Hitoshi Tanaka was a good man.

He was a loving husband, a doting father and a dutiful worker. Every day at work, he'd bring his colleagues a cup of coffee from the best café in town, inquiring about their day and family. He checked the cells of a few of his favourite inmates while carefully avoiding the more dangerous ones. He watched relentlessly the videotapes of the cameras monitoring the prison.

Today like any other day, he got out of his car and entered the front gate of the prison. He kept his cap carefully on his head, whistling cheerfully despite the gloomy atmosphere of the place dreadfully known as Tartarus, and he would do all of those things he enjoys doing on a daily basis.

If he really were Hitoshi Tanaka.

And unfortunately for everyone present, the toothy grin that appeared at his lips was all but his.

The prison guards realised it too late, as the man used his card to open the cell of one of the most dangerous criminals in Tartarus.

Aizawa had imagined this day would be an ordinary one. A Wednesday, for example. Not a Monday, when you're bitter to get back to work after not enough rest during the weekend. Not a Tuesday, when he'd learnt most awful things always tend to happen. Not a Friday, when unexpected and irritating things occurred when it was time to leave for the weekend. Not a Saturday, when Hizashi and Midnight always nagged him to get out and get wasted in some bar. Not a Sunday, when he would try to drown his headache in a ton of water and medicine while trying to get Mic to shut up for once. A Wednesday or a Thursday, those were good. Well, they used to be, in his opinion. Now, only Thursday remained in his good graces.

And that was all Dabi's fault.

(Not just him actually, but it was easier to pretend he was only angry at the pyromaniac than at himself for being stupid and preferring to see what he only wanted to see. That and at the other pains in his a- … hum, members of the League and heroes working with him. But mostly Dabi. And Hawks. And Todoroki.)

"Dear heroes, we are assembled here because of troubling news the hero number two, Hawks, collected recently," Endeavour began, before a small group of heroes in a meeting room of his office, and then looked at the man beside him. "If you will…"

"Absolutely!" Hawks exclaimed, clasped his hands and grew grim as he told the assembly the reason and the fruit of his mission, carefully avoiding to disclose how he got his hands on such delicate intel, which raised some eyebrows among the heroes but none of them said a word. "… and as such, I've been doing an investigation lately, well… for months really, on the moves of the villains and more particularly on those of the League. The latest intel I've gathered is… simply dreadful. The League plans to launch an attack on the Commission in the coming days."

The news is first received by a deafening silence, irreal and abnormal among such a usually lively crowd before being followed by an uproar of incredulity and rage.

"We need to strike them hard and fast before they manage to cause too much damage."

A murmur of agreement ran through the heroes in front of them, shock beginning to be replaced by determination. Hawks was about to continue when a hand was raised. The owner of the limb being dwarfed among the huge heroes around him, he had to stand on his toes. The winged hero took pity on him and decided to end his misery. The fact that he had taken a liking to his brother had nothing to do with it. Not at all, he was a professional you see and answering questions of students was his duty. Of course, if he managed to score points with the brother of his crush, well, that's just a bonus.

Bonus that would never be useful, he reminded himself, as he was according permission to speak to Shouto, because he loved Dabi. Against his better judgement. Even if he knew it would never end well. Even if he knew it would end with their heart broken in a myriad of pieces, impossible to mend. Even if it would likely end in one of them dead, maybe by the hand of the other. Why his traitorous heart chose him, chose his penance that way, he will probably never know. Loving Touya would be easier, simpler and less deathly. But it wasn't meant to be as he had chosen his grave and intended to bury himself in it. And if his lover ended up with him? Well, that would be incredibly Juliet and Romeo of them, wouldn't it? (He wasn't sure who was who, though, and wasn't eager to find out for now.)

"Will the interns be able to join this attack?" Shouto looked straight at him, waiting at first for his response, but continued when he noticed Endeavour was about to step in. "Missions like these are part of our training and we have been confronted to the League many times in the course of the year. We will be useful." The half-and-half teenager claimed, confidence radiating from his body. His friends, Midoriya and Bakugou nodded at his sides and it was clear they would have to be forcibly restrained if the pro-heroes didn't want them to get in their way in the field.

