"I- I can't say. It's confidential. I don't want you to get in trouble." Hawks said, somehow finding words after a moment of silence that felt like it dragged on forever. Rei's soft gaze made him feel exactly just the opposite of that, face involuntarily flushing with hot guilt at being called out.

"Hawks. I'm housing an escaped villain." Rei finally spoke, with a light sigh that only betrayed a slight disappointment in Hawks' reluctance. "He is my son, but that doesn't mean there won't be consequences for it. I am already 'in trouble'." She explained, taking a few steps forward so that she was closer to Hawks.

"Okay but-" Hawks cut himself off with his own breath, "It's complicated." It really was. It wasn't like he could just say 'I've been groomed ever since I was a child to be a soldier and become something I didn't want and now that I've shoved it away I realize that I can't live without them but I'm dying with them and I don't know what to do'. Could he? Maybe? She had been in a mental hospital before though, so maybe she did have a better grasp on it then Hawks originally thought.

"That's alright. I understand." Her voice was calm, and accepting, cutting through the thoughts that had begun to swarm up in Hawks' mind. She didn't press more than it seems she needed to, didn't pry an answer out of Hawks that would have made him even more defensive and unresolved.

Rei held out her arms, implying that Hawks should come over and get a hug. Hawks hardly even knew Rei, so he felt a little awkward getting a hug from her. He'd only really been affectionate with Dabi, but even that was a stretch, since they'd only kissed like once besides the occasional physical touch. Really, that was a whole nother can of worms, since Dabi finally somewhat admitted what he felt. What would that mean for both of their lives? What would that do to Hawks' already very quickly tanking Hero reputation? Would they even be able to be together after this? Hawks was the one doubting now.

He and Rei were actually almost the same height, yet Hawks somehow felt really small in her arms as they gently wrapped around him. Her hands laid in the space between his wings, slowly rubbing little circles into the tense muscles of his back.

Immediately Hawks hugged back, his hands digging into the soft fabric of Rei's blue sweater. His face was buried into the crook of her neck, feeling the inherent coolness of her body type. Somehow it reminded him of Dabi, even though Dabi was usually warm. He took in a shaky breath, most likely trying to keep himself from breaking any further, though Rei wasn't going to allow that.

"Heroes cry when they need to, it's okay."

Rei's words were soft in his ear, and it was the last drop that made Hawks finally overflow. The tears were flowing before he could stop them, Hawks attempting to pull back and hide it from her, but Rei's hand came up into his golden hair to hold his face into the crook of her neck where her soft blue sweater would soak up the tears.

"It's okay, Hawks. You don't need to hide anything from me." Rei offered again, her one hand still slowly rubbing his back. Hawks' fingers were now completely fisted into the fabric of her clothes, but she didn't mention it. quietly holding him as he sobbed into her cardigan.

"Even Touya can't withhold his feelings from me, so it's futile to resist." She continued with a bit of a soft chuckle, which actually caused Hawks to laugh wetly into her shoulder between breaths.

Finally, when he felt like he had cried enough and also substantially embarrassed himself, Hawks pulled back to wipe his tears with his jacket sleeve and break out of her hug. He did have to admit that he felt slightly better now, even though his problem was no less closer to being solved.

"Did you bring anything with you?" Rei asked softly, drawing his attention back to her to notice that she was holding out a tissue for him. Hawks took it with a nod, wiping his eyes and sniffling once.

"Alright, go outside and bring it in, I'll make you some tea. It's too late for you to be out by yourself." She said, finally turning away from him to head back into the kitchen to start the water for the aforementioned tea.

"Mrs. Todoroki, I'm a pro hero." Hawks found his voice to respond now, hopefully confident enough that it wasn't going to sound watery or shaking from his crying. Of course, he didn't have to worry about going out by himself at night, if anything other people should be afraid of running into him at night.

"And?"

Hawks opened his mouth to respond, but there was something in her tone that made it clear she didn't care if he was literally All Might, she'd still insist that he not be out alone at night. So instead he just let out his breath, shaking his head slightly with a half smile. "Nothing. Thank you."

"Of course."

Turning away from Rei, Hawks went back outside to bring back in the duffel bag from the car. Lifting it onto his shoulder he locked the door behind him, before making his way back into the house and closing the door. He kicked off his shoes in the doorway, next to Dabi's boots, which he was surprised that he didn't notice the first time he came in.

"Take a seat in the living room, I'll be right there with the tea." Rei spoke from the kitchen, Hawks making his way in to drop his duffel bag on the ground and then sit down on the couch. He hadn't spent very long here the last time he visited, just talking to Dabi in the kitchen, so he hadn't really had a chance to take in the house itself. It was late now, so the lights were mostly turned down low, the warm glow from the kitchen casting over Hawks as he sat in the living room.

Hawks knew in the back of his mind what Enji had done to the Todoroki family, but he had to admit that he was kind of jealous of what they had now. Rei was really nice, and this place seemed more like a home than his tiny lonely apartment. Still, he shook the thought away, he didn't want to trail down into that train of thought now. Not when they were all going out of their way to accommodate him despite their current issues.

Hawks pulled his legs up onto the couch, shifting a little to put his wings into a more comfortable position on either side of his back. They could use a good two hours of care and preening, but he wasn't feeling up to that right now.

Now that everything emotional had passed, Hawks realized just how drained he felt, and the desire to shrink into his wings and close his eyes was growing stronger by the second. Rei entered to hand him the warm mug of tea as she also sat down on the couch, Hawks accepting it with a quiet thanks mumbled out after a stifled yawn.

