Archive of Our Own

Dabi was just supposed to be checking a stupid shipment at the docks to make sure that all of the crates had arrived correctly. Shiggy had told him to bring the bird along as backup and to use his feathers to check that the contents were correct. It was supposed to be a quick little check of the crates and then the two of them could go their separate ways and do whatever the fuck they each wanted to do for the rest of the day. So, tell him why all of that had to go to shit and ruin his whole day.

Apparently, the guys delivering the crates hadn’t counted on Dabi bringing Hawks along and checking because as soon as Hawks dispatched feathers into the nearest crates, they looked at each other in a panic. Hawks leaned over to let him know that they probably needed to check more thoroughly because something about the supplies seemed off, but he’d barely gotten the words out before the idiots were launching at them. None of these guys really packed much of a punch and half of them had ended up running as soon as the fighting started, which is why Dabi was maybe not paying as much attention as he should have been. Dabi burned two of them to ash before they even knew what hit them and Hawks pinned another against a wall using his feathers. 

As he burned yet another would-be attacker to a crisp, Dabi suddenly heard Hawks yell his name along with the whizz of his feathers. Hawks feathers collided into him, propelling him off to his left, and as he snapped his head around he noticed the stream of acid shooting from one of the idiot’s hands and landing where he had just been standing. He also saw that Hawks had his eyes trained on him and not on the man sneaking up behind him. Before he could warn him, the man inhaled deeply and blew a cloud of smoke onto Hawks. Dabi could barely make out his shape through the smoke as he crumbled to the ground, and he was blinded by a rage he couldn’t explain. 

He burned the acid guy as well as the last two that were standing nearby and stalked his way over to where Hawks had been. As the smoke slowly cleared, there was a crumpled pile of feathers with only a tiny blond head poking out. He looked from the pile to the man that had done it and the second they made eye contact, the man’s face twisted in horror and he turned to run away. Dabi shot a ball of fire directly in front of him, stopping him in his tracks before sending out a stream of fire to surround the man. Dabi approached the pile of feathers and crouched, keeping one eye on the man that was now frozen in place. There, under the feathers was what looked like a little copy of Hawks.

“What did you do to him?” Dabi’s gaze snapped back to the man, who just looked at him with terror filled eyes. When he didn’t respond, Dabi stood and began walking toward him. “Answer me.” The man’s eyes darted down to the feathers and then back to Dabi.

“I’m sorry.” Dabi was starting to lose his patience at this point. He clenched his jaw in frustration and lit a fire in his palm as he continued walking until he was right in front of the man, putting out the flames in his path to walk up.

“That’s not an answer.” He used his free hand to shove the man by his face backwards into a wall. “What. Did. You. Do?” He punctuated each word with a shove to the man’s face. “I’m really getting impatient here. If you don’t answer soon, I’ll just cremate you and hunt down one of your buddies to tell me all about your shitty quirk.” He brought his flaming hand closer to the man’s face and the man shook underneath his grasp.

“Okay, I’ll tell you! Please don’t hurt me!” Dabi snorted. What kind of lame ass villains were these guys if they couldn’t even handle one little threat of immolation. “He’s not hurt, I swear! But I can’t undo it.” Dabi raised a brow in question and the man continued. “He’s just a younger version of himself. My quirk makes you relive the moments surrounding the most pivotal decisions of your life.” Dabi grunted in response.

“How long?” He growled at the man, and watched as he swallowed heavily. “How long till he’s back to normal?” Dabi asked again, this time giving his face another shove for good measure.

“One day.” Dabi narrowed his eyes at him and he took the hint to elaborate. “Over the next twelve hours or so he’ll relive a moment surrounding the three most pivotal decisions in his life so far. Then he’ll sleep it off and be back to normal, it won’t hurt him. He’ll be the same old annoying bird, I swear.” Dabi considered for a moment. That didn’t sound like the most threatening thing that could’ve happened and it sounded like the bird would be fine with minimal help so there probably wasn’t a need to worry about it. He hummed, stepping back and releasing his grip on the man to turn back to the young Hawks. The man caught himself before he fell but before he could take a single step, Dabi sent a stream of fire behind himself, fully engulfing the man as he stepped away.

By the time Dabi was standing next to the pile of feathers, the man had been reduced to nothing more than ash. He looked down at the scattered red feathers and considered his options. He could just leave the bird here, but he was a literal child right now and there’s no telling what could happen within a day. Not that Dabi cared what happened to him, he's just… a valuable asset, that’s all. He crouched again, gently sifting through the feathers and finding the tiny sleeping face of a young Hawks. Dabi hated to admit it but the kid was pretty cute, definitely cuter than he’d been at that age. He still had the marks next to his eyes, answering the nagging question Dabi had always harbored about whether they were natural or the product of makeup. There were also little, soft feathers interspersed in his fluffy hair, breaking up the gold with splashes of red. Tiny Hawks made a little noise, his brow furrowing. He brought his hand up to rub at his face in his sleep and Dabi raised a brow in confusion. Where there should be nails, there were long, sharp black talons. Had Hawks always had those? Come to think of it, had Dabi ever seen him without his gloves? It didn’t seem like he was hiding talons though, the gloves didn’t seem big enough for that. Tiny Hawks let out another noise and Dabi’s attention snapped back. Right, he has to figure out what to do with him. He just needed to be kept safe for the next twelve hours, right? 

Dabi absentmindedly reached down to stroke Tiny Hawks’ soft hair as he considered, watching as his face relaxed and the crease in his brow disappeared. There’s no way Dabi could go anywhere near the commission or the police to drop him off. Even if he just called them to tell them Hawks was here, it would be nearly impossible to get them to believe that the kid was actually Hawks. The league base was out as well, there’s no way those idiots could be trusted with a kid and as much as a vulnerable Hawks may be advantageous to the League, Dabi couldn't bring himself to risk Hawks’ life by bringing him to those psychos when he’s like this. It’s not like he really cared about the league’s ambitions after all, and he could always keep an ear open for valuable information while watching Hawks and report it later. Dabi let out a deep sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. Only one option then.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, sending a message to Shigaraki letting him know that the shipment had gone to shit and he wouldn’t be coming back to the base tonight. Then, he sent another message to Kurogiri to request a portal. While he waited, he carefully moved feathers aside until he could pick up the young Hawks without waking him. As he lifted him, his boots and all his clothes other than the jacket and compression shirt, now too big for him and hanging loosely, slipped free of his tiny frame. Holding him against his body with one arm, Dabi scooped up the clothes and his boots with his free hand.

As soon as the portal appeared, he stepped through, carrying Tiny Hawks and his clothes. When Dabi stepped free of the portal on the other side, he found himself standing in the middle of the barren living room of Hawks’ apartment. He’d never told the bird that he knew where he lived, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else to take him. Hopefully the birdbrain wasn’t too annoying about it when he returned to normal.

He crossed the room to place Tiny Hawks on the couch, draping his wings carefully, and dropped the pants and jacket next to him. Then, he moved to place Hawks boots near the entryway, toeing off his own boots while he was there. He turned to look at Tiny Hawks again, wearing nothing but a compression shirt loosely hanging from his neck. He headed for the bird’s bedroom door, knowing exactly which door it was thanks to the snooping he’d done the last time he snuck in.

He quickly rifled through the hero’s clothes, finding a pair of gym shorts and a hoodie that was probably too tight for the hero to usually wear. Finally, he scooped a blanket off the bed as he made his way back to the living room. It took some gentle maneuvering, but a couple minutes later he had Tiny Hawks dressed with a blanket covering him. The clothes were definitely too big but they’d do for now. He rolled up the sleeves of the hoodie and tightened the waistband of the shorts enough that they wouldn’t fall off at least.

Dabi took a step back, staring down at the still sleeping mini Hawks. Nothing to do now but wait, he supposed. He moved to the kitchen, flicking on the kettle as he grabbed a mug from the cabinet and pulled the teabags from the pantry. He huffed a deep breath and looked around, eyes catching on the bookshelf lined with books that looked like they hadn’t been touched since being placed there. As soon as the water was warmed, he filled the mug and dropped the teabag in before finally crossing to the bookshelf while it steeped. 

Once he’d chosen a book and plucked it from the shelf, he returned to the kitchen to finish his tea. He paused for a moment to grab a water bottle, carrying it back to the living room with him and placing it on the coffee table for when Hawks woke up. He settled at the other end of the couch, sipping his tea and cracking the book open. 

******************

An hour passed like that, Dabi occasionally pausing his reading to glance at Tiny Hawks, and he wasn’t sure if he should worry or be glad that Hawks was still asleep. He was in the middle of contemplating it when he heard the sound of small grumbles and shuffling. Looking to his side, he watched as Tiny Hawks sat up and rubbed at his eyes. A moment later, his tiny hands dropped and Dabi was met with wide golden eyes, darting around the room quickly before settling on him again. Suddenly, Dabi felt like he probably should have come up with a better plan, or at least thought about how he’d explain things. Shit, this was gonna be rough, the kid’s probably terrified.

