KEIGO "HAWKS" TAKAMI | Push Through
You stared out of the window from the apartment bedroom, watching the clouds roll by on this sunny day. In a way, it was a blessing to have windows that stretched from floor to ceiling, but staring with your head upside down from the bed wasn't the cure for this throbbing headache that refused to leave you alone. You groaned and exhaled with a huff, feeling that tension pool to the top of your head. This wasn't helping, in fact it made you nauseous. Pulling yourself back up onto the bed only made it worse, but staring out the window was more exciting than staring at the ceiling.
The sound of the front door opening then shutting sent a stabbing pain in your forehead, the wave of nausea washing over your skull before you tried to concentrate on your breathing instead.
"Dove? Are you home?" called out a voice from within the apartment.
All you could do was mumble in reply as loudly as you could without inflicting more pain onto yourself. You tossed on the bed, feeling the cool linen against your skin that only brought a small hit of relief with your back facing the door. The sound of footsteps edged closer behind you, however, you still laid unmoving, focusing on the feel of the linen.
"The Commission's given some case notes for a future mission," continued the voice before the footsteps drew near. "They're hoping you could give them some numbers..." The voice trailed, but you still laid still, drifting into a doze against the soft plush of the bed.
Hawks stared at your back, curious of your unmoving form while he immediately began to approach you quietly. His hands gently gripped onto your shoulder before a small whimper escaped your lips.
"Where does it hurt?" asked Hawks with a soothing voice.
"Everywhere," you mumbled. "Head."
You felt his hand leave you, his presence no longer there while you continued to delve into the feel of the linen against your head. It was all you could focus on, the tiniest minute feeling if only to keep your mind away from the throb that persisted and knocked again and again. Time seemed to slow for a while, realising you hadn't heard anything more from Hawks until the smell of something warm filled your nose. It was comforting and for some odd reason, it eased your tension until you slowly opened your eyes.
The sunlight had almost disappeared, turning the sky into a dusky orange. You thought it must've been hours since you last saw the sky filled with white clouds that drifted against the sea of blue. Every movement you made felt like you were moving in slow motion, turning your eye towards the open bedroom door to spot someone moving in the distance by the open kitchen. Your vision blurred for a moment until his figure appeared once more, holding a small breakfast table in his hands with a bowl of broth and a glass of water. The bed dipped a little before that same hand gripped you gently on the shoulder, enticing you to turn away from the windows.
"Come on Dove," coaxed Hawks. "Eat up."
You followed his command, slowly rolling over to find the breakfast table on the bed, welcomed by the warmth of the broth that sat there. Against your better judgement, you pulled yourself up, feeling that dizziness hit you like a brick wall. You swallowed the pain, breathing heavily once more until Hawks offered aspiring into your mouth followed by the glass of water he had ready for you. WIthout realising, he began to hand-feed you, taking in every sip of broth into your mouth after he had cooled it first.
It was only this comfortable silence between the both of you while he tended to your crippling headache, halfway into your broth before you lifted your hand to gently grab hold of his.
"Thank you Keigo," you mumbled. "I can take it from here."
Hawks chuckled before he handed the spoon over to you, watching you sip the last of the broth on your own. "We'll talk after you feel a little better to use that brain of yours," he cooed with a teasing grin.
"You can't cut me some slack, can you?" you questioned, your forehead feeling a little more at ease with the warmth that filled you.
"Never a dull moment."
He quickly made his way back to the kitchen with breakfast table in hand, leaving you to sip the rest of your broth in bed. Your focus drew to just that, feeling relieved to have something to eat before placing the now empty bowl on the bedside table. Now with some renewed energy, you slowly stood to your feet, dragging them along the floor to make your way into the lounge to join Hawks for the night.
Perhaps after some time, this headache will ease up further.
SHOUTA AIZAWA | First Day Jitters
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.
And the occasional ring-in.
You hissed from the incessant twang from your desk with a swipe of your hand to stop it, collecting the handset from the desk phone to your ear. "Endeavour Agency, how may I help you?" You sighed calmly while the throbbing escalated across your forehead and into your temples, while listening to the voice on the other line. You hummed and nodded to keep yourself present in the moment, but that headache was becoming a nuisance, more so than usual.
