Work Text
There is one rule that has remained the same through Dabi’s existence: never tell anyone about his past. One wrong word, and all the skeletons he thought that he managed to shove in his closet would burst out, and he’d be done.Sometimes, though, Dabi wanted to talk about who he used to be. Through his vague mentions of living with a terrible father and occasional slip-ups when taunting Shouto, he knew that this silence was a dam about to break from all of the pressure. But that couldn’t stop him from hiding in plain sight- after all, who would think that the Todoroki brother who ‘suddenly disappeared’ would re-emerge years later with a vengeance? Not even his family knew, and Dabi was inclined to keep it that way forever.He walked past the heavily populated city, towards the rougher side of town where he was told he was going to meet an informant. He wondered who it would be- some policeman who thought that heroes were taking all the credit, or a government worker whose family was killed during a fight. Those were the typical people, full of rage but not much helpful information. Dabi really regretted annoying Shigaraki so much, ever since he got stuck on the do-the-useless-fucking-jobs crew with some of the dumbass wannabe-villains. He didn’t know what he must have done to the guy in a past life that would make him target Dabi, and honestly? He didn’t really care.The ground underneath his feet was rough, pieces of broken street that no one thought to fix stretching out as far as he could see. He remembered this area, vaguely. It was where one of the smaller fights took place- with a Nomu and some new heroes. The creature had absolutely destroyed them, leaving practically nothing that could identify their bodies. Some of the street was broken during the fight, and it looked like the government had never gotten to making it safe for citizens- after all, it was only used by the poor ‘scum’ the government made a habit of ignoring. Dabi remembers back when he was homeless, when his skin was even more disastrous, with red hair that he couldn’t afford to cover up and raw, fresh scars all over his body.He turned around a street corner, moving from the homes of people working hard to get by and into the abandoned warehouses, populated by those without a home and hiding from the law. Finally, he reached his location. The building was crumbling to pieces, so marked up with graffiti that it was impossible to tell who used to own it. He reached towards the door handle, trying to force his way into the warehouse. Unfortunately for Dabi, the handle refused to budge, and he was forced to burn his way through the wall. That… probably wasn’t a great idea, looking back, considering structural damage and whatnot. But whatever. It wasn’t like he’d need the building for very long anyways.His contact was hidden in shadows, covering up any and all unique features, but the closer he got, the more confused Dabi was. This person was so… familiar.It wasn’t until the man turned around that Dabi figured out the identity of his contact. And (to sum it up quickly) what the fuck.Standing right in front of him, with hands in his pockets and an uncomfortable look on his face was Hawks, the current number two hero. Dabi wasn’t entirely sure what was happening anymore, but Hawks looked like he had something to say that didn’t involve the typical ‘punch first, ask questions later’ mentality of heroes.“I can tell you want to say something, so just spit it out.”Dabi had no idea what was taking the man so long to respond. Nerves? The knowledge that there was no turning back from this decision? Some kind of unreported speech impediment? He clearly wasn’t going to talk anytime soon, so Dabi took it upon himself to force a start to the conversation.“Okay, so it looks like you’re too uncomfortable to talk to me. Is it the face? It’s usually the face that gets people. I’m going to take this moment to assume that you’re my contact, correct?”Finally, the hero spoke up.“Yes. I’m your contact. I have information. On the heroes.”His speech was obviously unnatural. It sounded so rehearsed, far too rehearsed to be from someone truly dedicated to destroying the current state of society. Hawks was just another mole, ready to spill some (mostly inconsequential) information in exchange for important plans so that the heroes could get the upper hand. But somehow, Dabi didn’t particularly feel like calling him out on it that day. To be honest, the pathetic attempt at villainy was just far too hilarious to stop listening to.“Cool.”Dabi tried to sound as unaffected and calm as possible, but he was so focused on trying not to laugh that he felt his eye twitch a bit. Hawks probably wouldn’t notice, however. It wasn’t like Dabi’s burnt skin was capable of being very expressive anyways. Nothing about the situation was natural, so Dabi decided to lighten the mood a bit.“So, I heard you have some stuff to tell me? Information that could change society as we know it? Because if you do, you’d better start talking. Unless, of course, you want to leave here as burnt chicken.”Hawks began to speak, informing Dabi of the heroes and their future plans, going into detail in such vague ways that it was impossible to tell how he thought that he was being successful at lying. It was kind of cute, in a sad way.As Hawks stumbled over his words, trying to give a reason as to why he would want the destruction of hero society, Dabi made a decision. He was going to let the bird go off free, at least for a bit. Sure, he was a terrible liar. Sure, Dabi wasn’t certain as to whether or not the information was correct. But one thing Dabi could be certain of was how infuriated Shigaraki would be once he learned that his ‘informant’ was actually a mole. He could picture the look on that asshole’s face once he realised that Hawks wasn’t on their side. Well, he could try to picture the look. In reality, Dabi knew that the guy’s face would likely be covered up by one hand or another.