Hawks waves, arm coming up in an awkward jerk like a halfhearted salute. "Bad timing?"

"Hawks?"

Miu slaps a hand over her mouth a second later; she peers into the hallway, looking from side to side like someone in hiding afraid to be discovered. Hawks can smell alcohol, but he's more concerned with why he did that weird ass little wave. It's not like Hawks hasn't had to handle interacting with people in distress, civilians who are crying, screaming, on the verge of panic. Miu's tears shouldn't have made his mind go blank and taken him off guard to the point the easy smile is wiped clean off his face.

"Don't just stand there, come in quick!"

Miu tugs on the sleeve of Hawks' coat, ushering him inside; her eyes are still roving about as if they're being targeted and Hawks lets himself be dragged inside. His heart is fluttering like a frightened bird in his chest; hell, he wouldn't be surprised if he let out a squawk. He's already lost his voice from Miu being so close and eager to get him in her place.

Hawks might need a nip of that whatever she's drinking himself.

"How long have you been out there?" Miu's tears have stopped, but now she's fidgeting with her hands, eyes glancing at the open living room window. In a flash, Miu goes over to shut the blinds and Hawks has a moment to gather his thoughts; once Miu turns back to him, Hawks has a sly, composed grin on his lips and holds up the bag to her.

"Sorry, I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd check up on you. It was really cool of you to...ya know."

Instantaneously, Hawks wants to press the rewind button; his mouth was working like normal just a second ago and now he's trailing off.

Miu doesn't seem to notice; she looks on edge, looking at him with blatant disbelief. "But what if someone sees you?"

"Then they see me." Hawks answers. "I'm not going to let public approval ratings dictate every little thing I do. If I want to swing by a friend's place on my time, then I will."

Contrary to how Hawks assumed the statement would go over, he feels less confident seeing Miu's face fall into a frown.

"Oh. I guess there wasn't any real need for me to confess all that stuff...on television..." Miu leans back onto the wall behind her and slides down it with a half smile. "On live television…oh boy."

"Hold on, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying I don't have anything to feel ashamed about. Neither of us do. We didn't do anything wrong that night."

Miu smiles wryly. "I don't know about that."

"Miu-"

"Sorry about the mess. It's...not the best time for a visit."

Miu hiccups and averts her watery eyes to the living room before turning away; Hawks watches her collect the trash on the low table in uncomfortable silence.

The truth is, he's close to freaking out. Hawks has never been at a loss for words and he finds it rare when there's just nothing for him to say in any given situation. But then, this isn't a situation Hawks is used to. He has no clue what he could possibly say to make any of this alright.

"I understand. It's good you're staying true to yourself. I just feel so stupid." Miu huffs, cheeks tinged red from the booze and words a bit slurred around the ends. She tosses the bottles and empty chip packets away, keeping her back turned. Hawks wishes he could at least read her expression. "Even when I do the right thing it's wrong. The best thing for me to do is just stay out of people's way."

"What do you mean?" Hawks asked, making sure to keep his voice low; he feels like speaking any louder would startle her.

Miu's shoulders shrug. "I still don't want your career to get messed up because of my problems."

"Well if that's how you feel, why don't we do something to forget both of our problems?"

"Huh?"

Hawks strolled over to the couch, plopping down without further ado and taking the computer mouse in hand to scroll down the website Miu had been on. It was the clip of them flying and he feels an odd sense of triumphant, though he has no idea why. For all Hawks knows, Miu is crying and distressed because of this fiasco, or at the least that's part of the problem.

"Hawks, you really don't...I mean, it's not like I wouldn't want to be your friend," Miu says slowly, careful on how she phrases her next words. "But you don't have to do this. I don't expect you to, like, monitor me. You've done more than enough. I'll be fine, really I will."

Hawks keeps his smile on, but it's hard. It's so hard to hear her speak this way. He wants to tell that little, self doubting voice in her head to shut the hell up already, wants Miu to join him on the couch without any worry so they can enjoy this little time they had together. Miu should be able to believe someone wants to be her friend, not out of pity or a sense of duty, but because they care.

Hawks doesn't know why he cares so much when they don't even know each other that well, but he does and he doesn't want whatever this is to end like this. He doesn't want it to end period.

Honestly, it's all Hawks can think about lately, whether he's having down time or busy as a bee. He was hoping maybe checking up on Miu could give him some answers, but it seems she either doesn't think he wants to be there or she's uncomfortable with him being there.

