Pretty Bird - Redemption Part One

Choices

Hawks groaned, rolling onto his side. His upper back and shoulders ached, the pain waking him up. He sat up, massaging his neck and stretching his wings. Sleeping on his back was never a pleasant experience.

"You were out for a while."

Hawks jumped, head whipping around. Dabi sat in a chair by the window, the tip of a cigarette leaking smoke through a crack. How did Dabi get in his room? Hawks looked around, trying to find where Dabi could have broken in.

Wait...

This was not his room. This was... Dabi's hotel room. The memories of the past few days were slow to surface and hazy when they finally did, like the morning after a night of drinking.

His cover had been blown. He'd agreed to be Dabi's pet. Heat stained his cheeks at the memory of what else they'd done. "Uh... how far did we..."

"We didn't fuck."

"Oh..." Damn it! Why did he sound so disappointed?

Dabi flicked the ashes of his cigarette out the window and smothered what remained in an ashtray on the sill. He stood, crossing the room to the bed and leaned down to stare Hawks in the eyes. Dabi's own eyes flicked back and forth, like he was looking for something. "Your eyes look more focused. How's your head?"

"Uh... sore, but okay... Who knocked me out?"

Dabi smirked as he straightened slightly, pulling back the bandage on Hawks head. "I did."

"You- ...why?"

"Didn't want your dumbass digging yourself in an even deeper hole."

"Deeper hole? You're the one who set me up, asshole!"

Dabi's smirk faded as he taped a new bandage over Hawks' wound. "Well I didn't expect you to fail so spectacularly."

"You put kids in danger! What was I supposed to do?"

Dabi scoffed. "Kids. They're training to be pros."

"They're still kids."

"And they're fine. Fuck." Dabi stalked over to the dresser and yanked open a drawer, pulling out a couple bowls of instant noodles. He dropped them on the table and poured water from an electric kettle over them. "Get over here and eat something before you pass out again."

Hawks flipped the covers off and scooted to the edge of the bed, noticing for the first time that the cuffs around his wrists were gone. "You unchained me?"

"You're not so dense you can't see the obvious."

Hawks narrowed his eyes at him. "How do you expect to keep me here?"

Dabi flopped back down in his chair, pulling a bowl of noodles over. "Not keeping you prisoner. You chose to be here."

"You would have killed me, that's not a choice."

Dabi quirked an eyebrow at him. "You could've fought your way out."

"I tried."

"You call one little attack trying?" Dabi laughed. "Come eat. Then you can try to convince me that you wanna leave."