A sigh was heard and Eraserhead stepped in front of them. Seeing the glare he directed in their direction, the teenagers would soon get an earful from their teacher but it didn't seem to faze them. "Do not worry, I will watch over them at all times." Nobody was brave (stupid) enough to cross Eraserhead and it ended here. With three heroes in training far too happy in some people's opinion and their teacher looking as if he was seriously considering a career change.

Hawks clapped to bring back attention on the current important matter at hand. "Okay, now that it's settled, let's see how we'll foil the plan of those badly dressed wannabe villains." He smirked and invited the dozens of heroes to get closer to the table.

Somewhere in the city, Compress shuddered. Someone had dared to badmouth his fashion sense and he will not let that go unpunished.

They hadn't finished carefully crafting their plan when an alarm rang throughout the whole building, informing them they were already too late. Several heroes swore and fetched their belongings before rushing to the closest exit. Hawks, Endeavour, Eraserhead as well as his three students followed suit, fearing the worst already. Hawks and Endeavour flew, while Bakugo, Midoriya and Todoroki propelled themselves thanks to their quirks. To get there on time, Aizawa had no choice but to let Hawks carry him on the way. He just made the four of them swear to never tell their classmates or colleagues. He would go to any length to prevent Hizashi from ever finding out he was carried bridal style through the city. He still had an ounce of pride after all, thank you very much. What they saw when they arrived was enough to quell any joke.

The League was wreaking havoc on this part of the city.

Noumus were roaming the streets, attacking heroes who were helping citizens to flee and destroying public facilities with their multiple quirks. Smoke was rising from the buildings on both sides, a consequence of Dabi's quirk who was proudly strutting with his burning hands in the air, laughing madly. The other members of the League weren't outdone either, but were oddly more restrained. Twice was creating clones non-stop since he arrived if the witnesses were to be believed, clones that were making their own brand of chaos. Compress was capturing cars and other enormous objects he could find in his bubbles and throwing them at heroes. Toga seemed to be looking for something and according to her squeal of delight at their appearance, she was particularly happy to see Midoriya. Him not so much. It was best to let them settle their… thing on their own, for anyone's sanity. Weirdly, Shigaraki and Spinner weren't present, but another one with a blue coat and white hair was making as much damage as the others. His ice covered the other side of the neighbourhood.

Endeavour left them to fight the Noumus, as the few heroes that managed to get there on time were struggling to get the better of them. Bakugou disappeared after a scuffle with a particularly determined Noumus to "explode those ugly-ass looking bitches". Hawks, on his part, had no desire to fight Dabi or Twice and had elected to face Compress off while helping citizens out of this hellhole. Eraserhead had already lost two of his students, there was no way he was going to let Todoroki leave his watch now. Soon they found themselves pitted against Dabi and the teenage version of Mister Freeze.

Aizawa grinded his teeth as he erased Dabi's quirk, counting on Todoroki's to counter Frozone's own quirk. Something wasn't right. Where was Shigaraki? For such an important strike, the leader of the group would normally be here. Not to mention that Spinner was a pivotal member of their group, rational and calm. He would be needed here, elaborating a getaway in case of a setback. He was as absent as the other and that was starting to get the teacher nervous. Midoriya had reappeared at some point, clearly disturbed, saying Toga had vanished when he was chasing after her. An accidental punch to her stomach had apparently been enough to disintegrate her. That was proof enough that she was just a clone created by Twice. Which only left Dabi, the iceman, Twice, the Noumus and Compress… who was losing ground on Bakugou. Where was Hawks? Aizawa looked left and right, growing more anxious by the minute. They weren't even trying to get in the building housing the Commission! Something was off.

And then it hit him. A diversion.

It was a fucking diversion.

If his intuition was right, what was their real goal? What would be important enough to risk Dabi, Twice and this other guy, in addition to all the Noumus present? Aizawa didn't want to even admit it, but currently there was only one thing Shigaraki wanted more than to destroy the heroes: Kurogiri. The man had been with him since the first time they saw him, it had to be that.

Problem number one was that the criminal was held prisoner in Tartarus. If Shigaraki was to free him and any other murderers and convicts, hell would break loose on Japan.

Problem number two is that his alter ego was Aizawa's dead best friend. Which slightly complicated things as he and Hizashi had planned to do anything to get him back with them.

