*WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS HEAVY SEXUAL CONTENT. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED*
In the early hours of the morning following the press conference, Hawks laid awake in bed with his gaze firmly fixated on Misaki's sleeping face in front of him. He'd finally relented to letting her get some sleep last night after she'd passed out on him following the completion of their fourth consecutive round. He'd let her borrow one of his t-shirts in an effort to curb his desire to run his hands over her naked curves so that she could actually get some sleep. Not that he'd joined her. He'd been serious about not wanting to waste a single second of their limited time together. She would probably tease him for being a stalker later, but he'd spent the rest of the night just watching her sleep, content to let himself lucidly dream about a bright future without the threat of All For One and the League of Villains, or the corrupt influence of the Safety Commission; a future united in peace and harmony, where heroes and civilians alike could smile together without bias or fear—a future in which he'd be happy to raise a family with the woman lying next to him.
He reached out to brush a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek behind her ear, tracing his fingers along the edge of her jawline as he pulled his hand away. She really was extraordinarily beautiful, especially when she appeared so relaxed as she did now. It had been a long time since he'd seen her like this, and he wanted to absorb every single second that he could while he had the chance. It was hard not to feel melancholy or bitter about their situation. After all the time they'd lost together, having to wait to make it all up now was akin to torture. But when he began to feel that regret set in, he would remind himself of the future that they were all working so hard to build—where they could have moments like these every day, instead of stealing them from the few brief, quiet hours between night and morning, when they could shut out the horrors around them and just be together.
Misaki let out a soft sigh as she gradually began to stir, slowly blinking her eyes open to meet his warm gaze.
"Morning," he whispered, his voice still a bit scratchy from his injuries.
"Good morning," she sighed in reply, a small smile spreading across her lips. Lifting a hand to rest against the side of his face, she traced her fingers down over his regrowing stubble and quietly asked, "How long have you been awake?"
"Awhile," he faintly admitted.
She stretched a little bit and yawned softly behind her hand before telling him, "You should've woken me up."
Tilting the edge of his mouth up in a smirk, he affectionately told her, "I like watching you sleep."
A wide smile stretched across her face as she dropped her eyes and playfully remarked, "Stalker." Snuggling up into his chest, she let out a deep sigh and said, "I missed this."
Hawks placed a soft kiss on top of her head, gently smoothing his hand over her hair while mirroring her sentiment. "Yeah, me too."
A sense of melancholy suddenly settled down upon him. He knew they shouldn't be this close. He was putting her in danger just being near her. Misaki wasn't a hero. And if the League thought she meant anything more to him than a convenient information source, she was likely to be in a lot of danger; especially considering what they'd done to the last person who had killed a member of their inner circle—Overhaul. They hadn't killed him; they'd mutilated him and stolen his most important possession. Well, he'd already been mutilated by Dabi once. Misaki was the only thing in his life right now that he was afraid to lose. And he would do whatever was necessary to keep her safe. Even from him
She pulled back a bit, gazing up at him as she asked, "What are you thinking about?"
He looked down and smiled reassuringly as he softly shook his head. "Nothing important."
Her brow drew together in a frown. "Keigo..." She divested herself from his hold and sat up, staring back at him pleadingly as she implored to him, "Please don't shut me out like that."
He sighed, dropping his eyes, and looking away for a moment before glancing back over at her ruefully. "I just don't wanna put you in danger because of me."
"Hey," she said as she reached out her hand to rest against the side of his face. "Don't take responsibility for other people's actions, that's not fair."
He stared evenly into her eyes. "Even if their actions are a direct result of mine?"
She held his stare as she resolutely told him, "You're not the bad guy, Keigo. They are."
He dropped his eyes into his lap. "Sometimes I think that depends on your perspective."
She grabbed his face with both hands and lifted, bringing his gaze back up to hers as she said, "That is my perspective. Always."
He honestly had no idea what he'd ever done in his life to deserve this woman, but whatever it was, he hoped he never stopped doing it. It wasn't just blind acceptance born of necessity, like the relationship between his parents had been. Misaki didn't ignore his faults in favor of his virtues, she took the bad with the good and supported him no matter what. She freely gave him something he'd never really had in his twenty-three years of life: true, unconditional love.
