Chapter Text
Frequenting the South Seas apartment quickly turned into another place for Hawk to call home. He and Miguel didn’t need to be together for long to receive the warm embrace by Miguel’s mom and grandmother. They were accepting and supportive from the start which made feel Hawk secure about himself as well. If he wasn’t back home in Encino or at the dojo, it was a guarantee that he was at the Diaz’s. Things like this were inevitable; one of them being at their boyfriend’s house.
He was over so much that he picked up more and more Spanish with each visit it seemed. Every time Hawk was knocking at their door, Rosa always answered with her warm smile and an even warmer hug followed by a fast string of sentences in Spanish. “Hi honey, come inside. Are you hungry? Would you like a snack? I made pineapple empanadas. I’ll bring them to you in Miggy’s room.”
It didn’t matter that Hawk didn’t fully understand what she was saying. He picked up the few words he knew and strung them together to formulate was she was saying. He simply appreciated how she treated him, “Ah, thank you Ms. Diaz – “
“Hey!” She interrupts him with a light tap to his shoulder, finger pointing at him, “I told you to call me Rosa or Ya-Ya.”
Smiling, he holds his hands up placatingly, “Sorry, Ya-Ya,” he corrects himself, “I’d love some.” Satisfied with his answer, she sends him off to Miguel’s room with a wink.
Even though she was fluent in English, part of Hawk felt like he should answer her in Spanish since she had a clear preference. It was the manner of respect he wanted to exchange with her in her home, which motivated him to do better in Spanish class by studying more and immersing himself into the language. If he could learn code and BASIC, he could learn another (non-computer) language.
Hawk fidgets with his assignment, crumpling the paper with how tightly he holds the spiral notebook. He hesitates to ask for Miguel’s help, worried about what he wrote being wrong or sounding dumb. Or worse, having to answer the slew of questions Miguel would have for him out of left field. “Have you been practicing? Why? You did this for me and my family?” Hawk knew Miguel would find it, romantic, or whatever – not exactly the image Hawk had in mind for himself except for when they were alone
“Hey, can you look this over for me?” Hawk asks Miguel during study hall. “I think it’s right, but I could use some help from Mr. Honor Roll.” he smirks, handing his notebook over.
Miguel grins, taking the notebook as his answer. He glances down at the page and flinches in surprise, “Is this Spanish one?” He asks, brows furrowed and eyes skimming over the sentences. “This is more Spanish three stuff.” He looks over at Hawk, “I thought you were still in the introduction class?”
“As a junior?” Hawk asks inquisitively.
“You only need level two to for graduation requirements.” Miguel points out.
“Will you just read it over?” Hawk sighs.
“Uh – right. Sorry,” Miguel says, brows still knotted and silently mouthing the words as he reads it over carefully. Hawk chews anxiously on his thumb as he watches Miguel twirl his pencil in his hand, ready to make whatever corrections. Miguel’s expression relaxes the more he reads, and the dimple in his cheek shows as his cheesy smile begins to form across his face, making Hawk’s nervousness grow exponentially.
He brings his hand down and drums his fingers on the table, “So? It is okay?” He asks.
Miguel puts the notebook down and looks up at him with a broad smile, “You wrote about how you spend your weekends at my house?” He asks. He was truly touched by Hawk’s words.
“Oh c’mon don’t look at me like that,” Hawk laugh nervously, “you’re making my cheeks hurt with that grin.”
“Oh c’mon don’t be like that,” Miguel mimics playfully. “This is good! I’m – flattered. And impressed!” He insists, bumping his shoulder into Hawk’s to ease his embarrassment.
Hawk dips his head and rubs the back of his neck, smiling shyly. “You think so?” He asks. “It can’t be perfect.” He doubts.
“Eh there’s a few things here and there, but for this class it should be fine.” Miguel admits, twirling his pencil rapidly. He reviews a few parts he thought needed some rewording with explanation and circles them for Hawk to fix.
“Thanks. I have to memorize it by next week for my speech presentation.” Hawk explains to him, putting his notebook back into his bag.
Miguel rests his chin in his hand, “Yeah, no problem,” he replies, trying his best to conceal his smile behind his curled fingers.
Hawk’s saved from further embarrassment by the bell dismissing them from study hall and off to their next class. “See you in bio later.” Miguel tells Hawk as they shoulder their belongings.
“Yeah see you later.” Hawk leans in and gives Miguel an unexpected peck on the cheek. They weren’t too big on PDA beyond the hand holding or the intimacy that took place in their bedrooms. But seeing how much Miguel practically beamed, Hawk didn’t see the harm in giving him a kiss.
It took what felt like ages for Miguel to pry Hawk’s true intentions with this whole Spanish thing. It was so unexpected that Miguel couldn’t help but be curious about it all. He supposed it made sense for Hawk to want to learn with how much he was surrounded by it, especially at his place. But with a sworn vow, Miguel doesn’t tell his mom or Ya-Ya about what was up is boyfriend’s sleeve. Although it was torture keeping this secret to himself, he didn’t want to spoil Hawk’s surprise.