Lost in his thought, he missed the way the iceman froze (pun intended) after hearing Todoroki shout at him to stop. The white-haired man gasped and stared at the teenager; shock clear in his features. Shouto frowned, unsure what the fuss was about.

"Hand Crusher?" he said, his voice showing how confused and… strangely hopeful he was.

Next to them, still stripped from his quirk, Dabi was lucky enough to go through a mini-heart attack. What a way to go. Brave man, that one, struggling through every hardship his siblings were sending his way.

Trying to school his face from shock to a tentative smile, which was more awkward than confident, Shouto put his finger on his mouth. "Sshhhh…" he hissed, glancing rapidly toward his teacher who seemed to be talking to himself about what seemed to be a matter of the utmost importance, with his head in his hands. Too much to unpack here, at least for now. Back to the matter at hand, please. "I'm undercover, don't blow it!" To insist on his dubious claim, he nodded his head in Dabi's direction who had no other choice but to confirm, incredulous about this whole situation and his brother's apparent ease at lying, once again. Weirdly enough, as if it was perfectly normal for Endeavour's son to be a spy for the villains, Geten nodded and… let it go. Just like that. (Dabi was beginning to worry about his co-worker's standard of what is common sense.) Shouto and Dabi had no doubt that particular moment would come to bite them in the ass later but it was a matter for another time. Right now, both had their own goal.

Shouto cleared his throat and stood up straight, trying to appear confident in every way he was not right now, because what the fuck was happening. "What is your plan Dabi? You have to know it won't work! All the heroes here will defeat you!" he shouted with all the might of his lungs.

"Is that the best speech you can do?" The criminal snickered. "Oh, come on! Did you really believe I'd spill the beans just like that?"

Then, barely moving his lips, Shouto whispered, "What is happening Touya?" which was answered by "Drop it, not your business. Go away!"

Geten was observing them, not being able to hear what was being said but enjoying the presence of his new idol, which… weird by the way but they were not going to address that. And that was exactly why none of them saw the flying car thrown by Compress and deflected by Bakugou from the other side of the street. Dabi's eyes widened and he was only able to yell "Damn it! Get out of the way!" before the identified flying object was sent his little brother's way. But what could he do? He didn't have his powers and even then, burning the car would risk burning his brother to a crisp in the process. He clenched his fists, bracing himself for the inevitable as he watched Shouto's face contort in horror. Eraserhead snapped out of his thoughts before the chaos happening before him, as helpless as the others. It all happened so fast, too fast for them.

However, the fastest hero, once again too fast for his own good, was present and had seen the trajectory of the car and, pushing his wings to their limits, managed to get to Shouto before the IFO and yeeted Shouto out of the way. Unfortunately, Hawks hadn't had the time to make it out himself. He ended up buried under the shell of the car, leaving only a "humph" to be heard, his wings having softened his fall and covered him.

Sparing a glance Hawks' way long enough to see if he was okay, Dabi then dashed to Shouto, checking him under every angle, forgetting they weren't alone, but as it was, Geten had taken to yelling at Compress for his ill-advised throw. Still shocked by what happened, Shouto couldn't help but stutter "Sorry brother, I…".

Hearing that, Aizawa felt his soul leaving his body and closed his eyes.

Touya was Dabi.

Eraserhead rubbed the bridge of his nose, stress picking up like crazy. Not knowing who he was most disappointed about (Da-Touya? Shouto? The entire earth?) for playing him like a fool or him for being said fool, he reviewed the few times he had spent with the brothers and then Touya alone and swore. How had he let them persuade him that easily when he was right all along? What it highlighted is that Dabi was not as insane as he appeared to be, as he had been pretty rational each time Aizawa and Touya had talked. And now he knew more about his motivation and goals, but then it would mean that everything was even more fucked up than he had initially thought, which was already a lot. Endeavour would have a lot of questions to answer, Eraserhead promised himself.

