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Due to Hawks’ quirk, he has many bird-like features, (and no, he's not just talking about the giant pair of wings on his back,) his eyesight is far superior than the average human and his bones are hollow, making flying a lot more convenient. These features made his work as a hero much more efficient as he could fly high in the air and spot criminals robbing banks, or doing other various crimes, before the criminals spotted him. This meant that he could stay up in the air and manipulate his feathers to pick up multiple villains which meant he increased the amount of criminals he could stop in a single day, making him one of the most efficient heroes in the country!
Another aspect of his quirk was the many bird-like behaviours he did subconsciously. When he was younger he used to be very insecure of them, this was a result of the commission punishing him for acting too much like a bird. He was told constantly that no one would want a hero who scared children by acting like a wild animal. This led to him repressing his behaviours for years on end and put him in a spiral of self hatred whenever he accidentally chirped or passed a pet shop and was tempted to eat one of the mice.
A real positive of the League was that he was welcomed to show off his quirk in whatever way it manifested. Everyone was really open about theirs and no one really minded when Twice would have whole conversations with himself. They even occasionally robbed blood banks for Toga to feed off of and installed a heat lamp in Spinner's room for him to use.
It took Hawks a while to accept that he wasn't going to get punished by them, but eventually he came to see the League as a safe space of sorts, where he didn't have to hide parts of himself. They accepted him as himself which helped him in turn to accept the parts of himself that he was taught to hate.
They weren't even disgusted when he showed them his talons, he expected them to ask him to put his thick gloves back on— or worse file them down until they bled like the commission frequently asked him to do. He didn't expect Toga to whisk him away to the lounge to paint his nails whilst telling him they looked pretty. He doesn't think anyone had ever referred to his talons as anything other than scary or ugly before in his life, he couldn't help the faint flush that covered his face at the rare compliment.
Some of these behaviours also include how territorial he is of his spaces. He rarely lets strangers into his house unless it's an emergency. Typically, only those he trusts very well are allowed into his safe space, but that list of people isn't very large. Additionally, when people are invited to his apartment, they are completely forbidden from going into his room as that's where his nest rests.
Another behaviour is his strong bond with Tokoyami ever since he practically adopted him and took him under his wing due to their bird-like similarities. He treats the boy as if he was his own kid and is fiercely protective of him. They often have out of school training sessions to help Tokoyami figure out new moves and help him become stronger.
Recently, Dabi has been confused about the strange behaviour Hawks has been exhibiting to him in particular. He's concerned for the hero as he doesn't know if it's a good or bad thing. He hopes it doesn't mean the hero has decided to back away from him permanently. Over the past few months Hawks and him had been getting closer to each other, but now with all of the mixed signals he's been getting, Dabi is worried that hawks doesn't want the same things Dabi does.
It all began when Shigaraki called a meeting between everyone to further discuss their plans to take down hero society bit by bit, but also a check in on Hawks’ progress to make sure he isn't secretly betraying them.
Dabi was unusually late to the meeting because while he was manoeuvring through hidden alleyways to make his way here, he saw a hero on patrol which was unusual as they don't usually come across this area. This unfortunate blockage meant he had to take a different route costing more time than usual. Dabi thinks being late to the meeting is better than being arrested, but he may be wrong because the last time Shigaraki was angry he disintegrated the first PLF member he came across.
He knocked on the door using their secret code and waited until the familiar face of Toga appeared behind the door as she opened it. She quickly ran into him and slung her arms around his neck in a hug, in response he awkwardly patted her back until she released him.
He looked around the room and saw the rest of the league were all here by now–even Twice who's always late due to his mental breakdowns, he was talking to himself in the corner of the bar until he noticed Dabi. When his eyes fall upon Hawks, he sees the hero's wings extend outward almost subconsciously until they fully extend to each side of the room. Dabi is taken aback by the beauty of Hawks’ large, bright and strong wings that have such a powerful presence in the room. They fan out majestically in a way that prevents Dabi's ability to breathe temporarily.
Hawks doesn't seem to acknowledge the change in his wings but continues to look at Dabi with expecting eyes, as though he was looking for a reaction or something else. Dabi didn't know what he wanted from him and so he instead turned to face Shigaraki, waiting to be scolded for being so late for their important meeting.
