Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia
Characters: Dabi (Touya Todoroki) | Hawks (Takami Keigo)
Lee!Hawks Ler!Dabi
Summary: The problem with complaining and wanting attention from someone like Dabi is that it will always have consequences. Hawks learns this the hard way, or rather, the best way possible when a simple massage quickly turns into a fun competition where sensitivity is seen as weakness, making it clear who really has the upper hand in that relationship.
[Read also on Ao3]
Notes: It's rather suggestive content.
(The art doesn't belong to me, I found it on Pinterest)
Hawks opened the apartment door with a soft click, sliding inside with an exaggerated sigh, as if he'd just carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Ugh..." He grumbled, dropping his jacket on the back of the sofa. "My wings are intact, but my feet, man... It feels like they marched to hell and back, all in the name of justice"
Sitting in the other corner of the room, Dabi raised an eyebrow without even looking up from his phone. "You fly" He said dryly. "Literally. Don't touch the ground if you can avoid it"
"That's just a detail" Hawks grinned, throwing himself onto the sofa with an almost theatrical dramatization. "I had to land on rooftops, escape through narrow alleys, and can you believe a civilian made me chase his cat today? Number two hero, Dabi, I deserve an award, or a treat"
Dabi huffed and dropped his phone on the arm of the armchair. His gaze burned with irony, but also with a certain resigned weariness. He knew Hawks too well to completely fall for that act, but even so, he pulled his feet onto his lap. "Maybe that 'treat' you want isn't on your feet, but higher up" He pointed.
"I don't deny anything, but start with them" Hawks replied, a mischievous smile spreading across his face as he sank deeper into the upholstery.
Dabi rolled his eyes, but began to press his fingers along the soles of his feet with surprisingly careful movements. His touch was warm, naturally, but gentle, avoiding any discomfort. "Tsk... You're not even ashamed, are you? You should be all broken after patrol, but your feet are smoother than a hero's ego"
"I take care of myself, duh" Hawks said with a satisfied little smile. "But you're touching them like you're experienced. Have you massaged many feet, Dabi?"
Dabi looked up with a mocking glint and squeezed Hawks' foot a little harder, making him shudder. "Only those I've endured for more than five minutes. Lucky you"
"Ah, so I'm special" He said, forcing an air of superiority.
"More like bearable" Dabi replied, tracing his thumb down the center of Hawks' foot.
Hawks let out a soft sound, somewhere between surprise and a suppressed gasp.
Dabi paused for a second. "What was that?"
"Nothing, just... continue" He said, too quickly, as if wanting to forget or get past the subject.
Dabi smiled slightly, but it wasn't a gentle smile, it was the smile of someone who has found ammunition. "Sensitive, huh?" He murmured with a hint of playful danger. "Interesting"
"Dabi..." He narrowed his eyes, now on alert.
"Relax, I'll be gentle with you" Dabi chuckled, resuming the massage with gentle movements for now. His fingers lingered on the most delicate points of his feet, testing reactions, studying each involuntary tremor.
Hawks looked away, trying to maintain his composure, but it was difficult with that heat creeping across his skin with each well-placed touch. He was beginning to regret asking for it.
Dabi was clearly enjoying himself now. "You were complaining for nothing just to get me to touch you, huh? I admit that was clever"
"It worked, didn't it?"
Dabi tilted his face, pressing his lips against Hawks' ankle, leaving a warmth there that didn't just come from his Quirk. "Only because I allowed it"
Hawks tried to appear relaxed, but his tense jaw and contracted muscles completely betrayed him. And that damned light, slow massage only made things more difficult.
A silence fell between them, until Dabi asked with a wry smile. "So tell me, birdie" His voice came low, drawn out, almost lazy. "Do you prefer when I press here...?" He pressed the arch of Hawks' foot firmly with his thumb.
Hawks let out a soft, restrained sigh.
"...Or when I do this?" And this time, Dabi lightly dragged the tip of his finger along the sole, from the heel to the base of the toes.
The reaction was immediate, Hawks' foot twitched, and the hero let out an involuntary half-laugh, as if he'd been caught off guard. "Dabi..." He murmured, the corners of his mouth already beginning to twitch.
Dabi's eyes widened slightly in feigned surprise. "Hmm, look at that, was that a giggle? Are you ticklish by any chance?"
"I'm not ticklish" He lied, already shifting restlessly on the sofa, trying to pull his foot back. "It was just a reflex"
"Sure" Dabi said, now with an openly mischievous expression. He gripped his ankle firmly, as if studying his prey. "Reflex. Shall we confirm that together?"
And before Hawks could protest, Dabi ran his fingers more intently along the sole of his foot, quick, light, persistent.
The hero's laugh came without warning, somewhat choked, as if he were still trying to maintain his composure. "D-Dabi hahahahahaha!" Stop it!" He said, between stifled laughs, kicking the air with his other foot.
"Ah, so it was tickling after all, how interesting" He murmured, now diligently exploring each sensitive spot. Dabi's long, warm fingers lightly scratched his arches, slipping between his toes and tracing certain points that elicited more desperate laughter from Hawks, like the middle of the sole.
"Hahahahahahaha! Wait! I-It's not fair! Hahahahahahaha!" Hawks complained, writhing on the sofa, his wings flapping uselessly behind him. "I'm tired, this was supposed to be relaxing!"
"I'm taking care of you, birdie" Dabi teased, with a wide grin. "I'm just exploring new therapeutic methods"
"This isn't therapy! Hahahahahahaha!" It's torture disguised as affection!" He managed to say between laughs.
Hawks, even while laughing and trying to break free, didn't deny it. Amidst the protests, his eyes shone, there was something intimate and disarming in that surrender, even under attack. "You're a sadist" He said, his breath ragged, still writhing at his feet, trying to escape the hands that were slowly losing their rhythm.
Dabi finally stopped, keeping his hands where they were, now only gripping his feet more firmly. "Only with those who can handle it" He said, his voice lower this time.
There was a brief silence between them, Hawks' breathing calming. "Okay, you've had your fun, now it's my turn"
Dabi didn't answer, but he saw Hawks lean forward, agile, and in a swift movement, lunge at him, knocking him back onto the carpet. "Tsk... Bold"
Hawks, now on top, gripped his boyfriend's side and began to slide his fingers under his white shirt. "Let's see if you're ticklish too, nobody escapes revenge!"
Dabi clicked his tongue, a slight spasm running through his body as Hawks' fingers found his waist, a nervous smile taking over his expression. "Are you really trying?" He teased.
Hawks didn't answer, only increased the intensity, his fingers exploring along his ribs this time, with a mixture of precision and playful revenge.
And for a moment, it seemed to work, Dabi arched his back with an involuntary sigh, a hoarse laugh escaping. "Hah... getting the hang of it, huh, birdie?"
But before Hawks could celebrate, he felt Dabi's warm hands firmly encircle his hips. "Too bad you got distracted" And, in a quick and effortless movement, he reversed their position, immobilizing Hawks's wrists above his head with one hand.
Hawks opened his mouth to protest, but froze as he felt Dabi's free hand slowly slide along the contour of his shoulders, until it reached the base of his wings, causing him to shudder immediately. "N-No... Don't you dare...!"
"What?" Dabi smiled, his voice low and provocative. "Can't I touch my boyfriend? I thought we were intimate"
"They're sensitive" He said through gritted teeth, already squirming, but without the real strength to break free.
"Precisely for that reason" Dabi replied, calmly dragging his fingers along one of the wings, making the feathers bristle in a visible shudder. "Each of these feathers reacts as if it were pure nerve. Delicate, aren't they?"
"Hahahahahahahaha! No! D-Dabi...!" Hawks gasped, his body involuntarily shrinking as the fingers passed near the base of the wings, where the feathers were shorter and thinner and where the sensitivity was almost electric.
"You may be all confident in the sky, but down here on the ground," He brushed his lips along the curve of the left wing, speaking between slow taunts, "you tremble at the slightest touch. So much hidden fragility, huh?"
"T-That's a low blow" Hawks practically choked, squinting, a visible blush on his cheeks.
"It's strategy, a villain's strategy" Dabi replied, and then, without warning, attacked both wings simultaneously, his nimble fingers gliding along their bases, applying small pressures, light scratches, alternating touches of teasing and tickling.
