Ch. 24 Red Roses

"For example," Kirishima explained to you and Bakugo, "there was this one girl villain, when they were interrogating me... "

You jolted upright, almost knocking over the computer in your lap as you waved your hands. "Kirishima, it's okay," you interrupted, "I get what you guys are saying; you don't have to explain. Why don't we move on –"

"It's fine!" he interrupted you this time. "She seemed kinda nice," he continued, "especially since the other guy was a total dick. But at the end of the day, she was still working with villains, and if I could have, I would have put her in jail with the rest."

"We don't have to keep talking about this," you tried saying at the same time you heard Bakugo ask, "What's her quirk?"

"Let's focus on how you were captured, how about that?" you asked, desperate to change the subject. "Let's start there. That's the beginning anyway."

Anything to distract from the conversation going down that road. Besides, you really did want to know what Dabi had done to get him to the hideout. Dabi had a strong quirk, sure, but from what you knew of Kirishima, you imagined that he could take Dabi in a fight based on pure physical strength. So how had Dabi managed to get those handcuffs on him?

Maybe if you could find out information you didn't know about Dabi...

Oh, who were you kidding? What could someone like you do against someone like Dabi, really? You couldn't turn into a tough shield or shoot someone with fire...

You felt your stomach sink, realizing that you might never be rid of him.

"You alive over there?"

"What?" You looked up and realized that both guys were staring at you.

"You spaced out there for a second."

"Sorry." You shook your head to snap out of it. "So, start at the beginning. How did they get you under their control?"

"Didn't you try to fight them?" Bakugo asked.

Kirishima looked sheepish. "Okay, not going to lie, I feel kind of stupid about this."

"Only about this?"

You smacked Bakugo on the arm for that comment, but Kirishima only rolled his eyes and laughed. You assumed that he was used to this.

"That last set of fires were still growing, and I was in the building. But then I heard someone, so I went to check it out and found a girl. She was young, maybe around our age. I thought the whole place was empty. I'm guessing it was a trap because before I got much closer to her, someone hit me across the head from behind. I didn't have time to use my quirk, but I saw him. Next thing I knew, I was with the League. I don't know what happened to the girl."

"That is nothing to be embarrassed about," you told him.

"I should have been more aware of my surroundings. That's on me."

"You were captured by villains. It wasn't your fault. There was no way you could have known that he was going to do that to you."

"Anyway," Bakugo interrupted. "The asshole who hit you, did you get a good look at him?"

"Yeah," Kirishima said. "Dark hair, weird skin. Piercings. I think he would be pretty recognizable. Same dude who was there when they were questioning me."

"I know who that is," Bakugo nodded.

You looked up from the laptop. "You do?"

"If it's the same guy, he's a sadistic bastard. Fire quirk. We've connected to more than a few murders I've helped investigate, most involving young women. Really fucked up stuff."

You didn't want to know more, but you also couldn't help yourself. On some level you needed to know, had to know, but dreaded knowing.

"Like... what?" you asked, you voice quiet, almost timid. "What did he....what did he do to them?" You braced yourself for the answer.

Bakugo's face wrinkled in disgust. "Heroes and police got involved because all of the girls had been isolated from friends and family. Sometimes they were reported missing first, sometimes not. I don't want to get into the details, but I will say that the creep left them mostly unrecognizable. Trust me when I say that the bastard is sick."

"I guess I was lucky," Kirishima nodded solemnly. "I think it would have gone a lot differently for me if the girl villain hadn't been there."

"So..." you said slowly, "she wasn't that bad then, right?"

Bakugo scoffed. "Still a shitty villain. Go through each of them," Bakugo said. "Let's hear about each one."

Let's not.

The last thing you wanted was for Kirishima to describe your role in everything. There were other things you needed to know anyway.

"Wait," you said, both guys turning to you. "Before I put anything else in this PowerPoint, can you tell me more about your audience? Who are you presenting this to?"

"Police, heroes, basically the people investigating the League of Villains."

"Is there someone in charge of this group on the hero side?" you asked, knowing the answer already from reading Kirishima's mind back at the hideoeut.

"Yeah, some moron from out of town. Hero commission is a bunch of idiots for thinking they couldn't trust people here, I guess. They just had to bring in an outsider when we could have handled it ourselves."

"Whatever!" Kirishima waved his hand to dismiss Bakugo's comments. "The more the merrier for bringing down those villains, in my opinion."

"This guy leading the heroes..." You struggled to make your voice even and calm. "What's he like?"

"Who cares?" Bakugo asked.

"He's not that bad," Kirishima told you. "Hero name is Hawks."

-----

"My name's Hawks."

"No, it's not."

"You're right," he smiled. "But by now you already know my real name, don't you?"

"It's part of the job," you shrugged and looked down at your hands. "I don't turn my quirk off, especially when I'm around someone new."

"That must be exhausting."

"I'm used to it."

Of all the people they could have sent to guard you, they sent this guy? He couldn't be more than a few years older than you, at most. What was he going to do if a villain decided to attack you in the middle of an interrogation, flap his wings at them? 

Couldn't they have found someone who looked like they would actually be able to protect you? Someone who didn't wander around your room, wings awkwardly brushing against the wall and furniture, touching your things like a literal child?

"If you can read my mind, I can talk to you without saying anything, right?"

"I guess."

"Awesome," he said. "This is going to be fun."

"Why do you say that?"

You hadn't thought that anything about this was fun for awhile now. They brought you more criminals every day, and every day when you read their minds you learned a new way that humans could be cruel to each other.

But in front of you, Hawks stared at you expectantly. So you stared back. Still he said nothing. Was there something wrong with this guy?

