Archive of Our Own

Dabi had been stalking trough the dark back alley in an attempt to find a shortcut to the League's base, being in an extra rush because of the rain, when he heard it.

A tiny whimper from an old card-box squeezed under a garbage can.

Listen, Dabi was aware of his villain status, and yes, it was based on very true facts.

But he wasn't heartless, and even though he would never admit it out loud, he had two weaknesses; children and animals.

So, naturally, he carefully crouched down to try to get a peek inside said box.

It was hard to get a proper look at whatever was inside, but based on the noises it made, Dabi was willing to bet it was some sort of dog.

A real terrified dog.

At first Dabi tried to lure it out with words and coos, but he quickly realized his voice didn't quite have that softness it needed, and he realized he might have to be creative about this.

Goddamn it, he should just be on his way.

Go to the base, have a beer, watch some TV with Twice and Compress, maybe watch Spinner pretend to lose in a video game to Shigaraki, all under a roof, in dry clothes.

Yep.

That's what he should do.

So why was he still sitting here?

Another quiet mix between a whimper and a growl broke him out of his train of thoughts, and he decided then and there he wasn't gonna give up on this.

If only to prove himself capable of doing so.

As a cold shiver ran down his spine, the villain suddenly got an idea.

He held out his palm and conjured up a small flame, making sure to make it give off lots of heat.

Pretty soon a small nose and two huge, round black eyes were visible trough the darkness, and with a little more patience the tiny creature came creeping out of the box it was hidden in.

It was small, smaller than Dabi expected, but its giant ears made it look bigger than it really was. Its eyes were also huge, but besides that, there wasn't much to it.

The little fur it had was matted and dirty, and when Dabi finally lured the little creature close enough to touch, it basically collapsed in his hands when it felt the heat he was giving off.

It didn't weigh much, probably not much more than a small cat, and Dabi felt a strange need to hold it close, but thought the better off it as he didn't want to risk spooking the thing into biting him.

But suddenly he was faced with another problem;

Where the fuck would he take this thing?

Back to the base was out of the question, Twice and Toga would probably go into overdrive and scare the dog accidentally, and based on the way he was currently treating the League, Dabi knew Shigaraki had a habit of getting overly attached to things without meaning to, and the absolute last thing the League needed was a dog.

The vet was out of he question in fear of them just putting the creature down for not having an owner, and then there was really only one option left.

God fucking damn it.

~

As he stood outside the door to the big, fancy apartment, Dabi began to question himself for what felt like the millionth time that night.

The only reason he knew where the hero lived was for business reasons, and he never planned on actually going there.

But now he heard the shuffling of a person on the other side, and suddenly he had to deal with his choice.

The door opened, and if it weren't for the worry he was feeling for the thing in his arms, Dabi would have laughed out loud at shocked look on Hawks' face.

The winged hero looked the villain up and down for a quick second, before he grabbed his arm and yanked him inside.

"Dude, I know I said I wanted to be friendly with you, but-"

"Shut the fuck up, Birdie."

Dabi quickly shut down the tangent the hero was getting at, and before Hawks had the chance to say something else, the dog Dabi was holding made a small noise again.

Hawks' eyes widened, and he quietly gestured for Dabi to show him, which he reluctantly did.

"Oh..." Hawks mumbled, and shot a look at Dabi the villain didn't quite understand, but when Hawks moved to take the dog out of his arms, Dabi quickly withdrew.

"Erhm... If you want me to help I kinda need to look at him, Hotshot," Hawks said carefully, and Dabi huffed.

"Yeah, okay, just... careful," he mumbled, and Hawks nodded.

As the hero lifted the small dog out of his arms, Dabi realized this was the first time he had seen the hero out of his uniform, and the difference was... kind of shocking.

The big coat and baggy pants paired with the wings made the hero appear much bigger than he really was, but the white knitted sweater and loose sweatpants made him look... young.

And short.

The hero was really fucking short.

Huh.

Dabi's train of thoughts came to a sudden halt as he realized Hawks was trying to talk to him.

"Hello, earth to arsonist?" the hero asked, waving a hand in front of the villains face.

Dabi slapped the others hand away, and asked him to repeat his question.

"I was saying," Hawks started, while carefully petting the dogs head.

"That it looks like you both need showers. You can use the bathroom by the guest room, and I can use the tub in mine to warm this guy up."

Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Of course you got two bathrooms."

Hawks winked.

"Obviously."

~

When Dabi finally exited the bathroom, wearing Hawks' slightly too short sweatpants and a thankfully baggy t-shirt, he felt like a new person.

It had been a long time since he had a shower like that.

As he entered the living room again, he found that Hawks had already sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace with the now clean dog in front of him, making these strange chittering noises to the little creature, who did in turn seem to love it.

"So, what are you two talking about?" Dabi asked in a bored tone, carefully sitting down opposite of the hero.

