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Hawks wants to think he understands spirits. After all, they had been the ones to keep him company when he was a kid, trying to learn how to control his air bending by himself. Living in Republic City had a lot of perks, after all. One could wander into the sea of vines to find some peace and quiet at any given moment.
Hawks wants to think he understands spirits. What he doesn’t understand, however, is why they won’t leave him alone. It has been some time since the White Lotus had found him and took him to a temple to train and learn how to control his powers and a little less time since he has become an ambassador for the new air nation, a symbol of peace and unity. If he happens to still be on his underwear at three in the afternoon eating leftover noodles, no one has to know.
The little almost translucent fox rabbit with three heads has been lounging around his apartment for two days and hasn’t spoken a word to the airbender, like a constant reminder at the back of his head of his duties and responsibilities. Duties that he would have to take on tomorrow when the Fire lord arrived in town for his visit.
Hawks sighs, tracing the tattoos on his arms; it was the third time in four months the ruler had stepped into Republic City and in none of them had he managed to find information about his heir or the avatar he had run off with.
But right now the airbender has another firebender to deal with and if he doesn’t start getting ready he will be late for their meeting.
Hawks gets dressed lazily and grabs his staff, no space to keep a bison after all, and heads out through the window. The jungle of vines hadn’t become smaller over time but he still knows enough to know the best tourist free routes to move through them and into what had once been a flower shop, now overrun by nature.
It is a small space, some of the glass windows still remained as well as some pots that had been scattered and abandoned. Warm light come through to illuminate part of the shops inside but he knows that the man he’s meeting is already there when he gets close enough to smell the smoke coming from behind the counter, the part of the shop casted by shadows.
“That shit is going to kill you, you know that, right?”
He hears a huff and a figure steps into the light. Dark hair and clothes, piercing blue eyes, body covered in scars and a hand holding a cigarette become visible to Hawks who only smiles at the sight. Dabi huffs some of the smoke at him and rolls his eyes -“I doubt this will be the thing that finally kills me, birdie”- but he still throws the cigarette to the ground and steps on it before looking at the airbender again.
“Your hair looks like a rats nest, you’ve either fucked all night long or just woke up”- Hawks rolls his eyes, cracking his shoulders- “like yours is any better, it looks like you got shocked into that hairstyle”-
Dabi simply ignores him and sits on the shops counter, now covered in dust. -“So, got the plans we asked of you?”-
Hawks huffs, rummaging through his robes before getting out a small binder -“Oh yeah, my day was great thank you for asking”- he hands the documents over -“why do you want the pro bending arena maps anyway? The Firelords delegation arrives tomorrow”- Dabi grinds his teeth at the mention but Hawks pretends he doesn’t notice -“Aren’t world leaders the whole objective of the Red Lotus?”-. The firebender grunts -“Shouldn’t you be glad? You get to hang out with your friends a little bit longer”- The airbender rolls his eyes and leans against one of the walls, covered in a long faded mural of Ember Island -“You know that’s for appearances, come on.”- Dabi stops scanning the papers and puts them into one of his long coats pockets -“It’s the kid”- Hawks frowns -“what-?”- -“The kid. The prince hasn’t come back yet so the Fire Lord will come back to the city sooner than later”- The airbender hums and nods before sighing -“speaking of, I better head back to start preparing for tomorrow or the Council will have my ass”
Dabi nods and steps closer, much closer than Hawks thinks they’ve ever been, and combs his fingers through hawks wild hair, scars standing out in his face thanks to the dying light outside. He leans forward and when he speaks in his ear Hawks breath catches on his throat for a second. -“Have fun in your gala, Ambassador”- He lightly taps the airbender cheek before stepping out of the shop and into the jungle outside.
Hawks freezes for what can’t be longer than ten seconds but when he exits the building dabi is already gone and so is his tolerance for staying inside the vines domain any longer, with spirits watching his every move, waiting as if they were looking for the right moment to strike.
