Chapter Text
Being greeted at the door by agents dressed in sharp suits wasn't how you pictured your day to start. You had wanted a more relaxing day, seeing as you finally had a day off from your grueling, seemingly endless job. When there was a ring of the doorbell, then there was a knock, then the doorbell was rung again, you finally crawled your way out of bed and towards the front of your apartment, getting ready to potentially cuss out a solicitor. Instead, within visibility of your peek-hole stood three men clad in all black suits. The wings on your back began to puff out in alarm but you smoothed them down quickly. Their ear-pieces flashed green every now and then, and they scowled so furiously that you almost didn't open the door even if it would get you in more trouble. Eventually, and after straightening yourself out a little, you opened the door. The agents didn't even give you a chance to speak. They took one glance at your wings poking up behind your back and began talking. They listed off your address and name.
"Yes?" You shuffled nervously on the floor. "Can I help you?"
"Our boss would like to speak with you. Do you have a minute?" One agent asked as he practically shoved his foot in the doorway. Clearly, he wouldn't be happy with anything other than yes.
"Uhm, yeah. Come on in" You reluctantly opened the door wider, wishing you could take the words back but feeling like it was too late now. After an agent entered and began scanning around the room, he motioned for the rest to enter. A full sweep of the house commenced for the next few minutes, until they felt satisfied and one of them left the room.
"Wow, your boss must be very important" You mentioned nervously. Your wings shivered a bit in anticipation.
"I am" A woman's voice replied. You turned to see her standing in your doorway, dressed in a lovely skirt and button-up shirt. "I'm in charge of the safety commission in Japan. You may have heard of me, or seen me on the television"
You nodded dumbly, nearly too shocked to respond. Something about her presence made you feel like you'd done something horribly wrong, and that the consequences were crashing down on you right then. She approached you, and you felt yourself shrink back under her commanding presence.
"You have quite an impressive quirk. Did you know that?" The woman eyed you over, her question sounding more like a rhetorical statement. "Functional wings are fairly rare among people so far. When they do have wings, we aren't always guaranteed that they're of the feathered variety. When they are feathered, you most often end up with a stronger lean towards a heteromorph individual. So rare is it that you get an individual with humanistic characteristics, and functional wings."
"Thank you, I guess." You felt uncomfortable under her gaze. It was like she was scrutinizing every feather. "I don't think my wings are really my main quirk though. I would say it's actually-"
"Wind manipulation. The creation of breezes and being able to direct them. That's strong too." She nodded to herself, seeming to come to some invisible agreement. She led the way to your living room, sitting on a chair while you sat on the couch opposite of her. The guards were fairly immobile. "With a quirk so strong, one would think you'd be in the hero courses. It would have made it a lot easier to track you down"
"I didn't have money for the hero course. In the United States it's fairly expensive" An uncomfortable moment of silence passed. "Ma'am... what do you mean by 'track me down'?"
"I'll be frank with you dear, it's a horribly unfair thing I'm about the ask of you" Another beat of silence passed. You felt a wing twitch and would give anything to launch yourself out of your own window. "Japan- no, the world needs stronger heroes. We're falling behind and need more support in every area. We need our next generation to be healthy and strong. Individuals with good strong quirks. Quirks that are, honestly, like yours. We have a hero in Japan with a wing quirk similar to yours. What we- I- am hoping is that you will help us fight villains by forming a union with this hero"
You stared at the woman, a little confused.
"You know, union..." The woman waited, then sighed in frustration. "We want you two to get married"
"Whoa whoa, slow down!" You felt anger and fear rise up in you. "I don't know you. I don't know this guy! You expect me to marry someone I don't know just because of my quirk? I've never even traveled to Japan, or anywhere because I can't even afford it! I assume you want me to live there, somewhere I know no one? My entire family is here. Speaking of, I'm helping my parents afford to live. I can't just pack up and leave my job and financially burden them because you-"
"We can guarantee that your family will live in comfort for the rest of their lives." The woman said it so calmly, so matter-of-factually, that your words died in your throat. You swallowed hard.
"All of them?"
"All of them. Parents, grandparents, siblings. Any immediate family for the rest of their lives." She sighed into the silence. "Look, I won't lie to you. We're desperate. You are the only person left that we can ask. Two other women have turned us down, for many of the same reasons you have voiced concern over. We can't force you two to have kids or even like each other. All we ask is that you marry one another, and see what develops from there."
You sat in stunned silence, mulling over your options. An offer like this was truly once in a lifetime. In theory, you could get divorced if the marriage turned out terribly. That would probably cancel out the deal taking care of your family, but you could simply return to working and providing for them yourself. It didn't seem like too bad of an option.