Hawks burst into uncontrollable laughter, his muscles contracting, his wings thrashing aimlessly. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO, NOHAHAHAHAHAHA!" It was too much, too sensitive.
Dabi smiled, having to dodge a few times because of the wings' agitation, but continued the attack.
"PLEASE! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I SURRENDER!" He yelled between laughs, his body contorting, his eyes tearing up.
Dabi stopped, but kept his gaze fixed on him, his fingers playing on his chest, with a smile that was almost a malicious victory. "Your revenge was pathetic" He said, resting his forehead against his. "But it was worth it to see you writhing like that because of me"
Hawks was still trying to catch his breath, his eyes half-closed, his breathing ragged. "I'll still get my revenge, just you wait"
This is made as a dabihawks fic, sorry if you're not interested in that, oh and this is a tickle fic so if you're not interested in that either then scroooolllll!
If not, enjoy! <3
Tw : tickles, swearing, kinda suggestive etc
Hawks twisted the key, quietly unlocking his door and stepping into his apartment. It always felt emptier coming back from a shift, but that's not really a bad thing to him, just means he gets more alone time after a long day.
His jacket was tossed over the small laundry basket in the corner of the room, shoes nearly shelved and visor placed gently into it's place on the counter. This was routine. Then he'd walk to the couch, lay down for 20 minutes in silence and then go shower, grab something to eat and head to bed. Simple!
"You take forever to get home"
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Hawks exclaimed immediately, jumping forwards and whipping around to see a tall, quite burnt male behind him.
Gripping the fabric of his shirt above his chest he huffed, leaning against the counter and sucking in as much oxygen as his lungs would allow.
"Why are you- how are you- what?!"
"You gave me a key, remember? I didn't break in I promise, if I did I'd be a lot more slick" Dabi shrugged, a hand moving from his pocket towards the frightened hero in front of him to pat his shoulder, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips as he spoke,
"Relax, god, you're acting like you've never seen me"
"could you not have sent me a text??? At least a, hey keigo, just gonna be in your house when you get back!"
Dabi chuckled slightly, shaking his head and leaning back against the counter
"you think too much, take a chill pill hero"
"go away", hawks muttered, walking over to the living room to finally continue his daily routine of rest for 20 minutes.
Dabi just shrugged, following him and looking slightly concerned as he just face planted onto the sofa... Cooool... Okay.
He slowly sat down next to the bird on the sofa, sprawled across the entire area of it as if that's normal
"Are you okay." Dabi asked bluntly, jabbing the centre of his back, recieving a jolt and a muffled yelp from the man below. Huh, that's new, interesting..
"I'm tired if that's what you're asking, so maybe you should allow me rest?" Hawks sighed, hugging a pillow as he smooshed his face into it as well. Sure, he had a perfectly good pillow right next to him with built in heating, but he chose to be aggravating so distance is now the answer.
"So heroic of you, shutting me out. Not very kind keigo, not kind."
"Since when did a villain care about kindness?"
"Since it became my business, duh." Dabi said as if it was obvious, in a tone that made hawks just want to punt him god knows where. Following the tone, the older softly poked into his back again, eliciting yet another flinch and a slight yelp.
Hawks shuffled away from him slightly, not assuming he was even thinking about the correct reason for the flinching but hey, a hero is always safe; not sorry.
The words flowed out of Dabi's mouth like a downhill on a bike race, smooth and not a waver in the tone. Hawks however immediately froze, choking out a couple of stutters before settling on-
"Ticklish, hero?"
clearly however, not safe enough
"No, why would I be ticklish?"
-which wasn't too convincing as it was spoken with a wobbling lip, a tightness in his chest and a sense of excitement fear bubbling in his throat. Still, he decided to attempt shuffling upwards and sitting up.
Once again, his attempts were proven futile.
Dabi smirked, softly pushing down on his shoulders and making himself a comfortable seat upon the winged hero's lower back, moving his hands slowly down keigo's arms towards his waist and planting his hands there.
Aaaah shit
"Dabi, man, come on dude. Get offa me. I'm tired, it's been a long day, just let me sleep." Hawks spewed as naturally as possible for someone in such a compromising position, tensing and trying to shift his hips to perhaps knock Dabi off.
"Oh...oh! Oh of course..." Dabi said, nodding and lifting his weight slightly off of hawks
Wait what? Is it really that easy? Just telling the guy to get off? Well hey! Who knew villains respected choice that easi-
"..not" Dabi hummed as he squeezed rapidly into hawks' sides, fingers wiggling quickly into the soft skin, awaiting a reaction - and a reaction it was.
"WAIT WAIT- dAhaBihi- hOld up! WAiT?!" Hawks yelped, jolting as if he'd gotten shot as digits continued to dance and poke along his sides, causing a lot of twisting and turning from the "not ticklish" hero below.
"Jesus Christ keigo, are you seriously this ticklish? I mean, whatever would you do if a real villain found out about this teeerrible secret! You wouldn't stand a chance..."
Dabi dragged, raking his nails up to his ribs and clawing into the bones. This sudden change extracted a squeal from the blonde, clamping his arms to his sides and writhing left and right, giggling hysterically into the pillow - which thankfully muffled it to some volume, god that would be embarrassing if it didn't.
"Kei... Come on, I'm barely even doing anything, let alone on a bad spot! Who knew a hero could be this tickle tickle ticklish huh? Not me! I guess I'll just have to tell all my evil villain friends juuust how ticklish our number two is, huh?"
A pink hue spread along hawks' cheeks, up towards his ears and down the sensitive skin along his neck, not by choice but teasing always got this stupid reaction.. Embarrassing, I know.
Shaking his head, the younger giggled madly, wiggling and arching away from the tickling he really didn't mind as badly as he said he did, but we don't talk about that...for now.
"DAhAbs- Dabi! CohOhome ohohon! StohoHop ihIHIHAHA- NO NO WAHAHAIT DABI!?" Hawks shrieked, flinching sharply into the sofa as Dabi dug his fingers randomly into his hips.
Dabi had dragged his nails down the hero's sides, scratching softly at the skin on the way down before rapidly digging and squeezing into his hips, rubbing and scratching his nails into the bones - clearly making keigo lose his shit!
"Sorry, I'm gonna have to get 'giggle translate' out cause all I can hear is some adorable cackles yet...I don't seem to speak ticklish?"
Dabi grinned as he spoke, tilting his head and just happily listening to this pretty laughter, it's a lot rarer than you'd think but now it's gonna get a hell of a lot more common.
"IHI- YOHOHOU- SHUT THE FUCK UP?!" Is all hawks could manage before being sent straight back to loud, boisterous and most importantly very happy cackles.
The older - by 2 years - thought for a minute, looking at the scarlet attachments always used to protect keigo, but are they really that protective? Curiously, Dabi decided to rake his nails through the feathers, his other hand still tormenting keigo's hips whilst this one took extra time to scratch and scribble and trace along each feather-
"DAHHABIHI STAHAHAHAP! REHEHED- UHUNCLE-"
-dabi was in fact too zoned out to listen, too busy now clawing and vibrating his nails into the feathers.
Keigo's cackles got louder before going silent, tears of mirth pricking in the corners of his eyes - sure he was enjoying himself but come on! Don't kill me!
Dabi moved the hand from his hips to the other wing, this time, tracing feather light along the bony parts of the wing, scratching a single nail down the sensitive parts and rubbing into the bone.
Keigo died, uhm
"DAHAHAHA- DABI DABI WAIT WAIT- DUHUDE STOP?!"
Dabi immediately pulled away, snapping back to reality and grinning widely as he looked down at the giggly and bright red puddle beneath him. Quickly going to taunt him, cause that's just adorable!
"I barely touched you!" - a lie but, a white lie..
"yohohou- nohoho.."
Is all that keigo could say before burying his face completely into the pillow and giggling like a mad man, consumed by the tickly residue on his hips and now along his feathers.
Dabi slowly got off him, sitting back on the sofa and expecting a kick or even a stab from a few feathers! Instead however, he received a very giggly keigo shuffling over to bury himself into Dabi's side.
Arms wrapping around his waist, hawks cuddled up to Dabi, giggling quietly and just laying his head along his lap, holding him close.
The crispier of the two glanced down, smiling softly, awh, was really the only thought going through his mind as he watched the bird-man below. Softly placing his hand on his back, warming the skin and instantly feeling keigo relax into the touch.