And it was high time that he gave her the same—starting with his true self.
He reached up to wrap his hands around her wrists and pulled her hands away from his face, holding them in his lap and staring down at them as he began to tell her his story. "Ever since I was a kid, all I've ever wanted to be was someone who helps people. A hero, like the ones I looked up to on TV. I feel like I've been living my entire life for the sake of others, but it was always for the wrong reasons. I didn't want to make my parents' lives any worse than they already were, so I kept quiet and endured. Signing my future over to the Safety Commission... I thought I was setting my mother free from the obligation of an unwanted child, when really, I was just turning my own back on her."
"You were seven years old, Keigo. You can't blame yourself for that," she softly implored him.
"I never went to see her. Even after I turned eighteen and started my own life outside the Commission. I worked out a deal with them to let me take over responsibility for her living expenses when I went pro. I'd send her a New Year's card every year to let her know how I was doing, and she'd do the same, but—" He lifted his doleful gaze up to hers. "I don't think I was really doing any of that for her. It was all to ease my own guilt." He shifted his eyes back down. "And I think she probably accepted all of it to ease some of her own. I was always running away from the problem instead of facing it like I should have. And now I may never get the chance to make up for that."
She was silent for a long moment before her small voice suddenly asked, "What would you say to her if you could?"
He thought about how to answer that for a while before quietly replying, "I would ask her if she was happy with her life."
"And if she said no?" Misaki whispered as if she already knew the answer.
He let out a wry huff and looked away. "That's probably why I never asked."
"Look at me." She reached out to turn his face toward her. "You are not to blame for your circumstances. You were handed an incredible amount of responsibility at an impossibly young age, and you did the very best you could at the time. Yes, the people around you took advantage of that, but just because they didn't appreciate the effort you gave doesn't make your actions any less noble. Even if your intentions may have been somewhat selfish, deep down, all you really wanted was for your loved ones to be safe and happy. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that."
He tipped the edge of his mouth up in a small, melancholy grin and leaned his face against her hand, staring into her eyes as he said, "You know, I actually tried to save Bubaigawara Jin. Even though he was a villain, at his core, he was just a guy who wanted to help his friends."
"Do you think you made the wrong call?" She asked as she gently stroked her thumb over his cheek.
He dropped his eyes and shook his head. "I know it was the right call. But I still have to live with the fact that I took his life."
"To save countless others," she reasoned grimly.
He glanced back up at her almost pleadingly and asked, "Is that supposed to make it okay?"
Misaki adamantly shook her head and said, "No, of course not. Taking someone's life for any reason is never okay. But you can make up for it by giving his death meaning; by honoring who he was and what he meant to you through your own actions going forward. Be the hero you've always wanted to be." She tilted her head and smiled at him warmly. "The hero I know you to be."
He hadn't known how much he really needed to hear that until she'd said it. People had been telling him since he'd woken up that his actions had been justified and that he'd done the right thing. He wasn't looking for anyone to forgive him or hold him accountable. His own part in the act aside, all he really wanted to know was whether or not Twice's death had been in vain. With all of the chaos and upheaval that was going on in the nation at the moment, it helped to have some reassurance that he was on the right path to figuring out his own answer to that.
Hawks reached up to lay his hand over the back of Misaki's, staring into her face which was softly illuminated by the light of the rising dawn pouring in from the curtain-clad window. "I told myself if I was ever lucky enough to get another shot with you, that I was gonna hold onto you as tight as I could and never let go."
She dropped her head suddenly, breaking her gaze away from his, and brokenly whispered, "Don't." She placed the tips of her fingers over his lips and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Don't say it if you don't mean it. I'll believe you."
He gently gripped her wrist and pulled her hand away from his mouth, holding her eyes with his as he said, "Go ahead. I have no reason to lie to you. Not anymore. For the first time in my life, I'm free to be who I wanna be, go where I wanna go." He reached out to cup her face in his hands, speaking to her with firm conviction. "Love who I wanna love. Now and always that's you, Misaki."