“Are you my dad’s friend?” Dabi stared blankly at Tiny Hawks, who was much more calm than he had expected.  After all, he’d just woken up in a strange place, with clothes that weren’t his own, and sitting next to someone that looked like an undead monster. Shouldn’t he be freaking out? As long as Dabi had known him, Hawks had been level headed and calculating no matter the circumstances but he figured that had come from a lot of training. Had he really always been like this? Tiny Hawks cocked his head slightly, spurring Dabi to answer.

“Uh… yeah, sure.” Not like he could tell him the truth, that he’s the A-rank villain that was fighting alongside his older, hero self when he was suddenly de-aged and needed to be kept safe. ‘Dad’s friend’ was probably a safe bet right? He closed his book, leaning forward to place it on the coffee table and scoop up the water bottle. 

“Okay… um, what do you want me to do?” Dabi turned to look at the young boy next to him as he sat back. His eyes were still wide and his small wings tucked firmly against his back. He may be calm but he was definitely scared.

“Huh?” Dabi squinted his eyes in confusion. “What do I want you to do?” He repeated the question, not knowing how to answer. Tiny Hawks just nodded once, his golden eyes locked on to Dabi. “What do you mean? Why would I want you to do something?”

“Well…” Tiny Hawks looked down at his lap, twirling his thumbs as he answered. “Usually, when dad leaves me with one of his friends, they want me to do something.” Dabi just stared at him quietly, a sick feeling beginning to grow in his stomach “Like clean, or get something from really high up, or…” Tiny Hawks paused and his voice grew much quieter. “other stuff.” The feeling in Dabi’s stomach suddenly doubled and he clenched his jaw to calm himself.

“Well, I don’t want any of that stuff, so just sit on the couch for now.” Tiny Hawks fidgeted with the hem of his hoodie as his gaze moved back up to Dabi.

“Then, why am I here?” His eyes were filled with confusion before suddenly filling with something much more like fear. His lower lip wobbled and his hands gripped his hoodie toghtly as his eyes moved to look down at the ground. “Do you want me to…” he paused again and Dabi noticed the way his tiny hands shook as they gripped his hoodie tight enough to turn his knuckle white, a tear threatening to fall from his wet eyes, “take my clothes off?” It was practically a whisper and Dabi froze, his blood feeling like ice in his veins. He must have misheard. 

“Why would you do that?” The words had already left his mouth before he even knew he was talking. He didn’t actually want to hear the answer but somewhere deep down, he thought he already knew.

“Cause sometimes my dad’s friends ask me to take my clothes off and dad says I always have to do what his friends ask.” Dabi’s eyes had not left the side of Tiny Hawks’ head, his fist clenched painfully and his breath only coming in shallow puffs, as he attempted to collect his thoughts. No fucking wonder Hawks was kind of a nutcase if this is what his childhood was like. Dabi suddenly felt more sympathy for the bird. 

“I’m not…” he took a deep breath, trying to calm the violent beating of his heart, “I’m not gonna ask you to do any of that.” A moment passed in silence before Tiny Hawks’ eyes slid back up to him cautiously. There was so much fear in his wide eyes and Dabi figured it wouldn’t help to be too intense, so he leaned back into the couch, holding the water bottle out to him. “What’s your name?” Tiny Hawks held his gaze cautiously as he reached to take the bottle from Dabi’s hands. 

“…Keigo” This morning he would have been thrilled to discover the hero’s identity but now, he couldn’t even think of taking advantage of the situation to gain information from Hawks anymore. Really, he already knew he wasn’t going to share anything he learned here today but now he was looking at Hawks in a new light. For today at least, he could put aside his tough villain act. 

“Well Keigo, as you can see, I’m pretty scary looking so I don’t have many friends. I just want someone to hang out with me for a while, do you think you could do that?” Keigo watched him with bright eyes and Dabi offered a small smile as he waited for a response. Seemingly satisfied with this, Keigo nodded as a small smile of his own grew. Dabi let out a sigh of relief, at least that’s that handled. 

“I don’t think you’re scary.” Keigo’s tiny voice surprised him again and he raised his brow in question, but the kid was back to staring at his lap. What the fuck had this kid seen if he didn’t find him scary? Dabi wasn’t trying to be dramatic, he just knows from an objective standpoint that he is definitely scary, so what the hell? “My dad’s friend Tony… he’s scary. He makes me do a lot of things I don’t like.” Dabi’s jaw clenched again at that, he didn’t need to be told to know what the kid meant. Dabi’s heart ached, remembering some of the things he went through in his own childhood and how bitter it had made him. How could Hawks still smile like he always did? 

“You look like this really cool doll I found one time.” Dabi was snapped back to attention by Keigo’s words and found the boy staring back at him again. “They wouldn’t let me keep him but he was awesome.” A… doll? Nobody had ever compared him to a doll before. His brow furrowed slightly and his mouth parted in question, but Keigo was finally smiling properly now. So Dabi let out a small sigh and decided to just let it go, returning the smile. “And I like your staples… they’re really pretty.” Dabi’s smile faltered and he did his best to keep a blush from rising to his cheeks. Hawks had been one of the only people in his life to compliment him and the only one that had ever called him pretty before, but he’d always assumed it was just to gain his favor and join the League. Hearing it now come from his mouth as a tiny, honest child, he couldn’t help but reevaluate every time the hero had said it before. 

Deciding that was an idea to unpack later, he pushed it to the back of his mind and looked Keigo over again. He’d noticed it when he picked him up and while he was getting him dressed, but the kid was skinny as hell. Considering some of the other things he’d just learned, it was a safe assumption that the kid wasn’t being fed very well.

“You hungry?” Keigo didn’t answer right away. Dabi had spent his fair share of time around young kids before he’d left home, so he knew what a hungry kid looked like. Thanks to his bastard father, he also knew what a kid scared to ask for something looked like. Keigo was both of these things right now. The uncertainty was clear in his eyes until it was overtaken by embarrassment when his stomach gave a well timed rumble. Dabi breathed out a low chuckle, and rolled his eyes slightly. “When was the last time you ate anything?” Tiny Keigo’s lip quivered as he gave a response.

“I…I had some bread yesterday.” Un-fucking-believable. Dabi huffed a deep sigh to recenter himself before changing tactics. Dabi knew the best way to get through to a kid like Keigo was to take the pressure off and one of the many things he'd learned about the bird in the time they’d known each other was how much he loved chicken.

“Well, I’m hungry, so I was gonna order some KFC. I’d rather not eat alone though, so do you think you could eat some if I got it for you?” He saw the sparkle in Keigo’s eyes as he looked back at him and gave a small nod, struggling and failing to hide the smile on his face. Dabi gave a nod in return, before lifting up his phone and ordering the food to be delivered. When it came time to enter the payment, he scooped up Hawks wallet and pulled his card out, not like the bird couldn’t afford it and it was mostly for him anyway.

While they waited for the food to be delivered, Dabi turned on the TV, flipping channels to find something appropriate for a kid but not so annoying it would drive him crazy. He ended up settling on some wildlife documentary because Keigo let out a little gasp and his eyes widened the moment it came on and he saw the big cats. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Keigo spoke up again without warning, startling Dabi from his dazed staring at the TV.

“I heard my mom and dad talking about sending me away…” Oh, shit. Dabi supposed he had succeeded in gaining Keigo’s trust if he was talking to him about this without prompting. He did his best to maintain a neutral expression as he glanced over at Keigo again. His eyes were still fixed on the TV, but his expression was sad. “I used my wings to help some people that were in trouble and at first my dad was real upset cause I’m not supposed to let people see me.” Keigo finally pulled his eyes from the TV as a commercial break began, instead staring intently at Dabi. “But then these hero people found out and said they want to make me into a hero and they’ll give my parents some money to help them.” In that moment, it was as if some missing piece of the puzzle slid into place and Dabi suddenly understood. Hawks didn’t just work for the commission, he didn’t report to a ‘handler’ just because it was easier contact, he’d been sold to them. He was purchased like a piece of property before he was even old enough to understand what it meant.

“Is that what you want, to be a hero?” Hawks seemed like such a natural born hero that it never occurred to Dabi to question whether that’s what he had wanted when he was young. Sure, he claimed to be disillusioned with hero society now, and even that Dabi had doubted, but as a kid… hell, even Dabi had wanted to be a hero before everything had gone to shit.

“I guess.” Keigo looked away again, down at the ground. “They said it’ll be really hard but they think I’ll be good at it.” He fiddled with his thumbs in his lap, not looking up.

“That doesn’t answer my question. Do you want to become a hero, Keigo?” After a moment Keigo just shrugged softly.

“Maybe if I’m a hero, I can stop people from getting hurt.” On the surface, it was such an obvious and innocuous statement but somehow, Dabi knew it meant much more than that.

