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Wind whipping his face, Hawks dives towards his balcony at not-quite the breakneck speeds he’s known for.
Thanks to an earlier encounter with a power-type quirk downtown, his right wing and shoulder are messed up, and every minute movement rewards him with sharp pain. Luckily, nothing seems to be broken, though. He wouldn’t have made it back here in one piece otherwise, flying.
Today was decidedly not his day.
Shuffling inside the apartment and kicking off his boots, he stops briefly to lean his aching body against his closed balcony door. Wing twitching uncomfortably, Hawks presses the palms of his hands against his eyes until he sees white.
This’ll all be fine by tomorrow morning.. probably. He’s got accelerated healing properties courtesy of the Commission! And nothing’s bleeding this time, just a few bruises from being knocked around a bit. He’s definitely gone into work in worse shape, with fewer feathers, and it’s not like he’s ever called out before anyway, never mind that it would be unacceptable to even try with the HPSC. Still..!
Settling down on his couch with a sigh, Hawks’ tired eyes start blearily scanning the never-ending piles of reports spread across the coffee table. He blinks a few times to clear them.
The clock on the wall reads 2 AM, quietly ticking the precious seconds away. If he could wrap these up, he might be able to squeeze in a luxurious 4 hours of sleep. Sweet!
Just as he was reaching for his laptop to send a few mission updates to the HPSC, his phone buzzes, twice. But not his work phone, the burner kept in the inside pocket of his flight jacket.
“Great,” the hero mumbles, fishing it out.
D: 10 mins. don’t be late.
D: *pin*
Wow, straight to the point, huh.
H: got it! :)
Glancing over his documents once more, Hawks can’t help the irritation building in his chest. He was this close to getting a bit of a break. But it’s fine! Good heroes never complain, right? He should be able to keep going. Push through. All this isn’t even too bad in the grand scheme of things, and anyway, he needs to focus on the overarching goal here, saving as many lives as he can.
That’s his purpose. He’s a pro hero.. the number 2 hero, at that!
Whether through this infiltration mission he has going on with the League, the nonstop wrestling with reports to submit, or simply his regular patrols. It all contributes directly to saving the general public of Japan. And as the Commission likes to remind him, a better hero would have already taken the top spot, so really, he’s lucky that they are still putting up with him as things stand now.
Leaping off his balcony, Hawks soars in the direction of the pin, ignoring the now searing pain that amplifies with each flap of his tired wings. The wind, which usually acts as a cooling balm for his body, mercilessly burns against his face, ripping through the open jacket of his hero costume as he flies.
Landing on the rooftop rather haphazardly, he looks around for his contact, but the villain is nowhere to be seen. Typical.
After 15 minutes of waiting, Hawks drops down with a huff to sit at the edge of the roof, legs dangling, tilting his head back to gaze at the stars twinkling above in spite of the light pollution.
Sometimes, he imagines himself flying amongst the dazzling lights illuminating from the city and stars, not for missions or work, but for his own enjoyment. Maybe he could one day have the chance to truly look around the city and take in the sights, rather than always rushing past, always onto the next mission. Quickly, he scrubs that thought from his mind though. It’s not very heroic, selfish even. And heroes are not selfish.
Just as his eyes start drooping from exhaustion, Hawks senses movement to his right.
“Yo!” he calls, pushing his aching body up to stand, a peace sign and camera-ready smile flashing at the approaching figure. “Don’t be late my ass..” he grumbles under his breath.
Sitting was a mistake, he realizes. His back and wing are both so, so sore now. It feels like the muscles there are locking up. The flight home is going to be an.. experience.
“What took you so long? It’s been,” He checks his phone, “almost 30 minutes!” the hero exclaims.
“You stargazing out here, tweety?” Dabi asks with a lazy drawl, ignoring the question. His piercing blue eyes scan Hawks’ appearance. Hawks, despite the carefree attitude he likes to project, doesn’t seem to be in a good mood tonight. His practiced smile isn’t reaching his eyes, and upon closer notice, one of them is twitching.
“What, a guy can’t enjoy the view? Why’d you call me out?” the hero replies, careful to avoid sounding too impatient. He just really wants to get some rest before morning patrol. And all that paperwork too..
“I’m the recruiter and you’re the recruit. I shouldn’t need to provide you with a reason for every meeting.”
Truthfully, he had been bored and the League was annoying him. Hawks was honestly pretty entertaining at times, but he didn’t need to know that.
