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Hawks gritted his teeth as he yielded one of his feathers as a sword. He had been in the middle of a secret meeting (read: aggressively flirting) with Dabi in an abandoned warehouse when they had been attacked by surprise. He had no idea if their aggressor was after him or the villain, and at the moment, he couldn’t afford to care, because he was currently fighting alone.
His opponent had decided to take Dabi down first, probably because he considered him to be the biggest threat between the two of them. Before they even noticed his presence, he had sent the villain flying against a wall with his quirk. Dabi had hit the concrete head first and was now unconscious. Blood was tripling down his temple, which was concerning, but Hawks would have to take their enemy down before helping him.
He didn’t hold back and put all his strength into the fight. The Commission had insisted that infiltrating the League was his number one priority, he couldn’t let his mission be ruined by some stranger. If word got out that he had been meeting with Dabi, all of his hard work would have been for nothing. (And the Commission would probably abandon him to deal with the media outcry on his own, but that was another story.)
Needless to say, he couldn’t let their attacker get away. Not that he seemed eager to flee. On the contrary, he looked determined to defeat the winged hero. Good thing for Hawks that his training had prepared him for this kind of situation.
It quickly turned out that without the element of surprise, his opponent was at a disadvantage. Hawks disposed of him quickly, knocking him out with a swift hit. He then tied him up and left him for the League to find later. Killing him would have probably been more efficient, but he didn’t want to get his hands bloodier than he absolutely needed for this.
When that was dealt with, his focus immediately shifted to Dabi. With a few flaps of his wings, he rushed by his side. He couldn’t have his contact dying on him: the League would come for his throat if that happened, and so would the Commission for failing his assignment.
He checked his pulse and let out a relieved sigh when he discovered that Dabi’s heart was still beating. However, the villain didn’t wake up, not even when Hawks shook his shoulder in hope that it would get a reaction out of him. He frowned, unsure of what to do next. He couldn’t exactly take one of the most wanted people of the country to the hospital, just like he couldn’t bring him back to the League’s hideout, because the stubborn bastard had so far refused to reveal its location to him.
This only left him with one option: taking Dabi to his flat, putting to use what little medical skills the Commission had taught him, and praying that the villain would recover without any further complications.
With a huff, he lifted Dabi up in his arms — when you had hollow bones, carrying a grown-up man wasn’t the easiest thing in the world — then he proceeded to fly to the other side of the city, all while crossing his fingers that no one would catch sight of him.
By some miracle, he reached his place without encountering any more problems. He entered his flat through the windows to lower his chances of meeting anyone who would ask questions. Once inside, he laid Dabi on his couch, then darted towards his bathroom to get first aid supplies.
It didn’t take long to gather everything he needed, not with the help of his feathers. He kneeled next to the passed-out villain, then started cleaning his blood-mated hair so he could inspect the wound underneath.
It was kind of weird, to observe Dabi when he was this vulnerable. All tension in his body was gone and he looked relaxed, almost as if he were only sleeping. With this soft expression on his face, even his scarred skin and staples looked less impressive.
However, Hawks didn’t let this distract him from the issue at hand. The amount of red-stained gauzes he had to throw away before achieving his goal made him fear the worst, and not without reason: the injury, while not life-threatening, definitely looked ugly.
Hawks didn’t waste time and started to disinfect and bandage it as best as he could, only to have Dabi wince in protest.
“My head hurts… What happened?” He drawled.
“You hit a wall, pretty hard if I must add. Glad to see you’re back with us.”
Dabi tried to raise himself on his elbows, only to let out a pained cry.
“Hey, easy there. You took quite a bad fall out there.”
His eyes met Dabi’s, only to find them filled with confusion. For some reason, the villain suddenly seemed… younger, from the way he held himself to how he kept his arms close to his chest, as if he was trying to shrink on himself. This wasn’t anything like the overconfident bastard he dealt with on a regular basis.
“Please, tell me I haven’t spent years in a coma or some stupid thing like that.”
“What? No, you’ve barely been out for an hour, maybe even less. Why would you think that?”
“It’s just… You kinda look older than when I last saw you?”
Okay, something definitely wasn’t right. Even the villain’s voice sounded softer and quieter than usual.
“Looks like your head got really messed up there, Dabs. I mean, more than it already was. Do you know any underground doctor I could take you to?”
The villain stared at him as if he had just grown a third wing, which wasn’t reassuring Hawks in the slightest.
“Who’s Dabs? And why does everything hurt?”
Alright, now Hawks was starting to freak out for real.
“Uh, you are Dabs. Remember, fire quirk user, second in command of the League of Villains, and major pain in the ass. Rings a bell?”