"...thank you....kihinda needed thahat..."
Hawks mumbled, quiet, easy to miss it.
Dabi didn't miss it.
"You're welcome, no need to thank me though, I highly enjoyed myself"
The two laid there for a while. A minute turned to five, to ten and then twenty, passing the hour mark and allowing them to drift to sleep after a long day of work, hardship and- well, tickles now..? Of course, neither were angry. In fact, both were pleasantly surprised with such a childish thing.
Especially the, "not ticklish" hero.
AUN - AHHH SORRY I HAD TO GET THAT OUT OF MY SYSTEM OKAY BACK TO THE DUNGEONS I GO
CW: slight mentions of Dabi's backstory
This is purely platonic, I see Dabi and Toga having a big brother and little sister relationship
“You little shit…Come here!.”
Soon the usual quiet hallways of the leagues bar
will soon fill with squealing and giggling as Toga rushes down the hallway with Dabi in hot pursuit. She thought it would be hilarious to dye Dabi’s blue coat a bright pink in the washer, Dabi immediately knew who did it and gave chase as soon as he saw 2 messy blonde hair buns dash out of his line of sight.
Despite Toga’s speed Dabi did catch firmly wrapping his arms around her, setting her in his lap and started ticking her sides.
“Dahahahahabi wahahahit’” toga said between giggles.
“Why? Surely the big bad Himiko Toga can handle some simple revenge tickles hmm?” Dabi teased.
He got up off her and sat next to her but still kept up his ticklish attack moving from her sides to her ribs, kneading them.
“Aahahahahahahahaha you’re mehehehean!” Toga managed to giggle out as she squirmed in his hold.
“Oh really? You’re the one who tried messing with my clothes.” He retorted back. Dabi had to make sure she doesn’t accidentally headbutt him in the nose with how much she was squirming.
Dabi then got the genius idea to use Toga’s own tactics against her by gently nibbling on her neck, his raven black hair also tickling her cheek a tiny bit as well, nearly making her squeal.
“EEEEEEHEHEHEH DOHOHOHOHO EAT MEEHEHEHE!” Dabi made sure to do those “om nom nom” sounds to further add to the teasing.
Laying her down and going back to squeezing her sides and thighs, Dabi couldn’t help but remember all the times he did this to his younger sister whenever she bugged him too much or just wanted to mess with her. It gave him those feeling that people would call “big brother instincts”
He sometimes did miss her as well as his other siblings, then Dabi remembered what got him as well. He just simply shook those thoughts away for now and focused on making Toga laugh more.
He tried out new spots like scribbling on her belly and behind her ears all the while keeping up the teasing.
“Lets try this spot hmm?”
“Nohohohohohoh Dahahahahahbi!!”
Despite all the teasing and tickle torture from Dabi, it never felt malicious in any way to Toga. He would often stop for a brief moment to let Himiko catch her breath and make sure she was doing okay before continue the "torture" letting Toga alternate between bubbly giggles and belly laughter. Dabi would even throw a raspberry or two in there which were always her favorite. Toga on her side was having a blast as Dabi blew another raspberry on her belly making laugh and squeal.
Soon enough Dabi stopped when Toga started wheezing and her face was turning red. He picked her back up and set her on the couch for her to rest up, laying a blanket over her.
“So you decided to tickle her to the point that she’s having a nap?” Magne asked smiling, with a eyebrow raised
“Yeah she deserved it.” He chuckled, looking over at Toga still snoozing away on the couch.
Perhaps lee hawks fic? He's a cutie I can't, ler Dabi perhaps? I can't think of anyone else but whoever you'd like !!!
Nf!!!! <3
A/n THANKS SO MUCH FOR ASKING! I love Hawks, and to be honest I was already working on a Hawks x Reader fanfic! Anyways HERE'S YOUR FANFIC!
Hawks was asleep...till 11:00 am, Dabi needed him to get up so they can get their day started, but they can't do that WITH A SLEEPING BIRD.
Dabi: Kei, wake up...
No answer
Dabi: Keigo. Up. Now.
Still no answer....
Dabi: I swear to fucking God, Keigo GET UP!
Dabi tried shaking up side to side but the bird was still sound asleep, the only thing heard was his soft grunts and snores.
Dabi, feeling annoyed, looked at his sleeping boyfriend and an idea sparked.
Dabi: Keigo~...if you don't get up I'll have to use your weakness~... wouldn't want that now do we?
Hawks still didn't answer, so Dabi cracked his knuckles, and gently pulled the covers back.
Hawks snorted but ultimately didn't wake up yet.
Dabi started at belly, gently scratching the slight chub of his underbelly.
Hawks squirmed a bit, not much a reaction.
Dabi: I hope my boyfriend doesn't have a weak spot in a tummy~
Dabi took his fingers and poked his belly in different places. This managed to get a small reaction from Hawks, he squirmed more, as Dabi continued his poking.
Dabi: Oh is this a poor bellybutton? It would be a shame if someone poked inside it~
He poked at his bellybutton, Hawks let out small giggles, the giggles began increasing into laughs.
Hawks: Hehehe, Touyahaha, what are you dohohoing?
Hawks turned on his side dozing back off.
Dabi: Oh no you don't.
He grabs his wrist and put it over Hawks head, holding it in place.
He took his fingernail and scratched the middle of his armpit.
Hawks: Ahahaha! Touya! Stohop!
Dabi: Are you gonna wake up?
Hawks: Touyahaha I'm sleheheheepy! Leave me alone!
Dabi: But we got things to do today, come on.
Dabi took all 4 of his fingers and scratched the poor birds armpit, making the man squeak.
Hawks: AAHAHAHA! TOUYA!
Dabi: Hmm? What's wrong? Can't take it?
Hawks: LET MEHEHE GO!
Dabi: Oooh no can do, Dove, I gotta wake up my boyfriend.
Hawks: I'M AWAKE! I'M AWAHAHAHAKE! PLEASE!
Dabi didn't stop, he inched his fingers down to his ribs.
Dabi: Do you think you got the same amount of ribs as I do?
Hawks: TOUYA! Touya please! Don't!
Dabi: Get up then.
Hawks shook his head.
Hawks: OK ok ok ok I will!
Dabi: Ok good, I think you deserve a reward for listening to me~
Hawks eyes widen at the tone Dabi used.
Dabi let go of the birds hand...and moved to behind his ribs.
Hawks: NONONONO! PLEASE!
Dabi took a deep breath, and planted his lips right in Hawks sides, and blew a long raspberry.
Hawks squealed and shrieked, and to make it worse Dabi would shake his head side to side making the tickling worse.
After 30 more antagonizing minutes, Dabi finally let up.
Hawks was left a panting, sweaty mess.
Hawks: You're... you're evil!
Dabi: Well I'm a villain for a reason, now come on, I got plans.
E/n THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ASKING FOR THIS it was fun for me to write! I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading...and till next time!
Bakugo and Todoroki are captured by the double-crossing Hawks, and they happen to have the second half of a code he and Dabi want. Hawks has a very... unconventional idea on how to get them to talk.
Characters: Lees Baku + Todo, ler Hawks (minor ler Dabi)
Words: 7,312
Couldn't find a similar picture for Todoroki (I need an archive of MHA characters looking might ticklish), so Bakugo's footer will have to do.
That frown's going away real soon.
Very intense and barely SFW foot tickles below the cut!
“It’s your fault!”
“It’s no one’s fault. We couldn’t have known that there was a traitor in the squad.”
Bakugo and Todoroki’s latest one-sided argument, a staple of their relationship since the provisional license course, was caused by their capture at the hands of the League of Villains.
It had all begun with a typo. They were supposed to be at the agency by 15:15, but the message they received instructed them to be there at 14:15. So they’d arrived just in time to see Hawks download the codes to the heroes’ secret communications channel, only half of which was given to each team.
They didn’t remember much else prior to waking up in that square, empty room, seated side by side facing the door that would usher in who knew what horrors.
The irritation at being taken out so easily was compounded by their inability to access their Quirks, which had them more than a little worried, as did their restraints: their wrists were fitted through two holes in the middle of a set of stocks that also held their ankles, one at either side of their hands, so they were hunched forward with their knees bent. The most concerning part, however, was the fact that on top of every part of their costumes that could be used as a weapon or contain hidden gadgets, their boots had also been removed and each of their toes pulled back and restrained individually, just barely out of reach of their fingers. It didn’t need a genius to surmise that if they couldn’t break out soon, they would be tortured.