—————————-———————————
The next morning finds him on air Temple island, dressed with the uncomfortable air master tunic and a heavy beads necklace waiting for the Royal Fire Nation ship to arrive. There aren’t as many people around as the first couple of times the Firelord had come to the city and Hawks is grateful for the relative peace as he waits. The president as well as the council are speaking at his side and even though he doesn’t participate he abstently listens to their conversation
“Do you think he has any new leads?”asks the Southern Water tribe representative. -“If he had he would have already told us, I heard he even hired a combustion bender to look for the prince-” answered the earth consul. Hawks had heard about that rumour himself, heard the combustion bender was a no older than the prince he was supposed to find. The President steps into the conversation
-However the means, the princes security is our priority. After all, no one wants a repeat of what happened to Fire Lord Endeavor first heir”.
Now that gets Hawks attention. Endeavor had had another crown prince? He knows about the other two siblings but it’s common knowledge that they couldn’t rule due to inheriting their mothers water bending . As far as Hawks knows there are only two princes and a princess and Shouto was the first one who could claim the Fire Nations throne.
His thoughts get scattered by the loud horn signaling the Fire Lords arrival. All of the receiving committee stands still as the ship makes port and Fire Lord Endeavor begins walking towards them followed by his personal guards.
Hawks smothers his robes before bowing slightly with the other representatives as the President greets him. All of them give him their welcomes until it’s Hawks turn, who just smiles at him and says -“Long time no see, Enji. How long it’s been, two weeks?”-. The Fire Lord huffs and the consistent red flames he has lit on his face at all times continue to dance around on his features. -“I see you’re still a brat, then”-. Hawks laughs and pats his arm -“You know me, I’m a free spirit with free thoughts”-. Now that couldn’t have been a bigger lie. He is tied down to the White lotus as well as being forced to infiltrate the Red Lotus but that’s not something he can tell the Fire Lord about, no matter how much he admires him.
The delegation starts moving towards the hotel where the firebender will be staying at and where lunch is appointed, but hawks can’t help but notice the spirits that fly around them, hidden in little corners where they could freely watch. He doesn’t comment that to the other consuls, he was supposed to be the spiritual leader after all but he can’t help but worry about the nagging feeling at the back of his head that they’re trying to warn him about something.
They all have lunch in relative silence and only maintain a strictly professional talk that Hawks has no interest in. He traces his arm tattoos and spends the whole lunch thinking about Dabis plans and how exactly were they going to use the arena when the probending season had ended a month ago. His thoughts are interrupted by Endeavors low voice that makes all chatter shut down in a moment.
“Have you heard any news from my son yet?”
The earth minister speaks and as he does Hawks wonders how well Miruko is handling while in Ba Sin Se. -“No news for now, my Lord, but our scouts are tirelessly still searching and so is the White Lotus”-
Endeavor grunts, which Hawks knows means he’s this close to burning something. -“My son Shouto was last seen in Republic City and yet you still have no records of him?”-
The council cowers and lower their faces but Hawks can’t help but roll his eyes at the accusation, after all there was no way the kid was still in the city.
The meeting ends shortly after that and the airbender is free to go so he starts walking to his house, decided to sleep at least until tomorrow when he had to basically baby sit the firelord in case the Red Lotus tried something.
In his way there he walks through Fire Lords Zuko square and he stops to look up at the statue. He is represented as an adult holding a never ending fire that reflects on the scar on his face. Something about that irks Hawks. The statue is already old and he’s seen it a million times by now but he can’t help to find it somehow familiar. A voice at the back of his head reminds him of the small commentary he had heard earlier, the first Fire nation prince.
He sighs as he decides to change his route and head towards the city’s archive, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t find out exactly what happened to the prince.
It’s late in the afternoon when he finally finds something about Endeavors first born. It’s only an archived telegram to the president of that time, buried in between thousands of books on fire nation history and royalty. It appears to be a letter talking about the kids first firebending. Hawks scans through it but it’s a specific paragraph that catches his attention.
“As the sun rose we heard screams coming from Prince Touyas chambers so we rushed there in fear of an attack on his life. What we found, however, was his arm engulfed in blue flames that burned hotter than any fire. Upon a moments consideration we managed to extinguish them to find out the boy had been burned by their use and thankfully we managed to heal his wounds on time. The healers talk about his weak constitution not being able to handle his own fire.”
The letter goes on but Hawks doesn’t bother to read further, his eyes trained on the words “blue flames”, his mind going back to Fire Lord Zukos burn in the statue and how it had seemed familiar. He wanted to hit himself, of course it had been familiar. He had seen similar scars covering Dabis (Touyas?) face and body. He had seen a similar scar on the picture they had been given of the runaway Prince Shouto.
