The Detective's Ace (rewrite)

File #7

Sansa had his eye on Naomasa. He had been carefully studying his superior since Izuku's incident yesterday. After the kid left, Naomasa slunked home without a word. His fedora was turned down and Sansa was too tired to bug him about it.

He knew Naomasa was easily dragged into things, caring too much for his own good. It was the whole reason the chief didn't like him for the first couple years. Always waiting for him to snap, but it never came.

Sansa could count on one hand the number of times he's seen Naomasa breaching it. The first time was when they failed a hostage situation, Naomasa blamed himself for it and still does.

The second was when Makoto stopped talking to him. They were always at odds, their ideals clashed to no end. Yet, she was his sister and Sansa pitied any fool who hurt her.

The third, well Sansa hadn't actually been there for that one. He had only heard about it from the chief. Apparently when Naomasa was still shadowing his first partner, there had been a case that didn't sit well with him. Naomasa never talked about it and Sansa would let him have his few boundaries.

The final and worst one was when Allmight was hospitalised. That was the first time in a decade that Naomasa didn't show up to work. When he did return, three days later, it seemed like anything could set him off. His usual calm demeanour was barely held in place. If he didn't have such extensive bearing, Sansa was sure there would have been a fist sized hole in the wall.

Now though, it felt completely different then the scolding hot rage that used to bubble beneath his skin. Sansa knew how to deal with Naomasa when he was worked up like that. However, he was clueless this time. Naomasa was calm and collected, exiling himself from the rest of the world. Completely focused on one thing and one thing only. It was like a cat stalking its prey, waiting for a chance to strike.

Not that Sansa would know what that felt like.

Sansa almost jumped when the precinct door opened harshly. His tail fluffed, swaying sharply from side to side against his control.

"What's the matter Sansa, too much catnip." Yup, that was Kyou. Frankly, Sansa didn't know why they kept her around. She was constantly harassing people and had caused a plethora of failed cases. At first everyone wrote it off as her being an overbearing newbie, but it never went away.

"Hello to you too." The slight hiss in his voice had gone unnoticed.

Seemingly at once, Naomasa shot up from his chair and walked over to Kyou. His steps were collected and silent, more so than Sansa was comfortable with. Kyou was oblivious as always, continuing to walk towards him.

Sansa had half a notion to stop Naomasa, but after her crude greeting, he might just let this play out.

Naomasa stopped abruptly in front of her, his hands clenched. If you asked Sansa, he was far less intimidating than if he had his fedora on. Though, nobody else had really seen a fear striking Naomasa before.

Kyou briefly turned to face Sansa, her finger jabbing at Naomasa, "Who the hell pissed in his coffee?"

Sansa couldn't help but scoff, "You", not that anyone heard him.

Kyou tried to sidestep around him, but Naomasa merely followed the movement.

"Where did you learn conduct like that?"

Oh, Sansa hadn't seen him actually nail into anybody before. Usually, it was just passive aggressive glares. Some popcorn would be the only thing that could make this better.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She raised her hands in defence.

Naomasa froze ever so briefly, his vision blanking, a flash of red replacing it. His quirk, ever present and always a captain obvious.

"You know rightfully well; what would possess you to do that to a kid." The slight shake in his voice only amplified the situation.

"Oh please, you wouldn't care if he was anyone else."

Sansa grabbed his tail, stopping it from perking up. She had really done it now. Naomasa had the capabilities to demote someone, and Sansa was really starting to hope he would enact it.

"I don't think you understand the severity of what you've done. Sure, roughing up a hard lined criminal is one thing. But doing that to someone who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Not to mention you falsely accusing and trying to charge someone on irrelevant accounts. You're lucky it was Izuku, if it was anyone else you would have a lawsuit on your hands." Maybe he should have remembered to breathe during that. Public speaking was not his forte and for good reason, he would probably pass out if had to speak for longer than a couple minutes.

Sansa would have thrown in a few choice words, but he had to applaud Naomasa for that one. It seemed to shut her up real good.

"I'm being fired, aren't I?" If he wasn't livid, Naomasa would have sputtered.

As much as he wished to, that was something only the chief could do. Yes, he could send in a request for it, but that was more paperwork than it was worth. Plus, the chief had kept her around for a reason and Naomasa trusted him too much to go against him.

"No, not yet anyway. I'm putting you on metre maid duty for the next three months."

Sansa wanted to take a picture, the look on her face was priceless.

———

"You know that's derogatory, right?" The humour in Sansa's voice was evident.

Naomasa looked up from his paperwork. Unlike usual, he was actually happy to be filling it out. He had finally gotten the chief to clear Izuku for field work and now it was simply a matter of a few pages.

"I have absolutely no clue." At least he was sounding happier than earlier or at least less crossed.

Sansa sat down in the chair that was usually reserved for Izuku, the kid wouldn't be in for another ten or so.

"Metre maid hasn't been acceptable for a while, it's Traffic Warden now." Sansa gave him a halfcocked smile. One of his favourite things was to pick on Naomasa's wording. The poor guy was always out of the loop, stuck to the language of older noirs. Heck, when he was reviewing the footage from yesterday, it took everything in him to not peg Naomasa for Izuku's "a tad above my pay grade" statement.

A beat of silence followed; Naomasa seemed to deflate.

Sansa raised an eyebrow, "You good Nao?"

Naomasa set his pen aside, "Did I do the right thing? I mean, you're usually the one that handles stuff like that. Maybe I should have just..."

Sansa tisked, "Don't you dare start saying I should have handled it. You did that better than I could have."

Naomasa frowned, "what do you mean?"

Sansa smirked standing up from the chair and grabbing Naomasa's fedora, "What I mean is one word about the kid and there would have been scratch marks."

Naomasa's frown only deepened, "You don't even have claws."

Sansa placed the fedora on Naomasa's head, pushing the brim down so it covered his eyes. "That's beside the point, just perk up a bit, the kid's here."

Almost on cue the door to the precinct opened. Much to Naomasa's relief- at least his relief after he fixed the hat- Izuku looked much more put together today. No random cops dragging him through the door.

Naoamsa eyed the paper in his hand and couldn't help but to smile. For years he had been doing the same thing, over and over. Sure, he was helping people, that was the whole reason he joined. Yet, it was becoming all too mundane. Now though, things were different.

For the first time in a long while, he was content with his life.

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