He swiped his thumbs under her eyes to brush away her tears and firmly told her, "Once this nightmare is over, if we manage to make it through this hell, I'm coming back to you. And I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with you."
A tiny sob escaped her as tears began dotting the edges of her eyes and she hunched forward, her hands clutching at his wrists as she let out a sobbing laugh. Resting his forehead against hers, he resolutely vowed, "Whatever we have to do to make it work."
A genuine smile spread across her face and she nodded, sniffling again as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her with all of the affection he felt for her in that moment. She lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck and he quickly deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue over hers as he laid her down beneath him on the bed. Her bent knees cradled his hips, and she leaned into him as much as she could, bringing their bodies completely flush.
How he wished he didn't have to deal with the bandages wrapped around his torso at the moment. He wanted nothing more than to feel her soft, warm skin against his without any barriers between them. For now, he would have to settle for what he could feel with his hands. He slid one of them down over her collarbone, brushing over one covered breast and down the expanse of her stomach to slip under the edge of the t-shirt. She arched her back and raised her arms to allow him to lift it over her head before tossing it onto the floor next to the bed. He traced his palm down to cup one of her bare breasts, swiping his thumb over her nipple before leaning down to cover it with his mouth and roll his tongue over her hardened areola. Misaki arched into the contact and let her head fall back against the pillow with a pleasured sigh.
Sliding his hand back down her side, he slipped his fingers inside the waistband of her black panties, turning his hand so that he could slip a finger down through her smooth folds. She rocked her hips against his hand as he stroked her clit with his middle finger for a bit, releasing her nipple from his mouth before trailing a path of open-mouthed kisses over her collar bone to her neck. He slid his finger down to slip inside her soaking, hot depths as his mouth found the pleasure spot located just underneath her right ear and she arched off of the mattress with a deep moan. He pulled his hand out of her panties in order to remove them. At the same time, Misaki took the opportunity to divest him of his own clothing until there was no longer anything between them but his bandages.
He laid them back down onto the bed and Misaki raised her right leg to wrap around his waist, sliding her bare foot down the back of his thigh as she rolled her hips against his. His uncovered shaft slipped right through her damp folds to bury itself to the hilt inside her tight, hot core. They both let out a deep groan from the feeling. He was already running hot from the emotional conversation they'd just had, slipping so unexpectedly into her velvet heat—his whole body tensed, and he dropped his head to rest heavily against her collar bone as he barked out a harsh curse.
Misaki released her grip on his back, concern edging her voice as she asked, "What's wrong?"
He was almost too embarrassed to tell her, but he forced the words out anyway. "Seriously... If I move right now I'm gonna come."
She lifted a hand to cover her mouth as she started to giggle.
He groaned as the vibrations from her laughter shot straight to his groin. "Don't laugh, I'm really struggling here!"
"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, trying and failing miserably to get her laughter under control.
He let out another despondent groan, fighting desperately to calm himself down as he whined, "This is killing me."
He felt her hand suddenly grip his bicep as her leg hooked over the back of his and before he could react, she had already flipped their positions. Sitting astride him, she placed her index finger in the middle of his chest and stared down at him with hooded eyes as she told him, "Then you just lay there like a tuna and I'll move."
His eyes widened and he reached out to grab her waist a moment too late, calling out in a panic, "Wait, don't!"
Having her perched atop him and staring down at him so seductively, combined with the feeling of her suddenly rolling her hips, was just enough to tip him over the edge and he abruptly lost his battle, shooting his load into her tight, wet sheath with a low, satisfied groan. He dropped his head back against the pillow with a curse, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his teeth as he reflexively began to move his hips, grinding up into her to work his release out inside her.
Her eyes widened in shock and she gasped as she lifted a hand to lay over her lower abdomen when he'd finished. "No way... You really came."
Hawks threw an arm up over his eyes in exasperation. "I told you! "
A slow smirk spread across her face and she pulled the edge of her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared down at him with hooded eyes. "Heh... It feels kinda good, seeing you lose control of yourself like that because of me."
