Ch. 32 Errand Girl

You woke up from your nap to a familiar smell. Was Bakugo trying to cook something again? No, that wasn't it.

Shuffling out of your bedroom, the afternoon light was bright and hazy as it filtered through your curtains. You rubbed your eyes to adjust and followed the scent, but it wasn't coming from your kitchen, so you went into your living room instead

Chemicals maybe? Or burnt hair? No, that wasn't it either.

Maybe the smell was coming from your neighbor's apartment; you never knew what the hell they were doing over there. Maybe the meth lab finally exploded, who knows.

Then you saw your doorknob.

Or what was left of it.

It had been melted off your door into a little pile of liquid metal on the carpet, a hole remaining where your doorknob once was.

"Son of a bitch," you muttered. At least now you knew where the burned chemical smell was coming from.

But before you could process what you already knew, a rough hand came from behind and went over your mouth, the staples scraping against your face. Instantly you started screaming into the hand and kicking and elbowing behind you to get free, but, damn, he was holding you tightly.

"Don't struggle, baby girl. It's just me."

That's why I'm struggling, asshole!

After his phone call earlier, you weren't surprised that Dabi had shown up. You didn't expect him to melt your doorknob to get in though.

"Not happy to see me?" he asked as you shook your head violently and tried to pry his hand off. "I'm hurt. If I let you go, will you be a good girl and listen to me?"

There really was no use in fighting. You'd learned that by now, at least. Reluctantly, you relaxed and nodded.

"That's better."

Practically jumping away from him the second his hand left you, you immediately put some distance between the two of you. Dabi chuckled at your semi-fighting stance. It wasn't entirely logical, but the further away from his hands you were, the safer you felt.

"Get dressed," Dabi said. "We're going to talk to the boss."

"But my door," you pointed at it, gritting your teeth. "If we leave, because of what you did, my apartment will be unlocked."

Dabi looked around your apartment and frowned. "Hate to break it to you, but I'm not seeing why that matters."

"Hello? Someone could just walk in and rob the place while I'm gone."

"Yeah, you really need to find somewhere safer. Your whole building is full of scumbags."

"Like you."

Dabi grinned and reached toward you to touch your face before you could swat him away.

"They're nothing like me, baby."

"Whatever. I'll go change. Stay here," you muttered. "And... don't... don't burn anything else."

You weren't even sure Dabi heard you since he was already in your kitchen poking through your fridge.

Calling Dabi every curse word you could think of under your breath, you marched off to your bedroom, found a backpack, and stuffed a few important things into it. A phone charger, some papers, some pictures, the bracelet you always wore.

You got dressed and added a change of clothes, your make up bag, and a second pair of shoes to your backpack, just in case, since you never knew what kind of messed up drama Shigaraki would have you involved in tonight.

You hated to admit that Dabi was right that there wasn't much in your apartment for someone to steal, but that didn't mean they wouldn't. And when you came back home later tonight, what then? Someone could be hanging out in your apartment or hiding in a closet or under your bed or who knows where. He could have just knocked like a normal person but no. No, of course not.

"Maybe take the valuable stuff with you when we leave or something?" Dabi called to you from the other room.

As if you hadn't already thought of that. Idiot.

Dabi was on his phone when you came back, but he laughed when he saw you and your over-stuffed backpack. "Going camping, baby girl?"

Ignoring him, you used the open hole where your doorknob used to be to open your door.

"Shut up. Let's go."

"We have our own transportation," Dabi said, his hand above you pushing the door shut again. "Yeah, we're ready," he said into his phone.

"Ready for what?"

Dabi smiled and pulled you to him. "Hold on tight."

Shigaraki didn't even bother to look up from his laptop when the two of you appeared.

"You're back," was all he said from the stool where he was sitting, hunched over his computer on the countertop.

"Happy to see us, boss?"

"What the fuck was that?" you gasped as soon as the purple haze around you dissipated, and you realized that you'd been transported to the hideout. You felt around on your body to make sure it was all still there, because what the hell, but Dabi didn't seem at all phased by your sudden change of locations.

"Happy isn't the word I'd use. So what'd you find?"

"I scoped out the place today," Dabi told him, "and our target is a good one. There's enough people there that if we burn it down, I am positive that heroes will try to swoop in and we can pick them off, one by one."

