A/N: This week's art is by @Anezkalove ~! I love Deku's outfit, especially his shoes! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ
By the time Izuku returned to the Bakugou residence, he was actually an hour earlier than he had informed the Alpha. When he entered the living room, Bakugou was just as he left him—still lounging on the sofa, looking as if he hadn't even budged at all in Izuku's absence.
Izuku didn't think much of it, asking immediately, "Kacchan, I'm back! Did Katsumi wake up?"
"No, he's still sleeping."
"Ohh, that's good. I'm going up to check on him!" He was about to head up the stairs when Bakugou spoke up to stop him.
"Hold on."
"Ah, what's up?"
"...Where did you go?"
For some reason, Izuku felt that the ash-blond's mood wasn't quite right. His tone was calm and even, yet it felt like there was something dark lurking beneath the surface.
The Omega instinctively sensed the danger and stalled for a moment, responding seconds later hesitantly, "Um, I just went out to settle some personal matters, that's all. Everything's already been settled, so I'll be going upstairs first!"
He tried to slip away right after he finished speaking, when suddenly his sleeve was caught hold of by something. A second later, Izuku was caught off guard by a strong force that pulled him to fall onto the sofa. More accurately, he fell into Bakugou's arms.
Izuku became flustered, but what startled him even more was what followed after that.
"K-Kacchan! Y-You, w-what are you doing? Where are your hands going?!"
The Alpha ignored him and continued to pat the greenette down. His hands landed dangerously upon an object tucked behind the waistband of his pants. Izuku's eyes flashed in alarm. He wanted to stop him, but it was already too late. The weapon hidden within his clothes appeared in the ash-blond's hands in an instant.
Bakugou tossed the gun onto the coffee table in front of them. The usual exceedingly gentle demeanor he usually showed Izuku had become distant and unsmiling as he backed off. He spat out grimly, "Explain."
Izuku's ears burned, feeling like a naughty pup caught being disobedient. He fiddled with his fingers, looking at everything and anything but those glowering, accusing eyes, and tried to laugh it off, "Um, it's just a fake gun! A toy I bought to play around with, ehehe..."
"...Does a toy need a silencer?"
Bakugou picked up the gun, screwed on the muffler, and fired it at a small, unassuming vase sitting at the very edge of the fireplace.
The vase instantly shattered upon impact.
The calm facade Izuku fought with all his might to keep on his face also shattered—just like that vase...
The air was dead silent.
After a long moment, Izuku swallowed audibly with great difficulty and tried to change the topic by running his mouth off, "...Ahaha, your shooting skills are amazing, Kacchan! Really, really amazing! But, um, that vase must've been pretty expensive, right...?"
Bakugou finally dropped his gaze. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."
"But..." Izuku's head drooped downwards in a disheartened manner. "But you look like you're going to throw me out if I don't tell you anything... You're not being fair at all, Kacchan..."
Other than confessing everything, did he even have any other choice?
The Omega sighed, and could only begin to explain the sequence of events to him. "Remember how I told you that something went wrong with my prop, and I accidentally hurt Itsuki? Right now, the props master is insisting on saying that I bribed him to mess with the props. If he sticks to his statement, it won't just be my career that will be ruined, but I might even have to go to jail!"
Bakugou stared at him calmly. "So?"
"So..." Izuku hemmed and hawed for a bit, rocking on his heels before admitting reluctantly, "I paid him a visit and nicely asked him to tell the truth!"
Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Bakugou's face turned stormy. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was for you to do that? You..."
"I know!" Izuku protested weakly, ducking his head, "I know, because I'm an Omega! But I had no choice! You don't know what Propert is like; he's an absolute bastard! That's why I had to... That's why I brought a gun with me..."
"But you chose to resort to dangerous maneuvers instead of asking me for help? Didn't I tell you to believe in me?" His voice was filled with grave disappointment. For some reason, the hurt in his eyes made Izuku's heart clench and ache.
This was the first time Kacchan had gotten so angry with him.
Full of anxiety, Izuku stammered, "N-No! No, it's not like that! I... I-It's just... I just..."
Unable to find the words he wanted to say, he buried his face in his hands. Seeing the greenette's pitiful appearance, Bakugou almost spoke up to comfort him, but held back in the end. This time, he was determined to get answers.
