tired. that word seems too simple, too light. shigaraki seems like he’s the type of exhausted that sleep will not cure. in his own terms? he has a status effect and that bitch is permanent. a lot of their growing army gives him a considerate amount of space and hawks has been able to gather that this is because of a mixture of respect and fear. the stare helps. knowing that it takes a touch to turn things into literal dust does, too. shigaraki’s quirk is terrifying on a good day, but a lot of them hold their breath over what could happen during a particularly bad one.
respect is important, here.
he doesn’t know how short shigaraki’s fuse is, yet.
and he’s a little less than eager to test those waters.
he has a lot of work to do, still.
falling into good enough graces earned him time around shigaraki but there’s still a lot of ground he needs to cover as far as trust goes. well. maybe not trust. men like shigaraki aren’t always capable of trust, but they do respond to loyalty. the other man doesn’t have to trust him fully, per say.
hawks just wants to make sure he remains one of his more significant pieces on the board. it’ll keep him alive, yes. it’ll keep him close to information, also. but most of all? it’ll mean he serves a purpose. the commission spent a lot of time and effort into training him, into putting him in this exact room with this exact person. being cast out --- being broken down because of failure wasn’t an option. he would do this. he would become one of them, even if meant staining his own hands --- his own soul.
loyalty.
where does his really rest?
“i can help with that, if you’d like~.” a gloved hand raises and jiggles the can he’s holding, a very familiar object. energy drinks seem to be a very key part to the winged one’s diet. “one’a these little babies might be enough to push you to ... whenever it is you sleep. or.” he leans a bit to the side, thoughtful. “you could always nap and i could task myself with chasing away anyone who tries to bother you. sleep is important.” there’s a pause. “so is eating. have you done that, recently? on a scale of one to ten, what would you say your self-care level is at?”
