Chapter 3 – Getting better
As four lower rank villains tried to do the robbery at the 24-hour convenience store, Ravena controlled their bodies and attacked each other with her quirk. The hostages were confused about what was going on but they knew Ravena was a pro-hero. After the villains were unconscious, the police arrived and arrested them. They thanked Ravena for saving the hostages. Ravena nodded as she wanted to buy some snacks but the owner of the store gave her free favorite snacks as a reward for heroic deeds. At 5:00 pm, Ravena went back to the condominium and took a long nap in her bedroom.
Meanwhile at 10:00 am, Ravena woke up with the sound of opening the door. She checked her alarm cloak as she was confused because she always knew that Hawks went to work at 7:00 am and went home at 9:00 pm. She got up and walked out of her room to check it out. Luckily, there wasn't intruder but it was Endeavor who entered the condominium, carried Hawks on his back. They entered Hawks'room.
"Eh? Endeavor? What happened to Hawks?" Ravena stupefied.
"Hawks and I were looking for the villain as we found the witness," Endeavor explained the situation as he placed Hawks on his bed.
*Flashback at 9:00 AM at the police station*
Endeavor and Hawks were in the investigation room with a woman in a white dress as their witness. While five men who dressed as villains were from the other room. They looked into the window.
"So, tell me which one of them?" Endeavor asked the woman.
"I didn't see his face because I was hiding at the bathroom as I heard his voice by singing 'I want it that way'," the woman answered.
"Nani? Are you serious?" Endeavor raised a brow, a little irritated.
"Oooh! BackStreet Boys. Let me handle this, Endeavor-san," Hawks grabbed the microphone from the table. "Number one, can you sing 'I want it that way' from the BackStreet Boys?" he requested throughout the speaker from the other room.
"Seriously?" a guy in a black mask asked.
"Yup!" Hawks replied.
"Okay," a guy in black mask shrugged and began to sing. "You are, my fire."
"Number two?" Hawks added.
"The one, desire," the guy in red mohawk sang along.
"Number three?"
"Believe, when I say," the guy with a great voice followed.
"Number four?"
"I want it that way," the guy with a blue beard sang as he raised a brow.
Hawks began to sing lively. "Tell me why!"
"Ain't nothin' but a heartache," the guys sang in reply.
"Tell me why!"
"Ain't nothin' but a mistake."
"And number five," Hawks pointed at the guy with a shark head.
"I never wanna hear you say... I want it that waaaaaay," the guy with a shark head sang the last part of the song.
"Whoooa! Chills!" Hawks cheered.
"It was Number 5! Number 5 killed my family!" the woman panicked and pointed at the guy with a shark head.
"Well, case closed, Hawks- Hawks?" Endeavor looked around. He thought he disappeared. As he looked down, Hawks collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily with a fever.
*Flashback Ended*
"After the mission, I decided to take him home. Tell the HPSC this brat needs to take a leave until he gets better. I'm heading back now," Endeavor said as he walked away.
"Thanks for the help. I'll take care of him," Ravena thanked Envdeavor as he left the condominium. Then, she looked at Hawks. "Man! I can't believe that he watched Brooklyn 99 series," she commented. She removed Hawks' yellow-tinted visor, jacket, gloves, and boots as she put them in his closet. Then, she looked around the room. His room was filled with badass things like motorcycles, gothic angel style accessories, sports magazines, and action movies. At least, he had the posters of Endeavor, pictures of his childhood, and the most important items, his Endeavor doll and her stuff toy, Kuneho. She smiled that Hawks promised her to take care of her stuff rabbit while she went to a special school for her kind. As her exchange for her stuff rabbit, Hawks gave his one red feather to her as her earring.
"Aaargh… The hell?" Hawks groaned as he woke up weakly.
Ravena turned around. "Keigo, you're up… Well, not suppose too. Endeavor brought back here because you had a high fever."
"Huh? Ven? No, I'm not. I need to go to work," Hawks got up weakly as Ravena poked his head with her finger.
"Better rest, Birdbrain. Or else, I'll knock you out. Heroes deserve to rest as they need to gain their energies. We're humans, not immortals. Besides, I'm going to call our boss for your sick leave. You should take off your clothes and change into fresh ones," Ravena suggested.
"Hmmm…Okay," Hawks pouted as he lied down.
While Hawks rested in his room, Ravena called the HPSC to her phone as she looked at the refrigerator for ingredients.
"Hello, Ravena… It's been a while. How are you and Keigo?" the president asked kindly.
"I'm fine but Keigo has a fever. Endeavor brought him home and I decided to call you to take a leave for his illness," Ravena answered. The president was like a mother to her and Hawks. They were very respectful to their adoptive, stern mother who saved them from Hawks' horrible parents and Ravena's loneliness.