Shigaraki had a very unimpressed look on his face. “Dabi, don't you understand how vital it is that everyone is here when these meetings happen.” Shigaraki said in his raspy voice. He's not entirely wrong about that, often when a villain's location isn't known for a while it's usually safe to assume that they've run into a hero and been captured. Or worse, killed by another villain. Maybe that's why Hawks looked a little concerned when he arrived, or maybe it's because Toga has been trying to taste his blood for the past week and she was standing right next to him. She's been obsessed in trying some of his blood, Dabi doesn't really know why but it's probably because she wants to fly.
“Awww, were you worried about me?” Dabi sarcastically replied, he turned his face away from his condescending boss with a smirk on his face, ignoring the irritated response from the crusty blue haired man.
When he turned his head towards the side of the room that Hawks was in, he was surprised to see the hero staring intensely at Shigaraki with a look of anger. However, when Hawks’ instincts alarmed him that someone was looking at him, Hawks quickly turned to face Dabi and seemed to be checking whether he was injured. Maybe it wasn't Shigaraki that was worried about him, maybe it was the number two hero.
The next time Dabi noticed Hawks’ weird behaviour was when Dabi was sprawled across the couch in the villain hideout with his coat somewhere on the floor and his shirt raised enough so he could nurse his stab wound. If Shigaraki was here right now he would probably kick him out if he bled over the new couch (they have to replace it every so often due to situations like this.)
Somewhere in the haze of his mild blood loss he heard a fast paced knock on the door. “It's open,” Dabi called out weakly, hoping it wasn't Shigaraki, and that whoever was coming in knew first aid.
The door opened and a couple bright red feathers flew through the doorway. Oh shit, he forgot he was supposed to meet with Hawks before he got in that fight.
Hawks' teasing voice came from the door, “Dabi, did you forget about me?” The teasing lilt was quickly replaced by concern when he saw Dabi bleeding out on the sofa. “ Dabi-woah are you ok? What happened!?” Hawks hurried over to Dabi and pulled his t-shirt up further to get a better look at his wound.
Dabi let out a weak laugh at the sight of the hero pushing his t-shirt further up, exposing more of his skin. “That desperate to see me naked birdie?” He might be a little light headed from the bloodloss.
Hawks was annoyed at dabi's lack of concern, “What happened to you?” Hawks pulled some bandages and antiseptic wipes from his belt. All standard things for a Pro Hero to carry with them in order for them to adapt to any scenario.
Dabi exhaled quickly as Hawks pressed the wound with a towel to prevent more bleeding and to apply pressure. He manoeuvred Dabi so that he was lying down properly and the stab wound was face up.
“I unfortunately ran into a gang of low level villains who don't particularly like me,” Dabi turned to look at Hawks beside him and admired the hero's concentrated face as he treated his wound. He wonders if this is what it's like to be one of the civilians Hawks would rescue from a villain attack. It's not a bad sight to look at.
“Why don't they like you,” Hawks was probably asking Dabi questions to detract him from the sting of the antiseptic he was currently applying to clean the wound. It wasn't working but it was a kind gesture.
Dabi hissed as the antiseptic wiped around the portion of his skin that hadn't had been horribly scarred. “A couple months ago they wanted to try and defeat the League so they could prove their strength and get more people to join their gang.” He said between clenched teeth.
He took a small pause to inhale as Hawks gently cleaned his open wound and began to suture it closed, the sharp needles piercing his healthy skin made him more determined to finish his story to take his mind off the painful sensation.
“Shigaraki sent me to scare them off, and to do that I had to cremate a couple of their members. I guess they tried to avenge them by trying to kill me but they must have forgotten how hot my fire was because they just ended up losing even more people than last time and I wasn't even killed.”
“But you were stabbed,”
“Yeah, one of the little bastards they had recently recruited had a knife throwing quirk and he got me when I was distracted with killing his friends. Luckily, I wasn't injured enough to stop me from killing him and making my way here,” Dabi said as though he was talking about his grocery trip.
