"Mirko", he dramatically grabbed at his heart with a hurt look on his face, "Bird brain? How could you?" His act melted into a smile.

She grinned powerfully and punched him playfully on the arm. "Oh hush, you're so dramatic."

They continued their conversation while I thought about Mirko's words.

His carefree act is a facade.

That would make sense. That time where we were just looking at each other held a lot of importance. His eyes looked like he hated himself. Like he needs someone but if he's the

tortured hero that he seems to be, he won't ask for help. I don't even think he'd accept it.

He leaned into me, arm still around my waist. When I looked over, he was scratching his stubble and still talking to Mirko. If he wouldn't let himself lean on me when he was hurt, why now?

I guess it's different because he needed help then.

But the more I contemplated him, the more I questioned his actions and motives, the more I realized he does need help.

I think he's severely touch starved.

It was starting to get late so Hawks suggested heading out. He called his driver and said to give him about forty-five minutes or so. We walked out of the door into the slightly chilly night.

"Hey kid, wanna go on the roof?"

I gave him a slightly confused look. "Sure but...Can we do that?"

"They certainly can't stop us!", he said cheekily.

And with that he wrapped his arms around me and launched us into the air. It was a fast ride up but I still squeezed my eyes shut and held on for dear life onto his forearms.

When he landed, he set me down easy. And steadied me, like he did the first time we met. But this time, by the hips. "Damn kid. Your nails dig in deep. Ouch", he teased.

"Oh I'm sorry it's just- I didn't mean to", I apologized, lifting his arm to look at it.

When I pushed up his sleeve a bit, there were little pink lines and crevices where the tip of my nails were.

"Guess my back is screwed", he chuckled.

I was concentrating on the scratches I give him but what he insinuated hit me like a car just a moment after he said it. I dropped his hand and an all-to-familiar heat flashed across my face.

He softly chucked at my lack of words and looked up to the sky. When I followed his gaze, I saw the stars. There wasn't a bunch because of the surrounding lights, but there were a few here and there.

"The stars are prettier when you're closer, you know."

When I turned to look at him he was looking me dead in the face.

He continued. "Wanna get a look?"

I was stunned by his proposal. "I don't think I should. My dress", I trailed off. "And you've already been so nice, so you know..."

He sauntered closer, and even though his whole thing is a hawk, he moved like a panther. Like he was trying to be quiet not to scare me off. He was looking at me like I was prey.

"It's fine kid, I'm offering so it's okay. And besides, I wan-"

He was interrupted by a loud HOOOOONK, from the car that was going to take us home.

He shook his head and took my hand, leading me to the edge of the building. We were five stories up.

"Jump on three?"

"What?"

"Three!"

With that, my un-expecting body was pulled off of the building. The blood in my body went crazy and my stomach felt the rush that I only knew from falling dreams.

I pulled myself closer to Hawks and buried my face into his neck with a stream of swear words falling out of my mouth and into his neck as we fell, and I could feel his smirk as he spread his wings and stopped our rapid decent.

My feet tapped the floor so I unburied my head from his neck and started shaking a bit while deliriously giggling quietly, my voice a bit hoarse because if the wind stealing it.

He gave me a wide smile before saying "Fun, huh?"

"That was scary. You pulled me off of a building!"

"But did you have a good time?"

I had my arms wrapped around his waist so I brought them back to myself, slightly flustered before answering. I noticed the lipstick mark on his neck from my terror and my stomach felt light, but we weren't flying this time. "Yeah it was fun. But warn me next time!"

I'm gonna leave that there. Wait until he gets home and notices.

"We should get our jackets before we go, they're still in the closet."

"Definitely need those", I said awkwardly, trying not to stare at the smudge on his neck.

He offered his arm and I gladly took it. He had a smug smile on his face, leading us down back to the doorsteps. When we got to the large closet, we walked inside. The door automatically shut behind us and it made a weird noise but I brushed it off. I heard a buzz and looked over to see a switch coming out of a trap door in the wall.

"Woah. Cool."

Jeez a lot of people came.

I was ruffling through horribly expensive clothing. My elbow bumped into a familiar switch and the lights went out.

"Shoot", I mumbled.

I heard a chuckle from somewhere in the closet. I tried to elbow the same spot but I didn't hit the switch as I did before.

"I should probably say that since this is rented only for heroes and very wealthy businessmen, it's high tech."

"So what, do I clap twice or something?" I responded sarcastically.

I practically could feel the cheeky tone of his voice, "No it means that the door latched behind us and since you turned off the light, the switch-"

I heard a weird buzzing noise.

"It goes back into the wall and now we have to wait for the next person to walk in here to free us."

My eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Yep."

I tried to find him with my hands as I stumbled around in the darkness. I felt something soft but firm. My hands landed on Hawks's chest. I felt two hands gently wrap around my wrist.

"Hey cutie."

I'm glad he can't see my face because it no doubt dusted a little pink.

"You know this technology, right?"

He let out an agreeing hum.

