You weren't entirely sure what to say. The question was broad enough to mean a few different things. However, the weight of her gaze insinuated that there was only one thing she could've been talking about. You sighed in defeat. "It's complicated."
"I'm sure," your friend stepped inside, her neon pink hair glowing underneath the dim light of your living room. You followed after her, expecting a lecture or some sort of scolding. But she stopped a few feet away from the couch, turned, and threw her arms around you. The action startled you, and both you and Aya would have ended up on the floor if you hadn't managed to keep your balance. "We'll talk about the other stuff in a second, but I'm so glad that you're ok. That night... I didn't know if you were even alive or not. It was terrifying."
It sounded as though she were on the brink of tears. You hugged her back, not realizing how much of a relief it would be to see her again. "It would have been really embarrassing if a guy who looked like Zankoku was the one to deal me in," you said. "I'm sorry for the stress it caused you. The president must have been frantic."
Aya pulled away, lightly brushing under her eyes. "It was complete chaos. But since I'm just an intern, I was told to leave after a while so that it could be dealt with by professionals." She took your hand and pulled you to the couch. Both of you sat down. "I will say, your villain has earned a bit more respect from me after what he did," she admitted. "I know that murder is wrong or whatever, but the fact that he was willing to risk everything by sneaking into a place teeming with heroes and law enforcement to save you is... admirable I guess." You went to agree, but her expression flattened some, and she raised an eyebrow. "Not admirable enough to get me to sleep with him, though."
Damn, it hadn't taken long to get back to that conversation. How were you supposed to explain this to her? There was no point in sugarcoating. If she judged you for it, so be it. You leaned back against the cushions. "If I'm being completely honest, admirability had nothing to do with it. I slept with him long before I knew that he had any redeemable qualities."
Aya's reaction was not what you expected, in fact, she had barely any reaction at all. There was only a long breath of disappointment. "I probably should've guessed that. You aren't the type to let someone call you 'Princess' unless you're into them."
"I tried to get him to stop with that," you said defensively.
"Tried and failed." The topic of the conversation stepped into the room. He'd changed clothes again, wearing a jacket instead of the tank top from earlier. "I think she's always secretly liked it."
Aya watched him with disdain before turning back to you. "Whatever. We can continue this later. I expect more details. But you wanted to talk about something else right? I'm assuming it has to do with the information you got?"
"Yeah," you said, relieved by the change of subject. "I wanted to tell you guys about our plans."
"Are we just waiting on Hawks to show up?" She asked.
Impeccably timed as always, the hero decided that that was the perfect moment to step out of your bathroom, slam the door and walk into the living room. His hair was still wet from his shower. Shit. You should've told Hawks to go out and fly through the window or something because now Aya's eyes were the size of coasters.
What were you supposed to tell her? You could lie and say he came by after his patrol and needed to shower off, but was there really any point in that? God, you felt awful. She'd said herself that Hawks wasn't someone she was romantically interested in, but that could've been because she was too embarrassed to admit it. Based on her expression, that seemed like the case. Aya looked between the three of you, before meeting your eyes and giving the smallest smile. "You freaky bitch. There's no way."
You stared, unsure of what to say. "Like I said, it's complicated."
Hawks chuckled before speaking to Aya. "You should've called. I wouldn't have been opposed to having you join in."
"I'm not sure if you could handle me, Number-Two hero," she said shyly. You reigned in your shock at her sudden boldness. Thinking back, you remembered the rope you'd found in her bedroom. Maybe she had a different side to her that you hadn't gotten to see much.
"Ok," you clapped your hands together. "This is not at all what I invited you guys over to talk about."
"I figured," Hawks said, looking at Aya with newfound curiosity. "You got a lead, right?"
"Sort of." You met Dabi- Touya's gaze. The two of you both knew that you needed to be careful about the information you gave to Hawks. Even though you'd decided to give him most of your trust, Touya didn't feel the same in the slightest. So, you'd give him enough to keep him in the loop, but not so much that he'd be able to use the information to find the weapon himself.
"The night of the party, Zankoku let it slip to me that he'd been searching for Izanagi as well." This wasn't much of a lead, only a ploy to see if Hawks would give up any information regarding the Commission's findings. "He said that the Commission was close to finding it."
Hawks shook his head. "From what I've heard, they don't have any leads. Unless Zankoku knew something that he didn't get a chance to tell them before his death."
