Archive of Our Own ^beta

Despite what one would think, Toga was extremely well-suited to her new leadership role in the Paranormal Liberation Front. Perhaps it was her bubbly personality, or maybe her skills in acting and reading people, but she had quickly improved the regiments that she had been put in charge of. Many of the Meta Liberation Army folks (read: Most of the new Paranormal Liberation Front) had been skeptical about the League merging with them, even after Re-Destro’s little speech. The rest of the League had to appreciate how much she had improved their image around base, and her methods.

That didn’t mean they wanted to become a part of said methods, yet Toga had decided to force the Lieutenants (along with Hawks, for whatever reason) into a “bonding party”. Dabi wasn’t sure what he’d expected from her when she said that, so he automatically protested. Sure, whatever she was doing was effective with the others, but he didn’t want to be her guinea pig. Alas, his pleas (as well as those by Shigaraki and one of Twice’s personalities) fell upon deaf ears, and here he was at her aforementioned event. At least there was alcohol for him to drown his grievances in. He was sure there were plenty coming.

“Wait, Dabi-kun, don’t drink anything yet!” Toga scolded, taking the red cup of beer away from him.

“What? Why?”

“We’re playing a game with it.”

He raised a brow. “A drinking game? Ain’t you a minor?”

She rolled her eyes in the most teenage way Dabi could imagine possible. “Can you really talk?”

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. She had a point. He was many things, but a hypocrite was one thing he strived to keep off the list. “Alright, fine. Expect to get shit from the overgrown theater kid for it, though. I imagine computer science dropout’ll be the same way.”

She giggled and began pouring drinks out into different cups for everyone. “Skeptic-kun won’t care, we’ve been getting along a bit better. Mr Compress, maybe.”

“Fair enough.” Though he found himself finding it difficult to believe a man like Skeptic would ever tolerate a girl like Toga, he decided not to protest her claim. He looked her over, trying to imagine what she’d be like drunk as to mentally prepare himself. He had to say that what came to mind would be migraine-inducing – Considering how loud she was already, thinking about Toga as a loud drunk felt like inventing a device that broke the sound barrier. The sound of the door opening signified Shigaraki entering with Spinner in tow and Re-Destro on their tail. Somehow, Dabi had been ten minutes late (Toga had forcefully pulled him out of his room after that long) and he was still the earliest one besides Twice, who had escaped to the bathroom for a moment. “Hey, bossman.”

“Let’s get this level over with,” Shigaraki muttered. He, like Dabi, reached for a cup of alcohol, but Toga smacked his deadly hand away.

“Wait!”

“Gimme the beer.”

“No.” Toga stuck out her tongue. She jabbed her finger at the ring of floor pillows and additional comfort items. There was a space with a table of extra pillows and blankets beside it that was left free for Re-Destro to put his wheelchair and sit. “Go sit down. The Hatsune Miku pillow is your spot. We can’t start until everyone gets here.”

“Why the hell am I Miku?”

“I’m back! I’m leaving,” Twice greeted as he returned from the restroom, saving Toga from having to explain. He took his seat on a circular Deadpool floor pillow, crossing his legs. He was dressed in casual clothes besides his mask. “Glad to be here. Why’re we doing this, anyways? Seems pointless.” Finally, Twice’s alter had  voiced what had been on everyone’s minds. (Dabi and Shigaraki had been too focused on finishing early to ask, while Spinner and Re-Destro were far too polite.)

“‘Cause we haven’t really gotten to know each other yet. The MLA and League, at least, the League are, like, besties.”

“We really aren’t,” Dabi chimed in.

“Gotta agree with bacon face here. We’re best friends!”

“Can we move along the conversation?” Skeptic grumbled as he entered with Trumpet and Geten. “Toga-san, this feels completely unnecessary, frankly. Those who work on the same regiments will already be interacting on a near-constant basis, so a relationship’ll naturally take its course.”

“Unfortunately,” Dabi muttered, glaring at Geten. He still hated the guy with a passion. He wasn’t certain why, but the guy just grated on his nerves. Maybe ice and fire really couldn’t mix.

“Well, sometimes we’re gonna need two of them together, and then it’s gonna get messy!” she protested with a pout. Though it was almost certainly an excuse for whatever she had planned, the logic was sound, which was likely the reason Skeptic sighed and approached the circle. 

“Fine.” He grumbled and approached the circle.

“Your spot is next to Re-Destro-kun, the Gorillaz pillow. Y’know, because your company’s called Feel Good Inc.,” Toga informed him, pointing at the wheelchair-bound man (who had already taken his proper spot in the circle as well as a nice quilt. For a man that made such an intimidating impression in their first meeting, Re-Destro acted surprisingly similar to a grandmother at times). Toga began passing out drink cups with the instructions to not yet drink. “Geten-kun, you’re next to Skeptic-kun, ‘cause you’re both grumpy, on the snowflake pillow.”

“I’m not grumpy, this is just stupid,” Geten snapped, but he did as he was told. He seemed to be with the majority on just getting this all over with as quickly as possible. 

“Trumpet-kun, you’re on the trumpet pillow, on Geten-kun’s other side! Hawks-kun is gonna sit on the bird pillow next to you, ‘cause you both act cool. Dabi-kun, this is your pillow, you’re next to Hawks-kun, too.”

“Someone say my name?” Hawks said, poking his head in through the door. Mr Compress was close behind with an apologetic smile on his unmasked face. It was rare to see Mr Compress’s handsome features. 

“I apologize for my tardiness. My mechanic arm was presenting some problems,” Mr Compress said politely.

Dabi nodded at the two in acknowledgment before heading for his seat. He figured that the sooner everyone got in place, the sooner they’d be done. He raised his brow at the pillow he was given. He was expecting maybe some fire, Endeavor (as much as it would annoy him, he’d understand the reasoning, especially since Toga didn’t now the reasons behind why Dabi hated the man), or some character. Instead, he found himself with a cartoonish symbol… “What is this?”

“The popping vein! Y’know, like in anime, ‘cause you get really mad when you’re angry!”

“Joy,” Dabi muttered sarcastically, sitting himself in his assigned spot. He’d find he’d be between Hawks and Twice. Toga was on Twice’s other side on a frilly pink pillow, followed by Tomura’s Miku pillow, then Spinner’s pillow (some video game character Dabi wasn’t familiar with), followed by Mr Compress (Hamilton pillow; Dabi had to admit that this pillow looked nice, even if he detested musicals), and finishing the circle as Mr Compress was next to Re-Destro.

“Awww, it suits you perfect,” Haws teased, tapping Dabi’s nose before sitting down. 

“I will turn you into a bucket of the fried chicken you love so much,” he grumbled, glaring at the insufferable Hero.

“I’m a hawk, not a chicken!” he squawked, looking mildly offended.

“Sure, chicken legs.”

It didn’t take long now that everyone was present for the various bonding party attendees to find their seats. Toga made sure everyone had a drink with them before declaring what they were doing. “We’re playing Truth or Dare, first!”

Dabi’s face went deadpan. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Skeptic shook his head. “She’s not.” He looked over at her with a small shrug. “It’s been surprisingly effective in building positive links, actually, when she’s handled recruits. I’ve done some research, and–”

“Man, nerd, no one cares! Shut the fuck up!” Twice rubbed the back of his neck, probably flushed under his mask. “Sorry.”

“No, no, you’re right. No one cares,” Shigaraki chimed in. “Let’s skip the tutorial from Skeptic. What’s Truth or Dare?” 

Most of the room turned to gape at Shigaraki. “Are you serious?” Toga asked, her brow furrowed.

Hawks raised a hand. “Actually, I’m lost too.”

“I am as well,” added Geten.

“...were y’all never kids?” Dabi asked, his eyebrows flicked up. “‘Cause I’ve had plenty of people say that I’ve ‘never had a childhood’ and I still know what stupid Truth or Dare is.”

“I didn’t have friends or siblings really as a kid and I know,” Spinner said.

“Thank you, Dabi-kun, Spinner-kun,” Toga said, rubbing her face. “How does someone not know that?”

Mr Compress got up from his seat, eager to launch a monologue. “Allow me to explain!”

“You’ll use too fancy language for anyone to know what you’re saying,” Geten commented, scowling. It seemed he already was familiar with that aspect of the man.

“What he said,” Shigaraki said with a nod. “Spinner, you explain. You’ll be the least annoying about it.”

“I’m not annoying!” Toga protested, but a simple glare from their leader shut her up. His preference was clear.

Spinner rubbed the back of his neck, a few scales flicking off with the motion (he must have been shedding). “Well, uh, it’s not that difficult to get. A person asks another person truth or dare, and the one asked gets to choose. Dare, they have to do what the other person says, truth means they’ve gotta answer a question. Person who answers gets to ask whoever else they want the same question, repeat the process. Easy.”

Toga put up her own cup. “This version, though, you can skip, if you don’t like the question or dare! You gotta drink, though!” She giggled. “It should be fun!”

“Who’s the winner?” Shigaraki asked, furrowing his brow.

“There’s not really a winner—” Spinner started.

“If we’re turning it into a drinking game, ain’t it whoever’s the most sober at the end?” Dabi asked, tilting his head. “That’s how I always did these kinds of things.”

“I think that’s right,” Hawks chimed in.

“You don’t know anything about fun, you don’t get an opinion,” Twice argued. “Yeah, you’re so right!”

Geten rolled his eyes. “Can we just get this stupid chore over with?” Clearly, he too realized there was no stopping Toga since she had this idea in her head, but he seemed even more unwilling than most of the League.

Trumpet chuckled. “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be raging drunk by the end of this?”

“I think Geten’s correct. Let’s begin, as long as everyone’s clear on the rules,” Re-Destro said, looking around the circle as though double-checking. One of those leaderly habits he still had from his Commander days. Dabi noticed the man sometimes habitually trying to do Shigaraki’s job for him still. It was strange to see, considering no one else in the League had ever wanted that leadership position other than Shigaraki; Toga was too wrapped up in her own little word to care, Spinner was too shy, Dabi didn’t care for the pressures of leadership (read: he didn’t want to end up like his father because of them); Mr Compress knew his strengths didn’t lie in that role; Twice’s two sides argued too much for him to even suggest it; and Magen, when she had been alive, was way too chill and down-to-earth to want to lead anyone. Shigaraki never seemed to notice Re-Destro’s habits, though. He had always been bad at picking up on things like that.

“Crystal,” Shigaraki said.

“Think I get it,” Hawks said with a nod.

“Not hard to understand,” Geten grumbled.

“I’ll go first, then!” Toga said happily, raising her hand. She swished her head around the room. “Skeptic-kun, truth or dare?!”

“Truth, I suppose,” the man replied with a sigh.

“Awww, borinnnnng,” she whined, but she launched directly into her question regardless. “What was your first crime?”

“Forged some checks in my mom’s name when I was a kid to make a start-up loan business at my elementary school,” Skeptic recalled, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I made almost 150 thousand yen before I got caught.”

Dabi whistled. “Damn.”

Skeptic turned to Re-Destro. “Truth or dare, sir?”

“Dare,” Re-Destro said with a nice smile. “Might as well make things exciting for everyone.

“Uhhh… show everyone your last few texts,” Skeptic said lamely, shrugging his shoulders.

Toga began laughing. “You’re just as bad at this as the first time we played!”

Skeptic’s cheeks burned. Dabi knew that, despite likely not being too invested in a silly game of truth or dare, the man hated being told he was anything but perfect at anything. “I’m not bad at it.”

“Suuuuuure.”

Re-Destro gave another pleasant smile and began scrolling through his phone until he found the texts in question. He flashed the phone so everyone could see it. It was a simple friendly correspondence with a business partner, planning a dinner to discuss some sort of new endeavor. “Nothing exciting, I’m afraid.”

“You’re just a boring old man, huh? Where’s the scandal?” Twice challenged.

“I’m far past the time in my life where I’d be scandalous, I’m afraid.” He put his phone away, his eyes briefly examining his options. “Toga-san, truth or dare?”

“Hmmmm…. Truth!” Toga replied happily.

“Didn’t you call computer science dropout boring for choosing truth?” Dabi deadpanned, swirling his beer in his cup. If he didn’t get picked soon, he was going to start drinking it without losing any points. 

“Yeah, well, he just did it because it was safe. I did it because Re-Destro-kun seems like he’d have better truths than dares.”

“I guess he doesn’t really seem like the dare type,” Trumpet agreed serenely, looking up at his former boss. 

Re-Destro considered for a moment before speaking. “Are you perhaps seeing anyone at the moment?”

Toga shook her head quickly. “Nope! But I’ve got my eye set on someone!”

“Simp,” Shigaraki muttered, which ended with him getting a spare pillow thrown at his head. He blocked it with one hand, disintegrating it with the touch. 

Toga turned to Twice. “Jin-kun, truth or dare?”

“Truth. Dare,” he said decisively.

She seemed to decide to go with the second option, considering her wide grin. She leaned forward, looking mischievous. “Kiss someone in the circle.”

Twice shrugged, pulled up his mask, tapped Dabi on the shoulder, and kissed him. It wasn’t anything special, really — The two had messed around a few times already. It was a quick, chaste kiss, as neither of them were drunk enough to do much more in front of others. Dabi had some sense of pride, Twice some sense of shame. After it broke, Twice turned his attention to Hawks. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What’s your real name, birdbrain?”

Hawks immediately drank deeply from his cup. Dabi snickered to himself. He’d done some snooping while Hawks was first trying to join the League, managed to find his personal details. He didn’t have the solidest proof, but he had a good idea of what the big secret was. Skeptic would find something more solid soon. Based on what Dabi found in his own search, Hawks would likely rather tear out his own nails than speak his own name. It was almost entertaining in a way, such a small thing making him so antsy.

Hawks glanced over at Shigaraki. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Dare you to sit on someone’s lap for the rest of the game.” Hawks gave a cocky grin, as though expecting Shigaraki to drink right away. Dabi about expected the same — Shigaraki seemed the coy type. However, to the room’s surprise, he just shrugged and moved himself into Spinner’s lap. A bright red tint showed from beneath his green scales.

“Truth or dare?” Shigaraki asked Mr Compress calmly, as though this was completely normal. 

“Truth, I suppose.”

“Why do you hardly show your face, even off the job?” Shigaraki inquired. “It’s not like we don’t know your face, and you’re not like the crazy idiot over there and need one normally. Why keep it equipped?”

Mr Compress rubbed the back of his neck, blushing the faintest bit. “Perhaps it’s just that I’m accustomed to the weight on my face. I feel a bit as though I’ve been stripped naked without it.”

Shigaraki nodded and shrugged again, seemingly appeased. “Eh, makes enough sense.”

Mr Compress turned to Dabi. “Truth or dare?”

Not liking the idea of whatever the older man’s mind would come up with when it came to dares, Dabi replied, “Truth.”

“What number of those in our organization have you had relations with?” Mr Compress asked. Fancily worded, but a relatively normal question. Dabi took a moment to count before responding.

“Four. Well, five, if you count not going all the way.”

Hawks turned bright red, looking up at Dabi with indignation. “What are you, a man-whore?” he blurted. Knowing the guy, he was jealous. How cute.

“Most definitely.” Dabi smirked lazily. “Slept with boss man the first night I joined the League, though we didn’t do anything after that. Don’t worry about your little boyfriend, lizard boy.” 

Spinner stared down at Shigaraki, who didn’t do anything to deny it.

“Slept with the knockoff Deadpool maybe six times, when we were drunk.”

“It was definitely more than that. I’d never sleep with you, bacon face!”

“Made out with computer science dropout once,” Dabi continued, ignoring the man’s remarks. “He stopped us when I went for his dick, though.”

“I-I don’t remember anything of the sort,” Skeptic protested.

“Yeah, well, we were both pretty high when it happened. Think you drank a bit, too, that’s never a good combo. It was that one time I convinced you to smoke with me.” Dabi yawned a bit. “Managed to rope Gigantomachia into fucking me once.”

Spinner gaped. “Just… how? How would you even…?” He squinted, as though trying to figure out how that could plausibly work, considering that massive size difference. His flush was strong enough that his scale color on his face had completely shifted from green to red.

“Oh, Dr Garaki was pissed as shit with the injuries I came in with after.” Dabi snickered, remembering the look on the pudgy old man’s face. He hated the creep, but, fuck, was it fun to see him mad. “And I’ve messed around with Hawks too many times for me to really count.”

Hawks shoved Dabi, his face bright red. “You can’t just say that. Did no one ever teach you manners?” he snapped, clearly too flustered by the entire thing to keep up his usual cool persona. 

Dabi chuckled. “Got taught them plenty, probably even more than Pinocchio Musk over there.” He motioned to Re-Destro, who quirked an amused brow at the nickname. “I just choose not to use them.” He decided to move on before Hawks could further scold him. “Anyways, politician, truth or dare?”

“Dare, I guess. Don’t want us getting on a rhythm of only one option,” Trumpet said.

“Very moderate of you.” Dabi rolled his eyes. “For the rest of the game, I want you to take off a piece of clothing every time someone calls on the psycho.”

Trumpet opted to drink instead. Toga was bound to be a very active participant, after all. He then turned his attention over to Geten. “Truth or dare?”

“Fuck off.”

“That’s not one of the choices,” Toga reminded him with a pout.

Geten rolled his eyes. “Fine. Truth.”

“How’d you first discover your Quirk?” Trumpet asked, likely realizing that a more risky question would go unanswered.

“I mean, my whole family’s got ice Quirks, so it wasn’t hard to realize what mine’d be.” Geten played with his cup, not seeming particularly happy about the conversation. “If you’re asking the first time it activated, I froze our family cat because she scratched me.”

Dabi put a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing, which earned himself a withering glare from Geten. 

The white-haired man sighed deeply before turning his gaze to Re-Destro, not seeming particularly interested in interacting with other members of the group. “Truth or dare, sir?”

Re-Destro tilted his head, seeming content. “I’ll take truth this time…”

Geten grumbled something which was incoherent to Dabi, but Re-Destro seemed to understand. He smiled gently and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I don’t really play favorites…” he said, tilting his head. “I don’t think it’s beneficial to anyone to set a hierarchy like that. Everyone has their own strengths which can be use to an organization’s cause, as well as their weaknesses. We shouldn’t overvalue one skill set or undervalue another.”

“Sounds like clean corporate bullshit,” Shigaraki scoffed. “With all that talk of freedom you spouted as the final boss, you sure do keep to rules and regulations.” He yawned a bit.

Perhaps you’re correct…” Re-Destro sighed, nodding to himself. “Yes, I must cleanse myself of the need to follow social constraints in order to bring myself closer to the ideals of Destro… You’re correct…”

Hawks put his hands up, a somewhat nervous smile on his face. “Whoa, buddy, you might wanna slow down there. As right as that is, we’re gonna end up in a lot of trouble if you act wild day-to-day as an organization, and that doesn’t help anyone’s goals.”

“I suppose that holds merit…” Re-Destro sighed before turning to Spinner. “Truth or dare, Spinner-san?”

Spinner, who had his hands rested on Tomura’s hips (who was still lounging comfortably in his lap), looked up at the sound of his name. “Uhhh… Truth?”

“Are you and our dear leader perhaps seeing each other?” Re-Destro inquired.

The swordsman immediately took a deep drink of his beer, almost choking on it. Despite doing so as penalty to not answer the question, it was a bit of an answer in itself. Toga began giggling maniacally, waving her hands up and down.

“No way, really?! That’s so cute! Oh my God! Why didn’t you tell me?!” she squealed. (Knowing his similarities with Shigaraki, Dabi figured this was exactly the reason the man never spoke on it.)

“Because you’re all annoying and it’s none of your business,” Shigaraki deadpanned, proving Dabi’s initial thought correct. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, scowling. “Keep your goddamn voice down. You sound like a banshee, and you somehow didn’t come with a mute button.”

A laugh rippled through the room.

They played an impressive hour and a half before Geten had skipped so many rounds that he had ended up passing out. At that point, they called the game off, and Trumpet took on the responsibility of hauling the poor boy off to his room. A few stayed behind to chat and clean up, but most of the attendees left, including Hawks.

He wasn’t sure why he found himself tailing after Dabi. Even if he’d let it all move past that confession in the moment, he still found his stomach in knots over Dabi recounting his conquests. Sure, Hawks knew that Dabi had plenty of experience — and besides that, they weren’t necessarily exclusive. They weren’t dating. They just… hooked up, on occasion. It didn’t stop his chest from feeling like needles were prodding at it over and over.

“Um… Dabi?” 

The scarred man looked over his shoulder, his eyes more heavily lidded than usual from the drinks he’d ended up taking during the game. Apparently, even a man as shameless as Dabi had limits. (Not many, though, considering the fact he was still missing a shirt from a request to strip it off.) “Y’need somethin’, birdie?”

“Can we talk?” Hawks fidgeted a bit, picking at his gloved hands. He often heard alcohol called liquid courage, but he’d found that it never did anything of the sort for him. If anything, it just threw off his ability to put on a good mask, which ultimately made him more nervous.

