Chapter Text
There was a knock on his door. Denki didn’t move, he kept his head buried into his pillow, it was still pounding and his body didn’t feel much better. Two seconds, he wanted two seconds of his life without something happening. Was that too much to ask for? One lazy Saturday where he didn’t have his whole world turned upside down? For what felt like the billionth time.
But alas, it was not to be. The knocking on his door started up again. Denki groaned and covered his ears with his pillow, as best as he could. The knocking didn’t stop and the pillows did nothing for his headache.
“Denki.” Dabi called from the other side of the door. “Come on, open up and let us explain?” Denki rolled his eyes and then moved so he was lying on his back.
“I said I wasn’t dealing with this today!” Denki yelled back. There was some muffled conversation from the other side of the door, Denki was pretty sure he heard Hawks tell Dabi to say please.
“Open the door Denki. We’re dealing with this now. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea of what you saw.” Dabi said, banging on the door again.
“I’m pretty sure I know what I saw. But I didn’t see it today. I saw it tomorrow and we can deal with it tomorrow!” He replied.
“No, we will deal with it today! Denki come on, just hear us out!” Dabi said.
“No, not now.” Denki said.
“I will burn down this door.”
“That’s not my problem. You’ll just have to replace the door and deal with a pissed Kurogiri!” Denki yelled.
“Damn, he’s been here long enough to understand your dynamics. Nice.” Hawks muttered.
“This literally works to our disadvantage.” Dabi told him. Hawks shrugged.
“It’s still impressive.” He muttered, his arms crossed.
“Shut up.” Dabi huffed. “Denki.”
Denki stood up, ignoring the way the world spun when he did so and the pounding in his head just increased. He made his way over to the door and opened it, startling Dabi as he did so. He regained his composure quickly and put a hand on his hip.
“Are we going to talk about this?” Dabi asked.
“No.” Denki answered. “My head hurts and my body feels like shit. I am not dealing with this right now. I will deal with you tomorrow.” And he closed the door again, before anyone had the chance to stop him. Denki all but collapsed onto his bed again, hoping to finally get some rest and ignore the massive problem going on right outside his door.
“Fine.” Dabi called from outside the door. “But you’re not getting out of this tomorrow.” Denki, still face down on the bed, simply flipped off the door, not that Dabi could see it. It was more of the thought than the actually action.
Denki didn’t want to think about Hawks and Dabi but when he found himself unable to sleep and buzzing with energy, his mind wandered to it anyway. On one hand he was worried about what it meant that Hawks, the number 2 hero, was in some kind of relationship with Dabi, an A-rank villain. But on the other hand he was kind of doing the same thing, he was once a student at the best hero school in the country, maybe even the world and yet now he was staying with the League of Villains. He wondered if Hawks was like him, from his understanding Hawks didn’t stop being a hero, so maybe he was just staying here for whatever reason. Hawks was a good hero, he had taken a liking to Tokoyami if Denki remembered correctly. Tokoyami was pretty cool, they would take the train together and Tokoyami never asked him to charge his phone or tell him to do better in school. He was pretty chill and Denki found himself missing his fellow student. Tokoyami was always a good friend, he was a good listener and Denki considered him his only true friend at U.A. He didn’t hate all of his classmates, but he found himself not being close to anyone except the Bakusquad and he didn’t like them anymore. Tokoyami was the only other person he considered a friend and the only one who he was still friends with.
He hoped Hawks wasn’t using Tokoyami but he couldn’t see that happening. Tokoyami was one of the few people Denki really thought deserved to be a hero.
With thoughts of his past, mainly the happy memories and such things that made him feel okay, Denki fell asleep.
He woke up a little while later to a knocking on his door. It was firm but not angry. Denki sat up, feeling a bunch of pent up energy buzzing beneath his skin but at least his head didn’t hurt anymore. He glanced over at the alarm clock on the table next to his bed and realized how late it was. He quickly hopped up and unlocked the door, wincing a bit as his joints hurt. Compress was standing there, in the month that Denki had known him, he hadn’t lost his balaclava, he liked his own privacy and Denki respected that, Dabi had told him that he hadn’t taken it off yet, but he thought he would if someone asked, but no had. So Compress was standing there with his balaclava and he smiled when Denki opened the door, still groggy.