“Keigo, if you are trying to mess with me here, just know that it isn’t funny. At all.”
Hawks froze on the spot. He instinctively moved into a fighting position and a few of his feathers detached from his wings, ready to strike at any given time. His stare also grew sharper, making him look more like a bird of prey than ever.
“Where did you hear that name?” He growled.
“What do you mean, where did I hear it? You told me, Kei! You know, you’re starting to scare me here. And I’m not kidding, my whole body hurts, it’s awful.”
He moved a hand towards his face with the clear intent to scratch at his burned skin. Hawks grabbed his wrist to stop him, not wanting to see what the result would be if he pulled a staple out. He was beginning to put pieces of the puzzle back together, although he still wasn’t ready to accept the conclusions he just came to.
In all his life, only one person had called him Kei.
“Don’t, you’ll harm yourself. If you’re not Dabi, then, who are you?”
“What do you mean, who am I? Are you sure you’re not the one who hit his head? I’m Touya, your friend. You do remember that, right, Kei?”
Hawks’ hands started shaking at the revelation. He couldn’t unsee just how much Dabi looked like his lost sparring partner, especially when he was staring at him with that hopeful expression in his blue, too blue, Todoroki blue eyes.
“Okay, Touya, what… what is the last thing you remember?”
“Uh, we were training together, I think? My father and your handlers were there to monitor our progress. Or at least I believe they were? It’s all a bit blurry, to be honest.”
This time, Hawks couldn’t deny the truth in front of him. At first, he had feared this was just Dabi messing with him, but he knew too much about this and there was no way he could have mimicked Touya’s expressions so well. His breath got caught in his throat. He started speaking in a low voice, unsure of how to break the truth to him.
“Listen, it’s… it’s been years since we last trained together.”
“But you said I haven’t been out for longer than an hour!” He protested, before realization dawned upon him. “Wait, earlier, you… you called me a villain, right?”
“I see you’re starting to get it. I… I think you’re suffering from memory loss. We’re in 20XX and I’m 23 years old. You must be around the same age as me.”
Dabi, no, Touya grew even more distressed at the news. Hawks couldn’t blame him; the last time they had seen each other, they were still teenagers. However, he didn’t expect the other man to jump on his feet and to sprint to the other end of his flat. The hero didn’t waste a second to fly after him.
“Wait, you’re still injured, you shouldn’t…”
When he finally reached him, Touya was glaring at a mirror, shock written all over his face. So that was what he had been looking for. He brushed over his staples and piercings with trembling fingers before turning towards the hero, his eyes filled with absolute horror.
“So that’s why you didn’t recognize me… What happened to me, Keigo?”
The hero looked down as he struggled to find the right words.
“I don’t really know. To tell you the truth, I believed you were dead until twenty minutes ago. There… there was a fire at your family house and your body was never found, so everybody assumed…”
Touya’s expression changed to one of alarm.
“A fire? Did my siblings make it out okay?”
Keigo’s heart hurt at the sight. It was so unsettling, to witness Dabi being this… this worried, when up till that point he had believed the man to care about no one but himself.
“Don’t worry, they all made it out unscathed. Everyone in your family managed to escape… All except for you.”
“Well, at least now I understand where those are coming from.” He choked on a cry as he stared at the burns on his arms.
That silenced the little voice in the hero’s mind that, since the beginning of this, had been commanding him to stay careful, because it was still Dabi he was talking to, with no way to know when he would recover his memories. Hawks pushed all that aside to take the other man in his arms and wrap his wings around him in a protective gesture. He cooed gently to reassure Touya — The Commission might have punished him until he stopped making any bird sounds, but he hadn’t forgotten how his friend liked hearing them.
Touya’s breathing started getting ragged and his chest shook with silent sobs, but no tears fell from his eyes, no matter how utterly devastated he looked. His fingers gripped tight how Keigo’s jacket as he hid his face against his shoulder.
“This is all so fucked up, Kei. You grew up to be so handsome, and I’m here looking like a monster, with every inch of my skin hurting and my body so ruined I can’t even cry over it.”
Hawks rubbed his back soothingly, although each of his words broke his heart a little more.
“You shouldn’t compare yourself to me. I only look like this because of all the surgeries my handlers put me through to hide my real appearance. It’s not noticeable, but I’m just as scarred as you, inside and out. And just know that you’ll never be a monster, Touya. Not to me. Never to me.”
“But you didn’t recognize me.”
“Of course I didn’t, I thought you were dead. I… I mourned you for months, it might have been the only thing my handlers didn’t manage to beat out of me.” He laughed sadly. “I didn’t make much of Dabi kind of looking like you because I tended to just… see you everywhere.”
