Red Ink

Part 21 - Mistakes

I'm so sorry for the late upload! Thank you to everyone who was so sweet and understanding about it <3

______________

"Just cause I'm helping you doesn't mean you're not in trouble anymore," Tinkerbell warned. "No funny business."

"Yeah, yeah."

Even though Katsuki brushed off her remark, he was silently grateful that she still indulged him. For several years now it was a weekly ritual that she would help him shave– after one single kiss on her cheek that made her wince from his scratchy stubble, he refused to let it grow back, but he was rather lousy with the shaving knife.

At least, that's what he told her when he regularly asked her to sit on his lap and do it for him.

"It's smoother when you do it," he would grumble, and his girlfriend would roll her eyes at him and snatch the blade away.

She didn't understand why he wouldn't buy a regular razor, but he always mumbled something about the shaving knife feeling better– but maybe he just liked when she did it for him.

It wasn't the comfiest of positions by any means; he sat on the edge of their tub and she straddled him, gripping his chin firmly to hold him still while she let the expensive blade glide down his cheeks. He stared at her like he always did, but his gaze was softer today. Regretful.

Bakugou was definitely still in trouble– he knew when she refused to meet his gaze. It was getting annoying, actually. How could he make amends if she wouldn't even look at him?

It was his fault. Not only was the lie detector he used on Red completely unregulated, but it was also a prototype– a secret prototype that the angry engineer on his lap was still tinkering with. Without permission, Katsuki used her coming-of-age tech on their best friend's girl.

Yeah, Tink was pissed.

Unable to help himself, his hands gripped at her hips, but the angry side-eye she shot him was enough to make him back down again with a pout.

"Stop pouting. Can't shave your chin when you do that."

"Can't you look at me?" He grumbled, clearly frustrated. "I said m'sorry."

She pulled back the blade and sighed, this time letting her eyes meet his. "Yeah, you say that, but you still pulled a fuckin' stupid move today."

"I know."

"That device hasn't gone through any customs or patenting yet. Are you trying to get your agency shut down?"

Now it was his turn to avoid her gaze. He hated when she was right.

"And you used it on Red? Have you lost your mind? This is the first time since your big fight that he's been willing to even think about someone in that way, and you scared the shit outta her."

Bakugou rolled his eyes, still not looking at her. "Why should I give a shit what she thinks?"

Tinkerbell forced him to look at her with the tight grip on his chin. "Since your best friend gives a shit about her. She might be in the picture for a long time, dumbass." After a few more seconds of glaring at him, she turned his chin upward to start shaving his neck.

"She better not be," he grunted. "She's dangerous."

"We talked about this. She's not dangerous, she's in danger."

"You don't know that."

"I know better than you do," she scoffed. "You're terrible at reading between the lines."