A shrill alarm rings out and Hawks cracks open a golden eye. His head starts to throb and he squeezes his eye shut, his hand searching to turn off the shrieking alarm. Silence once again fills his apartment and he relaxes back into his pillow. Sighing, he rolls over and comes face to face with Dabi- who's stirring from his own dreams.

Hawks watches, hypnotized, as Dabi slowly opens his eyes. He feels his heart skip a beat as Dabi's gaze focuses on him, he says nothing as Dabi quietly studies him- his eyes shift from Hawks' own and land on Hawks' lips for a brief second before flickering up to the ceiling.

In the morning light, Dabi looks nearly ethereal. His inky dark hair silkily splays out as a stark contrast against Hawks' white pillow, the unmarred parts of his face seem to soak up the morning sun's light and has a soft glow. His gaze follows along Dabi's sharp jawline, allowing the surgical staples to guide his eyes up to the soft swell of his cheekbones and finally to Dabi's half lidded eyes. His eyes that are still waking up, blinking blearily up at the ceiling, he posses a look of peace rather than his usual inquisitive glare. As Dabi shifts slightly, the staples reflect against the light and Hawks wants nothing more than to touch them. Shiny objects always catches his eye. His colleagues always joke around that he has hidden stashes of his shiny "preciouses" scattered throughout the office and in his apartment.

Both men are quiet, enjoying the morning tranquility that takes hold of the apartment. Dust motes dance lazily in the sunlight that streams in from between the cracks in the blinds. Hawks watches as Dabi's chest rises and falls in deep breaths, Dabi lifts an arm and covers his face with the crook of his elbow.

"What time is it?" His voice, still gruff from sleep, breaks Hawks' trance and he blinks before sitting up- running his fingers through his bed head. He squints over at the alarm clock and launches out of his bed, the magic of a sleepy morning broken.

"Shit! I have a meeting today. I'm gonna be late!" From behind him, he hears the rustle of fabric as Dabi stretches, yawns and turns over on his side- falling back asleep with a soft snore.

Hawks digs through his dresser and pulls out a pair of pants, hiking them up before grabbing a semi clean shirt off of the piled up clothes in the corner. He takes one last glance over his shoulder before he bolts out the door and smiles at the sleeping form of Dabi before he gently closes the door to avoid waking the man up.

"-Increase our patrols- Ah, Hawks. Glad to see you decided to show up to the meeting." His boss watches him with sharp eyes from the head of the table as Hawks sits down next to Miruko.

"Sorry, morning commute was a bitch. You know how it goes."

"Don't you fly?" A hero across from him asks, Miruko starts to snicker.

"Yeah, I was stuck behind a flock of asshole geese. I wasn't about to get in a fight with them, those suckers got teeth. I'd rather *not* ruin my handsome face."

"Handsome? Hawks you might wanna take a look in the mirror because you look like you got one foot in the grave."

"Eh, I had a rough night. Not as young as I used to be." Miruko narrows her eyes at him and taps her finger against the table.

"You're yo-"

"Er-hem." Their boss clears his throat, "This is not a social circle. We are here strictly for business and I would appreciate if it were to stay that way." He looks around the table, daring for another hero to interrupt the meeting, "Now, as I was saying. With the increased amount of Nomu sightings throughout the country, all agencies agreed to band together and push back the steady growing Nomu sightings. We've enough civilian complaints and if we fall behind on this, they may very well start taking matters into their own hands. Not only will that cause more casualties but also more paperwork on our end, something that I really would rather not fill out. There is no need for unnecessary lawsuits. We have a good image to uphold. Especially after what's been happening over at Yuuei, we have to maintain the public's trust." Hawks' boss laces his fingers together and looks from one hero to another before fully stopping on Hawks.

"All heroes will be pairing up and working in teams of two during their patrols. Endeavor suggested this and I expected nothing less from the Number One Hero." Hawks clenches his jaw, of course Endeavor would take credit for Hawks' own plan. He's beginning to ask himself why he even idolized the man to start with. Maybe after learning of Dabi's past, Hawks' eyes opened and really saw who Endeavor was as a person and not a hero. A title that Endeavor doesn't even deserve in Hawks' opinion.