At that, Hawks’ smile faltered further before he broke out into an animated laugh.
“You just wanted to see me then, hot stuff?”
Rolling his eyes, Dabi pointedly ignores the comment and nickname.
“Do you have the info I requested last time?”
“Yep, here it is~!” Hawks sing-songs, handing a black folder over to him.
Dabi hums, only briefly scans over the information inside before looking up and narrowing his eyes at Hawks. Something’s off. The bird is always in motion, whether he’s tapping his foot, adjusting his feathers, or flashing that stupid smile of his, he’s never this stiff. In fact, he’s swaying, ever-so-slightly on his feet, and one of his wings looks like shit, feathers bent or broken this way and that. Usually, Hawks stands with an almost performative vibe of relaxation, but now, his posture is straight as a rod.
Hawks, belatedly realizing that the villain is staring at him, starts. “What, is the information not what you expected?” he questions, feathers puffing and then settling, as he wills them still, shifting his feet. He hates that. No matter how much effort he’d put forth or training he had been subjected to, he just couldn’t seem to get them to stop. It’s like they had a mind of their own and it was a hindrance for them to be constantly revealing his demeanor. He could lie through his teeth with no effort, but what’s the use of that when he had bright red wings revealing all his truths right behind his back. What a spy he was.
The HPSC wouldn’t give him faulty information, right? Or would they? No, they wouldn’t. Hawks has been in the espionage business for long enough to know better than to doubt the higher ups. Besides, he was supposed to be the spy here. Getting into both the League and Dabi’s good graces is all just part of his job. And he’s good at his job.
So then why is he having such a hard time tonight? He’s tired, that’s why. Nothing more to it. He’d been on his feet, or rather in the air, all day, already running on too much caffeine and too little sleep, and took a hit harder than expected. That’s all. He could handle this. He would handle this. He always did.
“What’s going on with all..that?” Dabi questions, waving his hand around Hawks’ wing and general direction, breaking him out of his stupor.
“Uh. Y’know, just the usual! Got caught up in a bit of a scuffle earlier!” Hawks replies, clearing his throat, feigning cheerfulness. “Why, you worried? It’s nothing I can’t deal with,” He adds with an exaggerated wink.
Dabi rolls his eyes again and shoves his hands into the pockets of his fraying jacket with a blank expression.
“Just making sure my informant isn’t about to keel over”
Hawks plasters on another smile, shuffling his wings behind him in an effort to conceal the damage and make himself look more confident. The movement makes him wince. Dabi’s unwavering cool visage was driving him crazy. He could never get a good read on him, no matter how hard he tried. And Hawks was good at reading people. He’d been extensively trained for it.
“I knew you liked me!” he exclaims brightly, golden eyes sparkling.
“I don’t, you just look like shit, birdbrain,” the villain deadpans.
“Ouch! And here I was beginning to think we had something special. I was actually going for more ‘effortlessly disheveled,’ but thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment, you’re literally swaying around like a chicken learning how to walk for the first time.”
“Nuh uh, I’m vibing, it’s different. And I’m no chicken,” he pouts, sticking his tongue out.
It feels like his brain is running five seconds behind everything happening around him, which to the fastest hero, was mildly concerning. He’s got to get out of here, stat. Their uneven intel trade was over so he had no reason to stay, right?
“If we’re done here, then I’ll be off, lots of things to do and people to save, yadda yadda..” he tries, hoping Dabi would get the hint. As he surveys him, Dabi blurs and splits cleanly into two. He blinks his eyes to clear his vision, swivels his gaze away from the villain, and the scenery around them swirls. Huh. That couldn’t be good.
He blinks again. One Dabi. Twice. Two Dabis.
“..That’s new.”
Dabi’s icy blue eyes pierce through him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You look confused.”
“I’m admiring your.. excellent symmetry,” he replies to the two Dabis.
Dabi stares at him.
That was possibly the stupidest thing he’d ever heard the hero say, and he talked a lot.
“..Right.”
“Anyway, see ya around, I gotta go!” Hawks calls, spinning around, or at least trying to. It was more of a lurch sideways, where he remained until his swimming vision righted itself.
“Okay Hawks, what the hell is going on with you? Sit your ass down,” the villain snarls.
This was weird. He’d never seen the hero so discombobulated before, he was always polished with his actions, never with as much as a single feather out of place. Before him, it seemed that it was taking just about all his strength to simply stay upright.