“Talk ‘bout wha’?” Dabi slurred, looking Hawks over. Another reason Dabi was so beyond drunk was likely that he was downing almost the entire cup every time he had to drink. Hawks had taken far more drinks that Dabi had, but only took a small sip each time, leaving him far more sober. 

Hawks nodded to Dabi’s room nearby. “Can we get some… privacy first?” This was embarrassing for him, after all…

The Villain slowly grinned. “Oh, really?”

The Hero found himself flushing at the obvious lewd direction Dabi had taken his words. He punched Dabi’s arm. “Not like that…”

“Mmmh… Sure, birdie, le’sgo to bed…”

The two made their way inside the room, Dabi stumbling slightly on his way. Hawks furrowed his brow. Maybe now wasn’t the best time for this. “We can do this later. You’re pretty drunk…”

“‘M fine! Jus’ need wa’er, maybe…” Dabi mumbled, sitting himself in his bed. 

Hawks sighed, but grabbed made his way to the mini fridge to check for any sort of water. It was mostly booze, but he managed to find a bottle of fancy spring water with a Feel Good Inc. promotion on it towards the back. He offered the bottle to Dabi. “Here, then.”

Dabi snatched it up and began gulping it down quickly. It was almost impressive, how big each sip was, not even taking a moment to breathe. (If Hawks’s mind took a dirty turn at how much Dabi was swallowing at a time, that was no one’s business other than his own.) Once the entire bottle was gone, he simply threw it aside, letting out a sigh. “Lil’ better.”

“You don’t sound any better.”

“‘M fiiiiiiiiine. Whaddya wanna talk abou’?”

Hawks shook his head. “Nevermind.” He wasn’t going to get a meaningful conversation out of this. Maybe he wouldn’t even want one by the time morning came and his head was clear. Sleeping with Dabi was a tactical advantage which left the Villain more vulnerable emotionally. There was nothing else to it. The only reason he could possibly be considering having a conversation about deeper feelings that could lead to deeper connection had to be alcohol. It was a foolish way to go. Hawks had to compartmentalize, pack away and separate feelings from sexual pleasure. Even if sometimes he enjoyed laying in bed with Dabi just as much as the sex, or the first moments of a sunrise together. Even a hangover felt better with him around.

Hawks couldn’t understand the strange, unfamiliar thoughts that swirled around his mind when it came to Dabi. What could it even be called? Hawks was convinced it wasn’t love. Hawks couldn’t love. He didn’t love his mother, not truly, didn’t love his father, didn’t love the Commission that took him in and raised him despite everything they’d done for him, didn’t love the women he’d played with in his spare hours. He simply wasn’t built for it. Whatever this was, this odd feeling that caused his heart to flip around into his throat, it had to pass. It would.

He just had to wait and stop being so stupid and almost initiating conversations as though they were a fucking couple.

“Earth to chicken leeeeegs, heeeeey… Haaaaawks…”

Hawks shook his head to clear it. Now wasn’t the time to go down that spiral. “Sorry, what’d you say?”

“Lay down wit’ me.” Dabi began pulling Hawks down onto the bed without asking for a response. Seemed he was a bit of a clingy drunk. Surprising, considering how cold the man usually acted. Dabi’s arms wrapped around Hawks, pulling him into his body. His skin was burning hot, like an inferno only covered by a thin sheet. “‘M cold.”

“You’re burning up, though.”

“‘Da’s jus’ ‘cause ‘m dyin’… Still feel cold…” Dabi nuzzled into Hawks’s shoulder, as though demanding his affections be returned. “Warm…”

Hawks sighed and gave in, wrapping one arm around Dabi’s waist and using the other to stroke his hair. He sent away his feathers into a pile in the corner, leaving the bare minimum of his wings. (Taking up the entire bed with his wings wouldn’t be comfortable for either one of them.) “You’re not dying,” he whispered.

Not yet. Hawks would have to be the one to do that. (His stomach lurched at the very idea, but he tried to tell himself it was just the drinks. He barely had two beers, but it was just that bit of alcohol causing his nausea, surely.)

“Am, though. Burnin’ to death,” Dabi murmured, leaning in so his lips brushed Hawks’s ear. His breath was warm, comforting. The rise and fall of his chest against Hawks’s was a slow rhythm that he found himself mirroring, as if they were of one mind. “Don’ wanna die ‘fore I set things righ’, though…” 

Hawks removed his hand from Dabi’s hair to cup his face gently. “You’re not going to die, Dabi.”

“My Quirk’s killin’ me.” His slurred voice was low and even, as though he’d accepted the idea of it a long time ago. “Don’ think there’s no stoppin’ it now… Jus’ gotta finish business firs’.”

For a man that would likely have to kill the arsonist, Hawks found himself oddly terrified at the idea of his death. He needed to get over that. Maybe the Commission could give him some miracle drug that would destroy his ability to feel, make life easier. Making the right choices for the world would be easier if he could stop seeing the people he was supposed to fight against as such human beings.

“What business?” Hawks asked, watching the way the light shifted in Dabi’s eyes. They’re such a brilliant turquoise, the sort of color that seemed impossible to appear in nature.

“Gonna kill the shit outta Endeavor.” Dabi began to laugh. It was harsh and rough, as though ash had clogged up his throat. He ran a finger over his charred jaw until it brushed Hawks’s hand. “Asshole gotta die.”

That was enough to snap hawks out of the moment. Endeavor was a good man. He saved little Keigo from his father, saved lives every day by risking his own. There was no way he deserved death, especially one as cruel as he was sure Dabi would provide. “Right…”

“Don’ worry, I’ll make the corpse nice ‘n’ pretty, since my pretty bird’s a fanboy.” Dabi giggled like an eager kid. “He can get a nice funeral ‘n’ all ‘at, jus’ for you…”

“How sweet,” Hawks deadpanned, sighing. “Go to sleep. You need to rest off the alcohol.”

“Don’ wanna.”

“I’ll knock you out,” Hawks threatened.

That got Dabi to obey real quick.

“Hey, Hawks-kun, Hawks-kun, hey, Hawks-kun, Hawks-kun, hey, hey, hey, Hawks-kun—”

“Do you need something, Toga?” Hawks asked with a pleasant smile that was a bit too forced. It was too early for this. He needed coffee before dealing with the girl’s energy. Maybe he was getting old. (Endeavor, if he heard that, would likely scoff at the implication of one’s early twenties being old.) More likely, it was just the aftereffects of drinking the previous night; He was quite fragile when it came to hangovers, even if he didn’t get drunk easily.

“Can you give Dabi-kun this? Skeptic-kun says it’s important, but he doesn’t want to deliver it himself. Something about an old request.” She held out a flash drive. It was simple, sleek, black — Exactly what one would expect out of a minimalist like Skeptic.

Hawks took the object with his trademark easy grin. It was likely something important. He wouldn’t be able to snoop much now, considering all the surveillance around him. The Commission had developed a device that would be able to help that hid perfectly in his wings, though — a false feather that functioned as a massive hard drive. He’d be able to look into it more on his next trip out of HQ. “Yeah, sure. Don’t mind one bit.” He put a hand up and waved off any concerns she may have had. “Didn’t want to deal with his early morning moods, huh?”

“He’s so grumpy!” Toga pouted, crossing her arms. “I’m not talking to him until after eleven in the morning. He’ll just be mean otherwise.”

Hawks chuckled a bit. Dabi’s mood tended to be sour once he got out of bed. He was quiet before that, though, just quietly watching the sunlight and occasionally whispering about nothing at all and everything all at once with Hawks. It wasn’t necessarily the mornings, but having to fully wake up that ruined all semblance of “politeness” that Dabi may have possessed.

“Yeah, I get that. I’ll get it to him.” He flashed another smile, turning on the coffee machine. “He’s still sleeping, though, so it might be a bit before he sees it.”

“That’s all good!” She put a thumb up. “I’ll tell Skeptic-kun.”

The two gave brief farewells, finishing up by the time the boiling hot coffee was brewed. He poured two cups out for himself and Dabi before beginning on his way back to the room.

Dabi’s vision was blurry as his eyes fluttered open. His head began to pound like a bass drum. He groaned, gripping at his scalp. Fuck, it hurt. He drank way too much, Hardly remembered a thing he did, either. He could smell Hawks on his sheets — Maybe they slept together. His clothes were still on, though, belt included. Did Hawks just… sleep in his bed, without sex?

That was a weird thought. It had been weird enough to get use to Hawks actually staying around after a night together. Before the League, no one wanted that… Hell, his first time sleeping with someone in the League (read: Shigaraki), he’d gotten kicked out, too. Twice and Hawks were the only ones to ever either want him to stay or stay after. Twice, he could understand; The man was clingy. He was desperate for comfort. It matched up with what he would expect. But, Hawks? The man seemed so unshakable. 

Was he desperate for affection, like Jin? It didn’t feel the same, though…

“Oh, you’re awake.” Hawks leaned against the doorframe, his eyes roving over Dabi’s form laying in bed. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like shit,” Dabi rasped. He held out a hand, demanding one of the mugs in Hawks’s hands. He didn’t want to do jack shit until his veins were filled with caffeine. “Give it here.”

Hawks handed it over, sitting down on the bed. “Here ya go.”

Dabi began sipping it without bothering with a thank you. He’d had manners forced on him too much as a kid for him to care now as an adult. If he was going to live, he was at least going to do so freely. “We fuck?” he asked simply. Maybe it was oral — His throat didn’t feel sore enough for that, but he couldn’t visualize a scenario where Hawks stayed over without sex being involved.

“Nah. You were too drunk for that.” Hawks shook his head, digging through his feathers.

“So?”

“I was less drunk,” the blond said slowly, as if that explained everything. (It explained nothing.)

“Sure…” Dabi sighed, deciding to drop it. There wasn’t much a point in pursuing the topic, anyways. He took a long sip of his coffee — scathing hot and bitter, just the way he liked it. Hawks had teased him for it the first time they had it together, but his teasing had mostly lessened in that category. (Only in that one, as the chicken man insisted on being a fucking pain in the ass at all hours of the day.)

Hawks held out a small flash drive. “Oh, Toga told me to bring this to you. Something about Skeptic and an old request.”

“Fuck, finally. What took him so long?” Dabi took the drive and shoved it in the pocket of the jacket he’d ended up wearing to sleep. It was the same leather one he wore every day that he wasn’t in Villain costume, so it wasn’t as though he was changing out of it. He zipped up the pocket.

“Couldn’t tell you.” Hawks shrugged nonchalantly, leaning forward. He tilted his head, his eyes roving over Dabi’s face. For once, was he grateful for how fucked up his face was, just for that moment — Otherwise, it’d have been bright red. “You need an Advil? You look like you’re contemplating the merits of suicide from your hangover.”

“I’m fine.” He wasn’t in the mood for pills. He could usually handle them, but right now, they were reminding him too much of his days in the streets.

“You sure?”

“I said I’m fine, didn’t I?” Dabi said, his voice a bit more tense than he’d like to admit. “What, think I’m the type to lie about my feelings for your sake? Sure as hell ain’t.”

“Right…” Hawks swallowed, looking down. Dammit, now he looked all sad. Why’d that make Dabi’s chest twist up. He bit his lip before letting out a sigh through his nose.

“C’mere.” He offered out an arm, looking away. He was cold, anyways. That was plenty justification. 

Hawks perked up a bit, though the face he made a second after made it clear it was an automatic reaction rather than something he thought he should feel. Despite whatever thoughts were going through his mind, he settled himself into Dabi’s arms. A moment passed between them, silent yet comfortable. Dabi had always hated silence — He needed screaming, pain, a million things happening at once to the point his brain was splitting apart. The latter was a terrifying void that meant he was alone, even if others were around.

Silence with Hawks was oddly different. Though it felt nice, Dabi wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that he felt that way. He still wasn’t a hundred percent sure he could trust the Hero. Hell, it was barely 50/50. As well-behaved as Hawks had been thus far, all the surveillance, his abilities made it a huge risk. He could be hiding plenty.

“Hey, Dabi?”

Dabi glanced back at Hawks. “Huh?”

“Last night, you were talking about…”

He grimaced. Considering how drunk he was, it couldn’t be anything good. “The fuck I do now?”

“Um… about sleeping with…”

“Oh.” That was one of the few memories he still had intact. He honestly didn’t think it was a big deal. He was expecting something more… shameful. “What about it?”

“Have you really? With all of them?” Hawks’s cheeks were burning red. It was almost a bit cute, seeing him so flustered. He was so… prudish, compared to Dabi.

“Yeah, why?” The Villain shrugged nonchalantly.

Hawks fidgeted, his feathers fluffing and flattening over and over. They kept tickling Dabi’s face and chest in a soft mass — They didn’t harden until Hawks took them out. “I just… didn’t realize you were… seeing other people.”

“We’re not dating or anything,” Dabi deadpanned. Hell, they weren’t even properly defined as some sort of friends with benefits type deal. They were just coworkers that fucked sometimes. What was wrong with Dabi sleeping around?

“Right…” Hawks looked down, seeming almost… disappointed? That couldn’t be right. Who would want that with Dabi, anyways? No one, much less someone like Hawks. He was the most eligible bachelor in the country, the Number Two Hero, a fucking good person as far as Dabi could tell. He deserved better than the messy remnants of a man that he was.

“You got a problem with it?” Dabi asked, raising a brow.

“…it’s fine, I guess,” Hawks mumbled. 

He didn’t seem fine, but that was none of Dabi’s business.

“I’ll be back in a jiff!” Hawks told Skeptic, saluting. Due to his constant… well, skepticism, as his name would suggest, Hawks had began reporting to Skeptic whenever he left the Paranormal Liberation Front Headquarters. “Gotta run some errands for the Commission, do patrols, all that fun stuff!”

“Fine.” Skeptic scoffed, not even bothering a glance at Hawks. He probably had his face pulled up all over his screen, the creep. “Get out of my office.”

“Yes, sir!” Hawks replied cheerfully, heading to the window and jumping out of it. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind rush by his face. Sometimes, just falling felt good. It was nice to tempt fate, to pretend he’d end it. He couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel if he just let himself topple to the ground.

He never would, though. He’d find himself opening his wings before he could be harmed every time. Today was no different. He opened his eyes and, when he found himself close to becoming a splatter on the pavement, he allowed his large wingspan to bloom and carry him through the air. Wind would force back his hair in wild directions as he glided, gaining speed as he lazily relaxed in the air. After gathering the necessary kinetic energy, he took up an angle to launch himself back in the air. There was a high pitched noise in his ear, somewhere between someone brushing off dust from wood and a ringing. It was equally grounding and distracting, filling his brain with a strange sort of static as muscle memory took over.

He hadn’t been lying. He had to do some work for the Commission, and some Hero work to keep up appearances with the public. Beyond that, though, he was ready to investigate the information stored on the hard drive he’d delivered Dabi. Though there would still be plenty of surveillance, it would be somewhat less concentrated than when he was at the villa. That, paired with the flawless firewall of Commission HQ and special privacy tech on their computers, would mean that he’d likely be able to browse unbothered.

Hawks offered an easy smile to some fans on a rooftop as he flew past, waving casually. He should take some time with his fanbase today, too. He needed to make sure to keep his normal Hero work just as strong as his undercover work, and helping people to feel safer in the day-to-day was a huge part of that. There was no point in saving others if no one saw. People would still be afraid, then. In the absence of a symbol like All Might, other Heroes needed to pick up their public images.

Hawks landed on the roof of his agency with a sigh, his thoughtful rest of a flight coming to an end. He had work to do.

Twice popped his head into Skeptic’s office. “Hey, you seen Hawks? Not that I care about the stupid pigeon.”

“He’s not here,” the long-haired man replied tersely, not even looking up at the blond. Jin always got the feeling that Skeptic hated him for whatever reason, though he couldn’t figure out what exactly he’d done. The guy obviously loved him! 

“I can see that he’s not in this fucking room, asshole. Sorry.” Twice rubbed his masked face. “Just… we were supposed to be doing stuff.”

Skeptic scoffed, Jin’s alter’s retort not softening his mood. He was really doing great and reading the room. “He had work. Will probably be back this evening. You can leave now.” He made a shooing motion with his hand, continuing to type at his laptop. 

Twice’s stomach sank a bit in disappointment. Hawks was one of his few real friends outside the initial League members. He was the most popular guy in the Liberation Front. Hearing that their opportunity for a bit of time together, even if it was discussing things like Meta Liberation ideology that Twice couldn’t understand, was canceled was disheartening. Eh, who cared, anyways? Besides, he thought they might be able to talk about Dabi. He didn’t know who else to speak to about the man. Feelings were complicated — super simple — and maybe Hawks knew a bit about what was going through his mind. 

Well, if he remembered right from last night…

“Dabi mentioned fucking around with you once, yeah?”

Skeptic’s pale face became tinted with a light red. “I don’t see how an insignificant event like that is at all your business,” he snapped, whipping around to finally face Twice with a glare. “Didn’t I tell you to get out?”

Twice winced. That didn’t go how he hoped. “I was just… curious.”

“There’s nothing for you to be curious about.” Skeptic clicked his tongue, narrowing his eyes. “It was nothing. Even if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be your concern. Quit sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, you idiot.”

Jin’s eyes fell to the floor as his fingers played with the edges of his mask. It wasn’t like he wanted a detailed account of Skeptic and Dabi getting it on. One thing that neither side of him would want. Hell, he’d rather tear off his own ears, honestly. He just wanted to talk to someone about Dabi. He just wanted someone to talk with about the guy he was fooling around with.

Hawks wasn’t here, Gigantomachia wasn’t sentient enough to have that sort of conversation, and Shigaraki would probably kill him. Nah, he liked Twice too much. That left, unfortunately, the man before him. Twice didn’t mind Skeptic, but Skeptic sure minded Twice. Maybe he was better off waiting.

“…sorry.” Twice swallowed. “I just… thought you might wanna talk about it, with someone who got it. But clearly you wanna be a prick about it, so just fuck off.” He turned to leave.

Skeptic let out a heavy sigh. “…wait.”

Twice paused and looked behind him. 

“Sit down. Let’s talk.”

His eyes widened beneath his mask. “Really?”

“Just don’t be annoying about it.”

“I’m not annoying, asshat! I promise!” Twice replied immediately, sitting down next to Skeptic. He looked up at him expectantly, not wanting to start off the conversation too strong. He was the one rejecting Twice before, so he was the one who was going to have to initiate things now. He lost the easy option.

Skeptic sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I… wasn’t really lying when I said I don’t remember it. I have little flashes, a bit of the lead up, but I can’t remember the full event that well,” he mumbled. “I remember being angry. Dabi’s good at egging people on, frustrating them. Alcohol and the damn stuff he had me smoking made me give into it that much easier. It was an argument first, I was yelling at his stupid face. I hate his face.” He scoffed, looking away. “Next thing my brain can load up, it’s… messy.”

“Dabi can be like that.” When things got intense between Dabi and Twice, it was sloppy. It was a furious mess of teeth and tongue that ended with them sweaty in a bundle of sheets, in a state that only in sex one would find attractive. Nah, it was hot regardless. “It’s a lot. Overwhelming. You want more, yet it’s all too much. I can handle it, no sweat! Woo!”

Skeptic nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. “He needs to learn some restraint. He’s shameless. I hate him for that.”

“You talk about hating people a lot.” Twice tilted his head. “Don’t you have anyone you like?”

Skeptic scowled. “That’s not really relevant.”

“Don’t be an ass. I’m just tryna get to know you, stop shitting on the hand tryna feed you. Sorry, ignore that. Don’t. Please do.” Twice grimaced, feeling a light headache blooming beneath his mask. “Maybe you should try to be more positive? You might be a lot less angry, and that’ll mean good things for you.”

“I’m simply a realist.”

“Coulda fooled me with your pessimistic bullshit.”

Skeptic frowned. “Has anyone told you that you’re insufferable?”

“I believe you have,” Twice reminded him honestly. “Many times.”

“Well, let this be a reminder.” He turned back to his desktop, but his jaw seemed a bit less tense than usual. It was odd — He was still obviously stressed, frustrated, but it was the most relaxed Twice had ever seen him. “Go find someone else to bother.”

After a long day of work, Hawks said his farewells to his Sidekicks and Tokoyami and headed to the local Hero Public Safety Commission office, which was luckily only a few blocks away from his agency. He signed in at the front, filed a few reports with staff, and greeted some familiar faces before heading off to the top-tier computers held by the Commission. He found his usual computer (he’d stuck a little cat sticker on it years ago, and, somehow, no one had removed it yet) and took a seat.

“Alright…” Hawks took in a long breath before digging through his wings for his feather-shaped data card. He found the hard mass among the soft downy surrounding it with ease. Without looking, he pressed a button on the side, which made it fold down into a normal hard drive. This way, to cameras that may be watching him, it just looked like another file he brought in from the office. He removed it from his feathers and plugged it into the computer. He made sure the privacy screen was turned on before going to open it.