"Thank you, it's very encouraging to hear such kind words from good upstanding citizens," you replied with a tense lip. "I'll be sure to pass them along to the hard-working Heroes and Sidekicks here. Yes, yes, thank you. Yes, thank you. Have a terrific day."
With a clang, you slammed the headset back onto the desk, your head hanging low below your shoulders before you grabbed hold of your skull in the palms of your hands. This was unusual. The aches were like daggers this time around, stabbing into your brain at random intervals that prevented you from optimising your workflow. You tried to recall the last time you felt this way with your Quirk, feeling the searing pain gnash through whatever grey matter was left between your ears. It became unbearable to ignore.
"Why now?" you groaned under your breath.
The sound of your office door creaked open, which didn't help your situation while your eyes squinted from the pain. "Whatever it is, can it wait til tomorrow?" you called out with a growl.
"So, you called me all the way here for nothing?" spoke a calm gruff voice, one that you were very familiar with after all of these years, ever since reuniting with him on your ten-year school reunion with the man.
Shouta Aizawa stood by the door staring at you inquisitively despite the eyepatch he wore, holding a box of aspirin and a glass of water that he was able to procure from the agency's kitchen. There was a moment of silence until he saw your hand wave him over, entering your office and shutting the door as quietly as he could.
You still held your head against your desk, mulling over how this splitting headache came to be, wondering how much you've pushed your Quirk this very day to cause you this grief. You weakly opened your hand out, still with your eyes to your desk shut tightly from the pain.
"Hand the goods over," you groaned weakly.
"Hun, look up," ordered Aizawa.
You hated the idea, but slowly and surely, you lifted your head and peeked through your eyes to stare up at the man, noticing his tired eyes on you with a hint of a smile. You pouted through the tension that pressed between your brows, snatching the box of aspirin and quickly downing a couple with a large swig of water. Aizawa still smiled.
"This is your fault," you piped with a hiss.
"I'm not the worrier," he unapologetically remarked.
"That's what worries me."
"And that's why you're causing more harm than good to yourself."
"Aren't you a little concerned about Sana's first day of kindergarten?" you questioned while your eye twitched from the sudden spike that drilled into your brain.
Aizawa stared apathetically at your pain-filled expressions, finding your hand grabbing hold of your head again. He immediately reached out and gently held his hand atop your head, tousling your hair a little while he looked back into your eyes.
"We dropped him off at a very good school, you know that?" he reassured, while he calmly continued to massage the top of your scalp. "Eri will pick him up, and she'll drop him off to me before we come and see you."
You stared into Aizawa's eyes, well, at least one of them unhindered by the eyepatch he wore. In the back of your mind, you knew that the aspirin would take effect within the hour, and only take off the edge of your usual aches and dull pains for the day, but seeing Aizawa and feeling his presence did help with a sense of relief. Your head leaned into his hand that slid past your scalp and onto your cheek, feeling his fingers trail softly over your temples while he did so.
"Do you have to go back to UA?" you asked weakly.
"Not right now," he simply replied.
"Then pull up a chair and keep doing what you're doing for a little while longer."
With a slight rearrangement of chairs in your office, Aizawa ended up seated on your office chair while you sat on a small stool, your back on his chest while his fingers curled around your head, gently massaging into your hair. You ensured you gave him some room for his legs, especially for his right prosthetic that leaned against your desk.
For now, in this moment, it was bliss.
TAISHIRO "FAT GUM" TOYOMITSU | All Work and...
Children brought joy to the world. That has always been your motto for many years, back at home in Osaka, and now here in your new home of Musatafu. The sound of their laughter brought a smile to your face, and the sound of their cries took hold of you with a passionate rage. But now, on one of many bright days of the year, each cry and scream of joy only brought about the white hot pain of a knife stabbing into your skull multiple times.
You groaned on the reception desk with those cheerful sounds behind you, muffled by the walls and the glass. Even the sunlight was piercing while you covered your head in your arms, laying atop the desk. You drifted in and out of sleep, earlier hoping that a short nap could help soothe this oncoming headache that persisted. But alas, nothing helped. If anything, it only made the situation a little worse.
