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Hawks wakes up gasping for air, shooting up in bed. A movement that before waking up today would have hurt him greatly, but doesn't. Odd. He's also not in horrendous pain, at all. Something he's been in since Dabi lit him on fire, his shoulders feel a little stiff from sleep but that's all.
He hears movement from next to him in bed before, "Nightmare, Kei?" a man next to him grumbles out. Voice raspy and tired, like Hawks sudden movement woke them too.
"Yea," he lies. He's trying not to freak out outwardly, he knows scaring whoever is in bed next to him will do him no good in figuring out his situation. They for some reason seem to know his real name, so hopefully he can figure out through them what's going on.
"It's still early," he says, already sounding more awake. Hawks looks to the bedside table where a clock lays reading 5:07, this would be a normal time for him to wake up. "But if you don't think you can get back to sleep I can go get started on breakfast," the man next to him offers.
"Yea, that sounds good." He finally turns his head to face the man, as the stranger turns to flick the bedside lamp on, all he can see is his back. One full arm and one arm cut off above the elbow stretch up into the air. Hawks takes the man in; pale white hair, he's shirtless so he sees faded scars—in a familiar pattern—running along his back onto his arms (oh no), and the man turns around and his suspicions are confirmed.
While he looks different (healthier?) The man in front of him is without a doubt Dabi. Striking blue eyes—how did know one figure out he was related to Endeavor—the scars on his face have faded like the ones on his back and arms but Hawks knows where to look and can trace them with his eyes easily, no more staples but he still has the piercings in his nose and ears.
"You can stare all you want, birdbrain, but I'm eating breakfast before anything else happens this morning." Dabi quickly leans in and kisses Hawks before sliding out of bed, like he didn't just rock Hawks' entire world with that one gesture. "Go shower while I get started. I'll make sure to have coffee ready by the time you're done." He slides a robe over himself, saving Hawks from any embarrassment of looking at the other man in his boxers for any longer.
As soon as Dabi is out of the room he starts looking around. The room doesn't seem to be anything special; bed, closet, a few shelves around the room. He's interested in the pictures that line them. There are a lot of photos of him and this version of Dabi at different places, there are also photos of Dabi with his family (minus Enji and plus Hawks), a few of Hawks and Tokoyami. He picks up the photo sitting dead center on the middle shelf, it shows Hawks and Dabi standing in front of a shrine, both wearing traditional wedding attire.
With his mouth hanging open staring at the photo like something will change, he spots the silver wedding ring resting on his left hand and almost loses his grip on the frame.
He takes a deep breath in four seconds, holds it for 7 seconds and breathes out for 8.
Okay he has to act normal about all this, it's likely just some quirk that's trapped him in some kind of dream (nightmare) state, none of this is real. He thinks back on what he knows of quirks like this one, they usually have a set time limit or someone will capture the villain before then and get them to release Hawks from this dream world Then he'll get back to his real life. Not this weird reality where he is married to an a-rank villain.
He decides his best bet is to just play along till then, so off to the bathroom to shower he goes. Where he finally realizes something is missing from his person.
His wings.
Where are his wings?
Clawing at his back to try to feel for them, because he can't connect to them like he usually can. When that doesn't work he finally turns himself around to see his back in the mirror, there's not even the little nubs that were there when he went to sleep last night. The only thing he sees is a scar—a burn scar that takes up his entire back and spreads up onto his face in a point. He hasn't had many chances to look at himself since leaving the hospital. Most of the time his face is covered by the device that helps him breathe. (And he hasn't been brave enough to look at his back yet. He leaves it covered except when he's showered, and even then he's wrapping it back up as soon as he can.) He can't believe he didn't notice his quirk was entirely gone.
He tears his eyes away from the mirror, lest he try to break it. This isn't permanent he reminds himself, this is just some quirk probably made to break him. If all the years of training didn't do that he won't let something like this do it.
Hawks forces himself to take a few deep breathes, like he's been taught to lead civilians through during a panic attack—something he is obviously not having. He gets in and out of the shower as quickly as he can, not even daring to look into the mirror again. Having already taken a long time staring at the photos and himself, he doesn't know how long he has before Dabi would come to find him. He finds a change of underwear and a matching robe to the one Dabi was wearing, before quickly trying to figure out navigating to wherever the kitchen is.