"Endeavor-san called me too. So, I accepted that Hawks needs a rest. He worked so hard as a pro-hero. Same as you, Ravena," the president smiled.
"Thanks to you, of course," Ravena nodded.
"By the way, did you discover your real family? As well as your name?" the president asked with concern.
"Nope. Not yet. If there's nothing comes up, I'll just focus in the future as Ravena. I'm sure Grandma was very happy for you as my mother," Ravena smiled.
The president giggled. "I see and I'm kinda fluttered. Do you need anything?"
"No, we're adults now. Plus, we bought medicines for sickness yesterday," Ravena replied.
"Very well then… Tell Hawks to get well soon."
In the end, they ended the call. Before Ravena was going to cook for lunch, she decided to check on Hawks as she went to his room. "Keigo, the president told you that you need to get well-Ay! Big Bird!" she shocked and got a massive nosebleed because Hawks was completely handsome, muscular naked while sleeping on his bed. Ravena's face turned super red like a tomato as it was her first time to see him. She shook her head, controlled her blood from her nosebleed, went her blood back into her nose, grabbed Hawks' warm blanket, and covered Hawks' body. She left the room quickly. "Oh my god! I hope those fangirls aren't stalkers or paparazzi."
After Ravena watched Anthony Padilla's interview videos for removing her trauma, she put her apron on, washed her hands, and started cooking. First, she washed the chicken and boiled it into the pot with hot water. As the chicken was cooked, she removed it and placed it on the plate. She poured the right amount of rice just for the two persons into the boiling water with the chicken stock as she added ginger and spices for the flavor. While the rice was turning into rice porridge, Ravena ripped the cooked chicken meat into small pieces without the bone. She put the pieces of chicken meat into the rice porridge and mixed it. Lastly, she scooped the rice porridge with a tablespoon and tasted it.
"Success! This is my grandma's Arroz cardo! Glad I remembered her cooking," Ravena smiled.
"Really? I could smell it," Hawks walked towards the kitchen with his black bathrobe on.
Ravena turned around and stared at him. "Keigo, are you okay? You shouldn't move in your situation."
"I'm alright. My body isn't very weak. I rather moved a little than bedridden. So, what's cooking?" Hawks asked as he sat on the chair in the dining room. The placemats, spoons, forks, and glasses were prepared on the table by Ravena earlier.
"Arroz Cardo," Ravena grabbed the ladle and took a scoop of Arroz cardo. She poured them into two bowls. "A Filipino rice porridge with chicken meat… My grandma made it since I got sick from the cold and I made this for a chicken lover like you," she teased as she walked to the dining room and placed the two bowls of Arroz cardo on their table. She sat on her chair.
Hawks and Ravena put their hands together. "Itadakimasu!"
Hawks took a scoop, blew gently, and ate it. "Whoa! Delicious! I'm glad you made this."
"I'm glad you like it. After that, you need to drink some medicine," Ravena reminded.
"Nope!" Hawks pouted.
"Huh? Why? Do you hate pills? Do you prefer liquid medicine?" Ravena raised a brow.
"I like liquid medicine because it's easy to swallow. Pills are okay but sometimes it doesn't go through my throat," Hawks explained.
"Fortunately, I bought capsule version pills for your fever. So, it's easier to swallow. By the way, the HPSC president said 'Get well soon, Hawks'. She accepted your leave," Ravena remembered.
"Thanks… I'll text her soon. Anyway, thanks for the meal and I'm sorry that I disturbed your sleep," Hawks smiled.
"You're welcome and don't worry about it. If Endeavor didn't notice you, you'll be chicken BBQ," Ravena giggled.
After they finished their meals and Hawks drank his medicine, he washed himself a little at the bathroom and went to sleep in his room. As for Ravena, she took a bath to remove the germs and slept for five hours. Five hours passed, she got up and checked on Hawks from his room. She noticed that Hawks covered himself in the blanket and shivered. She sat on his bed and stroked his hair.
"Are you okay?" Ravena asked worriedly.
Hawks moved a little and snuggled on her lap. He wasn't feeling well as he groaned.
Ravena blushed as she found him cute but worried more because of his fever. She put her hand on his forehead. "You're hot."
"Really? Am I sexy?" Hawks looked at her.
"No, like really hot… and high. Your fever didn't get down yet… I guess it takes two days to get your fever cool off...Hmm… I should make a herbal tea," Ravena said. She was trying to get off but Hawks was still hugging her. "Oh c'mon, Baby Bird. I won't be gone."
"Give me 5 minutes, Ven-ven," Hawks whined a little.
Ravena chuckled. "Can't believe your fever causes you drunk… Well, better than alcohol," she commented.