Eventually, Izuku mumbled with all the fight drained out of him, "I'm just used to it..."
Used to solving everything by himself. Used to not relying on anyone else. Used to being independent.
The two of them sunk into silence again.
"Um, but, how did you know that I had a gun on me?" Izuku suddenly remembered and looked up at him suspiciously.
"The smell." Bakugou answered simply.
"Eh, so that's how! Was it the smell of gunpowder?" Izuku wondered out-loud, half distressed with himself from carelessly assuming his scent blockers were strong enough to cover it, "I didn't know that Kacchan's sense of smell was that powerful! Ehehehe..."
He froze from seeing an intense expression he didn't understand, but one thing was clear: his attempt at flattery failed.
Helplessly, Izuku relented, "Kacchan, it's not that I didn't want to ask you for help. It's just a minor setback that I handled just fine on my own. It'd be a bit of an overkill if I asked you to intervene, haha..."
He clasped his hands together and pleaded, "But now, I really do have something that I really, really need your help with! You really have to help me this time—please, please, please~? I kept thinking about it, and you're the only one I can turn to for this! So if you're not willing to help me, I'll definitely keep pestering you no matter what!"
This time, although his expression remained stony, the Alpha finally looked him in the eye. "What is it?"
Izuku exhaled in relief and went hurriedly, "So, it's like this, okay? Even though I finally got Propert's confession, the email and the bank transfer details from the other party, all this can clear my innocence, but I wouldn't be able to find the mastermind.
"It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me if I didn't get back at them. Letting her off so easily would be such a waste! So I was thinking, is there any way you could trace the other party's bank account information and IP address?"
He looked at Bakugou with his face full of hope and stars in his eyes, "Because Katsumi's so smart at such a young age, it must be because of Kacchan's superior genes, right? So Kacchan must be super amazing with computers too! I'm sure you have some way to do that, right? Right, right, right~?"
Bakugou remained silent for three seconds, before finally speaking the golden word: "Yes."
"Really? You really have a solution?" Instantly, Izuku became energized with excitement and nearly jumped into the air, "Then how much time do you need?"
"One—" Bakugou was about to say one hour, but then he abruptly changed his mind, "One night."
"That fast? Sugoi!" Delighted with the news, Izuku immediately took out the laptop from his backpack. "I got this from Propert. Do you need anything else? I'll get it for you!"
"It's fine." The ash-blond stood up and headed upstairs to his study. Izuku scooped up his gun before eagerly scampering after him.
Upon reaching the study, Izuku hurriedly raced ahead to pull out the chair for Bakugou and set the laptop on the desk. Afterwards, he ran off to pour a glass of water for him. Bakugou watched him go in amusement as he took his seat.
He then took out his own laptop and brought out a cable to connect the two laptops. Browsing through the evidence Izuku had mentioned, he opened a file and typed in a series of complicated-looking codes into a window on his laptop screen.
Izuku leaned on the desk and moved closer to look out of curiosity, but as expected, it looked like complete gibberish to him. He watched on in an absent-minded daze as numbers and letters flew over his head. Although he couldn't understand any of it, whatever Kacchan was doing still seemed pretty awesome.
As Bakugou typed, he became distracted by the light breathing near his ear. Abruptly, he stopped typing and furrowed his brow. Izuku noticed and asked nervously, "What happened? Is there a problem?"
"Move further away from me." The Alpha said forcefully with great effort. As much as he enjoyed Izuku's close presence, it was starting to affect his concentration.
"Ah, sorry..." Izuku shrank back, lowering his head like a flower denied sunlight. In a sad and dismal manner, he dragged his feet to the furthest corner of the room and curled up on the sofa there. Bakugou caught himself in time to hold back a chuckle.
From there, Izuku hugged a cushion and quietly observed Bakugou's face from the side profile as he worked. Secretly, he savored the view. It was true that Alphas were the most attractive when they were concentrating on their tasks seriously.
Momentarily, only the quiet sound of fingers tapping on the keyboard could be heard in the study. For a long time, Izuku sat in silence and struggled with his thoughts until he couldn't resist the urge any longer and asked, "Kacchan... Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"W-why... Why didn't you ask me?"
