"Shove over." Hawks looks up from him phone and nearly drops it on his face in surprise. There stands Dabi in a pair of baggy sweats and a tight black tank top. Water drips down from his dark hair and runs down his shoulders.
"What?" Dabi pushes Hawks' wings over and falls into the bed, "Uh, what the fuck are you doing?" Dabi's back is turned to him, Hawks isn't sure if maybe it's because how closely together they're squashed in Hawks' humble double sized bed or maybe because he's never taken the time to really take a look at his fiery room mate, but for the first time Hawks notices the broad expanse of Dabi's shoulders. Or the gradual dip in his torso that tapers off to his hips, hidden from beneath blankets. Hawks certainly doesn't catch himself staring at the strip of smooth and pale skin peeking out from between Dabi's tank top and sweat pants. He averts his gaze and shifts over closer to the wall, allowing more wing room for himself.
"Your sofa reeks of grease."
"Well I wonder why." Dabi flips over on his back, still not looking at Hawks and instead focuses his glare at the ceiling. Water droplets roll off of his hair and collects in the pillow Dabi stole.
"Has anyone ever told you that your sarcasm sucks?" Hawks fluffs his feathers in annoyance and scowls at him.
"My sarcasm is a gift." He hears a snort and a mumbled reply all too quiet for Hawks to pick up.
"What?" Dabi's answer remains silent and just to annoy the man, Hawks stretches out his wings, letting a few of his feathers whap across Dabi's scarred face. Dabi grabs a handful of his feathers and pushes them away.
"Will you fucking stop?" He finally turns his head and glowers over at Hawks, his aqua eyes flash with anger. Hawks bats his own eyes and smiles.
"Well, clearly this bed ain't big enough for the both of us, compadre. Maybe you should go back to the sofa, yeah?"
"No." Dabi growls out, "I don't want to wake up in the morning and have damn acne from all that shitty grease." Hawks remains quiet for a heartbeat.
"I mean, maybe acne would be an improvement for your face... Wait, can you even get acne on your scars? Are they even scars?" Dabi narrows his eyes at Hawks and turns to his side again.
"Shut the fuck up. Don't test my patience, chickenshit."
"Oooh, chickenshit. I never heard that one before." Hawks grumbles to himself before turning his attention back to his phone.
A small tug on his pant leg draws Hawks' attention. He pulls his headphones away and looks down, a small boy with wide and innocent eyes stares back up at him with awe.
"Mister, your wings are so cool!" He feels himself smile and bends down to match the young boy's height.
"Thanks! They are pretty cool aren't they?" He spreads them out to their full length, both of them watch as his shadow stretches far across the sidewalk. The boy jumps up and down, nodding excitedly. A tail from behind him thrashes from side to side. When he laughs, Hawks spies a row of sharp and pointed teeth, some of them missing. Kid must be around four or five Hawks guesses.
"They're so red! That's my favorite color you know?!" Hawks laughs and ruffles his hair.
"Oh really? That's my favorite color too!" For Hawks, the color red symbolizes a new beginning like the sunrise on a clear morning. How can someone be down in the dumps when looking upon such a bold and strong color such as red? Red thrives off of energy, it's a radiant color that shouts from the top of buildings "This is me! I am here and I'm ready to kick ass!" The kid's mom notices her son and quickly apologizes to Hawks as she bows and flushes when she realizes who he is.
Hawks thinks to himself about what he would give to be out of the Top Ten spotlight as he reassures her that everything is okay. He watches them walk away, the young boy turns around and waves, Hawks laughs and waves back.
Most of his patrols consists of being stopped by fans, he's since grown used to being asked to partake in selfies and autographs and idle chit chat. He's always enjoyed the extra attention, Hawks actually thrives off the attention of his adoring mass of fans and he doesn't even mind the army of reporters that follow him, like moths to a streetlamp.
He knows that they have a job to do and he can respect that. Everyone has to find a way to put food on the table somehow. Even if that means being annoying and following other people just trying to do their own respective jobs. Nonetheless, he still makes sure to find time to joke around with them. How he's seen other heroes treat them, just doesn't feel right for Hawks. Heroes have managed to get as popular as they are because of press and fans.
Not saying that the press is completely innocent.
Quite the contrary in fact. He's still salty over his latest "scandal". Now he can't even take his good friend, Mirko, out to eat at their favorite overly greasy and unbelievably cheap fast food stand without having the paparazzi stomp around demanding about how long have they been dating and if they plan on being engaged anytime soon.
Or the time before that when he was caught with a cigarette and a reporter had the gall to ask "Is that a weed?" and then pepper him with questions- threatening to call the police if he refused to answer the questions. Of course the next day, he was featured in the front of all the major newspapers with titles as ridiculous as "The Mile High Hero: Hawks! Exclusive interview on pg. 4!" Hawks actually has to admit that he got a kick out of that one, even if that's not what mile high really meant. His manager, sadly, hadn't found it as funny. If you ask Hawks, it seems that reporters these days are losing their creative spark. Shame really.
