Ch. 15 Blue Eyes Lit by Fire

"Tell me everything. What'd you find out, new girl?"

As your hair and clothes dripped water all over the floor, you sat back on your knees and tried to control your breathing long enough to be able to speak to Shigaraki. Your mind was still trying to understand how your simple mission of reading a man's thoughts had morphed into attempted murder in a matter of minutes.

"Doesn't matter," Dabi said instead. "That guy won't be saying shit for a long time." You watched as Dabi stripped off his wet jacket and rung out his shirt on the floor before starting to dry his clothes with his own flames. 

"Perfect," Shigaraki said. "I'd say you both did well, but you're getting everything wet and it's pissing me off. What the hell is this? Did you go for a swim in the hotel pool or something?"

"If I got her to do that with me tonight, you think I'd have come back here?"

"Never know with you. Did you win any money?"

"Like I'd tell you."

The dirty water from the sprinkler system was starting to dry on your skin, but your clothes were still soaked, and you felt your body shaking slightly from the cold. You still hadn't said anything because you could hardly believe the casual tone of the two men in front of you. A man had almost been burned alive and they were talking about whether or not Dabi had won any money?

"Your pay out is on the table by the door," Shigaraki told both of you. "You'll hear from me when I need you next. Now get out of here."

"That guy..." you started to say from your place on the floor, forcing yourself to speak even though your teeth were chattering.

"I said go," Shigaraki said without even looking at you. Dabi was already counting his money by the door.

"That guy..." you tried again. You knew your voice was trembling, but you couldn't seem to do anything about it. "That guy knew nothing. He didn't matter to you? He... just drives the car..."

"Yeah, I know."

"You... knew that?"

"Yeah," Shigaraki said, sounding like he thought you must be stupid. "But this sent a message to the people who do matter, and that was what was important about tonight."

"So why...." You struggled to find the right words. "Why... why was I even there?"

"Dabi, is she always this slow?"

"It's part of her charm."

Shigaraki walked across the room and crouched down in front of where you sat on the floor. He sighed. "You were there, pretty girl, to be a pretty face who would get him alone for a minute so Dabi could have a little privacy to do what he does best."

"So... I was bait."

"Now you're catching on. And now you're also an accessory to a crime," Shigaraki continued, "an accessory whose pretty face was seen by quite a few people, so tonight had the added bonus of initiating you into our happy little family."

"But... my quirk? You wanted me to read his mind and find out..."

"And did he? Did he have knowledge of some kind of master plan to sell out the League or our dealings with his organization?"

"No," you shook your head, "not at all."

"Great. Glad to hear it. But now your face is annoying me," he stood up and dismissed you with a wave of his hand. "Take your money and go home. I'll be in touch."

You pulled yourself up off the floor slowly. You thought about not taking the money, but then... you know what, you thought to yourself, I'll take all this money and I'll take all of his money. One day you were going to make this bastard pay for real. 

Dabi was waiting for you outside the building, your helmet, no scratch that, Dabi's second helmet, was in his hand.  "I've got a side job you could help with if you want," he said when he saw you. 

"I know I don't hear you talking to me." 

He dropped the helmet on the ground and stalked toward you. The predatory look in his eyes making you lose all the confidence you thought you had. 

"I'm tired of this game, y/n."

"W-What game?"

You took a step backward, your back hitting the brick wall of the building. 

"This game where you pretend like you get a say in what happens to you." 

Dabi towered over you, grinning down. He leaned closer and you felt yourself tense up when his warm hands touched your waist. You knew what he was capable of, you'd seen it yourself tonight. Would he hesitate to burn you the way he had burned that man tonight? You weren't sure, and you didn't want to find out.

You stayed completely still as he ducked his head down and you twitched when you felt his lips on the spot between your neck and shoulder. He knew exactly what you liked, letting his hands roam while his mouth explored your skin.

Despite how much you hated him, and you hated him a lot, you felt yourself melting against his kiss. It had started gently enough but then his mouth pulled harder, nipping and sucking on your skin. You wished you could deny how good it felt, but damn it, you couldn't.

"Shigaraki might think you're his to command," he whispered in your ear, "but we both know who you really belong to." 

He released you, stepping back to admire the purple bruises that were already starting to form on your chest and shoulder. 

