Work Text:
It's late in the night cycle. Hawk is braced awkwardly underneath a lifted wing panel of his LAATi, tinkering with a section of wiring. He'd been getting an intermittent fault from this section in his last sortie, and now that they're all back on the venator and in hyperspace; Hawk wants to ensure that this fault is resolved before his next flight.
He could call on the mechanics for this, but it's not a critical fault, just an annoyance, and the mechanics are up to their elbows in damaged equipment after the last campaign. Hawk can do these pieces of maintenance himself - he enjoys the quiet of the darkened hangar and the feeling of fixing something with his own hands. Plus, he always struggles with returning to the pilot berths after a heavy campaign with so many of his brothers' bodies seeding the stars.
Once he's finished this section, Hawk plans on working on Tailwind's LAATi sat next to his. Tailwind had been griping about the door mechanism jamming and needing the vode inside the manually yank it shut during the last exfil. Not ideal and Hawk knows that Tailwind plans on hitting it with a hammer in the morning, but, well, Hawk's awake right now - so he might as well.
There's the sound of boots on the durasteel deck, tiredly scuffing their way across the far wall of the hangar. Hawk peers around the side of the wing panel, his sharp eyes picking out the slumped movement of white and blue armour in the dim light. The figure eventually weaves their way around the parked LAATi's and comes to a stop next to Vector's, their body leaning heavily against the side as they slide to the floor with a scrape of armour plates.
The vod doesn't even take their helmet off as they curl forward, bucket resting on their knees and arms wrapping themselves around their legs. The trooper doesn't make any noise and Hawk wonders from the heave of their chestplate whether they've muted their vocoder.
Hawk can't leave them like that. They may have wanted to be alone, but Hawk's not sure they should be. His decision made, he quietly settles the wing panel, sets down his tools, and hops down off of his ship. He makes sure his footsteps are audible as he approaches - Hawk's seen how the ground lads react when surprised and he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of this man's startle reflex.
The vod still jerks in surprise when he eventually clocks Hawk's approach, but the reaction is muted by exhaustion weighing down their movements.
The vocoder switches on mid-apology. "-rry, I didn't realise-"
Hawk smiles at them and waves their apology gently away. "It's alright," he says, "just surprised to see anyone else in here at this time of the night cycle."
"I can leave?" the vod offers, and Hawk brushes that away as well. He's more than happy for the company and he doesn't need his enhanced vision to see the tremble in their hands.
"You're more than welcome to stay. I'm just working on my LAATi over there," he says, gesturing at his ship. "Why don't you come sit over by her for a bit?"
They hesitate for a moment before nodding. "That would be nice."
Hawk smiles, pleased, and offers them a hand up. They take the hand, grip firm despite the underlying tremor and swaying slightly once standing.
"Thanks," they say quietly. "The name's Kix."
"Hawk," he responds and Kix’s visor locks onto his face.
"You're our pilot - Torrent Company - I'm one of their combat medics," Kix says, showing his shoulder marking on the far side.
Hawk laughs. "You're keeping those lunatics alive, that's a hell of a job."
"Just about - despite their best bloody efforts," Kix says with a fond huff. "Not everyo-" He trails off as they walk towards Hawk's ship. "Sorry," he mutters quietly.
"No need to apologise," Hawk says with a gentle tap to the man's vambrace. "Is that why you're loitering in the hangar at this stars-forsaken hour?"
Kix’s shoulders shoot upwards defensively and Hawk hates that he's made him feel like that, unintentional though it was.
"Nothing wrong with it," he adds, desperately trying to bring those shoulders down again. "Just… that's why I do, so… I, nevermind."
Embarrassed, Hawk awkwardly turns away from the medic and goes to clamber back up onto the top of his ship. He almost slips in his surprise at the sound of Kix following him up. Kix takes off his helmet, expression sheepish and eyes red-rimmed from exhaustion. He turns it over in his hands.
"Sorry," Kix apologises again.
Hawk decides that is enough apologising for tonight, especially from someone who hasn't done anything wrong. "No need," he says, then tries a different angle, "Now, what would help?"
Kix looks at him a little bit off-kilter. "What?"
"What would make you feel better, tonight?" Hawk asks. "Ideally not alone it sounds like. Is there someone I can call?"
The man looks at him a slightly lost before he responds haltingly. "Normally it's some of the guys from Torrent, but they're all asleep. I didn’t want to disturb them - they desperately needed the rest."
Hawk nods. "I'm sure they'd rather make sure you're alright than sleep," he points out.
Kix sits down heavily next to him. "They would," he agrees, "but they’ll just worry and then none of us will be getting any sleep."
"Well, as I said, you're welcome to stay here if you like," Hawk says.
Tired, appreciative eyes find Hawk's. "Thank you, Hawk. I promise I won't get in the way."
Hawk smiles reassuringly at Kix and pats his shoulder. "Company is always welcome," he says. "Stay as long as you need."
Kix nods, his expression grateful. Hawk pats his shoulder one more time before going back to his piece of repair work. He spares a few glances at Kix as he continues his task, watching the medic gaze sightlessly at the hangar. Eventually, the medic slumps over to one side, the exhaustion finally claiming him.
Hawk chuckles softly to himself and he quietly sets down his tools before pattering over to the sleeping medic. He carefully tilts the vambrace; finds Kix's most recent comms conversations and quickly taps out messages to one Jesse, a Fives, a medic chat, and Captain Rex. Hopefully, he'll be able to prevent any panicked searches or comms, and everyone can sleep peacefully for a few hours.
Messages sent, Hawk goes back to his work - he'll sleep another time. In the meantime, he's got a vod to watch over.