HIS FIRST FLIGHT
wing$ - macklemore, ryan lewis

Hawks doesn't remember having a childhood; no, he can't remember having it at all. At the age of a young adult, he couldn't remember being a selfish child screaming for a toy he wanted or crying in the lap of a caring mother after tripping during playtime. As much as he tried, it was like most of his memories of being a child had vanished. There were some bits and pieces that he remembered but, it wasn't much.

The earliest memory he could recall was his mother. She never held him lovingly or kissed him every night before sleep to rid any nightmares. Instead, she would caress and give that affection to a bottle of whiskey and drank the night away. Sometimes, she would talk to herself which was fine to him, but other times, she would be spitting words at Hawks and blaming him for everything.

After meeting with Aiko and hearing her story with her mother, Hawks's own memory resurfaced to haunt him. Similar to what Aiko had experienced, his mother also despised his wings. He was three years old when it was fully formed and Hawks was the happiest human being the moment he realised that they were his very own wings.

But that moment didn't last long. When his mother had noticed the bright red wings, she spat the word that still echoes through his head once in a while.

"Disgusting"

As a child, Hawks was confused and heartbroken to hear his very own mother hating a part of his body. Especially when he was proud of it himself. However, his mother slowly started making sense as to why she hated it.

"You're just like him,"

"You take over that bastard,"

"I wish you were never born,"

"Are you gonna be like him? A thief? A lying asshole?"

It didn't take long for Hawks to connect the dots as a child. She was talking about his father who would mostly be absent from their small house.

Then, the favours came in. His mother started using him to steal from people. Hawks still loved his mother after the words she has said to him, so by doing what his mother asks, he thought that she would start loving him.

He wasn't proud of his actions but he was desperate for love and care. He was using his quirk to do bad things, unlike the television shows or comics about superheroes that always saves others, he was stealing.

Like father, like son, he kept stealing until the accident happened. He instinctively saved a family from a car accident. From that moment, no amount of love or manipulation from his mother could compare to the pride and joy he had when the people thanked him. Then, he was recruited by the HSPC, never seeing his mother and father again.

Hawks sighs as he sat on the rooftop of an office building with a cold can of coffee in his hand. He didn't realise that time had flew by while he was thinking of his life before.

"Disgusting, huh?" He whispered. He took a sip from his cold drink, zoning out as he views the city in the night. Then, his mind strays to a certain dark haired girl. His wings spread out a little.

Why was I so intent on helping her? Was it to prevent her from being like me when I was young? Is it selfish of me to help her so that I could feel at least a little bit of redemption for my childhood? Then who am I helping, Aiko or myself?

His eyebrows furrowed. He was a hero, he should be helping others all the time but is it wrong for him to help himself when no one did when he was a child?

"I can't do this. What was I thinking? The company's going to kill me," he face palmed, rubbing his face afterwards. The HSPC is a very strict company so how is he going to explain that he gave his personal number to a teenager he met in the streets a few days ago and willingly teaching her everything about his quirk?

His took another sipped, staring at the shining city below.

Aiko...Natsume Aiko

"Hawks, are you lazing around?" A voice interrupted.

"OH MY GOD!" He shouted, placing a hand on his chest. He had forgotten that he had a communicator in his ears for his secretary to update him on his work.

"Don't scare me like that, granny. You're going to give me a heart attack," he breathed out, pressing the communicator in his ear to reply.

"Me?! You have been quiet for hours now! That sponsor's deadline is coming up in 30 minutes and I have been trying to ask you for your opinion!"

Hawks rolls his eyes, chugging his can of coffee and throwing it to a dustbin from below with his feather.

"I don't really like that sponsor, he was rude to you and the stylists. No bad vibes for me, ma'am," he answered.

"Well I agree but that's your last cancellation. You've cancelled lots of sponsors these days that HSPC is demanding us to make you go public as soon as possible,"

"Seriously? I'm on almost every billboard and commercial this country has. What else do they want me to do?"

"Just do it! They told me they want you to take in interns from the upcoming UA Sports Festival,"

"What?" He asked, his attention was now perked.

Aiko's school?

"You heard me. Since they heard that Endeavour and the other heroes are attending and taking in interns this year, they want you to do it as well. Taking in students from the UA will improve on your image to make you seem friendly, professional and mature. Something you lack nowadays-"

"Hey! That guy was peeking under the lady's skirt, I did the right thing!"

"YOU HUNG HIM UPSIDE DOWN FROM A FLAG POLE IN PUBLIC. AT THE CENTER OF A TOURIST ATTRACTION. AND HE WAS PANTS-LESS,"

"I taught him a lesson!"

"That was borderline villainous you child! Anyways, you have to pick an intern from the first year, any will do,"

"Must it be a first year..?" He wandered out loud.

"Yes...I know you're thinking of that girl but I recall her stating she's a third year."

Hawks bit his lip before he hears his secretary sighing.

"Whatever you do, child, just take a first year student in and we're in the clear. Just don't do anything stupid," she said before hanging up.

The winged man smiles gleefully. She didn't agree to it but she also didn't reject his idea. He stood up on the ledge, stretching his limbs and cracking his bones. He also ruffled his crimson wings to fight off the cold, breezing through his feathers. His break time was over and his patrol shift was about to begin.

Suddenly, his phone rang a notification. It came once and Hawks simply ignored it thinking it was Mrs Chi sending in the details of what was needed to be done.

Then another notification rang.

And another.

And another.

And another.

"Huh?" He spoke out loud, wriggling his phone out to see who was spamming him. Mrs Chi was never one to spam and none of his contacts were too (His contacts were mostly heroes or the big boss of HSPC). So who was it?

Unknown number:
hello? Is this the great Pro Hero Hawks?
helloooo?
is this the right number?
i hope it is
hihi you reply so slow

A stalker? A fan? How did they get my number? Ugh..I have to change number again

Hawks:
This is a violation of a Pro Hero's privacy. I will be reporting you to my company and they will handle this legally. Please stop contacting me, thank you.

Unknown number:
oh yay it's you! my name is nijire hado and i got ur number from aiko ^^
she was thinking about inviting u to our sports festival but she's seems shy
so i was thinking if we both could surprise her yeah??
don't tell her that tho!!
she seems to be gg thru a lot these days

She wanted to invite me? This is too much as pure coincidence. But at the same time...I feel honoured.

Hawks:
You do not seem credible.

Unknown number:
ahh that's true..oh wells ntg i can do about it
if u wanna attend, u can click this link [link] here! it'll update our sch on who's gg under the students name
ill delete ur number now since that first msg was scary
hope to see u soon!

The messages stopped after a few minutes. Hawks stares at the words made up of pixel on his screen. He tapped onto the link to see the legitimate UA website with Aiko's particulars detailed onto a form. Below her section was fields for a guest to enter.

So that was really Aiko's friend. She is going through a lot..I mean I can gauge on her skills, strengths and weaknesses during the festival before I train her on her wings...

His mind ran for the whole night before ultimately deciding what he was going to do.