"Pick up the helmet and get on the bike." 

----

About a week later, you waited nervously outside a restaurant as people came and went, none of them even glancing your direction. You preferred it that way. In fact, you'd tried to avoid people altogether lately.

You'd spent the past few days in your apartment alone, trying to come to terms with what you'd witnessed. You'd thrown away the clothes you'd worn and took more showers than you could count to clean away the smell of smoke and dirt. 

Fidgeting with your bracelet, you wondered if this date with Todoroki was a huge mistake, for more than one reason.

Yes, it was definitely a huge mistake.

Todoroki had offered to pick you up at your place, but you quickly said no to the idea of him coming to your sad little apartment after you'd seen his penthouse. Then he had suggested that you meet him at his agency and go to the restaurant together from there, but you were even more horrified at the idea of going to a hero agency after everything that had happened with the League.

Eventually Todoroki gave in and you both agreed to meet at the restaurant instead. He'd picked the place, and it was about a hundred times nicer than anywhere you had been before, which is one reason why you were fidgeting with your bracelet and avoiding eye contact with anyone who walked by.

"Y/n?"

You looked up and smiled when you saw Todoroki standing in front of you. He was in a plain white button-down shirt and dress pants, as if he had just come from a meeting at the office. Could he be any cuter? You noticed his fingers messing with the buttons on his cuffs. Was he nervous, too?

Taking his hand, you followed the hostess to a table near the window where Todoroki pulled out your chair for you before sitting across from you. And then it was just the two of you. Sitting there. By yourselves.

"So," he said.

"So."

You drummed your fingers on the table and looked around at the posh restaurant and all of the nicely dressed people. Was this normal for him?

"Oh wow," you said when you noticed the beautiful view of the city. "This view is incredible."

"They know I like this table," he said simply.

"Ah, I see. So this is where you bring all your dates?"

"No, I come here by myself. I just like the view."

"Oh." You picked up the menu just for something to do. "What do you like to order here?"

Your eyes scanned the menu, but everything was either difficult to pronounce or crazy expensive or both. You really wanted to take out your phone and google some of these things, but then it would look like you didn't know what they were. Which was because you didn't know what they were.

"Everything I've had here is good," he told you.

So that wasn't helpful. You peeked at Shoto and he wasn't even looking at the menu.

"We could start with something to drink," he suggested.

You breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, please! Is there a beer menu?"

A quick glance up told you that Todoroki was still staring at you across the table.

"No..." he said slowly. "I think there's a wine list though."

Great. More things you wouldn't know how to pronounce.

"Did I pick a bad place?" he asked.

So much for playing it cool. He must have picked up on the fact that you were completely confused.

"No, Shoto, no. This place seems great. I'm just... I'm just trying to figure it all out. I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not," you lied.

Without a word, Shoto stood up from the table and walked over to one of the servers before coming back to you. Back at your side, he held out his hand, motioning for you to come with him.

"We're leaving," he said.

"We haven't even ordered."

"That's okay. We'll order next time. Do you like pizza?"

"Say less!"

Not too much later, you were each clumsily eating a piece of pizza as you talked and walked the streets downtown. This was definitely more your speed, and now that you were more relaxed, you were able to prod him with questions to keep him talking about his agency and the work he'd been doing so that you didn't have to say much about yourself. It was easier that way. 

You weren't sure how long you walked together around the city, but it was.... nice. Sort of awkward, but nice. When it was time to go, he called his driver and a limo showed up a few minutes later to take you home. 

Before getting in, Shoto turned to you. "Can I see you again?" he asked.

You hesitated for just a moment. He was so sweet and genuine, and you really had had a great time when it wasn't awkward, but... he was a hero. And what were you? You weren't sure anymore.

Luckily, you were saved by the bell as Todoroki's phone rang.

"I have to take this," he said before answering. "This is work."

"By all means, answer it. Please," you told him, grateful for the interruption.

Turned out, he needed to make a quick stop to check on the sidekicks from his agency. The limo pulled up outside a warehouse downtown, but several police cars and fire trucks had already beat you there. 

Shoto got out to go talk to his team while you stayed in the car and tried to figure out what was going on. The windows on the building had been boarded up, but a few pieces of wood were dark and burned, steam and smoke slowly seeping out. A fire truck's flashing red lights reflected on the puddles of water on the ground.