“Dinner is ready, I figured I’d come to ask if you wanted to come eat.” Compress told him. Denki nodded, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Thank you.” Denki said. “I’m pretty hungry.”
“Just a fair warning, Hawks is still here. Dabi told us about your run in earlier today.” Compress said. Denki couldn’t say he was surprised but he also wasn’t expecting Hawks to stick around. Denki still wasn’t up to talking about it but he was far too hungry to ignore or not have dinner.
“Thanks.” Denki muttered. “I’m still not talking about this, I just wanna eat and sleep.” Compress’s expression morphed into one of concern.
“Are you alright?” He asked.
“Yeah, I just- there’s a storm coming and the electricity in the air is making me buzzy. I don’t like it, my body hurts.” Denki told him.
“Do you want to get it out?” Compress asked. Denki frowned.
“What do you mean?” Denki asked.
“Use your electricity, get some of that extra energy out. We can take you somewhere and you can just release it, or you can power something electric or just let it out in small bursts here. It’s up to you.” Compress said. Denki shifted.
“I don’t want to charge phones.” He said, not looking Compress in the eyes.
“I would never make you.” Compress replied. “I’m just giving suggestions as to ways you can do to get rid of this extra energy. You don’t need to do anything, you can just rest if you’d like, they were merely suggestions.”
“I don’t think I want to do anything right now.” Denki said. “Maybe next time but I kinda just want to sleep it off for now.” Compress nodded.
“No worries. Let's go to dinner.” Compress led the two of them to the kitchen/dining room area, the table was set and people were already eating. Denki didn’t say anything, he probably looked as exhausted and horrible as he felt. No one asked him about it, no one spoke about how they had a hero at the table, Toga just shoved a plate of what seemed to be fried chicken in front of him and rattled off about the day she had after he left.
It was nice, it was domestic even. Denki had come to learn that the League was a rather domestic setting, they had a dynamic of a family and one that Denki was glad to be a part of. No one forced him to talk, no one asked him to charge their phone, they didn’t ask anything of him actually. Even though Dabi spent five minutes pounding on his door, asking to talk about what happened, he backed off when he realized how serious Denki was when he said he didn’t want to talk about it right now. They had boundaries that the kids at U.A. never really seemed to have. It was refreshing, it was nice.
It was home.
----
The next morning the storm was over, having been the worst of it overnight. Lightning striked outside and the electricity all but dissipated from the air and all that was left over was a bit static and that was something that Denki could handle.
Dabi was waiting for him in the living room when he got up that morning. He tossed a breakfast bar at him, without looking. Denki barely managed to catch it in time and fumbled to get a hold on it.
“Thanks.” He muttered, opening it and biting into it as he sat down on the couch next to him. “So, pro hero Hawks, huh?”
“Yep.”
“How’d that happen?” Denki asked.
“He was supposed to be a spy for the commission. He’s supposed to be feeding them information about us and turning us into the hero commission. But we’re irresistible.” Dabi replied, a lazy smirk on his face.
“More like irritable .” Denki teased, but sobered up in a moment. “Are you sure he’s on your side? He won’t turn me in, turn us in?”
“No. Hawks… it’s not my place to say. But the commission is fucked up, more so than we all originally thought and Hawks was just given the opportunity to finally be free of them. Or at least partially. Stubborn fucker insists on being a hero still. Can’t really stop him but he has a place here, just like you do.” Dabi explained.
“So he’s not a villain?” Denki asked.
“Not quite. He’s a lot like you, he gives us some things here and there, but nothing that harms civilians and stuff. Keeps the good stuff to himself, can’t say I agree with it, but hey, it’s hard to program people.”
“Deprogram?” Denki parroted, confused.
“It’s when you’re conditioned to believe something. Usually a way of life. Like Hawks. He still believes there’s good in this world.” Dabi huffed, leaning on his knees. Denki was quiet for a moment.
“I’d like to think there’s good in this world.” He all but whispered. Dabi looked at him.