He's lucky it's a smaller house because not even two minutes later he's in the kitchen, watching Dabi cook at the counter. He's got a prosthetic arm on now. It's a weird sight, he's not sure how this quirk works, but he's never thought about Dabi being able to cook before. Can actually Dabi cook? It smells delicious so he might as well take advantage of what this dream is giving him. Hawks can't recall the last time he had a good meal, even before his throat was fucked up and has been sticking to whatever smoothie Jeanist forces on him.
"Coffee's on the island, Kei," Dabi says, without turning around seemingly used to the routine. Of course he is, this is all a dream.
"Thanks," he mumbles, spotting the mug on the table. He takes a sip, and it's perfect. It's sweet as hell, but it's exactly how he takes his coffee, again of course it is due to the fact he's in a dream. He takes the seat where his coffee mug was placed, giving him a perfect view as Dabi finishes up his cooking. He continues watching as Dabi plates the food to bring it to the small table.
They sit in seemingly comfortable silence for most of the meal. He'll occasionally feel Dabi's eyes on him, but brushes it off. Then Hawks gets up to take the dirty dishes to the sink to clean, it's the least he can do since Dabi cooked.
But Dabi stops him with a hand on his arm. "Okay who are you and what have you done with my husband?" He stares at Dabi in shock, what could he have done already that gave him away.
Dabi must be great at reading his face because he quickly answers his unspoken questions, "I can blame the lack of affection this morning on nightmares, we've both had mornings like that, but not in five years of being together have you not tried to talk your way out of doing dishes. So, again who are you?"
"Uh, Hawks?" His answer sounds more like a question, even to his own ears. But it must trigger something because Dabi's eyes go wide.
"What's the last thing you remember, and be honest?" He stands to be eye level with Hawks, still hasn't taken his hand off Hawks' arm holding him in place.
Dread is filling Hawks as he tries to figure out how to answer him. "Um, I just got out of the hospital after the attack on the PLF."
Dabi sucks in a deep breath that sounded like it hurt him. That does get him to let go of Hawks, like Hawks was the one with a fire quirk and he burned Dabi. He quickly retreats from the table giving both of them space—that at least Hawks desperately needs as the reality of his situation dawns on him.
There's no way he is married to Dabi. Right? Like even if he is somehow in the future, it's not like they even liked each other before the attack on the PLF. Like of course there was teasing and flirting, that's Hawks' whole hero thing. Did Hawks also think Dabi was hot, in a he's my enemy and it's certainly against his mission to sleep with the man? Yes, of course, but Hawks has eyes and under all the scars and staples Dabi is attractive. The point being proved by how handsome he looks in front of him now.
Shit, maybe he is married to Dabi. Hold on, the last time he saw Dabi he was trying to kill him for killing Twice. So how the fuck did they get from trying to kill each other to married for five(?) years? How did this older version of himself even get over the nightmares current him is still having over getting his wings almost burned to a crisp? Only years of training is keeping him from doing something stupid, like having a panic attack in front of Dabi. Did it have something to do with him completely missing his quirk?
Dabi snaps his fingers in front of Hawks' face to get his attention. Fuck, he is doing something stupid already.
"Do you have any idea what kind of quirk could have hit you?" Dabi asks him, his voice calm and steady like he's trying not to scare a wild animal. Which is funny considering which one of them is—was an A-rank villain.
"No, I've mostly been benched since ya'know." He gestures to his back, a look of shame crosses over Dabi's face. That's an expression he wasn't sure the other man could even make—maybe he couldn't with all the staples. "I'm supposed to start patrolling in a couple days with Best Jeanist and—" he cuts himself off before he can say the name.
"My father?" Dabi's tone is much more civil than he was expecting.
"Yeah. Is there any chance the Hawks of this time could have been affected by a quirk?" he dares to ask.
Dabi makes a grossed out face before saying, "Okay can we please call him Keigo and you Hawks? I literally haven't heard the word Hawks in years, and would rather it stay that way." Dabi turns and motions for Hawks to follow him.
He leads them back down the hall he first came from, but turns into a different room that must be some kind of home office. Dabi starts rummaging through a briefcase, pulling out a laptop and different files. "Can you go get Keigo's phone? It should be on the nightstand," Dabi instructs him, and it's not like he can really say no.