Ravena stayed with Hawks in five minutes. Thus, Hawks let her go and she went to the kitchen. She set up her ingredients for the herbal tea. Since it was night time, she decided to make home-made ice tea ready to eat cup noodles for dinner. She boiled the water into the pot on the stove. Then, she added herbal ingredients to boil. Orange and lemon skins for Vitamin C, some peppermint leaves for sore throat, a little grounded ginger for fever and boost the immune system, licorice roots for coughs, and cinnamon sticks for colds. While the water with herbal ingredients was changed into tea, Ravena turned the stove off to cool the tea. She grabbed the chopping board and knife and put them on the table. And then, she got the skinless orange and lemon and chopped them in half. Suddenly, she got a small cut on her finger but she didn't notice. As she squeezed the orange and lemon into the pitcher with ice cubes, she felt the pain from her finger as the small drop of blood fell into the juice.
"Ow!" Ravena yelped as she checked her finger and pressed gently. "Eh! I got a cut. Good thing that I don't bleed a lot. That would be OA," she washed her finger with soap, wiped it with a towel, and put the bandage on her finger. She continued to make ice tea as she placed the strainer on the top of the pitcher. After that, she poured the tea into the pitcher and left the herbal ingredients to the strainer. As she removed the strainer, she poured the final ingredient, one-third cup of honey for sweet and healthy. "All done!" she cheered as she finished the home-made ice tea.
8:00 PM, Hawks, and Ravena ate cup noodles as their dinner. They tasted the home-made ice tea and drank it. Ravena grabbed the pitcher for another one but it was empty.
"Um… Keigo, how many times did you drink the ice tea?" Ravena asked.
"Ice tea? I thought it's beer," Hawks raised a brow as he drank his glass of ice tea.
"What the! You drank more ice tea. I only drank once. Your fever is getting worse. I should call the doctor!" Ravena panicked.
"No-no! I was just kidding. I love your home-made ice tea. As well as your cooking. It's just that you did everything for me, even I got sick. If I get better, I can make it up to you," Hawks blushed.
"Oh! I'm glad that you're still okay… Somehow, you don't need to make something up because you did that already since we were kids. I wasn't smartest, strongest, and most talented kid in our Hero Education. Some of our professors talked about negative things about me that caused me hopeless. However, you didn't give up on me as you helped me through the harsh training. So, I succeed and became a pro-hero because of you. For all the good things you did for me, I'll help you anything you need," Ravena confessed and blushed. Likewise, there was more that she wanted to say to him. "Keigo-"
Hawks collapsed on the floor.
"Ah! Keigo!" Ravena got up and held Hawks. Then, she checked his fever and heartbeat. "Eh? His fever is down and still beating?" she was confused.
9:00 PM, the doctor arrived at their condominium as he checked on Hawks. Hawks was rested on his bed while Ravena waited for results. She relayed to the doctor because the doctor was their former HPSC caretaker.
"Huh? Keigo-kun is okay now. No fever at all," the doctor responded to the result.
"Eh! Nani?! How did Keigo heal himself?" Ravena confused.
"His Fierce Wings can't heal himself," the doctor said as he looked at Ravena and noticed her finger. "Tell me the whole situation, Ven-chan. "
"Well… After Endeavor carried Keigo home, I made Arroz cardo for lunch so that Keigo can eat it. Since his fever was getting worse, I made home-made ice tea. Keigo enjoyed it as he drank a lot like beer and passed out," Ravena explained.
"How about your finger?" the doctor pointed at Ravena's finger.
"Oh! This? I accidentally cut my finger as I chopped the orange and lemon. I was bleeding too much… Whaaa! I think I was the one who healed his fever!" Raven shocked.
"Sssshhh!" The doctor hushed at Ravena. "You don't need to panic. Keigo-kun is in a good sleep… Since you knew, we solved the case. However, You need to be extremely careful, Ven-chan. Your quirk is very rare and I don't want anyone to try and capture you," he reminded worriedly.
"Noted… But I learned from my past. I discovered my real name and my family. Somehow, I decided to hide them so that they think my bloodline doesn't exist. Not my adoptive family, friends, you, and Keigo. Plus, I worked at night time to conquer my weakness and save more people who they are weaker than me. That's my duty as a pro-hero," Ravena said.
"I see… You two grew up as wonderful adults," the doctor smiled.
"Thanks for the kind words… Well, since Keigo is okay, should I go back to work?" Ravena asked.
"It's your choice anyway. Keigo will be alright now. I can stay here for a while," the doctor replied.
Therefore, Ravena left the condominium for doing her hero work. She thought about what the doctor said.
Wonderful adults.
It had a nice ring for them with all the hardships and struggles that they were been through. Especially, Hawks. To all the agents, scientists, instructors, and the workers from HPSC amazed and praised him like he had great potential as the savior and future number one hero. Ravena admired and fully supported him as his best friend with no hatred nor envy because he helped her a lot without a problem. He was like an angel to her. Ravena wanted to be Hawks, not to be like Hawks because their abilities, lifestyles, and the people who treated them were different.