𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐇 || ʜᴀᴡᴋꜱ

34 ➟ In which Clover gets put down a peg.

The door was open before I could even properly knock. I wasn't sure if she could see me or could just sense me. But there she was. Standing in front of me, in an elegant red silk gown, "Grace." I said simply, looking her dead in the face.

"N/N," she smiled, pulling me into a hug.

It was nice. It was the first proper hug I'd felt like I'd had in a while and it obviously struck something inside me because I felt my face heat up again and my eyes sting. I was determined to not actually cry though, so I took a deep breath and pulled back, my arms still around her and her arms still around me, just far apart enough to actually look at each other, but close enough to still feel her and know that she was actually, genuinely there.

"You work here?" I asked, before she could get a word in, I wanted to collect my own thoughts before I got asked 21 questions.

She sighed, "I've been working here for a few years now."

"Why?" I asked, "Do you not get enough money from the bar?"

Grace smiled, "The bar does well, but before the bar, I worked here. I just never quite left."

"Why?" I asked again.

She waved me off, "Enough about me, what are you doing here?" She asked, looking at me with genuine curiosity and concern, "And why were you with those people. They're not good people N/ N, what have you gotten yourself into?" Grace was serious, tilting her head to the side and shaking it slightly.

"You don't know the half of it," I laughed awkwardly, shaking my head with her.

"I want to, I want to know where you disappeared to-" she cut herself off, like a thought suddenly came to her head, "Do you even know how worried the boys were about you? They went to the police and everything, nearly killed the officer when they said you didn't exist!"

I just nodded.

"And me! Do you know how worried I was? They came into the bar, asking where you were, if I'd seen you- of course, I didn't know and now I'm worrying for months alongside them!"

"I forgot it was months."

"And I suppose you forgot to call, or drop by too?"

"I-" I sighed, "I couldn't, I really wanted to." I nearly did once actually. But the only number I could remember was Tsuyoshi's and I think he wouldn't have been too excited to hear for me, let alone pass on a message to the other guys at the garage.

"Homura and Tsuyoshi stopped coming to the bar!" Grace said like it was the craziest thing that had ever happened in her life, "Where have you been?"

"I don't think I can tell you everything."

She raised an eyebrow, pulling me toward a sofa that sat in her dressing room, throwing off a collection of various multi-coloured boas, "Are you in trouble? Don't tell me you're in debt to one of them."

I didn't know what to tell her, I couldn't just say that I was a spy for the HSPC- I'd most definitely signed some kind of non-disclosure agreement before the commission had sent me out on this mission.

So, instead, I decided to go with: "It's work."

"Work?" She questioned, "What kind of work has you come into a place like this?" But then something seemed to click in her brain, "That man next to you- you're here with Clover. You work for Clover, don't you?"

Technically, yes.

"Yeah, I work for Clover."

"How did you get that kind of job? Are you his sidekick?" That question seemed to open up more, "I thought you didn't have a quirk? Does this mean you do? Yoshi said you left in the middle of babysitting- were you working with him all the time and had to go back?"