After the mention of Endeavor's name, Hawks finds himself unable to concentrate and lets his mind slip back to the previous night. He never thought in a million years that he would sympathize with a villain. He supposes that he never thought that he would end up with feelings for a villain either. He doesn't even know how to begin to process the strangeness of their relationship.

How could it start with them constantly at each other's throats and trying to drive the other crazy and for it to end up with. Well, Hawks thinks to himself- hoping he's not blushing in the middle of his meeting, well wanting to be at Dabi's throat. Just in a different sense.

He rubs the back of his neck and catches Miruko's eye, she waggles her eyebrows at him and he looks away quickly. The thought of how Dabi's skin against his lips would feel still on his mind.

Why did he even let himself get involved in this mess? He tells himself that he needs to stop being such a "yes man". Hawks tries to turn his attention back to the meeting but finds himself failing. Instead, he stares out of the window and occasionally nods to whatever his boss is saying. Knowing that Miruko will tell him if he missed anything important.

After what feels like ages, the meeting ends and Hawks stretches. The small meeting room doesn't allow Hawks to spread his wings to their full glory but he's just thankful enough that he doesn't have to sit in another meeting until the following month.

"Hawks, if you could stay behind for a moment please." His boss's request is more of a demand than a question and they both know it. He sighs and looks up to the clock behind his boss, it's almost noon and all he can think about is the gnawing hunger in the pit of his stomach. In his rush this morning, he skipped out on breakfast and while morning meetings usually hold doughnuts and coffee- he arrived too late and all the doughnuts were gone.

He stays seated and watches as the last of the heroes trickle out of the office, the door shutting behind Miruko as she shoots him a "good luck" look.

"Hawks, I have been patient." He inwardly groans, knowing that he's going to end up dealing with the same conversation he had with Shigaraki the week before. Only this time, no one will come to save him.

"I chose you with the upmost confidence in your ability to infiltrate their ranks. Yet, your weekly progress reports continue to show a bare minimum. Is there something going on that I need to be aware of?" Oh boy, Hawks thinks, if only his boss knew.

"Well, I still don't fully have their trust yet." The wrinkle appears between his boss's brows, "But I almost have them! It seems that they're just waiting for things to cool down a little bit more after all the Nomus that they've been throwing out left and right like they're Oprah fuckin' Winfrey. 'You get a Nomu, you get a Nomu. You all get Nomus!'"

The wrinkle gets deeper.

"I mean- I have a meeting with them soon. I'll see what I can gather from that meeting."

"How soon is soon exactly?" Hawks refocuses from the wrinkle and shrugs.

"I'll get in contact with my guy today and ask him for the specifics. Besides that, I'm in the complete dark. What I do know is that they are planning on something big in the foreseeable future." His boss laughs.

"Of course they'll be planning on something big. They're nothing but villains. Disgusting filth of our society," His boss stands and claps Hawks on the shoulder, "You find out what they're planning Hawks. The good people of Japan are counting on you." Hawks feels bile rise up in his throat and he numbly nods.

"So." Hawks looks up from his cheeseburger and sees an all too smug Miruko.

"So?"

"What's gotten my Hawks blushing like a fresh spring chicken?" He sets down his burger with a sigh and shakes his head.

"Blushing? Who's blushing? I'm not blushing." She gives him a wink and sets down her own burger.

"You were at the meeting."

"Hmm, I think you need to get your eyes checked. Definitely was not blushing." Her grin grows and Hawks wishes for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. He knows that nothing can slip under the watchful eyes of Miruko.

"Why the fuck you lyin'? I sat right next to you, you were more red than a cardinal."

"Do you always have to make everything bird related with me?"

"You looked as happy as a lark!" He stares at her, trying to suppress a smile. Miruko giggles and takes a bite out of her burger, the grease runs down the sides of her mouth and Hawks watches as a glob of ketchup falls from the bun and splatters on her hand.

"Okay, I'm done... for now." He narrows his eyes and waits but she simply shrugs and takes another bite.

"For real though. I don't think I've ever seen such a dopey and love sick grin on you before."

"I don't know what kind of drugs you're taking but I'm not in love."

"Who'd you think you're kidding? You can try to keep it hidden but honey, I can see right through you."

"No chance. No way. I'm not gonna say it."