Then he tapped the side of his head and you knew what he was asking you to do. He was trying to talk to you with his mind.

"We are the only two people in my room right now. You can just talk," you sighed.

But he simply smiled and tapped the side of his head again and said nothing, looking at you like an excited puppy, eager for you to figure out his new game.

"What do you have to be so happy about?" asked the girl who had given up on happiness a long time ago.

Because now I get to spend my days hanging out with a pretty girl. You're going to know me better than anyone, y/n. I hope you'll let me get to know you too.

And you did. Those red wings brought fresh air into your limited world. You knew his act was all charm and bravado. You knew it, damn, you knew it, but you fell for it anyway.

You pathetic fool.

------

You shoved the laptop over to Kirishima. "Why don't you make the list of villains and then we'll talk about how you were let go? We'll be right back."

You stood up quickly and signaled to Bakugo to follow you.

"Couldn't stay away, huh? Where were we?"

As soon as you were both in the kitchen, away from the eyes of his friend, you were lost in the heat of touches and mouths and everything that is warm and delicious.

"Stop for a sec," you said, pulling back a little. "This isn't why..."

You wanted to give in to the feeling of his body against yours. You desperately wanted to. Judging by the growing hardness against you, it was obvious that this was going to go further if you let it.

But no matter how many times he kissed you, there was a tugging sensation in the back of your head.

You have no idea that I'm one of those shitty villains you hate.

"Bakugo.."

"You know," he said quietly so Kirishima wouldn't hear you both, dotting a kiss on your neck, "You could stay tonight. I'll kick him out right now if you tell me to."

"I could..."

"You could."

Could you hide the truth from him for forever? Maybe.

"But I think that's going a little fast."

"Okay. If that's what you think, I respect that." 

You heard your phone ringing in the other room.

"Ignore it," he said, kissing you softly on your neck. "If I can't have you later, I want time now." 

His lips met the sensitive skin behind your ear, pressing gently, and you didn't even realize until you heard it that you had let out a small moan.

But he heard it, too. With a wicked grin, Bakugo dove back in, nibbling on your neck, your lips, your ear, while your fingers worked their way into his hair despite yourself. 

"Hey, y/n!" you heard Kirishima shout from the other room. "Your phone is ringing."

Bakugo groaned into your ear, an enchanting sound that made your entire body throb.

"Y/n?" Kirishima called again.

Talk about bad timing. The two of you broke apart, the world suddenly cold again. Reluctantly, you left the kitchen, grabbing a couple bottles of water so it looked like you'd had an actual reason to be in there other than making out.

From where he sat on the couch, Kirishima tossed you your phone. You frowned when you saw the caller, but you answered it anyway.

"Shoto, hey."

"Where are you?"

So much for greetings apparently. You felt a hand linger on your lower back for just a second as Bakugo walked past you to the couch.

"Why?"

"Because I'm standing in front of the door to your apartment and you're not here."

"You... wait, what? I didn't know you were coming."

"I wanted to surprise you. I have something for you. Are you at work?"

"That's sweet, but um... " You looked around the room. Kirishima looked more confused than ever as he stared at the laptop screen, and Bakugo was definitely pretending to not be listening while he scrolled on his phone. "No," you told him. "I'm not."

"I guess I could leave it here, but judging by the people I saw on the stairs.... I don't think it will still be here when you get back."

"Oh yeah, no, not a good idea. Packages get stolen all the time. But... I don't know when I'll be home."

"You don't? What are you doing?"

"Well...I'm over at Bakugo's helping Kirishima with his presentation."

Bakugo stopped what he was doing and watched you.

"Oh. Then in that case, I'll just come there. It's on my way home anyway."

"Come...here? I don't know... I guess I can ask? Hold on."

You put the phone on mute for a second. "You guys okay if Shoto joins us?"

Bakugo grunted in reply which you took as a yes.

"It seems to be okay if you stop by for a second."

"Great. See you soon. I can take you home later, too."

"That's not necessary, it's in the total other direction."

"Not a problem. My driver doesn't mind a little overtime."

"Um..." you looked over at Bakugo, still watching you. "We can figure all of that out later. See ya." 

When you hung up, Bakugo was still watching you. 

"While we wait for Shoto to get here," you said, taking the laptop back from Kirishima. "Let's finish this thing." 

Your eyes quickly scanned the notes Kirishima had made about the villains he'd encountered, mostly just notes about you and Dabi. You deleted a few of the notes about you right away. 

"So, Kirishima, let's say you get a do-over, and you were actually up against this fire user face to face, how would you defeat him?" 

---

You hadn't anticipated that the discussion of how to defeat Dabi was going to go on for as long as it did. Both guys had elaborate plans of what they would do next time, if they got the chance, and both had plenty of opinions about why the other guy's plan was never going to work. 

For your part, you were so tired of plans. You knew what Shigaraki had asked you to do. No, not asked, he had told you to get information on Keigo Takami, and made it very clear what would happen if you didn't.

Dealing with Shigaraki was different from dealing with Dabi. Dabi was all rage and anger, and that was frightening enough, especially when it was focused right on you, but there was something so cold in Shigaraki's demeanor that let you know that life, yours especially, was fairly meaningless to him. When he said he was would kill you, you believed him.

You were less confident that he would actually allow you to stop working for the League when you completed this mission, but you had no other choice at this point. You had a little hope, just a little, which was better than none at all.

And if you were no longer working for the League, then maybe Dabi would leave you alone too. 

One problem at a time, you told yourself.

The door bell interrupted your thoughts, and you went to answer the door, even though it wasn't your apartment, because you knew that there was no way he was going to open it himself. 

On the other side of the door was Shoto, a dozen red roses in his hand. 

For you.