My Hero Academia: Aspirations

Chapter 63

Aspirations
Chapter 63

You remained as calm as you possibly could have as Hawks handed you enough money to get home. Considering that he'd just gotten off and proceeded to proposition you (again) less than twenty minutes ago, his reluctance to see you go was no surprise. He looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. What was surprising was the fact that he'd tried to slip one of his hand sized feathers into your back pocket as he handed over the travel fare. You reached around and pulled the feather out with an unimpressed expression while you pocketed the money. You held it back out to him with the same unimpressed, almost stern, expression on your face.

"Fine, have it your way," the blond said with a sort of dangerously confident smile overtaking his face as the feather floated back into place. It was the kind of look that let you know that you weren't going to be happy with whatever he said next. The look truly did match as he continued. "If you're not cool with discretion anymore, I suppose the next best way to keep you safe is to go public. You're going to look so cute on those tabloid covers."

Your expression slipped as you gawked at him. Last night Hawks had made a big deal about needing to not seem suspicious by going by U.A again. And he was concerned about leaving his gear behind because that also would have seemed suspicious. He obviously didn't want to let people know about the connection (the one he thought you had at least) last night. Plus his explanation of why he'd gone radio silent before the whole misunderstanding revolved around not wanting to let the wrong people know about his connection to you. Now all of a sudden he was okay with broadcasting lies to the world?

You were hoping he wasn't so demented to believe them to be truths at the very least.

"What the hell?" You hissed out at him. "What happened to not letting anyone know about me?"

"If you're not going to let me protect you from a distance, I'll spin the story so I fly around U.A without being suspicious."

You could feel your eye twitch at that. The muscle twinged and everything. Not that it did anything to abate the grin that had spread across Hawk's youthful face. You gritted teeth as you clenched your fists at your side, attempting not to do something foolish like last night. Deciding to hit a pro-hero in the face, even in a moment of anger, had been a really stupid choice. As you took a deep breath you leaned back against his door and glared at him.

"This quick to action, no consultation approach might work out there," you motioned towards the big windows, indicating the outside world as you shifted your tense jaw, "but it's what caused all the problems here."

Hawks titled his head slightly as he watched you. His grin hadn't fallen away which made it hard to tell if he was even really paying attention to what you were saying. Given that he'd offered sexual favors less than half an hour ago, even after you'd told him you were seeing Aizawa just the night before, you doubted his retentive abilities. Or at least his willingness to retain anything that didn't coincide with his objectives.

"The funny thing is if you'd actually talked to me a little about what was happening during that whole Initiative thing, we could have worked it out. But you decided to be proactive in protecting me and shut me out. Then you reached out only when it was convenient for you. That might work for dealing with PR, but it fails in an actual relationship," you told him with controlled anger. "And that whole blackmail, ultimatum bullshit? Not cool."

He knew how much you didn't want to really get on the media's radar. With everything that had happened in the last year alone, it was a wonder that you hadn't been pestered yet. Even though Japanese reporters seemed to be a little bit nicer, you remembered hearing from Aizawa about all the brouhaha that U.A had undergone with the media when they tried to corner students about having All Might as a teacher. And you'd seen how much U.A had been in the news with the whole League situation. They'd taken some heat for the fact that the students kept getting attacked.

You didn't want to be the next big story. Not only would Hawks be spreading lies just to cover his own issues, but it would draw attention to what you'd been doing for a while. Broadcasting your profession would happen first no doubt. Then they'd trace your family back to your mother and Recovery Girl. Which would probably lead to guesses about your Quirk. Then someone was going to dig up records of you being at the hospital the night Endeavor had undergone surgery. Though you'd used Recovery Girl as a smoke screen, and had left the scar, eventually someone was going to put the picture together. Which, according to everything you'd seen and been told since joining up with U.A, would be a bad thing.

"Maybe not," he said in a casual tone, "but it will keep you safe."

"Safe?" You scuffed as you unclenched your fist. You rested your heated palms against the door behind you. "From who, Hawks?"

"A lot of people," his smile might have reassured the bystanders below him when he was flying but you just weren't feeling it.

"That's bullshit," you called him out. "Having reporters and journalists dig into every detail of my life will only put me on the radar for bigger villains, remember?"

"Good thing your boyfriend is the number two then, huh?"

You decided you'd had enough. You stepped forward just enough so that you could turn around and open the door. It took you about five steps out of the door to realize that Hawks was following you. If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't in uniform, you might have thought it was a coincidence. After all, you were in his agency's building. And you had told him to get back to work after getting a shower.

"What do you think you're doing?" You asked. The question almost felt rhetorical but at the same time you were morbidly curious about his answer.

"Making sure you get to the train safely."

You stopped walking and turned back to look at him. You did your best to keep your expression straight; there were no doubt security cameras in the hall.

"You're not wearing a shirt," you pointed out.

His lips turned into a small smirk, "I don't think that's a problem, do you?"

You glowered as you pointed back to his apartment door. You stayed ridged with your arm raised as Hawks practically slinked in closer. You stayed as unmoving and unresponsive in your silent demands as you could. Cameras and all that. Plus you didn't want to let go of your temper anymore than you already had. You were trying your best to maintain some respectability. Which only served to amuse the winged hero apparently. He kept touching you despite the fact that you thought you'd been clear on the subject. He'd tried to rekindle the relationship last night before he'd brought you back to his apartment. You'd rebuked that idea more than once. You'd even made sure to tell him you were seeing Aizawa. Which he hadn't liked to hear. Somehow the idea that you were dating someone else had mutated inside of his head to mean that he just needed to try harder.

Plus Ultra, right?

Except that Hawks wasn't, of course, an alumni of U.A.

You finally couldn't cling to the same stubborn position when Hawks draped one of his arms over your shoulder and started to play with the loose hairs on the back of your neck. With a furious hiss you grabbed his wrist and forced him back. Which amused him. At least judging by the look on his face when he pinned you to the wall, wings forming a crimson cocoon.

"What the fu—"

Hawks was able to put his hand over your mouth before the profanity slid out. "Relax, I just want to make it look good for the cameras!"

You knew it! There were cameras in the hall!

"Let me go right now or I'm going to start tickling your wings," you threatened him.

"Promises, promises," he teased.

He was making you regret trying to be nice. Before you followed through on your threat, however, Hawks backed off. And with a quiet, firm request for you to wait a moment, Hawks walked back off into his apartment. In less than two minutes, Hawks emerged fully dressed this time. And, whether you liked it or not, he proceeded to escort you to the train station. Which made everything a hundred times nosier and more uncomfortable than I had to be. By the time you'd finally gotten onto the train, leaving Hawks on the platform, you prayed that everything would calm down.

Unfortunately, you weren't that lucky. There was more news waiting for you when you got back to U.A that would ensure true peace was a far off dream.