Bakugo badly needed someone to blame, and Todoroki was the perfect anvil to his hammer. But the half-and-half hero wouldn’t need to wait for his crabby companion to run out of steam as Dabi and Hawks walked into the room.
“Hello, boys!” said Hawks cheerfully, greeting them as if they’d just come across each other in a shopping center.
“Fuck you, you disgusting two-faced piece of shit!”
“Traitor,” greeted Todoroki.
“I appreciate you’re angry and disappointed, but understand that, from my perspective, your good intentions are getting in the way of true justice,” explained Hawks, mostly to Todoroki, as Bakugo’s barrage of epithets made conversation with him impossible.
Dabi leaned against the wall next to the door, both glaring at Todoroki.
“Now, let me reassure you that your Quirks aren’t gone forever. We only take drastic measures if they’re strictly necessary,” explained the feathered villain.
“Your father will still have a use for you,” uttered Dabi with a venomous grin. “That is, unless we choose to ruin you for good.”
“Come on, Dabi, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!”
“And you kill more moths with fire.” A blue flame appeared in his palm, the sight of which finally silenced Bakugo. “So?”
“If my methods don’t work, you’re free to have your way with them,” conceded Hawks. “But I know it will. I tested them. Leave this to me.”
“Forget it. You’re an idiot and you’re wasting everybody’s time. The only reason we’re doing it your way for now is that Shigaraki put you in charge of their interrogation, and that’s only because he doesn’t know about your ridiculous plan.”
“Shouldn’t you have had this discussion before coming in here?” interjected Todoroki.
Dabi glared, taking a step towards Todoroki, who gave a start.
Bakugo gave him the side eye. He shouldn’t be showing fear. But Dabi had stopped his advance, a nonplussed look on his face, while Todoroki kept fidgeting next to Bakugo.
Before Bakugo could wonder what was happening, his head whipped forward with alarm as he felt something on his right foot. A light, insistent pressure moving up his sole, heel to toes, then back down. He hafted in place, but no matter how much he stretched his fingers, he couldn’t even reach his toes.
What was that?!
“As I was saying,” resumed Hawks, stepping closer to the captives, wings beginning to unfurl, “I need the second half of the code for the agency’s comms, and you guys will give it to us.”
“Or?” spat Bakugo, Todoroki growing more restless next to him. He saw a red feather detach itself from the top of Hawks’s left wing and fly through the air towards him, specifically towards his left foot, where it began to move erratically, dragging its plumes across his arch. But even though Bakugo now understood what the pressure on both of his soles was, it didn’t click for him until Hawks said, “I’ll tickle it out of you.”
Bakugo should have been relieved. They weren’t going to hurt them, at least for the time being. But all he could feel was outraged, outraged that Hawks seriously thought that they’d sell out the pros over something so childish, so insignificant. “Are you fucking kidding me?! Just because it’s so easy for you to sell out, do you really think--"
And then he heard it. A chuckle. Not from Hawks, not even from Dabi. From Todoroki. To his left, Todoroki was jerking his legs, his face scrunched in an attempt to stifle an obvious smile and the sounds of mirth that were trying to spill out of his mouth.
Bakugo felt betrayed for the second time that day. “You gotta be shitting me.”
Todoroki could feel every plume, every tiny barb on the tip of each of those two feathers as it bent to fit the curve of his sole, dozens, hundreds of them being dragged up and down the bottom of his straight, slim feet.
Hawks smirked while Dabi looked transfixed, almost as speechless as Bakugo. “Well, well, look at Endeavor’s prized spawn now,” he commented as he allowed the corner of his lip to curl up ever so slightly.
“Dude, for real?!” whined Bakugo, but Todoroki couldn’t answer, as he kept squirming and whipping his head side to side, his eyes scrunched shut.
“I, I cahan’t h-hehelp it!” whine the half-and-half hero, instantly regretting trying to speak as he had to double his efforts to prevent any even more embarrassing sounds from coming out. Having grown up with a criminally abusive father and having been separated from his siblings, the only person who had tickled him for most of his life was his mother, and a long time had gone by since the last time. Then, when he began attending UA, first Deku and then Kirishima allowed Todoroki to discover that he was, in fact, still ticklish, and very much so, as if he had never been inured to it, which also led to another crucial difference between him and Bakugo: while the latter wouldn’t allow himself to laugh unless his very worst spots were targeted (though his poker face was terrible), Todoroki was completely unable to cope with the sensation and stifle his reactions.
And the two feathers were barely trying at all.
“Your ‘method’ doesn’t seem to be working on the other one,” observed Dabi. Sure, watching Endeavor’s son squirm from something so silly was entertaining, but they were supposed to move out as soon as Shigaraki called them, and to have the information by then.
“Of course it doesn’t fucking work, who do you think you’re dealing with?!”
Hawks shrugged. “I can also do this.”
“Like this stupid fucking thing is going to work oHOn--!”
Bakugo bit his tongue when the plume ends of the feathers were replaced by their sharp quills.
“That silenced him? Good,” remarked Dabi.
“D-Don’t be an idiot, t-this is nothing!!” protested Bakugo, wincing when the feathers scratched at the ball of his foot.
Next to him, Todoroki went on eeping with his eyes scrunched shut. He didn’t have so strong an opinion as Bakugo on which method was worse yet, but both were proving quite effective, especially when the feathers trailed up and down his arches.
“I think you heard him,” Dabi told Hawks, suddenly appearing a lot more into it than before.
“I sure did,” claimed Hawks as he grinned at Bakugo a moment before a flock of feathers flew off his wings and swarmed the captives’ soles.
“TCH!!” escaped Bakugo’s lips, his cheeks puffed up and becoming a deeper shade of red every second.
Todoroki skipped the giggling phase entirely. “Noahahahahahahahahahahahahhaaha!!!! Iihihihhihit tihihihicklehehehehehsss!!!!” he protested, a surprisingly innocent expression of mirthful suffering on his face that would have melted anyone’s heart. Anyone’s, but his current tickler’s.
“You really should have kept your mouth shut,” commented Dabi as he shot the beet-red, thrashing Bakugo an amused grin, voicing Todoroki’s thoughts while the trainee was too busy failing to cope with the onslaught of sensation.
Hawks was thorough. There was a feather sawing between the heroes’ toes and swiping at the stems, while the tip of another ran left and right across their base. There was a quill scratching at the center of the ball and spiraling outward and another outlining the underside. Plumes teased the inner part of the instep while another feather ran up and down the arch, and two more focused on the heel and its conjunction with the arch.
The feathers on Bakugo’s feet all used their quill end, save for the ones sawing between his toes, while the ones working Todoroki over mixed and matched approaches. It was the weirdest and most humiliating display of masterful control over one’s Quirk that either trainee had ever experienced.
Unbridled laughter spilled forth from Todoroki, the variety of methods and the multiplicity of spots under fire subjecting him to a sensation that he’d only started to reacquaint himself with a few months prior thanks to his classmates, who’d been delighted to discover that the serious golden child was super ticklish and didn’t know how to handle it in the slightest.
His left foot was proving to be once again more sensitive than the right, though even just the latter would have been enough to turn him into a hysterical mess. The colder sole was not as vulnerable to the plumes as the left, upon which plumes and quills wreaked twinned havoc.
Seeing the trainee writhe like he was experiencing actual torture sparked a miasma of disgust in the pit of Dabi’s stomach. “Endeavor’s son just gave up, uh,” he mocked. “I’m kind of disappointed.” Yet the amused twinkle in his eye gave the lie to his bored tone.
“He really laughs like he’s never been tickled before,” chuckled Hawks, effortlessly multitasking while putting the two aspiring heroes through their paces. “Guess his home life wasn’t the best. Well, we’re going to make him real happy unless he fesses up.”
The miasma began to lift as Dabi contemplated Todoroki’s helplessness in the face of the ridiculous torment. But if his laughter sparked conflicting feelings of contempt and morbid fascination in the villain, Bakugo was far less ambivalent about how he felt about it.
He loathed it. He truly did. He wanted to punch the hero for letting those degenerates think that… that preposterous, humiliating method would work. Todoroki’s hilarity was peer-pressuring him into giving in as well, surrendering to the overpowering invitation of the over a dozen quills searing his nerves, loosening the locks on his lungs and lips from which a cacophony of grunts, snorts, and even embarrassing yelps slipped out, but no laughter, no, no laughter, it if was the last thing he did!!
