Vriddy writes

Hawks gets a visitor after a night of misery.

Hawks doesn't get sick. It's not even something that the Commission had to train into him. Just, growing up in the conditions he did, eating the kind of literal trash he did, in a house that was mostly open to the elements... He developed good immunity surviving all that and nowadays there ain't many germs that can make it past. Then Commission training gave him resistance to various poisons and taught him how to recognise the smell and taste of those that a tolerance couldn't be built for, and there's really not much left.

Except for one of Hawks' weaknesses: good food. Good, tasty, homegrown stuff from Fukuoka, including its delectably fresh seafood. Yesterday he'd dropped by one of his favourite haunts, and the chef had been all too happy to let him try their new dish with all sorts of incredible spices that likely masked the fact that something wasn't quite right with the oysters. Hawks hadn't been the only customer to get sick, and both the chef and restaurant's owner had called him personally to apologise, promise this would never happen again, and offer him a lifetime of free meals...

...twelve hours later though, the offer still sounds more like punishment than compensation. Hawks isn't sure he'll ever be able to look at an oyster again without turning green.

Dawn is breaking. Blessedly, he's finally been able to move from the bathroom to his bed without having to run for at least – he glances at the clock – forty whole minutes, but his glass of water is now empty. He must go fetch more, get some fluids into him. Quench the thirst that seems to be making him dizzy all over again.

Hawks groans into the pillow.

Someone enters the bedroom despite Hawks being alone at home. He scrambles up the bed, lost, trying to find connections to the feathers he should have arranged for security across the apartment. All sensations are muddled though, and he moved too fast and has to wait for the world to stop wavering around him.

"You look like shit," Dabi tells him, pushing a blessedly cold glass of water against his forehead.

Hawks closes his eyes and uses the cold feeling to ground himself until the latest wave of nausea recedes. Then, arms shaking like the limbs of a newborn fawn, he pushes himself up to sit properly against the headboard and waits until his sight can focus again on Dabi.

"'Sup, hot stuff?" Hawks asks.

Their... "relationship"... has been getting... weird. Weirder. Or less weird, in that it's starting to feel like what Hawks thinks a real relationship is like – not that he hasn't any personal point of comparison – but considering who they both are, it's weird. Capital W Weird. Weird, weird, weird.

In his current state, he can't run the calculations on what to do, what to say to aid the infiltration mission. But the thing is, even though he's always running them in the background when they meet, he hasn't really needed it to interact with Dabi, not for a while. Instead he's just been more and more... himself. For better or worse. And Dabi takes it all in stride.

Dabi isn't gloating or about to demand he goes on a wild errand for the League right now. Hawks gratefully accepts the glass and drinks it all up in one go, though he tries to pace himself. Even water feels like it might want to explode back out any second if he does it wrong.

"How do you feel? Do you want some medication with it?"

Slowly, Hawks shakes his head. "Water already feels dodgy. Don't think I can handle anything else for a while."

"That bad, huh." Dabi winces in sympathy. "Always knew stuff from the sea only wants to kill you."

Hawks smiles lightly and his trembling fingers find Dabi's. He squeezes, then lets his head rest against the wall for a bit, eyes closed. Exhausted. Adrenaline's been rushing through his veins all night as if his confused body valiantly tried to defend against a villain attack, though right now that's not the only reason his heart is beating too fast.

Hawks lifts his eyelids the slightest bit, just enough to see Dabi. His face is relaxed, concerned blue eyes on Hawks but nothing overly worried. He knows Hawks can look after himself.

For so long, they danced around each other, trying to understand where the other's loyalties lay, how to take advantage. At some point, they figured it out, but by then it was too late. They'd both gotten interested. Invested. They both understand that the two of them together is an impossibility and yet... Here they are. For now, because right now is all they have, all anyone ever has, really.

In another life, Dabi would be here to kill him, to push him, to extract information from him.

In this one, he chose to bring Hawks water, to sit by his side, to watch over him.

The ending they're headed toward may still be the same. But this moment, 'now' also matters.

Before he realises it, Hawks is falling asleep where he sits. As his thoughts stray into dreams, he feels Dabi gently kissing the back of his hand, and he smiles.