He’d seen an injured Hawks before, sure. There were plenty of villain attacks for that, and the bird was almost impressively reckless at times when it came to those. Like he was prioritizing the lives of all the civilians over himself. And maybe he was.
But this was different. There was some sort of delay about him. Even injured, Hawks still remained in motion, always watching everything around him with those sharp eyes. Tonight, he was sluggish. If he had to guess, judging by the dark circles under his eyes, he’d say the bird was being incapacitated by plain old sleep-deprivation here.
At that, the hero glances over his shoulder from his position, hands on his knees, seemingly in thought.
“I’ve got work,” he replies, after a beat.
“What oh-so-important work are you doing at 3AM?”
“Crime never sleeps!”
“Your work isn’t going to go anywhere, just sit down for a minute,” Dabi demands. “You wanna get in with the League? Then you better start listening to what I tell you,” he huffs.
Hawks opens his mouth again, seemingly to argue, but any response seems to get lost before it arrives as Dabi glares at him harshly, crossing his arms. With an uncharacteristically hefty sigh, Hawks takes off his jacket and drops it onto the ground before settling down on it, back leaning against the rooftop access structure behind him. He blinks owlishly up at Dabi.
“I’m just sitting here for five minutes and then I can go, right?”
“Sure.”
At that, Hawks slowly closes his eyes and adjusts his damaged wing.
A few seconds pass and nothing happens. Neither of them say anything.
Dabi waits a minute. Two minutes. He goes back to peering into the contents of the battered black folder still in his hands before looking up again curiously. Hawks always has something to say, it’s like he can’t help but fill the void silence brings.
But after the full five minutes, Hawks still doesn’t move.
Dabi had assumed that he was just resting his eyes or something. But then his head dips to the side.
“..Hawks?” Dabi raises an eyebrow.
The hero responds with some sort of vague sound from the back of his throat.
Then, “five minutes..” he mumbles drowsily.
“Birdbrain, you really falling asleep out here?”
The hero’s breathing slows and evens out, with slight chirping snores at each exhale. His shoulder and wing, which had been pulled taut all night, were both relaxed and slackened. Honey-colored bangs drift forward, catching in the gentle breeze and brushing across his face.
Nothing. No response.
No way.
The villain continues watching him.
There were no smiles, tapping, or feathers being meticulously moved into whichever position the hero deemed most picture-worthy. No performing.
Just silence.
“Huh.”
He actually fell asleep. That.. was quick. Guess he lives up to his title.
“Seriously?” he nudges the hero with his foot.
Hawks doesn’t so much as twitch. Only a couple of the bent feathers from the damaged wing shift slightly with his steady breaths.
Without his huge jacket and all the gear on, Hawks looks different. It’s then that Dabi remembers that the guy is only a year younger than himself, barely an adult. With all his obnoxious hero appearances, the cocky interviews, and the constant flitting about, stopping crime after crime with that trademark effortless speed, it was all too easy to forget. The hero murmurs something unintelligible, brows furrowing slightly before smoothing out once more a moment later. Like this, asleep, he looks his age, younger even. Dabi’s eyes linger on the dark circles hanging under his eyes.
After another half hour or so, Hawks stirs and blearily blinks awake.
For a moment, he doesn’t register where he is. He looks up and sees the stars.. turns his head and sees.. Dabi.
Oh. Shit.
He scrambles upright, grimacing at the punitive ache that comes from his injuries at the sudden movement. His hand instinctively flies to his bruised shoulder, massaging the sore muscle. But it seems that his enhanced healing is finally kicking in, since the pain isn’t as severe, and maybe it was the sleep, but his head doesn’t feel like it’s filled with cotton anymore, just heavy. He starts trying to piece together exactly how he ended up—
“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” Dabi calls, glancing over at him from where he was leaning against the wall, phone screen illuminating his staples as he taps away at the screen.
Trying and failing to regain his composure, Hawks feels himself pale as his stomach drops. He fell asleep. Here. In the middle of his infiltration mission, in front of his contact, a notorious pyromaniac, who, to put it mildly, was not someone to reveal his weaknesses to, to any degree. Wait, scratch that, heroes don’t have weaknesses. Oh my god, the HPSC was absolutely going to kill him before Dabi even got the first chance.
His eyes flick back over to the villain, searching for any hint of what he might have missed. But Dabi simply continues doing whatever it was that villains did on their phones.
His thoughts are all jumbled around and he tries desperately to sort them out.