That was good news. "Whenever I found him in the file room, he was looking at the file of Asa Hiroto. I was able to do some digging and found that Hiroto is a man with connections to the two men who were found dead by the river two years ago. He's currently an illegal weapons dealer according to Dabi's intel."
Another piece of bait. If Asa Hiroto ended up arrested by the Commission, it would be clear that Hawks was giving away information. "So, you think that he might know something about the weapon?" Aya asked.
"It's possible," Touya said. "But he's a difficult guy to get information on. We don't know where he lives or where his business is done. After the death of those two guys, he kinda fell off of the radar, probably laying low to keep any suspicion off of himself."
"Which is why we need you guys to help out on this one," you explained. "Both of you have access to passwords and information directly from the Commission. If you guys could get enough info on him then we may be able to scope him out and have him answer our questions."
Hawks thought for a moment. "It isn't the most solid lead, but it's worth a shot."
"That's what I'm thinking," you agreed. "But I have concerns. Obviously, this could end up being a dead-end, that's a risk. I'm most worried about the masked group. They haven't made an appearance in a while, but I'm sure they have to have seen you guys interacting with me more often lately. They could be waiting for the right moment."
"Then we should all try and stay close to each other, right? It'll be hard to attack when there's a group of us." Aya sat forward on the couch.
"That would be ideal, but Dabi and I have another lead that we need to check out. It's outside of the city, so we'll probably be gone for a few days." That time frame would hopefully give you long enough to speak to Rin Hara and use whatever information she gave you.
"And what lead would this be?" Hawks asked.
Touya shook his head. "This one doesn't involve you, hero. It's my area of expertise."
"So something illegal?"
You butted in before they could start fighting with each other. "While Dabi and I are gone, the two of you need to stick together, for safety reasons and to help us get this done faster." Now that Aya wouldn't be at the Commission most of the time because of their temporary shutdown, she needed more protection.
"I guess that makes sense," Hawks said. "I still have hero work I'll need to do, but I can be at her place whenever it's possible." He looked at Aya. "If you're cool with that. I'd offer to let you stay at my place but it kinda requires wings to get up to it."
"Yeah, that's fine." She sounded much less calm than she had when speaking to him before. "We can stay at my apartment."
Good, now they'd both be there to watch over each other. Aya could tell you if Hawks did anything suspicious, and Hawks would be there to keep her safe in the case that someone tried to attack her again. Now that you had that situation settled, it would be easier for you to focus on your task.
"That was the main thing I wanted to talk about," you told them. "I was also planning on making dinner, but I... didn't have time to go to the grocery store." You could feel Touya's smirk as he thought of the scene that had kept you from going out. "I could order something if you wanted?" Not that you had much money, but it was rude to invite people over for dinner and not have anything prepared.
"Or you both are welcome to leave if you'd prefer," Touya offered.
You gave him a look. "Ignore him. Here, I'll order a pizza."
"Actually," Hawks looked through the window, where the last whips of sunlight were approaching their final stretch. "I'd like to get started on the research as soon as possible. I'll run to my place and grab the things I need. Then I'll head over to your apartment, Aya."
"That sounds good," she said.
"We'll drive you home," you offered. She'd gotten here on her own just fine, but now that you'd been talking about it, you were too paranoid to leave her by herself again.
Touya walked to the counter and grabbed Mahou's car keys. "I like how you say 'we' as if you're the one who's driving."
"As long as you don't crash the car," Aya looked at the keys uneasily. "Do you even have a license?"
"It's this, or risk being brutally murdered on your way home. Completely your choice."
The guy really did not excel at the friendship aspect of life. But despite his harshness, Aya agreed to let him drive after you promised her that he wouldn't intentionally break any laws while doing so.
"Well, I guess this ends our meeting," Hawks said. "I'm gonna get going."
You stood up and went to the winged man, feeling a bit awkward considering what had transpired only a short time ago. But he didn't seem to think anything of it as he pulled you into his arms and hugged you softly. You could've sworn you heard Touya choke on his breath. "Be careful with him," Hawks whispered into your ear. "I know you might trust him, but don't. Don't trust anyone."