The drive that he’d handed off to Dabi apparently contained two folders — TT and TK. Not exactly earth-shattering information there. He decided first on TK, since it was first alphabetically. Might as well snoop in an organized fashion, in his opinion. No point in being messy about it. He double clicked the Manila folder icon on his screen. A list of files opened up, each with vague names — Dates, initials, an occasional location. He furrowed his brow. There was a lot here. This would take a while.

He double clicked on the first provided file, a PDF. It took a moment to load, which he used to reach into the bag he brought and remove a sugary energy drink. He popped it open and took a long sip before looking at the screen again. He almost dropped the can open seeing the headline that filled his eyes.

The Capture of the Thief Takami — Endeavor Brings a Fugitive to Justice.

That couldn’t be right. 

He read the title over and over again. It was far from first page news, just a short article in a local paper from Hawks’s hometown. No one cared about a thief that killed only one or two men, not really. Especially since he didn’t have a particularly flashy Quirk or a lot of Heroes talking about him. Publicity wouldn’t make him an important case. Why the hell was Takami Ryounosuke — Hawks’s father — on a drive being passed around by Liberation Front members? It couldn’t mean anything good. 

Hawks closed the file and began scrolling through the files, clicking on them intermittently and scanning them. Articles on the thief known as Takami, his capture, the vague information known about his family… Medical records, birth certificates for both him and his wife, Tomie… Receipts for the few times Tomie took Hawks out…

And, finally… somehow, Skeptic had gotten photos of little Keigo with Tomie.

It was in the background of other shots, mostly — Ones posted to social media by gloating parents at toy shops and dumb teenagers on the streets. Together, all the documentation made for a pretty damning picture, though. Proof of the identity of Hawks — of Takami Keigo. His breath began coming out in low, shuddering gasps as he reached the final file. A video. He connected some headphones with shaking fingers, it taking a few tries to get them into the port. He slowly clicked the video. He watched the screen buffer before his mother’s face flashed across it. It was an older version of her, a version he’d never seen. He hadn’t fucking seen her face since he’d been sold.

“Are you ready?” said Dabi’s voice, sounding as though it was coming from behind the camera. It was calm in tone, cold and clinical. It wasn’t the same sort of voice he used while in battle or playing with his prey or talking to others, it was more like when he had assignments that he had none of the usual sick joy in partaking in.

“Yes, I am…” Tomie’s empty eyes were settled on her lap, her hands shaking. “You… You promise to get me out of here, if I answer your questions?”

“Yeah, we’ll follow along with our terms and agreements. Honor among thieves and all that.” There was a noise from Dabi’s end of the camera, as though he were adjusting himself in a creaky chair.

“I won’t have to see his face again?”

“Not unless you want to.” Dabi sighed. “About your son.”

“Keigo…” Tomie seemed to speak the word with distaste. Hawks knew that his mother couldn’t truly love him, not really, when his birth tied her down to a man like his father. Hearing the emotion so plainly still hurt, though. “What do you want to know about him?”

“Do you have any pictures, maybe?” Dabi inquired.

Tomie’s blank face looked into the camera for a little while. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking, if anything at all. After a few moments, she finally spoke. “I have one. I kept it because it was my only personal photo of his father…”

“Can we see?”

Tomie nodded and got up. She briefly left, maybe for a minute or two, before returning with a framed photo. She held it up so that Dabi could see, but the glare hit it. “Here…”

“Could you bring it closer to the camera, maybe adjust it for the camera? For the record.”

Tomie nodded and stood up from the leather sofa once again. She held up a photo to the camera. It was one of the few good memories Keigo had of his father, when he’d set off a personal fireworks show far away from the public for him and his mother. Keigo was on his father’s shoulders, his face in a wide smile and only illuminated by the light of the fireworks. Even his father was smiling — The man had been drunk that day, drunk enough to forget how horrible a person he was and be good to his family. Hawks knew some got aggressive with drink, but he wished his father drank more alcohol when he was a child sometimes. He was a jovial drunk, not nearly as cruel if he had enough drinks.

“This child looks a lot like a Pro Hero. Hawks.”

“Is that the name he chose?” Tomie scoffed, putting the photo aside. “Yeah, I gave him up to become a Hero. Not like he wanted to do anything with me anyways. Figured I might as well make him useful.”

“What use did you get by giving him up?” Dabi asked, his voice somehow becoming more frigid.

“Cash, steady stream of it.” Tomie sighed, leaning against the backrest of the couch. “Woulda been nice, except now that he’s older, he keeps reaching out to me. I don’t wanna talk to him. What’s done is done. He needs to get over it.”

Hawks closed the video, feeling his throat tighten. He didn’t even bother going through the TT folder before shutting the computer down. 

Skeptic watched Hawks enter the villa through his computer with a sigh. The surveillance of him was unexpectedly… boring. Of course, no news was good news, especially when it came to the Hero, but it was still a pain. Hawks wasn’t even a tolerable personality to watch. He felt fake in the most obnoxious way with his constant smiles and jokes. Skeptic couldn’t help but find himself suspicious of every word that came out of Hawks’s mouth. 

He changed tabs from Hawks to Twice, watching the man eagerly discuss something or other with Toga. Skeptic had learned to appreciate the girl; Despite her annoying attitude, she somehow did amazing at her job. She was oddly gifted at bringing people together and figuring out their place in a team. She was extremely useful, and he could appreciate her… unconventional (and perhaps childish methods) for their effectiveness.

Twice, on the other hand… Skeptic didn’t fail often. Hell, he had only failed one other time in his life. Twice, though, the man had somehow thrown a wrench through every single calculation he’d made, every careful preparation. It was infuriating. If there was one thing Skeptic hated above all else, it was failure, and Twice had been the catalyst for just that. He wanted to get rid of every reminder of it, even if Twice was a useful asset.

“Yo, computer science dropout.” Dabi knocked on the doorframe, leaning against the wall. 

Skeptic felt heat rise to his cheeks immediately. Yet another annoyance in his office today. He looked up at Dabi. He hadn’t been able to talk to him since the night before, found it too humiliating. “What?”

“Good work.” Dabi put his hands in his pockets. “I’m real satisfied with how you did. It was some great shit.”

“That could’ve been an email,” Skeptic grumbled, turning his glare back to his screen.

“Yeah, I guess it coulda. Didn’t have to, though.” Dabi sat down on the desk. 

“Get off.”

“What if I don’t?”

Skeptic grit his teeth. He was ready to snap at the other at . Dabi needed to be taken down about three dozen pegs. “Why do you always seem to have a death wish?”

“Maybe because I do?”

Skeptic tapped at his keyboard with harsh fingers. “If you’re done, you’re free to leave.”

“What if I don’t?” Dabi repeated with a devious grin.

Skeptic groaned, rubbing his face. “Why do you decide to be insufferable?”

“I dunno. Maybe I’m just an attention whore or some shit.” Dabi shrugged nonchalantly. 

Skeptic scowled. “I was trying to avoid a term like that.” He found swearing to be childish. Using words like those as though they made you sound tougher or mature just made you seem like a teen trying to play at being grown. Dabi, being quite fond of swearing, just grated on his nerves that much more for his speech patterns.

“I like being honest.” Dabi put his hands up as though in surrender. “Not my fault you have a stick so far up your ass.”

“I do not have a stick up my ass.” He put the term in air quotes, his scowl deepening. “I just have standards, unlike you. Is there something you needed, or are you only here to be obnoxious?”

“Wanted to ask if I could borrow some shit.” Dabi shrugged his shoulders. “Feel Good Inc. produces a lot of equipment, right? Some of that’s gotta be for media.”

Skeptic nodded, at least glad that there was an actual purpose to this conversation. “Yes, we have a wide variety of high-end recording gear and editing softwares, including–”

“I need some,” Dabi interrupted. He grinned a bit. “I’m trying some of that non-violent revenge people keep telling me about, since they say that maybe it’s better than killing people at times. We’ll see how it goes.” 

“Non-violent doesn’t sound like a word that belongs in your mouth,” Skeptic deadpanned. He typed up a few terms into his computer to see if he had any excess supply. “It looks like we have some extra supplies in a warehouse I could provide you, if it prevents you from bothering me again.”

Dabi nodded. “I just need a camera, maybe a decent mic. And a computer to edit it on. I think I can figure out how to use software with a bit of time.”

“It’s not exactly beginner-friendly…”

He raised a brow. “You calling me an idiot?”

“Inexperienced. Please use basic comprehension skills when you listen to others.” Skeptic sighed, rubbing his face. “I can provide you all the equipment, but you’ll struggle without assistance.”

“You offering your help?”

“No—”

“Great, thanks for the assistance. I’ll meet you tomorrow at noon.”

“Hey, Hawks-kun, truth or dare?”

Hawks looked up from the manga he was reading. Spending more time with and building relationships with the League was essential to his work, hence him hanging out with Toga in the lounge and reading a shounen-ai series she loved. (It was surprisingly good; The art was clean and the story was incredibly written, though sad.) “Wasn’t that the topic of the night before yesterday?” he asked, raising a brow. “I thought we passed the slumber party arc of life.”

“You said you didn’t know what it was!”

“I looked it up afterwards.”

“Whatever. Truth or dare?”

Hawks sighed. There was no persuading Toga once she was on the subject. “Fine, fine. Truth, I guess.” He didn’t feel like getting up at that moment, so dare didn’t seem like the best option. (As ridiculous as that sounded in his head. When did he become that lazy? When did he start feeling as though that was okay?)

“Are you and Dabi-kun dating yet?” she asked eagerly.

Hawks felt his cheeks suddenly heat up. He buried his nose in his manga, suddenly very interested in focusing on a particular panel (which was a chibi doodle really meant to be read in a flash). He swallowed, attempting to wet his dry throat. “N-No, of course not.” For whatever reason, answering the question felt like a knife to the chest. “We just… screw around, sometimes.”

Toga pouted, seeming unhappy with the answer. “Aww, dang it.”

“Why do you care, anyways?” he huffed, trying to move the conversation along from his pathetic excuse for a love life.

“At first I thought he was dating Jin-kun–”

Hawks had the sudden, inexplicable urge to punch Twice.

“–but, when I asked him, he said no. Well, his nice side said no, and that’s the side that’s usually right.” Toga laid back in her bean bag chair. “Ugghh, you adults are all sex and no romance. It’s no fun! I wanna talk to someone about romance with!”

He found himself oddly smiling at Toga’s mini-tantrum. It was cute, somehow. Besides, she wasn’t wrong. “You said you got your eyes on someone during the party, yeah?” he asked, figuring it was a good idea to keep the conversation going. (It obviously had nothing to do with his own enjoyment of the moment.) “Who is it?”

Toga perked up at the chance to rant about her crushes. Based on the dynamic between the League, she likely didn’t get active, willing listeners on the topic often. She yanked out her phone with enough force to almost fling it across the room and pulled up a picture. It was a girl from UA – Ura-something-or-other. Honestly, Hawks had trouble keeping track of most teenagers, they looked about the same to him – Even when he had been one. She was wearing her uniform in the picture, speaking to one of the other girls (Asun? Ashi? Asua? Something like that) of Class 1-A. Toga’s crush had a joyful smile on her face, and naturally pink cheeks. She wore her hair in a cute little brunette bob. Hawks didn’t really like younger girls, but he supposed that, objectively speaking, he could see why Toga would like her. “Her! Ochaco-chan! Isn’t she cute?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod, trying to match Toga’s energy. It was impossible to match Toga’s energy for anyone, though. “Very cute.”

Toga giggled, scrolling through a few more photos. He doubted any were taken with the girl’s consent, but they all seemed innocent enough. There probably wasn’t much more of an option for a Villain girl with a crush on a Hero student, to be fair. Besides, photographing someone without their permission was certainly the least of Toga’s crimes. “She’s so cute and amazing! I wanna be like her!” She hugged her phone. “I got to turn into her a few times, and it was amazing… She’s so amazing…” There was a blush across her face, as well as a wide smile. One could almost forget she was a killer in that moment.

But, she was. Hawks needed to stop regarding her as so human, all of them as such. 

“Does she like you back?” Hawks asked, tilting his head. It was a mix of genuine curiosity and the need to gather information that drove the question. 

“I think she likes a boy…” Toga said, a small pout on her face. “The boy’s cute too, though, so I wouldn’t mind sharing.”

Hawks blinked. “You wouldn’t?”

“I mean, why not?” Toga’s face turned back to its signature grin. Teenagers. Hawks found the mood swings almost frightening.  “I like Ochaco-chan, and I like Izuku-kun, too! Why wouldn’t I want to share?” Her face seemed innocent, as though she couldn’t imagine it another way.

If a killer could stand to share a partner, was Hawks a bad person for feeling all bitter and rotten inside when a man he wasn’t even dating was sleeping around? He couldn’t help but wonder, in that moment. Was something wrong with him? It wasn’t as though he had a real emotional connection to Dabi, right? Even if he were to put aside the aspect that he was a double agent, really all he and Dabi were was some sort of weird friends with benefits deal. (Hawks would know, he did plenty of research on romantic and related dynamics when that route first opened up with Dabi.) There was no relationship. If Toga idealized the idea of sharing someone she loved deeply and wanted to spend her life with, why couldn’t Hawks just share someone that he was just… messing around with, sometimes?

“Hawks-kun?”

Hawks startled and looked up at Toga. “Mmph?”

“You look like Jin-kun when his mask rips,” she noted, looking him over.

He grimaced. No way he looked that bad. (No offense to Twice, of course.)

She suddenly wrapped her arms around Hawks, smiling. Hawks froze. An oddly warm feeling filled him, one he usually only felt when he and Dabi ended up staying in the same bed. It made him feel safe, somehow. He found his hands gripping at her back before he could truly understand what he was doing. His eyes stung slightly as he buried his face into her shoulder. He probably looked pathetic, clinging to a high school aged girl like she was his mother or something, but he couldn’t help it. He found himself shaking a little as he whispered, “What’re you doing?”

“Hugging you, obviously.” Toga used one of her hands to play with Hawks’s hair, the other holding him close. “You look like you need one.” She looked down at him before frowning. “Are you crying?”

Hawks startled, realizing a tear had slipped past his eyes. He was being stupid. Getting emotional was just going to make his reasoning weaker, his abilities falter. He let go of Toga to wipe it away, but she stopped him.

“You should cry if you need to.” The look on her face was something between sadness and a smile. It was almost as though she was looking back on some faraway memory. “If you don’t, it’ll hurt a lot.” She ruffled Hawks’s hair. “You’re a part of the League now! You don’t have to pretend to be a strong guy!”

“I am strong…” Hawks mumbled.

“I bet even Tomura-kun cries, though…”

Shigaraki was a Villain. He could afford to be selfish. “That’s…”

“Hawks-kun, if you say that it’s different, I am calling your boyfriend down here to slap you himself for it.”

“He’s not my–”

“Whatever. Just quit fighting yourself.”

Hawks swallowed before clutching her tightly and letting himself sob into her shoulder.

Skeptic, after returning from a coffee break with Trumpet, found Dabi waiting in his office at noon sharp. The scarred man was sitting atop his desk with a blank, cold expression, kicking his feet like a child. It was an odd combination, his appearance and the body language. Skeptic furrowed his brow, setting his coffee down in an area where Dabi wasn’t sitting. At least he wasn’t sitting too close to the computer, he supposed… “Weren’t you just in here yesterday?”

“And I said I would be back,” Dabi pointed out, crossing his legs.

“...I assumed you were joking.”

“Nope.” Dabi shrugged as he made his simple reply.  He pushed himself off the desk, leaning forward so that his face was mere inches from Skeptic’s. Skeptic found himself flushing (in pure irritation, of course), stepping backwards to make space between them. 

“I’m busy,” he muttered, covering his face with a hand. No need to give Dabi more fodder to fire at him. 

“Well, that fucking sounds like a you problem, don’t it?” Dabi examined his nails. “I wanna learn my way around that software you mentioned so what I do doesn’t come out like shit.”

“I’ll just do it for you,” Skeptic gritted out. As aggravating as the idea was, it was much worse to think about Dabi in his office multiple times to learn his way around some software, touching his things. He’d just be more annoying if Skeptic outright refused, so this was likely the best option. “What do you want edited?”

“I don’t want just anyone to see it,” Dabi replied, raising a brow. “I wouldn’t be looking to do shit myself if it wasn’t something I cared about. I ain’t that type of person.”

Skeptic preferred the term lazy to describe Dabi, but he bit back the word. “And who do you expect me to be giving out this information to?” he deadpanned.

Dabi smirked, yawning a bit. “Oh, you have a point. Guess you don’t have any friends to spill the information to, anyways.”

Skeptic chose to not be offended by that. He found friends to be a useless concept, anyways. There were better things about Dabi to find rage-inducing. Like that stupid smile that looked like it needed to be forced off. “Do you have the footage?” he muttered, sitting down at his desk. With any luck, this would be light work…

“Haven’t recorded it yet. You didn’t give me the recording equipment,” Dabi reminded him.

Oh. Right. “The shipment should be here soon. Maybe another ten, fifteen minutes.” Skeptic replied, rubbing the back of his neck. His nails dug slightly into the skin where the spine would be, an old tic of annoyance. 

“That means we have all that time to ourselves, huh?” Dabi’s infuriating smirk widened and he leaned against the desk. “I could help with some of that stress, y’know. I bet I could make it faster than the camera gets here.”

The long-haired man felt his cheeks get hot at the implication. He looked away, coughing a bit. “Why are you so unnecessarily lewd?”

“You don’t have to mince your words, y’know,” the arsonist drawled. He looked Skeptic over. “You can call me what’s on your mind. A fucking whore, cockslut, whatever.” 

“I was not thinking that,” he argued. “I don’t use needless profanity to pretend I’m making a point. I’m not you.” He was just thinking things that were very much synonymous. He bit the inside of his cheek, watching Dabi get on his knees and crawl beneath the desk.

“C’mon, you know you want it.” Dabi’s grin stayed on his face as he began undoing Skeptic’s pants.

Skeptic wanted that smile gone just enough to give in.

“So… Dabi, huh?” Spinner said randomly in the middle of visiting Tomura’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons island to get some of its resources.

Tomura blinked and looked up at the gecko-like man. (Tomura didn’t bother getting up from Spinner’s lap for the conversation, of course. A king deserved a throne, and Spinner was surprisingly comfortable.) He furrowed his brow. He had never been good at understanding others, but Tomura was almost certain that this would even be difficult for “normal” people to understand. “The fuck about scarface?”

“You two, uh…” Spinner shifted awkwardly. “Did it?”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific, lizard. I don’t have mind-reading in my moves catalogue.” Tomura scoffed, averting his eyes back to the screen and going back to cutting down a virtual tree.

Spinner swallowed, his fingers fidgeting with Tomura’s hair. “Y’know… it.” His voice was a bit whiny, as though too embarrassed to even speak whatever was on his mind. Tomura couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his attitude, putting down the controller and spinning around in his spot so that he was facing Spinner. He draped his legs around Spinner’s hips until he was comfortable.

“I don’t. Spit it out already,” Tomura snapped.

Spinner winced. “You, uh…” He grimaced. “Fucked.” It was the first time Tomura had ever heard the man swear. If he found it oddly hot, that was his own business.

“I mean, yeah. Once.” Tomura shrugged his shoulders. He hadn’t been trying to keep it from Spinner or anything. He just didn’t think it was really important. There wasn’t anything after that. It was just sex after a heated argument when Dabi first joined up. It didn’t happen again, and Tomura wasn’t really interested in repeating the experience. Sure, it’d felt good at the time, but it wasn’t like he was particularly attached to Dabi in that manner. Sex with Spinner felt plenty good, too.

“You weren’t going to tell me?” Spinner asked, his expression… hurt? Why was he acting like some sort of victim? Tomura hadn’t even done anything…

“It wasn’t even side-quest levels of importance. Don’t see why I had to bring it up.” He shrugged nonchalantly, reaching to pull at Spinner’s shirt. He was tired of the subject and his Animal Crossing focus had been broken, so this was the next best choice.

However, Spinner smacked his hands away. “You can’t just avoid feelings with sex all the time.”

“I’m done talking about it. It wasn’t important. Lay down.”

“You always do this!” Spinner snapped. 

Tomura froze, surprised by his boyfriend’s sudden boldness. Spinner, outside of fighting, hardly ever yelled. He was generally soft-spoken, introverted. “Do what?”

“Try to avoid important conversations,” Spinner spat. “When I said I love you, you just moved things along to bed. When I try to ask you what’s wrong when you get quiet and depressed, it turns into making out and pretending it never happened. Now, it’s this.” He glared down at the leader of the Liberation Front, his jaw clenched. 

Tomura’s mind briefly flashed to his father, the look on his face before the beatings. He jumped back and off of Spinner, ready to take the offensive if necessary. “The fuck does it matter?! It ain’t none of your business!” he retorted, gritting his teeth.