A tug at your shirt slowly caught your attention while you lifted your head slowly, finding a young boy stare up at you in his uniform.
"Are you okay?" he shyly asked with concern, only allowing a smile to cross your lips despite the dull throb in your temples.
"Of course I am sweetie," you reassured with a calm voice. "Go back inside and have fun with everyone else, okay?"
"I can make you feel better."
Through your tired eyes, you gazed curiously at the boy, watching him close his eyes for a short while before he snapped them open with a tiny fury. His eyes glowed red while his hair softly floated above, staring up at you with a sense of hope. You sighed with a smile, understanding his intentions before you laid a hand atop his head, involuntarily causing him to blink out from using his Quirk.
"Oh sweetie, I'm not like your parents," you explained while you reassured him with a gentle pat. "It's okay, I have a friend who's coming over to help me."
"Then I'll stay until they get here," he motioned, leaning his arms on your lap while you tousled his hair. You chuckled at his kind nature, breathing slowly through the pain before you leaned your head back onto the desk. It helped to have some quiet company after learning more about the boy that refused to leave your side. It was already mid-year of the school year, and children came and went, leaving behind memories of their beginnings onto hopefully bigger and brighter things. This boy was no different to everybody else, but seeing his kindness separated him from the rest.
You couldn't tell how long it had been while you sat in silence with the boy. You only focused on the pain that tore through your head and down your spine. You felt nauseous and faint for a while, most likely drifting off to sleep at some point, until a light tapping on your desk slowly woke you once more.
"Are you okay?" asked a boisterous voice from above.
You mumbled a little before you pulled your head up from your arms, feeling the weight of it press against your neck. There, standing before you was a very familiar friend, the one who convinced you to transfer to Musatafu after a week-long visit during his recovery. Taishiro Toyomitsu, well-known as Fat Gum, stood before you with a wide grin on his face. There had been the occasional visit to Cantros Kindergarten as his bigger self, always the star with the children when they see him, but lately you had been surprised to see him in his tall muscular self instead.
"Make them feel better," ordered the young boy next to you, his pout pulled down into a frown while he eyed the Pro-Hero standing by the reception desk.
"Will do, thanks for keeping them company Sana," voiced Fat Gum before the young boy hopped away with the rest of his class inside. "I told you you shouldn't have gone into work."
"We're down by one, and I can't leave only one of us to manage the desk and look after the kids," you explained before you opened your hand out to him, noticing the plastic bag that he carried in his arms.
"All right, come on then Dewdrop."
From inside the bag, he pulled out a small box of aspirin plus a water bottle, most likely recent purchases from a convenience store not too far away. Convenient for being a part of one of Musatafu's more populated regions in Esuha City. You gladly took the box, ripping it open to down a couple of aspiring before slowly sipping away from the water bottle.
"Sorry, I can't stay long, but promise me you'll take it easy today," asked Fat Gum, searching your eyes while you stared at the desk, still with water in hand sipping.
"I promise," you mumbled. You figured he had to leave again due to the workload and the job he had. It was a given for a Pro-Hero such as himself. You were more than glad he popped in to help while your eyes stayed shut from the sunlight.
Suddenly the sound of a chair pulled up at your desk, causing you to squint a little from the sound that attacked your temples. You peeked to find Fat Gum still present, sitting by the desk opposite you before he pulled out more items from that plastic bag he had. The smell of convenience store food hit your sinuses, each one enticing while he continued to lay them on the reception desk one at a time.
"What is this?" you asked with a groan, staring at the small banquet that lined up in a row. "Aren't you going?"
"I said I can't stay long, doesn't mean I'm leaving now," explained Fat Gum with a smile, finally placing the last of everything on the desk.
You chuckled despite the pain that it brought in your head, leaning on your hands while you stared at all of the small dishes before you. A click of chopsticks caught your attention, watching Fat Gum playfully hold a pair before he picked a small piece of food for you to eat. You smiled, opening wide to welcome his offer while he fed you, sharing the meal between yourselves for as long as he stayed.