He was serious, you could tell. But his doubts came from the fact that Touya had lied to him about his intentions. Hawks believed that he was using you to achieve his own goal because that's what Touya had wanted him to believe. It was sort of sweet, though, that he cared for you enough to give a warning. Even if it was an unnecessary one.
"I've got it handled," you replied before pulling away. Hawks nodded and said his goodbye before disappearing into the open air. You shut the window behind him and turned to see Toua staring daggers at his fading silhouette.
"I'm gonna roast that damn bird."
You chuckled. "Let's go."
-----------------------
You made sure to walk Aya to her door before leaving, just in case there was someone planning an ambush from inside again. There wasn't, and when you'd deemed that the place was safe and had confirmation that Hawks was two minutes away, you hugged her again. "I love you, be safe ok?"
"I should be saying that to you, considering you're the one that always ends up getting hurt."
"I signed up for it, though." You let her go. "You didn't ask for this."
She grabbed you by the shoulders. "Oh no, I signed up for this too. Don't try and downplay my role as a member of this team."
You laughed, "I won't, sorry."
"I'll see you, ok? And I'll send you any information that Hawks and I find."
You waited for a few seconds after she closed her door before exiting the extravagant building and heading back to the car. Touya drove you both home, and you made him stop so you could pick up some pizza on the way. Even if the other two had declined food, you were starving.
When you got back inside your apartment, you carried the pizza to the couch and plopped down, grabbing the remote. Touya sat beside you, hesitantly scooting closer to where your legs were touching. "That tank top looked good on you, by the way." You looked at the jacket he'd put on. "Why'd you change it earlier?"
"Oh," he took a slice from the box. "I just didn't feel like wearing it anymore."
"That's understandable."
You continued searching for something to watch, but the feeling of his eyes on you kept you distracted. "You said it looked good? It didn't... make you uncomfortable, seeing that much of my skin exposed?"
Any attention you'd been giving to the TV went through the window. "Why would it make me uncomfortable? I thought it was pretty sexy, actually."
He smiled a bit, but it quickly disappeared. "You've never mentioned my scars, never asked about them. I assumed it was because they made you uncomfortable and you felt weird saying anything."
"What? No." You set your pizza back into the box. "That's not it at all."
"Really?" The surprise in his voice was painful to hear.
"I promise." You took his pizza and placed it back in the box before setting the box on the ground. You turned to where you were facing him. "I haven't asked about them because they've never been something weird or unnatural to me. I figured that if there was something important about them, you'd tell me yourself. But I've never seen them as anything more than a part of who you are." With little grace, you moved over to where your knees were straddling his legs and your face came close to his. "But Doctor Reiki did tell me that using your quirk is what's making them spread. You're hurting yourself every time you use it."
Touya looked down at himself and inhaled deeply. "The old man really can't keep his mouth shut, huh?"
You brought a hand to his cheek, making him look you in the eyes. "You aren't allowed to nag me about staying alive and healthy while you're slowly killing yourself. That isn't fair."
"It's different."
"How?"
He placed a hand over yours. "Because you're someone that deserves a long life. The sins I've committed have earned me a fast track to hell."
Pressing your forehead to his, you shut your eyes. "Stop. You deserve a long life too, Touya."
"No, I don't think I do." He kissed you once, softly. "But I might stick around long enough to let you convince me otherwise."
"Good," you smiled. "Because I can be very persuasive."
"Trust me, I know." He looked over his shoulder. "Now, as much as I'd love to keep you in this position, I can hear your stomach growling and I think mine is almost at that same point."
"We probably should've gotten a large," you looked at the box regretfully. Pulling yourself back off of him, you took the piece of pizza you'd been eating before and continued looking for something to watch.
Sometime around two in the morning, Touya received a call from the Doctor. Pausing the random dating show you'd put on, you waited for him to finish the call. When you looked at him for confirmation, he nodded. "The darts are ready."
You practically jumped off of the couch. "Perfect, we'll get in touch with Hara on the way to pick them up." The woman's words had been weighing on you ever since your first meeting with her, and now you were finally going to be able to get the information that she'd promised.
"Wait, Princess. You should grab some things before we leave. Extra clothes and stuff like that just in case. We don't know where this could lead."
"Really?" You were so anxious to leave that his request sounded ridiculous, but you managed to quickly shove some clothes into a bag, along with whatever toiletries were spread around in your bathroom. Touya was waiting by the door when you rushed out, still trying to put everything inside. His duffel bag hung from his shoulder. "Ok, we can leave now."