“Wait for a second, if I’m a villain and you had no idea about me being… well, me, then why did you…” He stopped for a second, looked up at Keigo, then deadpanned: “You were trying to gather intel on whatever criminal organization I’m working for, weren’t you?”
Hawks gulped hard at the accusation, his cheeks turning red despite how hard he tried to keep a blank face. He couldn’t just blow his cover, especially when he had no idea how Dabi would react when he would recover all of his memories.
“What? No, of course not, why would you think something like that?”
“Kei, stop that, you’ve always been a horrible liar. And you should be careful, because if I’ve figured that out, I’m pretty sure future villain me also has.”
The hero groaned. Nice way to mess things up, Hawks.
“Am I that easy to read?”
“Nah, I just know you too well.” Touya replied with a smile.
And just like that, Keigo was thrown back years back, when their silly banters were the highlights of his days. However, that didn’t last long, because Touya suddenly stumbled and lost his footing, only staying upright because Hawks was holding him.
“You should lie down, you’re still hurt.”
His friend nodded weakly and the hero led him back to the couch. He helped him lean down, careful not to cause him any more harm. Once Touya was settled, Keigo even grabbed a blanket and some pillows to make him even more comfortable. Afterward, he sat next to his friend, unable to leave him alone for long.
This time, his friend looked hesitant, but after gathering his courage he finally asked:
“Hey, Kei, do you think you could tell me about my family? I’d like to know how they’ve been doing. I mean, if it’s been years, they all must be so big now, even little Sho.”
Hawks smiled at his eagerness, although he still had a hard time processing how his bubbly friend had become the cold-hearted Dabi.
“Sure. I can even find recent pictures of them online, if you’d like that.”
They spent the rest of the day like that, with Keigo helping Touya catch up with everything he missed. The hero hadn’t felt this happy in years. Falling back into his old habits was just too easy. It filled a void in his heart he hadn’t realized was still there. By the end of the afternoon, they both drowsed off and fell asleep on the couch.
When Keigo woke up a few hours later, Touya was gone, or rather, he had merged with Dabi again. It only took Hawks one look at the villain to understood that much. The innocence that radiated from him earlier is gone. For a second, the hero was surprised to still be alive. He accidentally revealed he was spying on the League, after all, so why didn’t the villain kill him?
But then a voice whispered in the back of his mind that despite the appearances, Dabi was still Touya, and that his friend would never hurt him. It was all so confusing. Keigo still had a hard time accepting that they were one and the same person.
“I see you’re back.” He stated. “Do you…”
“Remember that conversation I had with you while I believed I was a teenager again? Yeah.”
So the jig was up, then, both their secrets revealed. Without any addition, the villain stood up, with the clear intent of leaving. Keigo couldn’t let it happen; if he allowed Dabi to go now, he knew, deep in his heart, that he would never see him again.
“Touya, wait…”
“Don’t call me that. Touya died a long time ago.”
His voice was filled with bitterness, but Hawks wouldn’t give up so easily. He let go of all his restraints, of the walls the Commissions had forced him to build so he would become the perfect hero. He risked it all and hugged Dabi from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist to keep him close.
“You can’t say that, not when I’ve been talking to him just a few hours ago. Touya is still a part of you, even if you can’t see it. I don’t know what happened to you during all these years, or why you didn’t come to me earlier, but now that I’ve found you, I won’t give up on you.”
Dabi squirmed out of his embrace and blue fire danced at the tip of his fingers in a silent threat. His wary expression reminded Keigo of a wounded animal.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about! You can’t understand how fucking damaged I am! I can see what you’re trying to do here, hero, but there’s nothing left of me to save.”
In the villain’s mouth, his title sounded like the worst of insults. However, it wasn’t what Hawks focused on. All of a sudden, he was reminded of Touya’s devastated expression when he had seen himself in the mirror, of how he complained about his whole body hurting. But his burns had been long scarred over and Keigo had been there to comfort him.
So how did he react when his burns were still new and hurting a thousand times more, when he was all alone to cope with his new appearance, when he had to use staples from keeping his body from falling apart? Tears started gathering at the corners of his eyes just thinking about it.
“I’m not being a hero right now. I’m just Kei and I don’t want to lose you. Not again.” His voice started shaking. “I missed you so much, you have no idea.”
His honesty must have gotten through to Dabi, because he noticed a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. However, the villain was quick to smother that spark.
“Don’t make me laugh. All this time, Dabi was nothing but a monster you could lie to for your own benefit. Why would it be any different just because I used to be Touya?”
Keigo took another step towards him, disregarding the danger of the villain’s quirk.
