Another Dabi and Hawks one shot. But not romance. Probably won't be a sequel. Enjoy~


Fuck this shit I'm out. Fuck this shit I'm out.

Dabi ruffled his hair, annoyed that stupid Toga's song about the meetings was stuck in his head. It was one line, over and over again, yet it was stuck in his damn head and he couldn't get it out. He tried listening to music, but it was still fucking there, replaying over and over. He had earbuds in, listening to the radio for good music choices. None of it was good, the same generic pop songs that played every day.

He just hoped something good would come up, at least catchy enough to get the stupid tune out of his head. And he was bored out of his mind. Everyone was boring now that they had this big ass organization to run. Dabi had never enjoyed being a big player in the League. He hated responsibility, even if it was supposed to be fun villainy.

That was why he went off and did his own thing so much. He was bored. Sure, Twice was entertaining and Toga found horrible tiktoks that they could bash together, but otherwise, it was boring. Shigaraki was getting annoying and sour. He didn't play video games anymore, which meant Dabi couldn't sit on the couch and lightly mock him at how bad he was.

Considering how much video game lingo he used, you would never think he'd just abandon a big hobby. A stress reliever. Spinner was having trouble with not adhering to his Stain ideology that Dabi had mostly abandoned over time. So much had happened since then. So much more would happen, too.

The main reason he was in the League was to get back at Endeavor and shake up the hero world. He didn't know if their plan to destroy it all would reach the entire world or just Japan. Surely other countries would want to help. Or not. The world was fucked up and divided anyways. Countries keeping to themselves, trying to out do one another. It was gross.

So here he was, listening to shit songs, and wandering around the compound. He'd found that there was a huge underground part he hadn't seen before. It was let slip by Skeptic, that idiot. Re-Destro was annoying and mostly absent nowadays. He was a push-over and coward once Shigaraki beat his ass.

He opened the hatch door that lead to the underground part. It was dark, so he lit his hand on fire to find his way down. He stumbled on one step, but caught himself despite there being no railing. He sighed and adjusted the earbuds in his phone again. When he made it deep, deep down the never ending, pitch black staircase, he found the huge space was lit up brightly.

And nobody was down there to see him sneaking around. Not that he was trying to hide it. He was waltzing around without a care of being caught. He was a leader, and scary to others after all. It was only those from the original League that weren't at least a little spooked by him. After all, he was at least partly clinically insane.

Though, really, who wouldn't be? Abused for his childhood until he burnt alive. He wasn't dead, but covered in chronically painful burn scars. His staples ached most days and he couldn't smile or widen his eyes without them pulling. So he always had a bland look on. Amused, but never happy or even surprised.

To others, he just seemed emotionless. Which wasn't accurate, but he wouldn't talk about his wide range of feelings. He wasn't like that. Even at a young age he was raised to not feel weak feelings. It stuck. He didn't like showing emotions, and part of him was glad he couldn't.

He found a huge garage door that he hadn't known was there. Did anyone else? It seemed odd he'd never noticed. Was he blind, or stupid? No, he wasn't stupid. Damn. He wondered what was so big to need that. Walking to it, he saw it was very heavy duty. Not a real garage that lifted, but it was a giant door. Like a barn door that opened from the middle, but was very wide.

He moved to the room beside it, and heard a panting noise from inside. He took one earbud out and pressed his ear to it. It was a deep breathing, loud as fuck if he could hear it with the music in his ears. He took out his phone and exited the radio, glad to leave the worst song he'd heard so far.

Though, thankfully the short line was out of his head. He saw the door had a lock on it. Pft, locks didn't mean shit to Dabi. He took out a hair pin he kept in his pocket and easily picked the lock. When he opened the door, it was with a squeal that was much too loud for him. He slipped inside, and looked for the switch to turn on the lights with his fire.

The breathing stopped, and he felt eerie. Something huge was in there, and he couldn't see it. When he found the switch, the brightness made him close his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he saw what was making the breathing noises. His eyes widened uncomfortably. Was it a quirk?

There was a feathered beast right in front of him. It was huge. As in the size of an 18 wheeler. It had wings that were strapped down to the rest of its body. It was covered in restraints, metal and leather straps. It was a dragon, breathing hard through its nostrils since the mouth was clamped shut.

The eyes were a light yellow, slitted pupils. The feathers were all a bright red, and it was covered in them. No scales. The tail was longer than the entire body, and it was strapped down as well. The moment Dabi took a step towards it, not even noticing, the breath hitched. It could barely breathe heavily because the torso was so tightly strapped down it couldn't expand the ribcage too much.

