Ch. 42 Fight in the Alley

"Let's dance!" the girl yelled over the music to Bakugo, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of his chair while he finished the drink in his hand.

"No fucking way," Bakugo tried to tell her, his words slurring. He wasn't sure she even heard him. Bakugo stumbled behind her as she dragged him forward.

"Your friend said you needed someone to cheer you up." She leaned in close, speaking right into his ear so that he could hear her. "So let me."

"I'm... " Forming a sentence felt like wading through thick glue. "Not.... Interested."

"You sure about that?"

One of her hands snaked down his chest before he caught it in his.

"I said I'm not interested."

His hand still on hers, she held both of their hands up in the air and spun around, as if he had done that on purpose. "See, isn't this fun?" she shouted over the music.

"No!"

He tried to yank his hand free, but she wouldn't let go, continuing to dance in front of him.

"Damn it!" he growled.

Laughing, she held his hand tightly, spinning around to grind on him to the music.

He backed up to put some distance between them, but even when he finally decided to use more strength to get his hand free, all he succeeded in doing was bringing her close to him since she held on.

Before Bakugo had a chance to react, her lips were on his.

----

"You look great!" Kirishima shouted, too loudly. "How weird is it to run into you here!"

"You have to go!" you shouted back. "This isn't the place for you. If anyone saw you here," you said, glancing around to make sure you didn't see anyone from the League. But then you gave Kirishima a second glance, noticing the flush of his cheeks and the awkward way he was swaying even though he stood still.

"Are you...drunk?"

"Kind of?" He hiccupped. There was no 'kind of' about it. He looked wasted. You were starting to feel tipsy yourself from those shots you did with Toga.

"Oh, man. I can't wait to tell Bakugo you're here!"

"He's here?" you asked, eyes immediately darting around the room to find him. "Where? Tell me right now. You guys have to go."

"Last time I saw him was right over there," Kirishima pointed into the crowd, and as if in slow motion, your eyes followed his finger.

There he was.

You hadn't seen Bakugo in weeks, and now... your heart leapt into your throat when you saw his back first, but then he turned around and was....

....holding a girl's hand in his and spinning her around on the dance floor.

"Okay, s-so," Kirishima stuttered, both of you staring as the girl started to grind against him. Kirishima tried to move to stand in front of you and block your view, but you pushed him aside. "I'm sure that's not anything, they're just—"

And then they were kissing.

"Well, fuck," you heard Kirishima say.

"Y/n!" Kirishima shouted behind you, but no way, you had no desire to stand there and watch him make out with some girl. "Hey, wait!"

You weren't running away. No, not this time. This time you were headed straight for him. 

And you'd had just enough alcohol that this seemed like a good idea. 

"Excuse me," you said, tapping him on the shoulder. Bakugo turned around, red eyes wide and shocked when he saw you. "Sorry," you said to whoever the hell he was dancing with, "but he's coming with me."

"Y/n," was all he said as he let you pull him away. "You're... here?"

"No shit. We need to talk and you need to go," you said, dragging him behind you, keeping your eyes open for any sign of League members who might see you. "Outside."

Not waiting for a response, you pulled him through the crowd to one of the emergency exists and into the alley behind the bar. If Dabi and Shigaraki were still in one of the back rooms, you should be okay, at least for a minute. And a minute was all you really needed to tell him that you were wrong.

As soon as you were outside, you jumped onto him, wrapping your arms around his neck and squeezing him in the tightest hug you could manage.

You thought your entire body might melt when you felt him nuzzle his head into your hair, for just a second, but then you heard him speak.

"Hold... hold on."

"I already am," you said, hugging him tighter. The alcohol in your system and his body heat made everything feel warm and fuzzy and you never wanted it to end. 

It took everything in him to disentangle you from around his neck; not because you were strong, but because he wanted nothing more than to smell the lingering scent of your shampoo and feel the soft parts of your body up against his. 

"No. Y/n, I meant, stop."

Gently, he held your wrists in his hands and pulled your arms down off his neck. His eyes traveled up and down your frame, noticing how different you looked from the last time he saw you, when you were bruised and bloody in Hawks' arms after your fall. He'd seen you on tv, unfortunately, but this was real, you were real, and unbelievably you were right in front of him.

Even though you shouldn't be. Everyone – his instincts, the police, his attorney, even that burnt asshole villain – had told him to stay far away from you. But how could he when you looked at him like that, like he was the most important thing in the world? Had anyone ever looked at him like that?

