Chapter Text
Hawks was just lazing around tonight; he had been given the night off and he was taking it in stride. So far he had played video games and napped, so now he was enjoying some stupid reality TV while playing Candy Crush. Is it mind-numbing? A bit, but with how little free time he has, it’s necessary to fit in all the relaxing activities in a single day. It isn't too late, so he should probably get some food; maybe some ramen, but KFC does sound really good.
As he moves from Candy Crush to DoorDash, there’s a knock at the door. He can’t think of anyone who would be coming by today– he didn’t have dinner plans with Rumi, the agency would have called if there was an emergency that needs his immediate attention, and Endeavor has never come to his house before. He mutes the TV as the doorbell rings. He should probably put on some sweatpants, but if the person at the door is so instant that they are both knocking and ringing the bell within the span of a minute, they can deal with him in his boxers.
Deku is not who he expects to find on the other side of the door, much less with a kid asleep in his arms. He gives Hawks a sheepish smile. “Hi…”
“Well, this is an unexpected surprise. To what do I owe the honor of having one of Japan’s up-and-coming heroes visiting me tonight?” He gives the young hero one of his signature smirks.
“Do you mind if I come in?” Deku lowers his voice, looking towards the sleeping child “And, uh …talk?”
“Yeah come on in.” He lets the younger into his house, shutting the door behind him. He mutes the TV and starts to head upstairs. “Make yourself at home, I’m gonna grab some pants.” He makes his way up to his room, grabbing a clean-ish pair off the back of his laundry chair. Pulling them on, he gets to thinking. Why is the young hero here? Who is the kid he brought with him? Also, he swears he can smell a tinge of smoke on the pair.
Upon returning to the living room, he sees that Deku has sat down on the large brown sectional and has the child (who appears to be a girl) lying down with her head in his lap. Hawks admits that the sight is pretty adorable. He takes his place on the lazy boy across the room.
“I didn’t realize you and Shouto were thinking about children yet?”
The boy goes bright red, looking comically like a strawberry, “N-No! She's not mine! Shouto and I haven’t even talked about children yet!”
The blond chuckles and brings a finger to his lips with a smirk, “Careful, don't want to wake the kid.”
He flusters further, spluttering for a minute before he takes a deep breath. “I’m here for a reason.”
“I assumed, I didn’t order a kid on Uber Eats.”
Deku rolls his eyes at the joke. Hawks can just hear the frustration in his voice. “I… Let's just get to it. You know Dabi?”
“Know Dabi? Yeah, I know Dabi.” He can’t help but laugh. “I was a spy in the League for who knows how long. But Dabi skipped town a couple of weeks before we took them out. To be honest… He's probably laying at the bottom of the sea or in an unmarked grave if no one has seen hide nor hair of him in the last 5 years.” He pushes down the twinge he feels at the thought of Dabi’s death. While he hates to admit it, he had grown fond of the arsonist. Really, of everyone in the League, but especially the lanky fire starter.
“He’s not.” Hawks is stunned into silence “Well at least he wasn’t”
“Explain” his playful attitude falls, this is serious business if Dabi is involved.
“Well, I was called to a burning building,” That tracks; Dabi’s quirk is fire based and he's burned down many buildings to date. “And the firefighters were handling it just fine when I got there. But then there was a shout from the rooftop, and when I looked up, Dabi was there!” Well, that was a stupid choice, how are you gonna get out of a burning building from the roof? “He was holding a child– oh, uh this child–” Oh, so he was kidnapping now too? That’s a new one. “And he threw her to me before asking me to bring her to you.” Wait… what?
“Excuse me?”
“He said to bring her to you. And well, even after talking to missing persons, we can’t find anything on a missing child fitting her description so I thought I’d bring her here. Obviously, we have to look more into her identity, but due to the time and your hero status… I thought it couldn’t hurt to bring her here. Do you know anything about her?”
Deku looks down at the girl and Hawks follows his gaze. He’s never seen this girl in his life– and even if he has, he’s met thousands of people before, he can’t expect to remember everyone. “No, I haven’t seen her before. I don’t know why he would send her to me.”
Deku sighs. “That's what I feared. I don’t know when were going going to be able to get anything out of Dabi. They were able to recover his body but he’s in bad shape. It’s more than likely that she’s his biological child, so we’re going to have to look for her mom. If she’s still around that is…”
Hawks thinks back to the conversations he and Dabi had in the past. “No. He said he’s infertile”
“Huh?”
“He said he’s infertile”
Deku looks at him, puzzled. “Why…Why do you know that?”
Hawks shrugs– it seems safe enough to tell Deku the truth since he was one of the first pro heroes out and proud. “Dabi and I hooked up for a time before he disappeared.”