"Could I ask one more thing?" You nearly whispered. The woman nodded in response. "Not to be vain or anything, but... What does this guy look like?"
A smirk crossed the woman's face, but you may have imagined that as it was gone in a flash. She reached into her bag and began rummaging around.
"You're the only one to ask. We never got that far with anyone else... Here we go." She handed a photo over to you. You peered at the image of the man smiling brightly and waving towards the camera.
"Holy shit" You slapped a hand over your mouth. "Sorry! Just... got caught off guard"
"It's alright" She chuckled. "He's chasing fans away quite frequently. Very popular with the ladies in Japan too. So, can I have your answer?"
You glanced at the photo a moment longer. It was hard to ignore the feeling that this was a little to good to be true. Despite the worries that you had, you felt yourself longing for this to work.
"I'll need to call my family and tell them I'm moving." You set the photo on the desk.
"Good. After that I'll have you sign some paperwork. Then we'll catch a flight to Japan. No need to pack, we'll have our people gather up everything. You'll have some time to speak to Hawks, the man you're marrying, before we sign the marriage certificate. The municipal office will have to open after hours, considering the time difference, but I have enough friends to pull some strings." The woman stood and dusted herself off, seemingly self-satisfied at a job well done.
"So... I'll be married by the end of today?"
"Yes. I suppose you will be." She walked away towards a window, apparently giving you space to call your family.
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Watching the sky turn from dusky morning to a glowing afternoon sunset on the plane was fascinating. Time-difference hadn't occurred to you when you considered the move. When your plane landed, an all black car was waiting for you. Several cameras flashed briefly as you made your way to the car, and you found yourself shielding your face with you wings a bit. The safety commissioner seemed angry once you were all in the car.
"Is there anywhere I can go that these people don't follow? The last thing I need is leaked images and questions. Could we send someone to talk to them about deleting the images? Offer them a small payment and tell them nothing." When she turned her head a bit you could see she was talking into an earpiece. Part of you started to wonder just how far up she was in importance. Her hand moved and tapped the earpiece, taking another call. "Yes, what is it?"
A brief pause filled the car as she listened intently to the end of the line.
"He's what?!" Usual calm demeanor seemed to flee the woman as she practically screeched into the phone. Several more moments passed. You caught her eye as she glanced at you in the rear view mirror. "Well tell him I'm on my way, that he agreed to this multiple times, and that, yes, he needs to be present to get married."
She tapped her headset off and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. You heard small mutterings like 'biggest pain in my behind' and 'maybe he'll finally settle down now' from her. You squirmed in your seat a little bit, starting to feel anxious about the situation.
"Uhm- if he doesn't really want to... you know... get married then I-"
"Oh it's not that dear." The woman sighed and took her hand away from her face. "He's just... What's a kind word for it... Distractable?"
"Air headed." The driver muttered under his breath. It made you smile a bit, easing your nerves. The car pulled into a parking lot behind a tall building. More security guards stood in front of it, seemingly waiting for the car to arrive.
"Hawks should be here soon once he finishes- well anyway. There's a small garden you can wait in in the mean time." She got out of the car and began marching towards the security officers, looking like she was on a mission.
You exited the car and began wandering towards the garden, taking in the city as you went. The garden was absolutely beautiful in the setting sun. Several strings of light were strung between trees and glimmered in the nearby fountain. Wrought iron benches sat under looming trees. Flowers bloomed everywhere you looked, the sickly sweet scent almost overpowering. You continued down the path and were impressed by the variety of flowers planted in the beds. Bees hummed lazily from bloom to bloom, picking up pollen and spreading it as they went. You heard birds chirping back and forth with one another. Even though the garden was slightly closed in from the foliage of the trees, it was still fairly spacious walking along the path. You took the opportunity to stretch your wings up, back, and down to release the tension from being cramped in the plane and car. You hummed a little to yourself as you approached a small pond and crouched down to look at the fish swimming gently through the water. The movement was soothing to you, back and forth across the pond. A rustling behind you made you turn to see who was approaching.
Your soon to be husband stood in the path a few feet from you. Both of you sat stone still, just watching the other. He was admittedly cuter in person than in the picture. Blonde hair towards his shoulders and piercing golden eyes. His wings were bright red, far different from your plain, more natural colored ones. He wore a weird pair of glasses and a very flattering black shirt that showed off all the right muscles. Although it looked like he was covered in... leaves? And dirt. And a twig stuck out of his hair. After your shared moment of silence, he shuffled in place.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb." He put a hand behind his head and rested it in his hair. "They said you were out here and that I should meet you."
"Hello." You said meekly, unsure of what else to say. You stood and walked towards him.