"You're sure there's nothing else you might need?" He asked, scanning the apartment for something you might have missed.
"I've got everything," you pushed past him and opened the door. "We don't have anymore time to waste."
Going down the hallway at a near running pace, you sped right past the sign saying that the elevators were finally back in service. If you hadn't had a one-track mind in the moment, you most likely wouldn't have had to suffer down six flights of stairs, but you'd gotten used to them after such a long time.
You got into the car and threw your things in the backseat, where you noticed there were still bloodstains from the night you'd been injured. Touya got into the drivers seat after placing his duffel bag into the trunk.
The ride to Doctor Reiki's house seemed to drag on for much longer than it ever had before. And you caught yourself subconsciously bouncing your leg with impatience. "Princess," Touya said. "Why don't you focus your attention elsewhere and use my phone to call Rin Hara's assistant? Your constant movement is distracting." He pulled his phone from his pocket and brought up the number before handing it to you.
You weren't moving around that much, he was just dramatic. You took the phone and pressed the call button. It rang a few times before a man answered on the other end. "State your name and business."
You said your name and continued. "My partner Dabi and I met with Rin Hara recently. As a part of our deal, she asked us to procure certain items for her and then contact her when we had them. We have them now, so tell her that we'd like to meet as soon as possible."
The man cleared his throat. "Ms. Hara will be the one to decided whenever she is willing to meet with you-" There were shouts from the background, a woman screaming something that made the man stutter a bit before returning to the call. "She said that she's available to meet before sunrise if you are able to get here by then."
Sunrise wouldn't be until six at the earliest, leaving you with at least three and a half hours to get the darts and make it to the warehouse. "We'll be there."
The call ended and Touya held out his hand for his phone. You scowled and held onto it. "Hiding something on here?" You grinned, "Do you have dirty pictures or something?"
"No," he sighed. "There's nothing to see, so you can give it back to me now."
"Eesh, you aren't lying." After going to the home screen, which was set to its default wallpaper, you went into the photo library, hoping to find at least one embarrassing picture, but there were none. In all, he had three photos. One looked like an accidental screenshot of his home screen, the other was a picture of some rice balls that looked like it had been taken in your kitchen, and the last one was a random street sign that you didn't recognize. "There is literally nothing on here."
"I got it specifically for this assignment," he said. "I switch phones a lot, so there's no point in taking a bunch of pictures."
You shook your head in disapproval before smiling and pulling up the camera. You proceeded to turn the flash on and snap a picture of yourself before shifting your body in a way that would get Touya in the picture as well. You managed to capture the image before he could yank the phone from your hand. "What are you doing?! That's dangerous. If I ended up arrested and they found those pictures of you on my device, you'd immediately be put on a wanted list."
Shrugging, you turned to look out the window. "Then don't get arrested, idiot. And I'll probably end up on a wanted list after this either way, so there might as well be some good pictures to document the good times before that."
"I won't let that happen."
You raised your brows. "I appreciate the sentiment, but there's never been a way for this to end well for me. Once the weapon is destroyed, the Commission is gonna inevitably end up tracing that back to me, and I doubt they'll be happy that I destroyed the most hunted object in existence. If that somehow doesn't happen, I've still got that masked group to worry about. I don't see them leaving me alone anytime soon."
Touya briefly took his eyes from the road. "You went into this knowing that it would destroy any chances of you having a normal life?"
"Of course I did. I was happy to, honestly. Ami never asked me for anything when she was alive. The fact that this was so important to her that she gave in and asked for my help, shit, I'd be willing to give up much more if it meant doing that for her."
"Do you think she'd want you to sacrifice so much?" He asked. "What if, instead of this, her dying wish had been for you to take your father's money and get as far away from the situation as possible? Would you have done that for her, sacrificed your pride?"
You wondered why he felt the need to ask, but you took a few seconds to think about your answer. "I don't know. I don't think Ami would have ever asked me to do that. She knew me too well. But I guess if she'd given me the right reasons I would have."
He didn't ask any more questions, and you didn't make an effort to continue the conversation. A few minutes later, the car finally pulled into the Doctor's yard. It was still so odd to see the houses disheveled appearance while knowing the hidden interior.
