prompt: writing-prompt-s
“I’m sorry…. I’m just…so….tired, can I rest h-” the human said and then collapsed right after…in the dragon’s lair right in front of the dragon.
endeavor x hawks
part 2: here
Part 1
When Hawks next opened his eyes he was greeted by the sight of a cavern ceiling, faintly illuminated by the warm, flickering light of a fire nearby.
He could feel its heat all along his left side, where it had warmed his skin near to the point of scalding, heat seeping in to his very bones. It felt nice, he decided, much nicer than the biting cold of the snow-covered mountains he’d been trying to climb these past few days. With people following him, hunting him, he’d barely had the time to sleep for a fistful of minutes at a time, much less to set up a fire. And even if he had had the time, it was definitely one of the dumbest things he could do, broadcasting his position for all to see. He burrowed deeper in the heavy blankets covering him with a satisfied sigh, savouring the warmth.
And that’s when he realised that something was wrong and he jolted upright with a start. His eyes met with the unimpressed stare of a stranger sat on the opposite side of the fire, and he was scrambling to get his feet under himself and get the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.
He managed a few stumbling steps, when the world tilted violently to the left and vertigo sent him sprawling on his hands and knees, barely avoiding breaking his nose on the rocky ground. He heard steps hurrying closer over the ringing in his ears, and he turned around, fear making his heart jump to his throat and his arms raise defensively in front of himself, eyes closed tight.
Hands grabbed at him, pulling him back towards the fire, and he thrashed violently, fuelled by panic, desperately trying to get free, but the hands only tightened their grip and pulled more decisively on his arms, and not even kicking his legs stopped them. He felt tears spring in his eyes, and his voice broke when he cried a desperate: “No, no-! Please, please…” through his teeth.
It took him a couple seconds, curled defensively on the ground, to realise the hands weren’t holding him in their grip anymore. Hawks waited with bated breath for whatever came next, but when it eventually came, it wasn’t what he expected.
“I’m not… going to eat you.”
A low, deep rumble that could barely be called a voice. It prompted him to open his eyes and look up at the man standing over him.
“…H-huh?”
The man was huge: tall and broad, backlit by the fire, he cast a long shadow on the ground and Hawks both, and even in the dark the glare he sent his way was unmistakable.
“Stop being scared and come back to the fire.”
Having said that, the stranger turned around and simply went back to where he was previously sitting.
Hawks blinked.
Now that the man was facing the flames, the light revealed a shock of dark red hair and clear blue eyes sat atop a deeply scarred face. He was wearing soft, loose linens and tight, dark leather that hugged his waist in a very pleasing manner as he bent down to gather something near the ground. Then the man turned towards him once more, raising an eyebrow, and Hawks realised he’d been staring. He swallowed.
“What– You–” Hawks stuttered intelligently, adrenaline still high in his blood.
The man glared at him again, which did not help at all with how wildly Hawks’ heart was beating. “There– There were men,” he finally whispered. “They were–”
Suddenly, the man’s face cleared in understanding. “Those hunters that were tracking you,” he rumbled. “Passed this way last night.” Hawks froze. “They’re gone, now.”
“H-how– How do I know you’re not one of them?”
His question — more than legitimate, thank you very much — was met with the strongest, most unimpressed stare he’d ever received, then a narrowing of eyes.
“…Why wouldn’t I have tied you up?”
Yeah. Good question. As the frantic beating of his heart slowly returned to normal, Hawks noticed the absence of chains, ropes, weapons — well, except for a kitchen knife — or much of anything, really, in the small camp this person had made around the fire. There were animal pelts laid under the man and where Hawks had been resting, a pot and some waterskins gathered in one place, but besides that no travel packs, no signs of horses or other people — nothing.
It did not look like this person had been traveling for days up a mountain at all.
Relief slowly washed over him, relaxing his shoulders a bit. He was safe, maybe. Probably. At least from those who’d been hunting him, apparently. Then-
“Wait– last night?!”
“Yes,” the man growled impatiently.
“How–”
The man began glaring again. Realising he would not be getting any more answers before he moved from where he was still half-laying on the floor, Hawks carefully made his way back beside the fire. Not that he minded too much, seeing as the cave was actually quite chilly when far from the heat source, but he still consciously kept the way to the exit behind his back when sitting down.
So he wasn’t strong enough to fight this man off, but he sure as hell was quick. And still, even just having a clear way out went a long way into calming his nerves.
If the man noticed his careful positioning, he didn’t show it.
“How long… did I sleep?” Hawks tried again.
The stranger resumed what looked like binding a bundle of something, maybe herbs, with a string, finally taking his intense gaze off of him.
“You passed out at the entrance of my cave about an hour after sundown yesterday.” He paused to tie a couple of knots in the cord. “You slept all through the night and today, too.”
The man got up to set a big pot of what Hawks really hoped was food over the fire. Hawks patiently waited until the silence dragged on long enough that he realised the stranger was actually done talking.
“Your cave? You live here?” Hawks inquired.
“Yes.” The man frowned at him, sitting back down on the ground.