As quickly as he can he walks the short distance between the rooms and finds the phone. By the time he's returned with the device Dabi already has the laptop on and is browsing what looks to be an official looking database.
"Are you allowed to be on there?" Hawks asks, not because he's going to stop him—he's honestly just becoming more curious what his future holds.
"No, but since you've never bothered to change or have more than two passwords it's incredibly easy for me to get in." He stops in his typing and holds out his hand for the phone. And again easily getting in with the password. "I'm going to text a few of his coworkers to see if they can give me a lead. If not, time to go through paperwork." Dabi sounds thrilled at the prospect.
"Though," Dabi starts, "I don't really know all the repercussions of letting you know things so you'll probably need to sit it out. Why don't you go—"
"Mrrp!" A loud sound from outside the room cuts him off, it's followed by what sounds like a small stampede of creatures.
"Oh good, you can go keep them entertained." Them being three house cats that practically fly into the room, weaving in between Hawks' legs almost knocking him over. "Black one is Mokutan, Moku for short; the calico is Mike; and the orange one is Tamago. Their toys are in the living room and there are treats in the locket cabinet door. Don't give too many to Moku, he's fat enough as is." Dabi shoos him out of the room, with the cats fast on his heels. "Once I find out something I'll let you know. Also no news, but I can play one of your playlist through the speaker if you like?" Hawks nods stiffly.
He doesn't know how to feel about Dabi, likely knowing he doesn't particularly enjoy sitting in the silence, but doesn't push the subject. He starts walking and the cats start corralling him down the hallway, he follows hoping they'll show him where the toys and treats are. The orange one, Tamago, almost trips him on their walk. He's weaving through Hawks' legs—and with the lack of wings he finds it harder to fix his footing.
The cats start meowing and making all sorts of noises he didn't know cats could make as he approaches the kitchen (he's surprised he didn't notice them sooner). Mokutan is quick to jump on the counter to scratch at one of the cabinet doors. He's able to partially get the door open before something stops the door from opening all the way. He lets out a chirping like sound (since when can cats do that?) and stares at Hawks expectantly.
Hawks goes to figure out how to unlock the cabinet, and the black cat quickly jumps off the counter and starts circling his feet loudly meowing at him. The other two are just staring at him from the doorway. He makes quick work of the child (cat?) lock and grabs a handful of treats out of the first bag he sees. Remembering to close the cabinet door so the cats can not get in, he starts to walk to the living room and sits on the couch.
"Okay do you guys do tricks or something for these?" He doesn't know why he asks as if they would answer him. Mike and Tamago are sitting politely on the floor in front of him, while Mokutan has already jumped onto his lap to paw at his closed hand.
"Okay, okay I'll give you some." He quickly takes a couple and sets them on the couch next to him, and while Moku is distracted leans down to let the other cats eat some of the treats out of his hand. They are—thankful—still very polite and even give his hands a couple licks as they finish the treats off.
Then Hawks suddenly feels a heavy weight on his back. He turns his head to see Moku has climbed onto his back and made himself comfortable. Hawks has no clue what to do in this situation. Cats have never really liked him, they've always hissed at him and ran away, or tried to attack him because of his wings. Having one cuddled up on his back is strange to say the least.
He reaches up to start trying to coax the cat into getting off his back, when an object is dropped at his feet. Getting distracted from his task of removing Mokutan from his back, he looks down and sees one of the other cats has gone and brought over a long pole with a string and a red feather and bell attached to the end.
The red feather puzzles him enough that he leans even further down to pick it up—unintentionally getting rid of his unwanted passenger. He inspects the feather for a minute before deciding it's fake. Though in doing so he's gathered the attention of all three cats as the small bell at the end chimes.
He tentatively swishes the toy back and forth watching the cats, who watch the toy. It takes a few swishes before Mike suddenly jumps up directly in front of Hawks trying to get the toy at the apex of the arc, scaring the living shit out of Hawks.
"Damn, didn't think cats could get air like that!"he yells out in surprise. He keeps playing with them, the three of them taking turns jumping after the feather, getting into what must be a familiar rhythm. He eventually gets up letting them chase him and the toy around the room. He's not sure how much time passes, he didn't realize playing with cats could be so much fun. He finds himself laughing and smiling more than he has in a long time.
