Ch. 57 Fired, Again

"Shit."

The word came out of your mouth before you even knew what was happening.

Dabi was taking long strides toward you and Bakugo, like an angry panther silently stalking its prey.

At the sound of your voice Bakugo looked over his shoulder. "Not this fucker again," he muttered. "Go!" Bakugo shouted at you, releasing your hand, his arm coming up to fire back at Dabi. 

But before Bakugo even had a chance to launch an explosion, a blur of red and yellow flew in behind Dabi, the weight of Hawks's body pushing Dabi to the ground with Hawks on his back.

Bakugo went to fire anyway, but you grabbed onto his to stop him. "If you hit him, you'll hit Keigo too."

"Don't care," Bakugo growled, until you grabbed tighter. 

"But I do," you insisted. 

"You two," Keigoa shouted at you both as he struggled with Dabi. "Go!"

"Fucking bird," Dabi cursed, trying to roll over and shove him off, but Hawks held him firm, shoving Dabi face down onto the carpet and pinning his arms behind him.

"As much as I want to kick his ass," Bakugo said, "I'm getting you out of here." 

"Not until I do this!" You broke away from Bakugo, and as soon as you were close enough, you reared back and kicked Dabi in the head as hard as you could.

Immediately his body went limp. He wasn't knocked out, but the blow had been enough to get him to stop struggling.

"Oh shit," Keigo said, still holding onto Dabi's arms, even though there was no longer any resistance. "Y/n." His golden eyes stared at you in disbelief. "Where did that come from?"

You stood in front of him, chest heaving, blood racing, feeling like you could run an entire marathon, twice, right this second if you wanted to. 

"Nice job," Bakugo patted you on the back. "I knew you had it in you." 

"So do we kill him now?" you asked in between breaths.

"What?" both guys said.

"Y/n... no...we're not..." Keigo looked to Bakugo for confirmation.

"I'm kidding. Sort of."

"Uh..."

"Can I at least kick him again?"

"I mean... " Keigo shrugged. "I won't stop you..." 

Before you could, Bakugo grabbed Dabi by the back of his shirt and yanked him away from Hawks. He started walking, dragging Dabi behind him, not waiting for you and Hawks to catch up.

"We need to get him out of the hallway," Bakugo shouted over his shoulder. "I'll put him in one of those dressing rooms until the police get back here."

"Wait." You crouched down next to him and opened up Dabi's jacket. You took out the rope he'd stashed in his pocket, holding it up. "Tie him to the chair in there. I need a minute with him first." 

Bakugo nodded, knowing you deserved that and more. After Bakugo tossed him into the room, Keigo immediately got to work tying Dabi to the chair.  Thankfully Dabi's eyes didn't start to flutter until the last knot was tied off. 

"Looks like he's waking up. I'll get the police," Keigo told you as he headed for the door. "That should give you a couple minutes to say whatever you need to say." 

"Oh, I have lots to say."

Keigo smiled. "I bet." He took one last look at you before he left the room and nodded. You nodded back and for once you were grateful that Keigo understood the gray area between heroes and villains. 

"You don't have to say shit to him, y/n," Bakugo said once Hawks was gone. "He doesn't deserve it." 

"It's not for him. It's for me." 

Dabi's sleepy eyes started to open, staring right at you. "Nice cut you got there," he said slowly, his voice slurring. "That really you or is it Toga again?"

You watched as he started to push and pull against the ropes. 

"Oh, it's me this time. It sucks being tied to a chair, doesn't it?" you mocked. "Almost makes you feel helpless."

Dabi's blue eyes were clearer now and his glare shot icy daggers at you. "You think these ties are going to hold me?"

But it seemed like they were holding just fine.

You knew it was wrong on some level, but seeing Dabi struggle against the ropes - the ropes he himself had brought -  made you smile. Keigo had left his hands out, tying the ropes tight around his wrists, and you watched as he opened and closed his hands, but nothing happened.

"Poor Dabi," you pretended to pout. "Is your quirk not working?"

"What did you do?" he snarled.

"It's not, is it? Wow, I wonder how that happened." You walked over to him, touching his face and   holding his chin in your hand, even as he bared his teeth.  "So scary. Maybe if you didn't drink so much you wouldn't have drank a quirk canceler."

"You bitch." Bakugo took a step forward the second Dabi said that, but you put our your arm to hold him back. "You set me up."

"You don't recognize the old bait and switch? I'm surprised. It's just like old times, Dabi. You're the one who taught me how to do this, after all." You rustled his hair and then left him as he seethed and cursed. 

"Fuck you. You're dead, you know that?" 

"Says the guy tied to the chair," you shot back. 

"Just wait until I'm not." 

"I'm tired of listening to this asshole," Bakugo scoffed. "He talks too much. Can I punch him?" 

You shook your head. There was something else you needed to say. 

"Listen closely, Dabi. You thought you could break me into little pieces and treat me like I was your property. You thought you could convince me that I had no control over my life, that my only worth was in what I could do for you. Well, guess what. I do what I want, and I'm with who I want. And that man over there," you pointed behind you to Bakugo, "treats me with respect and care."

"Fuck you," Dabi snapped.

"And his dick is bigger than yours."

"Okay," Bakugo interrupted, talking over Dabi who was hurling insult after insult at you, "are you done?" 

"Almost," you said, taking out your phone and sending a text.

Dabi spit. "Calling in backup because you can't handle me?"

"Do you ever shut up?" you muttered as you finished the text. 

"This isn't over, y/n, you'll never be rid of me. You're mine. I'll make sure –"

Bakugo punched him, hitting him squarely across the face. You knew from the force of the blow that Dabi was already unconscious.

"Damn, that felt good," Bakugo said, shaking out his hand. "Should I do it again?"