"You're sure they'll come?"

"Absolutely. But I want help."

"Fine. Take a couple of the crazies with you, and do what you want," Shigaraki said, going back to his laptop.

"We're just not going to talk about the purple mist transporter thing? As if that's normal?" you asked Dabi.

But before he could answer, Shigaraki swung around to stare at you.

"You," he said, finally recognizing that you were in the room too. "Go get us food."

"Great idea," Dabi agreed. "I'm starving."

"There's that sushi place uptown," Shigaraki suggested.

"Oh yeah. Good thinking."

"Hold on," you said, putting your hand up to stop them. "You're sending me to get you guys food? What am I, door dash?"

"Was that the same place where we got the sake that time?" Shigaraki asked, not even remotely paying attention to you.

"Yeah," said Dabi. "I think so. There was that hot hostess there."

"I remember her. She was so dumb."

"I didn't need her to be smart."

"Hello?" you interrupted.

Both men turned to look at you. "What?" Shigaraki asked. "Why are you still here?"

"Because... ugh, nevermind. I'll go get food but you have to give me money."

"Don't I pay you enough?"

"You know I haven't taken your money since that first mission."

"Sounds like a you problem."

"Then you can be hungry for all I care."

"Are you being a bitch because of last night? Because from where I was sitting-"

"No. I will go run your errands if you need me to, gladly run them even, but we are not rehashing last night."

"You're lucky that's all we need from you," Shigaraki scoffed. 

"For now," Dabi added.

Shigaraki swung back around to his laptop, and you could see some streamer with big boobs in the corner of his screen.

"Now go get us food. Dabi, go with her."

"Why do I have to?" he whined.

"Because I want to make sure she comes back. I'm hungry."

After the purple mist deposited you in a random alley, you shook out all of your limbs and patted yourself down again, just to make sure everything was still there. Arms, check. Legs, check. All seemed intact so far. No doubt that kind of transportation was going to take some getting used to.

If only they had let you go alone. But no, your ever-present babysitter had tagged along.

"You go get the food," Dabi told you, "and we'll meet back here. I have my own errand."

"To get me a new doorknob?"

"No."

"Didn't think so," you sighed. "But fine. I'll meet you back here."

Once you were away from Dabi, you realized that being the errand girl wasn't so bad. It was a hell of a lot better than hanging out at the hideout with those two, fending off the wandering hands of one while the other listened to some obnoxious streamer fake excitement for hours on end.

So yeah, this was a lot better. You could walk around town, enjoy some fresh air, spend some time alone...

"Y/n?"

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

You spun around at the sound of your name and plastered a smile on your face when you saw him.

"Shoto! Hey."

"I didn't expect to see you here in my part of town," he said, coming up to walk beside you.

"I didn't expect to be here."

"Checking out the neighborhood?"

"Oh. Um. Yeah." It was as good excuse as any. "That's exactly it. It's... nice?"

"Let me carry your bag," he said, already taking your backpack off your shoulder.

"That's not necessary, but... looks like you're doing it anyway."

"I don't mind. Going on a trip? This thing is heavy."

"No, but hey, I'm going to get some food and head on home so...."

"I have leftover pizza from the other night at my place. You know I'm not far from here. Or I hear there's a great sushi place nearby."

"Yeah? Maybe I'll stop in and get some take out. I need to get home, anyway..."

"The neighborhood is nice, right? I know you'll like it once you give it a chance." He reached over and took your hand in his as you walked. "Once you give us a chance."

You were about to respond but you were interrupted by the high-pitched squeal of "Shoto!" by a group of teenage girls who rushed over to meet him before you even had a chance to blink. They formed a little circle around him shutting you out, asking for autographs and pictures, practically jumping up and down with excitement that they were actually able to talk to the Shoto himself.

Thankful for the interruption, you backed away and leaned against the wall of the building, chuckling as you watched the little spectacle unfold. If you could get your backpack from him, this was the perfect opportunity to slip away. But to get it from him, you'd have to wade into that crowd of crazy fangirls, and that was pretty much the last thing you felt like doing.