"Ask what?"
"You know..." Izuku's hands clenched into tight fists, "Ask me about the gun! You're not going to ask why I have a gun? Don't you think that I'm not like what you expected at all... That, that I'm—" He paused, smiling bitterly, "—dangerous?"
Bakugou looked at him calmly. "No."
"Oh..."
After that exchange, the Alpha didn't continue interrogating him, but Izuku's conscience continued to bug him. Kacchan had always treated him so well, and didn't hold back in the slightest to help him, but Izuku kept hiding and concealing every bit of himself. The imbalance of their relationship made him feel terribly guilty...
That was why although Bakugou hadn't asked, he took the initiative himself to explain, "You know how it's legal to own a gun in America? Well, that's where I learned to use one. But seeing as they're illegal in Japan, this gun was smuggled in. I don't know the specific details, it was my friend who gave it to me. He was also the one who taught me how to use it. B-But only for self-defence, as a last resort! This was the first time I've ever used it!"
Bakugou stopped what he was working on and tossed him a questioning glance. "What kind of person is that friend of yours?"
"Ah..." This question made Izuku feel quite troubled. He scratched his head and said in embarrassment, "It's the same one I mentioned to you before, the ex-boyfriend that I only dated for a day."
It was that Alpha again.
If they had dated just for a day, then why did they seem to have so much history between them?
Bakugou's expression became extremely fierce. "Do you know that the channels used to smuggle in guns like this are split between three factions? No matter which organization that friend of yours belongs to, they are all prime targets for the authorities. That diamond was most likely brought in through illegal means as well."
Izuku buried his face into the cushion and mumbled, "I know..."
"You knew about it?" The ash-blond's face turned even more unsightly. Izuku knew and yet he had still been with that kind of person? Knowing about the other party's background meant that he was potentially in a dangerous situation!
The Omega hurriedly clarified, "Um, his background might be a little dangerous, but I can't tell you anything about his identity. Sorry, it may be hard to believe, but I know that he'd never do anything to hurt me, that I'm sure of..."
As Izuku trailed off, he realized that Bakugou's face had finally hit the lowest point—it was the worst he had ever seen. Right then and there, he felt like student caught red-handed cheating on a test by a teacher. Nervously, he interlaced his fingers together and didn't dare to let out a single peep.
After all, Lord Explosion Murder's aura was too scary when he was angry.
One long moment later, Bakugou finally spoke. "Give me the gun."
Izuku's protectiveness towards that Alpha had nearly destroyed his rationality.
"Okay." The greenette handed over the weapon obediently. Curious, he couldn't help but ask, "What are you going to do with it?"
Kacchan's response was completely ruthless: "Confisticating it."
"Ah, NO!" Wailing in dismay, Izuku rushed forward to stop him, "That's my safeguard! Please don't take it away! I promise I won't use it recklessly! I won't let anyone else see it!"
Bakugou looked askance at him sourly, before dropping the gun into a drawer. He then took out another firearm and gave it to Izuku. "Use this one from now on."
"This is...?" Emeralds lit up with an intriguing light upon seeing the replacement. He couldn't tell which model it was at first glance, but it was obvious that it was no ordinary gun. Izuku asked carefully, "Can I take a look?"
Seeing his excited, sparkling eyes, Bakugou nodded. "Go ahead."
Permission granted, Izuku happily dismantled the gun. Upon taking it apart, he looked at the inner structure in amazement. "PTL?"
"With some modifications, so it's safer to use." Bakugou's expression remained unpleasant. Izuku's knowledge of shooting, dismantling, and assembling firearms all had clearly been taught to him by that same Alpha.
Izuku's eyes greedily traced over the mechanisms, enamored by the detailing, and couldn't bring himself to put it down. Timidly, he raised his head to look at Bakugou. "Um, Kacchan, normally anyone who can get their hands on a Pretty Good Gun can be considered dangerous, but since you actually own a PTL, doesn't that make you...?"
Bakugou's face was unreadable. "You think I'm dangerous?"
Panic-stricken, Izuku rapidly shook his head. "No, no, no! Why would I think that? Kacchan's the best! You're my savior after all! Er, are you tired? Are your shoulders sore? I'll give you a massage! Ganbatte!"
