Silence Destroyed (MHA)

Chapter 48- The First Move

The next week that followed was a whirlwind of meetings and headaches. None of them had expected Hawks to jump in feet first as he had, so they had to scramble for weeks on end just to figure out how he was going to fit into their plan.

Originally, they wanted Hawks to just ignore them and keep doing hero work. He could come here when he wanted and get the details. Basically, they wanted to keep him as far away from the business as possible.

He did not like this.

When Naoko tried to sell him on this idea, he'd just shook his head and said something about going all the way.

None of them were prepared for that, so now they had to figure out a bunch of logistics. How much did they let him know about? They had a lot going on, but it was all low profile. They weren't about to let him touch the therapy groups and there's no way they'd fly under the radar if he started doing vigilante shit.

He was a liability if they let him in too far, so they really leaned on the idea that he had enough to do keeping up his hero persona. If he started working at the café, he'd drive away all the yakuza members who were comfortable there, not to mention it would draw just... All the wrong kinds of attention.

They weren't in this to be well known as a café.

Which is precisely what led to him going on a patrol with Naoko. Or, as everyone liked to call it, "We don't like this, so you deal with this one, Naoko!"

Personally, Naoko was all for throwing him to Hasame to help with the community clean-up project, but Hasame had countered by simply saying "No," and leaving, which was enough to convince everyone that he'd probably be killed if they left him with Hasame.

Chris made the excuse that it would draw too much attention if he and Levi suddenly teamed up with the number two hero, which seemed valid on the surface... Or it would have if Levi hadn't gone on an hour-long rant about what a cocky bitch this guy was, someone who didn't know what the fuck he was doing.

Naoko had watched all of this and agreed with it 100% too, but she knew Chris was only refusing because he didn't want to act as a peacekeeper between his husband and Hawks for any longer than he needed to.

It was a hard situation, because Hawks had said something about using his weekend to come and get to know the group, so they'd had to figure it out quickly.

On that day, which Naoko kept hoping would be delayed by any means necessary, Hawks came again, looking as though he'd walked right off the set of some movie show about heroes.

Her already thin patience had snapped, and she'd dragged him into the back before the Yakuza realized that their favorite coffee shop was not just a coffee shop.

Dabi had been enlisted (dragged out of bed) to make Hawks less conspicuous, and here they were, walking through the back alleys as Naoko fumed about the shit she had to do.

Hawks had been forced into a beanie and shades, his conspicuous leather jacket had been replaced by an oversized flannel button up and the wings shrunk down so they could be hidden beneath it. He was still eye catching, but not as obvious now.

"So..." Hawks was walking backwards in front of Naoko so she could see him.

As irritating as it was, Hawks was pretty damn good at working with Naoko's deafness. He hadn't reacted when he was told about it, he just asked if she could read lips or if she preferred people to sign around her (It was the one and only time Levi looked impressed by him).

Of all the people who learned about her handicap, he was the first who immediately adapted and shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"What's your deal?" His cocky grin made Naoko's glare sharpen further. He was so cocky that everything made her want to punch him in the face a little more.