“What?!”
This particular exclamation wakes the girl from her slumber. She sits up, rubbing her eyes sleepily, a stuffed rabbit clutched in one hand. She looks around, taking in her surroundings, though she doesn’t seem too alarmed yet. “Who are you? Where’s my daddy?”
Hawks lets Deku take the lead, since the blonde himself isn’t always the best with kids.
“Hi there. My name’s Deku, I’m a pro hero, and that over there is Hawks. He's another pro hero. One of the best in fact!” Her eyes look between the two of them When she makes eye contact with Hawks, he sees familiar blue eyes peering back at him. “What's your name?”
She turns back to the hero next to her. “My name is Haru. Haru Todowoki”
Deku pauses at her response. “Todoroki?”
She smiles proudly. “That's what my daddy says! Where is Daddy?”
“Who is your daddy Haru?” Deku tilts his head while looking down at Haru.
“My daddy… well...” She furrows her brows in confusion. It’s a big question for a young child.
“I have a better question.” Deku pats her head, seeing her struggling with finding an answer. “Was the man on the roof with you your daddy?”
“Yes! That was my daddy! He took me up there.”
“I see… Well, Haru your daddy got a little hurt okay? So…He can’t take care of you right now. Do you know where your mom is?”
“Well… Daddy is also Mama! That's what he says. I don’t have another mama.” Deku nods, deep in thought. “Daddy told me the heroes were gonna bring me somewhere safe and take care of me? Are you gonna do that?”
“We’re going to figure it out Haru. But you are gonna stay here tonight.”
“She’s staying here?” Hawks interrupts. “At my house?”
Haru turns to look up at him with her big eyes “Do…do you not want me here?” He swallowed; even though Dabi had said he was infertile, those eyes looked just like his. They bring back so many memories and he finds he can’t even think to say no.
“No, that wasn’t what I meant. I was just…surprised.” He gives her his award-winning hero smile.
She giggles. “Okay!”
“So, Haru, I know you just woke up, but is it almost your bedtime?” Deku asks her.
“Not yet. Daddy was making dinner when the fire started.”
“So it's dinner time?”
“Yes!”
Deku turns to Hawks. “Do you have some food?”
“I can see what I’ve got.” He picks himself up off the lazy boy and makes his way to the connected kitchen. He feels the girl's eyes on him; she really looks like Dabi’s kid with those bright, burning eyes. Upon opening the cabinets he finds them… pretty bare as usual. “I have ramen, is that appropriate for a kid?”
“I think it will do.”
“Daddy lets me have ramen sometimes. I like chicken best though.”
“I’ll take that as a yes then,” Hawks chuckles. Clearly the girl at least has some good taste. He prepares a chicken top ramen for her; he can make one for himself after this is all figured out. It only takes a minute for him to prepare it, but lets the food cool for a bit longer so she won’t burn herself. He leans against the counter and looks into the living room. The two of them are chatting happily like they have known each other forever.
After the ramen is sufficiently cooled, he brings it over to the pair. The girl trills happily at the sight of food, a sound he had only ever heard from one person other than himself (that person being Tokoyami, another hero with a bird-related quirk). “Hey Haru, have you gotten your quirk yet?” He isn't sure of her age but she looks to be around the time of quirk manifestation.
“Yep!” Two little white wings poke out from two slits cut into into the back of her shirt, to accommodate her wings. “I was born with them. I got them from my papa!” Hawks and Deku both freeze at that statement. Haru thankfully turns her attention to the food in front of her and starts happily eating.
Deku takes this chance and grabs Hawks’s arm, pulling him down the hallway for a private conversion. “What is going on?” He whispers to Hawks, looking back down the hallway in the direction of the young girl.
“Do I look like I know? Never seen this girl in my life! I haven’t seen Dabi since he disappeared. Why would I know anything Deku?!” Hawks is exasperated at this point. He has no concrete idea what's happening– a couple of possible theories but nothing that could be verified without Dabi.
“I didn't think so,” the young hero says with a sigh. “I guess we can meet up tomorrow and talk about it. Figure out a game plan. But I need to get going. Shouto is going to start getting worried if I’m not home soon.”
He turns and heads towards the door, but before he can take a single step Hawks grabs his arm. “You can’t go! You can’t leave me like this. You can’t leave me alone with her. I don’t know what to do with kids” He tries to keep the nerves out of his voice but he feels his suave persona cracking.
A sigh passes Deku's lips, “Okay, I’ll call Shouto over. If she and Dabi really are Todorokis, maybe he’ll have some answers. No guarantees, but he’s our best bet at the moment.”
“Thank you.” Hawks lets him go and heads back to the living room to give Deku privacy to call his husband.
