” That's a lie there's a whole slew of new fears that have opened up thanks to my coworkers shoving me out of a window. But physically I was fine, that was true.
“.. how did you find me?”
“It's not hard to single out another winged person in a crowd you know” he chuckles. “That brings me to what I wanted to ask you.. Why didn't you fly kid?” the seriousness suddenly painted on his face made me pale.
“ oh.. That well” god this is so embarrassing. I sigh as he raises an eyebrow at me.
“ Idontknowhow” I said super fast and quietly, biting the inside cheek.
“Huh” his expression changes to surprise. But in a panic I think he couldn't hear me
“ I-I don't know how to fly!”
“Pfftt hahahaha- I don't mean to laugh but how do you not know how to fly? That's kinda what us with wings do” my ears burn red in embarrassment and he laughs away. He's kinda cute when he laughs, ah god what am I thinking he's way outa my league-
“How bout I teach you kid?” his words pull me back to reality, being taught by the number two pro hero? That's a bit much, but how can I say no?
“Oh um sure! But when would you have time to do that, you're a pro hero I can't imagine you have a lot of time” I’m hesitant to fully dive in after what happened yesterday. But I can't say that..
“I can squeeze some time in. I'm sure it won't take long for you to learn” he smirks and sits back.
Man am I going to make him eat those words...