"Go for it," you said, stepping out of the way.

"It's not as much fun when he's unconscious. Where's that bird with the police?" 

This next part was going to be hard, and you felt a growing rock in the pit of your stomach. 

"We're not arresting him."

"What?" 

You could see the confusion on his face, and the guilt you were feeling was almost enough to call the whole thing off. You had to admit that the idea of arresting him was tempting. Dabi was virtually helpless in front of you, and you had plenty of heroes around as back up.

"We're not arresting him. Keigo isn't bringing back the police. That wasn't part of the deal I made." 

"Then what are we doing here? And what deal are you talking about?" 

You knew you needed to steel yourself a little, because the next part had to be said and you weren't sure how Bakugo was going to react. 

"I made a deal with Shigaraki." Bakugo opened his mouth to speak, but you put a hand up to stop him. "Agree with me or not, Shigaraki has agreed to keep Dabi away from me from now on, and that's what I'm going with. I don't trust the police and aside from killing him, that's the only way. He'll listen to him." 

You gulped, unable to meet Bakugo's eyes.

"I'm sorry if you don't agree with this decision, and I'll...I'll..." You were having trouble making yourself say the words. "I'll understand if you want to walk away."

"Hawks knows?"

You nodded. 

"Well," Bakugo said after a moment. "If we're not involving the police..."

Bakugo grabbed Dabi's hair, yanking his head up before punching him again, this time on the other side his face. 

"I made you a promise," he said finally. "I'm with you no matter what. If this is what it takes to get this asshole out of your life, this is what we do."

Your whole body relaxed and for the first time you realized how tight every muscle in your body had been.

"All right," he said, turning to you. "So what happens next?" 

You didn't have much time to consider it, because right then the door swung open and in walked Shigaraki. Feeling Bakugo tense beside you, you put your hand on Bakugo's arm, squeezing it gently, letting him know it was okay.

"I don't like this," he whispered to you. "If this fucker comes anywhere near you..."

"He won't," you whispered back. 

In fact, he walked the long way around the room, purposefully avoiding you. 

"You came," you said as Shigaraki examined Dabi's unconscious form, slumped over in the chair.

"Yeah, whatever."

"I wasn't sure if you would."

"Did you kill him?"

"No?" you and Bakugo exchanged a look. "At least I don't think so?"

"Hm. You could have. He probably deserved it if he was weak enough to let a hero knock him out and get captured."

"Actually..." you started to say, "the first time..."

Shigaraki looked over to you, raising an eyebrow. "You? You did this?"

"Well, the first time."

"Damn."

Shigaraki knelt down to disintegrate the ropes binding Dabi and you moved to join him, but Bakugo grabbed your arm to hold you back. "It's okay," you told him, and he let go, reluctantly.

Shigaraki flinched when he realized you were standing next to him. "Did I scare you?" you had to chuckle.

"You're just in my space," Shigaraki mumbled.

"Like you ever cared about that before."

Shigaraki shoved Dabi off the chair onto the floor, his body hitting the floor with a loud smack. "I'll take it from here," he said. "He won't bother you again. Don't even think about doing anything, hero. I'm only doing this for you, y/n. I hate all of them, but you... you're not so bad."

Shigaraki started to drag Dabi toward a purple mist forming in the corner of the room. 

The last thing you saw was Shigaraki, a grin hidden behind his shaggy blue hair.

"By the way, y/n," Shigaraki said as the mist surrounded him, "you're fired." 

-----------

Remarkably, the party kept going, even after Todoroki's announcement. It would have ended early, but Todoroki's ex-fiance, in her pretty blue dress, turned into the life of the party, keeping everyone dancing and having a great time long into the night. Heroes and party-goers alike adored your crazy energy and gushed about how great you were, telling each other how it sort of made sense that you weren't marrying Shoto Todoroki since you were so much more fun. 

For his part, despite his awkward announcement, Shoto made no move to avoid the press; in fact, he welcomed them, letting reporters all hear his sad story of true love ending too soon. He soaked up their attention, telling them dramatically how you two were simply too different, but he still believed in love and was confident that the right girl would come around soon enough. If you had heard these interviews, which you didn't, you would have probably thrown up in disgust. 

So it wasn't surprising that you and Bakugo were able to slip outside without anyone seeing. Well, almost anyone. Keigo was waiting for the two of you by your car. 

"Come to see us off?" you asked him. 

"Just wanted to make sure you had everything you needed. Bakugo, you know where you're heading, right?"

"Of course I do. I can't wait to get away from this fucking place for a few weeks." 

"And you have the tickets?"

"Yeah," he said, searching his jacket pockets. "I printed them out somewhere..."

"Don't tell me you lost them," Hawks groaned. "Do you know how hard it was to get the names changed on those plane tickets?" 

"I have the email on my phone," you said, stopping Bakugo from looking further. "Don't worry."

You gave Keigo a small wave and then, both of you nervous, excited, relieved, Bakugo took your hand, pulling you away toward the waiting car. As excited as you were, there was something left unfinished.

"Wait, don't drive off yet," you said, already unbuckling your seatbelt.

"Where are you going?" you heard Bakugo saying as you opened the car door. You'd have plenty of time for him, more than enough time now, but this needed to be done.

"Keigo!" you shouted. He turned around, his eyes wide with surprise when he saw you running toward him. Before he could say anything, you jumped onto him, wrapping your arms around his neck and hugging him. As you held him tight against you, you felt him relax and lean into you.

"Thank you," you whispered. "For... everything." 

After a moment, he pulled back and it seemed like he was about to say something, but then he glanced behind you at the waiting car.

"Go," was all he said.

You gave him a small smile and then did just that, running back toward the car. A quick glance over your shoulder confirmed what you already suspected; Keigo was still there, watching you.