“Ahem,” he starts, clearing his throat awkwardly. “How long was I out?”
Without looking up from his phone, “Couple hours,” comes the reply.
Hawks jumps up. Clumsily shrugging his jacket back on, his fingers are still slow to react.
“Lives are lost when you are too slow, Hawks. Be better, you want to become a hero, right?” his handler’s voice echoes from the back of his mind.
“Relax. You were asleep for maybe about 40 minutes, birdie.”
“Forty?” he blurts dumbly.
“Give or take.”
“..Oh, well that’s not too bad, then!” Hawks says, forcing a quick, shaky laugh. He’s not late for patrol. All’s good, no trouble.
Dabi finally looks up from his phone.
This Hawks, who stands before him with that exasperating, pristine confidence, and dazzling smile, has a tell. He’d first noticed it a few weeks ago while they were staking out a dirty warehouse together. The guy’s generally lighthearted demeanor was overshadowed by the fluttering of his wings. When some of the grime in the warehouse had gotten on his costume, his wings had been twitching, almost a shudder in protest to the filth. Hawks hadn’t even seemed to notice his own reaction, but Dabi did. Maybe the guy was a germaphobe or something.
After that, he changed their meeting locations to abandoned rooftops instead. Not for the hero’s sake, it was just more practical for himself is all. The warehouses were stuffy and rooftops provided a cool breeze for when he ran too hot.
Right now, the glossy red wings were puffed up real big, seemingly to make the bird look more intimidating or something. He looked so dumb, those analytical golden eyes shimmering in the moonlight, blithely beaming at him, canines on full display. Like it’d kill him to not be cheery for even a second. It was exhausting just to watch.
“You’re shit at lying, you know that?”
Hawks’ smile freezes. His eyes widen fractionally, and he forces his wings to lay flat once more with a near imperceptible sigh.
“Am not, I’m super convincing. Prolly the most convincing person you’ll ever meet! Not that I’m lying to you about anything,” he adds cursorily.
“Yeah? Could’ve fooled me.”
Shit. Does he know? There was no way, no how. It’s too early for the mission to be compromised. Hawks was a great liar, thank you very much. He hadn’t trained his childhood away to not be. Then what was it? He looks around, for any sort of indicator before realizing that that too probably made him look even more suspicious. But suspicious of what? Think. He mentally runs through their entire conversation again. Before, his mind had felt uncharacteristically slow, but now thoughts kept zipping in and out, faster and faster, quicker than even his top speeds flying.
He knows.
The thought slams into him, heavy enough to make his brain stall.
Dabi just stares at the hero, expression unchanging.
Hawks stares back, unblinking. His heartbeat picks up, pulse thundering in his ears. Was it the information? The Commission? Or was there a camera or person nearby watching them? He hadn’t been followed, right? He looks around again. Nah, he’d have noticed it, for sure. Unless.. had he been too tired to? He feels himself tensing. But Dabi hadn’t attacked him, he just sat on his phone that whole time. So then, what?
“..irdie. Hawks!”
Hawks blinks.
The villain looked more irritated than before. Snapping his fingers at him, blue sparks lit up between them. Uh oh.
“Sorry? What was that?”
“I asked if you were okay. You keep glancing around like something’s gonna pop out at us.”
Hawks opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
The villain waits.
“Oh. All good,” he replies finally, cheesy grin returning. It pinches at his face.
An uneasy beat passes.
“You’re sweating.”
“Global warming,” Hawks replies quickly, the first thing that came to his mind. His breath fogs in the chilly late-autumn air, taunting him. He groans inwardly.
Dabi raises an eyebrow at that. “Global warming,” he echoes.
“Yup! It’s pre-tty serious, y’know? Spreading all around the world and stuff! The icebergs are melting. Japan’s no exception,” Hawks declares, arms flailing wildly into the space around them.
“Wow, a climate activist. And here I thought you were a pro hero,” Dabi deadpans.
“Hey, I can care about the environment too! Guess what, I even spoke in a press conference about it, like two weeks ago,” Hawks proclaims with a proud voice, feathers puffing up again indignantly. Really doubling down here.
The silence that follows stretches. Dabi’s lips lift almost imperceptibly before it's gone again.
“Right.”
