Vriddy writes

Sometimes, the world of dreams is scarier than the ruins of the city around them. Eri hides on a rooftop, away from the kind people who may ask her questions. Hawks happens to choose the same one for his own reasons.

Eri knows they will be worried, the people who look after her. So many kind people. Everyone treats her gently and seems to mean it. It's so unlike everything that's happened before that sometimes, most of the time, she can't find anything to say.

Right now, it's a bit like that too. She wouldn't be able to explain. She doesn't know the words. Instead, she slowly climbs the stairs to the rooftop of the UA building she lives in now, wrapped up warmly in a thick, soft nightgown that Hizashi-san gifted her as soon as the weather cooled. It has Ganriki Neko patterns on it and she likes it more than she dares say.

The door to the rooftop is stuck. Did someone lock it? Oh, no. She persists and when it finally opens, a blast of wind blows into her face and hair. She winces. That's why the door was hard to open. And now her hair will be very untidy when Shouta-san helps her brush it in the morning.

Still, she doesn't want to talk to anyone right now.

The door slams closed behind her. She walks around to the section of the rooftop that's better protected from the wind. The ledge is too high for her to see anything except the sky and stars, but there are abandoned storage boxes behind the rooftop entrance, against the wall. She climbs one easily, then sits down. It's quiet, here. And she can see the top of the central UA buildings. Even at this time, a dozen windows are lit. People working through the night to protect her and all the civilians who came to shelter in UA because their home wasn't safe anymore.

She wonders if they have nightmares, too.

It's too dark to see the ruins of the city beyond UA, but Eri looked at them often enough during the day to imagine them perfectly. The ruins don't scare her. She knows they scare the other people living here, though. Even Shouta-san and Hizashi-san, and Neito-san and Mirio-san, when they think she can't see, they're scared of the destruction, of how fast their world went from familiar and safe to a graveyard of memories.

As much as she tries to remember her parents and what it must have been like living with them, Eri can't. When she thinks 'safe' she thinks of UA, but that feels fleeting as well. Like there's a catch and she's just too small to understand where it lies.

So she's not scared when she looks at the city. Even when new explosions happen. Even when yet another building collapses.

But when she dreams... and in her dream wakes up again in the basement of that house, waiting for someone to come and hurt her... Then, she's scared.

Her lips wobble. She sniffles and swallows back the tears. She's safe, now. She's safe now, but how unfair is it that even when the bad things have ended, they keep on going on in her dreams and nightmares? It's like she never escaped that room. She never speaks a word of it because it's unfair to Mirio-san and to Deku-san, who fought so hard and got hurt so badly to save her. She doesn't want them to think she's forgotten everything they did for her.

But at night, in her head, Eri can never escape that room nor that sprawling basement.

Hawks yawns and climbs the stairs to the rooftop, done with sharing with the UA team the latest information they've got, the kind that can't be safely transferred over connected devices. They prepared a bedroom for him and he'll leave at dawn, but for now he goes to the windy rooftop and opens the door, sighing in comfort as familiar wind slaps his shorter hair against his face. Hawks closes his eyes and smiles, walking forward until his fingers find the railing and he can push his face into the wind right where it blows strongest.

It reminds him of flying.

For a moment he stays like this, imagining wings expanded at his back, until suddenly he feels a presence behind him when no one should be here. An intruder. In a blink, he turns back, just fast enough to hear a quiet "eep" and see the face of a silver-haired child peeking out. Quickly, she hides behind the wall of the rooftop's entrance again. Eri, wasn't it? The kid that Eraserhead and the others have been looking after.

UA is one of the safest places in Japan right now, but a rooftop at night still is no place for such a small bird, especially a flightless one.

"Hello?" he asks loudly and cheerfully as he steps in her direction.

No reply. When he peeks around the wall, she's sitting on a box with her hands on her lap, posture perfect and facing forward. Quickly he scans the night but she does appear to be alone.

"Can't sleep?" he asks with sympathy, leaving some space as he leans against the wall next to her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he observes her. Her tiny fists clutches her gown and she shakes her head before staring resolutely ahead. The night's deep and the moon hides behind the clouds, but Hawks knows the ruins of Musutafu lie beyond.

"Scared?" he asks gently. "You're in one of the safest places in Japan, surrounded by some of the strongest heroes I've ever met. You're safe, here."

Eri nods then speaks, so softly that her voice nearly gets lost in the wind. "I know. I'm not scared."