Hawks felt strange as he, the number two hero, was currently healing the wounds of Dabi who is admitting that he had killed people less than an hour ago. What might have been even stranger is that he didn't feel any regret in helping Dabi, in fact, if he had found Dabi in that fight he doesn't even know what he would do to those gang members in order to protect Dabi. Maybe that's a bad thing because his job as a hero is to save the most people, however he's always felt as though Dabi overrides any logic.
Once Hawks had finished suturing the wound up, he wrapped bandages around his torso with the most care Dabi has witnessed in a while. It was a very domestic scene (if you ignore the stab wound and the blood filled towels strewn across the floor).
Dabi's eyes started to droop from a mix of exhaustion from the fight creeping in and the blood loss he's suffered over the last hour or so. Hawks picked up on his fatigue and pulled Toga's blanket over him.
“You better not tell anyone about this,” was the last thing Dabi said before sleep pulled him into it's arms.
Hawks chuckled lowly, “I wouldn't dare of it,”
When Dabi woke he was alone, the Hero was probably off saving the people of Japan like usual. God, getting stabbed hurts. He tried to get up but nearly passed out from just that simple movement, so he settled to sitting upright as he waited for the room to stop spinning.
Once he could safely say that the room wasn't swinging side to side, he lazily strained his neck to the side table where he saw a glass of water and a freshly cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs, why was it freshly cooked? There was also a sticky note attached to the table surface.
Dabi reached over to grab it while being careful not to rip open any stitches.
Hey hot stuff,
Just went out on patrol
I got some feathers laying around to feel when you wake to make food for you,
Hope you feel better <3
Cya later
Dabi looked around and saw a couple feathers fly out of the window and supposedly back to Hawks now that they've done their job. However, a few remained. Was this Hawks’ way to make sure he didn't die while he was gone.
He briefly appreciates the never ending list of uses for Hawks’ feathers as he digs into the breakfast that was somehow made by feathers (Dabi doesn't even understand how Hawks was able to not burn the food when he wasn't even in the area.) His quirk really is one of the most versatile he's ever seen.
He probably shouldn't have scarfed it down as quick as he did in the condition he's in, but he couldn't help himself, the food was delicious and it's been a while since he ate a warm meal since he can't really eat in public places as he's one of the most wanted villains in the country.
After he finished the breakfast Hawks had made, Dabi successfully managed to stand up without passing out or worse, opening his wound. Despite him knowing that he should just lay down until he felt okay enough to continue his villainous ways, Dabi instead made his way out of the building whilst simultaneously contemplating the motives behind Hawks’ gentle ministrations. Was he trying a new method of gaining Dabi's trust? Dabi was just going to have to keep a closer eye on the feathered man to make sure he doesn't do anything else suspicious.
Another strange behaviour of Hawks that has presented over the past few weeks has involved Dabi getting a growing collection of shiny objects.
This first happened when they met in an abandoned warehouse so Dabi could pass on a message from Shigaraki to see if Hawks would leak the information to the commission.
Dabi stood, hidden in the shadows of the dim lighting of the warehouse. He was still recovering from his stab wound so he tended to lay low, hoping no one else came into the building instead of the Pro Hero.
When the exact time of their meeting arrived, Hawks’ shadow appeared in the doorway, his magnificent wings spread as though he just finished flying over here. The shadow of his wings made him look like an angel.
“Dabi,” came the recognisable tone of Hawks’. “C'mon, come out. I'm not gonna bite.” Hawks knew that Dabi would be here, he'd been early to everyone of their meetings since the beginning.
Before Hawks could continue to talk to himself, Dabi stepped out to let himself be seen.
“There you are, I was afraid the blood loss had finished you off,” No he wasn't, Hawks’ still had a few feathers around where Dabi was staying and Dabi knew that Hawks had tried to hide a feather in Dabi's coat without the man noticing.
Their meeting went on as it typically would, with the exception of Dabi felt like they both were less on edge then what was usual during these meetings as Hawks wasn't carrying his feather sword in his hands and Dabi's hands weren't smoking in preparation to incinerate the Pro.
Another reason why it was different is because at the end of the meeting, Hawks reached into his pocket which instantly put Dabi on alert, however Hawks reassured him that he wasn't pulling out a weapon and instead pulled out a very shiny keyring.
“What's this for?” Dabi asked out of pure confusion.