Hawks laughed awkwardly. “Hey, it’s– a nice place. Nothing wrong with living inside a cave. The Gods know I’ve slept in weirder places.” He seriously hoped he hadn’t angered the man. So far it didn’t seem like this person wanted to harm him, and he’d really rather spend the night here than trying to not freeze to death outside in the snow.
The frown on the man’s forehead only deepened.
“I mean it! Usually I look for hollowed out trees, but–” He almost missed it when the other muttered a low “foolish.”
“…Excuse me?”
“What you did. Passing out. It was very foolish of you,” the man growled. “Can you eat meat.”
“I–”
Hawks wasn’t too happy with the difficulty he seemed to be having at following the conversation. He prided himself on his quick wit and sharp tongue, but right now his head felt dull and heavy, his thoughts slowed down as if wading through honey, so he blamed it on that if he wasn’t ready for such an out-of-the-blue, not-quite question.
The man sighed, impatient. “Can you?”
“I– yes,” Hawks stuttered, still reeling from the abrupt change of topic.
The stranger nodded once, seemingly satisfied. “Those looked like a bird of prey’s” he rumbled, mixing whatever was cooking in the pot that had begun to smell divine. Hawks stomach rumbled noisily just as a chill ran down his spine. With a start, he realised the scarf he tied around his body to hide his wings was missing, leaving the feathered appendages folded close to his back perfectly visible. When he nervously glanced back at the man, he found the other already looking.
“Why didn’t you use them to fly away from the hunters?”
The question fell heavy between them.
Hawks stilled, muscles tense, eyes intent on the man in front of him. The silence was broken only by the crackling of the fire between them.
“You can’t, can you.”
Dread settled low in his guts and chilled his bones. This man had just realised one of Hawks’ greatest weapons was useless, and how helpless Hawks would be if he were to try and do anything to him, a small, grounded bird against all of him. Damn the cold and damn the snow, a wrong move and Hawks was ready to-
“I can splint them for you, if you’ll let me.”
Again, that was not what he’d expected. Hawks found himself blinking owlishly at the man, once more at a loss for words.
The other seemed to take his silence for hesitance, and lowered his eyes to the pot as he added, softly, “I’ll be gentle.”
Hawks felt his face get warmer in spite of the fire already heating his skin.
“I-I– They’re not– It’s– pointless,” he stumbled over his words and ended up blurting the uncomfortable truth: “They were clipped, when– when I was young.”
Had Hawks not been looking, he’d have missed the flash of rage that passed through the man’s clear eyes. A low rumble vibrated in the air from the man’s chest, barely restrained. “Humans?” Hawks nodded silently. “Despicable,” he growled.
In spite of all the scary noises and intimidating glares, Hawks felt something in his shoulders loosen definitely. Somehow he didn’t doubt that this big, imposing man was honest about his distaste for what happened to Hawks’ wings, he didn’t think it was all just an act to hide his real intentions. He seemed to be genuinely upset on his behalf, and Hawks believed him.
He turned his first honest, if small, smile at the man. “It’s alright, big guy. It was so long ago, I don’t even remember what it felt like,” …that may have been a lie, but Hawks figured it wouldn’t do any harm. And besides, he didn’t like people feeling sorry for him. “That and flying. Can’t miss something you’ve never had, right?”
The man said nothing, and after a moment turned back to the food cooking over the fire. Hawks grimaced and sighed silently, wondering what the guy could be thinking, and feeling like his attempt at lightening the tone had been a failure.
He would get a feel for it, time permitting, but damn if he didn’t almost feel like he was trying to decipher the emotions of a rock. The man seemed to only know three facial expressions: neutral glaring, mild glaring and proper angry glaring. Hawks knew he would figure him out eventually; just apparently not right away. Besides, right now he was too hungry, tired and lightheaded to properly put his mind to the task of studying the man’s way of emoting.
Hawks’ stomach grumbled loudly twice more while they were waiting for the food to be ready, and he closed his tired eyes, chin resting on his arms folded on top of his knees. The warmth of the fire made him drowsy, and before he realised it he was drifting off into a light doze.
He woke with a start at the feeling of a hand gently shaking him by the shoulder, and he looked up to see the big guy on his side of the fire, with a bowl and a wooden spoon in his hand. The hand touching him was very warm.
“Eat,” he rumbled at Hawks, and left the food on the ground in front of him to then return to his spot. Hawks reached for it, but had to wait a few moments for the bowl to cool down enough for him to hold comfortably in his hands.
When he did manage his first spoonful of stew, he actually moaned aloud before beginning to shovel the food in his mouth.
“Slow down,” came the glare-accompanied rumble from the other side of the fire.
“Sorry– Yeah–” he mumbled in between chewing what was in his mouth. “This ’s just– so fuckin’ good–” He heard a scoff coming from the other man, but Hawks was too busy trying to not cry at the first taste of actually good, warm food he’d had in– well, a while. “What did you put in it?”
The guy was looking at him. “Rabbit. Wild onions and carrots”, he rumbled.
“This is the best meal I’ve ever had in my entire life, a soup descended from the Heavens–”
“Calm down, little bird. I just used salt.”
Hawks looked at him with an amused glint in his eyes. Little bird. “I have a name, you know.”