It started to lightly rain, and the limo door opened as Shoto got back inside to stay dry. But then he was joined by two others, one was Kirishima, and the other was the face you had tried to block from your memory after he'd kissed you.

Kirishima seemed happy to see you, but Bakugo scowled when he saw you sitting in the limo. As luck would have it, he ended up sitting on the other side of you opposite Shoto.

"We tried to not bother you since we knew you were on this date," Kirishima apologized, "but Bakugo insisted you had to know—"

"Shut up," Bakugo interrupted. "Your stupid sidekicks said they needed to keep you informed."

"Heroes are never really off the clock, right?" Kirishima smiled.

"From what you're saying," Shoto said, "It seems like the two of you have this under control."

"Of course we fucking do," Bakugo scoffed.

"So what did happen?" you asked.

"Another fire," Kirishima explained. "This might be more villain-on-villain crime. We thought there was a fight, but it must be over already. Seems like the different groups are fighting with each other."

"There's no honor among thieves, as they say," Todoroki nodded.

"This is probably those same fuckers that we were looking into a few weeks ago from that house fire." Bakugo shot a glance over to you, and you quickly averted your eyes.

Kirishima saw the exchange. "You probably don't care about any of this," Kirishima said apologetically. "I'm so sorry we interrupted your date."

"No, no, it's fine," you said. "I get it."

Someone knocked on the window and Shoto rolled it down. It was one of the sidekicks from his office saying that they needed him and Kirishima for a minute. They got out and this left you and Bakugo in the limo. Alone.

"How's the office?" you asked to break the awkward silence. "Hopeless without me?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

"Found someone new to yell at yet?"

"No."

"Your hiring agency will find someone willing to put up with you, I'm sure."

"Where are you working now?"

"I'm..."

"You don't really like him, do you?"

"It's a first date. We're just seeing where this goes."

"It's going nowhere. I can tell you that right now."

You ignored that comment as you noticed something.

"This finally came in?" you asked, touching the black sleeves of his hero costume. You'd researched some new tech fabrics and ordered the change to his costume before you were fired. As your eyes scanned the new sleeves, you noticed a tear in the fabric on his bicep.  

Bakugo's eyes went to your hand on his arm before coming back to meet your own.

"But you've already ripped it, of course," you tsked. 

"Must have been a bad design."

"Or a careless hero." 

"Y/n. Stop talking."

He leaned slightly forward, his hand moving to press firmly on your thigh, the feeling making your breath catch in your throat. With the way his red eyes intensely looked into yours, you couldn't have said anything even if you wanted to.

"I hear something," he said.

"Wait, what?"

You were both quiet, listening.

He was about to say something when you felt a loud explosion shake the car. Bakugo practically burst out the door, headed straight for the noise, but then you saw him hesitate.

"Get out!" he turned around and yelled at you and the driver. He rushed back to grab you and drag you away from the limo, just as another burst of flame hit the vehicle the moment you were pulled away from it. You clutched Bakugo in stunned silence as the whole car was quickly engulfed in hot blue flames.

You didn't even have time to blink before he roughly grabbed you by the waist and leaped into the air, another burst of blue flame hitting the ground right where you had been standing.

With you in his arms, Bakugo shot up into the building, through one of the open windows.

"What the hell was that?" you asked when he landed. He still hadn't taken his arm from around you.

"Stay quiet," he whispered. He didn't have to tell you twice. "I don't think we're alone."

Your face still stung from the heat of the flames. The stinging sensation made you shiver as you remembered the night in the hotel room. 

Oh shit.

You let your mind open up, searching for thoughts, searching for his thoughts. And just as you suspected, there they were. Anger and hate, cold but also very hot, hot enough to make your heart thump, getting louder and louder. 

"Bakugo. We have to go," you whispered.

"I'll get you out of here."

"No. Bakugo. Listen to me," you tugged on his arm. "We have to go. Now. Please."

After staring at your face for just a second, he picked you up. "Okay," he said. "Hang on."

With you in his arms, Bakugo burst back down to the street, this time going farther away from the building, far enough away that the sound of the sirens was distant and you could barely see the lights of the fires. 

But as you'd flown away, you had looked behind, and the last thing you had seen behind you was Dabi staring right at you, his blue eyes lit by fire.