Ch. 47 Bakugo and Hawks

Dressed in all black, Bakugo crouched on the roof of the building, his red eyes staring across the street at the line of people waiting to get into the bar where you worked.

Happy people. Laughing people. None of them realizing that inside the bar lurked some of the most dangerous criminals the country had ever seen.

He'd been one of these people, well maybe not the happy, laughing type, but he'd been at that bar last night just like them, not knowing the truth until you showed him, you freaking showed him with your mind. How insanely badass was that?

Bakugo had gone to the gym to sweat out his hangover this morning, but then he'd channeled all of his anger and frustration into figuring out a plan to get you away from the League. He just hadn't come up with one yet. The best he could do right now was be there when you got to work so he could talk to you without Todoroki hanging around.

He checked his phone. Nothing from you. The bar was already busy, the loud bass of the music thumping through the air.

Bakugo left the roof and headed down the fire escape, quickly hiding himself in a side alley across the street from bar. He wanted to be able to see you when you got to work, so he waited. And watched.

Leaning against the brick wall of the building, Bakugo thought about last night. Were you somewhere thinking about it, too?

The hottest girl he had ever seen could read minds and send thoughts telepathically? And he'd had you filing papers in his office as a damn secretary? Man, he had been stupid.

He checked the time again, but a noise made him put his phone back in his pocket and sigh.

"You can come out now, bird."

A fluttering of red wings descended into the alley next to him.

"You have good instincts, Bakugo. I'll give you that."

"You following me now, too?"

"Nah. I'm just proud that you finally left your house last night. And now two nights in a row? Look at you."

Bakugo kept his eyes on the bar, ignoring the winged hero next to him. "You've been following her to work."

"Looks like you're doing the same thing tonight."

"Maybe I am."

"Do you know who owns that fine establishment over there?" Hawks asked, gesturing to the bar.

"I have a feeling you're about to tell me."

"The bar used to be owned by this one man for a long, long time. Really disgusting guy, in and out of jail all the time for drugs, sex trafficking, the whole thing. But, then recently the bar was deeded over to someone else, under a fake name, with no actual sale. So tell me, why would someone like that hand over their business and not even earn one dollar from it?"

"Because they were forced to," Bakugo answered.

"Or because they were dead."

The two men stared across the street in silence.

"Hey," Bakugo finally said. "I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely. You were right about y/n working for villains."

"Yeah," Hawks nodded and leaned back against the building next to him. "I know."

"She's still nothing like those bastards."

"Yeah, I know."

"I have to get her away from them as soon as possible. I need to take out the fire user first before he tries anymore of the fucked up shit he's done to other girls."

"Yeah, I know."

"Fine then, Mr. Know it all, tell me how we're going to do that?"

"Now that, I don't know. I've been thinking about the options, though. None of them are great. Option one –" Hawks started to say.

"Kill them."

"Not my first thought, but yeah, okay, I guess we could? Let's try this again, thinking about y/n specifically. We are technically dealing with a villain so our real first option as heroes should be to –"

"Arrest her."

Hawks nodded. "She is a criminal. At the very minimum, she has been an accomplice for criminal acts, probably more than we even know about. We know where she lives and works, so arresting her shouldn't be so difficult. Maybe being in jail would be a safer place than here. Hard to tell. Option two – "

"Don't arrest her."

"Yep. But then we're letting a villain get away. I'm not opposed to this plan, but I don't think it helps her in any way."

"So what's option three?" Bakugo asked. "There has to be an option three."

"You tell me."

"We kill all of them."

"Back to that, huh?"

"I asked you if you had a better idea. So far you don't."

"I guess you're right. At least for now. The way I look at it," Hawks said, "to the League, y/n's a small fry. They have a mind-reader mixing drinks of all things, how important could she be to them?"

"They're idiots."

"Not arguing that, but I'm suspicious. Why keep her around if she doesn't have a use to the League?"

"Her use to them is exactly what I'm worried about."

"I see," Hawks said, considering that. The same thought had crossed his mind as well. It was silly for him to think that you hadn't been with anyone else since the two of you broke up, because he definitely had, but a small part of him had hoped you hadn't. 

You'd been each others's firsts, and he couldn't help but wish that he was the only one who knew the sound of your little moans and how you tasted and how fun you were when you felt bossy. Hawks knew it was dumb to expect that; it's not like you were were thinking about him every night, missing him and his touch in the way that he missed you. 

He really should blame you for the fact that he was a serial dater; you were the girl he compared all other girls to, none of them quite matching up, so he kept chasing the next one, hoping it would be different. It never was. 

This wasn't the time to think about that. 

"Now that most of the local villain groups have been shut down," Hawks said, "it seems like the League has moved on to some other target. Something bigger. I want to know what it is."

"I don't care what they're doing or why. I only care about her. I thought you did, too. Or at least you used to."

Hawks narrowed his eyes and stared at his fellow hero. "I still do."

"You don't act like it." 

Before Bakugo even realized what was happening, Hawks sent two feathers flying, darting into the sleeves of Bakugo's shirt and pinning him back against the wall. 

