Freeze Frame

Chapter 135

CROSSOVER ALERT!! READ NOTE AT BOTTOM!

Third person pov

"So tell me about yourselves." Hawks offered charismatically. Shoto was collapsed in a chair in front of the pro-hero's desk, Kaminari sitting in one to his left with his spine ramrod straight and his eyes wide. Getting their work-study with Hawks approved had been hard, but luckily the other minor heroes at his agency had great track records with internships, so an exception had been made. Hawks was able to just barely usher them in as a result. 

A part of it was publicity. Society was in disarray at the loss of All Might and the betrayal that came with Endeavor's arrest. Seeing Hawks with two interns was going to boost morale and inspire hope. The hero commission had been far more willing to provide leniency with Hawks' request to take them on. It helped that Shoto was... well, Shoto. His status as a Todoroki drew pity out of even the worst people. Even Satan himself had to be sniffling at the half-and-half boy's story somewhere down in the ninth circle.

"I'm tired and depressed." Shoto raised his hand as he said it as though this were class and he needed to draw emphasis to himself. Kaminari winced a little, and Hawks looked a bit concerned. And disturbed. Shoto did look vaguely like a walking corpse, but Kaminari had been politely ignoring that up until this point. Drawing attention to it would only get him an unimpressed glare from his red and white haired companion.

"So we'll work on that." Hawks agreed, trying to sound studious and optimistic but not having any idea what he was doing. Shoto had completely run his first internship with Hawks. The winged pro hadn't had to do jack shit instruction wise. Even now this entire thing wasn't his plan. They were just biding their time until Bakugo could pull Nighteye's strings enough to get this thing to fall together the way they wanted it to.

"U-Uhh... I'm... scared?" Kaminari cringed as he forced the words out, not sure what else to say. Shoto nodded in agreement and Hawks swallowed a sigh, smiling with surprising patience instead. Two traumatized teenagers. He has two traumatized teenagers in his office and he isn't even certified to deal with it. They were like a pair of fucked up Eeveelutions. A Flareon-Glaceon hybrid and a goddamn Jolteon, both with severe emotional issues. Well... okay, yeah, that was a little too nerdy of him. Ignore the Pokemon references. He was just going to say they had PTSD and leave it at that.

Truth be told, Kaminari's nerves were wracked to the highest degree. He was glad Shoto was here, but Shoto was sorta scary in his own ways when he wanted to be. All Lillian's friends were. Did that mean he was too now that he was one of them? He guessed the fact that him sneezing in a swimming pool would kill everyone in it was a bit intimidating, but he didn't have the same heavy ambience the rest of the group did. Hawks was just... he was so cool, and Kaminari was so not prepared for any of this

"That's a good thing. Fear is healthy." Hawks had heard that on Doctor Phil once, he was sure. "But just remember that you've been through worse and come out the other side! This Shie Hassaikai stuff will be nothing compared to that!" 

Kaminari squinted. Yeah, they'd physically survived, but what about in literally every other aspect? And he'd been the one least effected to boot! Well... aside from Neito, who seemed genuinely fine. Kaminari was pretty sure he was simply past the point of caring. Getting decapitated did that to you apparently. 

"Yeah. The ex-love of my life trying to shoot by best friend and killing another student after they were kidnapped in the middle of the Number One Hero getting bodied by the greatest super villain of all time really can't be topped." Shoto's voice came out drier than the Sahara, and Hawks cringed a little. Okay, maybe bringing up literally anything relating to that was a bad idea. That one's on him.