"I'll go in by myself," Touya said. "He gets especially grumpy in the middle of the night, I doubt he'll say two words to me before pushing me out of the door."
"Are you sure? I wanted to thank him again." You barely knew the man, yet he'd done so much for you in such a short period of time.
"I'll pass the message along," he stepped outside and shut the car door behind him. Not even three minutes later, Touya was being rushed out of the house with a large briefcase in his hands. The doctor held out a hand and waved in the cars direction before slamming his door shut. "See?" Touya said after getting back in his seat.
You chuckled. "Do the bullets look good?"
"Take a look," he handed the case to you. "Hara agreed to meet with us now, right?"
"Yeah, you can head in that direction, she'll be expecting us when we get there." You opened the briefcase as the car reversed from the yard. They were sleek, and made of glass so that the writhing substance inside was visible. They were shaped in a way that could be loaded into a gun and shot, or used by hand. Now you felt especially bad for not going in and thanking the doctor again, he'd really outdone himself.
You shut the case and held onto it tightly for the duration of the ride. Keeping it on your lap was the only thing keeping you from nervously bouncing around. With every mile you grew more and more desperate to get to your destination.
Touya parked a few blocks down from the warehouse, claiming it was less likely that the car would be broken into if it was further away. He held the briefcase as you walked. "So, what happens if this information turns out to be completely useless?" You asked.
"Then we're back at square one."
"Ok, and what if Hara was right and Ami really did find the weapon? If we get the location tonight then..."
"Then we go there immediately and finish this thing," he said. "And you and I are gonna have to deal with the consequences of destroying the weapon sought out by the people we work for."
The words 'you and I' were nice to hear. They gave you a bit of hope. Maybe the two of you wouldn't have to completely part ways after everything. "I guess we'll see how this goes."
Walking through the warehouse, many sets of eyes landed on the secretive looking briefcase that was being carried. If it weren't for the reputation of the man beside you, someone probably would've tried to steal it. But these people were smart enough not to provoke a member of the League.
After walking through the unsettling hallway that led to Rin Hara's office, you stopped in front of the same scaled man who'd been guarding the office before. This time, he opened the door without question. Your heart pounded with anticipation as you stepped before the woman sitting behind the heightened desk. The jars of blood behind her illuminated her skin with a hellish glow. "You guys got that done fast," she clapped her hands. "Good job."
Touya set the case on her desk and opened it before taking a step back. Hara leaned forward in her chair to examine the items. Plucking a dart between her clawed fingers, she rolled it around and watched the poison with keen interest before taking a long sniff. "You're right, this is one of a kind."
"That's our end of the bargain," you said. "Now, I think you owe us some information." You weren't going to entertain her antics. You'd waited too long to get to this point.
"Hmm, I guess you're right." She placed the dart back in it's case and pushed it aside. "You wanted me to show you what I found in your friend's memories from the night of her death, correct?"
"Yes."
From a drawer beside her, Hara pulled out a small stack of paper and spread the pages across the desk. Each of them had a drawing on it, you noticed. Hara pointed to the first drawing, which was set in your apartment. It showed Kazuki, the man Ami had died with, standing by your door. "Her memories were one of my more difficult sets. Much of them were hazy, and I was only able to get certain moments, which I drew out." She pointed to the first image. "This is right after Ami's dear best friend had left to go to the club by herself. That rather attractive man had to convince her to leave for their assignment instead of going with you. Oh, she was so worried about you, but the lead was one that could change everything, so she gave in and went."
The next three drawings were of different outdoor scenes, the first one started in the city and the third one ended at a place near the river. "The lead took them somewhere outside of the city, to a small motel." She pulled another sheet of paper, and both you and Touya's breath caught. The motel was the same one that had been frequently visited by the two men that were killed. You'd marked it on their files. It couldn't be a coincidence that Ami had followed a lead there.
"Things get pretty hazy from there, almost like something was blocking me from seeing the full picture. But after the duo did some investigating, they ran into some trouble and were forced to retreat. The man insisted that they call for backup and continue their fight, but miss Ami was starting to get a bad feeling, especially when none of the other members were picking up."
Could that have been when the murders had started? Ami and Kazuki had been close to the weapon, but hadn't been able to go in completely because of the resistance from whoever else was there. Backup hadn't arrived because they'd been killed before any information could be passed along.
