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"Endeavor~"
"Hawks, must you pester me this much?"
"H-haha, you just don't know how to h-have fun, you need to let loose..."
A pleased little smile settles on Keigo's face. his eyes are droopy and his lips purse together as he looks back at the number one hero. He's resting one cheek on his fist, head tilted ever-so-slightly.
The number one hero grumbles at him, trying to ignore the look on his face. He's not new at flirting, he's also not nearly as dense as news outlets & commentators make him out to be.
So, he notices the way Hawks' wings flap and flutter occasionally as he chatters nonsensically during their lunch.
He watches as Hawks hums when he bites into his meal. His attention is grabbed when Hawks' eyelids close, he notices the youngers hands clenching & unclenching as he chews.
'He looks stupid,' Enji decides.
He grabs a napkin to wipe at his mouth, sending a pointed look in the younger hero’s direction, eyes narrowing when he stuffs another mouthful of food in his face, the spicy sauce staining his lips a shade of red.
"Don’t be disgusting," he grumbles.
Hawks perks up at the number one hero’s words, wings flapping around a little. They typically eat in silence when they dine together, or at least Endeavor eats in silence as the younger man has a one-sided conversation the entire time. It’s like facing a brick wall when eating, although the brick wall probably has more personality than enji.
"You’re such a drag, Endeavor," Hawks says. He places his chopsticks down and picks up a napkin of his own to wipe his face, smearing the sauce on his face more. He crumbles the napkin and tosses it into the nearby wastebasket, missing by a long shot and groans in exasperation.
"Let me tell you, I don’t usually miss, big guy."
"You’re going to pick that up." Responds the older man as he holds up a glass of wine, not really minding Hawks’ useless chatter as he swirls the liquid around. He takes a sip and gives a look at the other man when a red feather zips out to pick up the napkin and chucks it into the wastebasket.
"What? Ca-can’t be bothered to get it up right now, i’ve got a delicious meal waiting for me over here."
"Do you have to talk like this all the time?"
"Like what?"
Enji shifts in his own seat, he uncrosses his legs to cross them again. He takes another sip of wine as the younger man looks at him with faux curiosity.
Truthfully, Endeavor could be literally anywhere else right now. He could be trying to repair his broken relationship with his kids and his ex-wife like he's been doing for the past six months. It's an extremely slow work in progress, extremely slow.
Natsuo is nowhere closer to accepting him back into their life now, in such a familiar way even, as he was before the older man knocked on his bedroom door one evening half a year ago. It was probably the first time he had knocked on Natsuo's door in years... probably the first time he had done it ever.
Even though Enji had an almost pitiful expression on his face as he stared down at his son, bruises and wounds that should most definitely be checked littered all over his body, hero suit tattered and destroyed, he stood before him. He needed to make an attempt at rekindling their relationship. He just had to.
So, in the middle of the night, the older man tried to apologize. He tried to say something to appease his son, but Natsuo gave him a look that Enji hadn't been able to forget - and he stepped away from the doorway. Enji was still, he made no move to stop the boy as he looked into his sons sad, sad eyes. Years of pain and abuse and pure hatred were bottled up in the poor boy's body and an apology late at night after a life threatening battle would not be enough to right their relationship. Not even close.
Natsuo had slid the door closed in his face, tremors passing through his body as he turned around to rest his back against it. He could feel his fathers presence on the other side, large and unmistakably him. It felt weak, however, and Natsuo wasn't going to turn a blind eye to the painful reality that his father was still a hero, the hero that everyone needed right now. Probably the only hero they were all going to get for a long while.
"Go get first aid, or collapse on the floor and die here. I don't care, just go."
And after a few moments of staring at the door, at Natsuo’s shadowed form against the screen that separated them, Endeavor left his son, again. Alone and to his own thoughts.
"-What do you see in the wine glass, Endeavor-san? You know, it's very rude to pay more attention to alcohol than your charming guest while having dinner together."
Enji is shaken out of his thoughts by the chipper voice of his… companion? friend? co-worker? Sure, co-worker. He realizes he had finished his serving of wine and was staring at the empty glass for a matter of time, probably weirding out his fr- co-worker. His co-worker, Hawks, who he is having dinner with... whose face is flushed?
"Listen, big guy, if you wanna leave you can."
Hawks still has his head in his hands, his fists clenched and that dumb, aloof expression is still settled on his face, although his eyes narrow as they catch Enji's gaze.
"I’m sorry, I… I was distracted by something" Enji returns, lamely. Setting the glass down and putting his hands in his lap. He had lost his appetite, not interested in eating after recalling his pitiful interaction with Natsuo.
"It's- ugh, it's all good. Wanna talk about it?"
"No," a pause. The younger man looks expectantly at Enji, "... but... I don't want to leave."
Enji startles at his own words. Where did that come from? What is he saying? One moment he’s lost in thought about his family and his wrongdoings and the next he's spewing some nonsense to Hawks - what is wrong with him?
He feels his face heat up as the two men sit in silence after his words. Hawks’ aloof expression has morphed into a, surprisingly appeased smile, he shifted a few times in his seat and hummed a tiny tune, unfamiliar and unremarkable to Enji, before replying.
"Well that's good, I've missed your company."
Enji must be drunk, he decides. Either he's drunk and hearing things or Hawks is drunk and is spewing nonsense, or they're both drunk and… Enji's running out of ideas, honestly. The older man has a low alcohol tolerance but this is unbelievable. One glass of, frankly really, really expensive and fine, wine and he's having hallucinations of pro hero Hawks coming onto him and telling him that he's missed Endeavor’s company.
Well at least he isn't thinking about his broken family anymore.