“…Like how you wished a hero had helped you?” Dabi’s voice was low, almost reverent when he asked. There was a moment of silence before Keigo brought his eyes back to Dabi, now wet with tears waiting to spill over. His lips wobbled as he did his best to hold back his tears and nodded slowly. It felt like a dagger through Dabi’s heart. He may be a cold bastard but he wasn’t heartless. Before he knew it, he’d reached forward and pulled Keigo close to his chest, wrapping him in a tight hug. He swallowed heavily, squeezing Keigo to him and trying to calm the shaking in his hands. He’d hoped for a hero too. During all of the long days and nights of training, every time he had screamed and been pushed too far, even that night on Sekoto peak. He’d cried and wished for a hero to save him even if he knew deep down that one would never come.

“My mom gave me an Endeavor plushie before.” Keigo’s voice came out muffled with his face pushed into Dabi’s chest. “I used to hope he would come save me.” Dabi stiffened and a chill ran down his spine. He knew all too well just how unlikely it was that Enji Todoroki would help anyone, especially some poor kid, unless it benefited him. He stroked his hand gently through Keigo’s fluffy hair, careful of the feathers there, and felt a wet spot forming on his shirt under Keigo’s face.  “But I met him the other day, when the hero people came. He told me not to get in his way… it was scary.” Of course it was scary, Endeavor is a flaming pile of shit that doesn’t blink twice at hurting kids. Dabi felt like his blood was boiling in his veins but he did his best to keep calm, taking a deep breath and patting Keigo’s head.

“Yeah, well he treats everyone like shit.” Dabi grunted out and rolled his eyes but was surprised when Keigo pulled back in his grasp to look up at him with wide eyes. 

“Do you know him?” Keigo’s eyes were full of questions and Dabi was suddenly struck by the realization that he probably should not have said that.

“…yeah, I…” He averted his eyes, trying to think of a way to explain this “I guess you could say I know him.” He cleared his throat, catching Keigo’s wide eyes still staring at him with his tiny head cocked to the side. Then, like a saving grace, Dabi’s phone chimed and they both turned to look at it. Dabi lifted his phone to see the notification that their food had been dropped off outside. He cleared his throat as he stood. “Our uh… our food is here.” He took one step toward the door but paused without turning around. “Listen, you shouldn’t worry about anything that flaming jerk Endeavor ever says to you.” He nodded curtly and resumed his walk to the front door. “I’m gonna go grab our food now.”

By the time he returned with the food, the kid was too excited about the prospect of eating KFC to worry about anything else. At first, he was shy, only taking the smallest bites, until Dabi finally managed to convince him that he could have as much as he wanted. After that, he picked at his own food while watching with a smile as Keigo gobbled down more than seemed possible for his tiny stomach. They chatted occasionally, about something on the TV or whatever else may pop into their head. Eventually, the documentary ended and then another started. When Dabi realized that some time had passed since he last heard Keigo say anything, he glanced over to  see that he’d fallen asleep leaning on the arm of the couch. Dabi stood to drape the blanket over him again and clean up the leftover food. He knew it was silly and wouldn’t make any difference at this point but he hoped the Commission at least treated Keigo better than his parents had. He didn’t hold out much hope though, considering some of the things the bird had let slip.

Dabi turned down the volume on the TV and resettled on the other side of the couch, scooping his book back up and picking up where he’d left off earlier. Keigo occasionally made noises or moved around in his sleep, but things were calm for a while. Eventually Dabi stood and made his way to the kitchen to make himself another cup of tea. He was adding the sugar when he heard a weird noise and turned to see smoke rising from the couch. He made his way over to investigate, teacup in hand. When he peered over the back of the couch, he found Keigo still asleep on the couch but now he looked older, maybe in his early teens.

Dabi rounded the couch and placed his cup on the coffee table in order to check on him. Keigo was still soundly asleep, occasionally letting out small snores and chirp-like noises. He was still smaller than Dabi felt was normal but he’d already packed a considerable amount of muscle onto his small frame. The hoodie fit better now, but the shorts were a little tight, so he unrolled the sleeves and loosened the waistband to make him more comfortable. He looked Keigo up and down again, feeling like something was off but struggling to put his finger on it at first. He took a step back, tapping his chin in thought until it came to him after another glance at his hair. His tiny feathers were gone now, maybe he outgrew them? Then Dabi caught sight of his hands. The long sharp talons were now short and blunt, he doubted that was something that happened naturally, especially since the skin around them was so irritated. Dabi settled on the couch again, glancing at Keigo once more and letting out a sigh before returning to his book. Not like he could ask him about it when he was still passed out.

******************

Another forty five minutes passed like that, and Dabi was making good progress on the book, when the sound of rustling fabric drew his attention again. He paused and looked back to teenage Keigo, watching as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Dabi set the book to the side as Keigo seemed to suddenly realize his situation. He sat up straighter and folded his hands in his lap while watching Dabi intently.

“Are you with the commission? Is this a training exercise? Or…” His eyes darted around the room, taking in the surroundings and attempting to come to a conclusion. “Am I being sent away? Is it because the president is mad that I said I wanted to stop?” His eyes locked on to Dabi again, fear creeping into his expression and his voice wavering slightly. “I didn’t mean it, I was just tired. I know the commission just wants to help me be the best hero I can. I’ll work harder.” Dabi could see him starting to panic and held his hands up placatingly.

“Whoa, I’m not with the commission. You’re just here to hang out with me for a bit, calm down.” Keigo’s mouth snapped shut but Dabi could see his mind still spinning. “Why did you want to quit?” Keigo’s jaw tensed and Dabi could see him doing his best to contain his panic. “Don’t worry, I promise you won’t get in trouble no matter what you say. I don’t really care for the commission and I wouldn’t know who to tell even if I did want to get you in trouble.” Keigo’s eyes scanned over his face and while he still didn’t look like he completely believed Dabi, he did relax slightly.

“I… was scared.” Keigo turned to stare at the ground again. “They told me that Endeavor’s son died a few days ago.” Dabi inhaled sharply and froze in place. He hadn’t been prepared for him to say that. Why would his death have meant anything to Keigo? “…training accident.” Keigo’s voice was small, his hands shaking slightly. “Just…For a minute I thought… What if the same thing happens to me? It almost has… a few times.” Dabi’s heart sank again, the tiny scrap of hope he held that the commission had treated Keigo well going up in flames.

“What do you mean by that? Is the commission hurting you?” Keigo’s whole body tensed up and he still refused to make eye contact.

“No, they were just helping me test my limits so that I could become a better hero.” God, that was such bullshit and the fact that Keigo genuinely seemed to believe it pissed Dabi off. “If I was stronger it wouldn’t have…”

“No!” Keigo jumped at the volume of his sudden interjection but, although Dabi felt bad for scaring him, he didn’t stop. “They’re supposed to be training you, not hurting you worse. What are they doing to you, Keigo?” Keigo spun to face him, eyes wide and full of fear.

“What did you call me?” Keigo was gripping the fabric of his pants, hands shaking even harder than they were a moment ago. Dabi raised a brow in question.

“Keigo? It’s your name.” Keigo’s eyes remained wide and full of fear, his mouth hanging slightly open as he shook his head slowly.

“No… Not anymore.” Keigo swallowed very deliberately and looked down at his lap. “I’m Hawks now. No one is supposed to…” Keigo looked up through his lashes to catch Dabi’s gaze again. “How do you know that name?” Was it really such a strange thing? Dabi had always assumed that the reason he struggled to find much information on Hawks’ real name or past was because he’d hidden it to keep his cover as he infiltrated the league. Did the commission really force him to give up his entire identity at such a young age?

“Ah…” How did he explain knowing that name then? He supposed that a version of the truth was probably the best bet. “You may not remember but we met when you were younger.” Keigo furrowed his brow, fixing a confused stare on Dabi as he seemed to be trying to remember. “Yeah, you looked a little different then.” Keigo’s head cocked gently to the side and Dabi suppressed a snicker at how birdlike it was. “You had cute little feathers in your hair then. What happened to them?” Keigo’s face went startlingly blank as he sat up to meet Dabi’s gaze head on again.

“The president felt they were unbecoming of a hero.” The implications of that answer brought the sickening feeling in his stomach back in full force. 

“So they ripped them out?” Dabi hadn’t meant for the question to be so blunt, but the way Keigo jumped and his eyes darted away before he schooled his expression again, told him that he was spot on. Keigo swallowed heavily again before he answered.

“They were groomed, yes.” Ha, groomed? Was that the commission approved term for torture? Keigo was doing his best to keep his voice even and appear calm but Dabi’s eyes caught on the twitching of his wings before falling to his still trembling hands.

“Same with your hands?” Keigo’s hands twitched before he moved to tuck his nails more firmly under his palm. Just what the hell were they putting this kid through.

“Yes, well, my natural talons would scare civilians so…” For someone who was so vocal about ending quirk discrimination and accepting mutant type quirks, it sure seems Hawks had been forced to hide a lot about his own quirk.

“So, what?” Dabi threw his hands up in frustration. “They chopped ‘em off and made you jam ‘em in a pair of gloves?” Dabi could see Keigo’s jaw clenching, doing his best to keep his cool.

