Chapter Text
Dabi had always been a fan of exotic animals. When he was younger his father always got them exciting pets to pay off the trauma he caused. But now, being a grown adult, he often rebelled against most parts of his childhood. He was covered in tattoos ranging from his face and neck, to the two whole seeves he had done. Dabi ,however, found his love of these exotic animals had carried over despite everything. He approached a small, sketchy looking pet shop that he might have missed had he not been searching for it. A friend of his, Twice, had told him of this crazy pet store with strange pets unlike anyone had ever seen. This interested Dabi quite a bit seeing as his beloved snake had recently died, leaving him alone in his apartment once more. Parking his car, he approached the building. As he opened the shop doors an odd shiver ran down his spine,
“Welcome sir, what are you looking for?”
An older man greeted from behind the counter.
“I’m just gonna look around for a bit,” Dabi stated, after all he wanted to make sure what he was getting would fit in with him well.
As Dabi walked around he saw the usual animals; puppies, cats, fish, a few parrots, and some snakes. He paused to look over the selection of reptiles.
“May I ask how you heard of us?” The owner's voice was still quite loud for him being at the front of the store.
“Uh, my friend Twice told me about it, he said you might have some animals I would be interested in,” He responded, his eyes still gazing over the selection.
Suddenly the man's voice got a lot closer, too close, as he whispered to Dabi, “Ah, Follow me sir, Jin is a friend of mine. I’ll show you the goods.”
Most people may have found this suspect and left immediately, yet Dabi’s curiosity got the best of him as he followed the man behind the counter and into a large back room. This room looked like it was out of a movie. A large tank housed a shark, a zebra stood in a small caged area, and the further in he walked the more bizarre the animals became. A half snake-half human female was curled in the corner of a glass terrarium, she probably stretched taller than Dabi. Some sort of horned beast sat in a cage with a sign that read hostile, which Dabi had no intent of taking home something he would have to work with 24/7. Suddenly he stopped at a normal bird cage with a red hawk inside. The birds feathers were shiny and he was a relatively striking bird,however, Dabi’s interest peaked when he saw the sign labeled;
‘Beware, once a trickster always a trickster.’
The hawk was relatively large, but not unbelievably so. Turning to the shop owner he pointed to the bird, “Does it have a name?”
The man nodded and walked over to the cage, “His name is Hawks.”
“You have a hawk...named Hawks?” Dabi deadpanned, what a stupid name.
“Well it’s what we agreed to call him, makes him seem less powerful than he is. He is a pain but he has his moments. He gets a big head and thinks he can take a human down,” Dabi wondered why the shop owner was personifying the bird so much, “He mostly eats chicken and usually won’t touch any type of bird food.”
He rattled the cage and Hawks let out a screech, “What do you say? Are you interested?”
Dabi pondered for a moment, this man was obviously insane, but Dabi did take a liking to the bird, “How much?”
“I’ll cut you a deal, 50,000 yen and I’ll even throw in the cage.”
“50,000 yen? For a hawk?” Dabi inquired as they walked back to the front of the store.
“Trust me, I think you’ll realize why within the next few days, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself. After all he is quite the bird.”
Yep, this sus has definitely fucked some of these animals, Dabi was certain, so he wanted to get his stuff and leave as soon as possible.
As Dabi paid he noticed the piercing golden eyes of the hawk watching him closely, but that was to be expected, he would have to get used to Dabi and his apartment.
The car ride back went smoothly, Hawks occasionally peeped or shuffled around, but that was about all. Of course Dabi was curious of what the sign had been referring to, were people dumb enough to be tricked by a bird?
Regardless he brought the cage into his living room. His apartment was fairly large, offering him a guest room and a full sized kitchen as well. He set the wire cage down on the coffee table, making note that he needed to buy this poor bird a better cage soon. The sun was setting and Dabi couldn’t believe how quickly the day had gone by, however it was friday, so he would have two days with his new pet before returning to work, this was good. He threw a blanket over the cage as the internet had instructed him to do, then went to his own room where he passed out the second his head hit the pillow.
The next morning nearly blinded him when the sun shone through the window as Dabi realized he didn’t close the curtains. Stretching he sat up, but something felt odd, like something wasn’t quite right. He flipped on the living room lights and low and behold disaster. The wire cage was completely busted, wires broken and bright red feathers strewn everywhere. You had to be joking. The thing had gotten out in a matter of hours? However it seems from the pile of feathers and drops of blood his escape wasn’t entirely clean. He followed the trail to the kitchen, where he stopped dead in his tracks, jaw dropping as he stared in absolute shock.
Sitting on the kitchen cabinet was a shirtless man with honey colored hair, who had somehow managed to put on a pair of Dabi’s pants. What the hell was happening? Dabi would have thought he was being robbed had two features not caught his eyes. The golden eyes that eyed him up and down and the large red wings folded against his back. Dabi stumbled back, “What the fuck?”
Hearing Dabi’s voice, Hawk's head turned towards him, and, as if to taunt him, he stretched his wings out to their full extent. He had a fairly large wingspan.
“Scared?”
Dabi was not expecting it to speak, let alone sound like a twenty year old who would annoy the shit out of him if he overheard him in public. Ignoring Hawk’s voice Dabi pointed to his arm which was dripping slowly with blood,
“You’re bleeding… the blood...the feathers… you really are the pet hawk aren’t you.”
Hawk’s eyes narrowed to slits as he hissed a warning, “Don’t ever refer to me as a pet!”
Dabi almost feared him, but the fact that he was surrounded by crumbs and an empty chicken bucket eased Dabi’s mood. This was just a child with wings, he could get a handle on this.Then a darker thought crossed his mind, when the owner said that he would enjoy himself had he meant this? He sounded so confident when he had said it, made him wonder what had all happened to this bird.
Suddenly Hawks was hovering over him, wings flapping lightly to keep him airborne, “You have a look of pity! Do NOT pity me!” Hawks was getting angrier but suddenly Dabi had an idea.
“Look at your arm, lemme help wrap it before you do blooding up my kitchen,” He snarled back.
This seemed to hold Hawks attention, as he landed.
“Give me your arm,” Dabi said, reaching for Hawks.
“NO!”
And the man was airborne again, just outta Dabi’s reach. What was this dude problem? Did he have any chill? A few feathers drifted down, Damn now that would get annoying fast if he had to be cleaning feathers up constantly.
“If you are going to be an asshole, I’ll return you!” Dabi growled the empty threat, yet this seemed to work as Hawks landed immediately and stuck his bloody arm towards Dabi.
“Please don’t….” The venom in his voice was gone, it almost made Dabi feel guilty, almost.
“Then no more flying in the house, you get feathers everywhere,” Dabi’s head was spinning, the hell was he supposed to do with a hawk that could turn human. Did this mean he legally bought a person? Ugh twice was gonna pay for this. Dabi’s thoughts continued to race as he wrapped Hawks' arm
The cut wasn’t too deep, yet Hawks didn’t even squirm while Dabi tightened the wrap. After a moment Dabi spoke again,
“Can you tell me more about you?”
He was greeted with silence as Hawks’ eyes seemed to have a glassy shine to them, like he was somewhere deep in his mind.
“Hey, birdbrain, Can you tell me about yourself?”
Turning to him, Hawks shook his head, “Why would you care, human?”
“I don’t, I just need to know more before I decide what to do,” Dabi’s response was cold, but he wasn’t into lying.
“Don’t take me back.”
“Then let’s talk about you and I’ll consider.”