#i was Trying something witht eh second half with the name switches

[eraserhawks]

Ooooh could you do Dabihawks + 20??

i haven’t forgotten about these, just been working on other projects. today really… hit this one into my head tho

[send me a ship and a prompt - soulmate aus]

20. the one where you don’t know your soulmate until you hear them say your name.

[bonus: dabi pov]

“Seriously?” Dabi snorted in laughter, eyeing Hawks up anddown. “You’re out here saying that you want to be a villain, that you want toabandon all of your dumbass heroic ideals, but you’re out here telling me tocall you by your hero name?”

Hawks had only gone by his real name to… one person in along time. Rumi had pushed him and pushed him until he finally let her call himeven by his last name. Said his hero name was too impersonal.

He agreed, but… well, he had been used to that one. Therewas nothing personal about his life.He was the number two hero, his entire life was for the world to see. There wasno room for a personal name or a personal life. He was Hawks and that’s what it was.

He supposed, if he were really doing this villain act, Dabidid have a… point. While he’d chosen Hawks for himself, it had been associatedwith him only since he started as a hero. It represented everything that he wasto the hero commission, and nothing that he was to himself. If he really wanted to be a villain, he’d wantnothing to do with it.

“You can’t blame me for not trusting you with somethingmore,” Hawks muttered, trying to recover from a lapse, a thought he hadn’t evenhad. He was Hawks. He’d never evenconsidered saying something else. There was nothing else that he had been, notfor years and years.

“You can’t blame me for not trusting the number two hero toactually want to be a hero when he wants me to call him his hero name.” Dabi’s palm was blazinglightly, an intimidation technique probably, but Hawks couldn’t tear his eyesaway from it. He swallowed, looking at Dabi.

Some of his sidekicks and bosses didn’t even know his realname. It wasn’t like it was a secret,it was just… it wasn’t important any more, not when he was just… Hawks.

So maybe Dabi was right.

He looked at him, letting his shoulders fall after a moment.“The heroes have been in my head since I was a kid. It’s not my fault fordefaulting to it,” Hawks said, looking up at Dabi. It was a vulnerability, andrevealed far more about him than he ever wanted to, but he had to do this. He had to get his trust. “Takami Keigo.”

“Takami,” Dabi repeated, raising his eyebrows. “And you’resure you’re serious about this?”

No. He was so far from sure. From the second the HeroCommission had come to him with this mission, he had thought it was a bad idea,but what else was he supposed to do? They wanted to defeat the villains; thiswas their best chance.

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” Hawks looked at Dabi,meeting his (bright blue, strangely familiar) eyes. “Now are we doing this ornot?”

“Welcome to the League, Takami Keigo,” Dabi drawled,followed by… something. Some sort of rules or requirements or expectations orwhatever it was that happened when you joined a group of villains but Hawksdidn’t hear a word.

A thrill had gone through his body when Dabi had said hisname. It wasn’t just the terror he had expected of hearing a villain knowsomething so personal.

It was a flash of blue light and unbearable heat, enoughthat Hawks had thought for a moment that Dabi had finished his statement byacting out and cremating Hawks on the spot.

But Hawks was definitelystill alive and in one piece. Which meant…

Well, he’d heard stories of it before. All sorts of overromanticized versions on the Internet, of the light being so bright thatsomething ridiculous happened.

This…

The villainstanding in front of Hawks was his soulmate.

“Are you even fucking listening, Takami?” Another flash ofheat shot through Hawks’ body and he swallowed, looking up at Dabi.

“Of course I am!” he said, faking a bright smile.

“Believable,” Dabi snorted. “I said you’re getting nowherenear Shigaraki until you’ve actually proven yourself. I still don’t trust you.”

“What will it take?” Hawks wanted out of this mission. Fucksoulmates. Dabi couldn’t be hissoulmate, right?

“I guess we’ll find out.” Dabi smirked, extinguishing hispalms and waving to Hawks. “See you around, Keigo!”

Hawks’ feathers sharpened at the careless use of his firstname, and he yelled after Dabi, who just laughed in response.

Hawks tried to ignore the very noticeable heat in his chest.He could ignore this.

He couldn’t ignore this.

He had been meeting with Dabi for a few weeks now, and Dabi’scareless use of his name continued, like it was nothing. He didn’t know thereaction Hawks had every time he heard his name, and Hawks was no closer toknowing anything about him. Dabi hadno idea who he was, not really.

The heroes seemed excited even by the breadcrumbs that Hawksbrought back. They told him he was doing well, that they were making goodprogress on piecing together who Dabi was and what the League was doing.