“It’s for the best. If I plan to be a hero, then I can’t have the public scared of me.” Keigo's words were calm, but there was a quiver in his voice and his eyes were full of emotion.

“Kei…” Dabi’s voice was soft, placating, and he found himself furrowing his brows as he frowned at the hurt kid in front of him.

“Don’t call me that!” Dabi jumped at Keigo’s sudden exclamation, his eyes going wide. “That’s not me anymore! I’m not Keigo anymore!” Keigo’s feathers were sharper than a moment ago and his eyes were beginning to shine with moisture as he yelled. “Keigo is dead! I’m supposed to be dead! I should be…” He broke off with a choked sob, the tears in his eyes dangerously close to spilling over. Dabi felt like a dagger was suddenly plunged into his chest, Keigo’s outburst sounding a little too much like the thoughts he’d had after Sekoto peak.

“What?” The question was breathed out and hung heavily in the air, Dabi’s voice little more than a whisper. The only sounds filling the room were Keigo’s heavy breathing and his sniffling as he tried to reign in his tears. Each moment that passed without an answer felt like the dagger inched deeper in Dabi’s heart.

“It would be so easy…” Keigo’s voice was so quiet when he finally spoke that Dabi had to strain to hear him. “There’s more deadly weapons stuck to my back than I could count. And they ask me to fly so high. If I just paused for a second during training… if I just didn’t dodge… I could…” Dabi felt another twist of his stomach as memories of his own childhood training flooded his mind. It was so intense, so full of pain, and it was so tempting to just give in but… “but they won’t let me. They’ll just patch me up and then double my training cause I messed up.” …Yup, exactly, he’d be healed just enough to keep going and then told off for being so weak. It was a never ending cycle of pain and punishment that Dabi had to burn himself to death to escape.

“They don’t care… none of them care… and they didn’t care about Touya either.” Dabi inhaled sharply, so lost in his own thoughts mirrored by Keigo’s words that he was startled by hearing his old name again. “I heard them talking… they don’t know how well I can hear with my feathers…” Dabi’s brows scrunched together and he held his breath as a moment passed in silence. “It wasn’t a training accident… well, it kinda was, but…” Dabi's head was spinning and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry, scream, or throw up, “really… Endeavor killed him…” Hearing those words from Keigo was simultaneously validating and painful. “He pushed him until he burned. But the commission doesn’t want people to know that.”

If Dabi could still cry, he knew the tears would be threatening to fall by now. He remembered reading the articles and watching the news after he woke up with half his body burned away. He remembered feeling hollow as people praised the man that killed him. He remembered wishing that he had died in that fire so he didn’t have to hear his murderer lie about loving him. He remembered thinking that no one would ever believe the truth. Then again, Hawks always had been different. Dabi used to be scared by how much it seemed like Hawks could see past his bullshit and into his angry, sensitive center, but it was starting to make sense now.

“And it wouldn’t be fair…not after he died for it.” Dabi’s attention snapped back to Keigo again, not entirely comprehending at first. “It wouldn’t be fair if I just threw it away when it’s being handed to me. What if he wanted to keep going… keep training to be a hero? What if he died wanting what I’d rather not have?” Dabi’s words felt caught in his throat as his mind struggled to catch up. “What if he wanted to live?” Keigo broke into a sob and a suffocating silence settled over them.

Dabi felt like he was shaking from the inside, his breath coming shallow and fast. He swallowed heavily, eyes skating over the boy in front of him staring down at his lap. He took in his mussed up hair, his puffy red-rimmed eyes full of tears he was struggling to contain, his heaving chest, and his hands tipped with mutilated talons gripping the fabric of his pants tightly. 

“He wouldn’t care.” Keigo’s eyes flicked back up, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. “He’d know better than anyone the pain of training for something like that and he wouldn’t fault you for not wanting to.” Dabi swallowed again as he attempted to collect his thoughts. “He’d want you to do whatever you felt was right but he wouldn’t want you to give up… not like that.” 

“How would you know?” Dabi wasn’t prepared for Keigo’s question and his eyes went wide in response. “How would you know what he wanted?” Keigo’s stare was so intense, it made Dabi feel frozen on the spot, unable to answer. “I’m just gonna be another shitty hero, like the ones that did that to him. I’m gonna be the same as them. Why wouldn’t he want me dead?” It was like a punch to his gut when Dabi realized that at one point he may have actually felt that way, but not now. Now, he not only knew Hawks and the lengths he went to to help others, but had also learned what he had to overcome to get there. Now…now, he cared.

“Keigo, listen to me.” He reached out and grabbed Keigo’s hands, gently detaching them from their grip on his pants, and held them tightly in his own. Keigo’s wings gave a startled flutter behind him before settling against his back again. “You are not like them. You will never be like them.” Keigo opened his mouth, likely to protest if his expression was anything to go by, but Dabi continued before he could. “No, you’ll be so much better. You’ll save people, really help people… cause you’re too good not to.” He gave Keigo’s hands a reassuring squeeze and watched as his mouth snapped shut and the apprehension slowly faded from his expression. “Kei, you could never be the kind of hero Touya hated.” He could see Keigo’s lip trembling as his eyes grew glossy once again. Dabi did his best to give Keigo a reassuring smile and huffed a dry laugh. “I, uh… I actually knew Touya pretty well.” Keigo eyebrows lifted slightly in a question. “I think he would have really liked you, hell he’d probably have fallen in love with you.” Keigo inhaled sharply, mouth falling open again in shock. 

Finally, the tears won out and began streaming down his face as he was wracked with sobs. Dabi moved to grab him by the shoulders, pulling him closer and shifting to guide Keigo’s head to the crook of his neck. Dabi moved one hand to pet Keigo’s head gently, the other moving to rub soothing circles into his back between his wings. Keigo gripped the back of Dabi’s shirt tightly and he could feel the wet spot beginning to form on his shoulder, but he couldn’t care less, too wrapped up in his own thoughts.

That is what happened, isn’t it? He swore long ago that he would stop caring about others. He’d grown cold and unfeeling, only relying on himself. He dedicated himself to his quest for revenge and shut everyone out. Then he’d found his way to the league and slowly they wormed their way into his life. That was one thing, the connection of comrades working toward the same goal. That he could understand, but then Hawks had shown up. The bird had come crashing into his life and Dabi tried to hate him, he really did. He tried not to be amused by the cutting humor of Hawks’ teasing. He tried not to care when Hawks disregarded his rough exterior and genuinely asked how he was doing. He tried not to feel the room brighten the moment Hawks walked in. He tried not to enjoy when Hawks stuck closer to him than was strictly necessary, and ignored when he found himself doing the same. He tried not to be pleased when Hawks dropped his hero smile to give Dabi a smaller, more personal one. He tried not to get lost in Hawk’s golden eyes when they locked on his own across a room. He tried to draw a line and keep his distance, telling himself they were not the same.

Dabi knew deep suffering, used and tossed aside, driven by revenge, nothing more than a collection of burned flesh and negative emotions. Hawks was… none of those things. Hawks was sunshine, nothing but cocky confidence, loved by anyone he met, a real hero. He had a fancy apartment and the support of the commission, ate fancy food, and lived in a world of pure positivity. Dabi had pretended not to see the pain hidden behind Hawks’ wide smiles or the sadness in his eyes. He told himself there was no way Hawks could truly understand him because there was no way he’d ever experienced anything but the best… right?

Except now he knew that wasn’t the truth. He knew Hawks had seen things every bit as bad, if not worse than what Dabi had. He’d been through so fucking much and yet… he still smiled. He was kind to everyone and he smiled even when they hurt him. Dabi was out of dumb excuses, he had no more reasons to force a distance between them. He had been falling more in love with Hawks with each day that passed, and now he just needed to admit it to himself. At some point, he may even admit it to Hawks as well, but for now that would have to wait.

Eventually Dabi repositioned them to be a bit more comfortable, tugging Keigo along with him as he settled back. Keigo was still gripping his shirt and leaning against his shoulder but had calmed down considerably and before he knew it, Keigo was snoring lightly. A combination of the fatigue from his emotional outburst, the soothing rub of Dabi’s hands, the quiet murmur of the TV, and whatever effect this quirk had on him, had lulled Keigo into sleep. Dabi dared not move, and as he watched the nature documentary still playing on the TV, he felt his own eyes growing heavier as well.

******************

Dabi’s eyes flew open when he felt movement and pressure against his side, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw red. As his mind cleared, he realized it was just Hawks’ wings and relaxed. He blinked the last of his sleepy delirium from his eyes before turning to see Hawks sitting up next to him, and this time it was the usual Hawks, not the younger Keigo that he had grown to know over the last few hours.

“Dabi?” Hawks’ voice was rough with sleep and his eyes were squinted against the bright overhead lights. “What happened?” His expression was confused as he opened his eyes wider and glanced around the room. “Why are you in my apartment?” Well, he certainly looked and sounded like the Hawks Dabi knew, he recognized Dabi, and wasn’t too surprised by how close they’d just been. Seems he really was back to normal now. Dabi sat up straighter himself, stretching to alleviate the kink left in his back from sleeping in an awkward position. 