“It is my business! You’re my boyfriend!” Spinner’s eyes were filling with tears. “I’m supposed to know if you’re okay! I’m supposed to… be enough for you, but you did that with Dabi–”

“We didn’t even fucking know each other, Spinner!” 

“You still think about it, don’t you?!” Spinner demanded, his claws digging into the wooden floor. “I bet you do, every time we do it!”

“It was just sex. Why are you overreacting so much?!”

“It’s never just sex,” Spinner whispered.

Tomura scoffed, disbelief managing to turn his dry lips upward. His eyebrows furrowed. “You really think I’d wanna date that overdone piece of bacon?”

“I bet you’d rather it than me,” Spinner argued. “With my weird parts and body and everything, I bet you’d prefer a human.” He said it as though he weren’t human himself, which somehow further angered Tomura.

“I never said that!”

Spinner laughed bitterly. “You were thinking it though, weren’t you?”

“No!” Tomura slammed his hand against the table. “The fuck makes you think that, anyways?!”

“If it weren’t a big deal, you would’ve been fine with telling me,” Spinner retorted. 

“What do you want from me?!” Tomura yelled. “I didn’t fucking do anything!”

“That’s the entire problem!” Spinner got up, knocking over a bottle of Mountain Dew in the process. “Why does it feel like I’m doing all the work to make this relationship last?!”

Tomura spat at Spinner’s feet. “You want me to grovel at your feet or some shit?” he asked coldly.

“I dunno about grovel, but a fucking apology would be nice.”

“You don’t need to apologize for anything, Tomura. Apologizing is for the weak who can’t do better for themselves. You’re not weak, right? Don’t lower yourself. You’ll just hold yourself back. You don’t want to be powerless, do you? You don’t want to feel like you did when you were all alone.”

The jeers of All For One’s voice echoed in his brain. A pounding pain began at the edges of his skull. He clutched at his head, his fingers ending up tearing at his hair from the force of his grip. “Get out.”

Spinner froze, seeming to finally realize how far they’d gone. “W-Wait, I–”

“I said fucking get out!” Tomura yelled, his hand reaching for the closest object and ending up disintegrating it. He glared at Spinner. “Before I kill you, you fucking lizard! Get out, get out, get out!”

Spinner’s eyes widened and he obeyed this time, scampering out of the room. Tomura collapsed on his bed, curling up and holding his aching head. Maybe this was how he should stay, with the closest relationships in his life being that of comrades. Things closer than that… would it ever even be worth it?

What was love for, anyways?

Dabi watched as Skeptic finished setting up the camera and microphone, laying back against the sofa. His throat was sore now, his lips a bit swollen. Skeptic had been surprisingly rough – He’d always assumed the guy was the gentle sex type for whatever reason. Dabi didn’t mind. He preferred it rough. It made him feel something.

“Ready.” Skeptic looked up from the camera. His face was still slightly sweaty from before, not entirely there. It’d been hilarious to watch him take the supplies from the shipment, still all bothered from the blowjob. He’d kept looking back at Dabi, as though expecting him to pull something in front of the delivery boy.

He loved people’s eyes on him. It made him feel so powerful.

“Alright…” Dabi began to slip off his shirt.

“What are you doing?!” Skeptic turned red. “I’m not recording… adult entertainment,” he spluttered, averting his eyes. He looked utterly mortified. It made Dabi smirk a bit.

“Ain’t making a fucking porno, computer science dropout.” Dabi examined his nails. “We could do that when I’m done if that’s your thing, though.”

Skeptic huffed, looking away. “What’re you trying to record, anyways?”

Dabi hummed, thinking about how exactly to phrase it. He took a minute or two before settling on a word. (Though perhaps an odd one, due to the way he was educated.) “A… tocsin.”

Skeptic furrowed his brow at the odd word. “A what?”

“Just start recording, smart guy.”

Himiko skipped down the street. When Hawks had calmed down, she’d left him on the couch so he could have some time alone. Dabi said people liked that. Besides, she was hungry. She could mostly sustain herself on normal food, but her Quirk required she drank a certain amount of blood. Re-Destro had offered to get her blood bags for her to use for that, but she’d declined. The weirdness of drinking the blood of someone she didn’t even know aside, she figured it’d just be inconvenient. If she started trying to use her Quirk with blood she didn’t recognize in her system, she might have some weird side-effects. 

Normally, she’d just take from a close member of the Paranormal Liberation Front, but that wasn’t looking likely at the moment. Dabi and Skeptic were busy, Tomura and Spinner had been all pissed when she’d seen them, she wouldn’t take blood from Re-Destro if you paid her, Trumpet and Geten were out on mission, Hawks was depressed, and she couldn’t find Jin. (He’d likely left without telling anyone, wouldn’t be the first time.) Things had been a little weird ever since that game of truth or dare a couple days prior, honestly. In any case, she’d found a few people she liked back in the city for her to use for a snack, knowing that she might sometimes need another source, so she’d just have to track one down. Light work, for someone like her. 

She sniffed the air, deciding to use her refined senses to see who was closest. However, her nose caught an unexpected, familiar scent. It was a mix of sugar, wildflowers, and rice. It was a delicate scent, one that Himiko would associate with a princess.

Ochaco.

She adjusted the mask and hood that Re-Destro had insisted she wear, being sure her face was hidden. As much as she hated using them, she didn’t want to be arrested, and she was fresh out of blood to transform with. She looked behind her to check for any tails before beginning to follow the scent trail. She still had that same pep in her step, but she tried to mimic the gait of others on the street. Standing out meant getting caught.

She eventually found herself in front of an alley, the scent of blood tinging her nose along with Ochaco’s. She furrowed her brow. This wasn’t Ochaco’s blood, either. Had she gotten into a fight with a Villain? This area was supposed to be mostly Villain-free… Himiko stepped forward, into the alleyway.

She’d find a gory sight. Blood was pooling around Ochaco, who was… holding a child? She seemed to be trying to put pressure on whatever wound he had, but she was being a bit too gentle about it. Her pretty face was turned into an expression of grief. “No, no, no…”

She was sad. Himiko didn’t want her to be sad.

She got on one knee next to Ochaco and placed her pinky in the blood. She examined it briefly before pulling down her mask.

“T-Toga?!” Ochaco yelled, startled, she was about to yank the child away, but Himiko put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving. She tasted the bit of blood on her fingertip. It was a bit tangier than usual, like citrus, with a tad of an earthy taste. It was slightly sweet, but not super noticeably so. She swallowed, taking in the flavor profile.

“Tastes like AB-positive,” Himiko noted. It was her second-favorite, slightly behind B-negative. (She’d been very excited to realize that someone as cute as Ochaco had blood as tasty as B-negative.) “Anyone can give him a transfusion!”

“What?” Ochaco seemed confused at the current state of the situation. “Did you do this?!”

Himiko couldn’t help but scoff. That remark stung a bit. Why would she cut some random little kid? She had standards… “No. Press down harder, you’re not doing much like that…” Her mood was spoiled, but she still didn’t want Ochaco sad. She was probably just angry at the situation, not Himiko. 

“Like this?”

She shook her head and forced Ochaco’s hands downward. “This.” 

“I feel like I’m going to hurt him–”

“You’re not,” Himiko cut her off. She began digging under her sweater until she found the first-aid kit she always carried. She’d lived on the streets long enough to have a habit of carrying both weapons and life-saving tools at all times. “Alright, move your hand a bit…”

Dabi walked out after Skeptic finished recording him. It didn’t take long for him to end up finding Hawks, laying (while seemingly depressed) on the couch. He hadn’t been particularly looking for anyone, but he supposed this was better than being alone. He didn’t want to be alone. He flicked Hawks’s forehead, scowling down at the Hero.

“Why the fuck do you look like you drank lemonade and found out it was piss?”

“You have a real way with words,” Hawks muttered, not moving from his position (his torso on its side while his legs were curled and oriented so that the knees faced the ceiling). He had his crimson wings draped messily around him, blocking off most of the couch. 

Dabi decided that this was an invitation to sit on his lap. Or, as close as he could get with Hawks’s weird laying position.  He nestled himself comfortably, humming. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I’m fine…” Hawks muttered, shifting himself onto his back (which was a much bigger chore with wings. Dabi watched him move them around until comfortable – it probably took almost a dozen tries – and it looked like a big pain) and seemed to automatically cup Dabi’s hips to keep him steady.

“Sure you are, pigeon.” Dabi huffed. “You’ve been acting weird since that stupid party the psycho made us do.”

“I’m not acting weird–” Hawks started. 

“Yeah, you fucking are,” Dabi deadpanned, cutting Hawks off. “You’re not a good actor. I’m tired of you lying.”

Hawks frowned a bit, averting his eyes. “I just…” He trailed off. That pissed Dabi off a bit. 

“Just fucking say it,” Dabi snapped.

“I feel weird about you talking about sleeping with other people still, okay?” Hawks mumbled, covering his face with one hand. He looked almost embarrassed. Odd to see from a man regarded as so charismatic. 

Dabi couldn’t help but scoff. Why was he pressing about something so small? “I thought we were past that. You said it was whatever.

“You said it was whatever, so I thought it was.” Hawks sat up so that his face was more level with Dabi’s. “But… I still can’t help but feel…” He sighed and put his forehead against Dabi’s shoulder. “It feels wrong.”

“We’re not dating.” It was the same argument he used before, but it still held true. Dabi didn’t date people. Who would want to?

Besides, tying himself down to one person was risky. They could just stop paying attention to him, leave him high and dry. He didn’t want that. Not again. People could twist “love” all they wanted, he knew he deserved that much. He could be yelled at, taken advantage of, beat, he wouldn’t care. Hell, he probably wouldn’t hate a partner for killing him. That was the only kind of love that Dabi, that Todoroki Touya, deserved.

He just didn’t want to be alone. He needed those eyes on him. Pain just meant he was being watched still, so it was good. 

“I… don’t care if we’re dating or not,” Hawks whispered. “I just hate… whatever I’m feeling right now.”

“Well, that’s not my fucking problem,” Dabi snapped. “I ain’t your momma, why don’t you cry to her? Oh, wait, she didn’t fucking want you, did she?!”

Dabi could almost hear the sound of something shattering between them. Hawks’s face fell, his eyes shining as though he were about to cry. He pushed Dabi off of him. “I should go check on Twice. He wanted more tutoring, missed our session yesterday…”

Dabi swallowed and reached out. “Wait, I didn’t–”

“Yeah, you did.” Hawks dodged Dabi’s hand. “Just leave me alone.”

Ochaco watched as Toga finished bandaging up the boy, furrowing her brow. Why was the Villain helping her with this? There wasn’t any point… If anything, why wasn’t Toga taking the blood? If she tried to think of it with pure logic, Ochaco would say that would be a good move. Turning into a seemingly defenseless child would be a good disguise. 

“You… didn’t do this?” Ochaco asked again, finding herself unsure.

“I don’t cut kids up,” Toga huffed, looking disgusted by the implication.. “That’s gross.”

Ochaco blinked and realized why Toga seemed so offended. She associated violence with romantic love. Hurting a kid would be akin to pedophilia to her. Ochaco grimaced, feeling a bit uncomfortable now herself. Toga was a Villain, but not that kind of evil. Ochaco couldn’t see the girl committing that kind of crime. “Oh. Right.”

She sighed, picking up the boy. “Where’s the kid’s parents?”

Ochaco shook her head, focusing back on the issue at hand. “I’m not sure. I was trying to help him home when a Villain attacked and…”

“Did you get the guy?” Toga interrupted.

Ochaco paused. “Why do you care?” she blurted. She knew most Villains weren’t associated with one another, unlike Heroes, but it seemed odd that Toga would spare a thought to whether the perpetrator was taken care of when they were nameless. It wasn’t as though she had an active feud with every non-League Villain in the world, right?

Toga held onto the kid as though he were her own. “‘Cause you don’t hurt kids.” She frowned. “That’s just mean.” She spoke as though this should’ve been obvious.

“Right…” Ochaco rubbed the back of her head. “I should get him to a hospital.”

Toga perked up. “Can I come? Can I come? Pleeeaaaase?” She began bouncing on the back of her heels, still holding onto the kid tightly. Her smile was wide, too innocent for a killer. Ochaco couldn’t help but stare for a moment. It was oddly cute. (Not that she thought the slasher herself cute, of course. It was just her attitude, was all.)

“You… wanna go to the hospital that bad?” Ochaco said. Suddenly, it came to mind that she should be arresting Toga. “I guess you can.” It’d be easier to find another Hero if they went to a highly populated area to help her, anyways. 

Toga nodded eagerly and took out a knife, putting the child down comfortably on a stack of boxes. “Hold still!”

Ochaco stepped back. “What–”

Toga hopped forward and slashed lightly at her arm. She could feel warm blood begin to dribble out of the cut, stinging. It wasn’t deep, but it hurt a bit. She winced, ready to be on the attack, but Toga put the knife away and took a few drops of blood with two fingers. She licked the crimson liquid away.

“I’ve been practicing my Quirk lately.” A sludge began surfacing at certain parts of her body. Before Ochaco’s eyes, her body and face began to change. “I can do this, now!”

The sludge solidified into a final transformation. It was a combination of the two of them – Ochaco’s eye shape with Toga’s yellow irises, Toga’s slim face shape with Ochaco’s pink cheeks and cooler skin tone, Ochaco’s larger body type with Toga’s proportions, Ochaco’s hair with Toga’s coloring. It was an odd thing to see, but one wouldn’t think that it truly was either one of them. 

“No one’ll know it’s me!”

Not unless Ochaco told them. Which she was going to. She was going to be a responsible Hero. (First, though, it would be a good idea to make sure the kid was okay. Toga claimed she wouldn’t hurt a kid, but Ochaco knew she couldn’t necessarily trust a Villain’s word. Besides, a person’s morals could change if they were about to get arrested.)

Toga smiled happily and picked up the kid, hugging him to her chest. “Let’s go! I haven’t been inside a hospital or anything like that for a long time. I wonder what it’s like inside.”

Ochaco began walking towards the hospital, glancing at Toga. “You haven’t?”

She began following the brunette, her steps a peppy skip. Her earlier annoyance seemed to have completely faded. Ochaco figured she didn’t hold grudges easily. “Nope! I think I was eight or nine last time I went in a doctor’s office!”

“That’s…” Ochaco wasn’t exactly sure what to say. She’d read up on the League along with Deku a few times, including Toga. She could understand why Toga wouldn’t have gone in for a checkup while on the run, but eight or nine? That was years before she was a criminal, according to any given record. “I’m sorry.”

Toga tilted her head. “Why say sorry if you didn’t do anything?” she asked the brunette.

She didn’t have an answer. That was what she was taught, to apologize when someone was going through something. Why was that customary, anyways? She’d never really thought about it before…

Hawks had decided to leave the villa after his little argument with Dabi. He’d have to apologize later, get back on the arsonist’s good side. Exploding like that was so stupid. He was losing his touch. He wasn’t supposed to be like this at all. The Commission didn’t take him in so he could fuck everything up.

He rubbed his face and sat down at the computer he’d used before. He still needed to look at that TT folder of files. He began clicking at the keys until he was logged in with the privacy screen on. He pulled out the hard drive and plugged it in firmly. His stomach seemed to be doing flips as he watched it load its way onto the computer. He opened up the drive and then the TT folder.

Its files had been labeled similarly to the TK folder. Collections of dates and location names filled the screen, each with a little TT to the side. Hawks double-clicked on the first file, a PDF. (Maybe the two file sets were organized similarly?) His eyes were met with an obituary. He began scanning it carefully.

Todoroki Touya.

Hawks could vaguely remember the name. There was a big funeral for the kid. Died in a Quirk accident. Unfortunate, but not uncommon. There wasn’t much Endeavor could do for his son, according to all reports. Why were they gathering information on some Hero’s dead child? He scrolled down to the next page, scanning the obituary for any words that would stand out. The only odd thing about it was the lack of a photo going along with it, but that could be understandable for a celebrity family. People could be just plain nasty, even if Touya had only been thirteen at the time of his death.

He closed the article and moved into the next file, an image. The picture had the name Todoroki Touya displayed in white against a black bar at the bottom. After reading it, Hawks’s eyes met those of deceased Touya. He was young with white hair, flawless skin, and a neat school uniform. His features were a bit feminine, like he’d grow more into the pretty boy look than handsome. It was one of those pictures where you knew a kid would end up being a nice-looking adult. 

What caught Hawks’s eyes were those eyes. Turquoise and sophisticatedly narrowed, just like Endeavor’s, but there was something a bit different about them. Endeavor’s eyes looked as though he was hanging onto an anger management badge by a thread a lot of the time. Touya’s were sharper, colder, seemed more crazy than just plain aggressive.

He recognized them perfectly. Dabi. A man he knew had been hurt horribly by a man he called father, based on his fucked-out ramblings.

His image of both Dabi and Endeavor suddenly came swinging into whole new lights.

“I am Todoroki Touya.”

Skeptic still wasn’t sure how to feel about the revelation. It was a lot to take in. Sure, he’d noticed a small resemblance between the photos of Touya he’d uncovered and Dabi, but he didn’t think it was significant enough. If anything, it looked more as though they were cousins; Scars aside, Dabi looked a lot different than he did when he was thirteen. His bone structure had become a bit more masculine in shape, his hair was a different texture as well as a different color, the aura he gave off had completely changed… Dabi and Touya seemed like entirely different people.

People really did change, maybe.

Skeptic began splicing together pieces of video recorded of Dabi’s confessions along with various pieces of evidence that he had collected in his investigations. The truth of the Todoroki family, along with the revelation of Hawks being a child soldier and the child of a Villain, was bound to shake up the public. If Curious were still alive, she’d be proud.

Skeptic grimaced at the idea of that. He’d never liked the woman. Too nosy and persistent. She was insufferable with her need to write her stupid articles. It bordered on harassment at times, even with her allies. He’d moved from entire towns before to different Feel Good Inc. locations and Meta Liberation Army bases just to avoid her. Was he becoming like her? He sure hoped not.

When he was satisfied with the organization of the cuts, he saved the file and moved on to his usual work. He could wait on the other editing for a few more hours. He had official work to be doing. Dabi wouldn’t ever take precedence over that.

(And if thinking of the scarred man even for the briefest moment brought unholy memories to the front of his mind, he wouldn’t let that affect his job, either.)

As Himiko and Ochaco approached the hospital, the child stirred. He began clinging to Himiko’s sweater to the point that it was stretching. She found her yellow eyes softening as she hugged the kid. She’d had a few younger siblings before this all started. She missed them enough that it hurt whenever she saw someone younger than her making their way down the street. Himiko had tried to be the best big sister, to keep their secrets and make sure her parents kept their eyes on her. If they focused on her, they wouldn’t have time to judge the others, to make them feel the same way she did. 

She wondered if they were still happy with her gone.

“Nee-chan?” the boy questioned, looking up at Himiko with big eyes.

Ochaco looked back at the two of them. “He’s awake?”

“I’m not your nee-chan, baby,” she cooed, cradling him like she did when her younger siblings were little. The child wasn’t that young, maybe five or so, but she couldn’t help the urge.

“Himiko-nee?”

She froze and took a good look at the little boy.  At first, she didn’t notice anything familiar. Upon closer examination, though, she saw bits of herself in there – The same shade of yellow in their eyes, a similar nose… And she began connecting it to a younger, familiar face.

“Hiro-kun?” she gasped. He looked a lot different from when he was a toddler, having grown out of a lot of his baby fat, but if she really looked, it was definitely her youngest brother. 

“Nee-chan!”

Ochaco’s eyes widened. “Wait, you know him?”

“Didn’t recognize him at first, but…” Himiko nodded, holding her brother tightly. “This is Toga Hiro.” She swallowed. “We can’t bring him to the hospital.”

“What? Why?” the brunette asked.

“Our parents.” Himiko squinted, remembering the way they acted whenever one of the children were less than perfect, especially her. Even injuries were looked down on in that house. “They’d be furious about it. The Liberation Front has doctors. I can take him there.”

“I can’t let you take a child into Villain territory,” Ochaco pointed out. “I’m working.”

Himiko bit her lip. She knew that. She didn’t want her Ochaco getting in trouble. What was she supposed to do, though? Unless… “You could come with me.”

“What?”

Himiko grinned a bit. “If you get a little beat-up, you can say you saw me and followed me back to base to try to arrest me, but we fought. It’s, like, the perfect excuse. Hiro-kun doesn’t have to get hurt more, and neither do you, Ochaco-chan!”

She furrowed her brow before looking down, examining the floor. She hesitated for a while before speaking. “I guess you make do with what you’ve got...”

Spinner glared out the window of his room, peeling at the scales on the back of his left hand. It’d been hours since he fought with Tomura. Maybe he should apologize. He was pretty nasty. He could’ve been nicer about the whole thing.