"The fuck?" Dabi asked in a whisper. How did the Meta Liberation Army find a fucking dragon? Was it real? It didn't look at all like Ryukyu. Not one bit, it looked like a textbook dragon. He wouldn't admit the thought, but he'd never seen anything so beautiful. Dabi hadn't considered anything that word in a long time.

There were tubes attached to it, with massive barrels of something attached to them in the side of the room. Maybe water and food, since its mouth was clamped shut, and no doubt was unable to eat. When he walked closer, the dragon's upper lip raised just barely, and it let out a snarl.

Dabi chuckled. He walked closer, and it tried to thrash around to get away before it tired, and seemed just so exhausted. He put a hand out, and as he moved closer, he said, "I won't hurt you, don't worry," in a surprisingly soft voice. He put his unscarred palm against its neck. The feathers there were downy and soft.

Rubbing his fingers through the tufty feathers, its eye followed his closely. At the touch, he saw the pupils widen just a bit. "Are you real? Or is it a quirk? I guess you cant speak like that, can you?" he mumbled.

Looking to see if the door had a lock, he found it didn't. But he did find a pipe laying on the ground. It seemed like a spare piece for something in the room. He walked to it and took it, sliding it through the handles as a makeshift lock. It could be broken by someone strong, but it was at least some sort of restraint.

He walked back to the dragon, and ran his hand across the muzzle. He followed the direction of the feathers, not against them. "Don't hurt me or I'll get mad," he warned, though his voice was non-threatening. He grabbed the strap keeping its mouth shut tightly and slid it off, shimmying it, as it was tightly fitted.

Once it was off, the dragon opened its jaw a few times, widening it and stretching. A small chuff came out, and laid its head down, closing its eyes, seeming happy to not have its mouth clamped shut. That had to have been uncomfortable. Dabi saw the sharp teeth. Long enough to skewer anyone easily.

He pat the muzzle again. "That has to feel better now, huh?" he mused quietly. It was so soft, contrasting the size and dangerous teeth. "The hell are you doing here?" It didn't answer, and kept its eyes closed, so glad to have its mouth free. The villain walked around it, looking at the rest of its long body. The wings would be massive if they could spread fully.

It started from his shoulder all the way to where the tail started. The feathers on the wings and tail were coarse, thick and stiff. The rest were fairly soft, at varying lengths. Pressing against the skin, it was deceptively strong and thick. The feathers were just how it looked, it didn't seem like they were how strong the body actually was.

It was rare, to feel such sympathy for it. Maybe because it wasn't a human. And maybe because he just felt for someone or something trapped where they didn't want to be. He'd been isolated back at his original home. Wasn't allowed to go to school or anywhere else while his siblings could.

He would help them with their homework even if he didn't go to school and was forcibly taught at home. Dabi felt truly sorry for it. Then there was a banging on the door. Someone was trying to get in. Dabi rushed forward. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he forced the strap back onto its muzzle. A look of such sadness came to its eyes, and Dabi felt guilt for the first time in a long time. He ran to the back and crawled under the thick tail to hide. If he was caught, he might not be able to enter again.

Who came in was some random guy, who had a huge barrel. "I've come back, you ugly beast," he mocked. He refilled the barrel connected to its neck. The tubes were very thick and wide. Once it was refilled, the slow drip continued, and the dragon relaxed, being drugged no doubt. Meaning it could get out if it wasn't drugged.

"You wont be shifting anytime soon, bitch." And he kicked the face. Dabi grew irrationally angry, but kept himself under control. The random didn't even notice someone broke in, fucking idiot. Clueless idiot, damn. Once he left, the dragon sighed again, so miserable. Dabi walked back to its head once he was sure the guy was gone.

He sniffed the barrel and winced at the horrible smell that burnt his sinuses. So bitter and clearly a chemical. Approaching the head again, he gently pressed a hand to where it had been kicked. Did they abuse it? And what did he mean, "shift"? Was it actually a human? If so, this quirk was pretty fucking awesome.

Though unfortunate for it at the time. "Are you a human?" he asked quietly. The dragon moved its eyes back and forth, as if shaking its head in a way. Looking at his phone, he realized he'd been missing for over an hour. Toga had wanted to share more tiktoks with him and would be pushy about knowing where he'd been all this time. It was time for him to leave.

He brushed a hand softly over its cheek again. "I'll visit again," he promised. He felt bad when the dragon just looked sad to see him gone. Not afraid one bit, though Dabi hadn't seemed an ounce threatening. He'd never acted so soft and kind before. Maybe his problem was just people. Animals didn't do wrong things on purpose.