Hawks shoved his hand closer to Dabi's, urging him to take it, “It's for you.” He said as though that explains why he's being given it.
“You know I don't own any keys, right?”
“Think of it as a gift for when you do get keys, then you can add them,” Hawks was very insistent on Dabi accepting the gift so he took it from the hero's hand and placed it in his pocket.
“Where'd you get it from anyway,” Dabi asked, curious to see if Hawks had gone out of his way to buy him a gift.
“It fell out of the pocket of a villain I captured today, it reminded me of you so I thought I might as well give it as a gift, repurpose it y'know.”
Dabi could see why the hero thought of him, the keyring had the simple design of a flame on it, it wasn't blue like Dabi's own flames though. He wonders why Hawks didn't give it to Endeavour.
“It's not very heroic of you to steal from others, villain or not,” Dabi teased.
Hawks rolled his eyes at the tease, “He killed two children, I think he deserves me stealing his stuff, and more. I might let twice raid his home and steal everything else the bastard owned, he had a pretty nice car that would be a shame to go to waste,”
Dabi liked seeing Hawks become more accustomed to breaking the law. It gave him slightly more confidence that Hawks could break out of the cage the commission placed him in for all these years.
Hawks didn't stop at just the keyring. The shiny items gifted to him ranged from paperclips to shiny coins, which all got added to his ever growing collection. Yes he kept them all in a drawer in his room.
The most recent thing he got was a lighter with a silver metal coating, he was really confused at first when Hawks excitedly passed the lighter to him across the table.
“You know I make my own fire right? It's like my whole thing,” Dabi said sarcastically.
Hawks didn't really have a response for him and he instead pushed him to take it. Of course Dabi took it so he can put it in his ‘shiny things from the pigeon’ drawer later on.
He really wonders why Hawks is giving him all of the stuff.
One day, Dabi was sitting on the roof of the PLF mansion in order to cool himself down with the fresh Spring morning air, it was the most cost effective way to prevent himself from overheating.
He tilted his head back and watched his warm breath become smoke-like as it hit the cold air, he could feel his body return to a normal temperature. This was his version of a spa day, relaxing and not burning from the inside out. The cool air made his scared skin feel sensitive when the frozen wind brushed against it but Dabi refused to move until he felt like his fingers were going to snap off.
A few minutes before Dabi planned to head back inside, he saw a figure darting around in his peripheral vision. He opened his eyes fully to see a red pair of wings in the distance, flying in circles and different ranges of motion, this must be Hawks stretching his wings before a day of hero work.
Dabi planned to observe unnoticed from a far, admiring the beauty of the way Hawks wings flew through the sky with the grace of a ballerina. He would never admit this to the pigeon's face but he was completely enamoured by his wings, the colour, the way they move through the air at top speeds and yet still are agile, the shine.
When it's late at night and the villain struggles to sleep, he can't stop himself from wondering what it would be like to run his fingers through Hawks feathers. He wonders how they would feel.
However, his plans to go unnoticed were quickly spoiled when Hawks waved at him enthusiastically, he gave a small wave back just to stop the Hero from coming over to talk to him instead of letting Dabi watch his wings in action.
The pattern of movements that Hawks had previously been doing was changed by something more dramatic, it almost looked like a dance from where Dabi was sitting. Hawks swooped through the air and glided high into the clouds only to roll his wings into himself and plunge downwards until Dabi was scared he was going to land head first into the concrete and then choose the last possible second to expand his wings and continue his cycle of spinning, rising and falling.
A few minutes later Hawks dropped down onto the roof next to a very impressed Dabi.
“Did you like it?” Hawks asked with expectant eyes, it unnerved Dabi at how hopeful he looked.
Dabi thought back to how elegant he looked in the sky, twisting and turning around invisible obstacles and performing impressive feats.
“Yeah, birdie, it was pretty good,”
As soon as the words came out of Dabi's mouth, Hawk's wings puffed up and ruffled while Hawks was glowing with happiness at the praise.
“Fantastic,” Hawks chirped in joy, Dabi was subtly glad to see that Hawks no longer winced whenever he chirped, trilled or made other (adorable, though he would never admit it) sounds like when he coos.