Adjusting his jacket further, Hawks pointedly ignores the lingering ache from his shoulder. The villain hadn’t turned him into yakitori yet, so maybe his earlier worries were for naught? His brain starts to catch up to the situation again and he realizes at once that he absolutely has to get out of here. Like, for real this time. Regroup and prepare for damage control before their next meeting. Never mind that he still couldn’t figure out what he had to be doing damage control for in the first place. What was he going to tell the HPSC? He didn’t even get any useful intel to report from this mess of a night.
“So! Since we’re all done here, I’ll just head on my way—” He gets two steps before his knees buckle.
“Whoa, hey. Sit down for a second. You’re going to break your neck tryna fly your sorry ass home,” Dabi says, gesturing at the space where Hawks had been sleeping resting his eyes earlier.
Hawks regards him quizzically. This wasn’t how their interactions usually went. Dabi was looking at him with an expression that on anyone else, he would almost equate to.. concern? Nah. Nope, no way, José.
But before he could conjure up a sensible reply, his stomach growls, loudly.
The pair stare at each other.
“That was the building.”
“The building?”
“Yup, old architecture. I bet it’s shifting under the weight of all your villainry,” Hawks states, matter-of-factly.
Dabi snorts at him. Actually snorts.
Hawks’ eyes light up.
“Did you just laugh at me?” He asks, giddy.
“No.”
“You totally did!”
“No, that was a cough. Sit down.”
“I don’t need to sit down,” Hawks replies breezily with a gleam in his eye, before taking his jacket back off and settling down on it once more. He’d definitely have to wash it after tonight, but it’s worth it if it means he doesn’t have to sit directly on all the dirt and other shit scattered across the ground of this rooftop. Being dirty makes his skin crawl, it was too reminiscent of his childhood home.
The second he’s off his feet, his body sags in relief, which is strange, considering he just took a power nap. Why’s he still tired?
He tips his head back against the wall, sighing through his nose.
Dabi sits down next to him.
For a moment, neither of them says anything. The black of the night sky has started to soften, but below them, the city is anything but asleep. Glaring neon lights blink at the two and cars honk, headlights streaking about. Little figures dart through the streets like ants. Warm light glows through windows and somewhere far, far away, a siren wails.
Hawks’ eyes drift over the skyline blearily, before he rubs them and settles his gaze upward toward the shimmering stars.
“You really were stargazing earlier.”
Hawks glances sideways at the villain cautiously.
“Maybe I was.”
“Thought you said you were enjoying the view.”
“Is that not the same thing?”
Dabi looks back at the city.
“What’s so interesting?”
“..Dunno, just..,” his eyes find the twinkling lights again. “Guess I don’t get to see it much.”
“You literally fly through it every day.”
Hawks sighs. It’s true. But to him, flying was work. His wings, his body were tools. He passed through the city every day without actually seeing it. If he really thought about it, his entire existence was structured down to his usefulness. It was a careful balancing act. He tiptoed over this complicated tightrope daily, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or rather, him.
But this was something he’d already convinced himself he’d made peace with ages ago. He would throw his whole being away if that meant being a hero, because to him, being a hero was everything, worth even the price of his own freedom. And if it wasn’t him, then who else would end up having to do all this?
“Yeah, well. You wouldn’t get it.”
“Guess not.”
Silence spans. Then Hawks tilts his head.
“Do you ever look at it?”
“What, the city?” the villain questions.
“Yup.”
“I have eyes, don’t I?”
“Hey, you know that’s not what I meant!” Hawks sulks.
Dabi huffs, eyes following a stray cat scampering down below after a pigeon, too slow to catch it before it flies, up, up, and away.
“..sometimes.”
Hawks turns to him in surprise, before smiling softly.
It was unlike any other smile he’d graced the cameras with, unlike any of the showman grins he paraded around the villain. It was gentle, almost absentminded, thoughtful. And for some reason, Dabi’s heart stutters in his chest a little. Which is weird, because it’d been burnt away long ago, along with Touya.
Another couple minutes pass and Hawks’ eyes begin to droop.
“Hey, don’t fall asleep, you have patrol soon, no?”
“Mmh, ‘M not, just blinking. I’m actually appreciating the view, if you must know.”
“Appreciate it with your eyes open, then.”
Hawks hums uncommittedly.
A few seconds pass. A dog barks from the inside of one of the nearby apartments.
Then, barely audible, “..maybe one day I might be able to see it.”
Dabi looks back over.
The hero is fast asleep, head tilted toward the skyline, chirping snores escaping him once more.
He looks back out into the direction of the city.
“Maybe.”