Well fuck, what was Hawks going to do now?
Dabi had just asked him to break him out of prison. Not only that, but he posed it in such a way that Hawks was going to seem like a straight up horrible asshole if he didn't.
Obviously, as the number two hero Hawks' answer should immediately be no. Doing the right thing even though it hurt was supposed to be the mantra of heroes. That's why Hawks took on the Commissions mission in the first place. He knew that it would eventually come down to something like this. And the answer was supposed to be easy.
The point of him trying to get into the League was to discern their secrets, gain evidence, and eventually bring them down and capture them. Sure, it hadn't entirely gone like that now, but with Dabi in prison as well as Toga, they would be able to get invaluable information about the League. His job was a success, in a way.
So why did he feel like a piece of shit?
Why did he find himself at a loss for words and questioning everything?
He had to get some air. Some distance from everything. He couldn't make a clear decision here. Dabi's presence was suddenly suffocating, and Hawks turned like a chicken and ran.
However, stepping outside the room didn't lead to any less chaos, for Endeavor was steaming and almost plowed Hawks over to get to the door and inside. Hawks gave a halfhearted excuse of protest, but figured it was a good idea not to get in his way at the moment.
He was about half way to the door before he heard Dabi speak, freezing in his tracks and turning back towards the viewing window.
Dabi was a Todoroki.
In the back of his mind, Hawks wanted to congratulate himself on guessing the truth, but it didn't feel right. This wasn't a happy reunion of father and son.
He hardly took in a breath as Dabi started spilling out the… absolutely monstrous things that Endeavor had done to him. Had Endeavor been doing that when Hawks first met him? Was Hawks completely blind? And most importantly, was Endeavor still doing it?
He didn't have to wait long for that answer, seeing the man that he admired shove Dabi against the wall and choke him with a flamed fist so that he would stop talking.
Thankfully Hawks wasn't the only one seeing this, and even though he was the fastest hero Hawks found himself behind the others as they tore into the room to stop Endeavor.
Hawks couldn't look at him as they took Endeavor away, focusing on literally anything else instead. "Dabi!" Fuck, he felt his heart wrench for the guy. By the time Hawks was on the ground next to him Dabi was out, but besides the new burns on his neck and bleeding of his wrists he seemed relatively okay.
Hawks was ever so gentle picking Dabi up from the ground, cracking just a sliver of a smile as he imagined how pissed and embarrassed the guy would be to learn that Hawks was princess style carrying him. He noticed that his chest was warmer after thinking about that, but he shoved it down. Now was not the time to be thinking about that.
He stayed with Dabi as he was getting patched up in the hospital room, alone while the others took care of Endeavor for the time being and were trying to decide what to do with him. Hawks was too biased to be able to give a solid opinion either way, and he knew this. On top of his former respect for Endeavor, Hawks was compromised.
He'd formed some kind of positive relationship with Dabi, and it was going to be his downfall.
Hawks let out a long sigh, running his hands through his hair as he sat hunched over on a chair in the room with Dabi.
Eventually he looked up at the villain on the bed, who was rebandaged and wearing the standard prison bottoms. His old clothes were deemed too dirty and worn, now in the trash can in the corner.
Hawks ran his eyes over Dabi's exposed skin, biting his lip as he realized just how much of it was heavily scarred and barely holding together.
How much of that was because of Endeavor?
How much of that happened right under the heroes watch, failing to save the very son of the number two hero?
How bad was it that Touya ended up like this, masquerading around as the villain Dabi and hunting heroes with the League?
How much of that could Hawks have stopped if he knew? Granted, Hawks knew that Dabi was a year or two older than him and if he couldn't stand up to Endeavor then how would a fifteen year-old Hawks, but that wasn't the point. Hawks could have told someone if he knew, but instead he ran around preaching the guy's name and sporting his merch. It made him sick to his stomach to think about.
He was snapped from his thoughts as a hand touched his shoulder, someone telling him he should go home and rest. Honestly he was so out of it at the moment that he couldn't even remember what hero it was, just numbly nodding his head and making the trip back to his apartment.
The door was still open from when he was expecting Dabi to come back, and he was surprised that no one had ransacked the apartment when he was gone. Blearily he glanced at the clock on the dresser in his bedroom, 3:10 am blinking mercilessly back at him.
With a groan he flopped face first onto his bed, and the next thing he knew he was waking up to the alarm blaring in his ear at 5 in the morning. Yeah, that early bird catches the worm shit was not happening today.
After successfully silencing his oppressor Hawks rolled over on the bed, shutting his eyes and attempting to go back to sleep. But it was too late, he was awake. Sure, he was physically and emotionally exhausted enough to want sleep, but Dabi's words just would not leave him alone.
"If you really meant it when you said that you wanted to be a decent human being and help me, then do it. Get me the hell out of here."
Hawks really did want to be a decent human being and help Dabi. But was that the right thing to do? He would be letting a known murderer and villain out of prison, and it would be obvious that he did it. If the villains had any doubt that he wanted to help them, that would put it to rest. But Hawks couldn't give a fuck about the other villains right now.
This wasn't about them. This wasn't about the League, or the Heroes, or any of that "doing the right thing" bullshit.
This was about Hawks and Dabi.
Dabi, who was really the abused shell of Touya Todoroki.
Weren't heroes supposed to try and save everyone?