When Hawks had first joined them he was still deeply affected by his training with the commission to get rid of all of his bird features. It filled Dabi with a flame of fury whenever he even thought about what the monsters at the commission would do as punishment for the bird. He wanted to take them down almost as much as he wanted to kill Endeavour
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Dabi broke them out of their trances, “Alright, I'm gonna head back in, see you later birdie,” He rasped. As much as he wanted to spend time with Hawks, he still had lots of work to do with the PLF that he needed to get done today, that's why he went outside in the first place, because all the work was making him agitated and when he feels too strongly he always smoking through his staples.
Hawks still looked proud of the compliment he was given but it seemed like there was something missing for him, Dabi had no clue what it could be that he was looking for. Trying to understand how Hawks is feeling is a bit like trying to find Where's Wally when you're drunk.
“Okay hot stuff, I gotta fly. Cya later,” and with a final wave, Hawks took off into the sky. Dabi stood watching him until he was a small dot in the sky before he headed inside trying to shake the persistent thoughts of red feathers from invading his mind.
“I think he's courting you,” Toga said excitedly. She was bouncing up and down in her seat at the revelation.
Dabi lifted his head to look in her direction. “What?” He's heard a lot of random things in his time but this was some new material.
“I said, I think he's courting you,” She repeated exasperatedly.
“No I heard you, what do you mean? Who's courting me?” Dabi questioned why Toga disturbed his quiet time to talk nonsense.
“Hawks of course,”
“What?” Dabi's even more confused now, why does she think the pro hero is courting him.
“I said–”
“No! I heard what you said,” Dabi shouted, before Toga could repeat herself another time.
Dabi calmed himself down before asking, “Why do you think that?”
“Well it didn't take me too long to put the pieces together but if you think about it, Hawks is a bird, birds get mates so that must explain his weird behaviour,”
“But why do you think he's trying to court me?”
“Because he's been giving you shiny objects every time he gets a chance, he's super protective of you, and he always shows off his wings whenever you are around, it's obvious if you think about it”
Oh is that what he was doing with his wings, he always assumed it meant that he was ready to attack, not that he was trying to impress his chosen mate.
Dabi didn't know whether he should be flattered for the attention and the fact that someone might be actively courting him, or embarrassed that it was kinda working even though he wasn't a bird. Also why didn't Hawks choose someone who also had a bird quirk instead of him who's quirk is Hawks weakness.
Everything Toga said unfortunately made sense and she didn't even know about the time Hawks healed his wounds and then made him breakfast the day after. Oh my god, how could he be so blind as to not notice this before.
After realising that Hawks was trying to court him, a lot of his behaviours began to make sense.
With this perspective in mind, Dabi saw the intentions behind Hawks’ actions in a new light. For example when it would rain, Hawks would hold one of his wings above Dabi's head to keep him from the cold and wet weather.
The more and more he noticed the kind things Hawks had done for him in order to gain his favor, the more that Dabi became tempted to cross the boundary of whatever they have now to something more complicated.
There were many reasons for Dabi to not take the next step. The thing about Dabi and Hawks’ ‘relationship’ is that they were both the opposite of normal people.
With normal people, worries about advancing a relationship might include ‘What if they reject me? Then the friendship group would be awkward,’ or ‘What if he says yes but he's actually a really bad boyfriend,’ or maybe even ‘What is she's a creep who likes to collect the teeth of her exes,’ (I personally hope the last one didn't break up with her for their sake, I know I'm a killer but there are some extremes I'm not willing to go too.)
For the pair of them, they have more serious concerns that could literally be life threatening. Such as the fact that Hawks was the number two hero in Japan, loved by many and seen as a role model to the majority of civilians, and Dabi was a villain, an outcast, one of the most wanted people in the country and hated by the majority of Japan. Heroes would be out for the both of them if they found out about it and rival villain teams could use either one of them as a weak point for the other. Not to mention the fact that both of them work in areas where there's a chance of being killed.
However, despite all of the problems that could occur, there was something about Hawks that made it seem worth it to try.
Dabi did try to resist the urge to ask the Pro Hero out, by constantly reminding himself that it probably wouldn't work out well. It worked for the most part, however Hawks was stubborn and resistant and doubled down on his efforts. He made more food, gave more gifts and spread his magnificent wings out every time Dabi was nearby, showing off how impressive they were and the bright shiny colour telling how healthy they were.