At the same time, he found himself not wanting to apologize. He fully believed Tomura should’ve at least mentioned sleeping with one of the people they work closest with once. How was he supposed to not at least be frustrated? It just seemed like an open door for cheating. Tomura could probably do it again at any point he wanted. Dabi, despite his flaws, was objectively more attractive than Spinner. He had a nice face and body, the scars went oddly with it, and he had the whole “bad boy” thing going for him.

Spinner was just… an awkward nerd who looked like a lizard. Hell, he’d rather date Dabi than himself. Why was Shigaraki even with him?

Was this all just jealousy? It was possible. Spinner didn’t think he’d be the jealous type, but the idea of Tomura even touching Dabi was making his stomach burn hot with anger. He thought that there was something else to it, though. The frustration was deeper than just not wanting his boyfriend with Dabi.

So, he went to the only source he knew for things he didn’t understand: The Internet.

Specifically, a heteromorph forum he found years ago. It was a nice community, people were respectful. Besides that, it was oddly comfortable to just speak with people like you, to only have their opinions. It seemed like a dream, considering his family had been the only heteromorphs in his town. He sighed and took out his phone, opening the website for the forum. He began writing a post:

Title: Am I the Asshole for Being Angry at my Boyfriend?

Recently, I found out my boyfriend slept with a close associate (kind of friend?) of ours in the past. According to the both of them, it only happened once, and before we started dating, but I got really angry and kinda exploded. I wish I’d been told sooner, considering we’re coming up on our one year anniversary in a few months… Am I supposed to be upset over this, or am I overreacting?

Spinner read over his words a few times before hitting the post button, then put the phone away to wait.

Tomura wanted to keep seething over his fight with Spinner, but the sound of Toga arriving broke his concentration on sulking. Well, more specifically, the sound of who she had with her.

“Are you sure they won’t kill me?” came the voice of one of those UA brats. The girl that Toga liked so much.

“I’m sure, I’m sure,” Toga said. “Just stay with me.”

“Where are we, nee-chan?” asked the voice of a child. A child? Who the fuck let a kid in here?

Tomura got up from where he was lounging around and opened the door of the office he was using. Sure enough, there stood the psycho, the pink-cheeked brat, and a little boy. He narrowed his eyes. As if he weren’t pissed enough already… “The hell do you think you’re doing, Toga?”

“I’m helping my little brother!” She held up the kid that was accompanying her. Though it annoyed Tomura, it made enough sense. He promised to always leave room for his comrades’ wishes, and if that included family for Toga, who was he to stop her? No, with the explanation of the child out of the way, the bigger issue was…

“And the Hero kid?” He put up his hand. “Does she need killing?”

The UA student’s face paled and she stepped back, her hands at the ready to use her Quirk. As if that would do anything to stop Tomura. Toga, however, giggled and shook her head. “Nope! She’s my assistant!”

He furrowed his brow. “Assistant,” he echoed.

“Yeppers peppers! She’s helping me! Giran-kun got a shipment of Trigger, so he can use that to up his Quirk and erase her memory after, right?” she asked with a big grin. “Then there’s no risk.”

Tomura rubbed his temple. “You know what? Whatever. Go crazy. Do what you want. Fuck her in the middle of the cafeteria, kill her, and smear her blood all over the villa for what I care. I’m getting a damn headache and don’t want to hear a kid screaming, so just keep things under control.” He’d usually at least give her a hard time for it, but his thoughts were centering back on his anger with Spinner. He couldn’t care less about whatever was going on with the slasher as long as he was left alone.

She pouted, putting the kid down. He ended up on his knees, as though too weak to stand. On second glance, he looked pretty weak, as though he’d lost a lot of blood. “You’re so grumpy…”

“Which means you should fuck off,” Tomura gritted out.

Ochaco pulled on Toga’s sleeve. “Come one, let’s just get your little brother checked out…” She said, her tone tense. He had never been a fan of the girl, but he was suddenly finding himself rooting for her. (Read: For his own sanity.)

“Who’s the scary guy, nee-chan?” the little boy asked, his dazed eyes going up to her. “We should leave people alone if they ask, that’s what Kahito-nii says…”

“I don’t want Tomura-kun to be all grumpy, though!”  Toga whined, brushing the two of them off. 

“It’s not your business,” he scoffed. 

“It is my business!” she snapped back. It wasn’t often Toga got mad – she usually smiled even in the worst situations – so the response actually did shut Tomura up. “You guys are like my brothers, y’know?!” She began sniffling a bit. “First it was Hawks-kun and Skeptic-kun, but Dabi-kun’s been a little weird too, and now you and Spinner-kun! Ever since I made you guys play that stupid game, a-and…” She put her face in her hands. “It’s my fault… I should’ve just left things alone…”

Tomura felt a strange pang in his chest. It was the same thing he kept feeling while angsting over Spinner. It was like his heart was twisting, dropping down his stomach and churning up his insides, making it difficult to breathe… The only other times he could remember feeling it were when he was a kid – After he’d killed his family, the first few “errands” All For One had sent him on…

It made him want to say “sorry”, oddly enough, but he wasn’t weak enough for that. He wouldn’t ever be weak. He could do what he wanted, other’s emotions weren’t his issue, and he never had to speak a single word of regret. He wasn’t weak, he was strong, he was strong, I’m strong, I’m…

“Stop crying. We’re dealing with our own bullshit, not yours.” He flicked her forehead, careful of his Quirk. “Quit trying to take the credit. If you were a problem, I woulda dusted you by now.”

She looked up at him with teary eyes, rubbing the spot that he flicked. “Really?”

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. His cheeks were heating up. When did he get so soft and corny? “I’m sure. Get out of my sight. No one wants to see your sobbing mug.”

She nodded, pulling Ochaco and the kid away with her.

Hawks passed a red-eyed Toga with two others in tow as he returned to the villa. He didn’t get a good look at the other two as they passed, but he decided to shake his head and ignore it. He had another job to focus on now. If he got wrapped up in another issue involving Toga, things would just get messier than they already were. He needed to talk to Dabi.

He decided that Dabi’s room was the first place to check. It was evening now, and he tended to take a short nap before dinner. Hawks found the elevator and hit the up arrow. He tapped his foot as he waited, his hand covering his mouth as he thought. He hoped Dabi would forgive him easily. His relationships decaying within the League was probably the worst possible outcome right now. As of then, the other members’ opinions of him seemed the same, but if Dabi’s soured enough, that could always change. He needed to fix this as quickly as possible, or his espionage would end in disaster…

The elevator opened with a ding, revealing Twice already inside. The man had his mask off, a rare occurrence, and was scrolling through social media. When he felt the elevator stop, he looked up at Hawks and smiled widely at him. “Oh, hey, man! Been a while, why’d you abandon me? Some friend, jeez. Ignore him. Going up?”

Hawks returned his toothy grin with a friendly smirk, stepping in the elevator. A weird sort of anger twisted his gut. Why would he be mad at Twice? The doubling Villain was one of the nicest people he’d ever met. “Yep! Thanks for saving me a spot. Sorry about missing our last tutoring session, the Commission randomly put me on some new mission and I’ve been prepping. Real dick move of them, but what can I do?” He let out an easy laugh, punching in the floor number of Dabi’s room. The lies came out easy at this point. “Where you heading?”

“None ya business! Skeptic’s office. Got a few things to pass on from Baldy.” 

Hawks nodded, keeping his signature pleasant, lopsided smile on his face. “Re-Destro-san, huh? Anything exciting?” His eyes watched the doors shut.

“Nahhh, just a few things to help with his company. Greedy capitalist pig. We need to keep funding up really high to support so many people, apparently, and Skeptic’s the guy for that sort of thing. Oink, oink, let’s cook him up for dinner.”

The Hero laughed a bit. “Don’t tell him that. Or maybe do, I dunno. Seems like the guy was suppressing some hardcore submissive kinks while he was commander that he’s letting loose,” he joked lightly. The way he waited hand and foot on Shigaraki (much to their leader’s annoyance) was almost comical.

Twice snickered. “Gross. Let’s catch up soon. Few things I wanted to talk to you about.”

The elevator dinged as it reached Dabi’s floor. Hawks offered one last smile. “Yeah, sounds chill. Maybe tomorrow? Just text me, we can figure it out.”

The Villain waved with a bright smile that seemed built by some higher power to thrust a spear of guilt through Hawks’s heart. “Sure, bud! You better not skip again.”

“Yes, sir!” Hawks watched the elevator doors closed before taking in a breath, focusing back on what was important. Twice was an issue for Future Hawks. (Future Hawks had a lot of issues to deal with, considering how the work was piling up.) One problem at a time. As fast as he was, he couldn’t literally be in multiple places at once unless he asked Twice.

He found the number of Dabi’s room (13.666-4 – Hawks was convinced that Dabi had requested it specifically to be edgy) and hesitated at the door. He hovered his hand over it, unsure about knocking. He only had one chance at this. When did this mission get so much more complicated, anyways?

He just had to get it right.

He hit his knuckles against the door a few times before pulling away, waiting with a sense of trepidation. What if things blew up again? What if he just worsened a terrible situation? What if he lost control again? What if–

The sound of creaking from the door forced Hawks’s mind to shut up. When the door opened, he was met by a drowsy, shirtless Dabi. His hair was mussy and his eyes were heavily lidded, barely revealing his turquoise irises. He leaned against the doorframe with a slight slouch, rubbing the scar spanning his tone abdomen. “‘Mornin’, birdie,” he mumbled, his raspy voice still slurred with sleep.

Hawks tried to ignore the heat that builds in the pit of his stomach at the sight, glancing away. “I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t’ve blown up at you earlier.”

“Why apologize?” He yawned.

“Because… I did something wrong?”

Dabi shrugged, itching near his waistband. “Nah, I’m an asshole, but I can tell when I’m the one bein’ a prick. Ain’t gonna apologize for nothin’ – I ain’t about that corny shit – but you don’t gotta either, yeah? We both fucked up, I fucked up worse, let’s forget it.”

Hawks blinked. “It’s… that easy?”

“Do I seem like I’d be difficult about a little screaming match? That was damn tame. I was pissed, but I’m over it.” Dabi grinned a bit. “You could join me in bed if you’re so convinced you need to make it up to me, though.”

Hawks wouldn’t admit to anyone that it was only half to be sure that his actions were forgiven that he stepped into the bedroom.

As Twice finished informing Skeptic of Re-Destro’s requests, his eyes watched the black-haired man’s screen. He had feeds open throughout the villa and around Japan, monitoring different people of interest. Boring people, what a creep. Twice’s eyes caught one video, focused on Hawks, who was visiting a shirtless Dabi.

“That’s all doable. Let Re-Destro know that it’ll be done,” Skeptic replied. He was always calmer about orders coming from the former Meta Liberation Army Grand Commander. He was such a little bitch about it. It was probably easier to take orders from someone you trusted, Twice supposed. 

He was about to reply in the affirmative when the feed he was watching began to devolve into hungry kissing between Hawks and Dabi, landing them on the bed and– “Uh, you might wanna…”

Skeptic’s eyes followed the direction of Twice’s gaze before he turned red. He shut the tab with the feed of Hawks down immediately, letting out a groan. “That man is insatiable. I’m sorry about that.”

Twice coughed, glancing away. “Nah, it’s fine. Put it back on, you coward. Ignore him. You know you wanna see it, too. I swear to God, shut up.”

“Where’s your mask?” Skeptic asked passively, beginning to pull up some displays beyond Jin’s technical experience. Super easy to understand.

“Was planning to have a smoke before Baldy started demanding shit,” he said with a shrug. 

Skeptic nodded, his face neutral. Weirdo, asking little questions like that… Wait, had that been small talk, out of Skeptic? It took a moment for Twice to realize it, but… Did that mean he was making progress? He smiled brightly, finding himself excited. He always loved gaining new friends, as childish as it sounded.

“If there’s nothing else, leave me to work,” Skeptic mumbled.

“Yes, sir!” Twice said happily, saluting.

Ochaco watched as Toga, once again holding Hiro to her chest, skipped down the hallway to a door. The brunette couldn’t help but stay on-edge, glancing around to check if they’d be attacked any given moment. She’d agreed to come along for the kid’s sake, but the more she thought about it, the stupider the decision seemed. 

Toga could have been lying about Hiro being her brother. (Though, the idea seemed odd, considering Hiro recognized her as well. They looked like siblings upon actual examination as well.) 

Hiro could be in league with the Villains. (Ochaco wasn’t sure when she stopped trusting children, yet here she was, wondering if one was working with terrorists.)

Toga could still take this chance to kill her, even if the rest of the situation was as it seemed. (The most likely, yet why had she stopped Tomura from doing just that?)

Ochaco’s head was spinning with thoughts almost as quickly as she imagined Deku’s did on a daily basis. It was overwhelming enough that she didn’t notice that Toga had stopped at one of the doors. Ochaco ran directly into her back, her nose becoming buried in blonde hair. She jumped back, flushing out of embarrassment. “A-Ah, sorry.”

Toga giggled, looking back at Ochaco.  “You’re blushing! It’s so cute!”

Ochaco looked away, trying to ignore the natural flutter in her chest from being complimented. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she just stayed silent, as rude as that may have been. Toga didn’t seem to take her lack of response personally, though, and just knocked on the door.

A man opened it, one with a heteromorphic ability that made him look like a humanoid ox. His build seemed as though it could bench-press a truck, and a long scar went across his face. “Oh, Toga-san.”

“Yep, yep!” She smiled brightly, hopping a bit. “Hey, hey, hey, Ushihiko-kun! Or, should I say, Doctor? ‘Cause we need your help!”

“I thought your people had a really good doctor. The guy who fixes Dabi,” Ushihiko said, tilting his head. He spoke surprisingly softly, for such a huge man. “You sure you don’t wanna go to him?”

Ochaco wasn’t sure exactly who he was talking about, but she could see his point. Anyone who can keep the walking corpse known as Dabi alive had to be able to perform medical miracles. Why didn’t they go to him?

“‘Cause he lives too far away,” Toga reminded Ushihiko. “Besides, that Doctor is really, super creepy. I like you better, ‘cause you’re cute and fun!” She giggled a bit.

Ushihiko huffed through his nose, looking away. It was hard to tell with the fur, but if Ochaco had to guess, the guy was blushing. “Fine. What is it?”

Toga held out Hiro, revealing his pale face and dazed expression. “I think I’ve got him fixed up pretty good, but he needs a transfusion of blood and stuff!”

“Got it.” He took the boy gently and laid him down on his bed. The ox-man glanced at Ochaco, noticing the blood on her sleeve. “Are you in need of a bit of medical attention, too?”

She shook her head, surprised by the Villain’s seeming kindness. “No, it’s alright. I made sure.” She’d used Toga’s first aid kit to deal with it while they walked. It was a shallow cut, just enough to get Toga the blood she wanted. An easy fix.

Ushihiko nodded. “You and your friend can leave him with me for the night. He looks like he needs at least an overnight stay,” he informed Toga.

She nodded and pulled Ochaco away by the arm. “Oki-doki! C’mon, Ochaco-chan, let’s go get dinner!” 

She blinked, letting herself get tugged away in her surprise. She looked up at Toga, furrowing her brow. “That’s it? You don’t wanna stay with him?”

“I don’t wanna be in the way.” Toga smiled happily. “Ushihiko-kun’s super nice and cool and good at his job and stuff! I know Hiro-kun’ll be okay with him, so I don’t gotta stay!”

Ochaco’s face softened. “You really trust him, huh?”

“Of course! He’s my friend!”

Friend. Somehow, that one word made it harder for Ochaco to view the girl as some crazy slasher.

Hawks collapsed on the bed next to Dabi, his chest heaving. He tangled his limbs around the scarred man, finding himself needing to get himself as close as possible. His wings, which had been splayed out before, slowly contracted until they encased the both of them. He pressed a kiss to Dabi’s lips.

Dabi let it happen, seeming too worn out to protest the affection. Hawks was glad for it – Sometimes, Dabi would grumble and protest sometimes, question it all too much. (Hawks wasn’t sure if his annoyance with that came from Dabi asking things like “why”, or from the fact he didn’t know the answers.) Regardless, Hawks was grateful that the next few moments passed in silence. He watched the light bounce off of Dabi’s blue eyes…

Touya’s eyes.

Hawks found himself a bit sick. 

“You good, birdie?” Dabi murmured. “Look like you wanna puke.”

“I’m okay,” Hawks lied quietly, brushing his fingers against Dabi’s face. He tightened his crimson wings around them, the color a bit too close to blood in the low light. 

Dabi nodded, his eyes falling shut. Hawks let the silence return for a few moments, but things kept nagging at the back of his mind. These weird feelings he kept having about Dabi. Touya. Dabi knowing about Keigo. The guilt he felt about the League. The pressures of work. Everything seemed to crowd in his brain at once, jeering at him and keeping him awake.

“Hey, Dabi?” Hawks whispered, realizing he wouldn’t be able to shut his brain off.

“What’s up, pigeon?”

“Truth or dare?”

Dabi scoffed, opening his eyes. There was a snarky smirk slowly growing on his face. “What, does the psycho have you on that bullshit, too?” he teased quietly.

“Figured we could pass the time until we fell asleep,” Hawks replied with a shrug. He figured it couldn’t end too bad with just two people. Plus, with how tired Dabi looked and the exhaustion of Hawks’s own body (even if his mind refused to match it), the two would probably pass out quickly, anyways.

Dabi sighed. “Fine. Dare.”

“Dare you to actually hug me back.”

He rolled his eyes, but complied. “You’re an evil bird.”

“Change my name from Hawks to Crow, ‘cause once there’s more than one of me, there’s a murder,” Hawks quipped, snuggling into Dabi’s arms. He was so warm, so comfortable…

“Truth or dare? I’m not letting you get outta this unscathed,” Dabi murmured, his hands heating slightly (though not uncomfortably).

“Truth, I guess,” Hawks mumbled. Dare might mean having to let go, move away from Dabi’s warmth and affection(?), and he wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

“How many people you fucked?” he asked casually.

Hawks paused, thinking. He didn’t find himself ashamed or embarrassed, which might surprise some since he didn’t really talk about it much. He’d never really kept a tally of the woman he’d slept with, either. He didn’t think of it as important. He’d sleep with them when he felt the need to, when he was so pent up by the way he lived that he needed some sort of release. Sex just happened to be an easy form of that. It helped he was regarded as handsome by the general populace. It had started maybe a year after he started working as a Hero at seventeen, gotten more frequent after he started the agency…

“I dunno, maybe, like, fifty, sixty? Something like that.” Hawks shrugged noncommittally. He figured it was a decent estimate. “It’s not like I kept a list or something. It was really just one-time things when I felt like it.”

Dabi whistled. “Look who’s a player.”

Hawks looked away, biting his lip. “Not really. Or, if I was, I guess I’ve retired.”

“Why’s that?”

“I… It’s only been you, since we started,” Hawks admitted. He couldn’t meet Dabi’s eyes, his guts in a tight knot.

“Oh…” Dabi’s breath sounded a little shallower, his grip on Hawks tightening. “Why?”

“Didn’t want anyone else, I guess.” He decided to move past the subject – No point talking about it. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

Hawk’s thumb circled across Dabi’s waist. A lot came to mind, but his mouth seemed to pick one before his brain could truly catch up. “Why do you… sleep around so much?”

Dabi’s breath hitched. A long, heavy pause stretched between them. It was one of those silences that felt like a thousand voices screaming in your ear, a kind of quiet you wanted to demand shut up.

When it took over a few minutes, Hawks finally spoke up again. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” he said. “We can, uh, get a beer out and do a drink like last time, too.” Maybe it’d be weird to skip his turn completely. Regardless, it was a stupid move to force him to answer a question he didn’t want to. Especially since Hawks was actively attempting to make amends with him.

“It’s fine.” Dabi sighed, releasing Hawks and batting his wings away lightly. The Hero opened them so Dabi could sit up, looking down at his lap. “I… guess it’s just ‘cause I’m a fucking attention whore. Gotta have eyes on me, all that. Sex is a lotta attention. Means someone wants you if they’re willing to fuck you, right? Even if it’s just a little. Just like my dad used to say, I ain’t ever satisfied. I’m a greedy little shit. It’s not like one person would want to pay attention to me the amount I’m looking for, anyways.”

Hawks furrowed his brow, sitting up as well. “I think someone would.” He would want to. It was a dangerous thought that somehow planted its way into Hawks’s mind. He tried to dismiss it, make it fade, but it just seemed to take deeper root. Why would he want that with a murderer, a Villain? What was wrong with him?

“Look who’s a charmer,” Dabi drawled, glancing away. He curled up, his knees against his chest. “Truth or dare, birdbrain?”

“Truth.”

Dabi smirked widely. “Coward.”

Hawks scoffed. “Just gimme the question.”

Dabi considered for a little while before speaking. “Dunno. You love anyone, I guess?”

