It's been an hour since Dabi left. An hour in pitch black.

Hawks was sure he was going to die, everything so was so frantic. Every noise rang in his mind with an echo that hurt, the darkness has a strangling grasp around his throat, and the more that the hero swallowed, the more he could swear he tasted his own blood. It made no sense though.

Hawks just settled with huddling in on himself to keep everything numb. He didn't immediately claw his way out of the room and escape because he was told to be willingly kidnapped. He was a tool made for following orders, so here he was.

Instead he focused on what might be happening out in the world. He felt bad for being whisked away from Mirko before they could have some fun

He was blatantly kidnapped in front of a lot of different people. There was no doubt an uproar would happen that the number two dropped off the face of the earth after tripping through a portal.

As long as the hero commission didn't step in, people were probably looking for him. Right? There would be no reason for them to stop a search and rescue party...

The wings he kept closely huddled around him twitched, feathers puffing out at the sound and feeling of multiple foot steps walking down the dark hall outside the cell. No inch of light reached Hawks until the door opened and a warm blue glow filled the room.

Hawks breathed a slight of relief as he looked up, taking in the blue fire.

His relief quickly stilled into icy dread as he saw the villain, Compress. He ripped his hat and motioned for Dabi and Shigaraki to step in first.

"H..heyyyy." He croaked, trying to slip his charismatic charm into his voice. It sounded too forced.

He was wordlessly handed a phone. Confusion obviously crossed his face, but before he could try looking at the villains, Dabi's flame dimmed to naught. Hawks swallowed thickly and looked at the glowing screen.

An article from UA crossed his eyes.

"Number 2 Pro Hero Hawks on vacation!
Some controversial rumors have been going around about Hawks' disappearance yesterday afternoon. We'd like to tell you that everything is fine and he's happily visiting friends in America!"

Hawks stared at the headline and first subparagraph with a foul taste.

"...I didn't know villains could make such a realistic fake document." He laughed dryly, staring with wide eyes at the screen.

"The hero commission has abandoned you."

Hawks never looked up faster in his life as Shigaraki said this. How the fuck did he even know about Hawks' employers? He saw the ghostly glow from the phone screen on Shigaraki's face, barely showing his expression. It was enough to see a solemn pity.

"...no." Hawks spat out after a moment, roughly standing and tossed the phone away. "No! Fuck you! You can't just lie to my face-"

A cold sensation washed over his body, immediately crushing his spine and wings, making Hawks crumble into a tight squeeze. He felt a choked cry leave his throat. The marble was shattered agains the floor and he hit the wall, scream being choked from his throat.

The pro hero looked over with hateful tears pricking his eyes—into the darkness where he knew the pearl came from. He felt his chest twist, breathing becoming harsh. He tried to spread his wings, desperately trying to make room for himself.

The marble collapsed over him again for his efforts, the excruciating pain only one upped by the pure anguished panic that rose from his voice box, screaming again. He clawed at his own arms as he hit the floor upon this release.

Hawks just huddled into a small ball, shaking.

"P-pl-please! Please l-let me go! I won't do it again!"

"I can't trust you anymore, Keigo. Don't worry, your feathers will grow back."

The young boy stared in horror at the clipped red fluff that rested at his feet, a buzzing pain tingling throughout his wings. He gripped the bars, trying to flap his wings against the tight space. They didn't even catch air.

His wings were clipped.

His wings were clipped.

"P-please- I won't do it again!" He sobbed, grounding his teeth together, making his whole head wail at the sound. "Stop!"

His wings shook, balking around him, snapping tight to his back. He could almost feel the pearl raising, ready to capture him again.

"Tha's enough." Dabi's voice cut through the air, soft blue once again illuminating the walls. He started to walk over to Hawks, the warmth of the flames making Hawks peek over at him.

"Anything. Anything but the pearls. Fuck you can cook me alive just- stop crushing me-" he begged through jagged gasps. A rough hand ran through his hair.

"Just breathe, baby bird. Yer alright." He seemed to single to the other villains to leave. Shigaraki retrieved the phone and left.

Dabi quickly started to examine him for new cuts but there were none. He just let the hero relax and calm down in his own from the shock of Compress's quirk.

A few minutes passed by and Hawks finally stopped shaking. He glared up at Dabi. "What the fuck was that article?"

His voice was a hoarse growl, nothing short of forced intimidating that held no real effect on the villain who shrugged.

"We saw th' news so we wanted't show ya. Th' H.C. is fuckin ya over."