There's only one thing Hawks can do right now and that's to say what's on his mind and hope Miu won't be upset for it.

"I wanted to spend my free time making sure you were okay. And eating cake. As of now I have nearly half an hour to kill, and I want to kill it with you. Like, decimate it. I mean, if my number one fan doesn't mind?"

Miu thinks for a moment; she doesn't appear bothered or upset. But finally, Miu offers him a slight smile.

"If...that's really what you want."

Hawks smirks good naturedly and turns back to the site pulled up on the screen. "You weren't reading the comments, were you?"

"Not a lot of them. I guess I just needed a good laugh." Miu chuckled. "Can you seriously believe this? I even saw a few drawings of the two of us. It wasn't bad or anything, but I can't get over how far people are taking this. Should I get plates?"

"Sure, the bakery gave me plastic forks."

Miu managed to walk slowly to the cabinets where she keeps disposable plates, trying to stall for a little time to figure out how to feel. On one hand, Miu's drunk, so that's not good. But underneath that, she can't deny she feels touched. Hawks, the pro hero Hawks, the number two hero, was worried enough that he actually came in person to see how she was doing.

Miu doesn't know why, but if Hawks really does just want to hang out, which seems to be the case, then Miu doesn't want to dwell on depressing subjects when he only has so much time for his break.

"He's even kinder than I thought."

Miu busies herself putting the cakes on separate plates and even manages to get two bottles of water from the back of her mostly barren fridge. Hawks is lounging on the couch and looking right at home, but Miu's head is still pounding in confusion.

"I wonder why though. All he knows about me is that I'm a nut. It has to be he feels bad for me, right? At any rate, he did come here, the least I can do is make his visit fun and sober up."

Hawks is flicking the mouse every few seconds, zooming through the pages of clips and photographs of him and Miu in the same positions, in all manners of filters. Then there's the hashtag linked to each one; he feels a rush every time he reads it.

"Hawks, here. I made a cake the other day, I thought you might want to try it. Are raspberries okay?"

Miu holds out a thin slice of her homemade cake on a paper plate before deciding to just set it down in front of Hawks with the bottle of water. Her bleary gaze slides to the screen. "Oh brother. I'm sorry Hawks, I hope this stuff isn't getting you in trouble with a girlfriend or anything like that."

"Huh?"

"Oh, I mean if you are dating anyone, that is." Miu ignored the awkwardness she felt voicing the assumption Hawks had someone who would be less than please she was being mistaken for his girlfriend.

"No, I'm not seeing anyone like that."

"No kidding? Wow, now that should be headline news." Miu can't help a teasing smile. "So, did you want to watch videos or something?"

Hawks was still browsing the website she had already logged onto; he wasn't even thinking of giving up the clicker. "Found the fan art. Not bad. But my wings aren't brown…"

"It looks like they're using earthy toned colors in general. Huh...you know, they almost made me look pretty." Miu can't help marvel at the sketch; it really is rather good. "I honestly don't know how to feel about this. I feel like people are getting the wrong idea about me."

"How so?"

"Well, I've gotten a couple of calls from groups saying they'd like me to get involved with their causes for...you know...suicide and depression and what not. Like a spokesperson almost; there's a group specifically for suicide attempters who survived or just decided not to go through with it."

Miu can't find it in herself to touch her cake even though Hawks is scarfing down his slice like he hasn't eaten in days.

"I'm probably making things awkward and he's stuffing himself to make things not so tense. Ugh, can't I just be normal?"

Hawks reaches for Miu's uneaten slice of raspberry fudge cake. "Gonna eat this?"

"Oh no, I'm-" Before Miu can say more, Hawks is shoveling it in with gusto, like he can't get enough. "He doesn't have to eat them both just because I offered. Wait, is he saving the fancy cake for me? Man, what a great guy. And all I can talk about is-okay, okay, I need to stop beating myself up. It will make things weird for both of us."

It's true Hawks is stuffing himself, but not quite for the reason Miu thinks.

"Why can't I say something else? I'm drawing a blank here and I keep bringing up those pictures. Why? Damn, this cake is good. Bet her ex got sweets made for him all the time."

Hawks chews and swallows hard; he stares down at the remaining slice. He feels a bit odd now, thinking of Miu making this cake for another man, one he's never even seen. He just feels not quite right.

"Hey Miu, you said your ex and you weren't together, right? I was just thinking this might 'cause some misunderstandings."