He lifted his arm and shot her an incredulous look. "What are you saying?" Grabbing ahold of her wrist, he swiftly rolled her back underneath him and told her frankly, "When have I ever had control over myself when it comes to you."
She smiled up at him and giggled.
Drinking in her open, carefree expression of amusement, he could feel himself quickly begin to grow hard again and he stared down at her with a roguish grin. "I hope you're ready for round two."
"Round two, huh?" She suddenly switched their positions again, sitting astride his hips as she playfully chided him, "I think injured people should just focus on recovering and let their nurses take care of them."
Letting his arms flop down onto the pillow next to his head, he smirked as he stared up at her from behind hooded eyes and cheekily replied, "Yes, nurse."
He had slipped out of her when he'd pulled her underneath him earlier, leaving his semi-hardened length lying flat against his lower abdomen at the moment. Misaki leaned over, flipping her long, dark hair to one side with her arm before pressing her lips to his in a deep, sensual kiss. He slid one hand around her back while the other delved into her hair at the base of her skull, cradling her head while they kissed. She reached down between them to palm his shaft, gradually stroking him back to full mast before breaking their lip-lock and sitting up. Trailing her hands down his bandaged chest, she slowly began to rock her hips, rubbing her folds firmly over the back of his length. She leaned forward a bit, sliding her hands up his torso to gently brace against his ribs as she began to steadily grind her core against his shaft.
Content to let her set the pace, he reached out to trail his hands over the smooth skin of her thighs which were securely cradled at his sides. He slid his palms up over her hips to her waist, softly kneading her skin as he trailed them upward toward her chest while she continued to grind her soft folds over his hardness. Cupping the globes of her breasts in his hands, he slipped his thumbs over her nipples and was rewarded with a breathy sigh of pleasure from Misaki. They continued to rock together like that for a few minutes, slowly running their hands over each other and stoking their passion until she apparently decided that they were sufficiently teed up. She lightly trailed one of her hands down his chest to his shaft and carefully slipped him back inside her.
They both trembled and sighed in pleasure, stilling for a moment to savor the sensation. It was much less potent for him now than it had been before, thank goodness. His passion was steadily holding at a slow simmer as opposed to the flash boil that had sucker-punched him earlier. Sitting back, Misaki trailed her hands up his arms to grip the back of his hands, squeezing them slightly to knead her breasts as she began to slowly rock her hips. He bent his knees and dug his heels into the mattress in order to give himself a bit of leverage to meet her thrusts.
Pulling his hands away from her breasts, he interlaced his fingers with hers to help provide her with her own source of leverage to lean against. She tightened her grip on his hands as she began to move with more insistency, plunging her hips down to match each upward drive of his. Soft, panting cries spilled from her open mouth with every thrust and he couldn't help but lock his stare on her bouncing bosom. Feeling his passion gauge steadily begin to rise, he abruptly snapped his hips up against hers, driving in deep all of a sudden before resuming their steady pace. Misaki immediately whipped her head back against her shoulders in response and sharply cried out, squeezing his hands, and biting her lip while shuddering and letting out a deep, guttural moan.
Rolling her head back forward, she glared down at him with hooded eyes and guided his hands up next to his head as she leaned over to capture his lips in an open-mouthed kiss. He untangled their hands to slide his palms down her arms, gliding them along the soft skin of her back as he tilted his head a bit and entangled his tongue with hers. Upon reaching their final destination, his hands firmly claimed purchase on the round globes of her behind and she moaned into his mouth when he started moving deeper inside her. They maintained that pace for a bit, moving together in a leisurely and deliberate rocking motion while continuing to entwine their mouths in a relaxed but passionate, lingering kiss.
