Birds of a Feather

Just call him, you coward.

カラス
          It had been three months since seemingly all of Japan had locked down behind barriers- and by all rights, things seemed to have calmed down. The villains seemed to be licking their own wounds for now- and the remaining heros seemed to have made the message clear to all would-be thugs on the streets; they were there to keep the people of this country safe.
The first few residents had begun moving back to their houses, and things in the school seemed to be picking up again. It seemed... calm again, at least for now.
With everything that had happened, and everything that was happening now, the classmates of now 2-A were all attempting to find any amount of fun in what was shaping up to be their short lived freedom until school reopened for them. They were limited in where they could go- most of their houses were officially deemed safe for them to return to and collect a few more of their things, as well as their hero agencies for those who's pros they were contracted with hadn't chosen to shut down.
          "Why are you in here training?" Karasu leaned against the door of the Todoroki house training room, watching her boyfriend as he practised a certain style of forward punch. It was odd to see him training in a sweater, t-shirt, and pants. He normally only trained in actual workout clothing, he could actually be quite picky about it. "We'll be doing plenty of that in school."
"We can't really ever train enough." Todoroki responded as he looked over at her. "I've seen you training a few times with Hawks when we visited Endeavor's agency to have official meetings."
"To be fair, Hawks is still figuring out how to function with a quarter of his wings and I'm still getting used to balancing with one arm basically completely gone." Karasu responded, smiling at her boyfriend. "Here I thought we'd be using our sojourn to your house as an excuse to make out," she said lightly and tossed the end of her hair back before turning to walk away.
Todoroki caught her wrist and spun her back towards him. "Who says we can't do both?" He said, nuzzling into her neck as he wound his right arm around her abdomen from behind and laced his left hand fingers through hers.
"You wasted all our make out time training, Shoto." She responded teasingly as a smile crept across her face, leaning her head to the side as he kissed her neck. "Your family is going to be back soon, and they know we went ahead of them."
Todoroki spun her around again and pushed her against a pillar in the room as he pressed a kiss to her lips. "We'll hear them come in, it's fine." He said against her lips.
Karasu smiled as he kissed her. She gripped the front of his shirt and slid out from against the pillar, pulling him to the couch in the training room. "You make a good point," she said as she folded her wings against her back so that they could lean back onto the cushions, propping her knees around his hips as they kissed again. She let her hand curl around his bicep as his hands held her waist.
They carried on on the couch like that for a while longer, teetering carefully on the line of just kissing and taking things further.
           From the door, they heard Hawks clear his throat loudly which made them jump apart.
"Hawks?!" Karasu's face turned red as she sat up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I didn't realise you'd be here." She stood up off the couch, pulling her shirt back down from where Todoroki had pushed it up.
"Clearly." Hawks had an amused look on his face. "I was here looking for you actually, Kara. Endeavor said he thought you'd be here ahead of the rest of his family arriving... now I see why he encouraged me to just head right on over."
"Okay. Can we move on before I die from embarrassment?" Karasu covered her face with her hand. "Do we need to talk alone?"
"Not really." Hawks leaned against the doorframe and sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets. "The two of us are going to need to testify at the trial for all the captured PLA members because we actually worked with them- specifically the traitor pros, but a couple of the leaders as well."
"Like- actually in court?" She seemed surprised as she lowered her hand. "On the stand?"
Hawks sighed and pushed his hair back. "Yeah. They need to be convicted quickly, so the courts are pushing everything through pretty fast. It should also help to get public opinion back on our side- and back on our side, since I've had our custody issues settled."
Karasu nodded, looking down at Todoroki when he put a supportive hand on her back. "Makes sense. Just send me what I need to know beforehand and I'll be ready for it."
Hawks nodded back and smiled. "That's what I like to hear."
I forget sometimes how alike they look, Todoroki thought, but he smiles just like Kara.
"I also came to check on how you're feeling with school and the work studies officially starting up again?" Hawks said, looking between the two teenagers. "I know it must seem small compared to everything that happened a few months ago, but it's still a pretty major change."
"I'm ready for school to start again." Todoroki admitted. "To get some semblance of normalcy back."
"I agree." Karasu sighed, looking at the window at the end of the room. "I'm ready for life to be calm for a moment again."
Hawks smiled slightly as he watched his sister's boyfriend fold his arms around her and pull her down into his lap. Seeing them so affectionate was still odd for him- in a way, he still saw Karasu as the little eight year old girl who had found him all those years ago. In other ways, he saw her as the full fledged hero she effectively was after the Paranormal Liberation War. He was there to comfort her when I was pushing her away... I guess I don't really have the room to say anything about accidentally walking in on them considering what he's been able to help see her through. Without him, I don't know if she'd have come through it with any strength. "I have a couple things I need to talk to Endeavor about... so I'm going to go raid your fridge, Shoto. You two just keep it quiet and safe up here."
"Oh, my god." Karasu's face turned red again as she kissed Todoroki quickly and stood up. "We should probably head downstairs as well, we don't need another member of one of our families walking in on us like that."