“Yeah, like who?”
“You.” Denki replied without hesitating. Dabi was stunned, he could’ve guessed the kid was going to say something like that but he figured it would take a minute, he figured the kid would name someone else at first. A hero, his mother, someone else.
“I’m not a good person. I’ve done too many things, killed too many people to be considered good.” Dabi told him, regaining his composure. Denki huffed out a laugh of sorts.
“Yeah, that’s why you take in broken heroes.” Denki said. “Besides, I said there’s good in you, not that you’re a good person. And anyway, you can be a good person and still do bad things. I think you’re all pretty good people. Shigaraki has his flaws but just as you said, it takes a while to deprogram someone.” He shrugged.
“Shigaraki? You think he’s programmed?” Dabi asked, considering the possibility. At first he thought it was a joke, there was no way that he could possibly be programmed, but the more he thought about the more the similarities between him and Hawks showed. Dabi didn’t like it.
“Yeah, don’t you?” Denki asked, with a tilt of his head. This kid had a habit of making Dabi feel stupid, he was so innocently asking, so genuine in his question when he might have made a groundbreaking revelation, something that probably needed to be addressed.
“Who else do you think is good?” Dabi asked, ignoring the question and instead changing the subject. Denki either didn’t pick up on it, or didn’t care enough to ask again.
“Hm, I like to think that Mr. Aizawa was pretty good.” Denki said, almost wistfully.
“Eraserhead? Your teacher?” Dabi asked, wondering why the kid would still have a positive opinion of the guy.
“Yeah. I mean… he didn’t give me a break when I needed one but the hero life is like that. He didn’t stop when the nomu bashed his head into the ground. He still saved Tsu and kept his eyes open. I- I can appreciate that. Maybe it wasn’t the best to do that to a kid but I mean… we had already been in live and death situations, we had to be ready. He might not have been the best to me , but I think he was a good person.” Denki explained. “I like to think he cared for me.”
“I’m sure he did. He’s one of the few people that Shigaraki actually respects, and he’s a hero no less.” Dabi snorted.
“Hm. I like Present Mic too. He was pretty nice, plus I was actually passing his class. Midoriya too! He’s so set on being a hero and he’s trying so hard. His quirk hurts him, kinda like mine hurts me but he keeps going!” Denki said.
“You like your classmates huh?” Dabi asked. Denki looked down and got quiet for a moment again. Dabi mentally hit himself for mentioning it when the kid was finally opening up.
“They treated me like shit.” Denki admitted. “I was a laughing stock, I was never taken seriously, my problems were brushed aside and in the end, they were like everyone else to me. But they were good people at heart.”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t trust them, they hurt me and I can’t-” He cut himself off as his voice broke. Denki willed himself not to cry, he couldn’t, not now. Dabi might’ve seen him at his lowest but crying in front of him felt wrong.
“I can’t forgive them for what they did. They were supposed to save people like me but they just encouraged it.” He said after a he recollected himself, more angry now than upset.
“You don’t have to. Not here. No one here is going to make you forgive the world. We’re here to recreate the world, not forgive it.” Dabi told him. Denki gave him a look he couldn’t read, somewhere between horror and admiration.
“Seems like something a hero should say.” Denki muttered.
“The world we live in.” Dabi said and stood up. His joints creaked and he stretched, he had had enough of this emotional bullshit conversation. As much as he liked the kid, he had been having far too many heart-to-hearts with him recently.
“Is Toga around?” Denki asked, clearly understanding that Dabi was done.
“I think.” He answered, walking off towards the kitchen. “Probably in her room, if not check Twice’s.”
“Thanks.” Denki said, and they both knew he wasn’t thanking him for the directions to Toga.
“No problem.”
----
Compress let out a sigh as he leaned on the counter, completely wiped out from the League’s shenanigans, fights and arguments that had broken out over the course of the day. But now the apartment was quiet and Compress had taken his chance to slip into the bar below, those who weren’t asleep were in their rooms, all the problem children were resting, finally giving Compress a break.
“Care for a drink?” Kurogiri asked him.
“ Please .” Compress replied, sliding into the bar stool. “I swear those kids are far too much trouble.”