Haru is still sitting on the couch enjoying her ramen, though it seems as if she’s gotten some of the broth on her face. He takes the time to watch her. Her having a bird related quirk was nothing to prove that Hawks was her father. A child’s quirk didn’t always have to be similar to their parents. If she was Dabis child, which at this point Hawks has a strong inkling that she is, wings are no way related to his own cremation quirk. Haru looks to be in preschool or early elementary. However, because she has had her quirk from birth that doesn’t help narrow down her exact age. If she is 4 that would fit in the time line between Dabi and him hooking up, but truth be told, he had no idea how many people Dabi was hooking up with. Hell, the man could have been hooking up with Shigiraki for all Hawks knew. Dabi could have a type with blondes, so the similar hair colour meant nothing. But thier was a chance she was his. A small chance, but a chance none the less.
He startles when she notices him “Hi Mr. Hawks! You make good ramen”
He chuckles awkwardly and head to the kitchen, “What can I say? Top cup treats me well.” He walks back over with a napkin. ”Here you seem to have made a mess.”
She pouts but takes it, “You’re like my dad, he always says I make a mess.”
“Well, I would say that your daddy is right in this case.”
She nods and goes back to eating. Hawks settles back in the lazy boy. Once she finishes, she looks up at him. “Mr. Deku said that you’re a hero.”
“That's true. I’m the number 2 hero in Japan.”
She trills in excitement. “So you know all the heroes right?”
“Well, I know a lot of them, but I wouldn’t say all.”
“Do you know my papa then?”
“Your papa?”
She nods. “Daddy says that my papa is a hero.”
Well, this was getting interesting. Maybe he can get some more information out of her. “Did your daddy tell you what your papa’s name is?” She shakes her head. “Then I don’t know sweetie.”
Deku decides at that moment to walk back into the living room “Mr. Deku! I finished my dinner!”
“Great!” He sits back down next to her. “Was it good?”
“It was tasty.” She takes a minute and climbs into his lap. “I’m tired now. Could you tell me a bedtime story?” She looks up at him with blue eyes, almost an identical shade to his husband's left eye.
“Of course. Why don’t you get comfortable and I’ll tell you the story of my favorite hero.” She nods and shifts around for a minute, curling up in his lap sleepily. He starts telling her the story of All Might, about his amazing heroics and how he’s saved thousands of people. He gets about halfway through his story when she falls asleep. Even Hawks has to admit she looks totally adorable, and possibly his daughter?
A knock at the door startles him from thoughts. It must be Shouto, which is still a stupid hero name in his own opinion. He stands and makes his way to the door, opening it to find the typically stoic Shouto.
“Izuku called me.”
“I know. Come on in, they're in the living room.” He’s not sure what Deku told Shouto, but the raise of his eyebrow tells Hawks that it was not the whole story.
They head towards the living room but Shouto stops when he sees his husband on the couch with a child in his lap. “You look good with her.”
Deku smiles up at them. “Hey Sho.” He pets Haru’s head. “Come sit, I think we have a lot to talk about.”
Shouto makes his way over and sits on the other side of Deku. He looks between the child, Hawks, and his husband before finally saying: “...is this your and Hawks's secret love child?”
Hawks can’t help but laugh as Deku splutters. “N-no! I would never cheat on you Sho! I would never even dream of it!”
“No, no no. I didn’t sleep with your husband. Don’t worry about that.”
“Oh, okay. Good.” Shouto still looks confused.
Hawks decides to get a handle on the situation, “Hey Deku, why don’t you go put Haru in my guest bedroom so we can talk without waking her up?”
“Oh ya, that makes sense. Where–?”
“Third door on the right upstairs”
“Got it.” Deku picks up the little girl and heads upstairs. While his husband’s gone, Shouto stares at Hawks intently, clearly deep in thought. Being able to examine Shoutos eyes really cements that Haru is a Todoroki.
Deku finally returns after a couple of minutes and sits down next to his lover. “So as I told you over the phone, I found Dabi and he had a little girl.” Shouto nods along. “And…well, I think Dabi is related to you and so is she.”
Shouto blinks, “She's related to me?”
“Yes. Well, at least that's what we believe. She said her name was Haru Todoroki, and her eyes…” He puts a hand on Shoutos left cheek. “They are the same blue.”
He leans into Dekus's touch. “But then Dabi would have to be one of my siblings, cause my father is an only child.” He looks confused and then realization strikes. “Oh.”
“Oh? The other two heroes say in sync.