Before the ash-blond could say a word, Izuku put the gun down before hurrying behind him. Then the greenette put his all into massaging his shoulders. Although Bakugou knew that Izuku was purposefully coaxing and buttering him up, his stormy facade waned in his warmth. However, he quickly became tense again.
The Omega's soft hands pressed on his broad shoulders with just the right amount of force. He was even massaging his neck and temples in an extremely professional manner, mindful of his glands and humming in a sweet, gentle tune.
Those fleeting, teasing caresses combined with the perfect amount of force felt incredible—but they were going to be the death of him.
"That's enough." To prevent himself from losing control, Bakugou forced himself to call a stop to the massage.
"Oh, okay." Izuku didn't think much of it and dropped his hands. Making his way back around the desk, he went back to studying the firearm. After a short moment, he turned to Bakugou uncertainly, "So, about the PTL...?"
Bakugou smirked. "Just take it as your birthday present."
"Really?" Izuku's brows shot up in surprise. He looked at the blond cautiously, as if waiting for him to yell 'Sike!', but Bakugou made no movement to take the gun back. It seemed like he was actually serious...
This gift was rather special...
"Thank you, Kacchan!" Izuku beamed in delight, "I'll treasure it!"
The Pretty Good Gun was rumored to be one of the best guns in the world, but only true enthusiasts knew that PTL was the real deal. Though, it was far too expensive, so it wasn't as popular as a Pretty Good Gun. The safety performance of this particular firearm was definitely better, plus with its simple and low-key appearance, no one would be able to tell which model it was unless they had the chance to take it apart. It was truly convenient!
As Izuku continued looking at his unexpected surprise gift, he couldn't help but feel a bit teary-eyed, "Really, Kacchan, thank you... No one else has ever been this kind to me before..."
The Alpha's chest swelled with pride, and just as he was about to respond, Izuku marveled, "Is this what having a second father feels like?"
Bakugou promptly choked.
This was... a rather high evaluation, but he was at a loss of what to say to that. Perhaps in another perspective...
"Anyways, it's already this late! You must be hungry. I'll go get you something to eat while you work!" Izuku rushed out of the study in search of food, determined to return the favor. After he left, Bakugou took out his old gun to dismantle it. As he expected, the serial number had been erased.
But with this, the list of suspects drastically narrowed down...
Ten minutes later, Izuku came back with a steaming bowl of food. "Kacchan, are dumplings okay? I saw that there were still some left in the freezer from the last time we made them, so I heated some up for you!"
"Leave it there."
"Roger!"
Seeing how busy the Alpha was for his sake, Izuku felt sorry for troubling him, so he picked up the bowl again. "I'll feed you, okay?"
Bakugou frowned subtly. As much as he wanted to reject his offer, he couldn't bring himself to refuse the Omega. "Well-"
"Just let me feed you, I can feed you! You just keep doing what you're doing!" Izuku hastily picked up a dumpling with a pair of chopsticks and carefully blew on it before bringing it to the ash-blond's mouth. Bakugou looked at the computer screen with a solemn air, opened his mouth, and accepted the offering.
Hm, why didn't he remember them being this delicious the last time he ate them?
Izuku continued feeding him dumplings one by one until he finished the entire bowl.
"Go take a break, I'm almost done here." Bakugou returned the laptop back to him, then went back to concentrating on his next task.
"Okay." Izuku hugged the laptop and retreated back to the sofa. Feeling bored, he started looking through files to see if he could find any leads or something that could help. He ended up finding something that caught his eye. It was a folder named 'important secrets' in the hard drive. Once he opened it, he discovered that there were quite a number of videos inside.
Had that bastard hidden additional evidence and failed to tell him?
While eyeing the screen suspiciously, Izuku clicked on one of the videos. Right as it opened he had a feeling that something wasn't right, but by the time he finally reacted—it was too late.
On full blast, shameless moans and grunts blared from the speakers, sounding loud and clear in the quiet of the study room...
Instantly, Izuku's face was a red as a blushing tomato. Frantically, he tried to close it, but in his panic he couldn't exit no matter how many times he clicked on it.
Eventually, Bakugou couldn't stand it any longer and stalked over to slam the lid shut. He then proceeded to smash the laptop onto the ground, giving it a good stomp to ensure its silence.