What exactly was going on on the Fire Nation royal family?
——-—————————————————-
Hawks wakes up the next day still dressed in his formal air bending master robes and with a sore neck after falling asleep on a pile of books. The sun shines through the Archives tall windows and that tells him that he’s definitely late to his meeting. He groans and stretches before standing up and making his way outside, deploying his staff to try and get to air temple island as soon as he can.
When he gets there everything is in flames. He had seen the smoke building up as soon as he got in the air and tried to make his way there as fast as possible but nothing prepares him for the sight of the Air Temple burning up. He sees some officers ushering all the acolytes and airbenders to safety but what catches his attention most of all is the huge wall of blue and red flames that obscures the view from the training grounds. He curses under his breath and makes his way, bending the smoke out of the way and flying up until he sees who’s causing the commotion.
Dabis coat has been discarded, which allows anyone to see the burns on his arms as he builds up flames and throws them, grinning like a mad man. His blue eyes shine reflecting his flames and his smile splits his face. On the other side of the grounds Hawks sees Fire Lord Endeavor. His formal dress attire is burning as he returns the attacks. One side of his face is bleeding, probably from a piece of rubble that must have fallen on him as part of the temple collapsed, and he seems to be running out of breath. For a split second, Hawks doesn’t feel like helping him.
The last thing he notices, however, are the spirits. They’re surrounding the fight, watching with wide eyes that Hawks definitely doesn’t understand or has time to try to.
After a moment he makes the decision to sweep down and move his body to bend a gust of air at Dabis incoming fire, making him also fall back, his grin disappearing into a frown as Hawks approaches him. Dabi keeps throwing fire that the airbender easily dodges, he knows he’s not aiming to hit. When he’s close enough he whispers in a grunt “this was not the plan” and immediately dodges out of the way as a blue fireball gets dangerously close to his face. He bats his staff, making air knock dabi backwards and even further from Endeavor. The firebender huffs as he stands up and replies “change of plans. Tried to warn you but you weren’t home, councilman”. Hawks mentally facepalms. Of course he wasn’t home, he was too busy digging around about the man in front of him to do so.
He feels more than sees the red fire coming at him and manages to shoot up in the air and avoid it by half a second. Endeavor is up, breathing heavily and looking at Dabi with so much hatred that Hawks can’t help but wonder if he recognises his own son.
He looks up in time to see a remaining bison that’s about to come to take the last people on the island and he makes an incredibly rash decision. Hawks comes down again and moves his legs to wind back both of them. He looks at dabi and then at Fire Lord Endeavor and moves his hands, managing to spit out a “see you later, Enji” before rising the wind from under Endeavors feet and propelling him into the air to be caught by the other airbenders.
When he turns to look at Dabi the other man looks murderous. He starts to walks towards Hawks, the airbender rising his hands in a sign of peace
“look I can’t have you killing the Fire Lord when I’m right here-“
Hawks stops mid sentence in horror as he feels himself start rising a couple of inches into the air, his whole body screaming in pain but his mouth not being able to say a sound as his panicked eyes look around. Dabis expression falls into a scared look before they go back to a neutral glance, fists clenched as he says: -“Nice of you to finally show your face”-
Hawks had imagined multiple times his first meeting with Shigaraki Tomura but being the subject of his blood bending had never crossed his mind. The man steps out of the smoke caused by the temples fire and he looks incredibly calm for someone in his situation, Hawks thinks.
His thoughts are interrupted when his body cracks as his nerves shoot out in pain and this time he is able to scream loudly as he moves as if he were controlled by a puppeteer.
His wrists twist in a painful way and he knows they’re now broken, his eyes moving fast trying to scan his surroundings in search for any help.
He is surprised when it’s Dabis hand engulfed in a blue flame and a rough voice, almost a growl, that says:
-“that is enough, Shigaraki”-
The man doesn’t listen and makes hawks spine twist in a way that he knows will break in a mere moment. He is only able to see from the corner of his eye as Dabi holds the flame to Shigarakis neck.
