My Rugged Heart [Hawks x OC]

Chapter 8

"Oh my gooood, Hawks! Take a selfie with me, please? Pretty please? Awesome!"

Hawks plastered on a nonchalant grin as a woman splattered in neon paint and glitter slung her arm around his neck and practically hung off of him, her right arm raised to take a selfie even become he could say it was okay. Not that he had much choice.

The HPSC had told him to show up at this event, the opening celebration of a new club in Fukuoka geared toward people his age. It was black light themed, so everyone was wearing neon or white or glow in the dark outfits. His stylist had picked out a fashion-forward outfit for him, mostly black with neon accents that caught the lights. She had also dusted his wings with white glitter that caught the black light, making it impossible for him not to be noticed. Hawks guessed the HPSC was getting paid a pretty good amount to have him there and wanted him to be seen.

Hawks received a decent living stipend from the HPSC, nothing to sneer at, but most of the money raised by his merch sales and appearances and commercials and whatnot went back to HPSC to pay for the training he had received as a kid. He didn't even know the actual amount that he brought into the organization each year. It had to be sizable since he saw he face all over Japan and on TV and his wings were attached to more items of clothing than he could have ever imagined.

At least events like these were somewhat enjoyable. He got free drinks and food and the music was actually nice.

Hawks held up a peace sign at the woman snapped a couple more pictures. She was unhappy with the angle. With a sigh, she smushed her face up beside his, and her perfume was overwhelming, like having jasmine and lilacs shoved into his nose. Slipping out from under her grasp and giving her a playful twirl, he sketched a bow and moved away.

People called out his name and waved and took pictures as he passed by, heading toward the bar. He didn't want to overdo it, but if the HPSC was getting paid, he might as well try to have a good time. The bar was promoting its specialty drinks. As a guest of honor, Hawks was required to get one. He wound up with something that was a crazy shade of electric yellow and tasted like candy with a heavy dash of vodka. Not bad.

He sat at the bar, shimmering wings tucked in tight. They were already splattered with paint from the drum circle. It was going to take a lot of cleaning to get all the paint off.

Halfway through his drink, he spotted a glow in the blacklight on the other side of the circular bar. On the multi-level dance floor, people were mostly dancing in groups, though some had coupled off. EDM music thumped through the speaker. The DJ had a levitation Quirk. She was midair, surrounded by floating turntables that she worked while twisting and turning. Her face mask pulsed in different emotions.

Again, the flash of purple-white glow caught his eyes. He focused on the dancers. A small group of women were dancing together in circle, and on its far side, Hirano swayed, graceful, arms raised, eyes closed. She had lines and dots of neon paint across her face and arms and down the sides of her neck. Through the multiple tiny braids spread through her hair, she had woven in long lengths of white ribbon. Someone must have said something funny because she laughed, her head falling back until she covered her mouth.

Hawks stared. He had never seen her look so carefree. Finally he let himself think what he had been trying not to for weeks: Akane Hirano was beautiful.

Leaving his drink on the bar, he made his way through the crowd, only getting stopped a few times. However by the time he reached the dance floor, Hirano and her friends were gone. A different circle of dancers spotted him. He was grabbed and pulled into the middle of their circle without much opportunity to escape without using his speed. Playing along, he danced for a while, letting the bass guide him.