CW: Brief Mention Of Abuse In One Part.
Aizawa stares at me dumbfoundedly, pulling his face away from my hands. "What? He doesn't know?"
"No. I didn't tell him yet," I admit, fidgeting with my fingers at my sides. "I j—I don't know if he feels the same about me."
I swear I saw Aizawa flash me a sympathetic smile for a second, but before I could do a double-take, his face was back to default. "Well I won't say anything to persuade you, because I don't know the outcome—but I will say one thing: don't just keep that to yourself forever. Say something. To me, Hizashi, or someone you trust, 'Kay?"
If we weren't about to have a meeting about a poor girl who's been held hostage, I would've been crying by now. "Thank you, Aizawa, I appreciate it. I'll definitely talk to you and Hizashi soon. We haven't hung out in a while."
We both turn when we see people walking toward the meeting room down the hallway. "Don't be a stranger, okay? Hizashi won't shut up about not having seen you in the past week."
I laugh at Aizawa's way of escaping affectionate moments, it always being his weakness. "Should we head over to the meeting now?"
"Yeah, let's go," Aizawa leads out of the lobby and into the hallway into the meeting room, briefly watching everyone chatter a bit more before finding two vacant seats side by side. "Let's go over there and sit down before someone else takes them."
I follow Aizawa torwards the chairs and sit down, strangely, almost immediately making eye contact with Enji. "So...you got any news to tell me about anything lately?" I whip my head, trying to convince myself to calm down and suppress my all-over-the-place nerves.
"Uh...you okay, y/n? You seem to be...occupied," I slowly turn my head to see Aizawa staring at me with a complex expression, looking for answers.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just looking ahead and I made eye contact with Enj—Endeavor," I successfully save myself and keep Enji's personal information a secret, but I didn't save myself quick enough to not be interrogated.
Aizawa's face was scrunched in a knot, then a sudden realization had put the pieces together of who the half-said name belonged to, pointing his finger at me. "You—"
I play dumb and pretend he was going to hit me, flinching. "You call Endeavor by his first name? Wh—what have you been doing this past month..?!" Aizawa whisper-shouts at me, making sure nobody sitting near us overheard.
"Calm down," I barely manage to say through my laughter. "Nothing like that happened. When I told you guys we became close that's what I meant. We got to first name basis and that's it."
Aizawa's face is telling me that he doesn't believe a single thing I'm saying when I mean that's all that's going on between us, but he doesn't actually say that out loud. Instead he says, "all right, if you say so."
Just as I was about to tease him and make something up, a set of double doors open and reveal NightEye's tall and lean figure. The whole room falls silent almost immediately, which surprises me because nobody's ever done that before.
NightEye takes a seat in front of the desk at the end of the room, disconnected from the rest of us. "Hello, everybody. Today we'll be discussing the plans concerning the Yakuza, and what actions we'll do to rescue the girl Eri."
Nobody says anything, which I can only guess means that they're listening to him—at least that's the reason I'm silent.
"We won't be engaging with the yakuza anytime soon,"As soon as those words left his mouth, a few murmurs erupt, and a visibly angry hero shoots up from his seat.
"What—are you saying we do nothing while a little girl is being held hostage and abused?!" I flinch for real this time, not expecting a hero to lose their composure like this.
NightEye's expression doesn't shift a centimeter, the same stone hard look standing it's ground. "I understand it's hard to hear that, but we need to keep our composure—NightEye shoots Rock Lock a look—as to not risk having her life endangered. We don't know what the Yakuza are capable of, and that's why we need to follow this plan."
I felt a surge of satisfaction when NightEye shut Rock Lock down in a respectful manner, making him return to his seat. I think I was grinning from ear to ear, because I saw Aizawa glancing at me from the corner of my eye.
"My two work study students, Midoriya and Togata, saw the little girl with the wanted criminal, Chisaki," Pro heroes were now focusing all their attention torwards the two kids, who I could only imagine have this huge boulder of guilt lodged into their chests. The con of being a hero: thinking you can save everyone all the time.