"H.C.?" Hawks echoed, trying to sit up. It was nauseating.

"Hero commission." Dabi expanded, Hawks just scowled at the obvious answer he didn't grasp at first.

"Oh."

They fell into a silence trap again.

"Why..." Hawks choked on the awkwardness of his question for a second. "Why are you so nice to me?.. as nice as someone that purposely burned me can be."

"...ya remind me of a littl'pet birdie I use'to have."

Hawks scowled at that answered, looking away. It made him feel dehumanized.

"That's a dumb reason."

"Ya prefer I be mean?" He flame dimmed with a flicked making hawks lurch. He looked at Dabi with wide eyes. They silently begged him not to.

With a chuckle, the villain obliged and strengthened the flame a little more.

Once again their was a silence.

"...I'll make a trade with ya." Dabi said after a few minutes. Hawks looked at him curiously. "Give me a feather to keep an' I'll find a permanent light source for this place."

Hawks squinted at him, trying to figure out how truthful this was going to be.

"...get me the light first and I'll give you a small feather." Hawks contributed to the deal. What was the harm at this point?

"Deal." Dabi offered a hand to shake. Hawks hesitantly took it, staring at those blue eyes peering out from under black spiky bangs.

Dabi shook their hands, firm, and immediately stood. Hawks already knew he was leaving but fidgeted in place. He really didn't fucking want to be stuck in the dark for any amount of time...

The flame villain got the door and gave Hawks a nod. "Gimme five minutes."

The door closed, Hawks watched that blue flame trail away with the villain till it was gone.

Hawks sat there. He decided to count, not focusing on anything else.

It took Dabi 287 second to come back into ear shot, 302 seconds for him to open the door.

He crouched down in a corner where Hawks had trouble seeing through the darkness. For a moment he wondered how Dabi could see fucking anything down here.

But after a second, with a click, a small electric lamp clicked on. It was plugged into a socket in the corner of the room that the hero hadn't noticed. The light was a very dull white but it was enough to actually take the villain in with color.

The dark patches of skin were that of a pale purple, stapled together. His grey shirt was actually a stained white, and the dark black hair that Hawks originally thought was red for some reason was as spiky as ever. It made him happy, in a strange way, that Dabi's eyes were still such a striking blue.

He stared at the lamp and away from the man as soon as he was turned towards. It was nice. He could feel the villain staring at him and grumbled, shuffling to lift up a wing towards Dabi.

"...pick one. I don't care."

The villain approached, shuffling along the floor behind him. Hawks shivered slightly as Dabi brushed a knuckle across the baby feathers that transitioned form his wings to his shoulder blades. He pressed his full hand against them, carding fingers through the soft fluff.

It just made Hawks squirm in place, feeling those jolting shocks shoot up his spine and tingle his wings. They fluttered against his touches, trying to get away, but Hawks tried to keep them still to the best of his ability.

Eventually a soft pain stung his back and Dabi leaned over his shoulder to show him a specially chosen sensitive feather.

Hawks mentally grumbled but he was slightly frozen, feeling the villain's chest press into his back, arm curling around his waist. He spun the feather before his thumb and forefinger like last time.

It was a miserable sort of embarrassment, watching his own feather quiver as his own body shivered in Dabi's hold.

"Thank ya kindly birdie, I'll take real good care of it~" he cooed against Hawks' ear. It just made him shiver again before he got the chance to start distancing himself, knocking Dabi back with his wings and stumbled over to the lamp, just sitting in front of it silently.

The villain he left let out a low chuckle and stood up now, going to the door. "Enjoy th' light, fuckin' moth~"

The teasing remark made Hawks scoff. He wasn't exactly wrong, but he definitely wasn't right either.

Hawks staid in front of that lamp without moving. Unlike Dabi's flames, it was cold. He felt a chill settle into his bones as he just huddled into his wings.

Even when he found his stomach growling by the end of however many hours he's been in here now, maybe a two days, he didn't move. He succumbed himself to the lamp.

His spine and wings would tingle all the time. Hawks found it painfully distracting. It was like Dabi never stopped playing with the fucking feather.

It just made him squirm against the cold tile.

The hero commissions really left him? They really abandoned him? The villains showed him an awfully convincing article from UA. It wouldn't directly be under the H.C., as Dabi calls them, to avoid affiliation with Hawks. No person in the world knew of his connection with the H.C. besides Mirko... and apparently the league.

This was so frustrating. So fucking frustrating.

What was the most frustrating thing? The fact that he wished Dabi would come back and warm him with that blue flame.