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Hawks was trying to figure out Dabi’s identity, and he just couldn’t leave well enough alone. So, during one of their info-exchange meetings, Hawks was just staring at Dabi until the man finally cracked and asked him, “Why’re you staring?”
“I’m trying to figure out who you are.”
“You really don’t know subtlety, do you?”
“Nope!” Hawks grinned unrepentedly. “Anyway, I’ve got a theory… I think, whatever your name is, that your body isn’t compatible with your quirk because of your parents’ quirks. One’s obviously fire, and the other is… metal?” Dabi started laughing. “Hear me out!” Hawks continued despite Dabi’s laughter. “Maybe you did always look like.” He gestured to all of Dabi who just grinned in amused delight.
“Staples and all? On a baby? That’s just tragic.”
“Quirks are weird, man; I don’t make the rules.” Hawks raised his hands to rid himself of the hypothetical guilt. “Maybe you were even born with the piercings.”
“And the scars?”
“Last I checked, fire plus metal leads to melting. Now when it’s your skin, well…” He wavered a hand back and forth with a grimace.
“Oh my god; you’re serious…”
“Listen, you’ve heard of Kamui Woods; you know of Cementoss. If they can be born with skin that’s not plain skin, why not you? It’s the only thing I can think of that makes sense.”
Dabi sat back to regard Hawks with all his ‘evidence’. It wasn’t bad actually. Wrong, but clearly, he tried.
“Quirk incompatibility, huh? Was it intentional, or is my existence even more tragic?” Dabi rested his cheek against his hand, still deeply amused.
“With the size of the chip on your shoulder? Nah, I’d say it definitely wasn’t intentional. When your parents saw how your quirk was affecting you, I think it all went wrong.”
And now Dabi wasn’t smiling. So many facts wrong, but the bird had gotten that part right. Time to end this. “As fun as this guessing game has been, I’m going to have to cut it short. I have better things to do tonight.” Dabi stood and turned to leave.
“They were wrong, you know? Or they did things wrong. Whatever happened that drove you away from them, they’re the ones missing out. Frankly, I’m glad to know you, despite the unfortunate circumstances.”
Dabi paused, taking in the information and the sincerity of his tone. “… Have a good night, Hawks.” He waved over his shoulder without turning around, but Hawks still caught a peek of the blush on his cheeks.
“See ya’ next time, Dabi~”
--
As if Hawks could leave well enough alone.
Even though Dabi hadn’t confirmed anything that Hawks had said, he also hadn’t denied any of it, and Hawks was just too curious to let anything go. With a mind as active as his, he couldn’t help playing the information over and over.
This unsolved puzzle led him back to one of his old hero habits: investigating.
Hawks began taking an interest in women with either fire or metal quirks to see if any may resemble Dabi. Of course, they had to be around twenty years older than Hawks and Dabi (Hawks figured Dabi was about his age), and if they were a pro hero, well, it’d be easier to gain information on them.
With such a wide range of parameters, there should’ve been tons of options, but there wasn’t. Thankfully, the limited number made it much more manageable when Hawks printed out flash cards.
“Flash cards?” Dabi deadpanned at him while Hawks shuffled through them.
“Yes, and I don’t have a printer, so you should be very impressed that I managed to get these without being recognized.”
“Birdie, you already know your skills are valued by the League. That’s why we’ve been trying to recruit you.”
“Flatterer.” Hawks batted his eyelashes, making Dabi’s scowl increase.
“Narcissist.”
“Anyway!” Hawks flicked out a card, shoving it in Dabi’s face. “Is this your mom?”
“No.” Dabi ground out despite squinting at the image that was much too close to his face. He made himself lean back before he leaned closer again. “Who is this?”
“No idea!” Hawks flicked the card behind him, and Dabi watched it fall to the floor.
“Did you take pictures of random civilians?”
Despite Dabi’s incredulous tone and judgmental look, Hawks just shrugged. “I found some pros that matched, too. Want to skip to them?” Hawks waved another card in Dabi’s face, and the arsonist just moved his wrist away, his eyes still narrowed at Hawks. “What? You’re surprised I know how to take a picture while flying? I can multitask, you know.”
“I knew you were messed up, but I didn’t think you’d stoop to paparazzi.” The word dripped with such disdain that Hawks burst out laughing.
“I dealt with way worse than this when I was a hero! Besides, it’s not even that much. This is nothing compared to the pictures I have of you.”
“What?”
“What?” Hawks just blinked innocently up at him.
Dabi narrowed his eyes in response. “We’re talking about this later.”
“No we’re not.” Hawks grinned and leaned an arm onto Dabi’s shoulders, pulling another card out for Dabi to see. “So, is this your mom?”
--
The floor was littered with amateur flash cards of candid photos of complete strangers. The faces started to blur together after a while, but Hawks was relentless, and Dabi was equally stubborn. The next photo was actually familiar, though, and Dabi sat up to blink at the pro hero shown.
“Hawks, why the f*** is Ryukyu in here? She’s not old enough to be my mother.”
Hawks shrugged and leaned his head onto Dabi’s shoulder so they could see the picture more easily. “True, but I was thinking she might be your sister? I mean, she’s got these ear spikes, and she can breathe fire—Wait, can you breathe fire?” He sat up, and his feathers trembled with enough excitement that Dabi started laughing.
This insane search may’ve been enough to finally fry Dabi’s brain because he just kept laughing even as he internally panicked. Because even though Ryukyu wasn’t his sister, Hawks had somehow picked up on Dabi having a sister.
“I can breathe fire, yeah, but it tears my throat up. I try to avoid it as much as possible.” Maybe giving Hawks a nugget of information would get the bird off his back.
From the glint in his golden eyes, though, that may have backfired.
“Good to know,” the winged villain hummed ominously.
--
Dabi had gotten the go ahead to set up a meeting between Hawks and the League, but the timing was s***. Right now, most of the League was fighting in a forest, and there just wasn’t time for a meet and greet with their prospective recruit. Once things had settled and Machia was recruited, then Dabi would bring in Hawks.
That was the plan, at least, but while he mused over the logistics and debated if this was even a good idea, his phone started ringing – his burner phone from Hawks.
“Hello?” He asked, and instead of a greeting, Hawks just started screaming questions instead.
“Dabi, how could you do that to your brother, huh?! Kidnapping his classmate during their summer camp? Kid must’ve been traumatized, and he seemed so earnest and wholesome during the Sports Festival, too!”
Maybe the static that filled Dabi’s mind was caused by the poor reception of this cheap burner phone or maybe it was from the blood surging in his ears. For a moment, Dabi couldn’t think – he couldn’t breathe.
How had Hawks figured out he had a brother at UA? Only UA had the Sports Festival, but even more surprising, Hawks knew about the summer camp debacle – maybe because of the televised rescue afterwards, the fall out of Kamino?
Hawks always knew more than he should, and while the League valued his abilities, Dabi was cursing them right now. There was one detail that he’d gotten wrong, though.
Shouto wasn’t earnest or wholesome, so what the f***?
“What are you talking about?” Dabi grit out despite his heart still pounding in his ears.
“Your brother, the metal boy in 1-B! He fought really hard in the Sports Festival, and I think he might almost match your stubbornness. I don’t see much family resemblance aside from that, but are you also a Tetsutetsu?”
Relief flooded Dabi’s system before being replaced with abject confusion.
“What the f*** is a Tetsutetsu?”