Taxonomy (Platonic Hawks and Tokoyami)

Specie

If ever there had been a time to be late, today was not it, and yet, Tokoyami found himself rushing to reach the agency twenty minutes behind schedule. It wasn't his fault, really, just that the class had run overtime, and then a couple of grade-schoolers stopped him to ask about heroics, which caused him to miss the train. Tokoyami had been informed that the events of the day were of exceptional importance, which did nothing to lessen his anxiety over his lateness. Given Hawks' penchant for exaggerations, the important business could mean anything from a coffee run to a high-scale drug bust. Tokoyami hoped it was the former and not the latter; at least then, he wouldn't miss much.

Tokoyami didn't even have time to greet the sidekicks as he rushed through the doors and to the changing room where his hero uniform was stored. Quail laughed and shouted loud enough for the intern to hear from the other room, "Uh oh! Someone's a little behind schedule! Better hurry up; we all know how big brother Hawks hates being late!" The raven-headed boy rolled his eyes as he ran towards Hawks' office; something told him that joke wasn't going to die any time soon, darn Quail. There was no way Hawks didn't know about it.

Hawks sprang up with a wide grin on his face when Tokoyami entered his office, "Woohoo, you're finally here! I'll let it slide this time, lil' bro, but don't make it a habit."

Tokoyami huffed and batted at one of Hawks' wings in retribution, "You shouldn't encourage such nonsense; those awful papers of speculation have already fallen to madness."

Hawks sniggered and scratched under Dark Shadow's chin, "Me? Encourage a little chaos? Never. Why, you'd think after fifteen years in the same household, you'd know me a little better." The hero waggled his finger and tutted but continued to smile playfully. "Really though, you're lucky our guest is running behind schedule; I'd hate for it to seem like we don't have it together."

"In all fairness, Hawks, I would delineate you as neither put-together nor notably responsible outside of work.

"Whaaat?" Hawks held a hand to his chest and feigned outrage; he even tried to muster up a few false tears but gave up after a couple seconds of rapid blinking, "I am the absolute epitome of adult responsibility and poise, how dare you imply otherwise! And to think I once called you my brother, the scandal."

Tokoyami snorted and gestured to the various takeout boxes on Hawks' desk, "You can hardly prepare your own meals Hawks."

"Wah, that's not true, I've cooked before!"

"Which time, the one where you nearly added raw chicken to our soup or the times you set the rice steamer on fire?"

"That was one time I'll have you know! One! Geeze, a guy forgets to add water, and suddenly I'm banned from the kitchen."

"Twice, actually. 'Tis a good thing I didn't grow up with you as my brother, lest my life end prematurely as a result."

"Yanno, just for that, you're helping me clean these up." Hawks gestured to the week-old takeout boxes.

Before Tokoyami could move to help with the mess, he heard several sets of heavy footsteps approach the office. Not a moment later, a gruff voice spoke up, "Really, Hawks, you must have more important work for your intern than sending him to clean up your trash."

Hawks sat up ramrod straight and gave a mock salute, "Maybe he would have more exciting things to do if you weren't so late to the party, Endeavor!"

Endeavor simply glowered and raised a flaming eyebrow expectantly. Tokoyami felt a little bit bad for Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki; Endeavor didn't seem like much of a mentor. Maybe he was nicer to his own interns, but somehow the bird-headed boy doubted it. Even Dark Shadow, who was usually too brazen for their own good, cowered slightly at the sight of the flaming man, although that was more to do with the firelight than the hero's unwelcoming demeanor.