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There was a hero standing outside his door. A hero who should not have the address to his apartment.
“Well this is awkward,” Hawks said, scratching the back of his head.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Dabi hissed, looking up and down the hall to make sure nobody had seen the number two hero in the hallway of the shadiest apartment complex in the city. He grabbed Hawks’ arm and yanked him inside before any of the neighbors decided to get nosy. “Did you follow me?”
Hawks, like the hero he was, immediately surveyed the room, taking mental notes of the trash scattered in the corners, the mattress on the floor, anything he could take back to his superiors.
Dabi was going to have to move out.
“No, I didn’t follow you. I got your address from the back of a yogurt container, actually. This is your apartment, right? You are,” Hawks pulled out a piece of paper and read a name off it. “You didn’t just murder the previous tenant and steal their identity?”
And that was the moment Dabi realized he’d made a terrible mistake. He really should have read the fine print. Though to be fair, the fine print was really fucking small.
All he’d wanted was a lifelong supply of yogurt and $10,000. He didn’t want... this.
“That’s a...fake name.” Dabi said, realizing too late that maybe he should have used a fake address as well. Hawks raised an eyebrow because of course a name that ridiculous was fake. And then he plastered on the biggest, fakest hero grin Dabi had ever seen.
“Congratulations! You have won the trip of a lifetime! An all expenses paid weekend getaway with me, the Number Two Hero Hawks!”
Dabi had the sudden urge to light himself on fire and start a new life as a shriveled husk.
“Oh,” added Hawks. “You also get a lifetime supply of yogurt and $10,000 dollars.”
“Thanks,” Dabi said, because he wasn’t sure what else to say.
Hawks smile fell, ever so slightly, as he continued. “Oh I’m not done yet! You also have to appear in a commercial with me. That’s part of the prize, apparently. I, um. I’m not sure how we’re going to accomplish that, seeing as you’re…”
“About to turn you into fried chicken?”
“An internationally wanted villain,” Hawks said smoothly.
Right. That.
“Can’t I just...get the money and yogurt and...not the rest?”
Hawks shook his head. “If you don’t appear in the commercial you forfeit the prize and they pick someone else.”
Dabi frowned. He hadn’t actually expected to win, when he sent in all those yogurt containers, but the idea of free yogurt for life, not to mention the money, was hard to pass up now that it was dangling in front of him.
Hawks shifted uncomfortably. “Listen, Dabi. If you really need the money I can - ”
“Don’t even finish that sentence,” Dabi growled. “I don’t want charity. Least of all from you."
“It’s not - ” Hawks stopped himself, though his wings were bristling with indignation.
“Just tell me what I need to do to get my damn yogurt.”
Hawks blinked, mouthed yogurt, then shook his head. “You get the check after appearing in the commercial, which is set to film at the end of the month.”
“And the yogurt?”
Hawks looked at him for far longer than necessary before opening his mouth.
“You get that...starting after the weekend getaway.”
“Which is…”
“This weekend. Today, actually. It’s short notice, so you might be busy with...”
Busy? Was he busy? Probably not. He thought there was something he was going to do tomorrow, but it couldn’t be that important if he couldn’t remember it, right?
“Nope. Not busy. So where is this fancy getaway thing?”
“Oh.” Hawks blinked, clearly not expecting Dabi to go along with this whole thing. “There’s a small hot springs resort that the company rented out.”
“And this is supposed to be a reward? Sounds more like you’re being set up on a date.”
“Well, they do market this yogurt primarily to young women.”
Dabi’s face suddenly felt hot. Okay so maybe he had a sensitive stomach and maybe he thought Hawks was pretty and maybe eating the yogurt that the hero sponsored was a good way to kill two birds with one stone but he was going to really kill a bird with a stone soon if Hawks kept talking.
“Nice bathrobe by the way,” Hawks said. Dabi looked down. He forgot he was only wearing a bathrobe when he opened the door. It took more effort than it should have to keep from lighting the hero up right then and there. Fuck this. It wasn’t worth it. The free yogurt wasn’t worth it. The money wasn’t worth it. He already had to suffer the hero’s presence when they met up for villain related things, he couldn’t imagine surviving a whole weekend alone with him.
Though...two birds with one stone...
Listen. Dabi didn’t want to spend a weekend with Hawks. But it was a good opportunity to test his willingness to ditch the heroes. And when else would someone like him be allowed into a hot spring? And free yogurt for life.