Carefully he brought the warm mug to his lips, taking a sip of the freshly made tea. He straight up almost ascended, it tasted so good compared to any tea that he had made before. The warmth did nothing to wake him up though, in fact making him more tired than before. He didn't feel like forcing himself to make conversation right now, since his usual aura of put-together-ness was already thrown out the window with him crying. Thankfully, Rei seemed content to sit in silence with him, sipping her own tea as she read a book by the lamp light.

"Where, uh, where would you like me to stay tonight?" Hawks finally asked after a couple more sips of tea, looking over at Rei as she placed a bookmark between two pages in order to set her book down.

"Touya's in his room, if you'd like to stay with him."

"I- yeah. I would." Maybe being with Dabi would help Hawks to remember what he really stood for, and that it was worth it to give up everything that he had in order to help him. Rei nodded with a pleased smile, standing up to show Hawks to the closed bedroom door. Hawks stood up to follow her, picking up his duffel bag again to sling it on his shoulder.

"I'll be just down the hall if either of you need anything." She said, only waiting for a half nod and smile from Hawks before he turned his attention to the door of Dabi's- no, Touya's room.

Opening the door quietly, Hawks peered through the crack to see if Dabi was awake or not. The lights were off, so he assumed that he was sleeping, but Dabi also seemed like the kind of guy to just sit in the dark when he was awake.

Seeing his form on the bed, and judging by the quiet breathing that his feathers could pick up, Hawks gathered that Dabi was in fact sleeping. Good, the guy certainly needed it.

Expertly quiet, Hawks pulled the door open more so that he could fit through with his wings, before closing it behind himself and sending the two into darkness again without the light from the hall. Thankfully, Hawks' enhanced eyesight didn't take long to adjust, his golden eyes settling on Dabi's form in the bed.

If he had any suspicions about how well Dabi normally didn't sleep, they were proven by how he was curled up while sleeping.

Dabi was laying on top of the sheets, body tightened up into the fetal position with his back pressed against the wall. His face was hidden by his arms, his fingers half dug into his own dark hair. It didn't look like he fell asleep that way, but instead shrunk into himself while he was sleeping.

Hawks tried not to have too much pity for his.. acquaintance? friend? boyfriend? but it was hard not too when he looked almost terrified and hid in his sleep.

Letting out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding, Hawks stepped towards the bed. He first placed his duffel bag on the floor quietly and set the mug of tea on the dresser top, before shrugging off his jacket and laying that on top of the duffel. He wouldn't be able to squeeze between Dabi and the wall in order to spoon him, so instead he carefully laid down facing Dabi. It was a little uncomfortable for his one wing, but he'd deal with it in order to be in bed with Dabi. They'd only done this once before when they were at Hawks' apartment, and Hawks took a similar position to that time, scooting closer to Dabi and laying one wing over him.

He also reached out a hand to touch Dabi's shoulder, not meaning to wake him but hoping to gently move the other into a less curled position so that Hawks could get his arm all the way over Dabi to rub his back and try to help him relax. However, he didn't get that far, since touching Dabi immediately resulted in the scarred male snapping his eyes open and pushing back at Hawks. It seemed to definitely be an involuntary action though, as even though he moved Hawks was pretty sure he wasn't awake enough to actually process what was happening.

"Hey, Dabi, it's just me. You're okay." Hawks spoke quietly, gently grasping Dabi's wrist to stop the other from pushing against him and forcing him out of the twin sized bed.

"..Hawks?" Dabi's reply was slightly groggy, but he stopped pushing against Hawks, and seemed to blink a few times to wake himself up more, which was the opposite of what Hawks wanted to happen here.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I woke you. You can go back to sleep." Hawks suggested as he let go of Dabi's wrist, letting the other shift slightly in the little space that he had against the wall and under Hawks' wing.

"What are you doing here?" Dabi's brow slightly furrowed, and Hawks resisted the urge to sigh at him. Sure, Hawks himself wasn't even planning on coming back tonight, but couldn't Dabi have just rolled over and gone back to sleep instead of questioning it?

"Don't ask right now. I'll tell you later." Hawks answered tiredly, not meaning to be so short with Dabi, but he really didn't want to think about it any more than he had to tonight. He brought his gaze away from Dabi's face, but when he finally forced them back it actually looked like Dabi's expression was one of concern.

"..Okay." The look didn't last long though, once Hawks met his eyes Dabi's expression returned to being blank. He let Hawks keep his secrets for now which Hawks was grateful for, and he made sure that Dabi knew that.

"Thanks."

Dabi just made a sort of noise in acknowledgement, which Hawks took to be some kind of his own acceptance and thanks. At least, it wasn't Dabi pushing him away again, because instead of curling into his former ball Dabi stretched out straighter, so that Hawks could put his head in the crook of Dabi's neck and shoulder and soak in the warmth from his chest. Hawks immediately wrapped his arm around Dabi, a smile spreading across his lips as he felt Dabi's arm rest over his own body a few moments later.

Though he was extremely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to forget everything that had happened in the past few hours, Hawks couldn't deny that the fact that Dabi was willingly cuddling with him made up for at least some of it. It made him feel like everything he had done was actually worth it, and that he made the right choice, even if it was slow going to get Dabi to open up to him.

It was this comfort that managed to finally get Hawks to close his eyes and fall asleep, even in the slightly uncomfortable position on the small bed with Dabi.