III. From the Cage We Fly

Chapter One

"Has anyone seen Touya come back?" Hawks peers out of the window and back at the three Todorokis, fidgeting with his cell phone. It's not like Touya to take this long to smoke, even if he did get a phone call. Shouto and Natsuo also look out the window to try to get a glimpse of Touya while Fuyumi slowly stands up and heads to the door.

"I'll look for him, maybe he got lost. It's been a while since he's been in this neighborhood." She trails off as she opens the door. Hawks nods but still can't shake the growing feeling that something is wrong. He's always had a strong sense of perception, usually calling it his birdie sense just for shits and giggles, but this time- Hawks hopes that he's wrong. He stands up after Fuyumi leaves and collects the dishes to keep himself busy and to keep his worrying thoughts at bay.

Hawks turns on the tap water and watches as the bubbly water rises in the sink, chewing his lip while lost in thought.

"Let me help." Hawks nearly jumps out of his skin and looks over his shoulder to see Shouto standing behind him.

"No, no. It's fine, don't worry about it." Shouto either pretends not to hear him or completely disregards what Hawks just said and moves to stand next to him, dipping the dishes into the hot water- scrubbing away contently.

"For the longest time," Shouto starts- his voice is low and unwavering but Hawks can still pick up a sense of unease from the teen, "I thought it was my fault." Hawks says nothing, from what Tokoyami told him during his internship- Shouto was the ice princess of class 1-A that had slowly thawed out after Yuuei's Sport's Festival. While Shouto had opened up more, Tokoyami explained, he still avoids talking about his past to nearly everyone but Midoriya.

Hawks wonders why Shouto is choosing to talk to him about something that's so taboo in the Todoroki household. For a fleeting second, Hawks ponders that maybe it's because of the joint effort of Fuyumi and himself that Touya was able to be reunited to begin with?

Nonetheless, he stays quiet- not wanting to startle the teen back into his own walls.

"He was my hero when I was a kid. He's always been stronger than... our father," Shouto's grey eye peers at him thoughtfully, "I never once thought that he died like Fuyumi and the others." Shouto pauses again and takes in a deep breath, shaking his head.
"I suppose he did die in a sense," Shouto states bluntly, "But he's still my brother."

"Are you ready to forgive him so easily?" Hawks is genuinely curious, knowing that Shouto has no love whatsoever towards Endeavor. He finds it intriguing that Shouto is so ready to forgive Touya and his haggard past, "I mean, he did kinda kidnap one of your classmates." Shouto merely shrugs.

"It was only Bakugou. Not like it was anyone too important." Shouto finishes with a ghost of a smile and Hawks can only chuckle. Kid got a strange sense of humor, Hawks thinks. Yet, it seems to nearly be required of the Todoroki family to have a warped sense of humor. They fall into another bought of silence, but this time it feels more comfortable.

Until Fuyumi bursts through the back door a few moments later with a busted phone that Hawks immediately knows that belongs to Touya because, who else owns a flip phone in this day and age?

Fuyumi's blue eyes are wide and she's paler than a sheet of paper, Hawks can only watch on with a heavily sinking feeling as she gapes- searching for any sort of semblance of words.

"Guys." Natsuo's voice echoes from the living room, breaking the three from their trance. Fuyumi leads Hawks and Shouto to the living room. Natsuo says nothing more and instead is glued to the television.

Every fiber in his body screams out at Hawks to not look at the television. Fuyumi's stifled gasp and Shouto's mumbled curses coax Hawks to stare at the television.