"Your friend wanted to leave," Hara continued. "She demanded that they leave and return with the proper backup before continuing. Her excuse was that they weren't strong enough to do it on their own, but that had been a lie. Her comrades weren't answering, and that made her uneasy, made her worry more for her best friend who'd gone out by herself to a club that was known for its drugged up clients and villainous visitors," she eyed Touya when she said that. "The man with the bun continued to argue, and nearly ran in himself, saying something like 'we've been searching for this thing forever, I'm not leaving when we finally found it.' She reasoned with him, though, and eventually convinced him that they'd come back with the proper backup that same night."
You stared at the drawing of the motel, stared so hard that you had to force yourself to blink after your eyes had become uncomfortably dry. That was it, they'd found Izanagi there.
"She came back to your apartment, fully expecting to pick you up from the club and have one of her team members watch over you while she was gone, but as you know, there was an unexpected visitor waiting for her to return." Hara hummed with delight. "God, her screams were otherworldly. Have either of you ever heard someone who's considered to be all-powerful beg for mercy?"
"That's enough," Touya interrupted. "I think we have what we need."
You looked up slowly to find Hara watching you with vicious delight. "She asked for you in her last moments, you know. Begged for you to be there with her just one last time. It's really so terribly heartbreaking."
It was difficult to think after the onslaught of information you'd just recieved, to even move as she pulled out another set of drawings. Random memories were splayed across the pages. Ami watching you cook dinner, her holding your waist at the club while the two of you danced, you lying in bed next to her with smudged make up and drool on your chin. Small pockets of peace from your time together.
She was waiting for your reaction, you could see the feral anticipation building in her eyes. Taking the papers from her desk, you turned on your heel and made your way out of her office. "Thank you for working with us. It's been a pleasure."
Her disappointment at your lack of emotion could be felt throughout the entire duration of your walk to the exit of the warehouse. Touya looked back repeatedly to make sure she or her henchman weren't following. You could only think of getting the fuck out of there.
When you finally got outside, Touya put a hand on the small of your back. "You ok?"
"It's at the motel," you said. "That's where it is, it has to be."
"You're right," Touya unlocked the car. "I think we've finally found it, Princess."
----------------------------
Aya's POV:
Sitting on her couch and comparing notes with the Number-Two was not something Aya ever would have imagined happening. Especially when the notes were on someone who could potentially help find a dangerous weapon that could determine the fate of society.
After about an hour of trying to find information on Asa Hiroto, she was becoming incredibly impatient. There was little to nothing on record about the guy. Even with her and Hawk's access to the Commission's database, everything was structured in a way that made information hard to find.
"Jesus, what time is it?" She asked, leaning her head against her bright red couch. She'd changed the color just before Hawks had arrived.
"It's close to four in the morning," he replied. Hawks shut his laptop and ran a hand through his sandy hair. "Let's take a break. I have a call I need to make and then I'm probably gonna crash for a bit."
Sleep sounded heavenly right then. "I'm totally on board for that." She shut her own laptop and stood up to stretch. Hawks took a phone from his back pocket.
"I'm gonna step outside to make this call, but I'll literally be like three feet away if you need me."
"I'll be fine, thanks." It was a little embarrassing to know that the main reason he was at her apartment was because he felt obligated to protect her. Not that she didn't appreciate the protection, her parents had drilled booksmarts into her for so long that she'd never had time for any physical education, but it made her feel a bit like a burden. And she hated that feeling.
Hawks went out through the door and Aya went to change into something more comfortable. When she'd put on her pajamas, she grabbed her bonnet and went to wash her face, but paused when she heard the door open again.
"That was a quick phone call," she stepped out of her room. "I set up the guest room if you want to change and stuff in there."
There was a long stretch of silence, and then the sound of footsteps headed in her direction. When Hawks didn't answer, she didn't risk going out there to check if the noise was from him. Instead, Aya turned and went directly back into her room, locking the door behind her. She grabbed her phone and went to dial Hawks' number, but didn't get the chance before the device was knocked from her hand.
A bright flash of red was the last thing she saw before the impact of a surprise blow caused consciousness to slip through her fingers.
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Hey guys, sorry for the delay of this chapter. Last week was finals week, I picked up some extra shifts at work, and celebrated a holiday lol. These next few chapters are literally what I've been looking forward to from the moment I started this fic. Hope you guys are ready.