It was a miracle that she actually managed to fall asleep after what happened. Her dreams were distorted and terrifying, but she had somehow slept. Now Yori was sitting on the couch, slouching as she tried to focus on the manga that Hawks had brought her the previous day.

He was still sleeping. How he could resume sleeping so peacefully after the previous night's incident was perplexing. The more Yori thought about it, the more it weighed on her. She had gotten close to doing him real bodily harm. He could have died.

After reading the same sentence over and over again, she finally put the book down and ran her fingers through her partially tangled peach-colored hair. She bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her head as she recalled that instant when his eyes filled with fear. It was only for a brief second and then he had looked concerned. Not for himself, but for her.

Why?! Why does he care? What does he actually gain from this? It's not like anyone knows that he's trying to help me so it's not like he's doing this for recognition! What's the point of helping someone like me? I could've killed him last night! I just…totally lost myself for a second! That hasn't happened in a while. I haven't gone that far since right before he took me.

She felt her glasses starting to slide down her nose and moved a hand to stop them. Pushing them back up, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. As bad as it seemed, he was still alive. Any harm she managed to do was extremely minimal. She was sure her stingers only lightly grazed him.

Both hands threaded into her hair, fingertips pressing at her scalp and teeth sinking into the inside of her cheek so hard that it bled. Thinking about the way her stingers brushed over his skin inevitably reminded her of the noise he made. Now her face started to turn a bright shade of red.

No worries…right? He was barely awake anyway. He probably doesn't remember it happened. I need to just…think about something else. No worries. Yori picked the manga up again and flipped to the page she had last been reading.

Now that she was working on her own manga, she found herself studying this book rather than simply enjoying it the way she had before. She was admiring the character designs and the shading, the detailed scenery in the backgrounds, the dialogue and the plot.

I wonder if I could make a manga for kids. Eri seemed really interested in stories the last time I visited. I wish I could make something she could read. The one I'm working on now is a little too mature for her. Maybe if I made the plot a little simpler, but it has to have stuff a little kid could relate to.

She found her thoughts wandering to Aizawa and she frowned, chewing at the inside of her cheek. Their last interaction felt like months ago. She had been so terrified of Dabi finding his way onto the UA campus and killing anyone that stood between him and taking her back to the League.

It was obvious that Aizawa was frustrated. She knew that he had every right to be. Unlike Hawks, Aizawa had known her before the trauma. Before the horrible things she suffered through at Overhaul's hands and before the weight of being a villain nearly made her go insane. Aizawa had seen her at her best; assisting him with the students and attempting to find her place among heroes.

They were so close back then. She had thought they would be together long-term. She could have imagined spending every day with the grumpy, eternally sleepy hero. She was in love with him. Of course, everything changed after the summer training camp.

A lot had happened to Yori. Too much that she wanted to just forget. Encounters with Dabi, multiple instances where Shigaraki had relied on her for comfort, terrifying and life-scarring moments with Overhaul after being taken to become Eri's caretaker. She was no longer the same person who had worked as Aizawa's doting, carefree assistant. No longer the same ex-villain that had shared a bed with the erasure hero and enjoyed cuddling against him while he slept.

I'm…not the same. Yori's frown deepened and her tails subconsciously lifted. They struck the couch cushion beside her in annoyance. I…hate…that I'm like this. It's been almost two months, right? Or something like that. Since I saw Overhaul. But I still can't get very close to men.

Her memory of her last meeting with Overhaul was fuzzy, but it had involved straddling his waist as she cut a heart shape over the left side of his chest with a knife. She did remember Dabi telling her afterwards that she had looked pretty crazy when she did it. There was some kind of disconnect in her brain when she attacked Overhaul because when she thought back on it, it felt like she had been outside of her body watching it happen; as if she had no control.

I was able to get close enough to Hawks that I could dry his hair yesterday, but the whole time it felt like my stomach was twisting in knots. Shouta said that I'm not going to get better if I don't push myself. Maybe…when I see him again…I can try getting close and touching him?

What Yori had not noticed was the winged figure emerging from the bedroom behind the couch. Yawning, scratching his stomach and stretching his wings a little. Hawks leaned over the back of the couch, staring down over her shoulder at the manga and tilting his head. "Is that a good one?"

She jolted, nearly dropping her book. Her glasses almost fell off when she jumped and she lifted a trembling hand to push them up again. "Yeah. It's good," she mumbled, keeping her face forward to avoid his gaze.

"That's good. I got you a bunch of shoujo manga and I wasn't sure which ones you've already read." He walked around the couch and settled beside her, paying no mind to the fact that his knee was touching hers. "So are we going to talk about what happened last night?"

Yori felt heat rising to her face. A mix of embarrassment and irritation was settling in as she slouched, bringing the manga up to try to hide her expression. "I don't know what you're talking about, birdbrain."

Hawks gave her a lazy sort of half-grin and leaned over. "You know, your weird nicknames are starting to grow on me."

"You really have time to be sitting here?"

He tilted his head to the other side and his grin grew. "Yep! I have the day off. I need to run some errands and stuff, but other than that, I've got the whole day free. So what do you want to do today, Yori-chan?"

She managed to fight down her blush and turned to give the hero a frown. "Not like there's much we can do. I can't go outside. Don't get my hopes up."

