Scissors, gloves, clips…Wow. Hawks tilted his head, staring in amazement at the selection of hair dye. There are a lot of options. I went with blonde last time because I thought it'd be cool to match. She didn't really say what color she wanted. Just something "Yori". So did she mean white? She had white hair before we dyed it.

He rubbed his chin for a moment before his eyes settled on a color that he, personally, thought was really nice. Of course, he preferred the blonde shade she had now. If it was up to him, she would just keep the color she had. Not that anyone saw her besides him.

Hawks grabbed the box of hair color and smiled, deciding she would probably like this color. As he turned to leave the aisle, he was met with a figure standing further down the aisle from him. A figure in a hooded jacket with their face hidden in shadow, lingering in front of a shelf near his only way out.

"Is it safe for you to be here?" he murmured, approaching Dabi.

"No one's seen my face yet." Dabi looked down into the shopping basket.

It took a lot of effort to try to stay calm. The villain was walking beside him now as he made his way to the front of the store to buy his groceries. He wanted to hurry home, but now he knew he would have to take his time. Possibly do some more shopping, just to try to deter Dabi from suspecting something.

"Any word on Grayscale?" The question came once they were outside in the rainy evening.

Hawks felt his pulse speed up and he gripped the plastic bags tightly. "I haven't heard much. No one's really looking for her. She's not exactly top priority for the heroes."

Dabi shrugged and turned his head to look directly at him. "You'd think someone would've found her body by now, at least. The leader wants her corpse if she's dead so if you hear that someone found her…"

"You'd be the only person I'd tell," Hawks assured him. "Who else would care about her? What does Shigaraki want the body for?"

A smirk stretched the villain's lips and he lowered his head a little. "Can't tell you right now." An arm slung around the hero's shoulders and pulled him against his side. Leaning down a little, Dabi brought his face inches away from the blond's. "You know I'd like it better if she's alive."

"Same. She's cute. It'd be too bad if she died."

"So if you find her alive, you'll let me know, right?"

"Of course." Meanwhile, Hawks was starting to feel a little sick to his stomach. He raised an eyebrow and attempted a joking tone to lighten the mood. "Were you stalking me or something? How'd you find me?"

"I slipped a tracking chip into your feathers." Dabi saw his eyebrows both raise and he smirked. "You think I have that kind of money? I saw you go into the store." He drew away from Hawks and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Don't flatter yourself. If I wanted to stalk someone, I'd pick someone more interesting."

The winged hero stared after him as he walked away, the unease in the pit of his stomach growing. He knows that I have her. He's edging around the fact that I took her, but why? If Shigaraki's that desperate to get her back, wouldn't you try harder to figure out where she is?

Just in case he was being watched, Hawks decided to delay returning home. He stopped in a bookstore to grab some manga he thought his roommate might enjoy. He grabbed some ice cream bars from a convenience store. He went into a few more shops that he picked at random. In each of these places, he left behind a copy of his roommate's manga; his attempt at quietly promoting it.

Shift P.O.V

Yori tapped her pencil against the sketchbook, head tilted and eyes narrowed on the figure she was drawing. You…just keep haunting me, don't you? There's no escape, is there? Look at you. You're just…burned into my brain. You're like an infection that won't go away.

She pushed her glasses up with a fingertip, her tails quietly thumping against the couch cushion at her side. The sketch stared up at her from the paper with an intense expression. A face she could still see even with her eyes closed. A face she had seen almost every day when she was a villain.

Dry, scarred lips. Eyes narrowed with malice, the skin around them irritated with dryness and raw in some spots from rubbing. The neck littered with scratches. The hair, a wavy sort of texture and pale in shading. Shigaraki's face stared up at the ex-villain with such clarity that the girl could practically hear his voice in her head.

Leaning down a little, she bit the inside of her cheek and tilted her head slightly further. "My girl…here you are…all alone. What are you doing? You think it's really that easy? What do you think he'll do with you when he gets bored? Come back…I need my support. Without you…I'm so…"

She shook her head and leaned back, a hand lifting to cover her mouth. Why did I do that? I said all of that out loud! Ugh! This is so stupid! Why did I do that?! It doesn't make any sense!

Yori's hand slid down from her mouth, inching toward her neck and scratching at it. Her tails rose from the couch cushions and prepared to draw an "X" over Shigaraki's face, but she jolted out of her fixation when the door opened. Amber eyes darted in that direction and locked onto her roommate's curious gaze.

"Everything okay?" He crossed the apartment with a few shopping bags in hand, dripping rain water with every step. The feathers puffed up a little on his wings and it was the only warning before he shook them to dry off.

She lifted an arm to protect her face from getting wet. "Tch. Did you fly in the rain again? You know it's storming, right? One hit from some lightning and you'll be fried chicken."

"It's faster than walking. Anyway, I got you some stuff so-" The hero was silenced by her lifting a hand and shooting him a glare. Cocking his head to the side, he lifted the shopping bags with a quiet rustle.

Yori went into the bathroom and returned with a fluffy white towel. Her caretaker urges kicked in when she saw his hair dripping. She still had an aversion to getting too close to men, but she forced herself to stand in front of him and towel-dry his hair for him.

"Seriously. You're going to catch a cold doing stupid stuff like this. Is that what you want? I'm not going to baby you if you catch a cold. You're the number two hero now and you're really acting this irresponsible?" She drew away and saw that his blond hair was now extremely fluffy. Like a baby chick's fluff.

Hawks heard her snort, saw her cover her mouth with a hand, and he tilted his head to the other side. A grin crossed his face, happy to see his roommate like this. He was used to her brooding or serious sides; it was rare to see this side of her. Leaning over, he ruffled her hair with a gloved hand. "You know, your smile is pretty cute. You shouldn't hide it."