“He’s Touya.” He says it with a straight face like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
“And who’s Touya?” Hawks crosses his arms. He doesn't like this skirting around the topic. And he has no idea who Touya is. Shouto has two older siblings, Natsuo and Fuyumi. He’s met them each a couple of times when meeting at at Endeavors agency for their big holiday party. Fuyumi was way too sweet and short to be Dabi, and Natsuo wasn’t lean enough and had inherited their mother's grey eyes rather than the piercing blue of their father.
“My oldest brother… He's…Well he’s supposed to be dead. That is what we were told at least. I don’t know all the details. I was very little at the time. I don’t know if anyone actually knows all the details… So Dabi is probably Touya and got a girl pregnant and Haru is his kid?”
Deku opens his mouth to speak but Hawks talks before he has the chance. “Not exactly… there is a possibly… that Haru is mine.”
Its Shouto’s turn to look confused, “Your and Dabis secret love child?”
“Yeah… I guess you could say that.”
“But Hawks, how does that even make sense? Did he take your DNA to someone and get her genetically constructed? Why would he do that? Is she part of a plan for villainy like Eri was?” Deku seems to pull out a notebook from out of nowhere and starts writing things down.
“No, no. He…it feels rude to out him but… Dabi’s intersex and we had sex. He said he was infertile but if that wasn’t true… then things could have happened and she’s mine. Or maybe he did get someone else pregnant. We won't know unless we do a DNA test and talk to him.” He leans back against his chair and runs a hand through his hair. If Dabi was Touya that means that Hawks had fucked his rolemodels son. If Endeavor found out he was going to absolutely murder Hawks.
“...So you had sex with my brother?” Shouto squints at Hawks.
“I mean technically we don’t know that for certain yet.”
Deku continues writing “So we need to do a DNA test to check Haru for relation to Hawks, Dabi, and Shouto. We would then find out if she is Hawks and Dabi's child, and if not that gives us a jumping-off point. It could also tell us if Dabi is Touya Todoroki. We can’t talk to Dabi yet, as he's still in critical condition. We're then going to have to turn her over to child protective services tomorrow. She’ll be in their care until we can find a blood relative of hers.”
“No.”
Deku looks up confused at Hawks's sudden interruption, “What?”
“There's a chance she's mine… and…I’ll take responsibility for her. She shouldn’t have to go into the system for any amount of time if she doesn’t have to.” He crosses his arms. “And are you telling me you would put her in the system with even a chance that she is your niece?”
The husbands look at each other, taking a moment's pause before Deku speaks. “No. She’s won my heart. If she is my and Sho’s niece, I would be happy to take her in and care for her and even if she’s not…I would still take her if we couldn’t find her biological family. I know it would be a lot earlier than we were expecting and we haven’t even talked about this…” He trails off, looking away from Shouto.
Shouto takes a hand placing it on Deku’s, tilting his head so they are looking at each other again. “We can figure it out if it comes to that. Life typically doesn’t go the way we expect.” Shouto gives his beloved a soft smile and a quick peck on the lips.
“Okay, okay, enough with the lovey-dovey stuff. Haru can stay here tonight… and you guys can too if you want. Just to help me make sure she’s taken care of for the night.” Hawks stands. “You can have my bed too if you want.”
Deku looks at Hawks, “We can’t possibly-”
“I insist, please.”
Deku looks back at this husband. “Okay we’ll do it. We can stay the night and then form a better game plan tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Hawks tries to keep the relief from his face and voice. He has a strong feeling that Haru is his daughter, but he can’t help but fear the possibility of fucking something up. He shows the pair to his bedroom and offers them the opporunity to take a shower and some clean clothes. He grabs a pair of pajamas and then goes to grab some sheets, blankets, and pillows from the linen closet in the hallway. However, he finds that he is missing a number of the items he would expect to find in his closet so he goes looking to see if he can find them.
It doesn’t take him long to locate the missing bedding. On his guest bed, Haru is fast asleep curled up around her stuffed bunny. On the outside of the bed, there are walls of pillows and blankets. He expects that Deku must have built up these so that she wouldn't accidentally roll off the bed and hurt herself. With the queen-sized bed, the girl looks so extremely small. Hawks quietly walks into the room at her closely. Even in the dark, he can see the outline of her small wings. She chirps a little in her sleep and he can’t help but smile. It was clear that Dabi had not been punishing her for her bird-like characteristics like Hawks himself had been when he was young. The idea brought warmth to his heart.
He knew he had a comfortable couch in his living room that he could easily sleep onall night, but he felt himself drawn to the lounge chair in the room instead. Maybe it was a little creepy, but he wanted to make sure she was alright. After all, she was in a new place, all alone and in the dark. At her age, he’s pretty sure he would have been scared shitless. So he settles into the chair and before falling asleep he whispers to her.
“Goodnight Haru.”