The Tinker

Chapter 57 - Voicemail

"Fuck!" Y/N roared, throwing her phone against the couch. "Voicemail. Fucking again. He isn't picking up. This asshole really thinks that he can just-- just--"

"That photo of you on his Instagram is all over now. Blowing up like crazy," Kaminari said. "Damn. These comments are--"

"Not now, Kami," Jirou grumbled. "Not important."

Bakugou was against the wall with his arms crossed, doing everything he could to reel in his anger. If Y/N had let him do things his way, Inasa would already have his face melted off his skull. Bakugou and Y/N had only been together for a day now and already the world seemed to be against him.

It should be him that was in the headlines with her. There should be gossip tabloids about their relationship-- as odd as it was, he yearned for it and wanted everyone to know that she was his. Having Inasa publicly saying that he was dating Y/N was making his gut whirl with a new kind of anger. Inasa had taken this from him and he was furious.

"Maybe it's a mistake," Y/N grumbled. "Maybe he said something incorrectly, or-- or the gossip channels misconstrued what he meant. He took no for an answer the last time I saw him."

"What do you mean he took no for an answer?" Bakugou spat. "Did he try something?"

Y/N shook her head. "No... well... kind of? After dinner he asked if I wanted to go back to his room with him, and I said no, and then we took the photo and--"

"When was this?"

"In America, a few days ago."

Bakugou's eyes widened. "Wait, what the fuck? He was in America with you?"

Y/N shook her head again. "No, no. He said he was in town seeing some friends and wanted to meet up for dinner." She paused for a minute before shutting her eyes in frustration. "Okay, now that I'm saying it out loud and connecting the dots it sounds weird. But at the time it wasn't. Really."

"Girl, that's some stalker shit," Mina grunted. "Has he been bothering you for a while?"

"It hasn't ever been anything weird, I mean it!" Y/N cried. "We've only talked, like, three times. He's never stalked me."

"That you know of," Bakugou scoffed. Y/N glared at him.

"I mean... Bakugou has a point. Did he say who his friends in America were?" Kirishima asked. "Any names or locations?"

Y/N shrugged. "No, not really. Just that they were nearby or something."

"Were you near your apartment?"

When Y/N didn't respond, the room went quiet for a bit at what that meant. 

Bakugou pushed off against the wall. "So he's got friends that live near your apartment. In one of the biggest countries in the world. Not fucking suspicious at all." He snatched Y/N's phone off the couch and dialed Inasa's number again, praying that he would pick up so he could cuss him out. 

Y/N and Bakugou slumped on the couch, hunched over her phone while it rang endlessly to no avail. They'd called dozens of times now; it wasn't gonna happen.

Todoroki walked into the room now to join the gang. "Hey, Y/N, I did a bit of research on-- woah. What's going on in here?"

"Fucking airhead thinks he can call Y/N his girlfriend," Bakugou grunted.

Y/N elbowed him. "Watch who you're calling airhead. I have the same quirk as him," she grumbled. "It's fine, just causing some shitty tabloid drama. It's not like my reputation was crystal clear anyways. What did you need to tell me, Shoto?"

Todoroki walked over to the couch and squished himself between Y/N and Bakugou, clearly not understanding that it was a weird thing to do. He'd never been great with social cues. He pulled out his phone and showed it to Y/N while Bakugou glared at him.

"I searched through my dad's stuff. The marriage was officiated through this company-- Fusion Matrimony. I don't know if that helps at all, but--"

"Oh, thank you," Y/N gushed. She took his phone and looked through the files. "It's weird that all this shit is happening at once."

"I don't think it's a coincidence," Todoroki said softly.

Y/N rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'mon. How would these things be related?"

Another awkward silence had fallen across the room. Apparently it was something that everyone had put together except for Y/N. She suddenly felt a bit stupid-- was she the only one who didn't think Inasa was behind it?

"There's no way," She argued. "Look, Inasa may have flirted or whatever, but that doesn't mean that he would want a quirk marriage with me. Plus, he wouldn't have my parents phone numbers, or know I was going to America, or anything like that. He couldn't have gotten in the dorms either. It just-- it's not him, okay? He was... too nice."

Bakugou scoffed. "That doesn't mean shit."

Y/N wanted to argue, but something deep down inside of her knew that Bakugou was right. The timing was weird. She prayed Inasa wasn't behind this. Having someone with the same quirk as her, someone with wild abilities and extensive experience-- it would've been wonderful. A friend that could help her grow more as a hero could've been great.

Maybe it was too good to be true.

~~~

"I don't like this."

Bakugou was in a bad mood; he had a right to be. His girlfriend was being showcased as someone else's. He wanted to let himself be excited, nervous, whatever emotions came with Y/N now being his, but he couldn't. All he could feel was a burning anger and jealousy. Inasa was going to pay.

"Sit down, you're gonna burn a hole in something again," Y/N grumbled. 

He hadn't even noticed his hands were lit as he was pacing back and forth in Y/N's room. God, since when was he so bad at controlling his quirk?

He clenched his fists to cover his palms, slightly ashamed of his disconnect. "Aren't you fucking pissed?"

"Yeah, I wish Inasa would pick up his damn phone, but I can't really do much about it at this point," Y/N said. She was crouched on her floor tinkering with a piece of her helmet. "This drama is pretty tame compared to some of the shit that happened in the states."

Bakugou let himself slow down and lowered himself to sit across from her on the ground. "What shit happened in the states?"

Y/N shrugged. "When I started working for Hawks there was a ton of speculation about me sleeping with him to get the position." She set her wrench down and picked up her oil to loosen one of the joints on her helmet. "Being a woman, I can't really do anything right. The public will tear me to bits no matter what I do, so I figured I could do whatever I want."

Bakugou was a bit salty at Hawks being mentioned, but couldn't deny how impressed he was at how little she cared about the media. 

"Don't get me wrong, I did sleep with him," Y/N joked, "but that wasn't until after I got the job. I'm a classy lady or whatever." She sighed deeply and stood up. "Alright, time to scram, Bakugou."

He glared at her. "You trying to get rid of me or some shit?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm tired."

"Then go to bed."

Y/N smirked at him. "You tryna sleep with me again, Kat?"

He stood up and glared at her. "You really think I'm letting you sleep alone after all this shit? Nice try, Tinkerbell." He scooped her up and tossed her onto her mattress, climbing on after her.