eternal || hawks x reader

Chapter 6 || League

"do not be ashamed of the wars your soul has fought to save itself."

- isra al-thibeh

"Now that everyone is here, let's begin."

I rubbed either side of my head in frustration, the small buzz of conversation sounding like a symphony of pure annoyance bouncing off my hung-over eardrums within the walls of the Public Hero Safety Commissions conference room. After stumbling inside last night, Hawks' words had sent me into a rage-filled frenzy of trying to consume all of the alcohol in my house. In my defense, the reason behind my actions was completely justifiable. The bird brain was always spewing out nonsense, making my stomach twist and turn in ways that made me either want to go on a furious rampage or curl into a ball and scream aimlessly into a pillow for hours. So, succumbing to the first mentioned choice of action, I ended up having to have a bottle of vodka forcibly removed from my arms by Aizawa and physically throwing down with him until we both ended up drinking the entire thing together on the kitchen floor.

Not one of our best moments.

"You really had to punch me in the face?" He held a pack of frozen peas to his cheek, taking a swig from the main reason why I hit him in the first place. I let out a deep breath, blowing out a few strands of hair out of my face without intention. "It was in return for you elbowing me in mine." My hand briefly went up to touch the small lump on my forehead, courtesy of the prior hurdling body part belonging to the man beside me.

"You were about to chug the whole fucking thing by yourself! I know your tough and this isn't the first time we've brawled in here over something like that, yeah I'm talking about the brownie incident, but it feels a bit different than that."

"What do you mean?"

"Emotionally wise."

"Yeah, I was like fourteen when that happened." I rolled my eyes, as if that was the obvious difference between the two happenings. He merely scoffed, "Fourteen, and pushing me off the balcony because I ate the last one. You ended up cutting yourself and saving me from actually hurdling down three stories, not like I couldn't catch myself but that's beside the point, and threatening to let go if I didn't buy you more mix."

"It was slutty." I rolled my eyes, watching the room spin around me as I took the bottle from him for a turn. "They were my favorite."

"I love how that's the part you focused on and not the fact you tried to kill me over dessert. I knew raising you was going to be difficult, not life-threatening." He snatched it back, "I know when there's something off about you. Does it by any chance, and don't attack me, have something to do with a certain No. 3 Pro Hero?"

I looked down at the palms of my hands, the back of them resting against the wooden floorboards while my knees were propped up. "I guess. I don't like who I am with him."

"More like you don't know who you are when you're with Hawks. It's the first time you've ever partnered up with someone. You've never had to worry about anyone else other than yourself until now when it comes to dangerous situations. You've never had to trust someone else in the heat of conflict since the Twelve." He shook his head. "Cut yourself some slack. I certainly didn't think you'd make so much progress in less than a week but you know what that means?"

I bit my lip, "What?"

"He's saving you."

I hated Aizawa when he got all philosophical.