What Dabi and Hawks saw was an extremely ticklish guy bellowing and writhing like he was being electrocuted.
“He really hates it,” deadpanned Dabi.
Having an already solid grasp on what made the short-fused trainee tic despite having known him for a few days only, Hawks took that chance to say, “I don’t know if I should be impressed that he’s not laughing his head off despite being so ticklish, or pity him for thinking that he’s fooling anyone.”
“KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! GHHHHHHHH!!! SH-SHHUUUUUUUTTT-- NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Nope, no talking.
Hawks’s smirk grew a little wider. It’d be so easy to crack him. But… “It would be healthier if you let it out, you look like you’re about to pop a vein,” he recommended as he had his feathers move slightly faster. Dabi didn’t notice the shift except through the rise in pitch in Todoroki’s laughter and Bakugo’s pointless struggling growing even more desperate.
If only they could reach their feet, shield them from the pesky feathers, they were right there, just out of reach!!
Suddenly, the tickling slowed down. None of the feathers left their post, but they eased up enough that the terribly ticklish captives would be able to understand Hawks’s next words.
“M-Motherf--" Bakugo tried to say while catching his breath, allowing some of his contracted muscles to relax, but he couldn’t risk getting the entire word out.
Todoroki’s laughter decreased to a steady stream of breathless giggles. The tears at the corners of his half-closed eyes, the blush on his cheeks, the forced yet carefree-looking smile… Hawks had to admit that he looked precious.
“Now, let’s practice loosening your tongues a little,” Hawks started, pacing around them like a drill sergeant. “I assume neither of you wants to spill the beans yet?”
Bakugo lunged at him with a bite, but Hawks was out of reach.
“Baby steps. So I’ll make you an offer. If you tell me where it tickles the most I promise I will be nice…r.”
Dabi quirked an eyebrow. Really?
Hawks nodded back confidently, stopping in front of the two trainees. “You don’t want me to find out on my own.”
Bakugo and Todoroki glared as well as they could under their present circumstances.
“Any takers?” Hawks asked nonchalantly.
Even Todoroki made a show of clenching his jaw, although sputtering giggles soon leaked out.
“Too bad,” sighed Hawks. “For you, I mean.”
Without warning, the eight feathers tormenting each foot converged on the heel, scribbling madly at and all around the mound.
“Nohohoht agahahahahaahhaahinnn!!!” giggled Todoroki, his shoulders rising and falling as he tried and failed to pull his feet back through the stocks, scrunch up his soles, cover them with his hands, anything.
“TCH! F-Fuhuck t-thihis!!!” snarled Bakugo, his restlessness mirroring Todoroki’s but with a more irate tinge.
“Hey Dabi, wanna compare and contrast?” asked Hawks.
“Leave me out of it.”
“I thought Todoroki was the most ticklish of the two, but I’m not so sure anymore,” said Hawks, knowing how to push Bakugo’s buttons.
“GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!”
“I can’t really tell. Let’s try the arch.”
The avian congregation climbed a little higher, up the slope of the arch. About half of the feathers harassing Todoroki switched to sawing their plumes up and down his arch, left and right, while Bakugo, whom Hawks knew to be less responsive to this method, got the full sixteen quills.
Todoroki’s giggling once again morphed into full-blown laughter, the loudest as of yet. Though the strength behind his attempts to break free seemed to have waned before, he redoubled his futile efforts, pulling at his wrists and ankles as if it would save him, or somehow make the sensation more bearable.
“Looks like I’ve found a sweet spot,” gloated Hawks, but he wasn’t content with that apparent victory. He carefully observed Todoroki’s body language, noticing that every few seconds, he would lean to the right, until his energy ebbed and he slumped forward again, only to repeat the maneuver moments later as the feathers completed another pass. He didn’t seem to be trying to lean closer to Bakugo, no, there was something else… afoot. And Hawks thought he knew exactly what that was.
But that wasn’t all that he noticed. Bakugo had lowered his head, no doubt to prevent the villains from seeing his expression - as if his body wasn't eloquent enough. That position would only hinder his breathing, depleting his stamina faster and making it even harder to endure a prolonged attack. Hawks wondered if he was even aware of the high-pitched whine, like the wind-up to a scream, that he was emitting as he desperately tried to keep his mouth closed. But the most interesting part was how Bakugo would occasionally freeze up for a moment when the quills hit the very top of the arch, only for him to kick with both legs an instant later.
Hawks tested his theory by having the feathers linger on that spot a couple of seconds longer than they did during previous passes. Sure enough, Bakugo’s purple face shot up for a moment, the curses he wanted to utter dying into a defeated growl.
Hawks knew he could have broken him simply by staying there, but he had a flair for the dramatic. So he moved the feathers to the center of the arch, renewing Todoroki’s hysterical fit, before abruptly moving all the feathers to the balls of the heroes’ feet.
Bakugo’s head shot up again, this time to hurl a fiery glare at Hawks, equal parts incredulity and betrayal, but really, a recognition that breaking had always been inevitable.
“Three…” chanted Hawks, smiling at Bakugo, whose face looked like it was about to burst open.
“Oh wow. When he breaks, he breaks hard,” remarked Hawks, pretending to cover one of his ears. Dabi ignored him, though he caught him sneaking glances at Todoroki, whose hysteria was eclipsed by the violence with which Bakugo’s damn had burst, but ever-present nonetheless.
There was no overselling the all-encompassing loathing that Bakugo felt at that moment, having fallen short of his own self-serving standards. It simply did not compute that a traitor who had everything Bakugo wanted would torture them in such a childish way, and that Bakugo would be unable to shrug it off.
The quills pricked and scratched at the sensitive pads, with a special regards for the very center as Hawks had immediately figured out it was one of the most sensitive parts, lavishing plenty of attention on the underside too, the perfect recipe to keep the resentful laughter flowing.
Hawks shrugged. “Eh, it’s just fun to take them down a peg. Especially that one. Hey, are you laughing too hard to hear me? ‘Cause later, we’re spending plenty of time on that spot that you seem to like so much.”
Sadly, Bakugo could hear him, but any retort he tried to cook up got swallowed by the involuntary gales that those tiny, harmless feathers kept pumping out of him.
Though the journey from the ball of his foot to the toes was a very short one, Bakugo could tell Hawks was trying to drag it out as much as possible, slowly dragging the quills as well. There was an understanding that he wasn’t done.
The feathers then began sawing between and across the trainees’ toes. This method proved especially effective on Todoroki, the obvious jolt running through him confirming that that was a more sensitive spot than the ball, so Hawk kept five feathers per foot swishing between and along his toes while three more scratched at the base, occasionally poking the tips too.
But Hawks knew that he could do better with Bakugo, so he kept one quill poking and scribbling under the base of each toe, with the plume end of just one feather swishing across the stems, one quill planted firmly in the center of his big toe, and one more poking each of the other tips in turn.
The trainees didn’t have the chance to marvel at Hawks’s unmatched coordination, the combination of precision and effectiveness he was unleashing on them, but they certainly did feel its effects.
“Hahahaha HAHAHAAHAH!!! Nohohohohhoho moHOHOHohohahahahahaharrEHEHEHEHE!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHhahaahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahaha!!!” pleaded Todoroki, ticklish tears pouring down his cheeks and collecting on his seat between his legs. He felt as if he’d been abducted by aliens, unable to comprehend what was happening to him or why. Part of him probably felt embarrassed, but the shock, the absurdity of it all, removed his ego from the equation, leaving him alone before a sensation he’d only experienced a handful of times through his classmates, and through his mother so many years prior.
Bakugo wasn’t faring that much better. He was naturally louder than Todoroki, but for the first time in his life, he was trying to keep it down, and failing. Hawks couldn’t have devised a better method to tickle that area.
Oh, the sheer frustration Bakugo felt at his own ticklishness preventing him from discharging his anger was immense, but the imposed hilarity sapped even that.
Hawks walked around to his side. “It tickles less than before, right? I’m sure you can stop laughing if you really try. Come on!”
Bakugo was trying, he was trying so hard, and Hawks’s mockery messed even more with his concentration. But the genie was out of the bottle.
