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Hawks was so done with himself.
After years of grueling training by the Commission to squash his bird traits down until they were hidden away, all of his effort was broken in a villain's bed. With said villain's finger stuck deep in his asshole.
Normal humans would moan in delight from the sensational pleasure, but Hawks?
He chirped. A short, yet loud voice raised in delight at the burst of sinful ecstasy, escaping from his lips before he had the chance to thwart the impulse. The excited flap of his wings when said finger nudged against his prostate did not help his case, too.
Chirps of joy, warning screeches, preening, molting, sharp talons, instinctual predatory behaviors— they were all characteristics ingrained in his blood, the more animalistic part of his Quirk. None of them ever posed any problems when Hawks was still living in poverty, but once the Commission took him in?
They were deemed unsightly by his handlers. Acceptance of diversity in today's Quirk-enhanced society may have better prospects compared to many years ago, but heteromorphs like Hawks were still side-eyed with disgust. His fierce wings could attract awe, sure, but his handlers said that the rest of his animalistic traits would make people fear him.
A hero was someone who should bring comfort instead of terror— the fate of his bird-like features was easy for the Commission to decide.
So, Hawks was positively, utterly screwed. Out of everyone that could witness his slip-up, why did it have to be Dabi of all people?
Dabi, the villain Hawks had been trying and failing to gain his trust. Dabi, the person-shaped ticket to joining the League of Villains and expanding the phase of his most crucial mission.
(Dabi, the outrightly gruff yet unexpectedly caring man he always sought after for reasons unrelated to his mission, tangled in late-night meetings and forbidden, yet passionate kisses.)
Hawks would have preferred making this error in front of his handlers than in Dabi's presence. There were too many unknown factors to how the arsonist would react— perhaps he would release a mocking laugh at best and incinerate him due to disgust at worst.
Just great. The fate of his life might be cut short because he chirped.
So Hawks laid on the bed, cheeks still flushed pink and breath hitching as the reality of what exactly had happened sunk in. Gold eyes were blown wide but not in desire, his body no longer relaxed as he waited for Dabi's verdict.
It was hard to tell from the confusion tinting his teal eyes.
"Why do you look so ashamed, pretty bird?" Dabi started, withdrawing his finger in favor of clasping one of Hawks' thighs. The rest of his lube-free fingers massaged his tense muscles in a calming, circular motion that had no right to soothe Hawks' nerves so easily. "That's how you're supposed to react due to your bird mutation, right?"
Hawks blinked, not expecting that Dabi would react in such a gentle, soft way after seeing his repulsive trait. All of his handlers sneered whenever he accidentally acted like a bird, so why did Dabi gaze at him with pure curiosity, as if he wanted to understand his situation?
(Why did Hawks care so much about how Dabi would react to his bird traits? He was just another person to help his job, waiting to be another faceless memory once the mission was completed.)
"It's not," Hawks replied, fast and honest and stumbling with his words now that they were out, unable to be stopped, "because I'm not supposed to act like one! People think it's revolting if I chirp whenever I feel happy or screech whenever I sense danger. They always react that way no matter how these reactions feel instinctual to me. I was trained to not act like a bird and I haven't had a slip-up in years and fuck, can we just— can you just forget that you saw me chirp and keep this a secret?"
When Hawks' teary golden eyes met stunned teal ones, he realized his biggest mistake tonight: he revealed the Commission's training to Dabi. The thick silence was enough proof that he had further screwed himself in his emotional state.
Then, in a last-ditch attempt to fix the mess, Hawks tacked on, "I'll do anything for you. Just— please, please keep what happened tonight to yourself, Dabi. I'll be punished if word got out."
Dabi gulped, the gears in his head obviously turning.
Smoke started to rise from his skin as well, for reasons Hawks could yet to understand. There was confusion, horror, and anger shifting in Dabi's expression, flickering from one to another without any obvious tell of what the arsonist was currently thinking.
And then, Dabi leaned forward to kiss him. Not the heated, hungry ones they always indulged in whenever sex was an option, but a sweeter, tender one that conveyed a different kind of desperation.
Hawks kissed him back, matching the mood and, in return, feeling oddly consoled by the foreign gentleness they held.
Dabi kissed as if he longed for something from Hawks. But for what, exactly, Hawks wasn’t sure.
The kiss ended as quickly as it came, but the intensity of the fervor never left Dabi's face. His eyebrows were furrowed in resolve as he spoke, "But your bird traits— that's an important part of you, isn't it?"
Hawks stilled at the question.
Was it?
"I don't know," He answered truthfully. The lines separating Hawks, Keigo, his bird traits, and his past were once clear because of the Commission, but now the edges were blurred because of Dabi's words. They were short yet effective in breaking the walls of his heart down, and Hawks hated how normal it was to open up to Dabi. "I've gone so many years without reacting that way, so I don't… know. But the traits and instincts are always there. They never really went away no matter how much I pushed them back."