Deciding to let it go for now, Eraserhead went to try and dig up Hawks from under the car, as his student appeared to be in good hands, completely safe with his criminal of a brother. The hero was desperately wiggling his way out from where he was trapped. Sighing, Aizawa lifted the vehicle and helped the winged hero up. Once he had Hawks, he dragged him to the side of the road, somewhere he could call "safe" for now. He checked him for any serious injuries and found his left hand badly bruised at some joints, the noises Hawks made indicating it was probably broken. Many other bruises or cuts were scattered on his body. He advised him to not use his arm until someone with real medical knowledge had a look and not do something stupid, like throwing yourself under a car. He then looked everywhere around them and stared into his eyes, seriously, which surprised Hawks.

"Fess up now, I'm not an idiot. You're spying on the League for the Commission. Why they decided to use such an underhanded measure is beyond me, but we'll talk about it later. And from the look of it, you also appear to be Dabi's boyfriend."

Hawks' eyes widened comically and he opened his mouth to deny everything, but Eraserhead stopped him in his tracks. "Don't even bother. I know from a reliable source, Dabi himself you see, that he has a boyfriend. He's clearly interested in your well-being, which from someone who made a habit to burn heroes to a crisp is weird, don't you agree? You also had a lot to say about all the other members of the League during the meeting but were suspiciously tight-lipped when it came to him. Also weird, because as you said, you spent a lot of time with them, therefore having next to nothing to say about him is impossible. Did you think no one would notice?"

Hawks slumped, defeated by the logic of his opponent. He dropped his head against the wall behind him. Aizawa took a quick look behind them to see the heroes were starting to get the better of the villains, now that Endeavour was destroying Noumus after Noumus and that Compress and several other clones of Twice were no more, exploded by the soft care of Bakugou. The iceman and Dabi were retreating toward Twice. They didn't need him for the rest. He turned back to Hawks who looked like he wanted to hide and never come back.

"Are you doing it… willingly?"

"I mean, it's my job. It's always been like this, and it's not like I have a real choice, you see?" Keigo shrugged, slowly realizing he had no need to maintain a persona around the teacher anymore.

Aizawa grinded his teeth, not liking where the conversation was going. He'd have to look into this later. "I'm talking about your relationship with Dabi."

"Oh. That. '' He chuckled'' You can trust me, there is nothing, but love and passion between us. Everything is consensual."

"Really?" Did that reassure him? Yes and no, for obvious reasons.

"Are you kidding? I mean, have you seen the man? Gorgeous! And he has that wit and humor about him that just screams "kiss me" you know?" Keigo sighed dreamingly, "and then…"

The young winged man continued his love declaration for the criminal as Aizawa looked more and more horrified by the second.

Okay. Eraserhead had imagined the only way for the arsonist to be in a relationship was to be with someone as insane as him. Not an easy feat but he did it. Good job Dabi. Or Touya, who knows nowadays? What he knew is that he needed a nap and soon. Or a coma. It sounded wonderful right now.

Aizawa stopped him and sighed. "Is it going to interfere with the job?"

"Not at all! I've learned to ignore all emotions in important moments like this. I will stay professional, don't worry." He saluted him with his good hand, but winced as his injuries stretched and stung.

That was exactly what was worrying him, for some strange reasons. "Good. Because your boyfriend is acting as a decoy while Shigaraki and the others are setting Kurogiri free. Your intel was faulty from the beginning. You got played."

"What? No! They trust me now, I…" He looked away from Eraserhead to search Dabi's eyes, who deliberately turned away from them and started attacking Endeavour. And really it shouldn't hurt, he was the spy after all, Dabi should be the one angry one. So why did it hurt? He was a professional damnit, he didn't let his feelings get in the way of what had to be done!

Eraserhead sighed and patted him on the shoulder, staring into his eyes. "Ask yourself the right questions then."

Once everything would be settled, heroes and policemen would wonder how the villains had managed to fool everyone, by using some of their members as decoys to get their friend back. They would never know Skeptic had used his network to get information on the staff of the prison, nor that Spinner and Toga had kidnapped one of their guards and used his blood to make her look like him. Nor that Spinner, Shigaraki and Compress had waited in a minivan a few miles away from the prison, waiting for Toga and a very confused (and stressed as he had discovered the wrong way she still didn't know how to drive) Kurogiri to arrive and ditch the poor guard's car with the unconscious man in it, still gagged in the trunk.

No one would ever know that.

The prison Tartarus had standards to uphold and failure or incompetence were not allowed.