Izuku glared at it balefully and complained, "He had some files in a folder called 'important secrets', so I thought he was hiding valuable evidence in there... Damn, I should've known better!"
Any suspicious folders in that pervert's computer would surely be that kind of thing!
Seeing the greenette's indignant appearance, Bakugou pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing in exhaustion, "It's done. Come take a look."
It was because the Alpha was selfish that he said that it'd take one night to get it done—he only wanted to spend more time with Izuku, but if he continued to torment Bakugou like this, he didn't know what he might do...
Izuku blinked, his embarrassment slowly ebbing away, "You're done? With all of it?"
Bakugou nodded and indicated for him to take a look. Izuku worried for a brief moment that he wouldn't understand what he was seeing, but then he found out that Kacchan wasn't trying to get him to look at those complicated lines of code, rather showing him the result on the screen instead.
The IP address of the sender was traced back to the apartment building where Itsuki was currently staying in, Caesar's Salad Palace. The owner of the anonymous overseas account turned out to be Itsuki's assistant, Yarra.
"Woah! I thought that this kind of hacking only existed in movies and dramas! Especially for anonymous accounts, because they have high levels of security. You have to enter the bank's system just to crack one, so it should've been incredibly difficult..." Izuku gasped admiringly, "Kacchan, you're amazing!"
Speechless, right then and there, Bakugou realized he had a problem. Izuku completely trusted in him now, but had too much faith in him... to the point that he had forgotten that Bakugou was an Alpha!
Simply put, Izuku treated him like a good friend and mentor, and even viewed him as a father at some point, but he still didn't see him as a potential mate... This might be a problem, but it was a good omen. The moment he was waiting for was soon to be imminent.
It was only after he had settled his turbulent emotions that Bakugou cleared his throat and asked, "What are you planning to do with all this evidence?"
"Hmm," Izuku hummed, scratching at his ears, "There's no rush in making this evidence public yet. I'll let Itsuki fuss as much as she wants. The more trouble she stirs up, the harder she'll be hit when the time comes! I'm preparing to... I'm gonna... Going to..."
"To do what?"
"Uh, Kacchan, can you hold me for a sec?" He frowned, his head strangely fuzzy. For some reason, his ears rang vexingly with static,"Why do I feel like the floor is shaking-?"
At the last word, Izuku's vision turned black and he collapsed to the floor with a thump.
"Izuku-!"
Bakugou's expression abruptly changed as he hurried to catch him. The soft body in his arms was burning up like a fireball. He reached over to feel his sweaty forehead. It was scalding hot to the touch. Bakugou had noticed Izuku's unsteady movements earlier, but thought that he was imagining things. He never expected that the shorter wasn't feeling well.
The Alpha picked up the greenette in his arms and dashed down the stairs, yelling, "Glasses! Go start the car!"
Iida's eyes widened upon taking in his employer's frantic state. "What on Earth happened to Midoriya-san?"
"I don't know!" Bakugou bellowed furiously, full-blown on panic mode and drowning in self-blame. He didn't know! Didn't know if it was the remainder of the drugs in Izuku's system of if he was simply having a fever. What if that scumbag he visited this morning gave him something else?!
He should've brought Izuku to the hospital for a check-up as soon as he came back. If only he had thought of that sooner, but he didn't! Not only had he failed to act accordingly, he had even delayed sending the Omega to the hospital, dragging out their time together for so long. He thoughtlessly made things worse by keeping Izuku so busy and wearing him out when he clearly should've been resting!
"Don't worry, Young Master Bakugou, it looks like Midoriya-san is only having a fever." Iida attempted to placate the agitated blond, "Why don't we call a doctor to come and take a look-?"
However, now Bakugou was deaf to all suggestions. When the driver came around with the car, he immediately climbed in with Izuku in his arms, commanding, "To the hospital!"
After saying so, he then turned to Iida who was standing outside and told him, "Get Birdface to come too!"
"Yes, sir." The bespectacled butler was helpless to do anything but agree as he watched them leave. If he had been uncertain before, seeing how worried Bakugou was being now, everything was now crystal clear.
This Omega was most likely going to be their Young Master Bakugou's future mate.
~*~