{School is starting up, so updates will be pretty slow!}

Hawks scrambled forward after a brief pause, chasing after Dabi. The man was already in the kitchenette, digging around in the pantry for some dry rice noodles and a can of shredded chicken before getting a pot out.  His food inventory wasn't big.

"W-wait! What? You're leaving?"

The scarred man casted a glanced over to the hero, if anything, amused.

"Yes, tha's what I said. Ya need a hearing test, birdie~?"

For a moment his eyes softened as Dabi took in the winged man's expression, lost and twisted with a very obvious look of not wanting him to leave. Blue eyes settled into golden hue, seeing a longing in that expression.

Dabi very quickly looked away. He couldn't get any ideas.

"But where will I stay?" Hawks started, anxious hands pulling at his feathers. "A-and, who will I talk to? What happens if something happens to you? What if the commission finds me again? What if—"

"Wait, wait, wait." The scarred man sighed pointedly, trying to come up with a proper response to his short lived rambling. There's was something—'what if the commission finds me again?'—that made Dabi feel like he misheard. "Do ya not want to go back to th H.C.?"

The pro hero stared at him, opening his mouth to answer, then closed it again and tried again. He didn't seem to know how to respond to that, only making a soft, "Umh.."

"Hawks."

The person in question looked down at the ground and ran his hand through his own feathers a little faster. "...is that bad?"

"Yer kidnapped by villains right now."

"I just woke up, being cuddled by you after I passed out, and now you're cooking us food." The blonde grumbled, trying to prove his point even as blush crept into his face. "Sorry to say this is better treatment than I've ever had before... including the torture part. That part I'm used to."

Dabi sighed deeply before turning to fill the pot up with water, putting it on the stove so it could boil while they spoke.

"Ya been behaving, I'll give ya that."

Hawks was just quiet.

A part of Dabi was cursing, this wasn't supposed to be apart of the plan. Handjob was going to bitch about this factor that didn't even bother to consider before. Hawks wanted to stay.

Sure, Dabi was to earn his trust and make Hawks rely on him, but they never would have predicted that Hawks wanted to stay.

The most alarming thing to the scarred man was a soft warmth that sparked in his chest, a long snuffed out flame that was reawakened by Hawks' pout and obvious attachment. He pursed his lips, knowing what was going to happen next in their plan with Hawks.

"Ya realize that I'm 'bout the only nice person you got here? Birdie, yer not meant to want to stay here." Judging by the way the hero looked away, this wasn't what he wanted to hear. "And I'm sayin that because I—..." The villain paused mid sentence.

"...because you what?"

Fuck. Dabi watched the innocent hope in Hawks' eyes.

"...because I think yer a good fuckin hero, phoenix. Out of the lot here? Y'got the spark of an actual human in you, not just a shit poster face of some fame-whore."

Dabi couldn't say that he cared, he couldn't say it was because he was remembering the past again and again, he couldn't say it was because being this close to a fragment of his old life made him weak.

Weak for Hawks—weak for Keigo.

Hah! That's a name he swore he'd never think about again.

The man ran a hand along the back of his skull, tracing the old scar that ended his first life, hiding the action as if he was just running fingers through his own hair.

He remembered the shatter of his skull, the blood, the taste of iron... and then flames.

Fragments of his body surely still lay hidden in that garden. A part of him wondered if the small blond boy he had abandoned back then ever looked for them, if he ever plucked out a stray chip of bone and kept it.

...Dabi never claimed to be sane, but even he knew that thought was absurd.

Hawks deflated slightly, head heavy. "...yaknow, I never wanted to be a hero."

I know, Dabi wanted to say.

"I don't remember a lot of my childhood from what they did, after I lost the one person who kept me sane."

I'm sorry, the villain wanted to reach out.

"It was like a gap in my life of memories I've blocked out to desperately ignore what the Commission did to me, what my handlers did. I was never a student, I was another assignment, they handled me like cattle with the rest of the kids unfortunate enough to have been sold to that place. They never taught me. It would have been too human for those people to be teachers."

Hawks gripped his feathers, wings trembling as much as his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut, no doubtfully blocking out tears.

I remember, Dabi bit his tongue.

He tensed his body to resist the urge to step forward and gently take Hawks' hands into his own, kiss his palm and settle him onto the couch with a blanket and soft caresses.

"And I don't have any reason to want to go back. I was alone even in my own home, my only friend was chosen for my by the commission because she is one of the top five. They made me feel ashamed about aspects of my own quirk..." He trailed off, nose scrunching slightly as he peeked his eyes back open, pain rising in their distant gaze. "They control my personality to the public, they control how I dress, they..."

Just as Dabi wanted to stop listening, Hawks stopped talking.

"...Birdie, we'd kill you here. They wouldn't do that, at least."

"Don't defend them, they don't deserve it."

Dabi snapped his mouth shut and just turned to the now boiling water, putting in the noodles and turned down the heat slightly.

He pulled out his phone and texted Shigaraki a simple: Hawks wants to stay here, what do?

He was well aware it was 3 am, but Shigaraki still normally woke to texts. Dabi stared at his phone as they fell in a silence. He mentally cheered when he saw handjob is typing... pop up only about a minute of waiting.

-

handjob   3:28 am
Wdym?

Me   3:28 am
He's talking about how we're better than commission fucks

Wants to stay with us

handjob   3:29 am
And you want to keep him?

Me   3:29 am
Not what I'm saying, just asking what we do?

We said we were sending him back eventually, what if he doesn't willingly go?

handjob   3:29 am
Literally none of the plan relies on bird being willing

Stop doting over him

It's weird

Especially coming from you

Me   3:30 am
Fuck off

I'm asking what if he joins?

I know that will make the torture plans weird, but we can get twice to help us with that

handjob   3:30 am
I'll think on it

Why tf are you awake rn? Don't tell me you guys fucked

Gross ass bithc

Bitch

Me   3:30 am
You wish

handjob   3:31 am
Only reason anyone would willingly stay around u is because ur dick size

Me   3:31 am
You would know best

handjob

handjob   3:31 am
Eat shit and die

-

Dabi put his phone down with a sigh. He knew Shigaraki would make the best choice in the end, but he couldn't help to hope that Hawks could stay.

No matter how dangerous it fucking was for his sanity, Dabi didn't know how long he could deal with Hawks talking to him like he was a stranger.

Thinking about him, Dabi looked over his shoulder to the hero who had quietly sat on the ground against the wall, currently straightening his feathers with a silent awkwardness.

"...Phoenix."

Hawks spared him a look but said nothing.

"I still need to leave, but I want to talk to bossman about seeing if I can take you with me and just pretend you're a member of the league even if you don't want to be for the sake of appearances." He turned to meet his golden gaze. "I don't have the authority to promise you this, but it's my plan that I'll find out about in the morning. Does that sound good?"

Hawks plucked a feather and turned it around in his fingers thoughtfully, but Dabi didn't fail to see how his lips quirked into the smallest of smiles. It was a start.

"...alright. Thank you."

Dabi walked over and crouched to his side, grazing a gentle touch over Hawks' wings that made him twitch slightly. He looked over with those wide, innocent eyes.

Slowly, Dabi leaned in to kiss his nose gently, hand running through his hair for a moment before he stood and returned to the food.

Once again, Dabi didn't fail to see how Hawks' cheeks flushed red and he froze in place at the unprompted affection.

And this time, he wasn't alone with having blushed cheeks.