"We can still do stuff! Don't let your hopes go spiraling down that easily. We could work on the next volume of your manga or we could read or…" Hawks rubbed the back of his neck, visibly struggling with something else to add to the list. Eventually, his expression brightened again. "I know something fun we can do!"

Yori watched him stand and go into the bathroom. What exactly does he have in mind? She heard the water start running in the shower and she immediately drew into the far corner of the couch. Her tails lifted and thumped against the cushions anxiously as she stared at the bathroom doorway. There was a rustle of cloth and then nothing other than the sound of running water.

That…feathered freak. Is he really showering with the door open? Despite her irritation, she still felt undeniable unease. The girl's amber eyes remained narrowed, fixed on the open bathroom doorway. Her whole body tensed when the water finally stopped and she held her breath in terrified anticipation.

When he finally emerged from the bathroom, he had a towel wrapped around his waist and was carrying his pajamas in one hand. Water droplets clung to his wings, making them shimmer in a weird way under the lamplight. In typical Hawks fashion, he seemed completely unbothered by the fact that he was in a towel in front of his roommate. "Okay, I'm going to get dressed and then I'll take care of those errands. Need anything from the store?"

Yori's eyes locked onto his and she somehow managed to keep a straight, calm expression as she adjusted her glasses. "I have a grocery list."

"Okay. Be right back."

She tilted her head, again finding herself chewing on the inside of her cheek. A hand lifted to scratch at her neck. Shameless birdbrain. Why does he seem so excited about running errands? What does he have planned?

Hawks came out of his room a few minutes later; fully dressed this time. He took the list from Yori and gave her a bright smile. "I'll be back pretty soon."

"Okay…? What'd you mean when you said you had an idea of what we could do today? You know how freaked out I was when you started the shower?" she demanded.

His head cocked to the side, smile falling. "Huh? What'd you think I was-?" Hawks stopped himself, appearing to realize what she had thought. He ran his fingers through his still wet golden hair and gave her an apologetic frown. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that through."

"…no worries…"

"I'll make it up to you. Promise." He gave her a smile and a thumbs-up before starting toward the apartment door. Hawks paused before unlocking it, facing away from her. "Uh…but we seriously do need to talk about last night at some point. I don't know if you were having a night terror, but that could've been dangerous-"

"Stop chirping." Yori saw him jump a little and felt a smirk tug at the corner of her lips. Before he could turn to look at her, startled by the fact that she was suddenly right behind him, the ex-villain wrapped both arms around his midsection and leaned her forehead against the back of his shoulder. His wings moved out to the sides to accommodate her, but he was still clearly unsettled.

"Yori-chan? Are you…hugging me?"

"Did I not tell you to shut up? I…have something to say, alright?" She felt him relaxing a little and frowned. Her heart was racing, stomach doing flips. The close proximity was raising her anxiety, but she was pushing herself. She wanted to get over her fear.

Yori took a deep breath and tried to push down all of her panic. "I feel bad…about putting you through so much. You're doing a lot to try to help me and I do appreciate it, even if I don't always act like it. I just…wanted you to know that, okay?"

He was quiet for a moment, one hand bracing against the door in front of him and his other hand very gently resting over her right hand on his midsection. "You're a good person. I know you are. That's why I saved you. And you're trying really hard to remake yourself. I'm pretty impressed with how far you've come! I never thought I'd get a Yori-chan hug!"

"Don't say it like that," she grumbled under her breath.

"It makes me really happy to hear you say all of that stuff, though. It feels pretty satisfying." When the hug ended, Hawks turned to face her and pouted a little. "Can I get another one when I come back?"

"Don't push your luck." Yori crossed her arms and her tails wrapped around each other as she became flustered. "And if we're going to talk about what happened last night, are you prepared to explain why you had that creepy reaction to my stingers when they scraped you?"

Hawks stared back at her for a moment and then rested a hand on the top of her head, tousling her hair. A sheepish smile replaced his pout. "That's what I meant." He saw her eyes immediately widen and he laughed. "Just kidding!"

"Go before I put my stingers so deep in your leg that you'll have to dig them out with a knife."

Shift P.O.V

He had been in some pretty dangerous situations before, but the incident from that night was on a different level of danger. Waking up to his ex-villain roommate straddling his waist and trailing her stingers over his thighs. It was alarming and he should have probably feared for his life, but instead of absolute terror, he had felt something else.

A rush of adrenaline. A spike of incomparable excitement. He had never felt something quite like it. Hawks had stayed in bed long after she got up; pretending to be asleep as he tried to process what it was and why he felt it.

Rehabilitating the ex-villain was supposed to be a hobby. A side project for fun. Nothing overly serious, since he had such flimsy plans for it. More than anything, he had just wanted to save her from the League of Villains. He was unsure of when his feelings started to change, but it was undeniable now.

As he entered the grocery store, holding Yori's grocery list and skimming the items, he admitted to himself that he liked this. Hawks liked having her around. He liked sharing all of his free time with her and helping her with her manga. When he saw how excited she became once her first volume was published, he had felt his pulse skip a beat.

Walking down the aisles, gathering the items on the list, Hawks smiled. The surprise he had planned was definitely something she would enjoy. She liked video games. He remembered her mentioning that at some point. So, in his mind, a laptop would be a perfect gift to celebrate her manga being published. She could play online games and plan out her chapters. At this point, Hawks trusted her enough and knew her well enough to be sure she would not try to contact a member of the League of Villains.