Love/Hate (Lemon GarouxReader 🍋)

Start The Show

AN: I missed you all ^.^

~*~

'Garou...I-'
He feels his feet against the concrete.
'Garou...I-'
Step after lightning-quick step.
'Garou...I-'
Your words echo in his head to the rhythm of his feet.
What were you going to say?
He makes his way after Metal Bat at an almost superhuman speed. The alarm still screams, that high pitched wail, the evacuation notice on repeat like a broken record, punctuated by sounds of destruction carrying over from the city.
He notices monsters appearing, as if out of nowhere, to his right and left. Just small fry right now. He's slightly surprised that they are not targeting him, keeping their distance. He was ready to show no mercy but if they're leaving him alone, then whatever, he's got more interesting opponents in his sights.
Speaking of which, where the hell did that son of a bitch go?
He doesn't slow down, takes himself off the concrete path and heads for the thickness of the trees, into the forested part of the park.
'Garou...I-'
All his attention should be focused on finding that slick-haired motherfucker and making him pay, but the curiosity grips his mind, he can't shake it off as it wraps itself around his thoughts, tight and insistent.
'Garou...I-'
What were you going to say? How were you going to finish that sentence?
'Garou...I never want to see you again'? Possible.
'Garou...I'm so disappointed'? Probable.
He frowns, his brow furrowing. There's many, many ways he can think of to fill in that blank. But there's one that comes to the fore over and over.
'Garou...I hate you.'
But this time, it's not accompanied by that bright laugh of yours. It's not that playful thing that you say, slapping his arm lightly. This thing, your thing. This shared joke. Warm and intimate, the harshness of the word completely blunted by your kind voice.
No. This time he imagines the full weight of that verb. The serious, literal meaning. Three little words, four tiny letters. Brief and ephemeral but feel strong enough to kill.
But then why did you touch his face? A strange gesture for a declaration of hate and-
A monster suddenly appears in front of him, slabs of fresh earth flying in all directions as it emerges from the ground.
Garou has no time for this bullshit. Where is Metal Bat God fucking damn?
The monster attempts to threaten Garou but is quickly disposed of with one swift, precise movement, pieces of it lying about among the chunks of soil it had brought up.
Another monster nearby takes this personally and rushes at Garou while another screeches after it, a warning.
"Remember, we're supposed to leave the Hero Hunter alone!"
Huh?
Why single him out? What's the big fucking idea here?
The worked-up deformity doesn't care to heed the warning and meets the same quick end as its comrade.
And where the fuck did Metal Bat run off to? The frustration growls in his mind, his chest.
Chaos. It's fucking chaos.
Despite not finding his prey, a grin spreads over Garou's bloodied face.
It's a fitting scene for his grand entrance, after all.
The evacuation alarm falters as speaker posts fall, break like twigs somewhere behind him.
He glances over his shoulder. The grin replaced by a concern-coloured scowl.
Not good enough. Those 'heroes' looked pathetic. They won't be good enough at fucking all to protect you.
Fuck. The second thoughts, second guessing bombard him. He-
"I came in response to a call for back-up," a voice, young and serious, interrupts Garou's tumultuous thoughts. "So you're the Hero Hunter I've heard about."
Tch. What the fuck now? Garou turns, eyes Genos up and down.
Alright, that wasn't his plan. Metal Bat was going to be first. But now that this stupid tin can that calls himself Demon Cyborg is here, why not?
"I'm going to eliminate you," the newcomer announces, much too confident in his ability, in his upgraded equipment.
"That's my line," Garou bares his fangs, the grin quickly reappearing.
Let's start the show.