Todoroki nodded as he stood up with her. "Agreed. I'd definitely prefer that it not become a pattern." He said as he slid his arm around her waist. "My family should be here soon, and a UA car pretty soon after that to take us back to the dorms."
          "Now that classes are starting up again, I think we should officially get a couple together." Karasu told her boyfriend decidedly. "Either Tenya and Yayurozu or Kaminari and Jirou... I'll also accept Kirishma and Bakugo, but I have nothing but a gut feeling to go on there."
"I'm almost entirely certain Kaminari and Jirou actually like each other, so it'll be a good place to start." Todoroki responded as they walked down the hall. "What makes now a better time than before?"
"Because we'll be allowed to do stuff again. It'd probably be pretty hard to start a relationship in the middle of a lockdown like we were in." Karasu leaned her head on his shoulder. "We'd been together for like... eight months when the lockdown began, almost eleven months now. Something new would've been harder. So now is a good time to get another couple together in our class."
"What about Izuku and Ochako? You seemed pretty sure about them before?" Todoroki looked at her as they stepped into his room so he could grab a couple things to take to school.
"Well, Izuku did try to leave school for like a month because he was afraid of putting us in more danger. Dating someone would make them an extra target so I don't know if he would." Karasu sighed and leaned against the doorframe, looping one arm around herself. She missed being able to fold her arms. "You can definitely talk to him, and if he seems open to it tell me and I'll suss out if Ochako would be interested."
He nodded and kissed her again lightly. "I hope you know I'm only doing this because you're asking."
"Oh, I know. I call it 'girlfriend powers'. I can persuade you to do things you wouldn't otherwise do." She grinned at him as he leaned one arm above her head on the doorframe.
"Does that mean I have 'boyfriend powers'?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, but you have to figure out what they are." She kissed his cheek and ducked out from below him. "Come on- we should head downstairs before the UA car gets here. It's embarrassing enough my brother caught us this time, we don't need to risk a teacher."
カラス
          "So, what's Shinso really like?" Ashido asked as she flopped next to Karasu on the couch.
"He's nice." Karasu shrugged as she polished her staff, carefully keeping it still between her knees. "A little brooding. Snippy sometimes. Why?"
"Well, you're the only one of us who's really friends with him." Ashido pointed out. "He's moving into the dorms here to join our class today and we know almost nothing about him."
"He figured out something was going on between Todoroki and me before any of you did." Karasu said as she flicked her staff closed and turned towards Ashido. "Will you reattach this to my bracelet for me?"
The pink heteromorph sat up and helped her affix the staff to its cable. "So what's he like? Come on, you didn't really answer my question before."
"Really, he's nice. He can be kind of standoffish, but he's pretty genuine if you get past that. He's a good guy." Karasu told her, leaning against the back of the couch. "He's actually a pretty talented fighter too, and good with the binding scarf."
"Hey!" Bakugo shouted from the door. "Aizawa said we all have to help Shinso move in if we're here!"
Karasu looked back at him as Mina groaned and got up. "I have one arm," she pointed out.
"You're still capable! If I have to help, so do you!" He responded as he stormed outside.
"In theory, the fact that he knows I can still be useful is actually really nice of him." Karasu stood up and followed Mina outside. "However- I was actively trying to get out of this."
"Karasu." Shinso nodded to her as he pushed his dolly of suitcases to the stairs of the bow 2-A dorm.
"Everyone in class calls me Kara now." She waved a hand. "You've met at the matches, but this is Mina Ashido. She's fun."
"Hi!" She waved at him. "We're here to help you move in."
Shinso nodded to her as well as Bakugo grabbed a suitcase off of the dolly and walked immediately back inside. "How does he know what room I'm in?"
"There's only two open rooms on the boy's side- well, now one." Karasu explained as she grabbed a suitcase as well. "You're actually in the room between Sato and Shoto."
"I won't hear you guys all the time, will I?" Shinso groaned and glanced down at her.
Karasu blushed and glared. "No! We would- never do that in school!"
"Liar." Ashido teased her. "You're right under my room, I've seen you sneak out your window and him sneak in."
Karasu's head snapped to her. "You're talking crazy, Ashido!" She gave her a pointed look, gesturing towards Iida who was waiting at the elevator for, as he called it, 'THE 2-A NEW STUDENT WELCOME WAGON!'. "We would never ignore school and dorm rules like that."
Ashido laughed as they crowded into the elevator with Shinso and Iida as Iida began rambling on about the Hero Course- all things Shinso almost definitely knew from applying the first time, being in the school, or had been told by Aizawa and Vlad upon his transfer.
          "Took you all long enough." Bakugo said from where he was standing at the doorway to Shinso's room.
"Ignore his outward nature, he's actually a pretty nice guy." Karasu said as the four of them joined him at the door.
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it." Shinso responded sceptically as he unlocked his door. "So we do have the same dorm rooms as the rest of the school here. Huh."
"Did you think we didn't?" Iida asked as he helped Shinso pile his suitcases up.