Her voice is steady. She's shy but she's not lying. In his mind, Hawks recalls what he read in the police reports of the Hassaikai raid. She's seen worse, probably. Too traumatised to worry about new dangers, and how fucked up is that? It's hard to find the right words in such a quiet moment. Hawks is better at soothing fears and worries in high-adrenaline situations, comforting and cajoling until people let themselves be saved, before he hands them over to the folks who know better how to deal with problems in the quiet and safety of "peace."

Hawks has never really done "quiet" or "safe" either. If he still had his wings, he'd wrap one around the kid to offer a tiny piece of comfort and to protect her against the wind, even if that's weaker and less noisy here.

"Want a hug?" he offers, the words out of his mouth before he's thought them through.

This time, Eri turns to him and frowns. "Do you?"

Hawks is a bit lost, but figures the kid is owed some honesty as long as it's not unkind. "Not really? I mean, I don't really know how to give them. Or receive them. But I'm game to try!"

Eri thinks. "You should ask Mirio-san," she eventually suggests. "His hugs are very good. The best I've ever had." Suddenly she seems to realise she's spoken a lot and her shoulders go up like she's trying to hide into herself. Her voice falls to a murmur. "But I don't have a lot to compare."

Hawks chuckles softly. "I don't either. But maybe I'll ask Lemillion for advice. I sure could use some."

For a second, he considers asking if he can sit beside her but she's clearly tense. Even if she did decline the hug in her own way, he's not sure that she'd feel comfortable saying no. There's no way Hawks is leaving her alone on a rooftop at night, but if she doesn't want to go back yet, he can watch over her. And he can do that silently, since she doesn't seem inclined to talk about what's got her haunting a rooftop on her own, in the middle of the night.

Hawks can guess anyway.

For long minutes, they observe the woods around UA, visible now and then whenever moonlight manages to pierce through the clouds. The breeze isn't as strong here, barely a caress against Hawks' face but that's fine. He wouldn't want the kid to catch a cold.

After a while, Eri starts throwing him side-glances, frowning, until he looks at her with a grin and an unspoken question in his eyes.

"Aren't you going to ask?" Eri eventually lets out. "Why I'm here."

"Nope," Hawks says. "You didn't ask me either, after all. If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to listen. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Why are you here?" she repeats quietly, like the question hadn't even crossed her mind yet.

"I'm not ready to sleep yet."

"Not tired?"

"Very tired." Hawks laughs. "But still, not ready to sleep yet."

Eri hesitates, then eventually she admits, "I'm very tired, too. But when I fall asleep..."

There she loses her words, but Hawks gives her the time to try. It doesn't seem to be coming, until eventually she looks at him, lips wobbling and eyes full of unshed tears.

"Is it bad? Is it bad if when I sleep, I can't remember all the good things people have done for me? Or even remember them at all? Will they be upset if they find out?"

Hawks' heart breaks a little. He moves closer so he can put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know these people," he reminds her gently. "They would never be upset with you. They would save you again and again, and again, and be happy to do so. Even if it's saving you from your dreams every time you wake up."

"But are you sure?"

Hawks isn't sure of many things these days, but this one's easy. Brimming with confidence, he nods firmly.

With a sniffle, Eri wraps herself more tightly into her dressing gown. No tears. Before long she falls asleep and nearly topples. Hawks catches her into his arms and carries her all the way to Eraserhead's quarters. He's amazed she doesn't wake up. She must have been thinking very hard about all this.

When Eraserhead opens his door, a mix of fear, suspicion, and surprise flashes on his face at finding Hawks together with Eri when she should have been in her room.

"Nightmares," Hawks mouths. "From before, I think."

Eraserhead nods in serious understanding and moves to take Eri. It's probably time for Hawks to make his own attempt at sleep. His own nightmares are more current. Every ruined building out there serves as a constant reminder of what he failed to prevent, whether awake or asleep, but exhaustion is catching up to him.

However, Eri clutched onto his jacket while asleep and seems reluctant to let him go unless they actually pry her fist open. Unlikely they would manage that without waking her up in the process, and her sleep seems so peaceful right now...

Defeated, Eraserhead sighs and looks at him. "Coffee?" he asks.

Hawks chuckles and follows him in. Careful not to disturb Eri, he sips and chats quietly. They stay away from the most concerning topics in case it seeps into her dreams. Despite the caffeine, it's not long until Hawks falls asleep too, sitting on the small couch.

If Hawks dreams of anything, he can't remember. When he wakes up much later, there's a blanket over his shoulders and another one on top of Eri who's still asleep, her face at peace. In the armchair in front of them, Eraserhead also snores lightly, a blanket on his lap. It's patterned with Ganriki Neko cats like the other two. Suits Eraserhead well.

Watching over each other. Connecting with each other. This is how they'll keep the nightmares at bay, whether in dreams or in the real world.