"So you knew this was going to happen when the door shut", I narrowed my eyes at the darkness in front of me.

"I can't say it didn't cross my mind", he chuckled.

I gave his chest a playfully scolding tap.

"And you can see in the dark," I said accusingly.

"Well, feathers. But yeah." He moved his hands to my waist.

Wait this means that we are in a closet. Alone. At a party. In the dark. Jesus, (y/n), what did you get yourself into.

I blushed more at the thought.

"Your heartbeat sped up. Thinking lewd thoughts?"

"No!"

He snickered. "I'm just teasing ya, kid."

"Do you know when someone might find us?"

"I mean, Endeavor said he was leaving around twelve. It's around ten forty-five, by the way," the darkness replied, smug as ever.

"Damn. Well, someone might come before...?" It was less of a question and more of an unsure statement .

"Hard to tell, sweetness", he said darkly.

I could feel him leering at me, even with no light. He pulled me up against him and when he spoke I could feel his breath fawn across my face.

"So what do you want to do until then?"

My words once again got caught in my throat.

"What? No smartass remark?"

I opened my mouth, but knowing myself, I knew I would just stutter out something stupid, so I closed my mouth and opted for silence.

I felt a rough thumb trace my bottom lip. "You know, the way my feathers work is almost like echolocation, except I don't send out a noise. I can see clearly in the dark. I can hear you blushing."

My mouth opened slightly at the slight force of his thumb.

"Opening your mouth for me? You did that by yourself," he replied with a dark chuckle. "You like this, yeah? You go weak everytime I give you this kind of attention. You're not slick, kiddo."

He dragged his thumb down lightly, taking my bottom lip with it. He was gentle, almost like he was touching an egg. His words were going straight down to my stomach, making it light.

"When you were falling you buried your face in my neck and smeared your lipstick on me." His thumb continued to stroke my lip. "You know, if someone walked in right now, they'd get the wrong idea. Hair messy from falling, lipstick on my neck and smeared on your lips, that bright red blush on your face."

My heart was racing.

"You're not even trying to hide it. Your breath is short. Well, what happens when I lean in, hm?"

The hand that was on my bottom lip moved to my jaw and gently led my head to the side. He was driving me crazy, and he knew it. With just his words he flustered me and I could barely function. He was turning me on so badly, I was trying not to let my knees buckle.

His lips ghosted my ears and whispered dirtily, "Can you handle this? I see the way you look at me and it's not the way business friends or even casual friends look at each other. I catch you looking at my body. No shame. You get so flustered it's hard not to take advantage of. And the way you go weak when I lower my voice. You clearly have a thing for dirty talk, don't you?"

My lips were almost stuck together in the horny haze he put me in.

"That wasn't rhetorical."

I opened my mouth to answer when I heard the door handle. The sound immediately snapped me out of it. Hawks pulled his hands back slowly and the door opened.

The lights turned on and I was mortified by who was standing there. The silhouette of a tall mountain of a man glared down at us.

"Hey, Endeavor! We got locked in here. Join the party?"

I looked over at Hawks and he was standing casually with both of our jackets across his arm and his hands in his pockets. And to my mortification, my lipstick had not been wiped off of his neck.

I turned back to Endeavor who just gave a short and stern reply about leaving his phone in his jacket pocket and moved aside to let us out. I quickly scurried past him while trying not to panic. Hawks walked cheerily behind me, then caught up with my speedy gait and wrapped an arm respectively around my waist.

"You sensed him with your feathers."

"Mhm."

"And you didn't wipe-"

"Nope", he cut me off smugly.

I put my face in my hands, "What if he thought that-"

"Oh, he definitely thought", he opened the door for me and I continued to panic.

"You're not taking this seriously! What if..."

"There are no repercussions here, doll. But if you still want to wipe the lipstick off, use your tongue."

Heat swept over my face as I claimed into the car. I couldn't hear it but I saw him chuckle through the window when he was walking to the other side.

"Stupid..."

He claimed in and told the chauffeur do drop me back off at my house. They nodded and we started on our way. I was looking at my lap while chewing on my thumb, thinking about being caught.

Boy, could he sweet talk. And that was barely spicy, I wonder what he sounds like when he's giving it his all...

He still had that smug smirk on his face. Though his head was facing the window, I could see the reflection. All of a sudden he winked at me.

I was caught off guard and stared out of my own window. Eventually we were at my driveway and he got out with me.

"Really glad you could make it tonight, it was pretty fun teasing you."

"Whatever..." I said quietly, trying to unlock my door.

I felt a hand gently spin me around. Hawks pulled me so our waists were against each other and my nose was inches from his. He took my hand and brought it up to his lips and gave it a kiss while he stared at me with his dark golden eyes.

Then he changed completely and gave me a cheeky smile.

"Seriously! I had a fun time. Can't wait for you to start work!"

I was left with a red face, frozen. Watching him walk back to the car and drive off.

"Jesus. What have you gotten yourself into (y/n)..."

I successfully unlock the door and walk in. Home sweet home.