A loud snort, after a particularly spectacular jump failure from Moku, alerts him of Dabi's presence.
"You find something?" he asks hopefully. He's enjoying his time playing with the cats, but still isn't sure he likes being in this life with none of the memories to get him here.
"Yeah, Tokoyami finally got back to me—after I went through like an hour of paperwork—to let me know there was a kid yesterday, who practically tackled Keigo to give him a hug. So since that was the only out of the ordinary thing that happened, he looked into the girl and found out she has a time swapping quirk. She can usually control it, but it was an exciting day for her, so a quirk accident happened." He pauses, reading more information from Keigo's phone. "It takes effect once the person goes to sleep, then the swap is reversed once the person who was originally affected by the quirk goes to sleep."
"So we have no idea how long this could take? I don't exactly have a normal sleeping schedule right now."
"Well if we get lucky my Keigo will do what he does nowadays and take a nap, or at least make your exhausted body go to bed at a normal time," he says pointedly.
"You think I wouldn't rather be taking a nap or getting more than 4 hours of sleep?" Hawks snaps back at him. While its been years since this Dabi was in the war, Hawks was still in the middle of it last night.
Instant regret about the comment shows on Dabi's face, this version of Dabi is sure full of surprises. "I know, birdie. They said you are only the third time she's used her quirk, so they're not exactly sure how much you'll remember of all this. Her dad was the first one, and he reported vaguely having memories of a weird dream as a teenager, but was able to recall all of his time in the past once he returned," Dabi tells him, "So maybe we can at least make this a nice dream for you to wake up to?"
"So we wouldn't have to just stay inside to make sure I don't fuck up the timeline or something?" he asks, maybe it would be nice to—even temporarily—get to see his future. After relaxing with the cats Hawks had started to feel more comfortable, but seeing Dabi again stirs that same anxiety he had this morning. Knowing he's likely going to forget about this all later, Hawks decides he's going to keep shoving all his complicated feelings about this whole situation into a very big box, that he will never touch again.
"Yeah, I was able to get a hold of some of your coworkers and get the more important ones up to speed. They said we are welcome to come down, so you can have a look at what Keigo has built up."
"Could you be any more vague? Can't you at least tell me what I do? I can't imagine I can still be a hero without— ya'know." Hawks gestures to his lack of wings.
"Yes I can be, and I think it's better to show you. But no you're not a pro hero anymore. Now go get some actual clothes on and we'll head out." Keigo realizes for the first time he's still in his robe while Dabi has since changed. He's in a pair of black fitted jeans and an oversized band t-shirt, that Hawks unsurprisingly doesn't know the name of.
Hold on, he's been thinking of him as Dabi the whole time, but does he go by that or Touya now?
He decides to ask as he's passing the other man, "So what do I call you now?"
It takes a moment before the realization dawns on the others face. "I use Touya now," he answers softly. Hawks catches a glimpse of the soft small smile that accompanies the words.
Hawks, blushing, makes a small noise to tell the other man he heard him, rushing past him to go change his clothing.
Dabi Touya must have picked out a usual outfit Keigo would wear for him, and left it out on the bed. It's nothing super fancy; a pair of dark wash jeans, a black short sleeved button-up with birds and flowers pattern over it, and socks that might just be merch from Tokoyami, that appear to have Dark Shadow face on them. Both the shirt and socks get a good laugh out of him—which might have been the entire reason Touya picked these pieces out.
Quickly getting dressed, makes sure his hair isn't one big bird's nest in the bathroom mirror, and rushes back to Touya in the living room—a little more pep in his step.
"So how far of a trip is it?"
"I prefer not to drive Keigo's monstrosity of a vehicle, so about 30 minutes by train," Touya says leading them to the door.
"Hold on, are we in Fukuoka?" Hawks had been too worried about when he was and not where he was.
"Uh, no. You hadn't really been back there except for business. Kei's been living in Tokyo for most of the last 10 years. We've been in this place right after we got married a year ago," Touya explains carefully, "We both needed a city with less memories tied to it, and with Keigo's job it's easier in a big city. Traveling around Japan is also significantly easier from Tokyo." Touya leads them out the door, onto a beautiful street filled with trees and flowers.
"Yeah Kei insisted about finding a place that had more nature than concrete." Touya ushers him onto the sidewalk to start their journey.
