𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐇 || ʜᴀᴡᴋꜱ

45➟ In which we talk.

The penthouse was nice. As expected. It was a nice distraction, admiring the view of the city from the massive windows that looked over everyone. It was so entrancing, I hadn't realised how long I'd been sitting there, just thinking to myself.

Rin and I had talked for the first time in... a while. He was more open to talking than I thought I'd be. In all honestly, I was just happy that we'd spoken. Even if he still hated me after it, I wouldn't have really cared. I would just be glad.

The sun was halfway set, the lasting tinge in the sky hung low, but not low enough to disappear behind the city's skyline just yet. Lights had been and still were, switching on in odd windows, here and there. From here, it seemed peaceful, but I'd hazard a guess that it was nowhere near this peaceful down there. Up here it was just silent.

I'm scared of heights. The view shouldn't have felt so peaceful. But because it seemed so surreal, I don't think my mind registered it as real. That way, there was no real reason to be scared.

"You should see it from higher up," Hawks' voice sounded beside me. I don't know if he'd been there long, or if he'd only just gotten there, but I was so absorbed in everything else, I hadn't paid any attention to him until he was standing right next to me.

"I'm okay," I shook my head, "No matter how many times you ask, flying is really not going to grow on me."

"What happened," Hawks sighed sarcastically, "You used to be so fun."

"You nearly killed me, that's what happened," I bit back, rolling my eyes.

"You wouldn't stop squirming- and! And, we were above padding anyway!"

"Stop making excuses," I waved him off.

He chuckled lowly, the two of us going silent for a moment, simply admiring the view.

"I never even knew there was a penthouse here," I piped up, looking around the large living area once more as if to make my point even more obvious.

"Yeah," He hummed, "They keep it here for out-of-country heroes- a bit of a waste that it's hardly ever used."

"I bet the President brings her hot dates back here," I joked, smiling to myself.

Hawks laughed, "Yeah, sometimes I bump into her when I take my own hot dates back here."

I snorted, "Guess I should go out and find someone tonight, bring them back here and make the most of my last night as a Comission official."

"Hey, I'll let you borrow it anytime," Hawks replied, finally deciding to take a seat, much closer than I expected, his wing grazing my hand as he made himself comfortable. I pulled my hand back into my side. "You looking forward to tomorrow then? Finally being 'free'?" His tone was teasing, but, and I swear it was there, there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

I took a moment to think about it before responding, "Yeah, yeah I think I am."

"You'll go back to being a mechanic then?"

"If they'll take me."

"Good," He nodded, "Then I'll know where to find you."

"Please," I scoffed, "You'll be too busy fighting crime and spending time with your fiance to have time to see me."

He turned to look at me, a look of slight confusion on his face, "Why do you think I wouldn't make time to see you?"

It was my turn to look confused, "why would you?"

He shook his head, "because you're my friend? I haven't seen you for years and as soon as we do meet, we talk. We talk like friends- I don't have a lot of people in my life I can do that with [Y/N]. So I'm not going to lose you just because I might have some plans. And anyways, Lelija..." He trailed off.

I was taken aback by just about everything he'd just said, so it took me a few minutes for my brain to catch up.

"What about Lelija?"

He looked at me, dead serious, "have you ever spoken to her and, after she's left, it feels like you've just come out of a trance?"

I thought back to the first few times I had met her, and the times after that, then that other time and- "yes," I nodded in agreement, "do you think-"

"I don't know what it is, or if I'm just overreacting. But she works for the Commission, so when I checked her files, she was clean, never done anything bad in her life. But," he grabbed my hands pulling them toward him, "[Y/N], I don't love her. I think it's her quirk."

My mouth fell open slightly as I stared at him, my heart racing for no apparent reason as his hands held tightly into mine. "Haw- Keigo, I don't know what you want me to say? One moment you love her the next your accusing her of, bewitching you?"

He shook his head, "look, you agreed when I told you about the trance, right?"

I nodded.

"It's her quirk. It has to be."

"Wouldn't the Comission files tell you what her quirk is?"

"They said she was quirk-less," his hands let go of mine and grabbed my face instead, forcing me to look at him, my eyes widening as he did so.

"Wha-"

"[Y/N] I don't love her because-"

"You know there are over ten bedrooms in this place, you two could've used any one of them, but no! You decided to suck each other's faces off in the middle of the living room."

I spun my head around to see Rin walking over to the kitchen unit and opening up a cupboard, searching for something, probably food. Hawks' hands were still on either side of my face but were now squishing my cheeks into a really unattractive look.

"Uh- key-ho," I mumbled.

His mouth made a little 'o' shape, as he nodded quickly taking his hands off of my face, and letting them fall on top of my shoulders.

"We weren't-"

"It wasn't like that-"

The two of us fumbled over our words, Rin just shrugged, "You were both thinking about it."

I flushed red.

Hawks pulled his hands off my shoulders so quickly I thought he'd just found out I had some kind of serious, very contagious, fatal disease.

"No, we weren't," Hawks laughed awkwardly, I followed suit.

Rin raised an eyebrow, looking at him, "I can literally read your mind," he turned to look at me, "he loves you."

I inhaled a shit-load of air through my nose, somehow choking on it for a few seconds.

Rin continued, "he just doesn't know if it's romantic or platonic, he's got to work that one out with his girlfriend."

Hawks stared at Rin with wide eyes, opening his mouth like he was going to say something but nothing came out. He was just making odd shapes with his mouth.

I'm pretty sure I was doing the same thing.

"Rin- I- what- you?" Hawks did manage to start to make sounds, though they ended up only being random words like he was one of those ghost-speaking devices that blurted out random mechanical words that people actually thought was a ghost, speaking in riddles.

"What?" Was all I could say in response, unable to really process what had just happened.

"Oh, don't act like you aren't happy," Rin smiled, looking genuinely happy, "You love him too."