It didn't take long before Dabi gave in.
After a few weeks of struggling internally, he decided to accept the bird's offer. Except he wanted to do it being a gentleman (as much as a villain like him could be) and ask him out with similar gestures Hawks used but the human version.
He called Hawks using his burner phone asking him to meet him outside of Hawks apartment complex. He wore a large hood to cover his face as many heroes lived around here, as well as civilians who may recognise him. He knew this was risky but to him, it was worth it.
Hawks stepped out the door and spotted Dabi, hidden once again in the shadows. Dabi could see the shadow of the hero's wings as he puffed them out when spotting the villain, he looked like an angel.
“Well hello there hot stuff,” Hawks maintained his teasing voice, it was a core essence of his being to speak with Dabi in a way that borderlined flirting, he had perfected it to a point where it was never fully clear what his intentions were based on his voice.
Dabi stepped out into the light of a nearby street light. In one hand he had a bag and in the other he contained a bouquet of roses. He really hopes Hawks likes the flowers because he went through the effort of stealing them from some poor guy on their anniversary.
“Woah, they look like expensive flowers, who's the lucky lady,” Despite Hawks teasing, there was a noticeable disappointment laced in his tone, just enough for Dabi to pick up on.
Dabi thrust his hand toward the Hero, “You, you're the lucky lady.”
Hawk's wings almost instantly perked up as he reached out to accept the flowers. He looked baffled as he slowly realised what was going on.
“Care to let me in?”
That seemed to snap Hawks out of his trance, “Yeah, yeah, come on up.”
Hawks guided him up to his penthouse apartment. During the entire elevator ride, Hawks was practically bouncing up and down and Dabi was smiling fondly at him while the hero couldn't see.
When Hawks unlocked the door and held it open for Dabi to enter. Dabi's been to the bird's apartment before but he'd never taken the time to appreciate it before now. It was grand and cosy, but to be honest, anything looked grand and cosy to Dabi who lived in an abandoned bar/house with multiple people.
Dabi immediately made his way to the kitchen and placed the bag he had down on the counter, pulling out ingredients.
“Whatcha doing,” Hawks curiously peeked at what he was working on.
“I'm making you food.”
Hawks looked as though he'd asked to marry him or something. Dabi had spent the past week or so searching every Wikipedia page on bird behaviour to both understand what he's been doing over the past few weeks but also to make sure that this night will go the best it can by Dabi imitating the same behaviours that Hawks has been but the human way.
So that's how they spent the next 40 minutes, with Dabi preparing a delicious meal and with Hawks lurking next to him as they fell into easy conversation. Hawks also placed the roses into a vase and set them out on the dining table where they would eat soon.
They ate in the same comfortable atmosphere they'd created.
“So where'd you learn to cook this well,” Hawks probed while appreciating the meal.
“I learned when I was young and then occasionally I would cook dinner for the league, I became the main cook unless I was angry because one time I burnt all the food,” Dabi admitted easily.
They talked for over an hour with topics ranging from their trauma with the hero commission and Endeavour and also their found families they've gained and how much they appreciate the way their lives have changed recently.
“Hawks,” Dabi's tone became more serious as he grabbed the bird's attention.
“Yeah?”
He looked deep into Hawks’ golden eyes and took a deep breath, “I know that we didn't get along well at the beginning and I know that being in a relationship would be difficult considering our circumstances, but I like you, a lot actually and I'm willing to give it a try and I hope you feel the same. So Hawks, will you be my boyfriend?”
“Hey, I was gonna ask you first,” Hawks teased, to be fair he had spent almost two months courting Dabi but unfortunately he was too stupid to notice. To Dabi's defence, he's not a bird and isn't made to have the same instincts when it comes to mating, so it's not entirely his fault that he didn't understand that him being given a keyring was Hawks’ way of asking him out.
“I'm being serious,”
Hawks nods, “Yeah, I'd love to be your boyfriend.”
Dabi reaches a hand across the table and Hawks holds his scared hand with his own. Hawks let out a chirp to show his happiness.
They don't know what's going to happen in the future, they don't know what will happen with the league and hero commission. However, they do know that they are willing to fight through whatever they will face together.