It's not a long walk to the train station and only a 20 minute ride till Touya is pulling him off at their stop. They only have to walk a couple blocks before Touya stops them again, and is pulling him into a building.
"Welcome!" A woman at the front desk greets them. "Oh! Hello Keigo, hello Touya. I thought you weren't going to be in today, sir?"
The comment is directed at Hawks but Touya answers for him, "You know how he is, can't stay away even if I make him take the day off. So we're just stopping in before we go out for lunch."
"Good, I think we all would agree he needs to take more days off." She gives him a pointed look that makes him look away blushing, even if the comment is for Keigo not Hawks.
Touya is quick to shoo him to the door across from the main entrance.
Hawks waits till they are out of earshot to whisper his question to Touya, "So now can I know what this place is, and what exactly I do?" He looks around the large open space they just entered, taking in it and the people within. The front of the room is blocked off into smaller rooms by partition walls, each looking like a small study space. At the back of the room there looks to be a small daycare area, with about ten children and one teacher.
"Yea, this is Keigo's pride and joy. A heteromorph community center, one of a handful he's established around the county. It provides resources, including; job training, quirk counseling, legal assistance, childcare, and a lot more. It also gives a lot of people a place to just be and connect to others that have gone through similar experiences."
"Oh." The receptionist had mouse ears, he wonders if all the staff are heteromorphs. All the kids in the daycare area and the adults in the he's seen have almost all had visibly heteromorphic traits. Hawks has been lucky as an adult to not publicly have to deal with a lot of the discrimination (not that is stopped the commission from doing it privately), but he knows from talking with Spinner and other heteromorph members of the PLF that it was a big reason for joining the cause.
"Hina, the receptionist, is actually Natsuo's wife. She's also most of the reason this place doesn't fall apart."
"That's so nice," Hawks manages to choke out weirdly emotional about all of this, he's never cried in front of someone and he certainly isn't starting now.
"Yeah it's great to have someone at the desk that can deal with Todoroki level of crazy, makes most everything else look normal," Touya chuckles, politely ignoring Hawks emotional state.
Touya is quick to distract him, spending the next hour showing him around the massive building. He's subtle in introducing Hawks to people that Keigo would know. Eventually they meet Keigo's assistant, a lovely very tall blue fox heteromorph woman, who introduces herself at Yuina. Hawks learns this is one of the people Touya told about the predicament Hawks finds himself in. They both find it easy to keep things light, showing Hawks all the good he has in his future.
They're about to leave Keigo's office when it happens. Hawks drops to the ground mid-sentence asking a question about the kids sports team they sponsor.
It all goes black for Hawks before waking gasping for air. He runs his hands up and down his face to try to wake himself up more. He looks around and it looks like he took a nap on the couch in Jeanist's office. The other man is nowhere to be seen. It's not an unusual thing for him to do, sleep has been a scarce commodity.
Hawks tries to think about the dream he was having. He starts laughing harder than he has in a long time. Him and Dabi happily married? Absolutely insane. Him not being a hero? Impossible, he would literally have to die before the HPSC would let him retire. Look at him now, his wings are barely there and they're working on prosthetics so he can continue this fight (as he should).
He laughs it off as some stress dream of a life that could never be. Then he sees her in the crowd when they take Deku back to UA a few days later.
Yuina. Someone he's never met, so shouldn't know the name of. Yet she looks so familiar and her name is the first thing he thinks of when he sees her.
He waits for the tension to die down before approaching her.
He sees recognition in her eyes, so for a moment he has hopes that maybe they have met somewhere before this, and that's why he knows her name. "Heyo," he calls out waving to her.
"Hello, Hawks sir. It's so wonderful to actually meet you, I've always been a huge fan of yours," she says shyly.
So they haven't met before. Fuck, what does that dream mean then? And why was this lady in it?
"Of course, it's always great to meet a fan. It was really spectacular what you did out there. I wanted to give you my card, that way if you ever have problems with the discrimination out there, you'll always have a place at my agency." He extends out his card for her to take.
The tears start back up as she thanks him profusely, quietly talking about how difficult it's been to find a job even before the war kicked off. He tells her if she has friends or family that are also having difficulties to contact him, and if he can't find a place with him he'll try his best to help them find a good match for them.