"Girl, you can't deny it." Miruko replies in a airy sing song voice. Hawks crosses his arms and narrows his eyes suspiciously at her.

"I'm not going to break out in song with you, Miruko." She seems to deflate and sticks her lower lip out in a pout.
"Boo! You're no fun!" They return to eating their lunch in peace, she keeps shooting him looks and he knows that if he doesn't indulge in her curiosity at lest a little bit, she'll end up following him all the way home and get hit in the face with the cold harsh reality of Hawks' situation.

That can't happen.

"If I tell you a little bit, will it make you leave me alone?" Miruko instantly perks up and she bounces in her seat like a small child.

"Depends on how good the details are. Do I know her?" Ah, the first hurdle. He thinks to himself.

"Um, well." She instantly picks up on his pause and her smile grows, her giant bunny ears twitch. At this point, Hawks is actively worried about her face splitting into two at this point.

"Oh! Or maybe I should ask, do I know him?"

"You know of him?" Hawks doesn't dare to elaborate. He's not mentally ready for the shit show if revealed that he's pinning for a villain. She rubs her chin thoughtfully and nods, thinking.

"What does he look like?" He's starting to sweat bullets, thankfully his phone pings and he looks down at it. Miruko arches an eyebrow and slyly winks.

"Is that from lover boy?"

It was in fact, from Dabi. He twists away from her prying gaze and opens the message.

From: Dabi

Having fun?

From: Hawks

wat He wants to send out a meme of an old lady saying that but guesses that Dabi's flip phone probably doesn't receive picture messages. Even if it did, he doubts that Dabi dabbles in the art of memery.

He looks around for the man but sees no one familiar in the ocean of business people enjoying their lunch.

From: Dabi

Told you Im on babysitting duty

Youve been here for an hr. Im bored af. His phone pings again and Hawks fights to hold in a snort.

You could at least get me something

strawberry milkshake. His phone falls silent and tries to look around the room again, Miruko picks up on this and not so subtlety whips her head around.

"Oh my god, is he here?!" He laughs and takes a bite out of his burger, refusing to answer her question.

"You two seem to get along great." Dabi says in between sips of his milkshake. Today, Dabi seemed to leave behind his signature trench coat in favor for a loose turtleneck, a pair of fitted black jeans and combat boots. He has another one of his face masks pulled down around his neck and dark aviators- hiding his eyes. If Hawks was to be honest with himself, he likes seeing Dabi in clothes that actually seem to fit his body better than his usual nearly hobo-like outfits.

"Miruko?" Dabi's eyebrows knit together and he grumbles beneath his breath, his eyes never leaving the straw of his drink. Dabi kicks at a pebble on the side of the road and Hawks watches as the pebble bounces off of the concrete and fall into a storm drain.

"She's pretty cool. We've known each other for a few years now, she used to be my partner."

"Hm." Dabi's reply is short and terse, the tips of his fingers turn white as he gripes tightly against the sides of the milkshake.

"If you ruin that, I'm not buying you another one. Rent is coming up." Dabi growls something out again and Hawks rolls his eyes, he doesn't know what put Dabi in such a bad mood but he finds it a little funny. He never would've guessed that Dabi could pout.

"What?"

"Nothing." Dabi fixates a sullen glare at Hawks and slowly releases the death grip on the poor cup. He starts to walk a little faster, leaving Hawks a foot or so behind him. Hawks stifles a giggle as Dabi slouches into himself and puts in headphones. Hawks lets Dabi walk ahead of him, preferring the view from behind.

Author's Note

I love writing morning scenes, they're probably my favorite scenes to write.

I used to live in a city where there were geese just e v e e. They had knew no fear and would stare you down with their beady little stupid eyes as you nervously walk by praying to any and every god possible that they wouldn't decide to be little shits and attack. Mean asshole birds.

Miruko totally strikes me the type to be super punny. I was scrolling through so many stupid bird pun websites lol, I'm not a very punny person myself so I was suffering the whole time I was looking for puns.

Have an oblivious and thirsty Hawks and a jealous Dabi.

Also, give Dabi some better fitting clothes, omg he deserves more than his tattered clothes and for heaven's sake, let him wear some socks. Okay, rant over. Until then, fairwinds.

Reviews are always welcome!