𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏᶦ

LVI

🗡️🗡️🗡️

"Who the fuck is that?" Bakugou groaned at the knock on Aeri's dorm room door and Aeri turned to him, reluctantly breaking free from his grasp.

"Remember earlier when I told you that I have an informant coming about a case Jinyoung and I picked up today?" Aeri said, moving towards the door, Bakugou nodded. "The informant is Midoriya."

Aeri slung the door open and true to her word, Midoriya stood awkwardly in the doorway, Hyunjin and Mirio behind him. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of the two third years but didn't complain, their presence would make this whole interaction with Midoriya a whole lot less uncomfortable, though them being there didn't stop Bakugou from glaring at the green-haired male from where he was swaddled in blankets on Aeri's bed.

"Bakugou do you even use your own room? You're always here." Hyunjin teased, waggling his eyebrows knowingly as the three boys walked into Aeri's room.

"I'm surprised you managed to take your tongue out of Amajiki's mouth long enough to even notice." Bakugou bit back, smirking. Aeri and Mirio laughed whilst Hyunjin stood with his jaw dropped, any lower and his chin would be dragging on the floor.

"You can stop laughing Aeri, you little hypocrite." Hyunjin hissed and Aeri rolled her eyes, throwing a pillow at him. He caught it and sat at the end of his sister's bed, setting the pillow in his lap.

"Okay, fill me in," Aeri commanded, sitting by Bakugou on the bed whilst Mirio took the desk chair and Midoriya sat on her rug.

"My mentor, Sir Nighteye, has been the lead investigator on the Shie Hassaikai case for a while now, that man we saw today chasing after the little girl was the leader Chisaki Kai, better known as Overhaul." Mirio started and Bakugou's interest was obviously piqued as he stopped his relentless glaring and actually turned to listen. Uraraka, Tsuyu and Kirishima burst in without knocking before he could continue.

"You're talking about the Shie Hassaikai case? We're all on it too!" Kirishima said, taking a seat on the floor beside Midoriya, Tsuyu followed him but Uraraka ran forward and clomped Aeri into a hug, sending her flying backwards on the bed and almost knocking Bakugou out in the process. Aeri groaned when the wind was knocked out of her but didn't make any moves to push Uraraka away.

"Wait, Kirishima if you're here that means Tamaki is going to be on the case too," Hyunjin frowned, worrying for his significant other. Kirishima nodded.

"Tamaki's a top student, he'll be fine and you'll be there too." Aeri tried to reassure him.

"No I won't be, I'm not on this case," Hyunjin said.

"Why are you here then?" Aeri clicked her tongue, lifting her head from the pillow so she could see her brother.

"Mirio told me he was coming to your dorm to talk about something important and he wouldn't be able to get past Dad at this time of night without me here...I'm also very nosy."

"Whatever, back on topic." Aeri shifted as best she could to see Mirio past Uraraka's head.

"Right, as I was saying..."

🗡️🗡️🗡️

"Well that was a lot," Aeri huffed after everyone had left. Mirio had managed to get through everything without any interruptions this time and then Kirishima and Aeri chimed in with what they found during patrol. Kirishima and Amajiki had encountered a villain affiliated with the Yakuza, the same branch that Overhaul led.

The villain had shot at them with the quirk-erasing bullets that Kirishima had thankfully avoided by using his quirk. Amajiki hadn't got so lucky and a bullet had grazed him. Hyunjin stormed out at that, going to find his boyfriend who had conveniently forgotten to tell Hyunjin that he had a gunshot wound.

Aeri explained how she and Jinyoung had followed Overhaul and Eri through the shadows unnoticed for a mile, watching as they entered a traditional-looking Japanese mansion on the outskirts of the city before the siblings teleported back to their agency, contacting Sir Nighteye and getting themselves involved in the investigation.

"You said it was just patrol and now you're involved in this big ass mission with the fuckin' Yakuza...this is only your first goddamn mission." Bakugou frowned. Never in his life did he think he'd try to stop someone from taking down villains because he was worried about the outcome. But he loved Aeri and no matter how many heroes were going to be there with her, he wanted her safe, especially since he couldn't be there to fight alongside her.

"Katsuki a little girl is suffering, they're using her DNA to erase people's quirks... You should've seen how scared she was, and all the bandages covering her arms too. I want to save her."

Bakugou narrowed his eyes, not liking the constant worry that overloaded his mind since he found out what Aeri would be doing. He knew it was hypocritical, and that if he was the one who found that little girl he'd get involved to save her and take down Overhaul without a second thought, but when it was a loved one, he couldn't help but feel wary.

"Fine. But if you die, I'll find a way to resurrect you just so I can kill you again." He said and Aeri smiled.

"I won't die, but if I ever do, I'll make sure to haunt you." She joked, closing the distance between them to kiss his cheeks.

Bakugou lifted the blankets he was wrapped up in and dragged her under with him, wrapping her up in his strong arms and tucking her head under his chin.

"It's so warm in here, you're like a human furnace," Aeri said, though she made no moves to break away.

Bakugou huffed out an amused laugh. "I was gettin' angry under here seeing Deku's stupid fuckin' face in your room. Had to keep my cool 'cause you said it was important."

"I'm proud of you babe, I know you don't like him so well done for not snapping," Aeri pushed herself up so she could see his face and gave him a bright grin, though it faltered when she saw the shocked expression on his face. "What is it?"

"Nothin'," he answered. He blinked and looked away, refusing to look her in the eye.

"Don't lie to me," Aeri sat up, her legs on either side of his hips. "What's wrong?"

Bakugou grunted and Aeri gave him a few moments to think of what he wanted to say, waiting patiently as his mind worked and his eyes darted around, fixing on everything but her.

"No one's said that before," he said quietly a minute later.

Aeri frowned. "That they're proud of you?"

Bakugou nodded in confirmation.

"Well, get used to it 'cause I'm gonna be saying it a lot," She leaned down and pressed a loving kiss to his lips, then his cheeks and then his forehead before she got settled on his chest once more. "I love you, Katsuki."

"I love you too." He mumbled, glad that she couldn't see his bright red face.

🗡️🗡️🗡️