As much as he was enjoying their heated make-out session, he could feel his body telling him that it was ready for him to kick things up a notch. Tightening his grip on her behind, he started to up the pace with every couple of thrusts. Misaki pulled her mouth off of his and began to pant, moaning softly with every penetrating motion. The volume and cadence of her moans began to escalate in correlation to the intensity of his thrusts until she was crying out with every exhale and struggling to keep a breath. She lifted a hand to brace against the headboard while the other clenched the pillow next to his head, bringing her swaying bosom closer to his face. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hawks lifted his head and latched onto one of her perky nipples, sucking the rosy bud into his mouth and practically drawing a scream from Misaki. Taking pity on her, he released her breast from his mouth with a soft "pop" and let up for a moment to allow her to catch her breath.
She abruptly collapsed against him, panting and convulsing sharply with every few breaths while he ran his hands up and down her back to help calm her down. Admittedly, he'd probably gotten a little carried away there for a moment and had ended up pushing her a little too hard too fast. Even he was slightly short of breath from his actions, so it was little wonder that Misaki was struggling so much as well. She managed to recover fairly quickly though, getting her breathing and heart rate back down in under a minute. It appeared that she was in slightly better physical condition than she had been before their breakup. Not that she'd been out of shape before, but she was typically more of a marathoner than a sprinter while he tended to be a bit of both.
Bracing her hands against his chest, she pushed herself up and stared down at him with hooded eyes, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as she let out a heady moan. He shot her a toothy grin in response and shifted his hips a bit to urge her to move. Holding his gaze, she leaned back and braced her hands on the tops of his thighs, lifting her hips and almost slipping him out of her before dropping them back down. The change of angle placed more pressure on his tip every time she pushed him back in, sending a rocket of sensation firing straight through his groin with every thrust. The new position also perfectly angled him to nail her sweet spot it seemed, as she began to sigh and shudder with every drop of her hips that drove him deep inside her.
As she started to up her speed, she also began to roll her hips in a semi-circular motion that had him groaning out loud. "That feels amazing..."
Smirking back at him, she pulled the edge of her bottom lip between her teeth and threw her head back against her shoulders. He reached out to grab her hips and began to steadily thrust up into her from below, feeling himself edging ever closer toward release. Misaki tilted her head back down, her pleasure hazed cherry blossom colored eyes staring down at where they were joined as a soft flush began to light up her cheeks. Lifting her right hand from his thigh, she brought it around her body and slid her middle finger between her folds to circle her clit. Moaning wantonly, she bit her lip and began to clench her inner muscles around his throbbing shaft with every couple of thrusts as she raced toward her own peak.
His groin tensed up and he started to swell as his orgasm crested and he sharply groaned out, "Misa-chan, I'm gonna come!"
"Me too," her soft, panting voice replied just before she let out a loud, breathy moan and her tight sheath began to steadily convulse around him.
He joined her a split second later, groaning from deep within his chest as his release shot out to coat her pulsing walls. Bracing both of her hands back on his thighs, she continued to work her hips up and down on top of him, riding out her own release while she milked every last drop of his out of him. She finally halted her movements and her head fell back on her shoulders as she panted and sighed in the wake of her orgasm, still clenching around his gradually softening length.
Tracing his eyes down her lithe midsection, he reached out to run his palm up over her taut, defined abs and appreciatively observed, "You've been working out, huh?"
She rolled her head to the side and gazed down at him lethargically. "Mm, something like that." Shifting her hips, she let him slip out of her before flopping down on her back next to him. "I found a good sparring partner recently, so I've been brushing up on my jiujitsu."
She had mentioned to him once that she'd taken jiujitsu in high school for self-defense. He'd never seen her practicing it though, so he'd figured that she hadn't kept up with it. Considering how well she'd handled the villains who'd tried to rob her the day before yesterday, clearly, he had been mistaken about that. Seeing how fit she was now, and knowing that she'd been regularly training, it wasn't all that surprising to him that she'd managed to handle the situation on her own. It really was kind of a shame; Misaki would have made one hell of a hero.
He rolled over to face her and propped himself up on his elbow. "Any particular reason why?"
Her head turned toward him on the pillow, and she tossed him a sardonic grin. "I guess you could call it a constructive outlet for working out my frustrations."
"I see," he replied shortly, cringing slightly at the implied meaning behind the cause of her frustrations. "This sparring partner anyone I know?"
