"Does it bother you that people are scared of you?" Hazel asked, tracing a pattern on Hawk's abs. He was silent for a second then he put his thumb under her chin, bringing her head up to look at him. He had a soft expression on his face and his bright green eyes were warm in a way that she had never seen them before.
"No," he answered, "I'm okay with it. There are only two people who I really care about not being scared of me, and that's you and Drew."
Hazel smiled and leaned up to give him a small kiss. He grinned and his dimples popped out.
"Speaking of, when will you see him?" she asked.
Hawk sighed and his smile went away, bringing the dimples with it.
"I don't know. I was supposed to go see him this weekend, because I don't have a fight, but I'm not leaving you here by yourself."
Hazel frowned and sat up.
"That's stupid," she declared. Hawk raised an eyebrow.
"Hawk, I'm eighteen, I can stay here by myself."
"I know you can, I just don't want to be too far from you right now, with all the shit with Clark so fresh," Hawk said.
Hazel stared at him for a second, chewing on her lip.
"Then have him come here," she said, shrugging.
Hawk hung up the phone, his eyes a bright, excited green and turned to scoop Hazel up into a bear hug. She giggled and wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders.
"So, I'm guessing they said yes?" she said. He set her down right in front of him, but kept her tightly pressed against his body, one arm around her lower back, the other tangled in her hair.
"They said yes," Hawk said, leaning down to give her a kiss. She smiled into it and kissed him back, moving one hand up to play with the silky strands at the base of his neck.
"That's awesome, babe," she said, pulling back and giving him a warm look.
"I'm so psyched to see him," Hawk grinned, biting his lip.
"Should we plan something?" Hazel asked. Hawk tilted his head in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, should we make dinner reservations somewhere or something?" Hazel asked.
Hawk chuckled.
"Baby, Drew is a simple kid. He's like me, he inhales everything."
Hazel tilted her head, conceding that.
"Oh, that reminds me, I have to pick up Cece from a friend's house and I was going to leave early and get some groceries. Anything you want?"
Hawk blinked at her and his face got all warm and soft in a way that she was familiar with.
"Why are you giving me the face?" she asked in a soft voice.
"What face?" Hawk asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
"Your gooey face. It's the face you make whenever you really like something I said."
Hawk smiled and skimmed his nose down the length of hers, pausing to give her a soft kiss on the lips.
"You're going grocery shopping for us," he whispered, "I like that."
Hazel grinned.
"And in response to your question, no. Just get whatever you would normally get just...in larger quantities."
Hazel stared at the two liter of Coke for a second, then grabbed three more and added them to the cart.
"Larger quantities," she muttered to herself.
After she went through the junk food aisle, in which she picked up practically everything, she decided that since the cart was overflowing, she must be done.
She very reluctantly paid with the money Hawk had given her, but only because when she had protested, he had just kissed her and murmured, "babe."
And it made her happy when he did that, so she would use his money if it meant that didn't stop.
She picked up Cecelia from school and then went back to the apartment.
It wasn't until she was putting away groceries, planning what she would make for dinner, that she realized how...family everything was. Grocery shopping, paying with Hawk's money, picking up Cece for school, planning dinners. It felt weird. But, God, it felt good.
The door opened and Hazel heard the now familiar sound of Hawk's heavy footsteps coming down the hall.
"Shoes!" she called out. The footsteps stopped, retreated, and when they came back they were much softer. She turned to Hawk with a smile and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You're all sweaty," she declared, giving him a soft kiss.
"Mmhmm," he murmured, going in for more.
"And stinky," she pointed out.
"That too," he agreed.
"You should probably take a shower," she said.
At this, he grinned against her mouth and tightened his arms around her waist.
"You're hugging me," he informed her.
"I'm aware."
"So, you're sweaty, too," he said against her mouth.
"This is true," she conceded with a smirk.
"So, I suppose we both need a shower," Hawk said, shrugging.
"I suppose we do," she muttered, her eyes dropping to the freckles on his nose. She took the hand that had been playing with the short hairs at the nape of his neck and ran her thumb over the bridge of his nose.
"Fifty-two," she whispered. Hawk grinned, showing his dimples, and leaned forward to nudge her nose with his own.
"Thirty-four."
"I still can't believe you counted my freckles while I was sleeping," she said, smiling and shaking her head.
"I didn't. I counted your freckles while you were pretending to be asleep because I was being an asshole."
"No, baby, you were just being yourself," she said with fake sincerity, raising her eyebrows a little.
"An asshole?" he asked.
"Exactly," she said, shrugging one shoulder innocently.
"I love you so much."
The look on his face after he said it showed that he hadn't meant for it to slip out, but it had. Hazel smiled at him and leaned up to give him a kiss.
"Hazel," he whispered, pulling back from her a little. Her eyes widened, he had never pulled away before.
He held her face in the palm of his hand.
"I love you...so much," he said adamantly.
"I love you too," she answered back, thinking that she hadn't said it outright yet and that was what he was looking for.
"No, Hazel, that's not-" he broke off and looked away before looking back at her.
"I...love...you," he said, slowly, enunciating every word, wanting it to sink in, "so much."
She paused and stared at him for a second, taking in the heated look in his bright green eyes, and she started to get it.
He loved her, so much.
Her bottom lip quivered and she bit on it to make it stop. Her eyes glazed over with tears and when she blinked one escaped.
"Hawk," she rasped. She planted her face in his chest and took a deep, shaky breath. "Thank you," she whispered.
His arms tightened around her almost to the point of being painful, but she didn't care. She felt safe.
"Don't thank me," Hawk said, closing his eyes and burying his face in her hair, "please, just...don't."