“They are villains.” Kurogiri pointed out as he grabbed the liquor to make Compress’s drink, he didn’t even have to ask what he wanted, he had far past known at this point. “And most of them are adults.”
“They act like children. Besides, Denki is hardly a villain.” Compress replied.
“And he caused us no trouble today.” Kurogiri pointed out. He didn’t quite have a visible mouth but Compress knew he was smirking under all that mist. Compress rolled his eyes as he took off his mask to make sure Kurogiri saw his eye roll.
“You’re not wrong but neither am I.” Compress said. “He may not have caused us trouble but he hardly pacified the rest of them.”
“He is a bit of an instigator isn’t he?” Kurogiri asked, a hint of fondness in his voice. Compress only caught it cause he recognized it in his own voice.
“Yes.” He answered. “He’s not one to start a fight himself but he’ll surely start one between two others.”
“I suppose a fight is bound to happen anyway. It’s better to get it over with when the anger is manageable than if it all comes exploding out.” Kurogiri said, and slid the drink to Compress. Compress took a sip and hummed in response.
“Yes, I guess even his instigating is beneficial. You can’t just quit when you’re ahead can you?” Compress teased lightly.
“I’m never wrong.” Kurogiri replied. Compress rolled his eyes again, but didn’t deny it.
“First time for everything. You’re wrong about something.” Compress said before sipping at his drink again.
“Are you staying the night or heading back to your place?” Kurogiri asked and Compress sighed again.
“I really hate making this decision but I suppose I’m too tired to walk back. I’ll take the couch tonight.” Compress muttered, already hating the way his back would hurt in the morning. Of course there was always the risk of his balaclava coming off during the night. Not that he didn’t trust the League, there were just some things he’d prefer to keep to himself and there would be a few too many questions when it came off. Something the league could do without for now.
“You know there’s a room for you. You really should stay there tonight.” Kurogiri told him, leaning on the bar himself. Compress, who had been nursing his drink at the time, waved him off.
“You and I both know that it is much more Hawks’ room than it ever was mine.” Compress replied. “Besides, the couch isn’t horrible and I always wake up in time to help you with breakfast.”
“That’s because you wake up with the sun.” Kurogiri deadpanned.
“It’s hard not to when we don’t have shades!” Compressed laughed. “It’s fine, really. I know Hawks doesn’t sleep well once someone’s been in his room and we never know when he’s staying over. I’ll take the couch for the night.”
“If you’re sure.” Kurogiri agreed reluctantly. Compress only shrugged.
“Since I’m not walking home I suppose I’ll take another drink.” Compress replied, finishing his first one.
“You would’ve taken a second one even if you were walking home.” Kurogiri said, already moving to make a second drink.
“Ah, tis true.” Compress said, smirking slightly and playing with his straw.
Before Kurogiri finished with the drink, the stairs creaked as they always did when someone was coming down them. No matter how light your steps were, the stairs would creak and groan under even the slightest weight. A strong breeze was enough to make a noise. The both looked to see which member had woken up or was looking for them. Dabi came down the stairs, still in sleeping clothes, hardly could call the pajamas but neither one of them could judge as Compress tended to pass out in whatever clothes he had on and Kurogiri just wore whatever was most comfortable in his closet.
“Ah, Dabi. I thought you were asleep.” Compress said.
“You wish.” Dabi snorted, and Compressed frowned, not even remotely knowing what he meant by that.
“Can we help you with something?” Kurogiri asked, getting to business.
“We need to talk.”
“Oh?” Compress asked, crossing his legs, intrigued as to what had Dabi so secretive and approaching them so late at night.
“Something about Shigaraki, Denki brought something up and I hadn’t thought of it before. I think it’s time we consider the possibility that he’s been programmed by someone.” Dabi said, not one to beat around the bush or sugarcoat anything. Compress and Kurogiri looked at one another.
“Sit, we have something to tell you.” Kurogiri said.
“Ah, well I suppose it doesn’t matter where I sleep now as we’re not going to bed anyway.” Compress lamented dramatically.
Unfortunately it was true, they didn’t stop talking until sunrise.