He let go of your wrists and took a step back, hoping the physical distance would let him clear his mind.

"You look so... " he struggled to make his brain say the right word. "You look so healthy."

"Huh?"

"I said healthy," he repeated.

"I heard you, but, like, that's not exactly every girl's dream compliment, you know?" You finally looked him over, too, noting the messy hair and slightly off-kilter clothes. You laughed. "You look drunk."

"Fuck, maybe I am. But what of it? Y/n, when I last saw you, you were..." he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I didn't know if you were even alive after that fall."

"If you'd ever visited me in the hospital, you would have known that I was okay."

"Are you? Are you okay?" he asked sharply, his red eyes now trained right on your own. You knew he meant more than just healed from the fall.

But now that he was here, now that you knew it had been Toga... "Yes! Yes, I'm okay. I will be, now that you're here. I was wrong, I'm sorry."

You went to hug him again and he held out his hand to stop you.

As good as it felt to hold you, to see you tonight, the truth was nagging at the back of his mind. Fuck his attorney, fuck the police, at the end of the day he didn't give a shit about any of that. What he cared about was you, but you were working for the League of Villains, and that burnt asshole had promised to torture you if he saw you with him.

What hurt the worst was that you'd kept all of it hidden from him, even when you pretended like you were opening up to him, telling him about your quirk, sharing details about your life, sharing your body and your bed, but you'd still been hiding things from him.

In short, you were a liar.

Damn it, he wanted you anyway.

"I have so much to tell you," you said.

"You need to say it to the police."

"The police?" They were the last people you wanted to talk to about that night, or any night. "No, thanks."

He looked away, staring off down the alley. Dabi had said he would be watching. Was he still? Was he watching now? "I shouldn't be out here with you."

"Why? Because your girlfriend back there would be mad?"

"I don't even know her name."

"But you know how her lips taste?"

"Says the girl living with the little rich boy." His eyes left your face and traveled to your neck, no doubt noticing the marks there, and you blushed, from the alcohol and the memory of you and Shoto earlier that night.

"He's using you, you know."

"No, if anything, with how generous Shoto has been, it feels like I'm using him. I'm just staying there until I can save up money to move."

"Does he know that?"

"Yeah?"

"We shouldn't be talking," he said, looking around again to see if anyone else was out there. "I've had too much to drink to have this conversation right now."

As if on cue, the girl he'd been dancing with was suddenly right there next to him, threading her arm through his and holding on. He swayed just a little bit at the sudden contact, but she held on tight.

"Katsuki," she said, drawing out the sounds in his name in a ridiculous sing-song voice. "Come back."

The sound of his name coming from her mouth felt like skin on sandpaper. "He's a little busy at the moment," you said without even looking her way.

"Didn't you hear him say that he doesn't want to talk to you? Come on, Katsuki..."

"That's not what I said – " Bakugo tried to say, but you talked over him.

"No one is talking to you, whoever you are," you told her. "Please just go away."

"Sure," she said, "but I'm taking him with me."

"The hell you are. Look, this is my bar, so you can go back in or I can have someone escort you out completely, but I promise you won't like it."

"Oh you're a bartender?" she smirked. "That's cute. Go make us some drinks, then, like a good little girl."

"Bakugo, do you hear some kind of noise around us that won't seem to go away?"

"The only noise I hear is your ugly voice," she responded.

"Oh, you're that kind of girl, huh?" you asked, rolling up your sleeves. "You like putting other girls down?"

"I don't have to put them down if they're already trash."

"Bitch –"

"This is..." Bakugo leered, his eyes on you, "so.... hot."

You hadn't seen him come out there, but Kirishima had suddenly joined Bakugo and the two of them were in between the two of you, Bakugo having to hold you back from fighting the other girl. 

Somehow Kirishima managed to convince the girl to go back inside, once again leaving you and Bakugo alone in the alley while you paced and tried to calm your breathing and heartbeat. To Bakugo, you'd never looked so beautiful. 

"Fuck it," he muttered. 

Not waiting another second, he closed the distance between you, and before you could even speak, his hands were on your cheeks, his lips pressed against yours. Too much time had passed since he last felt the softness of your skin, since he last tasted your mouth, but it all came flooding back effortlessly. 

He would have kissed you for hours right there in that alley, but no, that couldn't happen, not like this, not tonight, especially since he knew the consequences. 

Especially since he knew you weren't alone.