Freeze Frame

Chapter 83

Third person pov

"Bakugo, Eri." Chad took a deep breath, sounding excited and near tearful as he clapped his hands together to draw their attention. "I want you to meet your new brother, Vlad."

Bakugo took one look at the Nomu and gave a scoff.

"Yeah, over my dead fucking body."

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The next few days passed smoothly. Lillian was getting stopped on the streets more and more frequently. She'd been asked to sign shirts, given fan art, taken selfies with people, taken videos with fans. Mic was always off to the side, sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes and beaming like he was the proudest man on the planet. It never failed to make Lillian go red with embarrassment. As anxiety inducing as it was to have people come up to you out of nowhere and gush over you, she was enjoying her time on the radio show. It was fun to communicate with Mic's fans and blurt out memes.

Her internship wasn't what she'd expected. She hadn't really known what she'd had in mind, but she did know this was a lot different, better, than what she'd thought it would turn out to be. Mr. Mic was patient with her and didn't push her too hard, but he wasn't super soft on her either. He didn't get between her and any fans that approached her, even if her anxiety did heighten when it happened. He simply stood by, a comforting presence ready to step in if it ever got to be too much.

She'd also gotten a few more chances to talk to Dabi. He was familiar, and she looked forward to his calls nowadays. It was weird to think that she never would have met him if she hadn't interned with Mic. If she weren't a memelord like Hitoshi and Neito, she was quite sure he wouldn't have dialed in either. It made her quite thankful for her friends, even if Neito was MIA and possibly dead somewhere. She sure hoped not.

In a not so surprising turn of events, Shoto hadn't been released from the hospital. He'd walked right out of the place and down the street to get some frozen yogurt. He'd changed his emergency contacts, so the hospital had ended up calling Chad thinking he was Endeavor to tell him Shoto had left. Chad had just snorted and waved it off in a very un-Endeavor-like way. Hawks had then proceeded to swoop in and swipe the boy off the sidewalk, scaring several civilians. They were out doing hero work now, even closer to getting rid of Endeavor, even if the Flame Hero's ratings had gone up due to Hosu. Lillian was working to change that by pointing out that the guy had practically burned the entire prefecture to the ground.

"Lillian!" Someone shrieked happily from behind her, causing her to jump about a foot in the air. She and Mic were out patrolling. It was something she'd only done once before. This time, they'd opted for a less populated area to prevent themselves from getting mobbed again. Mic's boisterous appearance had drawn in a small crowd, which had increased when they saw Lillian trailing behind him. Fighting their way out of that hadn't been fun.

"H-Hi!" Lillian sputtered as she turned around. A girl no older than seventeen bounced up, already pulling out her phone. Lillian felt herself begin to sweat. It was something that happened anytime she was approached at all. Her dreams of being a hero who worked on the down-low were dashed. Bakugo had googled her and lost his shit, and had been teasing her about her rise to fame ever since. Lillian retaliated by showing him the memes people made of him at the Sports Festival. He was being described as a rabid Pomeranian with anger issues. Even Bakugo had no words.

The girl opened her mouth, presumably to ask for some sort of picture, but was cut off by a loud cracking noise. The area of the city they were in was more residential than business, hence the lack of people. While there were a few little shops here and there, it was mostly a low-crime neighborhood that tended to be frequented by simple purse snatchers and pick pockets. Nothing too serious that would require excessive force. A good start for a beginner like her.