“So, you don’t remember anything?” Hawks raised an arm to scratch at the back of his neck as if it would jog his memory, pulling the tight hoodie up higher in the process and exposing a sliver of skin just above his hips. Dabi hated that he noticed it and he loathed that his eyes were drawn to it like a magnet. Finally, Hawks shook his head and shrugged. Dabi took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, sorting out the explanation in his head. 

“You were hit by a quirk during our mission.” Hawks raised his brows in question, sitting up straighter to listen to Dabi. “You got de-aged and had to go back to three most pivotal times in your life. You went through two already but either the fucker that hit you was wrong or I slept through the last one cause you’re back to normal now.” Dabi rubbed a hand tiredly over his face and Hawks hummed in reply, nodding slowly as he seemed to take it in. He was much better at hiding his emotions now than when he was younger but Dabi could still see the subtle hints that Hawks was nervous.

“My most pivotal moments huh?” Hawks murmured out the question, more to himself than to Dabi and looked down at his lap. He finally seemed to take in what he was wearing, as well as what he wasn’t wearing, and curled his hands to tuck his fingers against his palms. Dabi felt another wave of sadness at the gesture, but focused on keeping it out of his voice as he answered what wasn’t really a question.

“Yup. First time is when you were about to join up with the commission.” Hawks did a good job masking his reaction but the twitch of his feathers didn’t escape Dabi’s notice. “Second one was right after Endeavor’s kid died.” This time, the twitch of his wings was more noticeable as his shoulders twitched with them. Hawks seemed to consider for a moment, his breathing still purposely even.

“And I was uh, here?” Dabi was a little caught off guard by the unreadable emotion in Hawks eyes as he looked up to meet Dabi’s gaze again. “With you?”  A tiny pang of hurt hit Dabi at the insecurity in Hawks’ voice, as if Dabi’s presence in this vulnerable time spelled trouble for him. He couldn’t really blame him though, he was a villain after all and he hadn’t really given Hawks a clear reason to trust him yet. Dabi cleared his throat, falling back to his usual snark by default.

“Yup, and you had some pretty fucked up shit to say birdie.” Dabi had expected at least some sort of reaction, but Hawks just dropped his eyes back to his lap and seemed too lost in his thoughts to let out more than a quiet ‘oh’. The next few seconds dragged out in silence and Dabi was unsure how to continue. His eyes settled on the top of Hawks’ head, suddenly remembering the fluffy feathers that had jutted out of his hair when he was young.

“You should uh… grow out the feathers again.” When Hawks met his gaze with a confused look, he lifted a hand to gesture at his own hair. “In your hair, they were cute.” Hawks eyes widened as Dabi spoke, staring intently, and Dabi averted his eyes, feeling a little awkward. “And none of us will judge you if you wanna take your gloves off around the base.” Hawks made a choked off sound surprisingly close to a squawk, drawing Dabi’s attention back to him.

“I… told you?” Hawks’ eyes had grown impossibly larger and his mouth was hanging open slightly in apparent shock. 

“Kinda.” Dabi scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly. “I sorta saw them when you were little and then poof,” Dabi gestured with his hand, fingers spread wide, “they’re gone after you joined the commission. You said they were ‘groomed’.” Dabi watched as Hawks swallowed heavily, his eyes darting around the room quickly.

“Did I uh… say anything else?” Dabi tapped his chin as he thought for a moment. He didn’t really have a reason to keep any of what the younger versions of Hawks had said a secret, but he also didn’t want Hawks to worry about it too much.

“Well, I gathered that your parents weren’t exactly model caregivers and the commission hasn’t been much better.” Hawks looked pale as he nodded slowly and gulped again, finally meeting Dabi’s eyes again.

“Right, and I don’t suppose you’d listen if I asked you not to share any of that with anyone?” Dabi scoffed and rolled his eyes in amusement. Just how much had he made Hawks believe he couldn't trust him?

“There really isn't anything to share other than you being a moody little bitch, but that isn’t exactly news.” Hawks nodded again and released a shaky breath.

“Oh…right… thanks.” A small smile curled the corner of Hawks’ mouth up and released some of the tension in his balled up fists. Dabi scrunched his face up incredulously and huffed a laugh.

“Don’t thank me for insulting you, birdbrain.” Hawks reciprocated with a laugh of his own and more of the tension melted from his shoulders.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I must just be a masochist.” Dabi couldn’t stop the smile that spread on his own face in response. “Uh, hey.” Dabi lifted a brow to urge Hawks on. “I’m gonna go get changed, these clothes are… kinda tight.” He gestured with a grimace down at the clothes that were indeed pretty tight and Dabi chuckled.

“Well, you’re welcome. It was the best I could do with the limited options I had when you turned into a literal toddler in front of me.” Dabi rolled his eyes with a smirk as Hawks stood. “You could say thanks.” Hawks waved over his shoulder as he began to make his way to his bedroom.

“Sure, why don’t I buy you dinner as thanks. Go ahead and order whatever you want and use my card.” The bedroom door clicked softly as it closed behind Hawks and Dabi was left alone in the living room. He scrubbed his hand over his face again, letting out a deep sigh and doing his best to regain his composure.

Just as Hawks had suggested, Dabi scooped up his phone and scrolled through as he looked for something to order for dinner. It was pretty late and several places had already closed, so the options were more limited than he may have liked. However, he did end up finding something before long, pulling out Hawks card to pay like he’d done earlier. He wasn’t going to say no to the bird’s offer to pay.

He distantly heard the shower turn on and picked up the TV remote to flip through the channels as he waited, eventually settling on reruns of some show he hadn’t seen since he was a kid. After a few minutes, the sound of the running water cut off, followed by the faint click of the bathroom door and various scuffling sounds from behind the bedroom door. He was paying so much attention to the faint sounds of hawks moving around that he was startled by the sudden loud ring of the doorbell. 

He jumped up from his spot on the couch and creeped over to the door, listening for the sound of anyone outside. When he finally reached it, he peered out through the peephole and saw… nobody. Moving his gaze down, he saw the food he’d ordered sitting on the welcome mat and relaxed. He opened the door a crack and reached his hand out to pull the food back in with him.

Just as he reentered the living room, peering into the bags to check the food, the bedroom door opened and Hawks stepped through. They both stopped, staring at one another, before Hawks’ eyes fell to the bag in Dabi’s hands. He stepped forward again, sending several feathers in the direction of the kitchen as he did, and Dabi finally moved to follow him back to the couch. Dabi felt a wave of satisfaction as he realized that Hawks’ hands were bare, having not donned his gloves again after his shower. As Dabi set the food down, Hawks’ feathers rejoined them with plates and utensils, as well as two carefully balanced beers and a bottle opener. Dabi glanced at the feathers, then turned his head to give Hawks an impressed twist of his mouth.

The beers were quickly opened and the food laid out before they each piled it onto their plates and settled back into the couch. A few minutes passed with both of them eating and staring blankly at the TV, neither really taking much in, when Hawks suddenly broke the silence.

“So… you said I got hit during our mission.” Dabi jumped a little at the sudden sound of Hawks’ voice but turned to listen. “Was it one of the recruits?” Dabi tilted his head, lifting a brow a little in question. “Weren’t we going out to meet the recruits?” Dabi was even more confused now, they hadn’t gone out to meet recruits since last week, what was Hawks talking about?

“Huh? No. It’s been days since we met with any recruits, Shiggy wanted us to check the shipment at the docks.” A look of confusion spread on Hawks face before suddenly dropping as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“...Dabi, what’s today’s date?” Dabi hesitated for a moment, not sure where Hawks was going with this, but when Hawks’ eyes slid open and met his again, he was spurred to finally answer.

“Thursday, April 16th.” Dabi swallowed before adding on, “Why?” Hawks dropped his head, a hand coming up to run through his hair as he let out another deep sigh. “The fuck is going on birdie?” Dabi moved to set his plate down on the coffee table in front of him, before turning back to Hawks who seemed to be mumbling to himself now.

“Pivitol moments, huh? I guess it really was an important decision and I mean… If the way things changed after the other two are anything to go by, I really decided to shake things up.” Hawks let out a quiet dry laugh before continuing. “I guess that means…” He stopped, looking back up to Dabi and offering a small smile. Hawks still hadn’t answered him and Dabi knew his confusion was written all over his face.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Hawks sat up straight, closing his eyes to take another steadying deep breath, before fixing his gaze intensely on Dabi.