You reached to pull the twig out of his hair but he must have thought you were reaching to shake his hand, because as you stepped closer he raised his hand to you. Only you had stepped so close while grabbing the twig that he ended up brushing his hand across your chest. You quickly stepped back, twig in hand and feeling your face heat up. The hero immediately realized his mistake and turned beat red.
"I-.. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- I thought you were-" He started to bow forward a little in apology. "Please know that that was not my intention, I was just-"
You bust out laughing at his spluttering embarrassment. He quickly straightened up and some of the heat seemed to leave his face, but his dumbfounded expression only made you laugh harder. You could feel tears leaving your eyes as you gasped for breath.
"It's- it's okay" You managed between giggles. "I was probably misleading."
"I'm Hawks by the way. Or... I guess you should call me Keigo."
You pressed the twig into his hand and introduced yourself.
"Where on earth have you been flying? You're covered in leaves and stuff you know"
"Not exactly a good look for the groom, huh? You look very nice though." Hawks began brushing himself off at your words. "Nice pair of wings you got."
"Entire reason for this party, I guess." You spread your wings out further and began picking at the feathers, feeling self-conscious about them after Hawks mentioned them.
"How fast can you go?"
"Uhm... I never really measured my speed I guess... But I have a wind quirk so I can boost my speed as I fly. Actually, the wind aspect came from my mom's side, and she only had a couple feathers on her back, so I guess I'm lucky." You smiled when you thought about your family back home, and how proud they seemed when you explained the marriage proposal idea to them. They thought you being chosen meant you were really special. You didn't tell them about the two women who rejected the deal before you.
"Wow, controlling the wind as you fly. Sounds tricky, but would make for some serious speed with practice. I can do this." The feathers from Hawk's wings began to zip around as if they had a mind of their own. You watched as they flew around the garden, impressed by their speed. All at once, they returned back to him.
"You can control your feathers? How cool! I wish I could do that. My wings would get in the way a whole lot less."
"Yeah it can be convenient. Anyway, I know we're here because of our quirks, but tell me about you. You must do some incredible hero work, right? How far up the chart are you in the US?"
"Oh, I uh... I don't do any hero work." Your smile faltered a little. "In the US you have to pay for specific schooling and it's pretty expensive so I couldn't go."
"That must be disappointing." Hawks frowned.
"It was, but I'm over it now. Besides, all I've ever really wanted was to make sure my family was provided for, so as long as I meet that goal I'm happy."
"Marrying me is a pretty sweet deal, huh?" Hawks was still frowning a bit, and you kicked yourself for bringing up the money.
"I'm not going to lie, it is. But it isn't my only reason for getting married." You tried to sound reassuring. Hawks waited for you to elaborate. "I just- Honestly, I feel like my entire life I've just worked a dead end job not doing anything I want to. Part of me took the deal for selfish reasons. I honestly thought you were cute, and living somewhere new and having a new adventure that I chose myself felt like a way to take back control of my life. I don't know if that makes sense or not. And I guess a part of me hopes that this will turn out well and we'll like each other and stuff."
"Like each other and stuff, huh?" The corners of Hawk's lips twitched into a small smile. "Really shooting for the moon there huh? No falling in love and growing old together or any of that crap? Just like each other?"
"Well," You laughed a bit. "Your feelings are part of this too. I'm sure marriage wasn't exactly on your mind, especially to some stranger."
"It was a surprise when the old lady brought it up, but I clearly wasn't opposed."
You sat in comfortable silence, feeling some of the awkwardness ease up. A light breeze rustled through the trees and tussled you and Hawk's hair. The safety commissioner came around the corner after a bit.
"There you both are! Getting along hopefully."
"Getting along just fine." Hawks smiled at her, and she seemed to take it as some sort of cue. You found yourself wondering if you had just been tested somehow.
"Well then, lets get these papers signed and get you two home." She motioned to follow. You went first with Hawks following behind.
"You mean so we can get busy making that super baby you want, right?" Hawks asked in a teasing voice, and you felt your cheeks flush.
"Young man that is not what I meant and you know it." She huffed. Hawks snickered in response.
'They must go way back to interact like this. Everyone else seems a little afraid of her.' You mused to yourself.
A small group waited inside, mostly safety officers. There were a few people who stood out though.
"Oh great, you invited some pros." Hawks rolled his eyes, waving slightly towards people who you assumed were his friends. A man with fire pluming out of him, a man dressed in all denim, and-
"Is that All Might?" Your eyes practically bugged out of your head as you whispered to Hawks. "Isn't he like super famous?"