-“I said enough”-
Hawks is dropped to the ground, unable to move just yet but capable of seeing the blood bender step back into the shadows and Dabi rushing to Hawks side with a frown. He scans him with his eyes and groans before grabbing into him and lifting him up to quickly carry him away as the Police starts to swarm the area, putting out the numerous fires.
Hawks blinks in and out of conscience through their journey and as stupid as he knows it is he can’t help but think “holy shit I’m being carried bridal style by a Fire Nation prince”
There’s a time where he feels someone caressing his hair but it’s gone before he can know if it wasn’t just his imagination.
————————————————————
When he finally wakes up and knows he probably won’t pass out again in the next thirty seconds, Hawks finds up he has somehow gotten to his apartment and is laying on his bed.
He rubs his eyes and glances down at himself, still in his ceremonial robes (he’s been wearing them for two days, he should probably wash them) and with both of his wrists functioning as they should. He frowns but sighs and gets up from bed, changing into some comfortable pants and discarding wearing a shirt for a time where he cares.
He makes his way out into the kitchen and starts making himself something to fully wake up when a voice startles him and makes him drop the bottle of milk
-“You’re up early”-
Hawks immediately turns, hands ready in position to blow the intruder away but he lowers them when he sees Dabi, laying on his couch and eating his left overs.
Hawks just sighs, rubs his temple and turns to finish making his coffee before walking to sit on the couch next to Dabis. He takes a sip before saying:
“What are you doing in my house?”
Dabi has the audacity to laugh at him. Hawks pouts as he watches until the firebender calms down and raises an eyebrow at him
-“I saved your life, that’s why”-
Hawks does remember him taking him out of Air Temple Island.
-“That doesn’t explain why you’re still here, hotstuff”-
Dabi huffs -“your wrists were broken, I had to stay and make sure they healed correctly”-
Hawks frowns and looks at him up and down
-“You’re trying to tell me you’re one of the few people on all four nations that knows how to heal with fire”-
Dabi just nods and leans back on the couch like the smug asshole that he is. But he did save his life so Hawks sighs -“thank you, I guess”-
The firebender nods as he eats some more -“you’re welcome”-
They stay in silence for a couple more minutes and Hawks doesn’t know what to say for the life of him but there is a question that keeps nagging him.
-“Why did you do it, though? Why not just leave me there for the police to find?”-
Dabi rolls his eyes -“And have them find you unscarred on the crime scene? You might be a senator or whatever but they’re not stupid”-
Hawks knows this, what he doesn’t know is why Dabi cared
-“Yeah, I get that. But why?”-
The firebender sets his plate down and looks at hawks like he’s the most stupid man he’s ever seen
-“You are not great at flirting, are you?”-
Hawks huffs, he’s great at flirting. Dabi probably couldn’t even- Wait.
-“You’re flirting with me?”-
The other man raises an eyebrow -“Have been for the last couple of months, thanks for noticing”-
Hawks groans -“Why the fuck would you even-“-
Dabi interrupts him with a smirk -“Well, you seemed quite excited back in that cave”-
The airbender gasps -“We agreed to not speak about the tunnel! And it was your fault anyway, mister “I can keep a light for as long as I want! You-“-
He stops when he feels Dabis scarred hand on his cheek and rises his eyes to see shining blue ones looking at him from way, way closer than they had ever been.
Hawks shuts his mouth and his eyes dart down to the firebenders lips, that quirk up in a smirk at the sight. Hawks is not an idiot, as much as he pretends to be, he knows what he feels for Dabi. He has known for quite a while, but it was something incredibly dangerous and risky.
However when their lips meet all of that flies right out of his brain. Fuck it. He wraps his arms around the other man's shoulder who rests his hands on Hawks hips, kissing him with the same intensity of a man that has been stuck in the desert and just found an oasis.
And to his amazement, the kiss turns soft and slow, almost melancholic. He tangles his fingers on Dabis hair and runs them up and down his burnt neck, knowing that not even the most ancient airbender technics could steal his breath away as much as the other man did.
After a while they part and both of their cheeks are flushed from lack of air. Hawks looks at Dabi and knows it’s not the time to reveal what he knows but he knows that the time will come.
And as Dabi has to leave his apartment some time later with a promise to come back soon, Hawks can’t help but notice that there are no more spirits around.