Chapter Text
The front door opened right after midnight.
Hawks stepped into the hideout with a tired long sigh, shrugging his jacket off one shoulder before letting it hang loosely. The day's patrol had been endless. Interviews, rescues, paperwork, commission meetings, then another last-minute rescue request because "The number two hero couldn't possibly be busy"
His wings drooped behind him, feathers hanging with exhaustion.
Kurogiri quietly wiped the counter clean in the kitchen, steam coming from a kettle, just doing his own thing as if this is a shared apartment instead of a headquarters for japan's most wanted criminals.
On the other side of the room, Tomura sat cross-legged on the floor, controller in hand, immersed and focused on the game (dada, if this was a tomura fanfic i would describe every detail on his veins but oh well)
Toga leaned against the couch cheering every time she landed a combo while Spinner loudly insisted Tomura was cheating.
"Just admit I'm good at tbe game"
"You're not."
"Oh i am"
"You're not, you just started playing it today!"
"You just dont know how to play"
Hawks couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at his lips, months ago he'd expected the League to be nothing more than bloodthirsty terrorists.
Instead...
They were like a family, built with trust and patience. they still welcomed Hawks a few years ago, without knowing much about his background.
Yes they might've fought alot and were stubborn as hell, but it wasn't..how do I put this..abusive? It was warmth, connection, and real relationships, it even made Hawks reconsider villains.
His gaze swept over the room until it landed on the only person who wasn't distracted. Dabi, dabi had had his gaze anchored on him for since he came in.
He was sitting alone on the couch, one arm thrown across the backrest, watching Hawks with an unreadable expression, that wasn't quite boredom or amusement, just waiting (ig idk bro🙏)
"...You're late."
Hawks paused for only a fraction of a second before regaining his care free composure
"Yeah," he answered with a chuckle, closing the door behind him "The Commission's been working me like a dog"
Dabi continued staring, his serene turquoise eyes never left Hawks. The silence stretched long enough to become uncomfortable.
Then Dabi smiled, it wasn't his usual mocking smug grin, it was slow and ghat was worse
"We know you're the Commission's, birdie."
Oh...everyrhing around him slowed and blurred. For a terrifying heartbeat, Hawks forgot how to breathe. He caught himself before panicking, his smile returned. He chuckled nervously
"Oh, yeah?" he joked, rubbing the back of his neck. "We've established that already. I'm your little traitor feeding you hero information while pretending to be a loyal pro. Then eventually I'll betray everyone during yo- our mysterious 'big final event.'"
His tone stayed playful, light and relaxed. However his head was a mess Inside, every alarm in his head blared and screamed.
They knew, or did they not? How would They? Maybe this was a test, maybe dabi was bluffing. Yea its definitely that, the commision has warned him that villains really love testing trust and play psychological games..Just..just breathe in, keep calm, don't admit anyghing and dont panic, breathe out
Dabi tilted his head, amused "You don't need to lie."
Was he serious..Hawks felt his stomach sink.
"We already know."
"...Know what?"
"The truth."
Another smirk. Damn it Dabi.
"So stop acting."
Silence. Not just for hawks, everyone started listening into the conversation, even (daddy) tomura set his controller down.
Hawks forced another laugh.
"Guys, if this is some kind of joke, your creeping m-"
Dabi stood up from the couch, one slow step, then another awfully slower. The room suddenly felt much smaller
Dabi stopped directly in front of him.
"You wear way too many microphones."
"Excuse me?"
With no prior warning, Dabi reached toward him. Every nerve in Hawks' rational brain screamed to dodge, avoid him, he's gonna hurt him! Hawks is a traitor, and villains wouldn't hold back. But he couldn't, that would only prove that he doesn't trust them well enough. (i mean what if they kissed..?)
Dabi's fingers brushed the back of Hawks' neck.
Just beneath his hairline.
'Oh dabi's getting touchy'' Hawks started pondering 'he gonna pull in for a ki-''
Click.
Something detached.
A tiny metallic object landed in Dabi's palm.
Hawks froze.
No
No
No, they couldn't have possibly knew
His eyes locked onto the tiny device, its..his voice recorder. His pulse exploded, that basically means they have known everything!
Hawks started wishing rhat he had a quirk where he could make his brain explode and traumatise the people around just enough to ignore him, this was both embarrassing and..just wrong! god knows how much they've heard and how many recordings they intercepted, are they gonna reveal him..His mind spiraled through every horrifying possibility imaginable.
Torture, being burnt alive, having his wings ripped apart feather by feather, Shigaraki disintegrating him right where he stood
He could make a run for it, or fight them, butits way too dangerous, he can't fight all of them! The Commission always warned him what would happen, as if they were giving him a choice..there wasnt gonna be rescue, negotiations or second chances, because they couldn't let the information that a pro hero is spying to the public. If he died...He died, simple as that.
