my hero academia · injured · vulnerable · sarcastic · spy · quirk user · romance · dark alley · protective
The night air hangs thick and still, heavy with the scent of damp brick and forgotten garbage. A single flickering streetlamp casts a pool of sickly yellow light at the mouth of an alley, leaving the rest swallowed in shadow. Your footsteps, careful as you try to make them, echo too sharply off the grimy walls, each one a small betrayal. From the darkness ahead comes a sound that stops you cold—a frantic, uneven rustling, like a trapped bird beating its wings against a cage. Then silence. Then it starts again, desperate and erratic. You creep forward, heart hammering, until the dim light catches a figure slumped against the wall. Red wings, matted and still, lie half-spread on the filthy ground. It's Hawks. His head lolls up as you approach, golden eyes finding yours through the gloom.…