"Chrono, the car is out front. Can you bring it around?"
"Yes, sir."
Overhaul's eyes came back to mine as he held me firmly. Even though his grip was strong, Overhaul's voice was almost tender. "I'm sorry we had to meet again like this, but I told you that I'm going to take care of you and that starts now."
I knew what he was capable of, what he could do with his quirk, but his voice was so kind that it didn't make sense. I glanced down at his hands, though gloved, on me.
"Put me down."
"If you want," Overhaul said, gently setting me on the ground. He placed me in front of him but kept one hand on my lower back to keep me close.
For a minute he studied my face, as if trying to figure out what I was thinking.
This close to him, and really looking at him for the first time, I was a little surprised by how young he looked.
"I'm a simple man, y/n."
I raised an eyebrow. "Simple?"
"I have simple desires."
"I bet."
"And I think you could fulfill at least one of those in particular."
"Get in line, buddy," I scoffed, turning to walk away.
Suddenly his hand grabbed my arm, yanking me back. But as soon as I spun around and glared at him, he quickly dropped his hand.
"Didn't your parents teach you manners?" I snapped. "You don't just show up and grab a girl."
"I'm sorry," Overhaul said. "Stay, for just a moment, so I can talk to you. And... I didn't have parents, if you must know."
"Oh...well... same. Fine, you have one moment. That's it. Then my friends are going to start wondering where I am."
"Okay. Thank you. Y/n..."
"Yes?"
"All I want is for you to fix me," he said quietly. His golden eyes met mine and they seemed for a moment soft, even vaguely vulnerable. "I... need... you to fix me."
"Fix you?" I asked.
He rolled his arms over so that I could see his skin, the red bumps and splotches covering most of his lower arms.
"Yes," he said. "Can you?"
"Overhaul, I don't know..."
"Kai. Call me Kai."
"Okay... Kai. That's it though? You know what we discussed - Shinso quits for good if I do this?"
"If that's what it takes to get you to agree, then yes."
"Like immediately, he's good to go?"
"Yes. But we don't do this here. Not in the alley behind a strip club. As you can see, the dirty air here is taking a toll on me. Let me take you to my apartment. In the morning we'll do this, and then you can let Shinso know yourself. Y/n, you know I keep my word."
It was an odd contrast – the tenderness of Overhaul's voice as he spoke to me to now, and the anger of the voice I heard next.
"Get the fuck away from her," Dabi growled. Dabi said each word slowly as if each one was its own sentence.
Keeping one of his hands on my back, Overhaul, Kai, shifted his attention to Dabi.
"No. She's coming with me. This was all part of the arrangement I made with the League, as you know."
What the fuck.
I turned sharply back to Dabi, but where I expected to see confusion on his face, I didn't. I saw anger, sure, but he seemed to understand what Overhaul had just said.
"Dabi...what is he talking about?"
Dabi started walking quickly toward me. "That 'arrangement' is fucking bullshit. Let's go."
I held up my hand to stop him before he got too close. I didn't want him anywhere within range of Overhaul. I was also a little pissed that there seemed to be something that he wasn't telling me.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "What is going on?"
I felt Overhaul moving even closer behind me, his hand still on my back but now his body inches from mine.
"I'm not surprised that one of these so-called villains is also a liar," Overhaul said. "Dabi was there when the agreement was made. We even had a drink together after the meeting. Didn't we?"
"We did but not like that. It wasn't like that."
"Do you deny being there when we discussed the terms I made with the League?"
"Terms?" I asked. "What the hell?"
"No, I mean, yes, I was there," Dabi said, "but I said then, just like I'm saying now, that this is bullshit."
"Dabi?" I asked, my voice wavering. "Dabi, what is he talking about?"
"This monster wanted you to himself for a night to seal his partnership with the League. This was all Shigaraki, y/n. He agreed to it, not me."
Shigaraki did what...
So that would explain his phone calls and texts tonight. Was he trying to get in touch with me to tell me that Overhaul was on his way to pick me up?
The phone.
Shigaraki must have told him where I was.
"But you knew, Dabi," I started to say, hardly able to comprehend what I was hearing. "You knew that you two were basically selling me? And you didn't tell me? Is that why you were pushing me away?"
"No! No. That was because... y/n, this really isn't the time to talk about that."
I was so over all of them at this point.
"I just need someone to tell me what the fuck is going on."
"Hush, little angel," Overhaul said. "All you need to know is that I'm taking you away from this disgusting establishment. You deserve to be with someone who has more class than this."
That was enough.
I spun around to face Overhaul. I'd been brave in the face of danger before and I could do it now.
"I'm no angel and I'm pretty much okay with being low class, to be honest. I won't tolerate disrespect toward anyone here, okay?"
I saw a hint of smile on his face.
With the hand on my back, Overhaul gently brought me closer, close enough that only I could hear him.
"I mean no disrespect, but you know that it would only take one touch on your friend here. Just one. That's all I need. Or maybe on your mind controller, how many times do you think he could take it, being taken apart and put back together again?"
The kindness of Kai's voice from earlier was gone and replaced with only coldness.
Just then his limo pulled up.
"It's time to go, y/n." Kai's voice was low. "I don't want to threaten you or anyone else. I much prefer a business deal over outright violence. Let's continue with our deal. I let the mind controller go but in exchange... I want you."
"Y/n," I heard Dabi say behind me.
"Dabi," I said looking back at him. "Give us a minute."
"What?" I heard Dabi exclaim, his voice full of confusion, as we moved away from him so that I could talk to Kai alone.
"I admit it," Kai said, "I did say something to Shigaraki about wanting time with you. Your quirk is intriguing as I've told you before and I want to see it first hand. He made it seem like you were his to give, so I apologize if there was a misunderstanding."
"Yeah, well, there was, a big one in fact. No human is 'given' to anyone, ever."
"I apologize. But I think our mutual interests match up here. So come with me? Please?"
I wasn't sure that I had much choice.
I didn't want Dabi to get hurt and I didn't want to lose the opportunity to help Shinso.
Heroes make tough choices, right?
So I nodded my head. "Okay. Fine. I agree. Let me deal with Dabi right now though. You stay here and I'll talk to him."
With a wave of his hand, Kai stepped aside and let me pass him as I walked to Dabi.
"If I have to drag you out of here myself, by god I will," Dabi said as soon as I made it to him.
I had to ignore that because I needed him to listen.
"Here's what I need from you," I told him firmly. "First, you're going to go back inside and tell Hawks that you got me a cab home. I was tired or whatever, I don't care. He needs to tell Tamaki –"
"Who?"
"Don't worry about it, but he needs to tell him that I'm at the dorms so they don't wonder where I am. Then you're going to go back to the League and have Shigaraki track my phone so that you know where I am at all times. Got it so far?"
"I don't like this."
"Next," I continued, "either you or Tomura needs to watch my location tomorrow and if something is weird or you don't see me leaving by the afternoon, you have my permission to go all crazy villain and come rescue me. Understood?"
"You can't be serious right now. I know how scared of him you are."
"Hey," I said, taking his face in my hands. "I got this. Okay? I know what I'm doing."
I started to pull his face toward mine but before I could do that Dabi roughly grabbed me around the waist and brought me in quickly for a deep kiss.
When we finally separated, I was breathless.
Dabi's bright eyes stared into mine.
"I expect to see you tomorrow to continue that kiss," he said.