Hawks x Dabi

Chapter 23

Kyoko was crouched in front of the sink, screaming as she forced herself back, trying to become one with the cabinet. Toga glanced over to see a partially disintegrated body lying in the tub, blood splattered everywhere. Rage swelled in her chest as she half dragged half tossed Kyoko out the door, into the steady arms of Twice, and soon the warm embrace of Keigo. "Get Shigaraki. Now." Toga snarled to no one in particular, her voice twisted to the point of sounding almost inhuman. Footsteps faded, and Shigaraki shuffled into view moments later. "Hmm?" Agitation hung heavy in his voice. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that his only concern was that his sleep had been disturbed. With a swift motion, Toga tore the hand from Shigaraki's face and punched him. Hard. He stumbled back, slamming into the wall with very little grace. "I've had it with your bullshit. I'm only staying here cause of the money, but once I have what I need, I'm fucking done. Understand?" Toga's voice was barely above a whisper, but rage burned in her eyes. "Clean that up and keep your shit in the basement like everyone else. If it's not gone by morning, you'll regret it." Shigaraki simply stood, grabbed the hand from off the ground, and shuffled back to bed. The hall was silent. Keigo held Kyoko close, trying to calm her down, a puddle of vomit nearby. Dabi and Twice stood in silence, watching to make sure Toga didn't completely lose it. Toga walked over to Kyoko, kneeling down to stare at the shaken girl. "Change of plans." She smiled, forcing a chirp back into her voice. "You're going to sleep in the living room with me and Twice. I don't want you alone after that and my bed doesn't have room for two." Kyoko gave a slight twitch of acknowledgement, but didn't do anything else. In a matter or minutes, she regressed back to the shaking mess she had been when they grabbed her just a few hours earlier. Toga sighed, turning to Twice and Dabi, both looking into the bathroom, staring blankly at the mutilated corpse. "Go back to bed. You're all tired from today. I'll take care of things here for now. Kyoko," Toga tugged gently at the kid's arm. No response. "Hon, you need to go with Twice. You're okay. I promise." Toga smiled gently as Kyoko slowly relaxed, slowly standing and somehow made her way into Twice's arms. "Look at you," Dabi chuckled faintly as he grabbed Keigo, helping him up. "Being all motherly. Cute..." Dabi finished, helping Keigo into their room, where Toga watched the bird half plop, half fall into the pile of pillows stuffed into the corner of the room before the door closed with a faint *click* Toga ran her hands through her hair, undoing the two buns and letting her hair fall over her face. She quickly cleaned up the vomit, throwing everything away in the bathroom. She stared at the body for a moment, frustration and a tingling feeling of regret growing in her stomach. Like he'll actually do anything about the body. He couldn't care less about the kid, or anyone other than maybe himself for that matter. I'll clean it later. Toga shook her head, feeling completely drained. Must've hurt like hell, getting killed like this. How did no one hear anything? A sudden rush of dread ran through Toga, though she quickly pushed it away. Let's get some sleep. Got a lot to do later. Toga nodded to herself, trudging over to the couch where Twice and Kyoko lay. Kyoko snored quietly, Twice staring into space. "G'night Bunto." He murmured, receiving a quick nod. Toga slumped onto the couch, quickly dozing off. She dreamed about a woman patting her head, humming a sad melody. Her face was scribbled out, but there was a warm feeling about the woman. A nostalgic feeling...

Let's clear some things up before we switch to the heroes. It's like 4am right now. The gang and Kyoko got to the hideout at around 11 after the building went up... or down in this case. Last time we were with the heroes, it was the day after the hotel fire. This chapter was dealing with the villains after they got back to the hideout with Kyoko. After waking up and seeing the mess in the basement at around 11:40, Kyoko was out cold for about an hour, so by the time that spiffy conversation between her and Toga occurred, it was a little after 12:40. They talk and all that until about 3 (I know, weird pacing. I'm working on it...), then Kyoko went to take a shower. After everything goes down and everyone goes to bed, it's around 4am. The villains won't get mentioned again until about 1pm since they're all sleeping and we already know what happens that morning with Midnight and the reporters. Anyway, hope that clears things up a little, and now time for... Midnight and the others.

"Huh...they actually did it." Midnight chuckled as she looked at her phone, scrolling through the over-the-top description of that morning's events. "Midnight, the well-known pro hero, loses her patience and slaps a reporter. This came after a short confrontation between her and said reporter. Questions regarding the mental health of heroes have been seen across multiple social media platforms. Hah..." Midnight tossed her phone onto her desk, turning to Hizashi and Aizawa. "Wanna place bets on how quickly all of this will be forgotten as people look for something new to talk about? My guess is a week." Midnight let out a cold chuckle, though it quickly faded, giving way to a soul-crushing awkwardness as Hizashi simply nodded quietly in return. He tapped Aizawa's shoulder, whispering to him before speaking. "I don't know what to do with him." He looked at Aizawa, staring helplessly at his boyfriend. "He's been like this ever since I woke up. What did you say to him?" Midnight shrugged. "I told him he should focus more on you and try to find a way to cope. We both know he can't be doing this. While I'm not going to tell him to just get over it or pretend nothing happened, but..." Midnight trailed off, struggling to find the words. "Let me guess," Hizashi cut in, his voice cold and hollow. "We have a job to do." Midnight nodded quietly, looking up to meet the overwhelming gaze of Hizashi's eyes. "Un-fucking-believable." He threw his hands up, anger blooming in his eyes. "Just this morning you bitch slapped a reporter for saying the same thing you're saying now. We have a job to do? Are you serious? I don't remember this being in the job description. I don't remember being warned about this when we were kids, working our asses off cause we thought that THIS," Hizashi waved his hands around the empty, gloomy room, "Was living the dream. That THIS is what we aspired to be. We're not heroes Nemuri. We're fucking celebrities. People worship us and think we can do no wrong. They forget we're human, and then come down on us like a ton of bricks when we make mistakes. It's ridiculous that it took THIS LONG... THIS LONG Nemuri, for me to realize that NOTHING about being a hero is fucking worth it. It took until a coworker, a friend, DIED, for me to realize I hate this job. I hate EVERYTHING ABOUT IT." Nemuri watched tears drip down the blonde's cheeks as he spoke. "I HATE THIS!!!" He sobbed. "I hate my fans! I hate the fact that no one genuinely cares about us! I hate that I can't have a good, fucking RELATIONSHIP, without constantly worrying if today's the last day I see him. For all I know, I could die... HE could die... and no one would FUCKING CARE! I HATE IT HERE!!" Hizashi fell to the floor, wailing. Aizawa looked at him blankly, his dull, glazed-over eyes watching the man. Nemuri sat in silence, grief washing over her as Hizashi continued to wail. Tears began to fall, and she quickly wiped them away, only for them to be replaced by more and more. "Why?" The blonde continued. "Why did I stay this long?" Nemuri stood and practically ran from the room. It's too much. I can't... it hurts... Nemuri slid down to the floor, curling into a ball, and cried. Why did I stay this long? The words replayed again and again in her head. No matter how much she thought about it. She couldn't find an answer. And worst of all, it was soon her voice that looped the question again, and again, and again...

A.N. Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long since I updated. School's been a royal PAIN IN MY ASS!!! Also motivation problems. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and we'll see y'all in Chapter 24