"Oh my god! It's Hawks! Can we get a selfie with you? We love you so much!" Hawks shakes his thoughts away and turns around to see a gaggle of giggling young women, all with their phones out and full of smiles and blushes. He smiles back and agrees.
Just another day in the life of being the Number Two Hero.
"So is this what heroes do all day?" Hawks lowers his waving hand and frowns, turning around he spies Dabi leaning nonchalantly against a brick wall of a building. He's wearing a surgical mask and a scarf thrown over his trench coat but there's no mistaking it's him with his signature bored drawl and the glint of his turquoise eyes. Hawks takes a few casual steps towards him.
"Is this what villains do all day? Stalking heroes?" Dabi snorts and rolls his eyes, pushing away from the wall. He nods his head in the direction of the alley and Hawks lets out a sigh as he follows the villain.
Once they've made enough twists and turns through dark alleyways that would make anyone's head spin, Dabi stops and faces Hawks. He pulls the surgical mask down and over his chin and studies Hawks with his striking eyes.
"Shigaraki wants a meeting with you today. I've come to take you there."
"Aww, and here I thought you were taking me to lunch," Hawks looks around, "To that lovely dumpster for two over there." Dabi says nothing for a moment and Hawks mentally kicks himself in the ass, why oh why was he cursed with no brain to mouth filter? He deduces that the world may never know that answer.
"If you're that hungry..." He offers Hawks a sneer, his surgical staples glinting off of the sunlight, "I've seen your filthy eating habits, I'm sure the dumpster would be a five star restaurant for you."
"Wow! Rude!" Dabi takes out his phone and sends off a quick text, within seconds a dark swirling vortex appears from behind Dabi. Hawks swallows nervously as he stares into it, too captivated by the dark purples. His daze is broken as Dabi snaps his fingers.
"We don't got all day. Come on." Hawks continues to watch the mist and doesn't move. Dabi crosses his arms and cocks his head to the side, eyebrow rising in curiosity.
"Don't tell me that the great Number Two Hero is scared of a little warp gate?" Hawks' silence makes Dabi grin, "Well I'll be damned." He makes his way around Hawks and stands behind him. Two hands rest on top of Hawks' shoulders as Dabi leans down, the smell of bonfires during a warm summer night and a hint of stale tobacco smoke fills Hawks' nose.
"Nothing to be afraid of little hero." Dabi's deep voice murmurs into his ear with a small chuckle before roughly pushing him into the warp gate.
He falls on his ass in the middle of a bar, Hawks hears a girl giggle from somewhere behind him and he picks himself up as Dabi lazily steps through the gate. Dabi barely glances down, "Smooth landing. I thought all little birds were supposed to be good at their landings." He snickers as he walks past him.
"Well normally little birds aren't thrown into a fucking warp gate!" Hawks mutters as he brushes the dust from his pants.
"Stop being so over dramatic. No one was thrown through the damn warp gate. You won't be getting a pity party here so just shaddup." Hawks looks around the bar and sees a couple of familiar faces. He recognizes Toga and Twice sitting together at one table, both intently watching him while whispering to each other. He sees an overgrown lizard and a curious masked man in a top hat playing some sort of card game. Dabi is sitting at one of the bar stools chatting idly with Kurogiri. Besides that small handful of villains, no one else is in the room, Hawks clears his throat.
"Thought I was here for a meeting?" Kurogiri doesn't look up from the cup he's polishing and lets him know that Shigaraki currently predisposed and will be arriving any moment now and that he should make himself at home. Easier said than done, Hawks thinks to himself begrudgingly.
"Hey! Bird man!" A gruff voice cuts through the room and he hears another giggle from Toga, "Over here, I don't think that we had the chance to meet yet." He sees the lizard waving him over and he obliges.
"You and me will get along juuuust fine, yeah? You a bird, me a lizard. Hell, we're like two peas in a pod!" He laughs and slams down his drink. Hawks joins in with the laughter and takes a seat.
"Hell yeah my dude. We gotta stick together against these boring humans." The lizard snorts and shoots back the rest of his drink as the masked man shakes his head.
"You really don't have to encourage him, he's obnoxious enough by himself." He offers Hawks a gloved hand, "I am Mr. Compress."
"Hawks." He shakes Mr. Compress's hand, noting the limp handshake.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Hawks."
"Please," Hawks waves his hand in the air, "Mr. Hawks was my father, call me Hawks." The yet-to-be-named lizard man claps Hawks on the back and guffaws.
"I like this one! I'm Spinner by the way!" Before he has a chance to reply, the door is thrown open and none other than Shigaraki slumps into the room. Hawks himself had only met Shigaraki one time prior and being interrogated by Shigaraki was an experience that Hawks wouldn't wish upon his enemy.
Who happen to be subordinates with Shigaraki in the first place anyway. Besides that point, there's just something about him that's too off putting.
Between the multitude of hands clasped on to him and the dull red eyes that shine with rage through between the fingers of the hand firmly lodged on his face and that neck scratching. Something just screams ticking time bomb. It reminds Hawks of a spoiled brat. A spoiled brat that can kill with a touch of his hand. A deadly combination.
Shigaraki slinks past Hawks' table and sits down in his normal spot at the bar, the room falls quiet and Shigaraki turns around and faces Hawks.