Hawks began to circle around them, removing his black leather gloves as he did so. “Remember that this all will stop if you give me the code.”
He stopped in front of the stocks, throwing his gloves to Dabi, who reflexively caught them in mid-air and then dropped them.
He wiggled his fingers mere inches away from their feet. He waited long enough for them to see it, his left hand approaching Bakugo’s left sole, his right nearing Todoroki’s right, only to drift further to the side, to the left sole he’d determined to be more sensitive.
“Don’t forget, this hawk has talons too.” And he struck.
Dabi nearly gave a start as the room got a lot louder than he’d expected.
True to his word, Hawks had chosen violence. His short, dull nails scratched expertly at the ball of Bakugo’s foot and at the arch of Todoroki’s, having identified them as their weakest spots.
The volume and desperation of their laughter was all the confirmation he needed.
“BWAHAHAHWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! IHIHIHHILL KIHIHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! CUHUHUT THAHAHAHAHAT OOOOOHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA!!! I SAHAHAHAHD-- NAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”
The feathers didn’t remain idle either. He left five on Todoroki’s right foot to complement the motions of his fingers, so they’d target his toes when he was busy with the arch, and the arch when he was busy with his toes, while the eleven on the left flitted back and forth between those two spots, skidding up and down the ball as well as they changed posts.
Hawks was no kinder to Bakugo, his wiggling fingers focusing on the ball and the base of his toes together with three feathers. The remaining fifteen ravaged the same two spots on his right foot, especially the center and underside of the pad. Naturally, all used their quill end.
It was pinpoint torment neither trainee knew how to deal with, Hawks’s dexterous touches appearing to raise the temperature and depleting their stamina and sanity alike while they felt their dignity slowly but sonorously leak out in the form of laughter they couldn’t control, the traitor having completely hijacked their ability to express themselves.
“As you can see, I’m a man of my word,” began Hawks. “Am I not?”
“You gotta say it if you want me to stop. I’m a man of my word, am I not?”
Todoroki wasn’t completely opposed to indulging villains in case it made them complacent, while Bakugo’s ego was bound to get in the way of any concession. However, Todoroki’s reply was not the result of a calculation, but mere reflex.
“You hear that, Todoroki? My hands are tied. Well, yours are. And your feet too. Which makes it so easy for me to do this,” he explained as the feathers also began to move faster and the motions of his hands grew more unpredictable.
Todoroki all but howled. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! BAHAHAHAHAHAAHKUUUUGOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! PLEAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHASEEE!!!”
“Listen to your friend. Help him help you.” His nails moved to the ball of Bakugo’s right foot, the feathers instantly moving to compensate.
Bakugo arched his back with such force the stocks creaked. “GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAH!!! SHIHIHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHTTT!!!! STAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAPP! YOOOHUHU GOOHAHAHAHAHAHTTTTAAAAA STOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAPPP!!”
“I don’t gotta do anything. Say it. I’m a man of my word.”
And Hawks did. He stepped away from them while the feathers floated to a safer distance.
The trainees heaved and panted, their lungs burning and their throats parched, Bakugo slumped backwards, Todoroki forward as if he was collapsing in on himself.
“This is pathetic. The whole thing,” remarked Dabi.
Hawks shrugged. “I don’t enjoy needless violence. And pathetic or not, it seems to be working wonders.”
“If - no, when you fail and Shigaraki hears this is how you’ve been wasting our time…”
“I won't fail. Just look at them,” claimed Hawks, though one corner of his smile was frozen. He clapped his hands, addressing the flushed heroes again. “Now, listen close. I’m going to start tickling you again soon.”
Bakugo winced and shot a feeble glare at hawks, a pitiful attempt to disguise fear as intimidation, while Todoroki’s shoulders slumped as he prepared himself for the inevitable.
“That’s the stick. Now, here’s the carrot. I’ll stop tickling whichever of you gives me the code. The other gets these,” he announced as he began to rummage in his costume, a ruse to give both trainees time to focus on him once again and grew more apprehensive.
He then pulled out two mundane items: a fork, and Bakugo’s orange hairbrush.
“I got these while I was waiting for Dabi,” he said, moving the two items slightly, the trainees’ eyes following them with wariness. Too easy.
“The one who spills the beans doesn’t have to find out how much they tickle. The other…”
He put the two tools back inside his utility belt.
“Anyone got anything to say?”
Bakugo and Todoroki looked at each other. Todoroki looked like he’d been running for an hour, endurance having never been his strong suit, but Bakugo begin to wonder whether he would actually cave. There was something in the half-and-half hero’s stare, some kind of request maybe. He couldn’t be about to come clean, could he? Or… was he trying to encourage him to resist?
The thought made Bakugo’s blood boil even though a rivulet of sweat already drenched the back of his costume. Did Todoroki really think that he might call it quits? That he was that weak?
But Bakugo didn’t have the energy to fight, so he just averted his gaze, fixing it on the stocks on the other side of which were his all too tender feet and useless hands.
Hawks tutted. “Too bad. Hawks, would you set a 10-minute timer? We’re getting serious now.”
He didn’t give the trainees time to brace themselves before striking.
His fingers got to work on the same spots as before, though he targeted Todoroki’s right foot rather than his left, and the sixteen feathers he’d been using on each trainee struck at every vulnerable part of that same foot as two horrifying new implements joined the interrogation: Hawks’s wings.
Todoroki shrieked. The amalgamation of feathers which Hawks could animate at will was an ebullient blanket of ticklishness, the plumes coming alive to tease the entirety of Todoroki’s sole in an all-encompassing attack that effortlessly reached between his toes and the sides and even the top of his foot as well. Hundreds or thousands of feathers, exponentially more barbs, and Todoroki could feel them all.
Hawks had threatened the trainees with the hairbrush and fork, but he knew his wing would be just as if not more devastating to the criminal No. 1’s son. He also stiffened the feathers of his left wing since Bakugo was not as sensitive to light touches, and he lacked the bandwidth to remotely control any more feathers without sacrificing accuracy…
Which is why, not even a minute in, the hawk turned 90° and swished at Todoroki’s soles with both wings, while both of his talons pounced on the balls of Bakugo’s feet.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! YOU FUHAHAHAHAHHAHACKHEHEHHEHR THAHAHAHAT’S UNFAAFAFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Bakugo’s unprecedented cackling was met with Todoroki falling into a choked silence. Sensory overload.
Not even that was able to shut Bakugo up, but the dedicated fingers, accompanied by the sixteen that had been hounding him for a while plus the extra sixteen that migrated over from Todoroki, melted his protests into desperate incoherence, about half the quills matching the movements of Hawks’s fingers to crowd his weakest spots as much as possible.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOOOOOOOHUHUHUHUHU!!!! SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-- I CAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Despite what he’d told Dabi, Hawks couldn’t believe how well the two trainees were responding. He was relieved that this harmless method might actually buy him enough time. He just hoped--
Todoroki’s own laughter returned as a whine, which only served to remind Hawks to divide his attention more equally between the two of them. Though by virtue of being the only one he could see from his position, Bakugo was bound to get the shorter end of the stick. He could stand to be taken down a peg, Hawks told himself as he looked into the young hero’s bulging, tear-filled eyes, fractured babble interspersing the hysterical peals.
Those eternal ten minutes weren’t simply meant to break them, no. Hawks’s Quirk wasn’t merely about moving his feathers: he could feel through them. He noticed that Todoroki’s left foot was warmer than usual, and his right colder, which gave him an idea; and he also noticed that Bakugo’s feet were getting damper and slicker the more he tickled him, which gave him another. He’d keep them safe from Dabi even if he had to tickle them into unconsciousness to do it.
“Time’s up,” muttered Dabi, more invested than he’d ever admit.
“Is it? Eh, I’ll just keep going,” yelled Hawks to give the trainees a chance to hear him. Todoroki let out something that vaguely sounded like a sob, while Bakugo was too preoccupied with the fingers and feathers to respond.
But when he noticed Dabi getting more impatient, Hawks did finally take a step back and allowed the trainees to breathe. Their chests heaving, their hair weighed down by perspiration, the fight had been tickled out of Bakugo, while Todoroki looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion.
“You know, I’ve gone about this all wrong,” he announced. “Dabi, I’m going to need your help.”
“Forget it.”
“I need your Quirk.” He pointed his thumb at Bakugo, who made an effort to listen and was rewarded with a shiver. “I need you to keep his feet close to the fire.”
