## Preface

Between a rock and a hard place
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/23777116.

Rating:
  General Audiences
Archive Warning:
  No Archive Warnings Apply
Category:
  Gen
Fandom:
  僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Characters:
  Takami Keigo | Hawks, Dabi | Todoroki Touya
Additional Tags:
  Canon Compliant, Moral Dilemmas, Hawks is not having a good time, Character Study, DabiHawks Week 2020, Pigeon Verse
Language:
  English
Series:
  Part 2 of DabiHawks Week 2020, Part 1 of Pigeon Verse
Stats:
  Published: 2020-04-21 Words: 1,172 Chapters: 1/1

# Between a rock and a hard place

by CrazyClara, EloFromMars

Summary

> What went through Hawks' mind when Dabi asked him to kill Best Jeanist?

> Day 2 of DabiHawks Week 2020

Notes

> Day 2 of DabiHawks Week - Redraw/Rewrite your favorite scene.

> Clara and I settled for chapter 231 where Dabi calls Hawks to ask him to prove himself by killing Best Jeanist.

> The soundtrack for this has been the album This is War | Thirsty Seconds to Mars and more specifically Hurricane which is one of our favorite Hotwings songs :3

> A big thank you to Tor for her pointers and betaing <3

See the end of the work for more notes

## Between a rock and a hard place

When his phone rings in his pocket and he sees an unknown number, a bit of nervousness twists his stomach. Not a lot of people have his private phone number and most of them are already in his contacts. He forces a smile to be heard in his voice as he picks up. The soft, slurring voice on the other end of the line is now familiar.

“Hawks.”

“Hey Matchstick. It’s been a while.”

The villain huffs. “Missed me?”

“Terribly.”

“I’m sure.”

“What’s up?”

“It’s a real shame about last time.”

A real shame? That’s one way to put it. Almost killing the number 1 hero, destroying a whole neighborhood with Nomus and flames? Hurting dozen of innocent people in the process? Yeah, a shame indeed. A big shame. Bastard. But Dabi is his only ticket to the League, Keigo needs to play nice. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Don’t even try to trace this call. ”

Keigo rolls his eyes. “You gotta gimme the benefit of the doubt.”

Calls and squeals coming from the bottom of the building where he's perched grab his attention. A bunch of high-school girls wave at him enthusiastically, asking if he’s talking to his girlfriend. He has to bite his lower lip to muffle a laugh. What a girlfriend, indeed. If you’re into the Frankenstein monster type with questionable sanity, then yeah, Dabi is definitely girlfriend material.

“It’s a secret,” he answers the girls with a cheery smile before taking off.

“What?”

“Talking with my fans. They think I’m talking with my girlfriend.”

Dabi makes a disgusted noise which amuses Keigo. “What is it Dabi? I’m a real catch you know?”

“I don’t do bird fucking.”

“Your loss.”

“Whatever.”

Keigo lands on a higher building, where no-one except for the pigeons would hear his conversation. “Look, I just need you to trust me. Being on this side of the equation helped me realize that we’d all be better off without heroes and heroics.”

One more lie falls from his lips like it’s nothing. And truly? It is nothing. He’s ready to do whatever it takes to earn Dabi’s trust. It’s what’s expected of him. Keigo needs to get Dabi to think less about the risk and more about what he can get from Hawks. He knows he’s on the right path, that’s why Dabi keeps calling him over and over again.

“Fine, you get one more chance.”

There we go. “What’s the job?”

“You’re gonna prove your loyalty not just to the League, but to the whole anti-establishment cause. So, take someone out. Someone other than the Number one…”

Keigo remains silent for one heartbeat. “Care to elaborate?”

“We want Best Jeanist’s head.”

“What?”

“I didn’t stutter, Hawks.”

“That’s -”

Leaking info, making sure that the League won’t run into heroes, that’s one thing. Killing someone for them? That’s a whole other level.

“What is it? You having second thoughts now? Didn’t deter you when you killed those villains ten days ago.”

Keigo closes his eyes briefly. “They didn’t leave me with a choice.”

His voice sounds hollow, even to his own ears. He didn’t mean to kill those poor fucks but they refused to let go of their hostages, threatening to blow everything up if the police tried to come any closer. Keigo can still feel the way his sharp feathers cut through skin and muscles to reach the villains’ hearts. It keeps him up night after night, his brain trying to think about what else he could have done to avoid taking lives. His only comfort is to know that he saved innocent people. That’s the only thing that shuts down his conscience long enough to keep him going.

But killing someone in cold blood, a fellow hero and someone Keigo knows isn’t a bad dude?

Dabi’s uninterested voice snaps him back to the present. “I don’t care. Do it or don’t do it, that’s not my problem. Your call, hero.”

Keigo curses under his breath. “Fine.”

“Bring me the proof to the usual rendezvous point.”

“Alright.”

Dabi chuckles. “So eager.”

“Shut up.”

“Have a good day, Birdbrain. See you around.”

Keigo doesn’t have time to answer before Dabi hangs up. He stares at his phone screen.

Fuck.

He dials Makao’s number. She picks up right away, her cold, stern voice raising another wave of nervousness in Keigo’s chest.

“What is it, Hawks?”

Keigo wills his voice to remain even and unwavering. He refuses to let his troubles show, especially to her. “The League wants me to take Best Jeanist out.”

There’s a moment of silence during which Keigo prays that she will tell him that it’s off-limits, that he won’t have to kill another innocent person.

“Do it. Hakamata is done anyway.”

His heart sinks. “All Might is done too if you follow that logic.”

She clicks her tongue. “ All Might is out of reach and that’s not the point.” Her voice remains icy, emotionless as if she was telling him to go pick her up a chai latte from the Starbucks next door. “Hawks, this life could save millions in the long run. The League needs to be stopped, no matter the cost.”

“Fine.”

“Report back when you’re done."

Makao hangs up just like Dabi did, without giving Keigo a chance to add anything. His gloved fingers clench around the device, his wings puff on his back, betraying his frustration.

This is fucked-up. This is so fucked-up. Having Dabi playing with lives as if they were mere pawns is something he can understand. He and the League are Villains, that’s what is expected from them, right?

He knows that the HSPC is ruthless in its own way, he knows Makao is ruthless. He had experienced it intimately for years, hours of training upon hours of training. But he thought, he hoped that she would draw the line somewhere.

However he accepted this mission, he accepted to stain his hands and soul for the greater good. So why does he feel like screaming? Why does he want to run away and hide somewhere? He hasn’t felt that urge in years.

The weight on his shoulders has never felt that heavy but what choice does he have? He can almost feel the collar around his neck, the jess around his ankle. He’s just a tool caught between a rock and a hard place.

His comms come to life, stopping his spiraling thoughts. “ Boss, you there?”

He takes a deep breath in, long exhale out, unclenches his jaw, unclenches his fists, relaxes his wings. He puts his headphones back on, forcing Hawks’ mask back in place. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Villains at the corner of 5th and 45th. We’re heading there.”

“Okay, on my way.”

He pushes his mission at the back of his mind, pushes Dabi’s smug voice and Makao’s cold words away. He’ll deal with that later. For now, he lowers his glasses and leaps off the building, letting the wind and the beat of his wings distract him just for a while, until they can’t anymore.

## Afterword

End Notes

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