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You awake to familiar, golden eyes looking down at you worriedly.
“Hawks?” You manage to mumble, head groggy and body weak. Where were you?
Hawks looks more relieved than anything else, but you can’t help but take note of his sad smile.
It’s only then that you realize - yes, you’re in a hospital bed, an IV taped in your left arm and a vital monitor hooked on your right index finger. The steady beats of your heart fill the room, which is all dark, save for a single nightlight in the corner. You can’t even begin to wonder how you wound up here, let alone process it. It feels much like a dream - incomplete, foggy, foreign. Hawks looking at you like you're his entire world is definitely throwing you off.
“What’s with that look?” You rasp to him, weakly punching him, “Cut it out.”
Hawks chuckles lightly and leans back in the chair that he’s pulled beside your bed. “So… you remember anything?”
You shake your head. “Other than going into that warehouse... not much… I think there was… fire? Blue fire?”
The smile Hawks had been fighting so hard to keep for your sake fades and his eyes darken, as if confirming something only he knew.
“Hawks…?” You ask, mirroring his concern. “What happened?”
Hawks sighs heavily and looks off in the corner, as if suddenly unable to make eye contact. “You had a run-in with the League of Villains… specifically, Dabi.”
That explained the blue flames, then.
“You’ll be okay, but... there’ll be scars,” Hawks finally reveals, shutting his eyes.
You take a deep breath with the realization and nod. It wasn’t as if you thought being a hero meant you’d retire completely unharmed. This was just part of the job.
“How bad?” You ask.
Hawks opens his eyes again, looking back to you sadly. Slowly, he reaches out to touch your face - but you can’t feel it. You reach up to feel his hand - yes, it’s pressed right against your cheek, but… all you can feel is the texture of the bandages against your fingertips. The skin beneath it, your face, is numb and unfeeling. You feel your panic rise, as well as hear it thanks to the vital monitor, and swallow back a lump that had gathered in your throat.
“O-Oh… that bad… okay,” You mumble pathetically, looking away from Hawks and your hands fall into your lap, “Okay.”
“I should’ve been there,” Hawks says after a while, fists forming at his sides.
You study his scowl closely and can’t help but smile. “Idiot.”
Hawks looks up, confused.
“I’m the one who went alone… when you told me not to,” You say, leaning back into the oversized hospital pillow, “I’m the idiot. So don’t you dare go blaming yourself. Is what it is. No changing it."
Hawks looks like he wants to respond but chooses to bite his tongue instead.
“So, what’s our next move?”