Dabi hummed, low and reassuring. His teal eyes crinkled along the small smile playing on his lips, an extra comfort meant to say that things will be okay. Then, he carefully returned to his earlier position, hips pressed again Hawks' taint, scarred fingers dancing along his thighs in the same calming rhythm.
"Then it's simple: they're an important part of you. It's not something that could be stripped away by the Commission for whatever reason they deem fit," Dabi continued. He lowered himself down to push Hawks' thighs up towards his chest, placing kisses from there until he stopped near his shoulders, where his wings laid close. With a carefulness that no villain should have, Dabi kissed his wings, too, placing one near the bones. His stomach flipped at the rare show of affection, filled with a tingling sensation Hawks could not yet name. "For what it's worth, I never thought any parts of you were disgusting, Hawks. You could show me your talons or chirp all you want, and I'd still love you all the same."
Then, Hawks' heart stopped beating in its cage.
Wait.
Was that it?
Dabi looked at him with so much yearning because he loved Hawks?
"W-Wait!" Hawks stammered, the blush on his cheeks deepening, "Y-You, wait— you love me?!"
Dabi snorted, clearly unimpressed by Hawks' sudden, yet late clarity. He teasingly pinched one of Hawks' nipples, eliciting another chirp. Embarrassed, Hawks aimed a kick at Dabi’s face, only narrowing missing his target. "You're pretty dense, birdie. You only realized after I spelled it for you?"
Judging by how everything about Dabi— from his considerate actions and gentleness, which were only showcased for him —clicked into place just now, Hawks accepted the embarrassing fact that he was, indeed, as dense as a rock.
"Since when?" Hawks asked anyway, because he had to know. The whole idea of a villain falling in love with him— when he was full of an ugliness no civilian would ever love —was hard to grasp.
Dabi shrugged. "Somewhere along the way. I can't really pinpoint when it happened, but I realized it when you came into one of the League meetings in an injured state. I was ready to burn the person who did that to you and nurse you back to health, and then I realized I never felt so strongly for anyone like that."
Fuck. That had been when the Commission punished him for not filing his talons down— that was so many months ago.
But that wasn't important.
What was important was Hawks' feelings and how he should react accordingly.
What did he feel for Dabi?
Dabi certainly made him special in no way that debuting as a hero and gaining society's support ever did. It felt different, more personal and intimate, making Hawks experience a warmth akin to that of a bonfire; shielding him away from the coldness of the world, providing a peaceful place to strip himself out of his hero persona. Safe and sound, comforted and loved— Hawks was always cocooned with that kind of gentleness whenever Dabi was around. The hero knew he wanted this thing between them to continue forever and give the same kind of tenderness for the villain to taste, even if it was an impossible dream to realize.
And did all of that count as love?
"I don't know how I feel about you though," Hawks muttered, ashamed at not knowing how to identify something as basic as love. "I want to be around you, I enjoy spending time with you. I care more about how you think of me than I should and I— I don't know, is this love?"
Dabi smiled, a small tilt on his lips that showed more love than it should be capable of. Hawks' heart did that odd squeeze again, bursting with a unique warmth that was always associated with the arsonist.
"Then let's start with a simpler matter first," Dabi responded. He leaned further into Hawks, stealing another kiss from his lips and following suit with the return of his finger. It simultaneously filled his hole and made him beg for something more, something bigger in exchange, but all of Hawks' thoughts vanished when Dabi's finger arched and hit his prostate. Another pleased chirp was punched out of his lips, and when Hawks made a motion to slap his hand against it, Dabi's free hand beat him into it— clasping his scarred hand onto his smoother one, linking their fingers together.
"Like— Like what?" Hawks panted. His erection started to stir, arousal returning in his gut.
A second finger joined, and the end of Hawks' whorish moan morphed into another chirp. "Like accepting that it's okay to show your bird traits once in a while," Dabi replied. He pecked Hawks' left shoulder before planting a kiss on top of his left wings. He did it again, again, and again, tracing his wing left wing bone until he reached the end. In the face of so much love poured into the traits he was supposed to suppress, Hawks was understandably overwhelmed— but the good kind, one he never felt in so long. The tears he held back finally trickled down, and Dabi was ready to wipe them away and kiss every tear track before ending his destination at his lips. "I want to see every part of you if you allow me, pretty bird. And I'll love them all, no matter what others say about it."
And so Hawks let himself relax again as Dabi further explored his body. But this time, instead of shutting down and cowering in fear, Hawks lets himself chirp and coo just as much as he moaned and cried whenever Dabi brought him sweet release.
The best part of it all? Dabi received his bird traits with a kind smile, an adoring glint in his eyes and a spew of bird-related nicknames whispered in heated breaths.
Tonight, Hawks would start to accept his bird traits and show them to the one person who loved him with it.
Tomorrow, Hawks will learn what it means to fall in love.