"I was told that you had a meeting with your boss the other day." Hawks runs his finger against the rim of the table, not breaking eye contact with Shigaraki.
"Yeah, I said exactly what I was told to say." Shigaraki grunts and nods his head slightly. The red gleam of his eyes remain unblinking.
"So tell me why you haven't told us any of their major projects." It comes out as a demand and Hawks doesn't move as he watches Shigaraki slowly stand up, "Tell me why, we're wasting our time on you when you're not even giving us anything to work with." Hawks feels himself grow cold as Shigaraki makes his way over to him.
"Tell me, hero," He spits out, "Tell me, why I shouldn't just take care of you right now. I'm growing impatient of this waiting game." Hawks still can't move as he sees one of Shigaraki's hands reaching out towards him. The only thought running through his head is how disappointed he is in himself that he's going to die while there's so many fast food stands out there that he's never had the chance to eat at.
"Shigaraki." A deep voice sighs and the hand pauses, a familiar scarred hand taking hold of Shigaraki's elbow, "Think about it. If all of a sudden we start showing up everywhere, they're going to know that there's a rat in their ranks. Look what happened during their little training camp, they figured out that there was someone leaking information and changed plans on us. This is going to take time. They're already on edge after USJ and the training camp, they're going to be overly cautious. We can't go disintegrating him quite yet, he's still useful." Shigaraki rips his arm away from Dabi and doesn't break eye contact with Hawks.
"You're just trying to cover for yourself because you're the one that recommended him. I should save myself the headache and get rid of the both of you. All you do," He glowers at Hawks, "Is waste time and money without even anything to show for." Finally turning around to face Dabi, he points a single finger at him, "And you're just as bad. All you do is sit around and drink away the good alcohol." Dabi shrugs and curls his lip into a thin smirk.
"What can I say? I'm a man of good taste. Plus, I was the one that led the vanguard and captured that blond asshole."
"Oh how could I forget?" Shigaraki's voice is dripping with venom, "How could I forget that night when we lost three of our men and that brat got away from us at the end."
"Just remember that he slipped through your fingers, not mine in the end. Don't go pinning your failures on me." The room is filled with static as the other villains and Hawks stare between Shigaraki and Dabi. Shigaraki thrusts his hand onto the chair next to Hawks and it slowly crumbles to ash, Hawks blinks nervously at the two men standing before him.
"Look," Hawks starts to talk- trying to dispel the growing tension, "I'll arrange a meeting with the Number One Hero, Endeavor." For a brief second, Dabi's eyes flicker over to Hawks with an unreadable expression before turning his focus back to Shigaraki, "What if I offer to team up with him and after he accepts we can find a way to bring him down. Not only will the public's trust in the hero society crumble but I'll also be promoted to Number One where I'll be in on all of the plans. They'll never expect the Pillar of Hope to be the traitor in the end. Gotta strike them where it hurts. After we bring them down from the inside, we can shape society however we want and there'll be no way to stop us. It'll be a win-win situation." Dabi crosses his arms and his smirk grows wider as he stares down Shigaraki.
"There, look, our little hero can think pretty fast on his feet. That's a pretty good idea. Better than what we usually think of. Why don't we let him book a meeting with Endeavor? The public already doesn't like him, bringing him down will only prove to them how weak the heroes already are without their precious All Might. Think of the chaos," Dabi pauses and spreads out his arms, "Your name will be whispered across the country with fear. Villains will want to be you, heroes will cower before you. The system will fall apart at the seams."
"Stick it to the man! Fuck the system!" Twice shouts, pumping one of his fists up in the air. Toga giggles before raising her own fist up as well. Hawks hears a sigh and looks over at Kurogiri who shakes his head and wipes down the bar counter without saying anything.
"Yeah! Fuck the system!" Mr. Compress and Spinner join in on their chants and Shigaraki scratches at his neck irritably.
"Fine. Schedule a meeting with Endeavor. Maybe this time you'll prove yourself useful to us." He says nothing more and makes his way back to the door he entered from. Exactly proving Hawks' analogy of Shigaraki acting nothing more than a little child.
Dabi turns his attention down to Hawks, his turquoise eyes show no emotion. He reaches into his pocket and draws out a cigarette offering one to Hawks who gratefully takes one. A small wisp of blue fire appears at the tip of Dabi's index finger and Hawks leans forward and puffs on the cigarette, igniting the tip. Dabi lights his own cigarette, blowing a ring up towards the ceiling.
"Welcome to The League, little bird." Hawks stares at the azure flame as it slowly dissipates. He finds himself thinking that if asked now by the little boy what his favorite color was, he'd answer with blue.
For blue stands for the crash of the ocean's waves. A soothing color that calms down the once endless energy of red. Blue, the color that can keep himself grounded. A color that he finds himself getting lost in, A color that threatens to drown Hawks in the endless depths of its dangerous beauty and he wouldn't fight against its currents as it drags him down deeper. Yes, Hawks thinks to himself. Blue is definitely his new favorite color.
Not for the first time in his life, Hawks wonders what trouble he finds himself in.