The Hero looked down at his lap, a flush rising to his cheeks. His fingers yanked at each other, desperate to get a bit of pent-up energy out. “Uhh… I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t know. I don’t think I can.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t think I’ve loved anyone before,” Hawks said honestly. “If I started now, I wouldn’t have anything to compare it to. Not like I can put a name to something I don’t recognize.”

“No one?”

He shook his head. 

Dabi cupped Hawks’s face. “Weird.”

“Have you?” Hawks challenged, scoffing. (Maybe he was a tiny bit embarrassed about letting so much go. He wouldn’t unpack that, though. Lips would be zipped from now on.)

“Ah, ah, ah, you haven’t told me truth or dare yet,” Dabi teased, wagging his finger scoldingly. He had one of his snarky grins on his face; It pulled at the staples closest to his mouth, looking almost painful. 

“Fine. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Coward,” Hawks chirped mockingly, mimicking the way Dabi called him out earlier.

“Shut the fuck up.”

Hawks chuckled lightly, laying back down. He discarded his feathers to the side of the bed while he was at it, deciding to be courteous. “Hm… dare you to let me draw whatever I want on your face and keep it there until tomorrow night.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. Close them peepers.”

Dabi rolled his eyes, but complied. Hawks took the opportunity to grab the autograph marker he always took with him to draw a dick on Dabi’s forehead. 

“Alright, done.”

“I’m going to sleep,” Dabi grumbled, pulling the covers over them.

Hawks snickered. “Sore loser.”

“Go jump off a bridge.”

His words didn’t match his actions, though, because he hugged Hawks close. The heat of his embrace was satisfying, comforting. It was the best form of comfort Hawks had ever had. Even if it was wrong, he let himself have it, sinking deep into Dabi’s arms. The silence between them was comfortable and light, but Hawks could see that Dabi wasn’t getting to sleep either for a while.

“You still awake?” the Hero asked.

“No.”

Hawks chuckled, his eyes taking in Dabi’s features, the softness of them contrasting with the roughness of his scars. Their eyes met, those electric blue irises with a striking resemblance to Endeavor boring into Hawks’s.

He didn’t mean for the word to slip out.

“Todoroki Touya?”

Ochaco got up from the futon she was using in Toga’s room to go find herself some water. She’d decided that if she was going to do this, she might as well go all the way and be with the child until the end. Toga seemed more than happy to have her stay over, anyways. The brunette gently remade the futon as neatly as she could before quietly leaving the room, being sure not to wake the blonde. If she was a murderer normally, Ochaco would hate to see what would happen if her rest was disturbed.

As she stalked down the hall, she’d find a man pushed into her.

“Wait, I’m sorry—” a familiar voice said from atop her, not seeming to even notice the impact.

“Get the fuck out,” said Dabi. “You don’t get to throw that goddamn name around. Where the fuck you hear it anyways? Think you got any right to have it in your mouth?”

“I-I didn’t mean to—”

“Just sleep somewhere else. You can come crying to me some other time.” Dabi huffed and slammed the door loudly in the other man’s face. A very famous face…

“Hawks?!” He was missing his wings, but maybe he’d just stored his feathers elsewhere. That face was impossible to not recognize.

The blond man jumped and whipped around to find Ochaco. “You’re one of those kids from UA?!” he blurted a bit too loudly. He grimaced, immediately lowering his tone. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Ochaco bit her lip. As much as she justified it to herself, how was she supposed to justify it to a Pro like Hawks? What, she followed a Villain home like some puppy to help her with a kid? Wait, but… “What about you?” she countered, hoping to keep up some form of privacy.

He huffed, looking away. “Guess you got me there…” Despite the easy smile he quickly put on, the tilt of his head, he seemed… down in the dumps. “I won’t rat you out if you don’t for me?” he suggested, putting a finger over his lips and winking.

Ochaco nodded in agreement. It was probably the best move, as uncomfortable as the idea of a Hero being involved with Villains was. She didn’t think he was a bad person – He didn’t seem to be one, anyways, the few times she’d visited Tokoyami at the agency. There was a good reason. Probably. “So, uh, Dabi seemed mad,” Ochaco commented not-so-helpfully, hoping to move the conversation along.

Hawks grimaced, though the expression was kept light. “Yeah, lil’ spat. It’ll work itself out.”

“Getting kicked out of his place is just going to work itself out?” she inquired.

His nod confirmed to her she did not understand adults. She simply set aside the doubtful statement for now, though. “So, uh, you were here with him?”

“Guess you could say that.” Hawks shrugged his shoulders. “You got brought over by someone as well, I presume.”

“Toga.” She looked down, the blonde’s face flashing through her mind. The way she cradled little Hiro like he was the most precious thing in the world. Her smile. Ochaco felt like her feelings had become complicated and criss-crossed over the course of a singular day, and she wasn’t even sure how to begin to solve that. “I won’t be here long.”

“Ah, so you’re not a member.”

Ochaco wrinkled her nose. “No, no, of course not. I just needed to make sure a child civilian was okay, and circumstances were… well, weird.”

Hawks chuckled, nodding along. “I know that feeling.” Before she could consider to question him in another vein, he changed the topic of conversation. “So, why’re you awake so late?”

“Oh, uh, water. Woke up thirsty.” Even if it was the truth, it sounded like a lame excuse for her to snoop on whatever fight he and Dabi were having.

Haws cocked his head to the side. “You want help getting down this floor’s common room? This place can be kinda hard to navigate at first.”

“That would be nice…”

Hawks found himself waking up on the couch. He hadn’t made it back to his room after helping that UA kid out, passed out on the nearest surface. His feathers were still in Dabi’s room. His clothes were rumpled, as well as his hair. In summary, he was an utter mess, not at all befitting a Hero. And all because he had to ask stupid questions. He’d really done it to himself. Top operative his ass. He was a moron.

He sat up with a groan, finding that the room was empty besides him. His eyes wandered over to the digital clock on the wall. Noon. Most people were probably either already out or in the cafeteria. He rubbed his back with a yawn. He should probably wait on approaching Dabi. Maybe some space was all it took for Hawks to get his priorities in check, anyways. For now, he had another issue to look into – Uraraka Ochaco.

The Commission, as well as UA themselves, were concerned about there being a potential traitor at the nation’s top Hero school. Though the way she acted made it doubtful she was the leak, he needed confirmation. He got up and stretched his back into an arch, waiting until it released a satisfying pop to return to natural posture. Honestly, this was one issue he might even be able to look into without hiding it too much from Skeptic. The excuse of looking into converting Hero students would be exciting, and the idea of him teaming up with Ryuukyuu for a mission was also totally plausible. Either route would be a fine lie.

For now, though, he needed food. His stomach was beginning to growl, and it sounded downright aggressive. He got up and began his way downstairs, trying to center his thoughts on Uraraka rather than Dabi.

As Spinner grabbed lunch, he decided to check in on the thread he’d started about his argument with Shigaraki. He figured his head was at least a bit clearer than the day of, so he could take in the responses a bit more openly if he truly was overreacting. He pulled up the forum on his phone and clicked on his profile as to easily open up his latest post.

Post by EkkoMain66 (462 posts, Member)

Title: Am I the Asshole for Being Angry at my Boyfriend?

Recently, I found out my boyfriend slept with a close associate (kind of friend?) of ours in the past. According to the both of them, it only happened once, and before we started dating, but I got really angry and kinda exploded. I wish I’d been told sooner, considering we’re coming up on our one year anniversary in a few months… Am I supposed to be upset over this, or am I overreacting?

(Posted 18 hours ago)

Replies (4)

Reply by KittyKatNyaNya (126 posts, Member)

Yeahhhh uh this seems like a red flag imo

It isnt really a big deal to be around people you’ve slept with before ig but like not mentioning it at least once is kinda weird if youre around each other basically all the time isnt it? Feel like you should know that at least lol

Talk to him ig? I will say youre not an asshole tho

(Posted 17 hours ago)

Reply by HonoraryBlackBullKnight (52 posts, New Member)

It’s a little weird, but not extremely. You’re not bad for being angry, but there could be a reason behind it. I’d say talk it over. No need to be hasty. If you feel like the situation is bad, trust your gut, I’d say. You know him best. Be safe <3

(Posted 14 hours ago)

Reply by Skull-Flower-Pot (1,042 posts, Member)

There could’ve been a misunderstanding down the line here. It might seem strange from your perspective, but he legitimately could have seen it as nothing huge. Not everyone associates sex with romance, so it could have seemed completely unrelated in his mind. I’d say talk it out, just in case. I believe in you both 🫶

(Posted 6 hours ago)

Reply by Buttons (15,947 posts, Moderator)

I would have to agree with Skull here, though I do think you have every right to be angry. It seems like a case of miscommunication or a difference in values. Talking it over fully when you’re both ready is important. Give yourselves time to cool off first. Fighting won’t help anything. If you truly take the time to explain it, he should be able to see your perspective properly. It could be that neither of you are truly at fault. Cheers!

(Posted 54 minutes ago)

So, in summary, he should probably actually talk to his boyfriend instead of posting about him on an online forum. He honestly probably should have expected that response. He sighed and put his phone away. Fair enough response. Problem was, he didn’t know if he wanted to talk directly to Shigaraki about it again. They’d both gotten real nasty. He didn’t want that again. Spinner didn’t like fighting, not really.

He wasn’t even sure how to approach his own boyfriend right now. That was how badly he wanted to avoid another argument. Was that pathetic of him?

“I’ve come bearing coffee. It’s decaf. Ignore him, it’s not.” Twice set the cup on Skeptic’s desk. 

“Bubaigawara,” Skeptic said simply, looking the man over. He smelled of nicotine, like he’d just finished a cigarette. His clothes were all rumpled and his mask was pulled up to reveal his nose and mouth. His stubble was thicker than usual, and he looked a bit pale. “You seem… frantic.”

“Nah, I’m great. Doing terrible, thanks.” Twice sat down next to Skeptic. “My room’s right above Dabi’s, he got real noisy last night. Made it hard to sleep.”

Skeptic grimaced. Last thing he wanted to hear about today was Dabi loudly having sex with that stupid Hero. “They were at it that long? I had to shut down my surveillance of Hawks right before dinnertime…”

Twice laughed. “Guess they have good stamina. I could do better.”

Skeptic could feel his ears burn. “You’re all filthy. I can’t believe I work with you,” he spat. He swore these people had no self control. He reached for the cup he’d been provided and began taking slow sips. Nice and bitter, just how he liked it. It woke him up best that way.

“What, you never screw around?”

Skeptic nearly choked on his coffee. “You don’t just ask someone that!” he snapped. His mind flashed back to Dabi sucking him off, lips perfectly shaped around– 

He clapped his hands against his cheeks, the impact loud enough to startle Twice. It stung, but it helped snap him out of it. 

“Dude, are you okay?” Twice asked, leaning in. 

Skeptic buried his face in his hands, groaning. “I hate that man…”

“Who, Hawks?” When Skeptic didn’t respond, Twice amended his answer. “Dabi?”

Skeptic hissed at the name.

“Did something happen? Not that I care, geek squad.”

He kept his lips shut. He wasn’t going to let Twice of all people see how much Dabi affected him. He knew what happened between them didn’t mean anything – Dabi’s promiscuity would frighten the Devil himself – but Skeptic could count the number of times something like that happened to him on one hand. As such, his brain wouldn’t quit bringing it up. It was idiotic…

“I ain’t gonna judge you. Maybe a little bit. Dude, shut up, we don’t have room to talk–”

“Dabi…” Skeptic grit his teeth. “What is your opinion on him?”

“Awesome guy, good friend. Great lay, love that ass. Why?” 

He held his head in his hands, groaning. “So, what, you two just… do that together, what, once or twice a month? And nothing else?”

Twice shrugged. “I mean, yeah. Dabi ain’t a relationships sorta guy.”

“You’d just accept that?” Skeptic asked, furrowing his brow. Twice seemed to care deeply for Dabi. It wouldn’t be surprising if he wanted more than that. Lord knew that if Skeptic were in that situation, he’d flip some tables. “You’re not… trying?” It seemed so unlike him.

Twice smiled. “Naw. Ain’t worth it. I don’t wanna ruin our friendship, and I’m chill with just being friends. The romantic stuff is always a bit… clunky, with him. Doesn’t feel right. Ain’t like the sex at all. Like an entirely different person. Besides, I want to respect his wishes, because he’s my friend.”

“What if he ended up with someone else?” Skeptic challenged, his brow furrowed.

“Then that happens. He acts tough, but I feel like he could use someone that he clicks like that with. Bitter bastard’s so lonely, he acting like a mean old man. We’d still be friends.” Twice looked down at Skeptic, that same cheery smile on his face. “I like making other people happy. That matters more to me.”

“I don’t understand you at all,” Skeptic grumbled, finding his cheeks grow hot. Why was he blushing, anyways? “You’re a strange man.”

Twice laughed. “Yeah, guess so. Nope, I’m completely normal, asshole!”

“Himiko-nee!” Hiro cheered, sitting up on the mattress he was on. After some breakfast and a bunch of errands, she’d finally had the chance to come visit him. She didn’t mean to take so long, but there was so much to do nowadays, it was hard to keep up. She wanted to do it all – she loved the Liberation Front, after all, so she wanted to do things for them – but she found herself struggling sometimes. She hadn’t ever been trained to do this. She didn’t really know what she was doing. She figured she was doing okay so far, all things considered, but she also felt as though she should do better.

All that aside, though, she was having the chance to see her little brother for the first time in years, and that made her feel incredible.

“Hiro-kun!” She ran up to him and hugged him. “How are you feeling, are you okay? You look a lot better! So cute!”

He giggled, hugging his sister. “Yeah, I don’t feel as sick now… The cow man put a needle in me!” He motioned to his wrist, where there was a bandage in the area penetrated for the blood transfusion. “And he used some of this fancy medicine, so it doesn’t hurt, either! He’s really amazing.”

“Right?!” Himiko agreed, nodding.

Ochaco popped her head in, having lagged behind Himiko’s fast-paced skip some. “Is he okay?”

“Yep! Ushihiko-kun’s real good at his job!” Himiko confirmed.

“Thanks, kid,” he said as he entered the room, a bag in hand. “Went around to some of the members with kids, think I found some things in his size. Might as well not have him walk around in bloody clothes.”

Ochaco nodded, taking the clothes from Ushihiko. “Thank you, sir…”

“Please, no need to be formal. Makes me feel old.”

Himiko grinned. “Maybe ‘cause you are old, Ushihiko-kun.”

The bull-man smacked her over the head lightly. “Then respect your damn elders, brat,” he teased, his tone not holding an ounce of maliciousness. Himiko giggled. He’d always reminded her of families on TV, the ones who loved each other and didn’t have to worry about each other so much. It was all very… comfortable.

Ochaco began going through the clothes, finding a T-shirt and jeans that seemed they would fit Hiro. She handed them off to him and helped him to the closet so he could change in private. When he closed the door, she turned to look at Himiko. Her cute face was drawn up in a serious expression, her lips downturned. “We should bring him home, then.”

Himiko felt her excitement deflate. Right. She wasn’t going to keep her little brother. She’d promised Ochaco that she’d return him… “I… guess…”

“I don’t want to!”

Both girls turned around, finding that a half-dressed Hiro had burst out of the closet to yell such at them. 

“I’m not going home! Not ever! You can’t make me!”

Ochaco and Himiko looked at each other. Himiko got on one knee to look at her brother, furrowing her brow. She knew things probably weren’t as good for her siblings when she left, but… “Did Mom and Dad do something?”

Hiro looked down. “They… They got real mean when you left, Himiko-nee. They weren’t mean before, but now they are. Why is that?”

Himiko’s face softened, guilt trampling her heart. It wasn’t often she regretted things – She lived her life the way she did to avoid that exactly – but leaving her siblings behind would be one thing that never settled right in her stomach. “They… were always mean,” she whispered. She reached out and hugged Hiro tightly, her hands shaking. If she’d brought her siblings with her, maybe Hiro wouldn’t have ended up hurt the way he did. It might have been an absurd thought, but it tugged at her conscience nevertheless. “I’m so sorry, Hiro-kun… I’m so sorry…”

Hiro held Himiko back and began to cry.

By evening, Dabi was still seething over Hawks.

How did the birdbrain even realize the connection? Did he snoop the files that Skeptic had him pass down? If that happened, though, Skeptic would have told him and done something about it. He was paranoid like that. Did he do his own research, then? If he did, what was he planning to do with the information? Hawks claimed to be on the Liberation Front’s side, but things could change at any time. 

Dabi had been a mess due to the pent up emotions. He’d ended up killing a bunch of scum he’d been planning to bring as prisoners. He snapped at some subordinates. He’d barely been able to eat dinner, turning over his food as though looking for buried treasure beneath it. Plus, there was the lasting ache of his lower body from sleeping with Hawks. He was usually able to operate just fine with it, but it coupled with his frustration into something that made him want to burn the entire headquarters down.

So, of course, he decided to drink. One thing he could agree with his father on was that now would be a good fucking time for some alcohol. The only thing, really. Dabi didn’t drink alone, wasn’t that pathetic yet, so he grabbed the most expensive thing at the open bar (Skeptic would have a hissy fit if he were there) and began on his way to Twice’s room. It was a short walk from the bar itself, and an uneventful one at that.

He didn’t bother knocking; He opened the door up wide without warning, holding up the bottle he’d gotten. “Drink with me.” It wasn’t a request.

Twice glanced up from his phone, a cigarette between his fingers. He’d been lounging on his bed, shirtless, and scrolling through whatever social media. A relaxing smoke before bed. The usual routine for him. “Okay. Don’t order me around, you fucking alcoholic!” Despite the protest, he made room for Dabi on the bed, putting his phone away. He took out his pack of cigarettes, offering one to the scarred man. “You want one?”

He took the cigarette. He activated his Quirk and the pain of cooking flesh grounded him as he put the smoke between his lips, lighting it. He took in a deep drag before releasing it in a few rings. The taste of nicotine slowly soothed a bit of his anger, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. He popped open the bourbon and offered it out to Twice. “Want the first sip?”

“Don’t mind if I do. Thanks. Better be offering, since I’m hosting.” He took the bottle with a gentle grip. He kicked back a small sip before passing it back to Dabi. “You look like shit.”

Dabi scoffed, raising an amused brow. “Thanks, man.”

“You good?”

Dabi shrugged. “Am I ever?” He put the bottle to his lips and drank as much as he could handle at once. The alcohol burned his throat in a familiar way, a welcome one. He held it out when he was done so Twice could take his next sip. 

He took a swig before replying. “Guess that’s true. You always look like a walking corpse. You seem… more drained than usual.”

“Just got an extra person I wanna kill today.”

“An extra? Don’t you already wanna kill everyone every single day, anyways?”

Dabi huffed out a raspy laugh. “Maybe. Want to kill him more than usual, then.”

“Kinda impressive, actually.” Twice shrugged, taking one more sip of whiskey before holding it out to Dabi. 

He didn’t take it. He wanted to forget about Hawks’s stupid voice and smile and the way he touched him and the way he held him. He wanted to stop feeling a million things at once – a rage at Hawks prying into his personal affairs, a sort of guilt for kicking him out, a desire, a sense of longing. He wanted his mind to be clear.

So, he tried for that through the only method he knew.

“Fuck me.”

Ochaco had decided on dropping the issue of Hiro returning back at Ushihiko’s room, ending up accompanying the Toga siblings that afternoon. It had been oddly fun. Hiro was a good kid, kind, did everything to try to make sure the older girls were having fun. He even went and built them an entire pillow fort before bed so they’d be comfortable. It was adorable, frankly. Toga had matched the boy’s energy oddly well. She’d, well, acted the opposite of a serial killer, save for the occasional creepy comment about blood and having to take a brief break to drink some at one point. 

However, Hiro was in bed now, so she couldn’t keep worrying about him. She needed to make sure he got home. Sure, things were fine now, but she couldn’t exactly let a young boy stay with Villains, right? Accommodating to guests or not, they were killers.

Besides that, she had been missing from the agency a full day now. She had sent Ryuukyuu a message about being sick and at her parents’, while she’d told her parents that she wouldn’t be at her apartment since she was busy with a travel mission with Ryuukyuu. It would be okay for a little while, but her flimsy excuses wouldn’t work forever. 

“Toga?”

The blonde perked up, looking up from the manga she was reading. Based on the art style, it was likely a shoujo. “What’s up, Ochaco-chan?”

“We need to think about getting your brother home.”

Toga tensed, averting her gaze. “Right… you’re right.”

“Is something wrong?”

Toga swallowed, biting her lip. “I…” she trailed off, the following silence becoming deafening.

Ochaco took in what she knew, Hiro saying that he’d run away and the mentions of Toga not getting healthcare, before making a guess. “Were things… bad with your parents?”

There was a long pause before she nodded slowly. “We… didn’t get along, I guess.” Her voice had lost that eager, almost childish edge, fading to something more serious and melancholy.

