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"Pretty boy, you did this to me."
- The Neighborhood, Pretty Boy
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Athena really disliked her desk. She was positioned facing the window with her back to the rest of the room, leaving her tense and unsure of who and what was behind her. It left her stiff from attempting to be vigilant of what was behind her, her bones aching from sitting straight and ready for too long.
She couldn't help but let out a quiet screech as a hand slammed into her desk, lashing out with the piece of paper in her hands. Her wrist was caught before it could connect with the poor soul's face.
Blonde hair appeared in her vision.
"Didn't mean to scare you!" Yamada greeted with a large grin. Athena gave him a small glare, before meekly tugging her wrist out of his grip. She blinked at his appearance. He was in casual wear, his hair pulled back into a bun, though a few strands had escaped to frame his face. His tinted glasses had been replaced with a pair of regular ones, the frame painted a faint green.
"That wasn't very nice," Athena mumbled.
"Are you ready?" He asked, practically bouncing where he stood.
Athena blinked. "For what?"
Yamada pouted. "Our apology lunch. Don't tell me you forgot."
"My lunch break isn't for another hour." Athena shot back, reaching tentatively for her keyboard as she tried to return to her work.
Yamada snorted. "I'm your boss, Kiritani. I say when your break starts."
Resigned, Athena stood, slinging her purse over her shoulder and tucking her phone into it.
Yamada led her through a side door, talking animatedly as they walked, waving his hands with each phrase.
"I'm really sorry about postponing for so long, Kiritani." He gave her an apologetic look. Athena peered up at the man, stiff under the intense gaze of his green eyes. "How are you?"
"It's fine." Athena gritted, giving him a polite smile. "I'm fine, Yamada-san."
He nodded. "That's good to hear. I'm glad that the agency is treating you well." He led her to a small cafe. The door gave a slight chime as they entered and the barista looked up, smiling brightly as she recognized Yamada.
"Hizashi-kun! New hire?" The barista grinned.
Yamada flushed slightly, the barista chuckling as Athena shuffled in place awkwardly behind Yamada.
The barista led the pair to a table in the corner and after ordering, Yamada and Athena were left to their own conversations. Despite the lingering resentment, Athena felt relaxed around Yamada. She still eyed him carefully, disliking the way his green eyes roved over her frame, catching the way one of her hands remained in her lap, close to the hidden knife within her purse.
Surprisingly, the lunch flowed smoothly. Yamada was easygoing and charismatic, and Athena could understand why he'd broken so many hearts within the office.
"So, any instruments?" Yamada grinned, sipping his coffee as he peered at Athena over the rims of his glasses. "I'm a big guitar person, but to each their own."
Athena flushed. "No, I didn't have the opportunity to play any when I was growing up."
"Really?" Yamada pouted. "That's such a shame."
"I sing." Athena offered, glancing out the windows in embarrassment as Yamada it up with excitement.
"Sing for me!" Yamada demanded childishly. "Pretty please?"
Athena wrinkled her nose. "No."
Yamada stared at her, eyes pleadingly.
"Not today." She narrowed her eyes at him.
Yamada sighed, slumping in his chair before he glanced behind him out the window.
"You keep looking out the window." He offered as he turned back to her. "Thought maybe you saw something interesting."
She flushed under his accusation.
He sighed. "Look, Kiritani. I really am sorry that I made you wait so long. That was unfair of me, especially since it was to apologize for a mistake I made. If I'm making you uncomfortable you can leave."
Athena blinked before curling in slightly. "No. No, it's fine." She couldn't imagine the gossip in the office if people found out she ran away from her boss. Not to mention how impossibly sketchy it would be.
He motioned for the check.
"What's your quirk, Kiritani?"
Athena reeled back at the sudden question. "Excuse me?"
"Your quirk." He tapped a finger against the table before leaning back and leveling her with a serious look. "It says blue flash in your application, but that's not very descriptive."
Athena stared at him in silence.
"You move like someone who has seen a lot of things." He continued on. "Your center of gravity is squared. Your tense in the office because your back is to the door. You scanned the exits as soon as we walked in and sat where you'd be able to see the window and doorway."
"I grew up in lower Musutafu," Athena stated slowly, eyeing the hero in front of her. "It's not exactly a safe place. I got in a lot of fights as a kid."
"And aren't you anti-discriminatory?" She continued, keeping her tone as even as possible. "I don't see what my quirk has to do with any of it."
Yamada watched her with a careful gaze. "I keep very close track of everything in my agency because I have to, Kiritani-san. We may be a daylight agency, but we operate like what an underground agency would be like."
Shit. Well, Athena wished she'd known that before she had begun working there. It'd make it so much harder to disappear if she needed to.
She should've just applied to the Endeavor agency, no matter how shitty their benefits packet was.
Yamada hummed. "So... will you answer my question, please?"
Athena held her palm out, folding the dimensional space into a ball until it was sparking within her hand. The blue shard struggled, pushing against her hold violently. The dimensional flash was the first part of her quirk that she'd discovered and was probably the easiest to do, despite the intricacies of her real quirk.
"This is a flash." She demonstrated. "I can throw it around a corner or break it on the ground. Bounce it once before pops, whatever I decide. Flash grenade, but portable and infinite."
She let the dimension snap back into place with a large crack, smoothing the air until the blue spark had disappeared.
Yamada tilted his head before standing and bowing deeply to her.
"Sorry for the interrogation, Kiritani-san." Yamada grinned up at her, remorse shining in his eyes. "I hold my employees with high regard and only want what is best for them."
"It's okay." Athena gave him a cautious smile.
"Let's just put this behind us." He offered her a hand and Athena took it, letting him pull her gently to her feet. "Alright?"
Athena nodded.
But as they walked out, Yamada's eyes lingered on her back with a burning intelligence that bore into her skin, Athena felt that she wouldn't be able to fly under the radar for much longer.
-----
When Athena arrived back at the agency (alone; Yamada had gone off for some emergency meeting at Yuuei), she felt frazzled. Hana had taken one look at her and shooed her off.
"Go home." She insisted. "I'm not letting you work yourself until midnight again when you're clearly tired."
Athena squawked. "I don't work until midnight!"
"The sidekicks have started gossiping about you." Hana shot back with an exasperated look. "Go home. I know you've finished all your work anyways."
Under Hana's insistence, Athena left, taking the train back to her apartment.
She wrinkled her nose as she stepped into the small studio. The walls were a faint green, and the living room was littered with books, but the apartment felt empty otherwise.
She never spent time here, used to coming home late and crashing right away.
Athena padded her way into the kitchen, dropping her purse on the counter and moving to make dinner.
What's your quirk?
Athena faltered as she remembered the lunch. Yamada had stared at her unflinchingly, green eyes boring into Athena with an intensity she hadn't felt since she'd been...
Well, since she'd been in the ring.
She might have to finally leave Japan. She'd been switching between hero agencies for years.
She was bound to have a slip-up.
A/N: That's right. Yamada isn't a goofy dumbass in my story. He smart. Put some respect on his name. That's a pro-hero bitch.