tw: blood

...

When Rei heard the click of Hawks' front door, she wiped her hands on her apron and walked to greet who she suspected to be the No. 2 hero himself.

What she wasn't prepared for, however, was the vacant-eyed stare that met her, or the blood that trailed behind his drooping wings.

"Hawks, honey, are you ok?" She asked. But the only reply was a distressed click. Rei walked into the living room to see Hawks draped over Dabi's legs. The villain didn't even seem surprised by the liquid that was beginning to pool around his feet.

"Did they do it again?" Dabi whispered into the heroes ear. Hawks just sobbed as he clung to the other's neck. Rei stood in the doorway staring at the pair.

When Hawks has agreed to take her in as a favour for Endeavour, Rei had been shocked by the living conditions of the oversized bird. Takeout every night, an unhealthy amount of fried chicken that for some reason never showed on his abs, and the blankness that defines his apartment.

And of course the older women dedicated herself to helping him, because if she couldn't be an adequate mother for her own children, then maybe she could help this kid.

Because that was what Hawks was. He may be 22, but he hadn't a clue on how to look after himself. It wasn't until last Wednesday he even knew that clothes were reusable, much to Rei's horror.

And the No. 2 didn't seem to have had much of a childhood either, if the flinches were anything to go by. Whenever she raised her hand, voice or even her eyebrows, a wince would replace whatever expression had been plaguing the man's face before.

She had lived in an abusive family long enough to know what it meant, but she never said anything. She wasn't here to pry, just guide and be there to fall back on if needed.

The one thing that surprised her the most though wasn't the blank stares or the hidden talons, it was the scarred boyfriend that snuck in at the odd hours of the night.

Rei wasn't an idiot, she knew who Dabi was. When she had been discharged, her first point was to figure out who the enemy was and if they were a threat to her. If being Endeavours wife had taught her anything, it was knowing danger when it looks you in the face.

So her first reaction wasn't to grab a frying pan and bang it on Dabi's head, because how far would that get her if he set the place on fire.

"What are you doing up at these early hours in the morning." She had asked.

And it seemed Hawks house was full of surprises. Instead of a sneer, or a wall of flame, the villain just stumbled back in, was that shock? Maybe even fear as his eyes landed on her.

And he turned and jumped out the window.

Rei didn't even have the time to blink before a blur of red streaked past her and dove straight out the window after Dabi.

She bit back the scream on her tongue and relaxed. As much as she'd of liked to rush over to the window and check if they were ok, she had learned to trust Hawks and didn't want to restrict his way back in.

When the hero had come back cradling a put-out Dabi in his arms, Rei simply stared. She trusted Hawks, but the villain? She wanted to know, but prying had never been her forté.

"Hawks." She said. "Do you know who that is?"

"Yeah." He answered with such ease Rei wondered if he really did. "He's my boyfriend!"

Rei valued Hawks as a son, and loved him. She truly did. However, she was not aware that any human being, especially one of the top heroes, to be this dense.

So she tried to let him down gently. "No." She said, still glaring at Dabi. "That's the villain Dabi."

It was slightly disappointing when all Hawks did was nod. "I know."

Did he really though? Because, sure, love was powerful and all, except duty always came before joy. That's how it was with her, her mum, and all the other women in the trafficking line. Love held no place for them.

So why wasn't Dabi arrested yet?

But who was Rei to judge? All she could do was nod, and open the door, all the while ignoring the unsettling gaze that the villain had rested on her.

Over the weeks, Dabi's visits became more regular, and Rei began to notice how happy he had made Hawks. The hero seemed more relaxed (she found it ironic) when the villain was around, and it seemed to be the same vice-versa.

It still never explained Dabi's unrelenting gaze that watched her every movement. She didn't hate it, it shouldn't feel this comfortable, but she began to open up towards the villain.

She always had the feeling she didn't know the full story of the two, and the present scene was proving it.

Hawks whimpers filled the silence and Rei turned from the doorway. It felt like she had just seen a private moment, to intimate and twisted for her to understand.

She walked to stand by the island, clutching the tea she had previously made and watched the frost creep over the edges of the mug.

...

It was half an hour later when Dabi opened the door and walked in. Rei looked up from her hunched over position to meet his eye's.

"Is he ok?" Her voice was quiet, not that it surprised her. Her voice was always quiet, not used to being heard.

"Yeah." The villain looked so soft as he glanced back into the living room. "It's not like this hasn't happened before." He said bitterly.

Rei fought down the urge to question. Rehabilitation had taught her a lot of things, but speaking up had never done anything. All her life, inquiries and wonderments were beaten down, with only the inner voice to satisfy them.

Dabi pulled out a barstool and sat down. And then the gaze came back. Unwavering, it was only ever broken by irregular blinks.

Because Rei was never one to ask, she didn't, neither did she stop him. Her voice just didn't work in situations like this. So she used her eyes instead.

When grey met blue, they both startled. Dabi with his mysterious reasons and Rei with the resemblance the villain held to the ghosts of her past.

"Sorry. I should probably check up on Hawks." The villain muttered, before turning and leaving.

Rei didn't question. She didn't ask, inquire or wonder at his actions. She simply watched and waited.

If rehabilitation had taught her anything, it was that answers came in time.

...

It was two weeks later, and the earlier incident had been forgotten, stored away in a corner to collect dust and cobwebs, never to be seen again.

Unfortunately, Rei liked that corner. It was where she kept all her dreams and wishes and things that she should've spoken up about but never got the chance to.

And as she stumbled through the dark of her past, she tripped over a box she had sworn never to open again.

For the first time in forever, Rei let curiosity take over her senses, and opened it.

She almost sobbed, sitting on her bed, leaning against the headrest. A book lay discarded by her side, reading glasses perched on her head.

"Touya." She whispered. "What have I done."

...

Rei was too good at sneaking around. The door barely made a sound as she opened it. For once, she was grateful for Hawks strange obsession with oiling hinges.

She crept down the hallway and paused outside the heroes door. She knew the hours were unreasonable, and she didn't want to walk in on anything like she had... last time.

Pressing an ear flush against the heavy wood she grabbed at the tails of broken conversation.

"-tell her?" Hawks voice whispered, the slight lilt of birdsong evidence is the hushed tone.

"I keep telling you, no."

"Why not!?"

"Listen when I tell you, Kei, she doesn't want to see me!" The desperation in Dabi's rasping voice reaches for sadness.

"She already has seen you!"

"You know what I mean!"

"No I don't!"

"Well then be that way, then!"

"I will!" Rei found herself bewildered by the childish nature of the two's argument. She found herself reliving the days of her early parenthood, breaking up fights between Natsuo and Touya.

At the time she had never known what she had coming.

Back in the present Rei took the silence of the bedroom as her signal to leave. Slowly turning, she tiptoed back towards her room. But it seems her eavesdropping had not gone unnoticed as she was called out halfway down the hall.

"Rei." A voice scraped against protesting vocal cords as it called her name in a volume reserved for nighttime chats. "How much of that did you hear?"

The anxiety was clear in Dabi's features as Rei rotates to meet him. She tried to ease his worries with a smile. "Enough to be confused." She laughed silently, hiding her disappointment at the truth of her words.

However, Dabi's reaction dampened her disappointment as his shoulders relaxed and figure unstiffened. "Ok." He said. "I'm leaving for tonight."

And then he was gone.

...

Half the things I'm posting in this book are just incomplete fics that I will never finish