You had to admire the way he handled them, though. He was calm and polite, asking each girl for her name and signing an autograph. It was clear that he was not new to this game, and you couldn't help but be impressed by his quiet composure that seemed to put everyone, excitable girls included, at ease.

It was definitely a different way of dealing with fans than someone else you knew.

The huddle of girls attracted attention from several people passing by, everyone wanting to know what all the commotion was about, and soon you were even dragged into it. Some random person shoved a phone into your hand and asked you to take a picture of them with Shoto.

"Thank you all so much, but I need to get going," Shoto said when he realized that people were now trying to get you involved. He tried to gently break free from the gaggle of teenage girls unsuccessfully, and you thought about trying to help him, but it was also sort of cute seeing him hounded by these adoring fans and not able to do much about it. Obviously, it was a tough life.

"If you will excuse me," Shoto said, trying again to step away, "my girlfriend and I are on our way to dinner, so I need to go."

Say what?

You hardly heard the happy squeals from the girls because it sounded like a freight train was running right for you and you were standing on the tracks waiting for it to crash into you, but that train was actually Shoto and he was holding your hand and pulling you to him and telling you to smile while twenty different phones took pictures of the two of you from every awkward angle they could think of.

"What the hell?" you whispered through your clenched smile while people peppered you with questions about your name, your quirk, how long you'd been dating Shoto, were you getting married and fuck, enough!

"I'm so sorry," he whispered back. "But I thought they would leave me alone if I said I had a girlfriend. I didn't mean for it to blow up like this."

Your eyes met his and they seemed genuinely apologetic for this craziness. It appeared he would live to see another day. 

When the fans had finally had their fill, he was able to step away, and the two of you chose a side alley to walk down so that you could stay off the main road and avoid any more fan attention.

"You owe me for that, mister," you said to him once you were away from everything.

"Again, I am so sorry. I did not intend for that to happen."

"It's okay. Really," you said when he still looked sad. "No more apologizing for making me pretend to be your girlfriend. Okay?" You checked your watch and realized that you didn't have much time and you still hadn't picked up the food. "I need to go though. See you around?"

"Wait," he said. "Just for a second. Please."

"Okay..."

His eyes darted up and down the alley, making sure you were alone, before he took your hand in his. 

"You know I want to be with you, y/n. I'm okay if at first you have to pretend you want me, too, because I know it will be real eventually."

"What? Shoto, that doesn't make any sense."

"It does to me. You are perfect for me, y/n. I don't want to let you get away."

"I can see that. You are very kind, Shoto, but I've told you before that my life is really complicated right now."

"Am I really that bad? Is the idea of being with me that awful to you?"

"No! No, that's not it at all. You are so sweet and generous. It has nothing to do with that."

"Then give me a chance. Give us a chance. That's all I ask."

You maneuvered your backpack off Shoto's shoulder and back onto your own.

"I.... don't know. I need to go."

He gave you a hug before heading the other direction, and as you walked away you considered that maybe you really were being too stubborn. Shoto was kind and he was sweet, even if he was almost annoyingly persistent, but shouldn't you be flattered that he cared enough to pursue you in the first place? 

But then you remembered this morning, the sweat and heat under your sheets and the way Bakugo had kissed each bruise tenderly, reverently...

Not that any of it mattered.

They'd hate you, too, if they knew, Dabi had said.

Both of them, Shoto and Bakugo, would arrest you the second they found out you were a villain, even if your villainy apparently only involved going on food runs.

"I'm not giving up!" you heard Shoto call down the alley to you as you walked away.

"I've realized!" you shouted back.

Later that night Dabi drove you back to your apartment building, and you definitely expected the worst. When you got off his motorcycle, though, everything looked fairly calm, and all you could do was hope that your apartment had been left alone. You started to run up the stairs, but Dabi held you back.

"What?" you asked him. "I want to see if I have any furniture left."

"Doesn't matter. Stay here. We've got company."

A van pulled up beside you two, several people getting out. A girl, a couple guys, a... lizard?

"It's time to meet some of your new friends," Dabi said, gesturing to the new arrivals. "The boss let us borrow some League members for the night. They're here to help."

You quickly scanned the crew as they gathered on the sidewalk outside your building. So the League really was more than just you and Dabi after all. Interesting.

"Help with what? What are we doing?"

"We're burning this place to the ground, of course."