“Finally,” huffed Dabi as he began to stride toward Bakugo, who recoiled in horror.
“You aren’t hurting him. There’s one last thing I want to try,” explained Hawks. “See, I remember that his Quirk is based around sweat, and he seems to keep getting more ticklish over time. So I just need a little bit of heat.”
“You’re joking.”
“They’re about to cave, and I’ll give you all the credit. By the way, I suspect your Quirk would also do wonders on his right side,” he added, pointing at Todoroki this time.
“Unbelievable,” scoffed Dabi. Yet, sure enough, two small blue flames appeared in his palms. Bakugo winced.
“Farther,” commanded Hawks. Dabi rolled his eyes, but complied again.
It was warm, very warm, but not painful. Bakugo had followed a word in three, but he knew he shouldn’t be too happy about the heat displacing the phantom tickles that still tormented his soles.
“Now, where was I? Right. I’ve gone about this all wrong, because there’s two of you, and one code. I’ve been splitting my attention, but I only need to break one of you. So…”
He rested a hand on the top of Todoroki’s shoulder, the exhausted hero regarding him with… Bakugo hadn’t expected it, but there were embers of defiance left in Todoroki’s alarmed scowl.
“I’m going to focus on you, and only you, until one of you fesses up or, frankly, you pass out. Would be a first, but I kind of want to see that. And if that happens, luckily we have a spare.”
“You’re not… going to get… away with this,” panted Todoroki. Bakugo had definitely underestimated him.
Hawks gave him an empty smile. “You’d better hope I do, ‘cause if I don’t, Dabi gets to have fun with you, and he likes his meat well done.”
He clapped a hand on Todoroki’s back, who recoiled under his touch. “If you’re worried about saving face, maybe your friend will speak up for you. He looks like the empathetic kind,” jested Hawks.
Todoroki glanced at Bakugo, currently in the process of glaring at Dabi. He took a deep breath to brace himself.
Hawks walked around him, a solid half of each wing detaching itself and floating to the other side of the stocks. “Last chance,” he whispered in Todoroki’s ear.
“Drop dead,” spat Todoroki.
So Hawks struck. Not with the feathers, however. No, while Todoroki was distracted by the wings positioning themselves right in front of his feet, the tips of the feathers already grazing his soles, Hawks’s hands slipped under Todoroki’s jacket and find purchase in the skin of his sides underneath.
Bakugo saw a look of utter bewilderment cross Todoroki’s face before hysteria overwrote his features completely.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAHAHAHHAHAT’S NOHOHOT… OH MY HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAHAHAHAHAT’S NOHOHOOOOHOHOT FAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAAIIIRR!!!” he screamed, accidentally echoing Bakugo.
“I thought I remembered this!” said a self-satisfied Hawks. “Two for two, uh? Man, did the doctors just take the two most ticklish halves of you and glued them together?” he teased as his fingers kept kneading into Todoroki’s swimmer-like flanks, the thumb pressing deep into the soft tissue and discovering the muscle underneath that stretched all the way to his toned stomach.
He squirmed in his seat with newfound vigor, though he wasn’t getting away from Hawks’s prying fingers, sometimes digging hard into his sides, sometimes gently brushing his nails up and down. He leaned so hard to the left that for a moment Bakugo worried he might dislodge his shoulder.
“Look at you trying to squirm away,” cooed Hawks. “Is it because your right side is more sensitive? I think it is. Let’s see if I can find another jackpot up here on the left side,” he continued as he began clawing at the left side of Todoroki’s stomach ,who sucked it in and remained breathless for a moment, but just a moment before laughter poured out again.
“Umh, maybe a bit better, but not a homerun… How about here?”
He spidered his fingers up and down the trainee’s ribcage, a view that despite being partially concealed by Todoroki’s jacket, which rode up to show the lower part of his stomach, caused Bakugo to instinctively lean forward to shield his own ribs with his elbows.
Todoroki’s laughter was still positively frantic as Hawks’s other hand never left his right side, but he didn’t seem satisfied. “Maybe here?” he ventured as he pushed his fingers further up, squeezing his way into Todoroki’s damp underarm.
“And here it is!” gloated Hawks, Todoroki trying to clamp down his arms and only succeeding in trapping the offending fingers where he really didn’t want them.
“Well, they shall cry no longer! Here I gooo!” exclaimed Hawks as his severed wings fully enveloped Todoroki’s feet.
Bakugo saw Todoroki whip his head to the sky, a lunatic grin frozen on his face, eyes bulging and dripping with tears, and gently swaying back and forth in that position without even being able to make a single sound.
Insane. He looked insane. Driven to insanity by fingers and a bunch of feathers. Bakugo couldn’t believe it. He even considered giving them the code for a fleeting moment out of concern for his… classmate. But he couldn’t, Todoroki wouldn’t have wanted him to either.
But even deeper at the back of his mind, there was a reminder, a reminder that if Todoroki passed out, or that if he confessed, then Bakugo would be next.
Dabi was also staring unabashedly. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Something that childish, tearing down Endeavor’s heir like that. His fingers itched.
Todoroki wasn’t even aware of the fingers tormenting his upper body or the feathers that had taken total hold of his feet. It was as if the sensation had seeped deep into his core, and from there had radiated outward, breaking down his sense of self and severing his mind from his body to keep it afloat in an ocean of overwhelming giddiness. Later, he wouldn’t even recall whether he’d laughed in the end or not.
He just remembered his consciousness resurfacing at one point, and uttering the six fabled digits as if in a dream.
“NO!!” screeched a costernated Bakugo.
“Thank you kindly,” said Hawks as he stepped away from Todoroki and called back his feathers. “Way to confirm the code, by the way,” he told Bakugo.
But as he was making his way toward the exit…
“Wait.”
Dabi was holding up his burner phone. “It’s not time for our meet-up yet. And I seem to recall you’re a man of his word,” he said, eyeing Bakugo.
Hawks stopped. “I am,” he conceded as he walked towards Bakugo, whose heart was sinking into his stomach for an additional reason now.
“Don’t you fucking get any closer!” warned Bakugo without anything to back up his threat, his implicit plea.
“Won’t you get bored?” Hawks asked Dabi, ignoring his cursing target.
“I’ll manage. His right side is the ice one, right?” he asked as Dabi stopped between Todoroki and Bakugo, reaching one hand on the other side of the stocks. “I want to see fire and ice mix,” he stated before making his fingers slightly warmer and jolting Todoroki out of his stupor.
But Bakugo was unable to pay him any mind, transfixed by Hawks’s single finger inching closer and closer to his left sole. It curled gently.
“FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFU--” exploded out of Bakugo, any hope of rebuilding his façade thanks to the break flying out of the window as that one finger made him acutely aware of how much more impossibly sensitive the heat had made him.
Hawks went on scratching delicately, bringing the finger to the center of the ball as Bakugo flailed left and right. He only stopped long enough to retrieve the brush and the fork. “I love being right.”
No, it couldn’t tickle that much, it just couldn’t. The fork traveled from the bottom of his arch all the way to the base of his toes, then down, then up again. The hairbrush was large enough to perfectly scrub the upper half of Bakugo’s foot, the part that Hawks was naturally focusing on, the two tools gliding harmlessly on the impossibly tender surface thanks to the offshoot of Bakugo’s Quirk.
“Nah, you had your chance,” said Hawks as he switched the two torture instruments.
Bakugo whipped his head back and forth, if he could he might have banged it on the stocks just to feel something else. And Hawks was unrelenting. Skilled, and unrelenting.
“Weren’t you going to kill me? How are you going to do that? By giggling yourself to death?”
The hard bristles and tines would have scrubbed Bakugo raw if not for his Quirk, but his nerves weren’t any less on fire for it, every ounce of pain having been traded for a different sensation that Bakugo despised even more. But he had no ego left to be bruised, as his entire self was concentrated in his superhumanly sensitive feet, tenderized by the Quirk he was so proud of.
“Now this is an explosion! Oh, you think I’m moving away from the ball? Right where it tickles the most? Oh no no no! I’ll just tickle everywhere else to!”
The part of Bakugo that realized what was about to happen clawed its way to the surface. “NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAH! NONONONONOHHHHHH!!!! PLEASESTOPPLEAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHSEE!!!”