Keigo woke up in a hospital room, carefully tucked in with a warm white blanket, sporting a raging headache. He felt nauseous, and could tell the painkiller had yet to take effect. He put the cover on his head and sighed. Hawks could already see the disappointed faces of the board of the Commission in his mind. He had passed out a little after Dabi, Geten and Twice had been absorbed by the same dark matter as during the High-End incident, leaving only the bodies of Noumus, chaos and ash behind them. How fitting.

The knowledge that he had been played was stuck in his head since Eraserhead had made him see the truth. He shouldn't feel like that, it's a job, he repeated in his head. The fact that Dabi hadn't told him anything about their real plan was just the sign that he had never really had their trust. His trust. Dabi always knew he was a spy and let him make a fool of himself. Did he truly love him or was it all part of his plan? Well, it was a bit hypocritical of him to say that, as Dabi may have been wondering the same thing about him for months as well. Is the spy that is sharing my bed only using me for his mission? Keigo huffed and shook his head. Yup, they were both fucked up, but at least, he knew he loved the man, for all that was worth.

Then, someone knocked on the door of his room. Just his luck. A day off, was it really that impossible to have? Urgh.

"Come in!"

A sheepish Todoroki Shouto entered the room and shuffled, uncomfortable, to the side of his bed. He was fiddling with his hands and forcing himself not to stare at the cast too obviously. Ah. So that's why.

"I'm sorry, Hawks. It's my fault you're hurt. I was frozen and helpless." He inhaled, wincing. "I was the one asking to help and I ended up being a liability on the field. That won't happen again."

"Oh no, don't worry, it's nothing" Hawks tried but failed to reassure him. He couldn't blame him, after all, his hand in a plaster cast was a sorry sight. That or his litany of bruises on the rest of his body. "I'm just happy you didn't get hurt whether in that incident or by that villain."

Oddly, that gained by a dry chuckle by the teenager. There was a story there if he remembered well. Now that it came back to him, Hawks recalled that Dabi and other villains, when he was not an official member of the League, attacked his class during a camp trip. The two had even faced each other. Yesterday may have brought back bad memories from that day. After all, the half-and-half hero in training had been unable to prevent the kidnapping of his classmate before his very eyes. Helpless once again. He could only guess how that would make him feel. Hawks could sympathize with that. At least, his quirk made him fast enough to intervene in as many accidents or fights as he physically could.

"It's just… somehow, when I'm involved, people always end up with their hands crushed," Shouto mumbled, his fingers running in his hair, as a sign of his frustration. "It's like a curse."

Hawks chuckled, amused by the dramatic teenager in front of him. "You really have nothing to apologize for, it's an occupational hazard for heroes. You'll get used to it at some point."

"I don't think I want to," he whispered, eyes downcast.

"I know. No one ever does." He pointed out softly.

Once the kid is gone, Keigo found his way back under the covers. He was glad he had left pretty soon, as the painkillers were now taking effect and he was feeling pretty dizzy. Anyway, that's a funny choice of words when you think about it. Hands crushed, crushing hands, almost poetic, right? Or maybe it was just the pills kicking in. It was also quite familiar, but where had he heard it? Funny words still, crushed, crushing, crush, crusher…

Oh fuck.

The Hand Crusher.

Somehow, when I'm involved, people always end up with their hands crushed.

''Oh. Oooooh. Oh.''

Oh god.

Keigo sat up abruptly, panicking, his head in his hands. No wonder he was attracted to both Dabi and Touya. He didn't have a type, but just an enormous crush on the one and same person. Oh man… that's why Touya was looking at him that way the other day. The man was right, Keigo was an idiot. At least, flirting didn't count as cheating if it was with the same person, right? He was so screwed. No wonder he got played the day before if he was that observant in his daily life, that's just embarrassing.

Then another thought came to him. How was he going to tell Endeavor that both his sons were criminals? Apparently, the Hand Crusher had been a part of several of Dabi's jobs before his adhesion to the merry band that was the League, which meant Todoroki Shouto was just a criminal in disguise. That was an impressive feat, as he appeared to be clueless and brutally honest most of the time. Clearly, you truly never know anyone. Sharing his discoveries… was something he was not particularly looking forward to.

The ostrich policy, it is then.