The words began to fumble out of the red-winged hero's mouth without regard. "If he were anybody but a villain, maybe I wouldn't have to tip-toe around this stupid mission," Hawks whined.

Suddenly two callously-scared hands placed themselves on either side of the blond, pinning him against the countertop. "Hey, pigeon," a low raspy voice whispered in the blond's ear sending a shiver down his spine.

Immediately, the hero knew who stood so close behind him. After all, who else would show up in his apartment in the middle of the night only to whisper 'hey, pigeon," in his ear? God how Hawks hated that nickname.

Clearing his throat, Hawks straightened out his back and faced his body toward the dark-haired villain. "Hey, creep," he replied with a distant tone.

The villain's gaze felt intense so much so it almost made the hairs on the back of Hawks's neck stand up. From the current state he was in, he couldn't help but feel powerless against Dabi.

Dabi, who had noticed the empty liquor bottle behind the blond, seemed to soften his expression before tensing up again. "I thought you didn't drink?"

Slightly taken aback, Hawks replied. "How would you know that?"

Removing his hands from either side of the hero, Dabi moved his gaze to the side as if to motion towards something. "When I went through your fancy-ass cellarette, none of the bottles were opened," the dark-haired villain said, laying his eyes back onto the hero.

It flustered Hawks knowing Dabi picked up on something so small. Then again, perhaps anybody could have picked up on something like that.

"A hero can have a drink every now and then, can't they?" Hawks asked rhetorically.

"What about tomorrow?" Dabi inquired. "Don't you have some heroic duties to attend to or something?" By now, the villain's demeanor was more relaxed and a conversation started to flow between the two.

"I don't plan on showing up at the agency," the hero explained taking a quick breath before continuing, "a lot has been going through my mind lately."

In truth, a lot had been going through Hawks's mind, primarily Dabi. However, the more he had gotten invested in his mission, the more he pondered on it during his hero work. It didn't help that he had been feeling more exhausted after a day's work than normal.

Dabi hummed a response before tearing his eyes away from the blond and back to the liquor bottle that sat behind him.

A long uncomfortable silence fell between the two leaving Hawks standing there awkwardly waiting for Dabi to speak.

Instead of speaking the dark-haired villain took a step closer toward the blond, still focused on the empty liquor bottle. Without warning, Dabi quickly grabbed the bottle and began to examine it. "Whiskey?"

Hawks scoffed, rolling his eyes before he spoke. "No, orange juice," Hawks replied sarcastically. Dabi only looked up at the hero through his lashes before moving them back down the bottle.

It became clear Dabi wasn't in the best of moods. Whatever he had encountered before coming here definitely pissed him off.

"How drunk are you?" Dabi suddenly blurted.

"I'm not sure all the alcohol has even gotten to me yet," Hawks replied.

The dark-haired villain let out a sigh before setting the empty bottle back down on the counter; however, instead of pulling his hand back down to his side, he rested it on the counter trapping Hawks from one side.

Slowly he leaned in closer to Hawks's ear and, very softly, whispered. "Make sure not to stumble on your way to bed."

Just as slow as he leaned in, he leaned away from the hero and cleared his throat. "I'll be asleep on the couch if you need me."