Now

POV HAWKS

At 5:30 in the morning, my alarm clocks goes off, mimicking my favorite heroes most famous lines: it starts with All Might's "I AM HERE," though he was never my favorite; there's Crimson Riot, Midnight, and Ryuko the dragon hero; and it finishes with Endeavor, and I can picture his brooding face as he says his three word line: "Just watch me."

But before my favorite hero can finish, a scarred hand disintegrates my alarm clock with blue fire. "What the heck?!" I cry out, throwing the blankets off. The league of villains' one and only Dabi lays sprawled out in his boxers beside me, and I glare at him as I recall last night's events. "First you break into my apartment," I grumble as I slide out of bed, "then you sleep in my bed without my permission, and to top it all off, you burn my favorite alarm clock to ashes! What's next?"

"Shut up, birdie," Dabi groans, sitting up. His dark hair is messy and wild in a familiar way, but I can't put my finger on it. Thinking too hard makes my head hurt. "Do you have any Advil? My head is killing me."

I stare at him, hoping he feels my glare, but he doesn't. He just picks at his teeth with his nails then flicks whatever was in his mouth onto my floor. I exhale sharply and get the Advil from my adjacent bathroom along with a water bottle from my mini-fridge in the corner of my room. "Here," I say, basically throwing it at him, "but you better leave after this. Today's my day off work."

"Don't you have a top secret mission, though?" Dabi taunts. "Infiltrating the League of Villains? That's not a one and done job. If you didn't know, baby bird, I just happen to be a member myself." He downs four too many pills and washes it down with water. He chuckles as he spins the cap back on, throwing both bottles at me. I almost drop them.

"Well now that you know," I say, dropping down on my bed beside him. "Guess I can't do it anymore. Either way, you have to get out of here or I'll have to arrest you. Since you just happen to be a member yourself."

"Feisty bird, aren't you?" Dabi chuckles. "Like an angry Cassowary."

"I'm a Hawk," I snap at him. "Hence the name."

"Your name isn't Hawks," Dabi says, laying back on the bed. "You know that I know your real name. Why bother to keep up the facade?"

"How did you find my real name?" I ask, avoiding the question. I end up whispering, even though I know the two of us are alone. This conversation feels forbidden, and I'm not sure why I'm entertaining it.

"You'll know when you learn my real name," Dabi says, smiling wide. "But that's not a can of worms the two of us are opening today. I have to get back to Shigaraki and tell him that your villain application was full of lies." Dabi stands up, pulling on his white shirt and black jeans from last night. I can't stop myself from staring at him. "And, if you listen to what I'm saying instead of staring at my body, you'd connect the dots and realize that if this mission goes awry, the hero commission is not going to be thrilled."

"Wha- you know about the hero commission too? Who are you?!"

Dabi chuckles, plucking a feather from my wings. I shudder; it hurts, but in an addictive kind of way. Damn the daddy issues. "You'll find out soon enough, Birdie. My point is, if you do a few things for me, I think I could get you easy access to the league. That way the commission would be off your back, Shigaraki would be off mine, and we'd both have a little bit of fun."

"Sounds suspicious," I say, trying to keep my voice level as Dabi twirls my feather in his hand. My leg starts twitching, and I have to manually press it down to make myself stop. Dabi smirks at me, noticing the growing bulge in my pants. "Can you please p-put my feather down?" I say through clenched teeth.

"Why?" Dabi teases, running his tongue up the feather. "Sensitive?"

"Quit it," I snap at him, jumping up to take the feather. Dabi holds the feather up out of my reach, and I stupidly reach for it. He takes the opportunity to grab my wrists and twist them behind my back, bending me over my bed. I grunt and try to wiggle away, but it's no use. His grip is too strong. "Let go of me!" I say, feeling my body heating. Something about him is so familiar. So addicting. I'm curious, but I know because of my line of work that I can't get involved with him. Not even for just a fling.

"Fine," Dabi says, releasing me. I snap away from him, scooting back on my bed and panting heavily. "But I was serious about the deal. I know you don't want to get into any trouble with the big boss lady. And I have some... chores I need done, too."

I bite the inside of my cheek, cursing myself for even considering making a deal with a villain. "Like what?"

"Three things, nothing big," Dabi says, holding up three fingers (his middle, ring, and pinky finger of all fingers). "Whaddya say, Birdie?"

"And you'll get me into the league?" I say softly. "Just like that?"

"Yeah," he says. "I have strings I can pull. I'm a notorious guy, after all."

"Fine," I grunt. "What do you need me to do?"

"This first one requires a field trip. So get your big bird pants on, Hawks! We're leaving in ten minutes."