The scent of stale popcorn and cheap perfume hung heavy in the air. Malls. I usually hated them, but Athema and Isle had been pulling at my sleeve for weeks, nagging about needing new hero costume upgrades and some ridiculous limited-edition anime figurines. Good grades meant rewards, and dammit, they'd earned it.
"Dad, can we go to the hero merch store now?" Athema whined, her white and grey hair practically vibrating with impatience. She was a miniature version of me, only with brighter eyes and a terrifyingly cheerful disposition when she got her way.
"Almost there, squirts," I grumbled, ruffling Isle's bi-colored hair. Isle, at 14, was already taller than Athema and radiating the perpetually unimpressed aura only teenagers could master. She was studying a display of keychains, her brow furrowed, likely strategizing how to use her earth manipulation quirk to snag one without paying.
That's when I saw him. A flash of crimson wings, followed by a familiar blonde head. Hawks. What were the odds? I hadn't seen him outside of hero work in ages. Truth be told, it had been… nice, having him around. Before Y/N decided that a quirkless accountant was a more appealing life partner than a walking inferno with a complicated family history.
I plastered on my best "pro hero" smile, hoping I didn't look like I'd been run over by a particularly grumpy truck. "Keigo! Fancy seeing you here."
He turned, his golden eyes widening slightly before crinkling at the corners. "Inferno. Didn't expect to see you playing suburban dad." He chuckled, the sound as easy and warm as I remembered. Three kids were huddled around him, each with a unique charm. A blonde and black haired boy with vibrant blue wings, another with blue and blonde hair showing off white wings, and a girl with the same hair color as her sibling, but her wings were red and blue.
"Someone's gotta keep these two out of trouble," I said, gesturing towards my daughters. "They aced their midterms. Rewards were promised."
Hawks grinned. One of his wings twitched, a nervous habit I'd picked up on during countless stakeouts. "Speaking of trouble, these three are masters of it. This is Hato," he said, nudging the blonde and black haired boy. "And these are Haru and Taru, twins. They share a brain cell, I swear."
As the twins playfully shoved each other, I noticed something. Hato's wings were strikingly similar to Hawks'. The other twins, as well. A slow dawning realization spread through me.
"Wait a minute…" I started, but Hawks cut me off, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes.
"Hey, why don't we grab some coffee? The kids seem to be getting along fine. We can… catch up."
He was right. My two firecrackers and his flock were already deep in conversation. Athema was showing off her developing flame manipulation, while Isle was demonstrating how she could summon a miniature whirlwind in her palm. Hato was explaining the finer points of bird training, and the twins were listening with rapt attention, Taru occasionally chiming in with questions about mimicking avian abilities.
We found a relatively quiet corner in the food court and ordered two black coffees. The silence was thick with unspoken questions, at least on my end.
"So," I began, choosing my words carefully. "Those are… your kids?"
Hawks took a long sip of his coffee, his gaze fixed on his children. "Yeah. They are. Kept that under wraps for a while."
"I can see why," I muttered. My mind was reeling. Hawks, a dad? And he'd kept it a secret for… how long?
"Look," he said, finally meeting my gaze. "It's… complicated. The Commission wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of their top hero having a family. Said it made me a liability."
I understood that. The Commission was a black hole of bureaucratic garbage. They valued results over everything else, including the well-being of their heroes.
"So, you just… hid them?"
"Pretty much. They lived with my sister until recently. Now they live with me."
"And their mom?" I asked, wincing internally. I shouldn't have pried.
Hawks' expression darkened. "That's… a story for another time. Let's just say she's not in the picture." He quickly steered the conversation back to safer territory. "So, Athema and Isle, huh? They look like they take after you. Especially the fire one."
I chuckled, relieved at the change of subject. "Yeah, they do." I paused, a thought striking me. "They're actually in the same class at U.A. Must be in their second year, right?"
Hawks blinked. "Yeah! Hato and the twins are in Class 2-B. Small world, huh?"
Small world indeed. This was beyond coincidence. Fate, maybe? A terrifying and potentially disastrous fate involving teenagers, quirks, and whatever drama they were bound to cook up.
We talked for another hour, mostly about mundane things: hero work, the rising cost of groceries, the sheer insanity of the current political climate. It was surprisingly… normal. A stark contrast to the burning wreckage my life had become since Y/N left.
As the sun began to set, we gathered our respective broods. "We should do this again," Hawks said, a genuine smile gracing his features. "Maybe a barbeque next weekend? The kids seem to actually like each other."
I hesitated. Part of me wanted to run, to bury myself in paperwork and avoid any further complications. But the other part, the part that yearned for connection, for normalcy, for something other than the constant burn of my own flames, won out.
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds good."
As we walked to our cars, Athema and Isle were practically skipping with excitement. "Dad, Hato invited us to train with him and his sisters! He says they know some cool aerial maneuvers!"
"Can we, Dad? Please?" Isle chimed in, her usual stoicism momentarily forgotten.
I looked at my daughters, their faces lit up with genuine joy. Then I glanced at Hawks, who was watching us with a hopeful expression.
This was going to be interesting. And terrifying. And probably a complete disaster. But maybe, just maybe, it was exactly what we all needed.
The next day at work, I found a small, neatly folded piece of paper tucked under my coffee mug. I unfolded it.
"Barbeque's on. Saturday at noon. Don't forget the marshmallows. – Keigo"
A small smile tugged at my lips. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe, just maybe, there was a flicker of warmth in the embers of my life.
However, a sense of unease settled in my gut. Something about Hawks seemed…off. Too eager, perhaps? Too quick to offer friendship after years of professional distance? I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to his sudden reappearance than just a chance encounter at the mall. But what could it be? I knew Hawks. He's not the type to have ulterior motives. Or is he?