Resurrected & Reignited (Dabi/Touya Todoroki x Reader)

Part II: The Briefing

"Sorry I'm late." He apologized, tone tinted with seriousness. "There you are, Hawks. Shut the door, we're about to begin." Madam President instructed.

'Hawks?!' Your eyes widened a tad, unsure if you could believe what you had just heard. His voice was deeper than you remembered, but that should have been expected. 'Is he really here?' You risked a glance. Sure enough; you'd recognize that mess of honey blonde hair anywhere. Hawks's piercing gold eyes met yours for a moment just as you looked away, but there was no discernible change in his expression. He took his spot behind the President, standing only a few feet away from you but staring sternly at the projector screen.

'He saw me. He definitely looked right at me.' You allowed your fists to unclench, but your jaw remained tightly locked. Now wasn't the time to be distracted. Whatever you were here for, it was important.

One of the Commission employees stood at the front of the room beside the blank pull-down screen. "Thank you all for coming. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Eiji Saito." He began. "I understand how stressful things have been lately. I'm sure everyone here can feel the effects. There has been a great deal of tension growing in our society recently with all that's been happening." You glanced down at Stiller who was nodding his head solemnly. Obviously, he knew what this guy was talking about. You, on the other hand, were clueless. You knew of current events in America, but international matters weren't something your caretaker thought necessary to update you on. Not even if there was a chance of you getting wrapped up in them, apparently. 'Need-to-know basis, I guess.'

The speaker continued: "I wish I could tell you we were here to help put your minds at ease. Unfortunately, we must admit... we do not have the issue as under-control as we had previously thought..." Though you tried desperately to pay attention as the man droned on, your mind wandered to the winged hero beside you. You could see from the corner of your eye that he wasn't looking at you now, and the one he gave you before- it held almost no emotion. You began to fret once again. 'Maybe he doesn't remember me.' You thought in an attempt to soothe yourself.

"As the truth of just how grave our situation is came to light, we thought it best to seek help from our foreign allies." Saito gestured towards Stiller and yourself. "This is Captain Henry Stiller, he's worked alongside us for a considerable amount of time and allowed us to keep ties with the US military. He was kind enough to offer (H/N) as aid. Some of you may remember them, they're a long-time HPSC trainee."

Welp, that gave you away. If Hawks didn't recognize you before, he definitely knew who you were now. Still, he didn't even flinch. His face held the same bored expression it had when he arrived, eyes glued to the presentation in front of him. The projector clicked on and Saito continued his briefing. An unfamiliar face appeared on the screen in front of you. A skinny man in a black jacket with the hood pulled up over his grey-white hair. It wasn't the most high-quality image; in fact, it looked as though it was taken from a bit of security footage. You zoned out again.

'He has to know by now. This guy literally introduced me by name and he didn't even so much as look over.' Worry washed over you as the next slide was shown. You did your best to make a mental note of the second suspect despite your wandering mind. 'Shadow man, got it.' Back to your internal monologue.

'Is he angry with me for leaving so suddenly without saying goodbye? He has to know I wasn't given an option. He knows these people as well as I do, maybe even better by now.'

Next slide. 'Lizard Guy; noted.'

By now, you had given up on actually paying attention to any of the information. You'd figure it out later.

'Does he hate me? I did leave him here all alone, but- no, I wasn't given a choice.'

Next slide. 'A... school girl?'