"You," Hawks said with a small smile as he looked up at the villain.

When the hero looked up at him, he once again got that look on his face, a soft, kind of unreadable look, and Dabi felt like an unknown sort of awkwardness and had to look away.

"Only bad things, I hope?" he asked dryly, and the hero laughed out loud.

"Naturally," he answered, and Dabi smiled a little, looking down at the dog.

When he carefully reached out his hand to let the dog smell him, the dog took him by surprise and bounced over to him, eagerly trying to climb into his lap.

Dabi took the opportunity to get in some pets and scratches, and got a good look at the little guy.

It's eyes were huge, and the ears reminded him of a gremlin, but its fur was pretty decent, a dark brown with a white belly and paws, longer than a short haired dog, but not quite long, either.

It's tail was wagging like crazy and it was shaking a little, but it didn't seem to be in any distress.

It was quite ugly, but in a very endearing way.

Or whatever.

"He doesn't seem to have any injuries, but he needs a lot of food, warmth and safety," Hawks said carefully, looking at Dabi with searching eyes.

Dabi sighed.

"So you're saying I should give him, what, to a shelter? What if they put him down?!"

Hawks eyes widened a bit, but he shook his head slowly.

"Not necessarily," he said thoughtfully, but before he could continue, a strange sound came from somewhere behind the hero, who turned around with a big smile.

"Sock!" he exclaimed, and Dabi figured the hero had finally lost it.

But just as he was about to say so, he realized there was something moving around the hero, something elegant and purring; a cat.

A big, shorthaired grey cat, with huge blue eyes, a big chip in its left ear and a very long tail.

Dabi blinked.

"Cat," he said, intelligently.

Hawks huffed out a laugh.

"Yes Dabi, very good. This is a cat," he said, drawing out the final word.

Dabi shot him a look, and Hawks just grinned back at him.

The cat stayed next to Hawks as he calmly stroked along its back, and the small dog stayed in front of Dabi, eyeing the cat curiously.

"What... What am I supposed to do with this?" Dabi finally asked, looking down at the little dog in front of him, petting his head carefully, watching his tail wag happily.

Hawks looked at them both for a while.

"He could stay here," Hawks began, and Dabi raised an eyebrow.

"But!" Hawks added quickly, and Dabi gestured for him to go on.

"I obviously don't have time to take care of him full time. So, the offer only stands if you take care of him when I work long shifts."

Dabi averted his eyes.

"So you're suggesting shared custody?" Dabi asked dryly, and Hawks nodded with a grin.

"Yep!" The hero exclaimed with a quick nod, before he went on.

"And since I am often gone for more than 12 hours, you can use the guest room."

Dabi eyed the hero with a slightly confused look.

"Is this your way of asking me to movie in with you, Birdbrain?"

Hawks beamed.

"Yep! At least for the time being."

Dabi rolled his eyes, but actually stopped to think about it.

It... wasn't that bad of an idea.

He could keep an eye on the hero, get some good intel, snoop around, and keep an eye on the dog at the same time.

"Fine."

Hawks snickers.

"You don't have to sound so defeated, this is strictly voluntarily."

Dabi waved his hand.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, and looked over at the hero again.

The cat, Sock, (what an insane name, geez) had moved closer to the dog, and they were both looking at each other curiously, carefully getting close enough to sniff each other.

The noise Hawks made was somewhere between a squeal and a chirp, which was enough to get both the pets to look at him with big worried eyes, before Sock hurried over to his owner to ensure he wasn't dying, and the dog hurried over to Dabi to hide in his lap.

When he was done snickering, Dabi looked at Hawks with a thoughtful expression.

"Dogs needs names, right?" he asked, more as a statement than a question.

Hawks lit up with an idea.

"Shoe!" he all but yelled, looking like he just figured out the hardest puzzle ever.

Dabi stared at the hero for a while, waiting for him to admit to the joke.

He didn't.

"Shoe," Dabi repeated slowly.

"You want to name the dog 'Shoe'."

Hawks nodded and pointed to the cat.

"Sock and Shoe!" he grinned, and Dabi rolled his eyes so hard he almost fell backwards.

"Over my dead body," he said curtly, and Hawks shrugged with a smile.

"That can be arranged," the hero quipped, and Dabi scowled at him, before rolling his eyes again, trying not to smile.

The pair sat in silence for a while, quietly watching the dog and cat interact with each other.

When Dabi looked up at Hawks again after a while, he realized he's never seen the other look quite so happy and serene, ever.

"I didn't take you for a cat person," Dabi said, watching as the hero reached to and booped the nose of the grey cat playfully.

Hawks chuckled.

"Well, I didn't take you for a dog person, either, so I'd say we're even."

Dabi felt a small smile overtake his face before he could stop it.

"I guess we're even, then," he said.

Hawks hummed in agreement.

"I guess we are."