“So I’m not the Hawks you know… almost, but not quite.” Dabi inhaled sharply, suddenly gaining a better understanding of what was happening. He hadn’t slept through Hawks last ‘pivotal moment’, it had just happened so recently that he hadn’t realized this still wasn’t ‘his’ Hawks. “It’s still Tuesday, April 14th for me and last night… I came to some realizations and I was trying to decide what to do. Given how the other two turned out… I guess I know what I chose.” Dabi furrowed his brow in confusion. He couldn’t recall a single thing that had happened recently that warranted any sort of big decision in Hawks life. Was it something in his personal life? Or maybe the commission? But then, Hawks had acted the same as he always had right up until being turned into a toddler so… 

“So…” Dabi was snapped from his thoughts by Hawks voice, focusing again and finding Hawks still staring intently at him. “I haven’t said anything to you yet?” Dabi’s lips parted slightly in confusion but he was unable to summon the right words to answer, so he just shook his head. Hadn’t said anything to him yet? Did that mean it involved him?

Hawks let out a deep sigh, looking away and rubbing his hands harshly over his face. A moment passed quietly while Dabi questioned what exactly he had missed and Hawks seemed to be considering. Finally, just as Dabi was opening his mouth to speak, Hawks huffed heavily.

“Fuck it.” Dabi’s eyes widened when Hawks suddenly turned, shifting on the couch to face him fully and draping his wings over the arm of the couch behind him. “I’m not sure why I haven’t said anything to you yet if I’d already made my decision but it’s obvious what I wanted to say. Just… hear me out for a second.” Dabi gave a quick jerky nod to acknowledge that he was listening and Hawks returned a nod of his own.

“I was sent by the commission to infiltrate the league.” Hawks' expression was deathly serious, his wings twitched and jaw clenched as soon as the words were out. Dabi sat frozen for a second, not entirely sure how to respond, before he burst into laughter. 

“I know, birdie. You aren’t exactly subtle.” Hawks’ wings returned to drooping behind him and the tension left his jaw, replaced by a reserved smile before he huffed out a small laugh of his own. He took another measured breath and some of the stress returned to his expression.

“I was supposed to get in and feed them information but…” Hawks shuffled a bit, adjusting his legs where they were tucked beneath him and fluffing his wings a little behind him. “I haven’t been able to do that for a while now.” Well, that’s good but… Dabi furrowed his brows in confusion, spurring Hawks on. “I can’t see the league as just mindless evil anymore. You’re people… real people, who were thrown aside when they needed help the most and you’re just doing what you can to survive.” Dabi swallowed hard. Sure, they’d told Hawks some of what the past held for them and it was likely that he did some research of his own, but he can’t imagine all of his hero instincts were overwritten that easily. Then, Dabi’s mind flashed back to the little boy crying against his chest while he told Dabi how he wished Endeavor had saved him instead of threatening him. He could see the teenager sobbing in front of him as he confessed that he was scared the commission would kill him just like Endeavor had done to his son, and that maybe he hoped for it. He finally saw the man in front of him, tears building in his eyes as he sat on the expensive, hard couch in his fancy, sterile apartment, and realized that maybe they weren’t the ones that had broken his hero ideals.

“I… I can’t hate you.” Hawks’ eyes were even more wet with tears before he tore them away to look down at his own lap again. “When you guys talk, it feels too much like… like what’s inside my own head. I can’t become a villain but…” His voice was quiet and Dabi could feel the sorrow lacing through it.

“But you don’t want to be the hero they made you into.” Hawks’ gaze snapped back up, tears clinging to the lower lash of his wide eyes. Dabi swallowed back the urge to reach forward and wipe them away as he watched Hawks nod shakily, finally dislodging a single tear and sending it cascading down his cheek.

“Last night, or I guess a couple days ago for you, we talked up on the roof.” Dabi made a hum of acknowledgement and nodded, remembering how the soft evening breeze had tousled Hawks’ hair and the setting sun had made his golden eyes look like they were glowing. Hawks had seemed like his usual self despite seeming a little lost in thought. “I was mulling over what I wanted to do and I doubt you knew what was on my mind but you were just… there. And then you looked at me with that…” Hawks breathed out a laugh and rolled his eyes as he remembered, “that dumb smirk and I realized… I can’t do this anymore.” 

The smile that had grown on Dabi’s face dimmed a little, not sure where he was going with this and not sure if he liked it. “I can’t lie to you. I can’t pretend that I’ve given up on being a hero but I can’t pretend that I don’t know how you feel and I can’t just blindly follow the commission’s orders anymore. I’m scared they’ll want me to kill one of you.” Dabi sucked in a shocked breath. He knew that had always been an option but to hear Hawks say it… and to hear how it scared him too… “Even if they ordered me to, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill any of you. I’m fucking terrified that they’re going to ask me to hurt you cause… I can’t.” The gloss of tears that had been growing in Hawks eyes was threatening to spill over again and Dabi felt like he couldn’t catch his breath.

“I could never hurt you Dabi.” Dabi’s mouth felt like it had gone completely dry, like he knew the words coming from Hawks’ mouth were important in a way he didn’t know yet. “Cause I’m in love with you.”

It was as if the air had been sucked from the room, and the floor had dropped out from beneath him. He felt like he was falling but he was powerless to move or speak. “And I get that that’s fucked up of me to just dump on you like this and I don’t expect you to feel the same but I needed to say it cause I just can’t do all this anymore.” The tears were finally falling from Hawks’ eyes to leave tracks down his red cheeks before they dripped from his chin to be absorbed by the fabric of his sweatpants. Dabi still couldn’t say anything, couldn’t move, couldn’t reach out and touch or comfort.

“But if I ever told them no…” Hawks barked out a laugh wet with tears and completely lacking any real humor. “That’s it, they’d kill me.” The smile that lingered on Hawks’ lips was one that made Dabi feel like his heart had been ripped from his chest. “Or worse… they’ll retrain me.” Hawks wings had sharpened slightly behind him and he blinked a few times, more tears slipping free of his lashes. When he spoke again, it was soft and broken. “And I can’t go through that again.” Dabi thought back to when the teenage Keigo had told him the commission had ‘groomed’ him and he felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

“…birdie…” He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say, but whatever it was was cut off before he could even think it when Hawks spoke again.

“Kill me.” Dabi’s eyes snapped into focus and his brow furrowed in confusion. He had to have misheard him right? “If they’re going to kill me anyway, I’d rather you do it. So…” Dabi hitched in another breath as the words sunk in. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t kill Haw- Keigo… he was Keigo now. The ‘Hawks’ that Dabi thought he had known was gone, now he could only see the broken, hurting, beautiful ‘Keigo’ that sat in front of him. 

“Me too.” The confusion was evident on Keigo’s face and for a moment, even Dabi wasn’t sure what he’d meant. Then he looked Keigo up and down and felt the familiar pang of affection twisting in his gut and he understood.  “I can’t kill you either.” He lifted his hand, Keigo flinching when it cupped his cheek and his feathers twitching behind him. “Because I’m also in love with you.” Dabi stroked his thumb under Keigo’s eye, wiping away some of the tears threatening to fall.

It was Keigo’s turn to be frozen, his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. The only indication that he was at all present was the continued twitching of his wings. Dabi reached his other hand up slowly, cupping Keigo’s other cheek and wiping the tears there as well. Keigo’s unblinking predator stare was a little unnerving but Dabi couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped him.

“You in there birdie?” Suddenly, Keigo’s eyes softened and he blinked, every feather on his wings puffing up like Dabi had never seen before and a blush crossed his cheeks. His lower lip wobbling as his eyes glistened and a slight twitch of his hands were the only warning before he dove forward, wrapping his arms around Dabi’s neck and burying his face against Dabi’s shoulder.

“Really?” Dabi could barely make out Keigo’s question with his face shoved into the crook of his neck and laughed in response, bringing a hand to pat the back of Keigo’s head.

“Yeah, really.” He sunk his hand into Keigo’s hair, feeling the soft strands slip between his fingers, and brought the other up to rub between Keigo’s wings. He felt Keigo take a deep breath while his arms tightened around Dabi’s neck and his body relaxed into him. Then Keigo suddenly pulled back, sitting bolt upright but leaving his hands to rest on the back of Dabi’s neck. 

His eyes were no longer wet as they roamed over Dabi’s face and he now had a determined wrinkle to his brow. Growing a little uncomfortable with the way Keigo was just silently staring at him, Dabi quirked a brow at him in question. Keigo’s brow relaxed and the smile that he gave Dabi in return was soft and so tender it made Dabi’s heart ache. 

Before Dabi could register the change, Keigo was already pressed against him again, this time bringing their lips together as well. As soon as Dabi’s brain caught up, he brought his arms back up to pull Keigo even closer as his own lips began to work against Keigo’s. It was everything that Dabi hadn’t realized he’d been craving for months. The warm weight of Keigo’s body against his own and the gentle tug of Keigo’s fingers wound in the hair at the back of his head sent electricity coursing through his veins. He felt like he was getting drunk off of the way their lips slotted together and worked in tandem. When he felt the gentle scrape of Keigo’s teeth against his bottom lip, he darted his tongue forward on instinct, earning a gasped breath from Keigo. Dabi smirked into the kiss as he slid his tongue further forward, exploring Keigo’s mouth as much as he could before Keigo caught up and began pushing back with his own tongue.

