Paratrepsis (Platonic Hawks and Tokoyami)

Paratrepsis

The funny thing about having a mutant quirk was that physical appearance wasn't the only inhuman effect. People with cat-like and reptile adjacent mutations were subject to drowsiness in direct sunlight, canine mutations caused people to respond more negatively to eye contact and solitude, fish mutants were inclined to head north in the spring, and nearly every animal mutation came with some kind of nesting drive. Hawks was not exempt from the more instinctual sides of mutation quirks. That didn't mean he had to like it, and it didn't mean he ever expected to act on them. Hawks' expectations were, as usual, spectacularly shattered by his favorite, and only, intern, Tokoyami Fumikage.

Patrol that day was about as dull as hero work could ever get; the criminals were inexperienced, and there were few of them. Not that Hawks minded; on the contrary, this was the kind of world he strived to create. It made him glad, really, to know that crime was low; it meant he was doing his job well. He still had feathers afloat to survey the area and monitor any suspicious activity, but it was one of the few days where he could just enjoy his fight, and he planned to revel in that.

A look thrown over his shoulder confirmed that Tokoyami was still on his tail, hopping dutifully from rooftop to rooftop like a fledgling chick would hop branches. The raven-like boy hadn't mastered flight yet, not even close to it, but it was something they were working on. Even wingless, however, the kid kept pace. Tokoyami had taken to staying in the shadows of the buildings as much as possible in order to retain Dark Shadow's stamina, and when that wasn't possible, he used Hawks' shadow as protection from the sun. All in all, the kid was learning fast, and Hawks had to begrudgingly admit that maybe taking an intern wasn't such a bad idea.

When Hawks noticed what appeared to be a gang fight in an alleyway, he wasn't worried. Tokoyami had proven himself more than capable in a fight, and small-time criminals were no match for the two of them. If things got bad, Tokoyami could always hand back and rely on Dark Shadow to fight long-distance. These types of things were just part of the daily grind. With a flick of his wing, Hawks and Tokoyami made their way into the alley, giving the criminals no time to prepare.

The criminals, of course, swore up a storm and panickedly lashed back with their fists and a few knives. Hawks had half a mind to scold the criminals for their language and remind Tokoyami to never repeat those words, the other half reminded Hawks that he also swore like a sailor and that Tokoyami wasn't a five-year-old who needed to filter profanities. Foul language aside, the fight was an easy one; there were plenty of criminals, but between Dark Shadow and Hawks' numerous feathers, they were dropping like flies.

Hawks didn't even flinch as a knife flew past his head, just barely missing him. These people sure had bad aim; Hawks wasn't even going to have any bruises after this, how embarrassing for the criminals. There sure were a lot of them, though, and unconscious bodies were starting to pile up. The suckers just seemed to be climbing out of every crevice and shadow in the stupid alleyway. Not that Hawks couldn't handle the numbers, it was painfully easy with the absolute tank of a quirk his intern had.

Hawks grinned as his feathers detected Dark shadow swinging at the low-lives while Tokoyami nimbly dodged blow after blow. It was almost fun fighting like this, not that that was something the public needed to know.

The self-assured grin on Hawks' face plummeted, though, as he rapidly realized he could no longer detect Dark Shadow's odd humming movement. Before he could even whip around to check on Tokoyami, he heard it. A distressed chirp, the shrill call of a chick in danger at too high a decibel for human ears to hear. Hawks heard it, though. Oh, how Hawks heard it. The panicked chirp of his intern sent his blood white-hot with protective rage, nearly all cognizant thought leaving his head and instead being replaced with a ceaseless drive to protect his fledgling.