He shut the door behind him. Really, what an idiot random? He didn't even lock it behind him. To be honest, it was shocking how inept he was. Nobody was down there again, and he left, earbuds in, mind swirling with thoughts of pity, and plans of rescue. Poor thing. He wouldn't tell anybody about what he'd found.

-x-

Dabi sat in front of the dragon with a large plate of cooked turkey. He was putting it into the unrestrained mouth, but it was hard for the dragon to swallow, so he managed to loosen the strap around its throat. It seemed so happy to have food, and kept licking its lips in satisfaction. "I guess you must have missed food, huh?" Dabi said, it being quite obvious. "I also brought some water."

He had one of those jugs they put in water dispensers. He had a bucket, too, and poured some water in it, slowly pouring it over the painfully dry tongue. He was being oddly kind, but it felt good. He never helped other people like this, but it felt fine doing such a thing when it was a suffering animal.

Once the jug was empty, he burnt it and hid the melted plastic in the rafters. Sitting next to the head of the satisfied dragon, he wondered its story. Man, it would be nice if it could talk in some way. What kind of stories did a dragon have? Was it a boy or girl? He didn't think it would be nice to just lift the tail and look.

But when did he ever care about being nice? This was only the second visit and he felt very strongly attached to the beast. The only person to keep it company that wasn't abusive. "My name is Dabi, by the way. It hasn't always been, but it's my name now. No last name, and no villain name. I'm a bad guy."

The dragon seemed unbothered. "I guess that might not be great news, since all the people that did this to you are villains, too. I don't like hurting animals. I always wanted a dog, but never got one. And now, I wouldn't want to put one in danger. I don't want to be responsible for some innocent animal's death, y'know?"

It was easy to talk to something that couldn't reply. "Do you have a name?" he wondered, looking in its very expressive eyes. It nodded. "Huh. I wish you could tell me what it is, and who named you. If these people did, I bet it's something pretty derogatory," Dabi mused. He ran his hand through the feathers again. Something it liked, and always relaxed with.

"Toga wont stop taking me aside to watch stupid fuckin' tiktoks. I know I'm a villain, but I'm not petty like those stupid kids. Why would you steal a school sink and then broadcast it everywhere?" he said. The dragon's brow bones furrowed. "Maybe you don't know what any of that means."

He took out his phone and brought up some videos. Toga not only forced him to watch with her, but also sent him them. He moved to be beside him to the side, and lifted his phone to play some of the dumb kids' life choices. The dragon grew uninterested pretty quickly. "Yeah, I agree. They're pretty boring," he chuckled.

"I bet Toga would call you pretty and be annoying. But you're my secret. Though I don't know if ol' Shigaraki knows or not. I don't know what his reaction would be if he does. He acts even weirder than before, now," Dabi mused. "Did you ever have anyone to care for you?" he wondered.

The dragon shook his head minutely, but enough for Dabi to see and understand. "Poor thing," he mumbled, and then looked annoying. "Listen, if you can ever talk, you cant tell anyone jack shit about my visits and how… nice I'm being." The dragon looked mildly confused. "Good. I wish I knew your name. Just giving you one seems kind of like a dick move."

Then he perked up. "I got an idea. You know how your name is spelled?" The dragon nodded. "Awesome, you can read. Damn. Maybe I'll bring a book for you or some shit. I'll list the letters, and you tell me which ones are in your name. Got it?" The dragon nodded, and then winced. "Just move your eyes for yes or no." It moves its eyes to indicate it'd do what Dabi said.

When he listed all the letters, it came out as "Keigo".

"Well, Keigo, are you a boy or girl? Male or female?" He blinked twice to show male. "Now I know what to call you and the pronouns, great." He was glad things were going smooth. Looking at his phone, his hour was up. "I'm gonna go. I'll bring you something to do another time." He didn't like having to put the muzzle strap back on, but it was a necessity.

The drag- Keigo- never looked angry when he did this. Only sad and disappointed. He didn't fight back, either. So that meant he didn't blame Dabi or think he was cruel, which was nice. He was glad he didn't scare Keigo. It would be a bummer if he did. His only company, scaring him, would be upsetting. When he got back to the room the League mostly chilled in, Spinner wondered where he was going.

"None of your business," Dabi said lightly, flopping onto the couch. At least the furniture there was nice. Too bad Keigo couldn't feel any comfort like that. While the others were doing their own things, Dabi was on his phone, googling the name and coming up with absolutely nothing but two humans with the name living nowhere close to them.

So he was pretty sure Keigo wasn't a human, or if he was, he laid low. Dabi was glad. If he was a human, it would ruin it. Keigo could understand him fine, and was intelligent for an animal, but it was nice he couldn't talk back. A true listener. None of his fellow villains were good at listening about anything.