"You don't know anything," Hawks said, stalking toward Bakugo. "I would have spent the rest of my life with her if I hadn't messed it up. Do you understand? So don't say I don't care about her. I knew y/n way before you ever even met her, and let me remind you that you are the one who fired her and started this whole mess."

"I fired her because I wanted to date her, you idiot," Bakugo scoffed and tried to pull out the feathers from the wall. "I'm not some creep who goes after coworkers, unlike you apparently." 

"I'm not the idiot here. You're the one dressed in all black hiding in alleys like we're in a spy movie."

"If I threw some birdseed, would you go after it and leave me alone?"

"You keep birdseed on you?"

"No, but... " Bakugo's phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Hawks recalled the feathers so Bakugo could move again. "Why the hell is this asshole calling me?" Bakugo held the phone up so Hawks could see that Todoroki was calling.

"Answer it on speaker," Hawks told him.

Bakugo answered the phone and Hawks put a finger to his lips, indicating to not let Todoroki know he was there. Bakugo put it on speaker so they could both hear the call.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yes, I know what time it is," Shoto replied.

"What do you want?"

"I have y/n here. There's something she wants to tell you."

"Okay?"

There was a long pause, no one saying anything on either end. Then finally your voice, small and unsure.

"Hey," was all you said.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, you know, not much." Bakugo heard muttering in the background before you spoke again. "I'm just calling to uh...you know how sometimes people make mistakes? Yeah...and.. uh..."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I... well... uh... "

"Can you just spit it out?"

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder!"

"I am! All right. Yes. Here we go. You see, you're going to probably see something on social media soon..."

"You know I don't look at that shit so just tell me what's going on."

Hawks already had out his phone and was scrolling. Before you could even say another word, Hawks held up his phone so Bakugo could see it. A photo of you and Shoto, the happy couple, smiling as he held your hand up, showing off a massive diamond.

Hawks quickly grabbed the phone before it started to melt from the fire in Bakugo's hand. While Bakugo huffed, Hawks held out the phone so they could both hear.

"Shoto... well... so you see, he.,. uh... proposed?"

"What?"

"And I said yes."

"What?"

"Can you say something other than 'what' please?"

"How about what the fuck?"

"That's fair."

"Where are you?" he asked. "I'm coming to get you. Or you come to me. I don't give a shit either way but - "

"I can't do that. I'm headed to work."

Hawks and Bakugo exchanged a look. Hawks pointed at the bar across the street and gave him a thumbs up.

"Oh," Bakugo said into his phone. "Fine. But we will talk at some point...tomorrow."

Again, Bakugo heard whispers on the other end but couldn't figure out what was being said.

"No. I can't do that," you said after a second. "I'm sorry. It's probably better if we don't talk. At all."

"Y/n. This doesn't make any sense. Last night was -"

"...really hot outside, right?" you quickly tried to finish the sentence for him. "Super hot, I know. Someone might even describe it as... steamy? Anyway, I need to go to work. My work. At the bar. Where I'll be for the rest of the night. Tonight."

Both Bakugo and Hawks rolled their eyes, and Bakugo grabbed the phone back from Hawks. "Put that asshole on the phone, y/n. If I can't talk to you, I want to talk to him."

"I'm taking her to work tonight," Todoroki's voice was back. "Stay away from her, Bakugo, unless you want my little villain behind bars." 

And the call was over. With a growl, Bakugo reared back and chunked the phone as hard as he could down the alley before one of Hawks's feathers intercepted it and brought it back. Hawks held onto the phone while Bakugo grew increasingly agitated, spitting venom as he paced in the alley and punched the brick wall for good measure. 

"What the hell was that?" he fumed, sparks popping in his hands. "Engaged? This is so fucked up. I knew he was crazy, but I didn't realize he was this crazy. That asshole, I'm going to kick his ass the second I see him." 

"Did you hear what he said?"

"To stay away? Fuck that. I don't take orders from him. I've been told to stay away from her before and I'm never doing it again. I don't care who says otherwise. They can all go to hell. I should just walk in there right now and blow the place up.... after the people get out. I guess. But they should get out anyway if they know what's good for them. Who goes out this late anyway? They should all be at home, just like her. But not at his house. Damn, she is such a pain in the ass. I can't wait to tell her what a pain in the ass she is being. I know she's going to look at me with those eyes and tell me to shut up but - What are you looking at, bird brain?" 

Hawks had been staring at Bakugo as he ranted and paced, a sad smile forming on his lips. 

"You love her, don't you?" Hawks asked. 

"You're just now figuring that out? Yes, yes I love her." 

Hawks nodded and said no more. 

An hour or so later, Hawks and Bakugo watched as you and Todoroki approached the bar, the bouncer letting you both skip the line and go in. 

Bakugo was debating how to barge in, trip the fire alarm, knock out the power, something, anything, to get you to come out there, when he got a text. From you, as if you had been reading his mind. 

Dumpster in the back. Five minutes. You better be here.