“So,” Dabi said, “when do we leave?”
“I’m so sorry sir. Hawks. Mister Hawks? Um. I’m…”
Hawks waved the young woman off with a cheery smile. She was nearly in tears. “It’s okay, we understand.”
Dabi certainly did not understand, but he was forbidden from drawing attention to himself and asking “what the fuck do you mean there’s only one bed” would definitely draw attention to himself. He sulked by the wall, glowering at anyone who looked at him.
Shigaraki would kill him if he knew Dabi was risking getting caught just for a free weekend at a hot spring and a shit ton of yogurt. It was worth it though. Even putting up with Hawks was worth it. He was going to soak in a hot spring. He was going to eat fancy food. He was going to sleep in a real bed.
Hawks returned from comforting the hotel staff swinging a key around his finger. Cocky bastard. He just had to bat his pretty eyelashes to get whatever he wanted.
“Let’s go check out the room,” Hawks said. “Maybe there will be a couch.”
There was not a couch. The only good thing about the situation (the hot spring resort had not been rented out, they did not have a room with two beds available, there was no complimentary mint waiting on the pillow when they stepped into the room) was that the bed was king sized, which meant it was easy to just lay as close to the edge as possible and pretend the other half of the bed didn’t exist.
In theory, anyway. It quickly became clear that this would be impossible. Hawks had wings. Dabi kept getting feathers in his mouth because the wings seemed to have a mind of their own and that mind seemed to want to be touching Dabi at all times.
Eventually, though, exhaustion overcame him and he was pulled into sleep.
Dabi woke up to his phone vibrating on the bedside table. He lazily reached one hand out, eyes still closed, and brought the screen up to his face, cracking one eye open.
Hand Fucker:
hey where the hell are you you’re late
dabi you’d better be alive
Oh shit. He did have something to do this weekend. His sleepy mind sent out a quick reply.
I’m in bed with hawks
Then, a few seconds later, his more awake mind realized what he’d just typed and screeched to a halt. But it was too late. His phone buzzed in his hand with a reply from Shigaraki. Then it buzzed again. And again. And again.
Hand Fucker:
what the fuck
dabi
are you joking
answer me asshole
Dabi groaned. Hawks shifted next to him. Dabi got a feather to the eyeball and five feathers to his mouth.
“Ugh.’ Hawks said, checking the clock on the bedside table. “I wanted to sleep in more. I never get to sleep in.”
“Crime never sleeps,” Dabi said absently as he tried to come up with a response to the new text that had just arrived.
dabi I swear if you slept with hawks I am going to murder everything and everyone you ever loved
“Pretty sure your snoring would disagree.”
Dabi looked up from his phone. “What?”
Hawks poked him in the shoulder. “You. Snore. A. Lot. Kept waking me up, asshole. Who are you texting, anyway?”
He leaned in close enough that Dabi could feel his breath.
“None of your business,” Dabi said, and turned the screen so that Hawks couldn’t see his response to Shigaraki.
go right ahead, creep
“Well since we’re both awake, want to get breakfast? It’s early enough that there shouldn’t be anyone but little old ladies eating, and if they recognize you we can just pass it off as their eyesight going.”
Dabi blinked. “Wow. Maybe you are a villain after all.”
Hawks smiled at Dabi, and it unsettled him.
Breakfast wasn’t officially ready yet, but Hawks was Hawks, so they were let in early. Dabi’s sleep parched mouth drew him to the drink dispensers. He filled a cup halfway with ice then filled it the rest of the way with milk.
He let out a deep sigh as the cool drink refreshed him. Instantly, he felt more awake. He settled into a chair on the far side of the room. Hawks joined him a minute later, two steaming plates in hand.
“They whipped up some eggs for us!”
“Isn’t that cannibalism?”
Hawks glared halfheartedly. He eyed the glass in Dabi’s hand.
“Is that ice?”
Dabi glared wholeheartedly.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” he said, handing out the glass to Hawks. Hawks took the glass of ice milk and sipped it. He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as he passed it back to Dabi.
Maybe he was more tired than he thought. Sharing a glass with Hawks? What was he thinking? He was going to catch hero germs.
Do it for the yogurt, he reminded himself. And because maybe you can lure him to the dark side with promises of ice milk.
Dabi slid one of the plates over to himself and dug in.