He locked his phone again and took a nap on the couch.

-x-

Dabi continued to visit Keigo every other day, and every time he went, the dragon was drugged out of his mind. Drooling, eyes distant. It was awful and made Dabi quite unhappy. He didn't know why they seemed to have upped the dosage, but it bothered him. Dabi wasn't a stranger to drugs. He was a user for most of his adult life. He only stopped recently.

But he willingly did drugs - hard drugs - while Keigo clearly didn't consent to it. He was so intelligent and sentient animal, yet they treated him like garbage. Was he actually dangerous? And that's why they drugged him? He had growled at Dabi, but since then he'd been calm and nonthreatening.

The mouth was pretty dangerous, and the clawed hands. He didn't know if the dragon could breathe fire or anything like that, as he hadn't tried. Dabi asked him about it, but had gotten no answer. He managed to not get angry about it. He hadn't gotten angry at Keigo a single time. Mostly pity and sympathy.

Things in the PLF were getting pretty heated, and the big fight was going to happen soon. They'd been planing meticulously. Dabi wasn't present for most of it, bored out of his mind during meetings so much he'd fallen asleep during one. Shigaraki was not happy about that and the fire user was gladly kicked out of it.

He wasn't bothered one bit by it. Twice was annoyed with him afterwards for not taking it seriously. "I have no real desire to work with your plans. I have my own," he'd bluntly and honestly said. But Dabi had another plan, other than ending Endeavor's career and throwing the hero world and public eye into chaos. He was excited to do that.

But his other plan was to set Keigo free. If they were gonna get in a big battle with the heroes, being trapped underground in their base would be dangerous and a possible death sentence. So, when the night before the attack came, he went down to the dragon, and waited for the usual visit every evening to up his dosage.

After the random was gone, Dabi carefully removed all of the tubes from the dragon's body. Then he undid the straps and bars. When they were all off, Keigo stretched his wings with a wince. It was clear he was in pain and stiff. Which was unsurprising. The wing span was so wide that he couldn't stretch them fully in the room, which was already very big.

Dabi smiled at seeing him free. The dragon stretched his legs and spread the fingers and toes to try and get unstiff. "You have to leave in the morning," Dabi said. He was kind of sad to say goodbye. Keigo became a confidant, human or not. He could rant for a long time, and the dragon never seemed to get bored or annoyed.

He was about to leave when Keigo behind him made pained noises, clamping his mouth shut to try and be quiet. Dabi was concerned as he heard the awful sounds of bones snapping inside of him as he got smaller and smaller. The fire user flared in anger when he saw Keigo become a human with big wings.

His eyes were foggy and distant, and he seemed confused. "You lied to me!" he shouted. But then he realized Keigo looked at his hands, and seemed terrified. Dabi's anger ebbed away. He walked towards the dragon turned human, and put a hand on his shoulder to attempt to calm him.

"You were originally a dragon, weren't you?" Dabi asked quietly. Keigo's hands were still shaking. Dabi took off his jacket and wrapped it around him, as he was naked. The dragon man didn't reply, seemed to be unable to speak. The villain helped him stand up, buttoning the jacket. He had to tear holes in the back to try and get it around his wings, the only dragon part of him left, it seemed.

Though the eyes were still golden with slitted pupils. Keigo tried to walk, but wasn't able to. Dabi put an arm under his shoulders and helped him to make it to the door. He seemed completely helpless. How did this happen? The way he acted seemed like he wasn't sure himself. He was scared. Dabi had always looked down on people who were scared after he burnt and got all the nasty scars.

But, even if Keigo was in a human body, he was still that dragon. And he felt bad for him, still. "C'mon, let's get you outta here," he said softly. There was a small, man sized door that went outside. He walked him out the door and into the forest behind the base. "You gotta go. I will try to come find you again, okay?"

Keigo grabbed on tightly to Dabi, and wouldn't let go. The villain had to pry his fingers off of him, slowly but surely getting his grip off. "I don't want you to die." Keigo still looked frightened. "Can you turn back into a dragon? Can you try, at least?" the blue eyed man asked patiently. Keigo shut his eyes tightly.

He cried out at that painful shift. God, the sounds of his bones snapping and reforming was pretty disturbing. But he became a dragon again, thankfully. Dabi smiled in relief. "Now, go far away, got it? If I make it out alive, I'll try and find you, okay?" Keigo nodded, and pushed off the ground and flew away so strongly that the force of air from the flap of his wings knocked Dabi on his ass.

He watched the red dragon fly away, and it made him sad. He really did hope he wouldn't die out there, and be able to see his friend again.