They were building up a steady rhythm, heads tilting and mouths moving against one another, but they eventually had to separate to catch their breath. Keigo didn’t move far though, still close enough that Dabi could feel the ragged rise and fall of his chest as he panted against his own. Their eyes met, Keigo’s sparkling back at him, and wore matching wide smiles. Dabi’s hand moved up to once again cup Keigo’s cheek and when Keigo leaned into the touch, Dabi stroked his thumb over the seam of Keigo’s mouth, loving the feel of his plush lips.

With absolutely zero warning, Keigo let out a wide yawn, Dabi hearing the click of his jaw with how wide it had spread. When his mouth snapped shut after, Keigo looked stunned as if he too was surprised by the yawn. They held each other’s wide eyes gaze for a moment before bursting into fits of laughter, Dabi letting his head drop back and his hands fall to rest on Keigo’s hips.

As their giggles calmed and Dabi lifted his head to once again look Keigo up and down, he realized that the bird’s eyes were no longer as open and bright as they usually were, exhaustion tugging them down and making them droop. When Keigo blinked slowly at him, Dabi huffed out another laugh and gave his hips a soft squeeze.

“I think it’s time for you to go to bed, pretty bird.” Keigo’s eyes widened a little as a flush spread over his cheeks in response to the nickname and Dabi felt a pang of smug self satisfaction. “It’s pretty late already and you probably need to sleep off the rest of that guy’s quirk.” Keigo nodded in agreement but seemed a little dejected, probably because it meant they couldn’t stay here kissing and Dabi agreed wholeheartedly. He reached up, slipping his hand to the back of Keigo’s neck and pulled him back down for another, softer, kiss. When Keigo pulled back again, his hand shot up to try to hide another yawn and Dabi couldn't help but chuckle. He gave a soft smack to Keigo’s hip and smirked at him with a raised brow. “Go on, bedtime, birdie.” Keigo pouted but still moved to sit up.

“Come with me?” Keigo gave him a pouty look with his brows raised and Dabi couldn’t stop the teasing snicker and waggle of his brows. Keigo rolled his eyes as he turned and moved to stand. “Don’t be a perv, I’d just feel bad making you sleep on this hard couch when I have a massive and perfectly good, soft, bed in the other room.” Now on his feet, Keigo turned to reach a hand out to Dabi and Dabi had to hide his smile at the little fluff Keigo’s wings did when he took it. Even after Keigo had pulled him up to his feet, he didn’t release Dabi’s hand, instead using it to lead him toward his bedroom. 

After they’d stepped over the threshold of the bedroom, Keigo finally released Dabi’s hand to cross over to his wardrobe and begin rooting around. Dabi stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, drumming his fingers on his thighs as Keigo searched through his clothes, occasionally pulling something to add to a pile on top of the dresser. He did his best to stifle a laugh at Keigo trying to hide another yawn and earned a sharp glare over Keigo’s shoulder when it wasn’t quite quiet enough. Eventually, Keigo stepped back, scooping up the neatly folded pile of clothes, and turned to Dabi. He stepped forward to stand in front of him and held the pile out, a blush coloring his cheeks as he refused to make eye contact.

“These should fit you.” Dabi reached out to take the pile, Keigo’s fingers twitching when Dabi’s grazed against them. “Shower’s through there if you want.” Keigo jerked his head in the direction of the bathroom, still not making eye contact, and Dabi hummed in acknowledgment. Unable to resist teasing Keigo a little more, he bent down and pressed a kiss to Keigo’s temple.

“Thanks, dove, I think I will take a shower.” Keigo let out a choked off noise as Dabi turned away and he couldn’t help the smirk that grew at knowing he was responsible for it. Chuckling, he pulled the bathroom door closed behind him with a click.

After that, it was quick work to strip off his dirty clothes, covered in the sweat and grime of a long day and an unexpected battle. He hadn’t realized just how dirty he actually was until he’d removed his clothes, dirt falling off as they hit the ground. When he finally stepped under the warm spray, he watched the water turn murky with grime before it went down the drain. He scrubbed his hair and then body quickly, feeling pretty tired himself and looking forward to some rest on that plush mattress (and maybe a little excited that he’d be doing it next to his favorite bird).

Turning off the tap and stepping free of the shower, Dabi finally looked through the clothes Keigo had given him. There was a pair of boxers as well as a t-shirt and sweats, but there was also a hoodie and even a pair of socks. Dabi chuckled as he pulled on the boxers and sweats, of course the bird gave him a whole pile of clothes, he probably forgot that Dabi was his own personal heater and didn’t need layers of clothes to stay warm like he did. Dabi pulled the shirt over his head before gathering the hoodie and socks and turning to exit the bathroom.

When Dabi stepped out into the bedroom, the overhead lights were turned off, the bedside lamps switched on instead. Keigo was already laid out close to the middle of the bed, his wings resting on the mattress behind him and twitching slightly as his quiet snores filled the room. Dabi smiled fondly, and crossed to the side of the bed, dropping the clothes in his arm on top of the dresser on the way. Keigo hadn’t even pulled the blanket out from under him, probably telling himself that he was just gonna rest his eyes for a second while he waited for Dabi. Dabi worked the blanket free, sliding it from underneath Keigo to instead rest over him, Keigo humming and burrowing his face into the pillow in response. Dabi flicked off the bedside lamp before rounding the bed and crawling in opposite Keigo.

He slid in under the blanket, laying on his side to admire Keigo’s calm face in the light of the remaining bedside lamp. His usually happy face was lax with sleep, and all traces of the stress from earlier wiped away. Dabi reached a hand up to tuck a single wild strand of golden hair behind Keigo’s ear with a smile, before leaning forward to press a kiss to his forehead. Keigo grumbled a little and scooted ever so slightly closer in his sleep, making Dabi chuckle quietly. He rolled over to click the lamp off before rolling back to face Keigo again, slinging an arm over his waist and letting his eyes fall shut. Hopefully, Keigo would have some recollection of what happened today and not freak out when he woke up and found them like this but at least this way Dabi would know if he tried to run away.

******************

When Dabi’s eyes slid open again, it was to gentle beams of sunlight streaming in through the window and highlighting the crown of golden hair in front of him, turning it into something closer to a halo. Dabi blinked slowly as a sleepy smile crept onto his face. Keigo was still tucked against his chest, even tighter than he’d been when they fell asleep the night before. Yawning and blinking away the sleep, he pulled back a little to look down at Keigo’s resting face again, now illuminated in the soft light of morning. Keigo was so attractive it was almost unfair.

How could Dabi not fall in love with such a beautiful person? His wide hero smiles made you feel safe and happy, his smaller, more tender ones made you feel seen and appreciated, and even his mouth lax with sleep made Dabi want to place a kiss there. Although his eyes may be closed now, Dabi knew the intensity as well as the softness those honey golden eyes could hold, that they glowed even in the lowest light, and that they held more intelligence than Keigo ever wanted to let on. His jaw was sharp and his nose and cheeks dotted with a nearly imperceptible galaxy of freckles. How could someone as broken and twisted as Dabi ever hope to match this beauty? And yet, somehow, Keigo had seen something there and chosen him. 

Keigo mumbled in his sleep as he frowned lightly and a furrow creased his brow. With a small huff of laughter, Dabi raised his hand from Keigo’s waist, bringing it to cup Keigo’s cheek and rubbing his thumb along the crease forming in his brow. Under the gentle touch of his thumb, Keigo’s furrowed brow relaxed and his frown dissolved with a barely audible but content sigh. Dabi smiled down at the gorgeous man sleepy nuzzling closer to him and wondered just when he had gotten so sappy. He never could have imagined that the chirpy, annoying bird that followed him around but rarely did what he was told, and was most definitely a spy, could come to mean so much to him. Now he was determined to work things out so his little birdie didn’t have to worry about killing any of their friends or asking any of them to kill him.

Keigo made another sleepy little noise as his wings shuffled a little behind him, readjusting their position before settling again with a rustle. Dabi stroked his thumb over Keigo’s cheekbone, then moved to run the pad of his thumb over Keigo’s lips, watching them pout under the slight pressure. Finally, he tucked a wild strand of hair behind Keigo’s ear before lifting his hand and moving it back down to find Keigo’s hip. Once his palm found its place there, he traced his thumb over the flesh exposed by the hem of his hoodie riding up and Keigo shifted again. Dabi gave a quick squeeze of his hipbone before sliding his palm up the small of Keigo’s back, coming to rest between the base of his wings. With a gentle but firm pressure, he pulled Keigo even closer, eliciting another sleepy grumble and more shuffling.

Dabi rubbed gentle circles into Keigo’s back, fingers ruffling the feathers near the base of his wings, earning him a content sigh as Keigo brought his own arm up around Dabi’s waist. Pressing a kiss to the top of Keigo’s head, he buried his nose in the fluffy golden strands of his hair and inhaled the smell of the shampoo he recognized from his own shower last night. With a smug twist of his lips he moved to instead place a lingering kiss to Hawks temple, and felt Keigo begin to stir more beneath him. 