Friday nights were specially reserved for Hawk to share dinner with the Diaz family and watch whatever soccer or baseball game that was on. Which was why he waited until this Friday night to put his hard work to converse with Rosa. He knew it would be okay no matter what or what Rosa thought of the sentiment, but it didn’t stop him from feeling nervous. What if he messed up or said the wrong word or mispronounced something?
“Stop being a bitch, Eli,” he told himself, shaking off his nerves. “You’re acing Spanish. You got this.” He knocks on the door and shoves his hands into his front pockets to help ease his nerves.
The door creaks open revealing Miguel’s mom, “Hi Hawk,” she smiles, “come on in. You’re just in time for dinner.”
“Hi Ms. Diaz,” Hawk greets, stepping into the apartment.
“Miggy’s in the bathroom washing his hands. You can use the sink in the kitchen.” She points with her hand.
He see’s Rosa in the kitchen stirring the food in the pan, “Hi honey, how are you? I hope you’re hungry. I made your favorite, Churrasco.”
“Hi Ya-Ya,” Hawk says, stepping into the kitchen and looking over the stove full of hot delicious food, “It looks delicious. I can’t wait to eat.”
Rosa looks at him with a surprised smile on her face, “Your pronunciation is perfect. Have you been practicing? Carmen, did you hear him just now?” She says, putting the wooden spoon down, clearly impressed.
“Yes,” Hawk nods, “I’ve been working hard to improve my Spanish so I can speak with you not in English only.” He explains to her shyly.
Rosa can’t help but bring him in for a tight hug, patting his back and thanking him for being to thoughtful and sweet. She went on about how it was unnecessary for him to do that for her but seeing how she didn’t let him go from her embrace, Eli knew that it meant a great deal than she was leading on.
When Miguel comes into the front room and sees his Ya-Ya giving him her bone crushing hug, he figures Hawk must’ve gone through with his surprise. Carmen walks over to him, “Did you know about this?” She asks him. She too looked moved by Hawk’s gesture.
“Yeah,” Miguel answers her.
Carmen crosses her arms, smiling in disbelief that he had kept it from her, “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Miguel shrugs, “He wanted to surprise you guys. I didn’t want to ruin it and take that away from him,” he tells her. “I only found out recently myself. He’s been working really hard to really get it down.”
“Yeah I can tell,” Carmen says looking back at her mom and her son’s boyfriend. She can’t remember the last time her mom looked so happy, and by something like this. “What made him want to learn?” She asks out of curiosity.
“He comes over a lot and…with Ya-Ya and watching Spanish TV – I guess he wanted to understand it all.” Miguel knew this to be partly true. The way Hawk had avoided eye contact when asked what other reasons he was making such an effort was enough to tell Miguel this was something deeper than initially explained. He thought that, maybe, Hawk wanted to show how serious he was about their relationship in his own way. That maybe he wanted to demonstrate how much he regarded Miguel’s love for his family and how much they mean to him. He hears them converse back and forth, both smiling at this new connection formed between them. It was nice to see Eli like this; being his sweet thoughtful-self Miguel knew him to be.
Carmen sees that familiar look in her son’s eyes – that look of adoring and falling in love with someone. She steps in and wraps her arm around him, “I’m happy for you to have someone like him. Not many people do things for those they truly care about like he’s doing right now.” She tells him, nodding her head over at them lost in their conversation. “C’mon, let’s go eat. Hm?”
Miguel nudges Hawk as they all take their seats at the table. After Rosa prays, she asks Hawk if he understood what she said, still in disbelief this bright young man learned a whole new language so quickly. Hawk laughs and promises her that if he doesn’t understand something that he will ask her for an explanation. She squeezes his hand and simply nods. Looking to Carmen she asks, “Maybe he can teach Johnny, huh?” She jokes, making everyone at the table laugh.
As the night went on, Miguel remained unusually quiet. Listening to Hawk switch back and forth from Spanish to English and back to Spanish was strangely satisfying. It was as if things had always been this way. Miguel felt a swell of pride and fondness for the other teen. Hawk didn’t necessarily need to do all of this for him or for Ya-Ya. Even if it were for himself, the purpose it carried presented a great weight in meaning to the Diaz’s than Hawk may realize.
Miguel couldn’t take his eyes of Eli for the rest of the night, which eventually did not go unnoticed by his boyfriend. Hawk’s ears turn pink and he laughs nervously, “What is it?” he asks. Miguel had his arm around him as they sat on the couch together watching the game on TV. He lifts his hand to cradle Hawk’s undercut.
“Nothing.” He simply says, shaking his head. He knew if he told Hawk what he was thinking and how he felt in that moment that his boyfriend would self-combust. In their own silent way of understanding one another, Hawk knew Miguel wanted to say more. To tell him things he’s heard before, but in a more sincere and serious kind of tone. Not caring for the third degree of embarrassment his Ya-Ya would give him, Miguel leans in and tenderly kisses Eli on the cheek, and re-wraps his arm around his shoulder, bringing him in close as they finish watching the game together.