Ch. 31 The Interrogation

"Are you going to watch me eat?" you mumbled as you chewed your toast. Bakugo sat across from you at your tiny table, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Don't talk with your mouthful."

"Is that a challenge?" You tried to force yourself to smile and hoped it was believable enough. "Come on, at least have some coffee or something."

"I'm waiting for you to tell me what happened," Bakugo said.

"Rough night at work," you shrugged.

"No shit. What the hell kind of work is this?"

"Why? Are you thinking about rehiring me?"

"Y/n. I'm not joking around. You could hardly walk last night"

"I could always go work for Todoroki, I'm sure he'd hire me. What was your other friend's name? The one with the green hair? Now I bet he would-"

His fist slammed on the table, hard enough to slosh your coffee.

"Damn it, y/n. Enough. Quit acting like you're okay."

As if the alternative was somehow better.

You dropped the smile. "Why are you even here, Bakugo?"

"I'm starting to wonder that myself. Do you come home like that every night?"

"No."

"So last night was unusual?"

"I didn't realize this was an interrogation."

Your phone rang back in your bedroom. It was odd hearing it, since your phone hadn't even so much as beeped since yesterday.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment, officer," you said, going to answer your phone, grateful for the interruption.

Or at least you were grateful until you saw the name of the person calling. Why now? Hadn't last night been enough? When you saw Dabi's name, you swallowed, your own spit sticking in your throat.

For just a second, you thought about not answering it, but you already knew that doing so would only make more trouble for yourself.

"What?" you asked as soon as you answered the call.

"Just checking on you, baby girl," Dabi's voice purred through the phone. "Was I too rough last night? Or just rough enough? Better question might be, can you walk today?"

"I don't have time for this right now."

"Y/n?" Bakugo called out from the other room.

"Oh? You have company?"

"No. Bye."

"Don't hang up on me. Which one is it? The blonde one or the rich one?"

"Not your business."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you'd turn to your hero friends for comfort. But don't forget for a second that they hate us. They'd hate you, too, if they knew. Villain lives are expendable to them, baby girl. You don't even deserve to live in their eyes."

"That's not true. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Boss man thinks you might be ready to level up and meet the rest of the crew. Your show must have impressed him last night."

"Great. Bye."

The call ended, and it was only then that you realized how tight every muscle in your body had been the whole time. Now that you weren't talking to Dabi, you could finally relax, at least a little, both emotionally and physically.

After taking a deep breath and steeling your face, hoping it would be enough to mask what you were feeling, you looked up from where you sat on your bed and were surprised to see Bakugo standing in the doorway to your bedroom, arms still crossed over his chest.

This you, this you that was sitting on your bed with your phone in your lap, was not at all who he had expected to see today. He was used to the version of you that had a sharp wit and easy smile, but you right now? Swimming in baggy sweats, hair still damp from last night's shower, trying to hide your tears and obviously hiding a lot more than that? He didn't know this version of you at all.

"I bet I look pretty pathetic, huh?"

"No. Damn it. Fuck. Y/n. I care about you, idiot. I don't want to see you like this."

You glanced over to him when you felt the bed sink down as he sat next to you.

When you didn't say anything, he let out an exasperated breath and laid back on your bed.

"When are you going to fucking trust me?" he asked, his tone unusually soft and quiet.

How much time did you have, you wondered, before Dabi started feeling jealous and called back, or worse, came there to inspect the damage he'd left last night?

Not much time, probably, but enough.

Before Bakugo could stop you, you climbed on top of him and leaned down to kiss him. Maybe this kiss could wash away everything else. Maybe his touch could replace the ones from last night.

He didn't back away and didn't even seem surprised. Bakugo immediately wrapped his arms around you and rolled both of you over. The weight of his body on top of yours, the grinding of his hips between your legs... it was all a delicious, welcomed pressure.

You thought he'd be rough, you just knew that for all the scowling and bravado he'd be rough, but he wasn't. It was like he was taking his time and he was gentle even in his roughness.

You whimpered when his hand ran along your thigh, gripping the back of your leg and pulling it up while his mouth went down your neck to the top of your chest.

But the second his lips touched below your neck you flinched, startled by the sudden contact so dangerously close to Dabi's brand.

"What?"

Bakugo immediately stopped and seemed confused that you'd backed away, so to cover you grabbed his face and kissed him hard, hoping it was enough to distract him, hoping it was also enough to distract you.

For the moment it seemed to work, and when his hand slid under your shirt you kissed him through the pain each touch brought on your bruised belly and chest. You were so focused on his kiss that you didn't even realize that he was pulling up the hem of your shirt.

When he paused you groaned and tried to pull him back to you, but he resisted, moving off you completely. You opened your eyes and knew exactly what had happened.

His own eyes flickered in disbelief as he looked at your body, but he couldn't even focus on one part of you. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Bruises were already sprouting on the parts of your stomach and chest that he could see, blossoming like blue and purple wildflowers.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked, his voice slightly shaking.

"Bakugo. I can explain."

"You need a hospital."

"I don't need that."

"Yes, you do. Fuck. This looks awful. There could be deep tissue injuries or-"

"No. I'm telling you no."

"You could have internal damage. Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?"

"I said no. I don't need a hospital."

"Then what?" his voice sounded desperate. "What do you need?"

Such a loaded question.

You stared up at him with sad, tired eyes. Eyes he knew he would never be able to say no to.

"Bakugo. I need to feel something else."

Slowly, you pulled him down to you, desperate for his mouth, desperate for anything that would take your mind off what had happened back at the hideout last night. He seemed hesitant at first, but then he was hovering over you and pushing your hair out of your face so he could pepper you with kisses.

Selfishly, you wanted to make the most of this time with him before he put the pieces together. You already knew he was suspicious, and you were sure if you did read his mind that you'd find out a lot more than you wanted to. So you didn't.

Since you knew he was going to see it all anyway, you made him stop and pulled your sweatshirt over your head to give him a second to see the damage. Might as well get it over with now.

"Y/n. I... What about this? What..."

His face confused, and somehow looking like he was the hurt one, Bakugo reached out to gently touch the bandage you'd placed over Dabi's brand but you flinched away.

Before he had time to ask the question you knew was on his mind, you peeled off your sweatpants, too. You watched his eyes as they traveled lower on your body, so you knew exactly when he saw the glossy patches of burned skin and splotches of blood dotting your thighs.

"What the hell..."

"Stop. Not right now. Right now I just want... you."

He pushed aside his instinct to demand answers and fix things and instead channeled that anger and frustration into an emotion just as powerful. Through hungry kisses, you helped him learn how gentle he needed to be and together you tangled in sweat and lust.

"I won't hurt you," he breathed in between moments, his face against yours. "I will never do anything to hurt you."

You heard him, but Dabi's words still echoed in a tiny part of your mind.

They'd hate you, too, if they knew.

Was he right?

A few hours later Bakugo shut your apartment door behind him while you napped, and he headed down the stairs. He hadn't made it very far when his shoulder brushed against another man coming up.

"Watch where you're going," Bakugo muttered, continuing down the stairs.

For just a second the man's blue eyes, peering out his dark hood, caught Bakugo's, and he was taken aback by how cold they looked.

"Anything to report?" Hawks texted, oddly enough right after he left your apartment.

Bakugo replied immediately.

"No."