Dabi placed another soft kiss to Keigo’s hairline before pulling back just in time to see his eyes slide open, their golden irises glowing even through the smallest crack of his eyes. Keigo’s head tilted up to look at him and a few seconds passed with Keigo’s eyes slowly taking in Dabi’s smug smile before flying wide open. A deep blush was already covering his face, but he didn’t move away so Dabi took it as a win.

“Mornin’, pretty bird.” Dabi’s voice was still raspy from sleep and the moment the words left his lips, he could feel the shiver that ran up Keigo’s spine, the feathers around his fingers puffing up in delight. Keigo swallowed heavily, his wings moving to tuck closer to his back but his eyes still locked on Dabi.

“Good morning.” Keigo’s voice was barely a squeak and Dabi did his best to push down his amused laughter. Instead, he leaned forward to place a soft kiss to the tip of Keigo’s nose, Keigo’s breath hitching in response. When Dabi pulled back with a smirk, Keigo’s eyes had moved down, refusing to meet his.

“How much of yesterday do you remember?” Keigo stiffened a little, his wings rustling behind him before his eyes slid back up to Dabi’s and a small, unsure smile spread on his face.

“...all of it.” Keigo mumbled out and Dabi raised a brow as he hummed in response. He wasn’t sure if he should be glad that he doesn’t need to rehash any of their awkward conversations or embarrassed that Keigo remembered all the things he’d said and done. Ultimately, he settled for quiet acceptance, considering most of the awkward conversations had been at Keigo’s expense anyway. Keigo’s smile dropped and his eyes shot down. “I told you about my parents…” Dabi hummed an acknowledgement and rubbed his hand along Keigo’s back soothingly. “...and the commission…” Again, Dabi just hummed his response, but then Keigo’s eyes shot back up. “You know my name.” It wasn’t a question but Dabi still pressed his lips together and nodded in confirmation.

“I do.” He smirked down at Keigo and lifted a teasing brow. “Would you like me to keep calling you Keigo?” Keigo’s wide eyes darted down as he considered and when he looked up again, he was once again wearing a shy smile. Holding eye contact, he nodded slowly and Dabi’s sly smirk spread into a warm smile. “Good, cause I like your name.”

“But uh…” Keigo’s wings fluttered unsurely behind him as his eyes darted away again and he swallowed visibly. “Only when we’re alone though, cause the commission…”

“...are assholes.” Dabi interrupted, causing Keigo’s wide eyes to snap back to him. “I get it. They’d be pissed if anyone knew and they’ve fucked with you enough, no need to give them another reason to throw a hissy fit.” Keigo blinked quickly a couple times before he broke out into a blinding smile and let out a giggle.

“Yeah, exactly… cause they’re assholes.” Keigo’s smile caused the corners of Dabi’s own mouth to tick up with affection and when it dimmed again, Dabi missed it immediately. “Sorry I asked you to kill me.” Internally, Dabi felt a fresh wave of frustration at the reminder that the commission had driven Keigo to such lengths and swore to himself that he’d find a way to keep those assholes from bothering him anymore. Externally, he plastered on his usual cocky grin as he looked down at Keigo.

“Yeah, you did do that. Too bad I like you a little too much to agree to do it.” That earned another small smile from Keigo and the beginnings of a blush spreading over his cheeks.

“Yeah, cause you… love me.” Despite it being stated like a fact, Keigo’s eyes wouldn’t meet his own again and Dabi could see the signs of his uncertainty written all over him. He clicked his tongue and pulled Keigo closer to his chest again.  

“You think we’d still be all cuddled up like this if I didn’t.” He felt Keigo stiffen up momentarily before melting against him and tightening the grip of his own arm around Dabi’s waist.

“But um…”  Keigo’s voice was a little muffled and Dabi had to focus to hear him. “Are you really not… weirded out…” His volume had dropped some and when he didn’t continue right away Dabi hummed in question to urge him on. “By the feathers.. or my hands?” Immediately, Dabi shook his head then remembered that Keigo couldn’t see that from where he still had his face shoved into Dabi’s chest. Instead, he brought a hand up to run through Keigo’s hair again and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. How could Keigo ever think he was anything less than stunning… even if he was a little shit sometimes. 

“Didn’t I tell you I thought your feathers were cute?” Dabi felt Keigo's grip on the back of his shirt tighten and he pressed another kiss to his head then puffed out a laugh. “And I have a feeling those talons would be fuckin hot if you grew em out.” When he heard Keigo’s breathy laugh in response, Dabi felt himself relax a little more. “Plus, look at me… I don't really have any room to criticize anyone else’s appearance.” Dabi’s laugh was cut off when Keigo pulled back to look up at him with wide, confused eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dabi raised a questioning brow in lieu of an answer. As if Keigo didn’t know exactly what that meant, a single glance at his scarred body would tell you that he was no match for Keigo’s beauty. “Seriously, I don’t get it. You’re gorgeous so why…” Dabi cut him off with a barked laugh and Keigo’s mouth slammed shut, his lips twisting into a pout and his brow furrowing. Dabi did his best to quiet his laughter so he could respond. 

“Birdie, I appreciate your attempt to be nice but… Me? Gorgeous?” Dabi leveled him with a skeptical look and when Keigo didn’t budge, he rolled his eyes. “On the best of days, I look like an attraction at a cheesy haunted house. Most of the time I look like a straight up corpse.” Some flicker of understanding seemed to cross Keigo’s eyes then, but he didn’t look any less determined.

“Because of your scars?” Dabi nodded with a smirk, amused that Keigo was even asking. “But, those are just proof of how strong you are, how could that be bad?” Keigo looked down as he seemed to consider and Dabi’s smirk faltered at the genuine confusion in his voice. Was… was that what he really thought? “Plus the staples are really pretty, like jewelry but… like everywhere.” Dabi felt his brows shoot up in surprise, he really hadn’t expected Keigo to continue. “And you look like you’re lean but then you have unexpectedly toned muscles, which is really hot, and you have really nice hands, like they’re big but not too big and your fingers are so long,” Dabi’s eyes grew wider and the warmth he felt on the healthy parts of his cheeks told him he was blushing, “and your eyes are so pretty that they make me forget what I was trying to say sometimes, and then when you smirk I feel like my legs don’t work right anymore, and your voice is so incredible and…” Dabi couldn’t take it anymore. He tightened his grip on Keigo again, pulling him back to his chest, and felt him tense.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to say all that.” Keigo really did sound embarrassed again but Dabi was having none of that. He pulled back, bringing his arm around to cup Keigo’s cheek in his hand and direct his face up for a kiss. It was a firm but chaste press of their lips, but through it Dabi did his best to convey the emotions he was struggling to communicate. When he broke the kiss, he moved to rest his forehead against Keigo’s, his eyes closed firmly.

“Why couldn’t I have met you before I died?” Dabi’s words were barely whispered into the space between them. He felt Keigo pull away and opened his eyes to meet Keigo’s golden ones, Keigo’s face contorted in confusion. He took a deep breath before letting it out as a sigh. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this, that he even wanted to do this but… “Well, if I’m gonna call you Keigo when we’re alone, why don’t you call me by my name as well?” Keigo somehow looked even more confused and Dabi huffed a laugh. “Not Dabi, but my real name…” he took another deep breath to steady himself, “Touya.”

For a moment the confusion remained on Keigo’s face, before his expression dropped to blank. Dabi wasn’t even sure Keigo was breathing as he stared up at him with wide eyes and mouth hung open.

“...Touya?” Dabi decided he’d made the right choice the moment he heard the way Keigo said his name. “You mean…” Dabi watched as the puzzle pieces seemed to come together in Keigo’s mind. Touya, who knew Endeavor but obviously didn’t respect him. Touya, who had tremendous firepower but the constitution of an ice wielder. Touya, who was covered in burns that should have killed him. Touya, who hated heroes because he knew how rotten they could be. Dabi gave him a soft smile and watched as his eyes began to glisten with tears again.

“I wasn’t lying when I said he would have fallen in love with you, that I would have fallen in love with you, if we’d met back then.” Keigo dove forward again, burying his face in Dabi’s chest with a sob. “I know it’s terrible but I was actually pretty happy that you’d cried over me…” He buried his face in Keigo’s soft hair, dropping his voice to a murmur. “Not many people did.” He felt Keigo’s arms around his middle tighten and his wing came up to rest over both of them, shielding them from the rest of the world.

They stayed like that, hugging each other tightly, until their rumbling stomach and screaming bladders forced them to get up. Dabi made them breakfast as Keigo clung to his back, refusing to be more than a foot away from him for any longer than necessary. While they ate, they sat pressed together on the couch, stealing kisses whenever they could and murmuring sweet words into the space between them. 

They were both painfully aware of the challenges waiting for them, but neither cared to bring them up, too determined to enjoy the atmosphere of love as long as they could. Dabi was still glad he’d burned the fucker that tried to hurt Keigo but he supposed that he also owed him a thanks. It was because of him that they could forget whatever guard they had up and actually see one another for who they were. Things weren’t perfect, but it was a step in the right direction. The rest could come later.