Lightning Serenade

Chapter 69: Hawks III

Denki did a little spin as he walked, arms outstretched and face lifted to the sun, much to the amusement of passersby on the sidewalk around them.

"It feels good to be out on patrol again," Denki said, looking down at his hero costume.

Hatsume Mei had been the one to volunteer (quite enthusiastically) to make some adjustments to make his hero costume able to withstand the full force of lightning. It wouldn't last forever, only a few full-force blasts, but Denki already had back-ups in his closet back at his dorm. It was better than something that would fall apart after only one or two, and Mei was hard at work to make it even better for the upcoming revisions.

"It seems like the citizens missed having you around, too," Hawks said, nodding toward a gaggle of kids across the street who were jumping up and down and waving excitedly.

Denki spared a quick glance at Hawks who nodded him ahead, opting to lean back against the building with his hands in his pockets as he watched Denki soak in the much-deserved attention. He signed autographs and made big, surprised faces when the kids told him about their own quirks.

"Will you take a picture?" one girl asked, trying to be confident through her natural shyness. She blushed hard but stood her ground and maintained eye contact with the soon-to-be Pro Hero. Admirable, really.

"Sure," Denki said, laughter clear in his voice as he took the proffered camera and took a photo of the girl.

The girl pouted. "I meant with me, Chargebolt."

"Oh, yeah!" Denki said, laughing as he repositioned himself to be crouched next to her and handing the camera off to one of the adults of the group. "That makes more sense!" Denki said with a secretive wink toward the adults, like they were all part of the team to make this girl feel so super special that an up-and-coming hero would take a picture of her alone and not realize that she wanted a photo with him.

When the kids gathered around for a group photo, Denki pretended not to notice that the boy behind him was giving him bunny ears, and when the kids switched around to take turns being next to the hero, Denki sneakily returned the favor with a wink in the camera's direction as the flash went off.

The kid was a riot. A bright ray of fucking sunshine. Shining so bright that he ended up on the League's radar of all things.

The kid was unfortunate, more so when you realize that Hawks was the only one standing between Denki and the League of Villains. Because Hawks was a damn coward who didn't know what to do. But he better figure it out. Fast.

When his phone vibrated against his palm in his pocket, Hawks tore his eyes away from his intern across the street who had picked a boy up onto his shoulders and was teetering around like he might fall over, causing the boy to squeal, laugh, and hold on tightly to Denki's hands.

Number One Boyfriend.

"Hey, can't be long. I'm on patrol right now," Hawks said in greeting, glancing quickly around to make sure no one was in earshot, not that he would give anything away from his side of the conversation alone.

"Intern-assisted patrol?" Shigaraki asked. "With Kaminari?"

Hawks hesitated for only a second, but in the end, he couldn't even lie to Shigaraki to protect this innocent kid.

"Yeah."

"Great. Bring him over to the warehouse where you first started meeting with us. We have some things to go over."

Hawks's heart jumpstarted in his chest, and he tried to object, "Tomu—" He stopped, looking around again and sighing in relief when no one was there to witness his near slip-up.