"Former number one." Hawks murmured back. "That fire guy, Endeavor, is number one now. And that guy with all the denim, Jeanist, is number three."
"How do you know these people?" You barely whispered, feeling your nerves jump. You looked at Hawks and saw wheels turning in his head.
"What on earth did they tell you about me?"
"That you were a hero in Japan." You meekly muttered. Hawk's mouth fell open as he stared at you in disbelief.
"... I'm the number 2 hero in Japan." He stated, now rather loudly. He glared pointedly at the safety commissioner. "They didn't tell you that I'm really well known or anything."
The world felt like it was spinning for a moment. Your breath felt like it had rushed right out of your lungs and your heart started to pound. You could feel sweat beading on your brow. The safety commissioner and pro-heroes turned their eyes towards you. Their faces held various ranges of emotion, from concern to what looked like irritation from Endeavor. It felt like a massive spotlight had been shoved right in your face. You were breathing heavy now, the sound of your own pulse rushing in your ears.
"Hey, you okay?" Hawks turned you towards him, looking concerned. "You just got really pale."
"I- I need a moment please." You pushed him off of you and rushed towards the door, practically falling out of the building and into the cool evening air. All you could hear was 'number 2 hero' circling in your head over and over. Knowing you were marrying someone that famous made your stomach do flips, and not in the good way. You started feeling nauseous and sucked in the night air greedily, trying to calm your stomach. You could hear someone unfamiliar shouting inside, but getting closer to the doorway. You covered your ears and focused on grounding yourself, but soon the door opened. You looked up to see Hawks and Endeavor clamoring towards you.
"I'm sorry, I know you said you needed a moment but-"
"Please don't do this! I don't know what they told you, both of you, but getting married because of quirks? This is ridiculous and archaic." Endeavor practically shouted, taking you by surprise. He tried to steady himself. "I-... I made that mistake and it isn't worth the grief. If you have any doubts whatsoever now is the chance to stop this."
"Please don't feel pressured into something that makes you feel this way." Hawks looked downright panicked, like he was the one who caused all this. You stood up straight and took in one deep breath before letting it out. The pair looked at you expectantly.
"I am fine." You turned to look at them, feeling your senses come back to you. "Yes, it was overwhelming to find out that you're super famous. I was very unprepared for that, so it shocked me. And I honestly don't know if I can live up to the expectation of being the wife of the number two hero. But it's okay. One step at a time, right?"
You cast a small smile towards Hawks. The surprise in his eyes was one of joy, and he smiled back. Endeavor looked fairly defeated in his crusade.
"Okay then. If you're sure." He double checked. You nodded firmly at him. "Then one step at a time."
"Step one, sign the papers." You stood tall, trying to look as confident as possible as you stepped into the building once more. The spotlight returned as murmurs died down and eyes turned towards you. "Thank you, everyone, for your patience."
You ignored your nerves and stepped to the front of the building where the papers sat on a podium. Hawks met you there as Endeavor trailed to his seat, shaking his head at All Might as if signaling his failure. Some words were said at the front, but you honestly tuned most of them out. Picking something to focus on, you chose to watch Hawks' expressions. He seemed serene enough, not exactly overjoyed at the situation, but not unhappy either. The time came to sign the papers, and you placed your signature in the correct spot. You watched as Hawks signed a neat signature with a small wing flowing out from it, making you smile a bit. You exchanged rings that had been brought for the occasion.
"I believe the famous words in the US are, you may now kiss the bride." The officiator announced joyfully.
You watched as Hawks flushed and leaned in. Your eyes closed in anticipation of the kiss, feeling your own face heat. When you felt his lips graze your cheek, you opened your eyes in surprise. As Hawks began to lean back, you felt a strange feeling in your gut.
'No one can doubt that I want to marry him, not even him.' You thought.
Before Hawks could lean back all the way, you brought your hand to the side of his face that was away from the crowd. Your thumb grazed his cheek and your fingers gently dug into his jaw right below his ear. You tugged him towards you to kiss him gently on the lips. His surprise turned into happiness as you felt him smile into the kiss. You parted and moved your hand from his face into his hand, turning to smile at the small crowd. Hawks began to tug your towards the door, but stopped to whisper something to the safety commissioner. You couldn't hear what he said, but she rolled her eyes and looked disgruntled, waving him off. You continued towards the front of the building with Hawks.
"What did you say?" You asked as you stepped into the cool air once again.
"That we wouldn't need a car to get home." Hawks smiled brightly and spread his wings out wide, flapping them a bit. You smiled back and opened your own pair, ready to take off and follow him.
"I'm not used to flying with anyone. This will be nice."
"Same here. Let's get going." He took off into the air and you followed suit.