"Oh no! Actually, he was here earlier to make sure I was alright. He's the only one I know who saw the news that day. I can't believe he'd even worry about me, seeing as how I...I screwed everything up…"

Miu wants to smack herself; her eyes are stinging. She shuts herself up before she can say anything she'll regret, anything that'll make her start bawling like a baby.

Hawks is still staring at the cake. He doesn't feel so hungry anymore.

"Sounds like a real stand up guy."

"Kaito is...he's great. He's always been so…" Miu takes a deep breath and a big gulp of cool water. "Sorry. That's kinda why I was so upset when you got here; it wasn't really about this mess. Having him here brings back so many memories. He's a bookkeeper, and the company he works at really relies on him, so to make the time to see me...we didn't exactly get to spend all the time we would have wanted together when we were dating, but Kaito always found a few hours here and there. And when we did have dates, we'd just relax on the couch and talk or watch dumb stuff or et. I didn't even care we never went out. Being with him was more than enough. It was everything I ever wanted…..and then one day it wasn't."

Miu smiles apologetically at Hawks. "Here I go again. I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I'm having fun."

"Fun?"

Hawks grins softly at Miu's incredulous look. "I like this. Just hanging out and talking. I don't get much of a chance to do this."

"Listen to someone whining?"

"Get close to people."

"Oh." Miu doesn't know what else to say.

"I mean it. It's not every day I get to sit down and really talk with someone. You're interesting." Hawks ticks off his fingers. "You're nice, you have a cool job, you can bake, you're reliable, and you're honest, even if you're way too hard on yourself. If anything, you could stand to be more positive, but at least you're not trying to be something you're not. I for one feel honored to be shipped with you."

"That is the weirdest compliment I have ever gotten."

Hawks is worried for a moment before he sees the ear to ear grin stretching across Miu's flushed cheeks.

"Hawks, you're the cool one. I don't think I've ever met someone like you." Miu confesses as she takes a bite of the strawberry shortcake from the package. "I wish I was more like you. You're observant, funny, considerate. I should be honored, though I still hope this won't cause you problems in the future."

Hawks shrugs as he takes a swig of his water. "This kind of thing comes with the job of being a combo of civil servant and celebrity. I feel a lot more concerned for you."

"I'm fine though." Miu tries to give him a bracing smile. "It's just, all this indirect attention, it's unreal. I don't even think this is half of the stuff people have posted with our pictures."

"Yeah, it's like the world wants us to be together or something."

Miu chuckles. "I still can't believe what I said is trending."

Hawks knows what she means; this is the most buzz he's gotten since the ranking ceremony actually, but it's a completely different kind. It's not a bad feeling though, to know so many people, even strangers, are giving their support for his love.

"Oh shit."

Hawks drops his fork and it clatters against the table.

"Hawks?" Miu starts and bends to check if any bits of cake landed on the floor. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, butter fingers. This cake is awesome. Your recipe?"
"No, just something I got from a cookbook."

Hawks nods and stands up, lightly knocking his knee on the corner of the table. "Well, I better get going. Can I come back sometime later this week, same time? Hang on, let's exchange numbers so we can play by ear."

"O-oh, okay, sure."

Miu pulls out her phone and Hawks takes it so he can put his number in; Miu's so surprised, she hardly registers him giving the phone back to her and the one armed hug she receives before Hawks is waltzing out the door.

"Take care of yourself, okay? I'm looking forward to doing this again."

Hawks soars off into the sky as soon as he's out the door; he needs to get a hold of himself, needs the cool rush of wind to bring some sense back into him

"What am I doing? What was I thinking?"

Miu looked almost happy. She was actually content because of his words and he hadn't even really meant to do anything. He was just being honest.

"Was that really enough? Was rambling like an idiot...did that impress her? Was that all I had to do to make her smile like that?"

Maybe it wasn't something life changing, but it was still something. For that short time, Miu had forgotten her troubles. Now that Hawks was there and her ex was gone, Miu had been able to relax and enjoy herself when not too long ago she appeared on the verge of an emotional upheaval.

"I'm surprised she wanted to see the guy. If that's the effect he has on her, Miu might want to rethink having him come by."

Not that Hawks had any right to tell her what to do, but he figured if having this Kaito guy there made Miu so upset, it might be better if she just kept him out of the picture entirely.

"It makes sense she would be lonely enough to let her ex come over, especially since he's the only one who knows about what happened. Well, aside from me. What Miu really needs is someone around to help her destress. I'll stop by again when I get the chance and we can have a little R&R."

Hawks stops himself from going any higher and begins a slow descent before he flies over the clouds; he's already over the moon.