After breakfast, they headed to the hot spring itself. Dabi wanted to go alone, but Hawks convinced him that he’d only be able to ensure nobody else interrupted him if he was there too. It made sense, but that didn’t mean Dabi had to like it.
You’re going to see more of Hawks than any of those rabid yogurt fangirls could ever hope to see, a traitorous part of his brain whispered.
Maybe Dabi would be able to lure Hawks to the dark side by making the hero feel sorry for him. He’d caught him eyeing his scars on multiple occasions, clearly curious about their origins. If he revealed enough of his tragic past maybe Hawks would feel so sorry for him he’d do anything.
No, that was a stupid idea he was not going to tell Hawks anything about himself, and definitely not that.
Hawks and Dabi got undressed with their backs to each other. Turning his naked back to a hero should have been more nerve wracking than it was. Well, that wasn’t quite true. It was nerve wracking, just in an unexpected and butterflies in stomach kind of way, not in a “I think he might murder me” kind of way.
If Shigaraki ever found out that he’d gotten naked with Hawks he was going to be skinned alive.
When they’d both peeled off yesterday’s clothes (neither of them had gotten changed before falling asleep the night before), they turned back around.
Hawks had a towel around his waist, but damn he was hotter than expected. Obscenely muscular, but lean, not bulky. And his hips. Dabi wanted to get his hands on those hips.
Fuck.
Dabi tightened the towel around his own waist and stepped outside before he could think too hard about the look Hawks had in his eyes as he ran them up and down Dabi’s body.
Do it for the yogurt, he told himself again, but he was beginning to wonder if this was such a big mistake that no amount of yogurt could fix it.
Dabi and Hawks sat on opposite sides of the hot spring. Hawks’ wings were flared out behind him so they wouldn’t get wet, which made him look a little ridiculous if Dabi was being honest with himself.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, no sounds but the gentle bubbling of the hot spring and birds chirping in the distance. Hawks was clearly not a fan of silence. He kept fidgeting, biting his lips, eyes darting around their surroundings, feathers twitching.
“You really don’t know what relaxation is, do you?”
And then every question Hawks had been holding back tumbled into the open air.
“Why are we here? Why did you agree to this? Why are we doing this? Isn’t this a waste of time? I could be out there saving lives! You could be out there ruining them! So why are we sitting here? Do you really need the money that badly? Would you have agreed to this if it had been any other hero? What would you have done if any other hero had been on the other side of your door yesterday? Would you have killed them? Do you hate me? Do you trust me? Do you like me? Where did you get those scars? Did you cause them yourself? Why are you a villain? And do you really like yogurt that much?”
It was almost impressive, how many words Hawks had been able to force out in one breath.
“Yes,” Dabi replied.
“Yes...to what?”
“To all of it.”
Hawks mouth opened to respond, but Dabi stood up and climbed out of the water before he could say anything else.
They left early, even though it meant forfeiting his prize. The loss of the yogurt stung hard, but Hawks had been right that they’d been wasting time. Dabi’s phone had been buzzing nonstop with angry texts from Shigaraki, and Hawks was doing a terrible job at hiding the constant alerts from his agency.
After a fancy lunch and an awkward encounter with one of Hawks’ “biggest fans oh my god can I get you to sign my ass ooh is that your boyfriend can he take a picture of us wow your feathers are softer than I imagined,” they checked out at the front desk. Hawks walked Dabi back to his apartment, which was strange, but Dabi was past the point of questioning things at this point. Hawks lingered on Dabi’s doorstep for longer than necessary, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and said “see you around, I guess,” like they wouldn’t be seeing each other later that night for villain related stuff.
It was only after Hawks had disappeared down the hallway that Dabi realized the hero had probably wanted something from him. He wasn’t sure what though, Hawks had been acting very strange all day.
The whole day had been a fever dream. He and Hawks had spent an objectively nice day together and hadn’t killed tried to each other even once. While he still wasn’t sure where Hawks’ loyalty truly lay, he was at least certain that the hero didn’t want him dead. So that was something.
Shigaraki was going to murder him, though.
The next day, Dabi tripped over a cardboard box on the way out of his apartment.
After digging around his kitchen for a clean knife, he sliced open the tape and opened the box, holding his breath in case it was filled with poison gas.
It wasn’t. It was filled with several dozen containers of yogurt. On top was a handwritten note.
For my number one fan. There’s more where this came from;)