"It isn't me who thought it, it's everyone else. There's a rumour going around that the hero course dorms have twice as much size in our bedrooms as the rest of the school."
"What? Why?" Karasu raised an eyebrow. "UA doesn't give us preferential  treatment-" Shinso raised an eyebrow at her, "much."
"Uh, they saw Yayurozu's stuff being moved in. Apparently it was huge."
"It barely fits in her room." Ashiso remarked. "But it does make sense that that's why they'd think that."
" We do actually fight real supervillains, you know." Karasu said to herself. "Some of us lose limbs to them. Maybe a little favouritism is warranted- just saying."
"I guess that's fair." Shinso said as he looked around the room. It looked like the fact that he had actually successfully transferred was finally really, truly sinking in for him.
"Okay, well, we'll leave you to your decorating and organisation." Ashido said, leaving his room behind Bakugo.
"We'll be having a grand welcoming dinner with Class 2-B as well tonight to celebrate you joining the hero course!" Iida announced to him. "See you then!" With that, he sped out of the room.
"You know, that's really not necessary." Shinso said as Karasu turned to follow her other classmates, starting to sort one of his suitcases of clothes in his dresser.
"We know. We're still doing it." She told him with a smile, pausing at his door to look back at him. "No one in our class knows how hard you worked for this transfer like I do, Shinso. You deserve a celebration for it. Also, we actually really get along with 1-B- well, 2-B. Monoma aside, in mine and Shoto's case. Just take the kudos, okay?"
"Well- okay." Shinso said after a moment. Once she left the room, though, he smiled to himself.
          Karasu walked to the elevator and stepped in alone, leaning against the wall. Todoroki was out helping his family install a new security system at their house, so she couldn't kill time with him. She wanted to call Hawks- she had something important to talk to him about, something she could only talk to him about. She was worried she'd upset him, though, or make him angry. She desperately didn't want to do that right now, while everything between them had happened a few months ago it still felt like a delicate situation between the two of them. She'd chicken out if she waited much longer to ask him, and she knew that.
"I'll be back to help get dinner ready in a bit," she pulled Ashido aside when she reached the living room. "I'm gonna fly to the roof and shoot Hawks a call."
"Okay! Say hi for us!" Ashido said before scurrying off to their classmates excitedly.
You know, Karasu thought to herself with a smile as she left the building and walked to the lawn. I should try and get her and Shinso to go out together- they'd be cute as a couple. Also it might liven him up a bit, which he definitely needs. She spread her wings and kicked off the ground, flying to the roof of the dorm building. She sat on the edge, hanging her feet over the side and pulled out her phone.
She stared at it for a long moment. "Oh- just call him, you coward," she said out loud to herself. She pulled up her brother's contact information. She dialled it and held the phone to her ear.
He answered in three rings. "Hey, kid. Just finished a patrol. What's up on your end?"
"Hey. Shinso just officially got moved into the dorms with us as part of our class and everyone is setting up a dinner to celebrate him becoming part of the hero course." Karasu informed him, swinging her legs.
"I was actually going to call you about him- Eraser sent me a request asking me to take him on with you and Tsukoyomi for the work studies," he replied. He sounded like he was on the roof of a skyscraper or still flying. "Is he any good?"
"Not as experienced as the rest of us, obviously, but yeah. He's good." She shrugged. "I've gotten to know him pretty well because Mr. Aizawa asked me to spar with him for training before he joined the hero course. His brainwashing doesn't work on me."
"Oh! So he's how we found out your frenzy powers make you immune to quirks based around mental control." Hawks realised. "I'll email Eraser back and tell him yes, since you're vouching for him."
"Awesome. It'll be fun to work with him and not constantly fist fight him." Karasu smiled slightly.
Hawks laughed into the phone. "So, how's Shoto? Are you two still all in love and stuff?"
"He's good," she blushed and grinned, "and yes. I mean, hey, you saw. Unfortunately."
"Just because you were making out with him doesn't mean you're in love with him," her brother pointed out. "I mean I've definitely-"
"Oh, please spare me those details." Karasu cut him off quickly. "It's embarrassing enough you caught me and my boyfriend, I don't need to hear about all your hookups."
"Okay, okay." Hawks laughed. "Well, at least it means I'll have more reasons to bug Endeavor. We should actually all probably have a sit-down sometime. Might be awkward, but we have a lot to discuss with them."
"I actually have something I want to discuss with you." Karasu stood up, pacing back and forth on the roof. "Something serious."
"Oh, God. You're not pregnant, are you?" He groaned.
"No! I'm not pregnant. We're safe. You literally gave me like a thousand giant boxes of condoms when I asked to use the cabin for his birthday." She rolled her eyes. It had been one of the most embarrassing interactions between the two of them- he had basically shoved a giant backpack full of boxes and boxes of condoms at her. "I'm not even taking chances with that kind of thing."
"That's what I like to hear." Hawks sighed with relief. "So, what's up, kid?"
Karasu hesitated now. "Hawks, I-" she took a deep breath. "I want to find Mom."