“Should I, ‘know’?” The man’s face was as furrowed as ever, but Hawks thought he might be teasing right now. He nodded.
“It’s Hawks.”
The man’s gaze sharpened. “Am I supposed to find it funny?”
Hawks shrugged, an easy smile on his lips. “If you like.”
“Hmm.” Hawks almost felt the low rumble vibrate through the ground. “Enji.” Hawks’ smile grew wider.
“Enji. Nice to meet ya, Enji.”
***
They finished their meal in silence, only because the stew was too delicious and Hawks still too tired to fill the air with small conversation. Enji refused him a second helping, stating once that the food would still be there in the morning and then proceeding to glare silently at Hawks until he finally desisted.
“You’ve gone without having enough to eat for too long,” he offered in what Hawks decided to interpret as an apology. Hawks understood, but still, he couldn’t help wanting more of that delicious soup. The meat had been lean and tender, the carrots sweet, the broth salty and flavourful… It had warmed him from the inside out and it had seemingly managed to nourish his very spirit, other than just his body. It could also possibly be the last week and a half of roots and dried meat talking.
Busy daydreaming and chasing the remaining taste in his mouth, he almost didn’t notice when Enji handed him a cup of something.
“Careful,” he murmured before letting him have it, “it’s hot.” Hawks almost dropped it anyway.
“What is it?” He sniffed at the clear liquid, smelling something fresh and almost-not-quite spicy in the steam wafting up from it. “Mint?” He raised his eyes to look at Enji.
“Your breath is stale,” was the comment he offered, delivered deadpan like every other one.
“My- Well, excuse me if I haven’t–” he started, only to fall silent in disbelief as he watched Enji pick up the teapot that had been on the fire, with boiling water on the inside, and pour tea for himself in his cup, barehanded. And then drinking it right away. Without even flinching.
Hawks told himself that it was the exhaustion, the initial fear when he woke up and the hunger after that, that in normal conditions he would have pieced things together far more quickly. The growling, lives in a big cavern on top of a mountain, unbothered by high heat. Hell, he’d told him he wasn’t going to eat him when he’d first been out of his mind panicking and trying to run.
Enji was looking at him, waiting for him to finish what he’d been saying, so he saw the moment understanding dawned on his face.
“So…” Hawks stared at him carefully. “I heard there’s… a dragon living in these mountains.”
Enji had the gall to huff.
“So you really are as foolish as I thought you were.”
It was Hawks’ turn to huff. “And what does that mean?” Hawks countered. “I know dragons… don’t eat people.” Enji simply stared at him. “Well, not nearly as often as they eat– I don’t know, sheep? Deer? Probably deer, isn’t it? Or–”
“Still,” Enji interrupted him, “you could’ve gotten seriously hurt.”
“Oh please, how likely could it have been that the one cave I stumbled upon turned out the be the rumoured dragon’s lair?” Hawks raised an eyebrow at him.
Enji frowned. “A dragon is not the only dangerous creature living in these mountains.”
“Well, good thing I fainted on your doorstep, then.”
Enji blew a heavy sigh throughout his nose, and Hawks could almost see steam curling in the air in the dim light. “You could’ve gotten into serious trouble,” he insisted. At this, Hawks sighed as well.
“I know. But I didn’t. Or haven’t, yet,” he couldn’t help but tease a little.
“Hawks-”
“Really. What’s the point of entertaining this little ‘what if’ scenario?” He laid down on his side on the makeshift bed he’d slept on beside the fire, propped up on his arm as he sipped at the last of his warm minty tea. “I’m here, all in one piece. Those hunters are out there, freezing their asses off looking for tracks they’ll never find. And if miraculously they do find them, there’s a big scary dragon with me that’ll scare them off,” he smiled his sweetest smile at the man, who only glared at him in return.
“Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that, big guy,” Hawks laughed, a bit soft with sleep. His stomach was full, the bedding warm, and he was safe after days spent barely resting his eyes, constantly on the move to loose the men on his trail. “It’s just the way I am, I’m a positive guy… I try to look at the positive side of things.” His eyelids felt heavy, slowly but inexorably closing against his will.
“I never said it.”
Hawks willed his eyes to open up once more. “What was that?” he yawned.
“I never said I was the dragon.”
Hawks chuckled. Maybe he was imagining things, but he thought the guy almost sounded like he was sulking.
“Well, aren’t ya?” he murmured.
He’d almost fallen asleep waiting for an answer when he felt a warm hand on his chest pressing him down into the blankets, covering him up with the furs.
“Hawks.” Hawks looked up at Enji from beneath his lashes, eyes barely open.
“Hm…?”
“…Yes.” A proper growl this time, nothing human about it whatsoever, reverberated soft and deep in the air above his face. Hawks felt it resonate inside his chest. Enji’s eyes glowed impossibly bright, the light a blue so clear like a frozen lake, like the warmest flame.
“So pretty…” he mumbled, grinning, half unconscious, and then he drifted off to sleep.
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There's a part 2 coming eventually but I just wanted to put this out into the world otherwise I'd just continue editing at this forever (also sorry if anything sounds weird english is not my first language)