“...And that’s why I can no longer be called a hero, which I totally embrace. Dude? Are you even listening to me? Wow. I spill my heart out to you and don’t even get heard-”“Shut the fuck up, birdie. I was paying attention. You were just talking about how the heroes are too controlled by the government and their money, which caused the creation of money and power hungry people under the mask of a hero. That’s all basic shit. What I need to know is- why you?”“Why me?”“Why, out of anyone in the hero industry, does the number two hero suddenly decide to team up with a so-called ‘terrorist organisation’? I feel like you’ve got some personal investment in this, hero.”Hawks didn’t respond to the question, deciding instead to begin to rant about one topic or another. Strange.After his first attempt at seeming cool, Hawks had clearly given up at attempting to be seen as even slightly threatening. He talked too much, mostly about irrelevant things, and Dabi couldn’t understand why he found it so entertaining. Typically by now, the newcomer would have been burnt to death just for being so obnoxious, but he was willing to make an exception for the guy.Dabi had no way of knowing at the time, but this was the first of many changes he was willing to make for just one man.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hawks wasn’t certain why, but something about Dabi felt… wrong. The villain was bitter, angry at the entire world for getting dealt a bad hand in life, but it seemed as if there was more to him. But whatever. Villain analysis wasn’t part of Hawks’ job- he could leave that one to people with actual qualifications.And yet something kept pulling his brain towards Dabi. Before he met up with the fiery villain, Hawks had done some basic research on him. From what he could tell, Dabi had killed several low-level villains and done basic robberies before joining the League. He popped up practically out of nowhere a few years ago, and no one knew his true identity (or if they did know, they weren’t willing to tell Hawks). For such a notorious high-ranking member of the group set on destroying Japan, Dabi didn’t seem as horrible as those around him, just kind of annoying.Throwing a bucket of KFC off of his lap after his first full day of working undercover, Hawks stretched his arms, letting red wings extend from their typical cramped position on his back. He knew that he should probably get them looked at more often, but Hawks was honestly too busy either working or laying around, too exhausted to walk the few blocks from his house to have his wings checked out. Besides, if it ain’t (completely) broke, don’t fix it? Hawks liked to think that he had a constant storage of little sayings like this in his brain, ready to apply to only the most bullshit of situations. It was probably filed next to the huge section in which bird puns were held.Thanks to this, Hawks felt like there wasn’t enough space left for common sense. Unfortunately, that had lead to several situations in which seemingly basic information flew over his head. (Get it? Like how birds fly, and Hawks flies? He was truly a master of modern humor). But that didn’t particularly matter. Hawks had one job to do. Nothing more, nothing less. As long as he was doing well enough to get the commission off his ass, Hawks was perfectly fine being a bit awkward.His eyes began to close, white noise from the television playing softly in the background and pulling him into sleep. Just as he was finally resting contentedly, his phone started aggressively buzzing. It shocked him back into reality, which was an unwelcome awakening. Hawks finally got to rest, and next thing he knew, he’s startled awake. Just his luck.Hawks decided he might as well see who was calling him, in case it was something urgent that the commission needed from him.But no. It was just an unnamed caller, something that Hawks usually managed to avoid thanks to some kind of number-blocking device that was installed onto his phone once he became a pro-hero. He didn’t particularly want to answer his phone, after all, who knew what could be on the other end? And yet, Hawks still knew that it would be better to check out who just called him. What if it was an emergency? He couldn’t risk being uninformed, so he accepted the call.“Hello? Is this Hawks?”Yeah- he had no idea who the fuck this was. After a few seconds of awkward panicking, Hawks decided to try and get the unknown number to hang up in the only way he knew how.“You’ve reached Hawks! I’m not available, so please leave a message at the beep. Beep!”There was a pause from the voice at the other end of the phone.“Oh. Okay, so I have something that I need help with, but you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about it if I explain the situation. Call me back if you’ve decided to help me. Wait- and I can pay, if you need that from me. Not that I think you need any money, being the number two hero and all.” There was a quiet attempt at a laugh there, probably to make the call less awkward. It didn’t exactly work. “So, uh, please respond?”Once the other person hung up, Hawks was finally able to breathe again. He couldn’t help but wonder what the hell the other person was talking about. Why did they need his help? Why not just ask the number one hero, or a less well-known one, if they wanted to keep the situation unknown to the public.Did he want to get into this, or was it better to just ignore it and hope that the person would deal with their problems themselves? Honestly, Hawks had no clue. He decided to just sleep on it for a while. Hopefully, the mystery caller wasn’t in a hurry and could deal with a procrastination obsessed bird-man’s bullshit.Yeah. Sleep would definitely help.