floating

trustfall

bao awoke the next day to four texts from hawks. panic struck through them,  it's not even nine yet, why is he texting me? they thought.

keigo: helloooo, im off work today, get ready early >:)
6:37 pm

mai? hello?
7:12 pm

are you ignoring me :(
8:01 pm

wake. up. get up. want take you place. get up.
delivered; 8:40 pm

immediately jumping out of bed, bao tripped on a small pile of clothes and fell, slamming their palms on the ground, immediately feeling the burn of the carpet.

just then, a knock was heard at the door.

bao got up, groaning, rubbing their palms and inspecting to see if the burn was bad. luckily, it was not.

as they slowly walked to the door, they were confused as to who it could be. maybe their landlord or electrical company, it had been a while since they'd paid rent or bills.

instead, they were met by a smiling hawks, standing by the door with his hands in his pockets.

"hey, you're not ready," his smile turned to a slight frown.

"no, i just woke up. sorry, i didn't except you to come over this early," bao rubbed their eyes, opening the door further for hawks to step in and closing it behind him.

"you just woke up? no wonder my messages weren't seen," he mumbled the last sentence. though, he quickly smiled again. "well, go get ready! and remember, warm clothes, you might be a bit chilly where we are going."

bao looked at him suspiciously while talking down their hallway back to the bedroom, watching as hawks stayed in place while simply glancing around the home. he kept his hands to himself, which was appreciated, but bao was slightly worried when he started walking around, towards the kitchen. though, they remained silent, just walking towards the closet and pulling out a thick, button closing sweater they had been gifted a few christmas' ago.

meanwhile, as bao changed from shorts into sweatpants, hawks explored the kitchen. he wanted to make sure bao had enough food to ride over until they got a job and paid, which would probably take a bit. instead, when he searched the cabinets, he only found canned foods and 2 packages of soba noodles and seasoned ramen packages. the fridge was full of spoiled food, soba tsuyu, green onions, daikon, and wasabi.

"hey."

hawks turned, closing the fridge and standing up, staring at bao who stood at the entrance into the kitchen, a worried expression worn into their face.

"are you just riding on cold soba and premade ramen?"

bao shifted, eyes glancing to the wall before looking back to hawks, swallowing thickly. they shook their head, not as an answer, but to ruffle their hair back to how they liked it.

"maybe," they mumbled. "that's all i can afford right now."

hawks sighed, walking over to bao, keeping his eyes connected with theirs.

"well thats not so good, now is it?"

bao didn't respond. they just stood, staring at hawks, wishing they could sink into the ground. it was humiliating having someone younger than them help them not become homeless.

"hey, if you want we can go grocery shopping sometime, just for you." the man smiled, happy to offer help to someone who needed it. to a friend.

"oh no, that's okay," bao tilted their head down, smiling as they awkwardly turned down hawks' offer.

instead of responding, hawks mumbled a 'mhm' and continued walking, stepping beside bao and to the front door.

once he reached it, he turned. "well come on, we got somewhere to be."

"oh," bao turned as well, picking up their head and walking over to the man, confused as to where they were going.

rather than asking, they followed hawks out of the small apartment as locked the door, rushing to catch up with hawks down the hall and stepping into the elevator. they assumed hawks would press the main floor, but rather, he pressed the top floor.

confusion increased, on heightening when hawks stepped out onto the highest floor and walked over to the stairs, walking up and out of the building. but again, they didn't ask and just followed the younger man outside, zero words having been spoken since they left bao's home.

"okay, we kinda gotta fly to where we're going, but you trust me, right?" hawks asked hesitantly, nervous as to how bao would react.

"what?! we have to fly??" bao asked, slightly freaking out.

"i mean yeah but its not too high," hawks was nervous, fidgeting with his fingers when usually he would be confident about this type of thing.

"you know what, why the fuck not. sure, lets fucking fly." bao said, still scared but just shoving it down.

"thats the spirit!" hawks cheered, a big smile plastered on his face as he moved his headphones up from his neck onto his ears. "now, i can't really hear you anymore, so let's just get going." he smiled, walking over to the edge of the building and ruffling his feathers, shaking out his wings.

"oh, okay."

bao walked over, nervous as to how this would work.

"im gonna hold you, okay? dont worry, im nice and strong, you don't get dropped," hawks smiled, holding out his arms, staying put where he was.

bao knew he couldn't hear them, so rather than responding verbally, they walked over to hawks. they trusted him, a lot. the stood in front of him, hawks wrapping his arms around their waist tightly as they wrapped their arms around his neck, holding on in a death grip to his jacket.

"alrighty, here we go!"