“Didn’t get along?”

“They hated me, I think,” Toga whispered. “I must’ve done something when I was a kid, I think? Because it was even before my Quirk developed, before I wanted to see blood… I-I… I don’t think I was good enough. They’d always have these expectations, and I could never reach them.” She sniffled a bit. “I was disappointing even before now, and then my Quirk developed, and they saw me playing with the pretty dead birds and mice around the yard, and they’d get so angry… They’d tell me to stop killing them, but I wasn’t! I-I found them that way! So I just… tried to act right, pretend I was right, and… it did help take the pressure off my siblings… if I just took it all…”

Ochaco hesitated before wrapping her arms around the killer. “You shouldn’t have to.”

“I don’t anymore. I ran away.” Toga began shaking, her face nestled against the brunette’s shoulder. “I’m a bad sister…”

“You’re not.” Toga was certainly a lot of things, but if the last few days were anything to go off of, that wasn’t one of them. The way she cared for Hiro was honestly something Ochaco had to find special. She was an only child herself, but she couldn’t imagine having that easy a time with a child so much younger than her, even if they shared blood. “I’m not going to lie and say you’re… good. You’ve done a lot of bad things. You’re amazing with your brother, though.”

The blonde looked up at Ochaco, her eyes filled with tears. “Really?”

She felt her hands tremble slightly at the pure innocence of the question. Toga seemed like an angel like this, a sad angel who just needed comfort. How was Ochaco supposed to hate her in a situation like this?

How was she supposed to be a Hero when a Villain looked like she needed so much saving?

“Really.” She hugged Toga tightly. “You’re amazing.”

Dabi was awoken in Twice’s bed by the sound of his phone ringing. He groaned, his head pounding at a harsh rhythm and an ache spreading across his entire body. Two nights in a row of sex was a bad idea, especially considering how long it tended to get with Hawks and how rough it was with Twice. Despite the pains, he felt significantly better, at least. He picked up the phone with a small sigh, palming around the bedside table for the glass of water that Twice had grabbed before falling asleep. “Yo, Dabi speaking.”

“Finished your video. Figured we could go over it together first, in case anything’s off,” Skeptic said coolly, not bothering with an introduction.

“Damn, already? You work quick.” His hand found the cup and he took a long sip.

“I’m excellent at my job.” There was a sound resembling the pouring of a drink – Coffee, likely. The man seemed to run purely on caffeine and spite. “Be here in five minutes. I have other things to do.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Dabi hung up without another word. He found some aspirin next to the cup and took a few before getting up. His legs wobbled weakly, but he caught himself on the wall before he could fall. He screwed his eyes shut, his stomach lurching. Hawks’s face was the first thing to flash across his mind, the idea of him catching him before he could fall, bringing him back to bed and taking care of him and…

Fuck, when did Dabi get so soft?

He rubbed his face, trying to snap himself out of whatever weird mood he was in. He had work to do. He began limping his way over to a pile of clothes to find something to wear. Twice’s clothes were baggy on him whenever he took them, but they would work. He found himself a wife-beater tank and some faded jeans, the usual suspects of the doubling Villain’s wardrobe. He slid them over his bare body, the scent of nicotine and whiskey filling his nose. The smell reminded him of his father, oddly had him always keeping the clothes. Perhaps that was just another level of fucked up that Dabi had. He’d always been into some weird shit.

He shook his head to clear it and began on his way to Skeptic’s office, keeping to the walls to help him walk.

When the video finished playing, Skeptic hit the spacebar on his computer to prevent it from looping. He looked up at Dabi, raising a brow. “Well?”

“It’s fucking perfect.” He grinned widely, straining the flesh around his staples. Skeptic couldn’t help but grimace at it. He’d never been particularly empathetic, but there was something about the way that Dabi’s stapled-up scars moved that made him cringe. “Surprised you went at it so hard. Thought you weren’t all that interested in it.”

“I don’t leave my projects at a low quality. Besides, once I had all the details, I could see how such a video could be helpful to our cause.” Skeptic’s eyes drifted back to the thumbnail of Dabi sitting on that couch, shirtless and ranting. An ultimatum to society about turning their backs on the present. The utter destruction of the Hero system, all in the form in one video. All it took was the story of one man to deliver such a final blow. Endeavor’s reputation would be forever destroyed – And where the Number One went, the rest would follow. “You could’ve been a politician,” he commented without thinking. The impactful way Dabi spoke reminded him of Trumpet at his more passionate rallies.

“Politics, huh?” Dabi hummed, sitting up on the desk with a small wince. (Skeptic deemed it best not to ask about the reason behind said wince.) “Nah. Don’t have the patience for that shit. Woulda end up blowing up at someone.” He examined his nails. “I need to be out on the field, doing shit. Can’t just spend my life talking people to death.”

Skeptic hummed half-heartedly, exporting the video file into a drive for Dabi. “Right…”

“Want me to thank you?” Dabi grinned, sticking out his tongue suggestively.

Heat immediately bloomed across Skeptics cheeks. The video finished its upload onto the drive as Dabi spoke, so he grabbed the drive and threw it at him. “Get out!”

Dabi cackled, catching the harddrive and heading out of the room. Skeptic rubbed his face, his thoughts now a mess thanks to the insufferable man. Why was he like this?

“...and that’s everything you should need to know,” Hawks concluded, pointing at a whiteboard with information about the Meta Liberation Army’s ideals broken down on it. He’d finally gotten back to tutoring Twice after the last chaotic couple of days. It was a nice change of pace from the constant hassle of… well, life.

“I think I get it now. Don’t make no fucking sense!” Twice nodded. Hawks decided to take the first answer as the truth, considering the voice that made it. “You don’t look so good.”

“Had a hard time sleeping,” Hawks said with a shrug, keeping up an easy smile. In truth, he’d spent most of the night replaying the incident with Dabi in his brain. The amount of times he went through it made it feel almost like a method of torture “Should be fine with a little rest.” If he could get himself to rest again. It was getting more and more difficult lately.

“Alright…” Twice tilted his head. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about, actually… No, I didn’t, go away!”

Hawks smiled, sitting down next to the older man. He automatically took up seiza without thinking, the manners drilled into him by the Commission taking over in his stress. When he realized the formality of his position, he cleared his throat and changed himself over to cross-legged sitting. He didn’t want to seem too formal or closed-off. “What is it?”

“Dabi.”

Hawks tensed, looking down. “We, uh, I don’t think I’m the best person to ask, then.”

Twice paused for a moment. “Don’t see who else would have the answer. Just wanted to know how often you two… get together.”

The Hero, to his credit, got flustered by the out-of-the-blue question. “Wh-What?”

“How often do y’all do it?”

Hawks hid his face. “I don’t know, depends… Whenever there’s time, I guess?” There would a whole week without, then one where it was every other day, depending on their schedules. They just took what they had. It was hard to keep things from escalating once they were in the same room too long. “I-I guess if we averaged it out mathematically… uh… maybe twice a week?”

“That often, huh?” Twice hummed, tapping his chin.

“Why?”

“He was being a little weirdo last night.” 

Hawks coughed. “You two, uh…”

“Yeah.” Twice rubbed the back of his neck. “Normally he’s a lot more… He was being less a whore than usual. Guess that’s one way to put it, me. He was real clingy after, too, he never wants that kind of thing. Kept talking about a bird in his sleep. Figured that maybe…” Twice sighed. “Are you two dating?”

Hawks put his hands up immediately, shaking his head rapidly. “N-No, of course not.”

“Are you… trying to?”

Hawks paused. What was he trying to do with Dabi? This had gone far beyond a honeypot at this point. What was he after? He wasn’t even sure what he was doing… “I…”

“I think… you should.”

He blinked. “Aren’t you into him?” he asked, surprised.

“I wouldn’t date the guy if you paid me. I mean, I like him as a person, and he’s attractive, but he’s not the type of person I go for romantically, you know? I guess my preferences get more specific when it comes to that than sex? Dunno if that makes sense.”

Hawks slowly nodded. He felt similarly, though it was more in reference to genders than a specific type or partner. He enjoyed sex with both genders, but the idea of dating a woman wasn’t even vaguely appealing. “I guess so.”

“I’m his friend. He’s all lonely and shit and that makes him a bitch. I want him to be happy. I’ve never seen him seem so… attached to someone.” Twice pulled up his mask to smile at Hawks. “I think it’d be good for him.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind.” His heart felt unexpectedly lighter at the idea, beating a mile per minute. He shouldn’t even be considering it, but it was Dabi, for Christ’s sake. Who wouldn’t want that chance? Besides Twice, he supposed. “What type of person do you date, then?”

Twice considered for a moment. “Guess I like kinda nerdy guys? Smart is attractive. Gimme some long hair to yank.”

“Hm. So, like Skeptic-san?”

One half of Twice spluttered, but the other came in and replied coolly, “Suppose so.”

Skeptic having an admirer? Now, that was the most unexpected thing Hawks had heard in a while.

Tomura hissed into the phone when he picked it up, “Who the fuck is it?”

“Ah, language,” Doctor Garaki chided teasingly. Tomura sat up immediately at the sound of the man’s voice. He’d promised to make an offer of more power available to Tomura after the issue with Gigantomachia. Maybe that was what this was about.

“I hit that minimum level you were talking about a while ago, yeah? Why haven’t you given the details about the new quest?” Tomura demanded, getting up from his bean-bag chair.

“I was waiting for you to recover from your injuries. It sounds as though you’re all better now?”

Tomura nodded, despite the Doctor not being able to see him. “Yeah. HP’s at max.” He yawned a bit, sleepiness tugging at his brain. He had had trouble ever since kicking Spinner out – He’d gotten too accustomed to the warmth of another’s body, the comfort of the weight. Just another way he’d become weak. Sensei would be disappointed.

“I’ll have you come around my laboratory in a few days, then?” the Doctor suggested, the sound of drumming fingers punctuating his point. “I have some preparations I need to make for your arrival beforehand.”

“I’ll be ready,” Tomura replied before hanging up unceremoniously. Frankly, Garaki gave him the chills. He’d rather not stay on the line longer than he had to. He got up and threw his phone down on the bed before sitting back at his console. He’d been doing his daily tasks around his Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. He vaguely wondered how Spinner’s island was doing. He was bad about checking in if Tomura didn’t remind him, since he was more into RPG’s…

Why am I even thinking about that? he wondered. He got rid of Spinner after that fight. He never thought about the people he made disappear before. Why was now different? Was it because he didn’t kill him? He didn’t want to kill him, though – which was admittedly rare from him. 

So, what did he want?

He wanted power, obviously. Always had wanted that. Why? Before, it was because he didn’t want to be weak. He simply wanted to be strong for the sake of it. The strong survived, so there was nothing else you needed to want for. Now, things felt a bit different. He wasn’t sure when exactly it shifted, but there were things he wanted not destroyed: The League, and the things they wanted. 

Now, he almost wanted to be strong for that purpose. Why was that? Why did his views change so much?

Weak.

But he didn’t feel as weak anymore. Why would All For One insist that this when weakness when this was the first time in his life he felt capable?

Tomura curled up, putting his head in his hands.

He wanted Spinner back. And he got what he wanted.

Ochaco watched as Toga excitedly ranted at Dabi about something or other, his face passive as he smoked a cigarette. They reminded her a bit of a big brother and little sister, in an odd way. When Toga got to be a bit too much, Dabi rolled his eyes and flicked her between the eyes. “Quit ranting, psycho. You’re giving me a headache.”

Toga scoffed. “You’ve only got a headache ‘cause you drink too much, Dabi-kun,” she countered.

Little Hiro tilted his head up at Ochaco in confusion. “Ocha-nee, does drinking too much water give you a headache? Or did he have a lot of juice?”

Ochaco covered her mouth to keep herself from letting out any squealing at the child’s innocence. It was too cute. “Uh, something like that.”

Dabi’s eyes slowly dragged to the kid, finally seeming to acknowledge his presence. “Why you got some kid with you? Looks kinda like ya, did you get knocked up when you were a kid and find your long lost baby or something?”

Ochaco found herself blushing a bit at the very suggestion of such a scandal. She wasn’t used to hearing things like that. “What—”

Toga smacked a grinning Dabi over the head for the remark. “You’re such a jerk!”

“I’ll be here all week.”

Hiro pulled on Ochaco’s sleeve to catch her attention again. “What does ‘knock up’ mean?”

“…can we please watch our language around the child?” Ochaco asked weakly, hiding her increasingly warm face in her hands. 

Dabi chuckled. “Don’t be a prude.”

“I’m not a prude!” she protested. 

“You’re just a weirdo, Dabi-kun,” Toga chided. “Thought you would know this by now.”

“Why the fuck you guys being so loud in here? I was tryna take a nap.” Shigaraki groaned, sticking his head into the common room. His red eyes fell on Ochaco, narrowing. She felt every fiber of her being tense up. “Oh, the NPC’s still here.”

“NPC?” Ochaco repeated, her eyebrows flicking up. Now that she thought of it, he seemed to use a lot of video game references. She’d heard him referred to as a man-child, but that made her think more of the tantrums he displayed rather than something like an obsession with video games. It would be endearing if he weren’t a mass murderer and actively insulting her.

He went up to Dabi, ignoring her offended tone entirely. “I thought I told you to stop smoking inside. It’s fucking gross. Lowering all our stats.” He put his fingers around the cigarette in the man’s mouth, turning it into a pile of ash. 

“Hawks says it’s hot,” Dabi commented lightly.

“Hawks is an idiot.”

Toga bounced up to Ochaco and hugged her. “Ochaco-chan, let’s go before they try to kill each other!”

Ochaco blinked. “Seriously?”

“Well, probably not, but something still might end up on fire,” Toga amended. “And Tomura-kun gets really annoying when he argues.”

“I do not.”

Ochaco looked between Dabi and Tomura. It was odd. They vaguely reminded her of some of her classmates, oddly enough. The casual fighting over friendship. The way they kept a friendly close proximity to each other despite their aggressive tones. The glares lightly rimmed with amusement. It was odd to see. Yet another thing twisting her heart about knowing she’d have to fight these people. She followed Toga out of the room, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Are you okay, Ocha-nee?” Hiro asked, his little fingers cradling her hand.

She nodded, swallowing. “Yeah, I’m okay…”

Though some might find it strange, an argument with Shigaraki would be what Dabi found would be the last step in feeling better. With a limp in his step and a good amount of his annoyance gone, he decided to get to work cleaning out some scum on the streets. 

Though a Villain himself, Dabi found most Villains to be utter trash. They were without real beliefs or values — Almost as bad as the fucking assholes acting horribly under the guise of the word Hero. No one really missed them, anyways, when he burned them to ash. He headed to the door, just to be interrupted by the feeling of a hand on his wrist.

“Dabi—”

Hawks’s voice spoiled his mood immediately. “The fuck you want, pigeon?”

The Hero sighed at the sharp tone, dropping Dabi’s arm. He stepped back, allowing the man his space. “Sorry, just… can we talk?”

“I’m doing shit,” Dabi deadpanned.

“I can come with you.”

He raised a brow. “Gonna be killing people,” he said bluntly. Hawks must have not gotten the message. “And I don’t want company that won’t be helping out.”

Hawks frowned stubbornly. “I can help.”

Dabi blinked. Sure, he knew the Hero had kills under his belt, but those were all under orders. Going out and killing on his own, mostly just for one’s own entertainment, such as Dabi did? That was unlike the Hero. “You sure about that, dove? Doesn’t seem like your scene.”

“I killed Jeanist for you.”

Dabi scoffed, leaning in closer to Hawks’s face. “That was work. This is for pleasure.”

He flushed, but stood his ground, narrowing his eyes. “I just want to talk to you. If I minded a bit of gore, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” He bit his lip, his eyes falling downward into an uncharacteristically shy expression. Dabi had never been a top, never been any good at it, but seeing the man like that almost made him want to give it a shot. “Please.”

Dabi sighed in resignation, found all his resistance somehow crumbling at the soft tone the word was spoken in. “Just… don’t get in my fucking way.”

Skeptic was accustomed somewhat to Twice invading his space — The man seemed determined to do so the entire time he knew him — but it had gotten worse in the last week. Multiple times daily, he’d find the blond in his office, chatting him up. Even Skeptic was slowly getting worn down into being amiable to brief spurts of small talk. Ever since that cursed game of truth or dare, the topic of Dabi had come up more than once… but Skpetic still hadn’t admitted to the incident a few days prior.

“Skeptic, my man! Brought you your usual! You fucking asshole, come get your coffee before I spit in it!” Twice shouted as he entered the room. 

Skeptic sighed, rubbing his temple. “Bring it to me, and lower your volume.”

“Yes, sir! Shaddup, you’re such a wet blanket.” Despite the protests, he approached Skeptic’s desk, holding out the coffee. The black-haired man took it, examining the dark liquid before taking a sip. “I think I did a Toga-chan thing today.”

“A… ‘Toga-san thing’?” Skeptic echoed, raising a brow. He set down his coffee, his eyes briefly flicking from his computer to the masked man.

Twice removed his mask, making the other man avert his gaze once more immediately. Some sort of higher power must have had too much to drink to make a man like him look the way he did. That classic rugged handsomeness didn’t fit him at all. (Skeptic could appreciate it, though, not that he’d ever say that aloud.) “I dunno, that Cupid type shit she always trying.”

“Ah.” Skeptic tapped his finger against the desk, nodding. He probably did it when he was focused on the small information gathering side project Re-Destro had given him instead of surveillance. “Doesn’t seem like something you’d specialize in.”

“It’s not. Probably fucked it up.” It was odd to hear that personality swear, was much less inclined than the other one inside his body. “I tried, though. I wanted to at least… give it a shot.”

Skeptic hummed. “I suppose…”

“Mind if I smoke?”

“Go ahead…” Usually, he’d be against it, but he didn’t feel like protesting at that moment. His mind was wandering to the bit they’d talked about Dabi before, how accepting of the entire situation Twice was. He’d never really had someone who actively tried to talk about things like that with him, have that intimate of a conversation. Most people kept their difference — His closest relation was probably Re-Destro, and that still came with a degree of separation he could never quite breach.

Maybe it was dwelling on that that caused him to blurt the next sentence. 

“Dabi-san gave me oral.”

Twice nearly dropped his cigarette at the sudden phrase. “Eh?”

Skeptic found his face heating up immediately. He felt idiotic, and that wasn’t a feeling he came upon often. He put his face in his hands, his ears filling with static. “Nevermind, pretend I didn’t say anything…”

“Was it good?” Twice calmed down quickly. He lit his cigarette and placed it between his teeth.

Skeptic hesitated before nodding, still hiding his face. “Yes.”

Twice sat up on the desk, putting his hands on Skeptic’s. He slowly pulled them away, revealing the black-haired man’s face. “You don’t gotta be embarrassed…” He grinned reassuringly, his thumbs brushing Skeptic’s wrists gently. “Don’t be a prude. I’m not gonna be weird about it. You’re the weird one. Shut up. You shut up. You’re not helpful.”

Skeptic could feel his pulse alter beneath Twice’s touch, his skin heat up. He found his eyes tracking the doubling Villain’s own blue ones, watching how the light reflected off the pale irises. “I don’t think I want to do it again,” Skeptic said after a moment. “It… It felt good, but I didn’t want it from him.”

Twice nodded. “That makes sense. You’re more a relationships kinda guy?” 

Skeptic considered the question, unsure. He never really thought about it. Romance had never been a topic at the front of his mind. He had always been preoccupied with the practical. It wasn’t really until Re-Destro helped Feel Good Inc. get off the ground that he even had time to think about such emotional, frivolous topics, and by then, he was so disconnected from the subjects he just didn’t bother.

He supposed he did want something other than just sex, though. The feeling had been great, sure, but there was this strange hole that had filled him ever since. Like there was supposed to be something after, something that was being neglected. Skeptic wasn’t even sure what to name the emotion, but it seemed to be inclined to distract him whenever he let it. However, he didn’t have any data supporting he’d like a relationship, considering he hadn’t had a real one. As such, could he really say that was the type of person he was?

Skeptic glanced down at the grip Twice had on him, strong fingers that were surprisingly gentle. “I… don’t really have too much data to make a hypothesis off of. It would be hard for me to give a conclusion truly—”

“Quit with the science bullshit and gimme a straight answer.” Twice’s grip tightened and he leaned in, nicotine smoke wafting into Skeptic’s nose. He usually detested the smell, but something about it now made him feel warm.

“I want something real,” Skeptic said immediately. The demand seemed to force his voice to work before he could even think. 

One of Twice’s hands let go of Skeptic (though the other remained) to go and remove the cigarette from between his lips. He turned his head away and blew the smoke away in a satisfying cloud before addressing Skeptic again. “Something real, huh? Didn’t take you for the romantic.” 

Skeptic’s eyes focused down on Twice’s mouth, the way that the smoke wafted out from it. “Mmh…”

Twice glanced back at Skeptic. “Do I got something on my face?”

