Chapter Text
Hawks pushed open the door to his new apartment, thoroughly exhausted. Trying out jobs outside of hero work had seemed fun at first, but after today, he decided working eight hour waitering shifts was not something he was interested in doing. He’d call his boss and quit this weekend, and hopefully someone would cover his shifts for next week so he wouldn’t have to step into that godawful restaurant again. Hell, he’d even pay one of his soon-to-be-past coworkers to take those shifts. He was trying to come up with another type of job he could try out that didn’t involve any previous experience, because literally the only thing he’d ever had experience with was being a hero, when he froze in his own doorway, his keys still hanging in his hand.
“Oh. So you live here.”
Hawks stared dumbly, mouth agape. Because standing in his kitchen, munching on handfuls of cereal like he owned the place, was Dabi. But, for obvious reasons, that was completely impossible. Obvious reasons, like the fact that Dabi was essentially dead, having been de-aged to become seven year old Todoroki Touya, who bore only a cursory semblance to the scarred villain currently leaning against Hawks’ kitchen counter.
“Uh,” Hawks began, not convinced in the slightest this wasn’t some kind of exhaustion- induced fever dream. “What are you doing here?”
Dabi shrugged, tossing another handful of cereal into his mouth and then saying with his mouth full, “Beats me. Just woke up here a couple hours ago.”
“So you woke up in a random apartment and you just...stayed?” Hawks asked, finally stepping through his threshold and closing the door behind him. He walked over to Dabi cautiously, because this was either his own hallucination or someone with a shapeshifting quirk. And there was a limited number of people with shapeshifting quirks who would know enough about Hawks’ relationship with Dabi to choose him of all people to infiltrate Hawks’ apartment. Hawks knew Toga could be cruel, the lack of wings protruding from his back was evidence enough of that, but he still hadn’t thought she would do this.
“It’s a nice apartment,” Dabi said, uncaring. Then, he looked Hawks up and down, lips curling into a smirk, and if this really was Toga then Hawks was going to throw up. “Although, now that I know it’s yours…” He tossed the cereal back onto the counter, and despite all his reservations, Hawks had to acknowledge that being so nonchalant about waking up in a random apartment was very on-brand for him. Dabi stepped forward and Hawks stepped back. Dabi rolled his eyes. “What, let me guess, you think I tracked you down? I didn’t even know you had a second apartment, so you can chill out. Your guess is as good as mine as to how I got here.”
“I don’t have a guess,” Hawks lied. “I feel like the burden of proof is on you right now.”
Dabi rolled his head back, like rolling his eyes wasn’t quite enough to convey his annoyance. He advanced on Hawks again, and this time Hawks didn’t step back, because whoever this person was, Hawks figured he’d do well to keep them from knowing exactly how suspicious he was. Dabi placed a delicate hand under Hawks’ chin, tilting his face up to meet his own. “Do you really want to keep investigating this? Or are there other things you’d rather be doing right now?”
And that was what convinced Hawks. Not the words Dabi said; they were characteristic of him, sure, but they were also generic enough that anybody who knew about the nature of their relationship could have spit them out. What convinced Hawks was the feel of Dabi’s hand on his face, ice cold fingers situated firmly under his chin. Toga couldn’t replicate quirks, and no one had skin as unnaturally chilled as Dabi, save Touya, of course.
Hawks laughed suddenly, definitely coming as a result of the shock. Dabi actually looked a little offended, like he was upset Hawks found his advances laughable. Which was even more funny, so it made Hawks laugh even more. He’d forgotten how funny Dabi’s face could be, when he actually bothered to make any sort of expression. Dabi’s hand fell away, but before he could put any more distance between the two of them Hawks grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a desperate hug. He fisted his fingers tightly in Dabi’s jacket and buried his face in his shoulder to try and hide the wetness in his eyes. Dabi was not hugging him back. He was rigid and Hawks could feel his hands ghosting up and down Hawks’ back like he didn’t know what to do with them, but Hawks couldn’t find it in him to care. Because he was actually here . He was here, with Hawks, when Hawks had thought he’d never see him again.