She shrugged her shoulders and turned over so that the rest of her body was facing him. "Maybe. You know that guy you thought I was dating when you came by to spy on me before Christmas?"
He blinked and cocked his head a bit. "Yeah?"
"That's him," she quipped.
"Huh. I'm not sure whether I should be concerned about that or not," he muttered, suspiciously shifting his gaze off to the side.
She smiled back at him and let out a soft giggle. "Don't worry. We're just friends. Neither one of us sees the other as anything more than that."
Hawks let out a sigh, closing his eyes and shaking his head before leaning in to place a quick peck on her lips. "You are so adorably naïve sometimes it drives me crazy."
Misaki laughed, reaching out to cup her hand around the side of his neck as she asked, "In a good way or a bad way?"
He cocked his head to the side, glancing away with a grimace before admitting, "Kinda both."
She let out another short chuckle before assuring him, "Seriously. There's nothing like that between us. We're just friends."
"If you say so. I believe you," he acquiesced, smiling back at her with open affection.
He really did feel like he hadn't any reason to worry. For whatever reason, this stunning, intelligent, compassionate human being was just as in love with him as he was with her. And now that there were no more walls, no more secrets or hidden agendas between them, he could finally say that he never had and never would experience a more fulfilling love than the one he shared with her. If there ever came a time when Misaki felt like she wanted to be with someone else it would be over his dead body, because he would fight anyone or anything that tried to separate them again like his life depended on it; just like he was doing right now. Her safety was his top priority, and finding and eliminating All For One and the League for good was the quickest way to ensure that they would have the safe and happy future he'd always wanted for them.
Returning his affectionate smile, Misaki leaned in and tilted her head as she gently pressed her lips to his. After a moment, Hawks softly broke the kiss, resting his chin on his palm as he stared down at her and asked, "How long can you stay?"
She shot a forlorn glance toward the light of the rising dawn streaming in through the sheer curtains covering the window before turning her rueful gaze back to his. She reached up to brush her fingers through his hair and smiled at him warmly as she told him, "Long enough for pancakes."
He loosened his hold on her and allowed her to sit up, watching as she stretched her arms high above her and tilted her head back, sending her long, dark hair cascading down her uncovered back in full, luscious waves. Waking up in a bed that smelled like her, seeing her beautiful face smiling back at him, being able to hold her and kiss her and hear his name on her lips again for the first time in over six months... It felt like he was living a dream; one that he knew he would have to wake up from very soon. Until the country was safe again, moments like these were likely to become no more than short-lived dreams.
He almost felt guilty for all of the happiness he was experiencing in his life right now, with everything going on in society at the moment, and considering all of the sacrifices he had made to get to where he was now. To finally be free of his Safety Commission shackles, to have the woman he loved back in his arms again, to not only survive nearly being burned alive but to be expected to make a full recovery; he was very aware of how lucky he was to have been given a second chance to make up for the sins of his past; and this time, he was going to do things right.
Misaki carefully began to pull her robe up over her back as Hawks sat up and leaned over to place a light kiss atop her bare shoulder before suggesting, "Let's make 'em together."
She turned her head toward him and lifted her hand to rest against the side of his face, staring affectionately into his eyes with a genuine smile on her face as she whispered, "I'd like that."
~*~
AN:
A happy(ish?) ending this time!
I am currently working on the third and final part of the main story, Winds of Destiny: Prevailing. As I am a stickler about writing this story as close to canon as possible, I'm waiting for more of the current (and final T.T) manga arc to come out before I finish fleshing out the storyline and writing out the chapters. I expect to start posting chapters of Prevailing sometime around the end of March or the beginning of April (but that is subject to change).
Thank you SO SO SO much to everyone who has stuck with this story and I hope you come back for Prevailing ❤️
In the meantime... I'll be posting weekly chapters of a little AU novella in Converging featuring Misaki and Hawks in a fantasy setting titled Once Upon A Time. Please check it out if you're interested!
Until next time! Stay safe and healthy out there my lovelies!
XOXO
L0LSAT