"Midoriya wanted to save the girl and almost grabbed her then and there—but Togata stoped him from making that rash decision and quickly saved them. Both of them are in the right for thinking the way they did: one wanting to save the girl from harm's way, and one thinking ahead about the consequences of acting rash."
After NightEye said that I spot a few who's faces look glum, like they had blamed the two for what they did. "That's why we're having this meeting. To finally save the girl," NightEye's eyes stay focused in the center of the room, not wandering off to the two kids like everyone else.
"I found a list of the Chisaki's hideouts. As you can see on the screen, I marked areas all over Japan that seem familiar to each of you. That's why I had specific pro heroes selected, to look in the cities of their hometown. My sidekick will send you a list," A beep erupts from everyone's phones, none of us checking because we already know what it is.
***
"Alright, that's it for today's meeting. Starting tomorrow we start checking the spots that we have been sent," NightEye gets up, his fingertips pressed against the desk.
The number of heroes was bigger than I remembered once everyone got up to chat with one another, leaving the area crowded. I lose sight of Aizawa and Enji, which is surprising because Enji's nearly 7ft tall. When I start to strain my eyes for the only two people I'm familiar with, I spot the infamous number two hero: Incognito.
"Incognito..!" I call out her name, seeing her look around frantically, her eyes finally land on me waving at her.
She smiles and walks up to me. "Hey, Ventriloquist, right? Nice to finally meet one of the first heroes to become a top 10 pro in their twenties. I'm impressed by how hard you work. Keep it up."
I know I'm also a pro hero, but I just can't help but gawk over her. She was my role model—and still is, and I'm talking to the Incognito. It still hits hard even as a pro hero to meet your model.
"Thank you. Though you've done way better than I have as a hero. You became top 10 at 20. I mean—when do you you ever get to hear something like that?" I straighten myself out when I realize I had been one compliment away from full on fan girling mode.
Incognito chuckles at my humble acceptance. "All accomplishments are great. Just because I reached top 10 at a younger age doesn't make me better," Wow, I'm getting a lesson from the number two hero herself. Amazing.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you on news in a bit," I said, not aware how nosy I sound.
"I'm doing...good," she smiles ear to ear, swaying side to side. "Thank you for asking. How about you?"
"I'm also doing good," mischief crosses my mind and I immediately thought of something. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Fire away."
My smile slowly transitions into a grin, confusing her. "I noticed that you were the mystery woman with All Might at the restaurant," I whisper.
Incognito freezes at the sudden statement, my mind filled with ease when her freezing confirmed the sight of that night. Even though I already knew the answer.
"I can't believe I'm asking you this, but—what did you see," I feel a shiver run down my spine as my mind had almost immediately went in the gutter.
"I only saw you and all might...getting very cozy with each other. Just that—"
Incognito's sigh of relief cut me off, confirming that I was thinking in the right context. "Are the two of you dating...?" I whisper, also knowing the answer to this one. I just want to make conversation.
Incognito's face is blushing a deep red, still swaying her body side to side. "Y—yes we are."
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," I mimic my mouth being shut and locked with a key, throwing the imaginary key somewhere far off.
Incognito chuckles at my mimic. "Thank you, ventriloquist."
"No problem," I start swaying side to side, matching Incognito's pace. "So...how long have you two been together," my eyes gleam as my nosy side starts to poke it's head out.
"A few of months now. I think we started dating a few weeks after U.A started." Incognito says, a hint of pride in her voice.
Just in the middle of our conversation her phone starts to ring, cutting the both of us off. "Oh—I have to go answer this. Talk to you later?"
"Is that All Might?" I ask, a grin reappearing on my face.
Incognito's face becomes pink, which answers my question without her saying. "Okay, see ya. Don't want to hold you any longer," I wave goodbye to her and get ready to leave.
just when I was about to walk away, Incognito gently grabs my wrist, confusing me.
"I saw you getting playful with Endeavor at dinner. Cute." I look up with wide eyes, seeing Incognito with a grin. We practically switched facial expressions.
Incognito lets go of my wrist and waves at me, somewhat jogging to find a quiet place to talk on the phone. "See you!"