Her tails whipped around, the stingers pressing lightly at his other arm through his sleeve. "What're you chirping about, fluffy?"

"I got your hair dye," he stated, rustling the bag again. "I didn't know what color would be "Yori", but I think I picked a good one!"

What Hawks had picked was a rather nice shade of pink. What Yori's hair color became at the end of the coloring session was a soft peach shade. Needless to say, she was less than thrilled. To make matters worse, he was obviously distracted and not evenly remotely apologetic about her hair.

Yori noticed how quiet he was throughout the coloring session. Last time he had been excited to see the result, but this time his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. Even during dinner, he seemed to be lost in thought.

They were sitting on the couch as Yori worked on a storyboard for a new chapter when she finally could no longer stand his silence. Hawks was sitting about a foot away, absentmindedly playing with her tails, when she turned to him. "Did…something happen today? You're not your usual, chirpy self."

He frowned a bit and ran a fingertip along the curve of her left stinger. "No. I'm just tired," he replied without looking up.

The last time he was like this, it had been when Endeavor was injured. Of course, he had felt guilty that time. Does he feel guilty now? Something obviously happened. What was it? What could make him sulk like this?

Yori frowned as well now. Her first thought was that something had happened to Endeavor again, but this felt different. Her eyes narrowed on her rough sketch, her grip tightening on her pencil as horrible thoughts came to mind.

These horrible thoughts stayed with her even after he had gone to sleep, snoring beside her and taking up way too much room on the bed. Wrapped in her separate blanket, facing away from him, she was biting the inside of her cheek.

What happens if he gets bored of this? What happens if he decides I'm too much trouble? What if he kills me? I'm just a toy to him, aren't I? And toys…are disposable. If he gets bored, he could just kill me and dump my body somewhere. The League of Villains would get blamed for it because of my connection to them.

She sat upright on the edge of the bed, her arms wrapped around herself and nails lightly digging into her own skin. Yori cast a glance over her shoulder at the winged hero and gritted her teeth as panic spiked. She remembered waking up on the couch with him standing over her, feather blade in hand. His expression turned to disappointment the second he realized she was awake, but she remembered that smile he was wearing at first. A small, excited smile. Like a child about to tear open a Christmas present.

If he kills me…no one will know it was him. He's a hero. He's the number two hero. This isn't like Overhaul or Shigaraki, where someone might believe that I was killed by them. No one would believe a hero murdered me!

She twisted onto her knees on the bed, facing him and staring down at the sleeping hero. Her lips twitched at the corner, her amber eyes going wide as she took in the blurry view of the young man unconscious on his side, his wings spread out behind him on the bed. Yori reached out a trembling hand and gently pushed messy blond locks of hair away from his face.

Look at you! You're…just roosting, huh? Roosting like the cute little bird you are! Birds, birds, birds like Chisaki! She muffled a frantic giggle with both hands. Chisaki?! No, no, no…NO! Different bird, different bird! So many birds! You must really want to die! Playing…with a scorpion like me, huh? Look at you! I could just…jam my stingers in you…and pump you full of venom! Just like…just like…

Yori's tails lifted and swayed behind her as she tilted her head. Peach-colored strands of hair fell over her right eye and she blinked away tears. My mom…just like my mom. The venom…goes in…your heart…quits…and it's all over. Just like that. Your life…gone. Everyone that loved you…left behind.

She moved closer to the sleeping hero and wiped at her eyes so she could see him just a bit more clearly. He was still blurry since her glasses were off, but when she got really close, she could see the rise and fall of his chest. The peaceful expression he wore as he slept; no trace of his cocky grin he was so fond of.

Her tails raised and a stinger's tip lightly grazed over his arm. In response, he moved onto his back with his wings extended out to his sides. Still asleep. The tips of both stingers ran along the inside of his forearms, tracing veins yet not puncturing the skin. To her confusion, he actually made a sound of pleasure. It made her want to punch both stingers into his veins and tear at them.

Look at you…such a…bright, shining hawk. Aren't you? A cute, little hero…too fast for your own good. You like secrets, don't you? You get…a sick thrill from this. You like…the feeling of my stingers on your skin. Masochist.

She smirked as a terrible, brilliant idea came to mind. Something she would definitely not act on. It was just an amusing thought. To let a weak dose of venom leak from her stingers as she scratched a design on his skin.

Yori leaned down a little more. What a noble little bird you are! You saved a scorpion! But you know…if you listened to that story I told Eri-chan…instead of squawking at Shouta about how you "saved" me…you'd know the bird that tries to eat the scorpion gets stung a thousand times! She grinned and her tails moved away from his skin, twirling around each other in excitement.

The hero blinked up at her groggily and tilted his head. "Nnnh? What are you doing?" He tried to push himself up, but found the ex-villain quickly pinning him down again as she straddled his waist. "Yori-chan? Hey-!" Hawks tensed and gritted his teeth as he felt the gentle scrape of her stingers over his upper thighs.

She studied him for a moment, still wearing that grin. Birds…but all birds are bad, right?! Look at Chisaki! Where is he? Where's Chisaki? I want to tear him apart! I want…to…wait…? Yori's grin faded into a worried frown. Her stingers lifted and she felt a furious rush of blood to her face.

Without a word, Yori got off of him and curled up on her side facing away. The blanket was pulled tight around her, her head tucked beneath the edge of it to hide her face. What was I doing? Why did I…do that?

"Yori-chan? Are you okay? Were you having a night terror?"