Dabi rolled the recorder between two fingers before tossing it lazily onto the coffee table.
It clattered loudly, nobody moved or attacked- huh, weird..they would've restrained him by now, unless they knew hawks was weak- Keigo had to leave now..he couldn't fight them, he'll just chicken out, its not much one person can do...But still...Nobody attacked.
"...Well" Dabi said casually "That's annoying."
Hawks kept staring "You..aren't killing me..."
Toga blinked twice, tilting her head
"Why would we ever do that?"
Hawks looked at her like she'd grown a second head.
"...Because I'm spying on you?"
Tomura nodded.
"Kind of expected, not gonna lie, i knew from the start (no he didn't) but Toga kept talking about how you buy her milkshakes, Dabi started complaining when I wanted to kill you...and you do get useful sometimes, so we kept you around as our little pet hawks that entertains us.."
Hawks looked at everyone, face to face.
Dabi sighed amused.
"Ya think we didn't notice? Why do you think Tomura keeps calling you traitor?"
"..."
"You show up out of nowhere."
"..."
"You conveniently know hero schedules."
"..."
"You disappear for hours."
"..."
"You always know just enough."
"..."
"And every few weeks," Dabi continued, tapping the recorder, "you come back wearing one of these."
Twice placed a box of juice on the floor.
"I did wonder why the Commission never upgraded the model, its old and overused now. Its pretty immaculateand unique!"
Hawks' jaw slowly dropped.
"You...you've known..Why didn't you kick me out..or..or hurt me or something? When did you even discover this?"
Tomura finally looked at him sluggishly, one hand scratching yhe back of his neck (our little chud(^ー^))
"Since the second week."
"The secon-"
"We figured it out pretty quickly."
Hawks stared at them, unable to find his next words, i mean..what would you do in this situation?
"...The second week?" he repeated, his voice shaking.
"You weren't exactly subtle" Shigaraki replied dryly
"You'd leave whenever the commission called you" Toga chimed in, swinging and swaying her legs over the arm of the couch. "Thennn you'd come back all tense, like someone had just- You've actually had like lotsss of panic attacks when you came back!"
"And you never actually tried to learn where anything important was, anything about our hideout and plans in general.." Spinner added.
"You were observing us" Twice said "You're a traitor! But its okay!"
"And you always looked guilty" Toga laughed
Hawks blinked between them
"I..thought I was doing a decent job."
"You were" Dabi replied.
...
"Against the Commission."
Silence settled over the room, and dabi leaned back against the couch.
"The recorder gave it away, they've been using the same model for years. we recognized it from other heroes"
"We didn't know if you were a spy or just another brainwashed idiot they had wrapped around their finger"
Tomura muttered, voice raspy as if it had been grated like sandpaper
"So we watched"
"And..? Why didn't you get rid of me or something?" Hawks asked quietly.
"You never gave away locations. Never told them when we moved. Never handed over names they didn't already know, you were pretty fun to have around too, birdie"
Dabi smuggly said, adjusting a staple on his face that Hawks was mesmerised by.
"You weren't protecting them, really..You were protecting us actually"
Hawks felt his throat tighten, his gaze subtly moving from the staple on his face to his vibrant eyes.
"I wasn't..."
His voice cracked
"I didn't even realize I was doing that"
"That's because they trained you not to think."
"They found you as a kid, raised you to obey, im seriously confused on how you didnt figure that out. Maybe you did, maybe your just ignoring the situation"
"They don't see heroes as humans"
Tomura stated flatly (ugh just marry me already)
"They see them as tools."
The words should've sounded ridiculous...Instead they sounded familiar, maybe that is the truth, the endless evaluations, the impossible expectations, the torture for mistakes marked as punishments..He knew it all too well
"You don't know anything about the Commission" Hawks whispered, his demeanour finally cracking.
Dabi let out a dry laugh
"I know enough to judge, I know they take children, actually..buy children, they decide who deserves saving. They even did second-thinking on leaving tsuyu to die so they can retrieve that explosion boy bakugo safely."
He stood, slipping the recorder into his pocket. Hawks couldn't answer, no one spoke..Finally Dabi turned toward the hallway
"Come with me."
Hawks looked up.
"...Why?"
"Because I don't think you believe me, ill prove it and show you what the commision has held you back from"
Dabi glanced over his shoulder, his smug smirk returned, without waiting for an answer, he disappeared down the hallway, he knew he would follow him.
But Hawks remained frozen
Tomura didn't even look up from where he sat
"Go"
Toga butted in
"So i dont know alot about birds and the bees but this sounds awfull-"
"Fine..I'll go"
He didn't want to hear any more coming from Toga so he decided to leave