But the myriad quills that descended on every part of his soles not ravaged by the hellish tools didn’t heed his final plea.
With one last boom of maddened laughter, Bakugo was thrust into the same pit that he’d watched Todoroki sink into, utterly, thoroughly destroyed, drooling, crying, but unable to string enough sounds together to grovel.
Humiliation, embarrassment, disappointment were fictions that had been shattered, as the tickling cut to something primal, genuine within him. Who knew that tickling his feet really hard was the key.
At some point, Bakugo felt himself float up toward the harsh neon light overhead, gurgling nonsense as the room faded back into focus.
“...ease… nno… moohore…”
But Hawks was already on the threshold, with Dabi having already left the room. Bakugo’s head lolled to the side, allowing him to encounter Todoroki’s dim, concerned gaze.
“Thank you boys!” said Hawks cheerfully. “Someone will come pick you up soon. Pleasure doing business with you!”
He slammed the door behind him, leaving the two tickle-drunk trainees in the room alone.
As his circumstances flooded back to the forefront, Todoroki’s concern pissed him off. “How–” his voice cracked. Water. “How could you?!” He wasn’t quite sure if he was referring to the code, or to what Hawks had put him through after.
Todoroki didn’t respond, but looked at the door. “Ssh.”
He’d… shushed him? That guy had shushed him–
Bakugo’s eyes bulged out of his sockets when he saw Todoroki lift the upper portion of the stocks and slide his sore wrists and ankles out. To safety, to freedom.
Bakugo forgot everything he wanted to yell. “How… When…?!”
“Hawks did it,” whispered Todoroki as he stretched his sore limbs. Bakugo tried to lift his own stocks, and lo and behold, they opened. There was a feather in the lock, which Todoroki grabbed.
Bakugo’s shock was plain on his expression, his smile muscles stiff.
“Didn’t you notice… what Hawks was writing… with his feathers?” asked Todoroki. He took a deep breath as he shuffled towards the door. “He’s on our side. He wants… us to escape and… tell the agency… to change the code.”
Bakugo was still incredulous as the hallway opened up before him.
“Come on,” said Todoroki as he started out of the room.
Bakugo followed him, to be sure. But he was thinking. He hadn’t noticed anything. And if Todoroki knew all along, how much of it had been an act? And if he had put up a show for their captors, so he could convincingly give up the code later… did he think that Bakugo was weak?
Bakugo grunted. Todoroki shot him a puzzled look, but didn’t stop.
He couldn’t allow the half and half bastard to think of him that way. To feel superior. He had to show him who was really the most ticklish.
Hawks had a habit of pushing his luck. It wasn’t anything new; Dabi had learned that very early into their relationship. The smug bird loved getting under his skin, loved pressing buttons, loved being a menace to society—and most importantly, loved tickling him at every opportunity.
And damn it, it was getting old.
Dabi could handle the teasing, the sarcasm, the cocky grins that Hawks tossed his way like candy. He could even handle the way Hawks seemed to revel in making him flustered in public. But the tickling? That was a whole different story.
It started small, just an occasional poke to his ribs when Hawks thought he was being too quiet. Then it evolved into full-blown attacks—fingers wiggling into his sides, nails grazing against his stomach, relentless digging into his underarms. Hawks was ruthless, and worst of all, he knew exactly what he was doing.
Dabi wasn’t ticklish in the obvious spots. No, his sensitivity was limited, but it was concentrated. Hawks had, unfortunately, discovered that Dabi’s lower ribs and his stomach were his worst weaknesses. The moment those damn feathers or fingers made contact? Dabi was a goner.
So, naturally, Hawks took full advantage of this.
He’d sneak up behind him, a single feather flicking against the spot just under his ribs, watching with glee as Dabi’s entire body jolted. He’d pretend to go in for a hug, only to squeeze his waist at the last second, causing Dabi to curse and squirm. He’d even team up with the wind, letting his feathers float and graze just over his sensitive spots, driving him absolutely insane.
Dabi swore he was going to murder that bird.
But not before he got his revenge.
Hawks had a problem.
That problem was named Dabi, and that problem was smirking at him in a way that made his stomach flip.
He didn’t like that look. That look meant trouble. That look meant—
“Hey, Birdie,” Dabi drawled, stepping closer, cracking his knuckles in a way that made Hawks’ wings instinctively twitch. “I think it’s about time you get a taste of your own medicine.”
Oh no.
Hawks took a step back. “Uh, Dabi. Let’s talk about this.”
Dabi took another step forward, slow and deliberate. “Oh, I’m listening.”
“I—I mean, come on, it’s just a little harmless fun, right?” Hawks chuckled nervously, scanning for an escape route. “You always act so grumpy, I figured I’d help lighten the mood!”
“Uh-huh.” Dabi rolled his shoulders, flexing his fingers. “And I figure it’s time you experience some ‘harmless fun’ yourself.”
Hawks bolted.
Or, at least, he tried.
Before he could spread his wings and take off, Dabi lunged, grabbing onto his waist and yanking him down onto the couch with a triumphant grin. Hawks squawked, feathers puffing up in alarm as he kicked and flailed.
“D-Dabi, wait! WAIT! Let’s—ACK—talk about this!”
“Nah, I’m good.”
And then Dabi attacked.
His hands latched onto Hawks’ sides, fingers digging in, wiggling mercilessly. Hawks immediately exploded into frantic laughter, wings flapping wildly as he tried to twist away.
“D-DABI! NOHOHO—WAIT—HAHAHA!”
Dabi smirked, his grip firm as he dragged his fingers up and down Hawks’ torso, finding all the spots he suspected would be bad. He squeezed just above his hips and was rewarded with a high-pitched squeal.
“Oho, that’s a good spot,” Dabi mused, drilling his thumbs into the area.
Hawks screeched, twisting so hard that he nearly rolled off the couch, only for Dabi to grab him and pin him back down.
“W-WAIT! NOHOHO! DABI, Y-YOU AASSHAHA—” Hawks wheezed, his laughter turning breathless as he thrashed. His wings fluttered behind him, feathers twitching as if desperate to escape.
Dabi grinned. “Oh, we’re just getting started.”
He let his hands travel lower, squeezing Hawks’ thighs, running fingers down the inside where the muscle was soft and sensitive. Hawks outright screamed, arching his back, his legs jerking as he tried to kick at him.
“Sensitive here, huh?” Dabi teased, watching in delight as Hawks’ face turned an impressive shade of red.
“DAHAHAHABI! I—I CAHAHAN’T!” Hawks gasped, hands flying up to grab at Dabi’s wrists in a weak attempt to pry them away. Tears pricked the corners of his golden eyes, his cheeks flushed with laughter.
Dabi, however, had one last trick up his sleeve.
“You know,” he mused, slowing his attack just slightly, “I always see you keeping your back covered. Makes me wonder if you’re hiding something.”
Hawks barely had time to panic before he felt fingers graze along his spine.
He went absolutely ballistic.
“NOHOHOHO!” he shrieked, his entire body spasming as Dabi’s fingertips traced along his back. His wings were his pride and joy, but his back? His back was another story. His back was a weakness.
Dabi took full advantage, dragging his fingers in slow, torturous circles, watching with amusement as Hawks completely melted into the couch, reduced to helpless laughter.
“PlEAHAHAHASE!” Hawks cackled, kicking his legs, tears streaming down his face. “DABI—I CAHAHAHAN’T—”
Dabi hummed, pretending to think. “Oh, but you were totally fine tickling me every chance you got. Seems only fair, Birdie.”
Hawks could barely breathe, wheezing as his laughter turned silent, his body trembling under Dabi’s hands.
Dabi finally, finally relented, pulling back and watching as Hawks collapsed onto the cushions, chest heaving, face buried into the pillow. His wings lay sprawled out, twitching slightly as if still recovering from the assault.
“…You good?” Dabi asked, smirking.
Hawks groaned into the pillow. “I h-hate you.”
“Nah, you love me.”
“…Shut up.”
Dabi chuckled, settling back comfortably. “Admit it, Birdie. That was the best revenge.”
Hawks peeked up from the pillow, face still flushed, eyes still glassy. He narrowed his gaze, a flicker of mischief returning.
“…You know this means war, right?”
Dabi grinned. “Bring it.”
And so, the war of ticklish revenge continued, neither willing to surrender, both doomed to an endless cycle of laughter and playful torment.