“Uh, yes,” he lied. He reached out to pretend to wipe a stain from Twice’s face. His thumb pressed lightly into the man’s jaw, slowly stroking at the stubble-laced skin. It was rough beneath his fingers, hot to the touch.

Twice leaned into Skeptic’s hand, nuzzling up against it. “Get it?”

The former Meta Liberation Army member’s mind went blank. “Uhhh…”

Their eyes met and held each other’s attention for a long while. The moments passed in a silence that was oddly comfortable, Skeptic feeling lost in the icy blue color.

Then Twice pressed their lips together, and everything felt right. 

Hawks felt his skin prickle in anticipation as he followed Dabi down the street. The two hadn’t spoken since they left the hideout — Hawks wasn’t sure where to start, and the Villain wasn’t exactly keen on conversation at that moment. So, the Hero just trailed behind, his wings deconstructed and hid in a bag and his face covered by a mask. He did everything to hide his identity, in case anyone was watching.

“Who are you after, anyways?” Hawks asked, furrowing his brow. “You didn’t specify. Maybe I can help you keep a look-out.”

“Dunno yet.”

“You… don’t know?”

Dabi shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Looking for trash that needs cleaning up. Furthers Stain’s ideology, and blows off steam. Plus, less Villains means less potential competition for the Liberation Front. Win-win.”

“I see…” Hawks examined Dabi’s features. Based on the look in his eyes, he figured that blowing off steam was a major reason here. There was an odd sort of anticipation that filled his expression, as though he lived for the exhilaration of a kill. “Then, should I just look for Villains?” He was told to be useful, if he wanted to tag along. Might as well handle that before trying to open any sort of dialogue.

“Should work, yeah.”

Hawks nodded in understanding and removed two feathers from the backpack he carried them in. He brought them under his shoes and had them lift him up. It wasn’t the most comfortable or stable way to fly, but it was a lot less noticeable than wings. Considering his famous face, even though wings weren’t at all an uncommon Quirk, he figured that the less attention on him, the better. He began hovering upwards, heading at a slow pace across the street as to take in every person he could. It was a relatively peaceful section of town, so it seemed. Hawks wasn’t very familiar with the area, was outside his usual bounds, so he wasn’t a hundred percent on the politics of criminals there. 

His eyes finally caught onto an altercation — Two men cornering a young girl in an alley. He brought himself back to the ground and tapped Dabi’s shoulder. “Found something.”

“Lead the way, pigeon.”

“What if Hiro… didn’t go back to your parents?” Ochaco said gently.

Himiko perked up, glancing back at her in confusion. “What?”

“Your home seems like a hellish place for a child,” the Hero student said frankly. “I… don’t want to force him back into that, but at the same time, having him here just…” She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’ve seen some good people here, but it’s not as though he’ll have an easy time living here. He doesn’t have family present besides you, and you’re busy a lot with your job. So… maybe a third option’s possible?”

The Villain tilted her head, but she was open to the suggestion. She wanted Hiro to be happy. Despite the fact she’d been glad to see him again, she’d had a tough time thus far keeping up with both him and her Lieutenant duties. She wanted Hiro to have the chance to choose what kind of life he could live. She got that chance, even if she turned away the option of a “normal life” for the one she led now. She wanted to make sure he did what he wanted. School, friends, all of that was important. She couldn’t really give a complete life to him. She wasn’t a mother, and the Liberation Front didn’t necessarily offer Hiro that chance to grow the way he wanted. Maybe he’d come back to her eventually, but she needed to put what was best for him now first.

“Do you, like, have an idea?”

“Not particularly…” Ochaco sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “I just… want to do something for him. The right thing. I don’t know, he’s… sweet. He doesn’t deserve to be hurting the way you did. You didn’t deserve it, either, but I can’t go back and change that. I can at least change it for him.”

“You could keep him.” It was half a jest, half a legitimate idea. “Then I could visit all the time!”

“I’m pretty sure I’d get arrested for kidnapping before you’d have the chance,” Ochaco pointed out lightly.

“…oh, right.” She sighed, tapping her chin. “If Hiro-kun didn’t look like Hiro-kun, maybe he could stay with someone, right?”

“Is there someone here with a Quirk that could pull that off?”

Himiko considered for a moment. No one was immediately coming to mind, but… “I can check Skeptic-kun’s roster! It’s got all that smart stuff.”

Ochaco seemed to think on the name for a moment before asking, “That’s the long-haired one, right? The one always on his computer?”

“Yep!”

“He doesn’t seem like he’d let you touch his stuff…”

“Yeah, most people, he wouldn’t! We’re, like, besties, though,” Himiko declared.

Ochaco smiled with what seemed to be an almost sad edge. “You make friends with anyone, huh?”

“Is that bad?”

“No. I guess I’m a bit… envious,” she admitted. “I mean, I’m sociable enough, but I feel like I’m a step behind everyone else… Makes it hard to feel like a true friend if I’m not on their level, y’know? You’re strong, and you’ve got a personality that makes people happy, and you’re pretty, and you’re a leader, and a bunch of other things…” Her normally pink cheeks filled with even more color. “I mean… you’ve got a lot of good qualities, I guess.”

Himiko’s heart sped up. A cute girl complimented her, without her applying some sort of carefully planned mask. That was literally her biggest dream come true. “Thank you…”

Hawks and Dabi arrived on the scene of the crime quickly, since it wasn’t too far away. The point at which they barged in made it hard to tell what was motivating the attack – The two men were just yelling at her to do what she was told without specifying the prior instructions. It could have been sex, money, anything. Hawks decided not to assume without knowing the full picture; Gods knew that such a thing could lead to plenty of missteps. 

“Get the chick away first,” Dabi muttered.

“Eh?”

“I don’t kill kids.”

Hawks was about to argue that the young woman wasn’t a kid, but upon second glance, her features did look quite young. The way she dressed, all prim and proper, just gave off an older air. She was likely a middle school student, based on her build and face. “Right. One rescue coming right up.” He sent forward feathers, which easily picked her up and dragged her out of her assailants’ reach. He patted her back. “You injured?”

She shook her head.

“Run, then.”

She didn’t hesitate to comply.

Dabi nodded in satisfaction when the girl disappeared and lit up his hands with flames. “You two are scum.” He let the fire envelope the alley, though not in a way that endangered Hawks, so the perpetrators couldn’t run away. “Any final words?”

“Fuck, it’s Dabi!” one of them cried, the two spinning around.

“That’s a horrible choice,” Dabi commented drily.

Hawks stifled a small snort, though he did feel a bit of guilt for finding it humorous. He took in the faces before him, a pang of recognition slowly dawning at the back of his mind. Two Heroes – local, but relatively famous. Sure, Hawks was plenty aware of bad people being Heroes; Assassinating those people before their crimes got out was a frequent job of his. Encountering it like this, though, was somehow different. It made Hawks a bit sick to his stomach.

Why had he been killing them before? He’d never questioned his orders before, had been trained not to, but the thought suddenly intruded his mind. It didn’t solve anything. If he assassinated the bad seeds, more popped up. All it did was keep people unaware. Was anything he was doing really all that good? Sure, he saved people, but he also made sure they knew nothing of the fact that there was fault in society. It meant they kept narrow views that hurt people like Toga – He’d seen it.

Why was he a Hero, anyways?

Dabi stepped forward and launched flames in the direction of one of the perpetrators, interrupting Hawks’s thoughts. The Hero had a Quirk that caused his body to turn into paper, Hawks recalled it from his file, so he would be useless against the fire. Hawks decided to tackle the other Hero, one with a water Quirk, to the ground.

“Hero.”

Hawks drew up a large feather on instinct and drove it downward, right into the man’s chest. Those lessons the Commission drilled to him into childhood echoed in his head, telling him exactly where to aim, how to twist the blade before pulling it out and coming down again. Crimson began to splatter across the pavement, his entire body, a violent pigment that would stain his skin and clothes. He wasn’t sure how long passed before his muscles began to shake and he released the feather. He saw Dabi staring at him, jaw agape, eyes wide. It was odd to see an expression of such shock on his face.

Hawks wasn’t fully in control of his body as his bloody hands reached for Dabi’s face and drew him close until their lips pressed together in a rough kiss. Dabi reciprocated on pure muscle memory, seeming to still be processing what he’d seen. When he pulled back, Hawks mumbled five words that had been tumbling through his mind longer than he’d care to admit:

“I think I love you.”

Dabi’s eyes filled with red tears. “You… what? You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a monster.”

Hawks motioned to the body he’d just mutilated vaguely. “...I don’t think I can talk shit right now.”

Dabi scoffed out a sad laugh. “I guess not.”

“I want you to myself,” Hawks said. “I want to be selfish with you and take up every minute of your time. I want to stop being some public figure and just be me around you and let it all fall down. I don’t want to be a Hero.” He knew that Dabi at least somewhat suspected that his loyalties weren’t fully with the League, based on how he treated some information. It wasn’t going to be some big reveal for him to vocalize the truth. “I want to destroy things like you do. I want to be like you and keep you with me and make sure things are okay for you. I want to make sure the world’s a place you can be.”

Dabi gaped at Hawks, which made his sudden rush of confidence begin to wither. He looked away, feeling his face heat.

“Is that… okay?”

“You’d do all that for me?” Dabi whispered. “You… won’t leave?” He sounded shocked.

“I won’t leave,” Hawks promised.

Dabi yanked Hawks in by the collar and kissed him so hard that it felt like it would bruise.

After a dinner of Skeptic acting like a flustered schoolgirl, Twice chain-smoking, Dabi and Hawks acting so lovey-dovey it was sickening, and Toga and company being way too angsty for anyone’s liking, Tomura fled the cafeteria to try to find Spinner. He wanted to make sure things were clear before he left. Make sure no one else put their nasty hands on what was his. He needed Spinner to know where they stood.

So, he went up to Spinner’s room and opened the door without knocking.

The swordsman staring at a wall blankly, sitting up in bed. Looked like he was having an entire crisis. Tomura wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it. He decided that maybe talking would snap him out of it.

“Liz… Spinner.”

His eyes slowly went up to Tomura’s. “Oh, hey…”

Tomura had considered what to say, an entire list of questions and ways to figure out just what the hell led to them crashing and burning that day the way they did. However, all of them seemed to disappear when he saw the look in Spinner’s eyes. He’d never been any good at telling what others were thinking, but the loneliness there was screaming so loud that even Tomura could hear it.

And one phrase spilled out before he could contain it.

“I’m sorry.”

Spinner’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar sound of those words escaping Tomura’s lips. He got up and hugged Tomura immediately, so tightly that the smaller man thought he’d be crushed. “It’s okay. Just… no more secrets.”

“No more secrets,” Tomura agreed quietly. He wrapped his own arms around Spinner slowly, relaxing into the weight and warmth of the embrace.

It hadn’t been long, but he’d missed this like hell.

Shigaraki had been open about needing to leave soon. Spinner accepted that, deciding it was just good enough they wouldn’t spend the last of their time freezing each other out. 

On the day of his departure, Spinner decided to be the first to say farewell. He held Tomura like a lifeline, stroking his hair. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” Tomura rasped. He’d been vulnerable the past few days, a first from him.

“If the Doctor does anything bad, call me and I’ll–”

“I’m not a slime, lizard, I can care for myself.”

“Right…” Spinner sighed, a small pang in his heart. “I just worry about you.”

“Well, stop it. It’s weird.”

Before Spinner could retort, the others popped into the room. Toga held out a wrapped gift with her usual grin, Ochaco and little Hiro beside her. Dabi had an arm around Hawks as the two entered. Geten, Trumpet, and Re-Destro entered in their usual gaggle, the first scowling while the other two provided polite greetings. Twice and Skeptic were the last to come in, both with rumpled clothes and hair, and Skeptic bearing…

“Is that a hickey?!” Toga squealed, which caused Skeptic to splutter incoherently with a bright red blush.

“I swear to God, take it down five hundred decibels before I sew that mouth shut, psycho,” Dabi muttered, scowling in her direction.

She giggled, ignoring him entirely. She held out her present to Tomura. “Here!”

He took the box hesitantly. “What’s this?”

“A gift. Open it!”

He furrowed his brow. “Do I… rip the paper?”

Spinner sighed, stroking his boyfriend’s back. It was another reminder of how little of a childhood he had. It made him want to coddle the man to an unbelievable degree. “Yes, rip it.”

Shigaraki slowly nodded before digging two fingers into the paper and ripping it apart. Beneath was revealed a group picture of him with all the Lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front, framed in black. Toga smiled happily.

“You said you might be gone a long time, and I didn’t want you forgetting us, okay?” she declared. “So, there we are!”

Shigaraki stared down at the picture. Though he didn’t show it on his face, Spinner could tell from the way he shifted stance that he appreciated it deeply. “Sure, whatever…”

She hugged him tightly, and he patted her on the back gently as he returned it – Probably the only time he’d be returning hugs from anyone besides Spinner.

Next, Hiro walked up and pointed up at Shigaraki. “You’re scary, but Himiko-nee likes you, so you’re nice, right?”

“I’m not nice.”

“Nah, I’m sure you are!” Hiro nodded eagerly. “And nice people are, like, invincible! So you’re gonna be okay!”

Shigaraki clicked his tongue, glancing away. “Sure, kid, whatever…”

Ochaco ruffled Hiro’s hair, bowing her head. “I don’t know you too well, and I can’t exactly say I support you, but I do know that… you dying to some science experiment wouldn’t be the right way for this all to end. So…”

“We gotta have that final boss battle, yeah?” Shigaraki grinned. “I ain’t so low level to die that easily, you’ll still have your main quest.”

“Right…” She pulled Hiro off to the side so that Re-Destro and company could say their farewells.

“Come back quickly so people aren’t annoying,” Geten muttered. The closest to affection anyone besides Re-Destro would get.

“We’ll be sure to keep things running smoothly while you’re gone. Please relax and trust that things will be perfect for you when you come back,” Trumpet said, smiling.

“We eagerly await your return. Please be rest assured that we’ll continue your ambitions for the next few months in your stead,” Re-Destro finished.

Shigaraki nodded. “You’re all pretty useful party members, I guess. Better do what your levels say you can.”

Dabi, Hawks in tow, approached and flicked Shigaraki’s forehead. “Ay, nerd, don’t think I’ve forgotten about that thousand yen you owe me. Go Plus Ultra or whatever so you can get back here quick and pay me back.”

Hawks smacked Dabi over the head. “Dude.”

“Maybe I’ll go slower just to spite you,” Shigaraki deadpanned.

“Then I’m gonna start charging interest.”

The banter would go on some time before Hawks yanked Dabi away with an apologetic smile, allowing Twice to speak. He didn’t have any words, though, just scooping Tomura into a giant hug. It seemed to convey enough, based on the way Shigaraki sniffled. Twice patted his back before letting Skeptic have his turn.

“I’ll… keep tabs to make sure the Doctor doesn’t play foul,” Skeptic muttered, looking away.

“Good,” Shigaraki replied simply, nodding. He hid himself in Spinner’s arms before whispering one simple phrase, directed at the entire room: “Thank you.”

It was rare enough from him that it echoed through the room heavier than a full speech.

The day after Shigaraki’s farewell party, Ochaco found herself being led to a small apartment by Toga. The Villain said that she’d found a solution to the issue of where Hiro would stay, that they’d be meeting the person in charge of being sure of that here. Ochaco found herself met with a mix of emotions. There was a sense of relief, knowing Hiro would be safe, but also some form of sadness. She didn’t want to ally with herself with the League or anything, not really. However, she’d miss some of it. Especially Toga. She was special.

“Right here!” Toga said cheerfully, opening the door. On the other side would be revealed two older men. One Ochaco would recognize as Giran, from photos Toga had, but the other was a mystery. “Hiya, Giran-kun!”

“Nice to see you, Toga.” He inclined his head at Ochaco. “And it’s nice to meet you, little lady.”

“...you as well, I guess…” Ochaco glanced around the dingy apartment.

Giran motioned to the second man. “This is Tanaka Onotake. His Quirk allows him to make small permanent changes in a person’s appearance – Raise cheekbones, change hair color, straighten teeth, that sorta thing. He’s recently started being able to alter fingerprints, too. Makes him desirable in certain markets. We can change up the kid physically enough to not get detected.”

Toga smiled. “Thanks!” She began digging in her sweater for her wallet. “How much, by the way? You didn’t mention the price!”

“On the house, sweetheart. Y’all saved me from a pretty nasty fate.” He held up a hand without fingers as though to punctuate the point, though Ochaco didn’t have context to know how exactly it achieved that. “I owe you one.” He glanced at Ochaco and Hiro. “Besides, a friend of the League’s a friend of mine.”

Toga blinked. “You sure? You don’t do free…”

“Stop sneering at kindness and take the win.”

“Fine…”

Hiro pointed up at Giran. “Grandpa?”

Giran snickered. “Nope.”

Ochaco sighed. “Hiro-kun, that’s rude.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Tanaka popped his knuckles. “Alright, kid, sit down.”

“Will it hurt?” the little boy asked.

“It might tickle.”

Hiro considered this response before complying, sitting on the bed. Tanaka got on one knee and put his hands on Hiro’s face. Before Ochaco’s eyes, his features began to shift. It wasn’t anything extreme – Ochaco could still see the Hiro beneath the changes – but it was certainly enough to make him seem like a different person to those who didn’t know him. Darker hair with a bit of a curl, a bit wider of a nose, slightly fuller lips… 

“There, I think that should be sufficient,” Tanaka declared. He took a mirror out of his coat and gave it to Hiro to see himself.

Hiro tilted his head, seemingly considering his new look. “I think it’s kinda cool.”

“I’m glad.”

“Now, the matter of the memories…”

“Memories?” Ochaco asked, finally speaking up. 

Giran nodded. “With some Trigger, my Quirk’ll be strong enough to erase full weeks’ worth of memories, and plant fakes. It should be fine, for our purposes.”

Ochaco whipped her head around to face Toga. She hadn’t been told anything about her memories being tampered with in this plan. Sure, there was a mention of it being possible when she first came to the hideout, but she didn’t think it would truly happen. “Toga…?”

“We should all live how we want, that’s what I think,” Toga said. “And you wanna live like a Hero! But, you seem sad, thinking about doing Hero work every since you came here. I think it’s ‘cause you learned about us too much? But you don’t seem to wanna change sides, you still wanna live as a Hero. And if you want that, that’s good for you! I want you to be happy! So, I’ll make it so you can still be happy living the way you want, okay?!”

Ochaco started shaking her head. As much as the memories hurt, she didn’t want to just get rid of them. She’d learned a lot in the time she’d spent with the League. She didn’t want to throw it away, throw this time with Toga away. “Wait, wait, wait…”

Toga smiled and hugged Ochaco. “And you can take of Hiro and you can be happy! And then we can maybe be friends all over again later! Wouldn’t that be fun?!”

“Toga…” Ochaco cradled Toga’s face. “I don’t want to just… Get rid of this.”

“You want to be a Hero, though.”

“I mean, yeah…”

“And knowing too much about us while being a Hero would make you sad, right?”

Ochaco sighed, looking away. “Sure, but…”

“Do you think you can work as a Hero right if you’re that sad?”

The girl paused. The Villain wasn’t exactly wrong. If she entered the field with this sort of doubt, she’d be bound to mess up. “I… you’re right, but…”

Toga smiled. “Let’s have a good goodbye first, then!”

Ochaco tilted her head. “Hm?”

Toga kissed her. She wasn’t sure what to do at first, her body frozen. She slowly began to melt, though, mimicking the way Toga’s lips moved against her own and hugging her so tight that her muscles shook. It was a long kiss, a slowly growing passion that consumed Ochaco enough that she didn’t notice Giran’s hand envelop her head.

The world went blank as her memories faded away.

“You’re sure you’re ready for this?” Dabi asked. “We can wait another day if you want…”

“I’m fine, really. The sooner, the better.” Hawks kissed Dabi’s cheek, smiling. “I want to do this. It’s… going to be my first step, making things different.”

“I think your first step was brutally stabbing a man to death in an alley, but–”

Hawks smacked Dabi over the head. “Shush.”

Dabi laughed a bit, rubbing the afflicted spot. “Nasty pigeon.”

“You’re just mean.”

There was a short silence before Touya said, “I’m… proud of you, Keigo. And don’t expect me to say it again, because it’s corny and I won’t.”

Keigo laughed a bit. “Thanks…”

“I’m ready to record when you two are done,” Skeptic drawled, wanting to hurry things along. Keigo nodded, recognizing the fact that he had other things to do. Touya patted his butt lightly, grinning.

“Break a leg.”

Keigo huffed and sat down on the couch – the same couch Dabi recorded a video, admitting his identity. One that still had another story to tell.

“Rolling now,” Skeptic informed him.

Keigo took in a deep breath before speaking.

“My name is Takami Keigo. You know me as Hawks, probably. And I’ve got a story to tell you all.”