But before the happiness currently forming in his gut could spread, Hawks had a thought that sent ice running through his veins. He pulled back to stare a startled-looking Dabi in the face.
“I have to--there’s someone I have to--don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back!” Hawks said, finally releasing Dabi and rushing off to the bathroom. Once he was in, he closed the door and locked it, pulling out his phone with shaking hands. He punched at his most called contact and waited with baited breath as it rang once, twice, three times before it picked up.
“ Hawks, what is it-”
“Where’s Touya?” Hawks asked, cutting Aizawa off.
There was a beat of silence on the other line. “ He’s playing in his room--why?” Aizawa asked, but Hawks heard shuffling that meant he was moving, because he must’ve heard the urgency in Hawks’ tone.
“I--I just--please put him on the phone right now, I need to talk to him.” He just needed to hear Touya’s voice. Because if Dabi was out there, in his apartment, then what did that mean for Touya?
“ He’s right here,” Aizawa said, sounding relieved.
“Please put him on the phone,” Hawks said again. He couldn’t believe it until he heard it for himself.
A second later, a new voice said, “ Hi Hawks, Dad said you wanted to talk to me?”
Hawks slumped against the sink, letting out a shaky breath as about seventy five percent of his nervous energy drained out of him. “Yeah, kiddo, I just wanted to say hi,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t betray any of the pure panic he’d felt earlier.
“ Uh, okay,” Touya said in his voice that meant he thought you were being weird, “ well hi. When are you coming over again? Dad says you’re busy but you don’t even have your wings, so I don’t know what you’re--hey!”
A moment later, Aizawa’s voice came through the phone speaker. “ Sorry about that, we’re still learning sensitivity.” Even though he couldn’t see them, Hawks could tell that the last part was directed more at Touya than him. He could imagine Touya rolling his eyes or sticking out his tongue. “ What was that about? What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Hawks said immediately, even knowing it was in no way convincing. “Don’t worry about it--just a bad day, got freaked out over nothing. I think I’m done with the service industry, by the way. Thought I’d be good at it, but I think you’ve gotta have boobs to really rake in that tip money.”
“ You’re trying to distract me. What’s wrong?”
“Aizawa! You’re a married man! Boobies shouldn’t be distracting you-”
“ Keigo-”
“Listen, man, I gotta go, tell the kids I’ll be around later, ‘kay? Lots of love, see you later, bye!” Hawks hung up. That had gotten away from him a bit at the end.
He took several more deep breaths. The harsh light in his bathroom made him look even more tired than he felt. He looked like he’d just gotten off a shitty eight-hour shift. Hawks didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but it was kind of unfair that probably for the first time in months he’d actually want to look hot, he looked like shit. Then he reminded himself Dabi had been ready to jump his bones just about the second he’d walked in, so he clearly didn’t think he looked too terribly attractive.
Hawks left the bathroom to find Dabi standing close enough to the door that Hawks had to suspect he was eavesdropping, or at least attempting to. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been relieved to see he was still there.
“What’s going on,” Dabi said. The previous playfulness was gone from his voice, but Hawks wanted that back. Luckily, he knew how to get Dabi to do what he wanted. Or, he used to. He was maybe a little rusty, and he knew his memories of him were biased, at this point.
But he gave it a shot. He stepped up to Dabi, close enough that it would take only a couple of inches to close the space between them. He tried to throw on the smirk that he knew drove Dabi crazy enough to make him kiss it off of him, but found he couldn’t. The smile he actually ended up giving was genuine. He looked up at Dabi, and he still wasn’t sure if he was having some kind of mental breakdown, but if he was, he was going to milk it for all it was worth, because even if he did absolutely nothing, he’d still be heartbroken to find it wasn’t real. And if this was just a figment of his imagination, then that meant when Hawks reached up to pull him down for a kiss, he’d go willingly. And that meant that when Hawks took his time, kissing him slowly and gently, relearning every bit about what it meant to kiss him, Dabi would let him. Hawks dragged Dabi to his bedroom, fully prepared to do everything he’d never gotten the chance to before.