All Keigo knew was that he had to get out of the mission soon.

Every time Dabi spoke, Hawks fell a little harder.

He couldn’t deny Dabi was hot, once you got past all of the scarring and staples (and, no,Keigo had never thought about how hotDabi was even with the staples and scars. Of course he wasn’t hot). He had a weird dry sense of humor, and hewas… well, for a villain, he was genuine.

None of those were the mostconcerning, though. That was the way that Dabi was slowly shifting all ofHawks’ opinions.

That was when Dabi went on a rant about how fake heroeswere, and how the Hero Commission were hiding all sorts of shit with theirfigureheads. That was Hawks listening to him, thinking about how he hadn’tknown Takami Keigo for years, until avillain reminded him he existed. That was Dabi going through list after list ofthings the heroes had done wrong, and…

And Hawks seeing all of it.

He was just being convinced because they were soulmates,right? Dabi couldn’t have good points. It had to be something about Keigoover-romanticizing the concept of soulmates.

It had to do with the fact that one thing had led to anotherand suddenly Keigo’s lips were on Dabi’s one day, and then -

And then it kept happening until it wasn’t only kissing and-

And one of Hawks’ sidekicks walked into his office one daywith a terrified look on their face, telling him that the Hero Commission leadswere demanding an emergency meeting.

And Hawks being handed papers with bright red writingstating Dabi’s real name, and a demand for arrest.

Hawks stared at the papers in his hands, swallowing deeplyand trying to convince himself he was wrong. He had been sent on a mission butthis was…

“Tomorrow?” Hawks asked quietly, folding the papers in hislap. “We’re arresting D… Touyatomorrow?”

It was the first time he’d said that name. It felt nodifferent to him, but he wasn’t the one that would affect.

To Hawks, it was just another name. To Dabi, it was…

It was what finally made his name his again. It was what took Keigo from something left in the dusthis wings swept up as he shot his way to the top to something that was him again. The flash of light and warmththat shot through his body every time that Dabi said it.

Touya was just another name to Hawks. To Dabi, it would be…it would change his life, or at least his understandingof life.

If only he could have done this under differentcircumstances.

Tomorrow came too fast, and Hawks waited impatiently at hisapartment for Dabi to show up. He paced through the room, his wings jerking atevery small noise. The police were stationed in the other room as well as onthe ground in case things went wrong.

Dabi slid in through the window after a moment and hegrinned at Hawks. “Couldn’t wait to see me, Keigo?”

Keigo shivered, ignoring the heat rushing through his bodylike it always did. “I’m glad you know you’re a bootycall,” he answeredtauntingly, collapsing onto his bed and motioning Dabi forward.

Dabi snorted, walking up to him and kissing him. “You’re anidiot.”

“You love me,” Hawks said, trying to keep his desperationout of the words. He didn’t deserve this. Dabi had no idea what was coming, itwas clear. Hawks shouldn’t be asking for this.

“You know I do, birdbrain.” Dabi ruffled his hair andKeigo’s heart started to shatter. He had to get this over with.

“I do too,” Keigowhispered. He leaned forward, taking Dabi’s hands and resting their foreheadstogether. The heroes watching probably thought this was an amazing act, a trueact of mercy from Hawks. He just had to do this and then he was free from themission that had probably been weighing him down and forcing him to suffer forso long.

Keigo choked a little on the words the first time beforekissing Dabi softly, sliding the handcuffs from his pocket. He kept their lipstogether and took Dabi’s hands gently, wrapping his own wrists around them tohold him in place. It wasn’t an uncommon gesture for the two of them. Hawksliked to hold his hands when they kissed, to hold him in place, to havecontrol.

Hawks disconnected two small feathers from his wings,guiding them to his hands and taking the handcuffs with them. In a surge, hekissed Dabi deeper, distracting him long enough to get the handcuffs around hiswrists. Dabi’s eyes snapped open, and he clearly wanted to make a snarkycomment before he realized what was happening. Before he realized that thehandcuffs were limiting his quirk, before he realized that Hawks was backingaway.

“Todoroki Touya,” Hawks whispered, his voice quieter than hehad anticipated. He breathed in before finishing, “You’re under arrest.”

As the police burst in, Hawks saw Dabi (Touya, his soulmate) widen his eyes, suddenly realizing what hadjust happened. Getting that flash and burst of heat that Hawks had felt months ago, when he first met Dabi.

He couldn’t look away fast enough to miss the betrayal.

“Good job, Hawks.” A police officer patted him on the backand Hawks forced a smile onto his face.

For the first time in far too long, that was the name that felt empty.

What did Hawkseven mean?