“You’ve never been a monster to me. Hell, you’ve even managed to make me doubt my loyalty to hero society more than once with the things you said. And if you were truly a monster, you would have burned me alive during our first meeting, because now I know I never fooled you.”
With slow movements, he put a hand on Dabi’s cheek. The villain didn’t try to stop him, which he took as a good sign.
“You let me hang around despite knowing I was a spy because you liked being near me, right? Even if you deny it, you missed me too.”
Dabi’s eyes widened as Hawks came to this conclusion. He didn’t refute it and looked to the side to avoid his inquiring stare instead. Keigo couldn’t know for sure, but he had a feeling Dabi would have been crying as well if his body had still been able to.
“And what if I did? It doesn’t change the things I’ve done or how fucking hideous I’ve become. You can’t rescue me, Kei. There’s only one reason I’m still alive, and it’s to kill my bastard of a father before he pushes any of my siblings through the same hell as me.”
Keigo absolutely hated how this all made sense now. From Touya’s perspective, he only had one way to oppose Endeavour, the great acclaimed hero, and it was by becoming a villain.
“Do you think I’m in any place to judge you? You’re not the only one with blood on his hands, I’ve killed because the Commission ordered me to. Hell, I’m probably being selfish, but I won’t let you die in your crusade against your father, not if I can help it. And for what it’s worth, you’re anything but hideous to me.”
“I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but come on, have you looked at me? What else would you call my wreck of a body?” Dabi hissed.
“Listen, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m part bird and your face is just full of shiny things. It… kind of does it for me, actually. Also, I don’t know if you realized, but I’ve been flirting with you lately, if that counts for something. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I hate how you’re constantly hurting because of those burns, but you still look handsome to me.”
Hawks rubbed his neck, a little embarrassed with himself. He wasn’t exactly used to being this honest with his feelings, not when he spent most of his time hiding behind the persona carved for him by the Commission. It took him off guard when Dabi chuckled, although he put a hand in front of his mouth in a useless attempt to cover the sound.
“Seriously? You like the staples, little bird? I always assumed you were only trying to seduce me because your handlers asked you to.”
This time, a deep blush appeared on Keigo’s cheeks.
“To be honest with you, I kind of hid that part of our encounters from them. I was only ordered to spy on the League, nothing more. And, well, I knew flirting with you was probably a bad idea, but I sort of couldn’t help myself?”
The more he talked, the more Hawks felt like he was digging his own grave. He hadn’t exactly planned on confessing his attraction to the villain today, and even less for said villain to be his long lost friend.
“So, you mean you like me?”
“Yeah. Both versions of you, actually. Touya — I mean, you— kind of was my teenage crush, so…”
Okay, he was officially terrible at this heart to heart thing. Hawks felt mortified by every single word that escaped his mouth, but as long as it kept Dabi here with him for a little longer, he was fine with it.
“You shouldn’t. I’m so messed up, I would only hurt you…”
Despite his words, Keigo immediately sensed Dabi’s desire to reach for him. It fueled his determination to keep fighting for this, for them. He wrapped his arms around the villain’s shoulders, refusing to ever let him go. The moment he got too close, Dabi put off his fire so he wouldn’t hurt him and let out a shaky breath as he accepted the embrace.
“Please, I know this isn’t easy, but don’t push me away. We’ll figure it out together, I promise. I’ll help you take down Endeavor if you want me to. I’ll make sure Fuyumi, Natsuo and Shouto stay safe in the meantime. There are ways to do this that don’t involve destroying yourself. Just trust me on this one, okay?”
Dabi tensed in his arms, and for a second, Keigo thought he had ruined everything, that the other man would just run away from him, never to be seen again. But after a second, the villain slumped back against him, and Hawks almost jumped in surprise as he returned the hug.
“I can try.” Dabi finally whispered, his voice barely audible. He sounded more like Touya than ever before.
“That’s all I’m asking for.” Hawks chirped.
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to bask in the moment. Neither of them said a word. Dabi’s hands were clenched tight on his jacket, as if he were afraid Keigo would just fly away if he let him go. Warmth radiated from his body and the hero could have cooed just from how familiar it felt. Despite all odds, he had found Touya once more and he wouldn’t let anything nor anyone separate them ever again.
“You’re still injured, you should lay down and rest. We can deal with everything else once you’ll be feeling better, okay?”
Hawks’ heart had never been fuller than when the villain agreed quietly and let himself be guided back to the couch. He didn’t care that this could and, all things considered, probably would ruin his hero career. The moment Dabi laid his head on his lap and smiled when one of his wings covered him up, Keigo decided he wouldn’t trade this for the world.
This time around, he would be here to save Touya.