Keigo felt euphoric. For weeks he'd been suppressing and ignoring the feelings he'd developed for his best friend. He'd told himself that she wasn't an option; she was his best friend, his family. He couldn't risk jeopardizing that for the sake of his own stupid emotions. For a moment, he thought he'd ruined everything by leaning in to kiss her; but she hadn't pushed him away or rejected him. Was it too crazy for him to think that she had leaned in too?
As much as he wanted to continue thinking about the almost-kiss, he still had a job to do; and that job had him waiting for a villain at five minutes 'till midnight at an abandoned gas station.
Suddenly, the area around him went ablaze, burning in blue flames. When the fire died out, Dabi and an unknown person in a black morph suit stood in front of him.
"You're here early," he said lowly.
Hawks shrugged and nodded at the stranger, "And you brought a friend. Care to introduce us?" he asked.
The villain rolled his eyes. "He's Twice," he told him.
The blonde plastered on a fake smile and took a step forward, hand outstretched. "It's nice to meet you. The name's Hawks," he greeted.
The man smiled and shook his hand. "Twice. You too! I've seen you on the news and you do some pretty cool flying!" he exclaimed and shook his head vehemently, "No he doesn't, he's just like everyone one of those other stupid, stuck up heroes. Why the hell did you pull me away from my shoes for this?"
Hawks raised an eyebrow, a bit taken aback by the sudden change in attitude.
"Uh wait! No I didn't mean that! Yes, I did."
Dabi rolled his eyes, not providing any context for the constant personality switches.
Keigo decided to respond to the nice version of him, "Hey, no worries man I totally get it. Too many heroes don't act like them. Shit's all corrupt so I get it if my job's offensive," he assured.
Twice's eyes widened and he smiled, "Awesome! I'm so glad you feel that way! Shut up no one cares about your damn preaching."
The blonde laughed at the comment and nodded in acknowledgment before turning to Dabi, a playful smile on his face. "You should've brought him over sooner. This guy's a riot compared to your stiff ass," he joked.
Twice laughed heartily at the statement.
Dabi rolled his eyes again, "We don't have time for this shit. We've got questions and you're gonna answer them," he growled.
Hawks glared at him, "You know you should seriously work on your attitude."
"You were looking into Mineko Shimizu for us right?" Twice asked.
He nodded.
"Do you know if she has a base in China?"
He thought for a moment, "Yeah, she did have a base. Somewhere in the countryside, I think. I heard the place got destroyed though, something to do with the military. They were pretty secretive about it when I asked. Looks like they were trying to keep something covered up," he informed.
"Just one? There weren't multiple?" Twice pressed.
"Not as far as I know, but I'll look into it if I have the time," he assured.
He nodded, "We need that information. We're not the only ones looking for it," he answered vaguely.
"Who else is looking for it?"
"A ghost-" Dabi cut in. "We need to find it first. While you're looking for that, you need to dig up everything you can on these people." He handed him a folder with a list of names. He felt his heart stop when he read Mariko's name at the top of the list.
"Who are these people?" he asked.
The ravenette shrugged, "Known associates of Shimizu. Get me a threat analysis too. I need to know if any of them are gonna be a problem for us."
Hawks sighed, "Why is it always stuff about her? Can't you crush on someone that's alive?" he groaned.
"I'll turn you to ash. It's none of your fucking business."
He rolled his eyes and put his hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine. Whatever. I'll look for your dead girlfriend's friends. Is that the only thing you wanted?"
"Yes."
"Cool, then Imma head off. It's kinda been a long day and I just wanna get home and crash."
"Oh yeah, sure. See you next time Hawks!" Twice exclaimed, waving goodbye.
The blonde returned the gesture and flew into the sky.