You let the young hero lead you away, and you follow running, grabbing Ryo in one hand and Tareo in the other. You can see Tsukiko just a couple of steps ahead, her ponytail whipping behind her as she holds onto Zenko's little hand for dear life, following the hero Bad had left in charge.
She turns every two seconds to check on you, to make sure you're still behind her.
You have no idea where you're going but you have no time to think. All you can concentrate on is not losing hold of Ryo and Tareo, of not losing sight of the hero, of not tripping over pieces of broken concrete.
The hero turns around, never slowing down, as if reading your mind.
"We'll take you to the shopping centre just there. The new buildings are especially made to withstand monster attacks!" He yells over his shoulder to be heard over the noise of the crowd, of things being ripped apart. "Just a little further!" He points up the road ahead as you scramble over a broken low stone wall, the boundary of the park separating it from the street.
"Ok!" You call back and keep your head down.
This is insane.
The street, peaceful and full of bright life what seems just a few moments ago is now at a standstill, cars left at dangerous, ridiculous angles and abandoned in the middle of their lanes, doors hanging open, people running in all directions, heroes trying to usher them away into the concrete buildings, carcasses of smaller monsters lie scattered among the lonely cars.
You tighten your hand around the boys'. You're probably squeezing too hard but it never crosses your mind, and they're too stunned to notice, running after you, Tareo wheezing, his little legs not as agile or fit as Ryo's.
"Almost there!" You tug at their hands reassuringly as you can spot the entrance to the flashy new shopping centre. There are cracks in the glass windows, chips in the concrete wall, but overall it seems to be holding up pretty well.
The closer you get, the thicker the crowd becomes, a press of people as you make your way through the doors. Once inside, you feel you can catch a breath. The crowd disperses a little and there's room to move.
You stay close to Tsukiko and move out of the way, away from the entrance, not wanting to get caught in the stampede inside.
You can spot heroes among the crowd, and there were more just outside, standing guard.
You feel like you're in the middle of a siege.
"Over here, over here!" Tsukiko spots a space near a wall that's a little less crowded and you all make your way quickly there.
It's not until you stop moving that you realise how hot you feel, how your coat suddenly feels heavy on your shoulders, your chest heaving, how your hair is sticking to your face. How thirsty you are, your throat dry and scratchy while your legs suddenly feel like jelly now that you're not moving.
You feel sheer panic inside but keep it together as much as you can in front of Ryo, Tareo and Zenko. You look at Tsukiko and can tell she feels the same, struggles to keep the fear out of her eyes as she puts on a small, firm smile.
"It will be ok," she says. "There's lots of heroes around. We'll be ok here. The building was made for this," she says, leaning one hand on the wall, the other still gripping Zenko's tightly as people begin to press in and you huddle closer together in your little group.
"Onii-chan," Zenko says quietly, her lip quivering ever so slightly.
Tsukiko presses her close against her coat.
"He'll be ok! Don't worry! I promise! He'll be ok," and you can see that her lip is quivering almost as much.
"Onee-chan," Ryo's voice breaks through your consciousness, having spaced out for a moment there. "Onee-chan," he squeezes your hand.
You look down at him, as brave as you can.
"It will be ok. We'll be ok!" You hurry to reassure him but it's like he's not even paying attention to the growing pandemonium.
"Is Garou onii-san-" he starts and then pauses, thinking of the right words, not quite sure himself what exactly he wants to ask.
You suddenly feel a lump in your throat like a stone, a new kind of panic setting in. Whatever his question is, you don't think you'll be able to answer it in a way that spares him the disillusionment of his own personal hero.
Ryo thinks, his hand still in yours. He stares at the ground for a moment, then up at the ceiling. There are a lot of things rushing through his young mind and he doesn't know which to settle on. The fact that Metal Bat and Garou seemed to really not like each other, that's a little concerning. The fact that Garou had followed them secretly, not wanting to be seen. Why? Why did he look so angry at the heroes trying to help you all? Why did he leave you all and run after Metal Bat? Was he going to help the heroes fight the monsters? There's so many things swirling around in his brain. He looks at you for a moment, finally having found the most important right now, settled on it.
"Garou onii-san," he stares up at you with growing concern. "Is he ok? He looked hurt."
It's true. Even though you knew he was up to no good, seeing him like that in the flesh, the dried blood streaks on his forehead, the ripped shirt, sliced open at the back, still made your heart clench. An unwelcome, if not unexpected, surprise.
You blink back at Ryo, taken aback by his question. You were sure he was going to ask about what Garou is doing and why? But all he wants to know is that he's alright.
"Y-yes," you say, now your own lip quivering just a little, just like Tuskiko's, just like Zenko's. "Yes. He's fine," you let go of Ryo's hand for a brief moment and smooth down his unruly cowlick, damp from the run, from the growing heat in this packed building.
"Will he really be ok?" Tareo chimes in, looking up at you with eyes more fearful than Ryo's. "Will sensei be ok?"
You can see he's just as confused as Ryo. Not understanding why in the world Garou would act, would look like he just did, a world away from the joking, patient Saturday sensei they are used to and love.
Even you have no idea where Garou went just now and why. You suspect heavily it was to do with Metal Bat and that it was nothing good, but you can't say that with one hundred percent certainty.
"Yes," you smile, a little weakly if you're honest, at Tareo, at Ryo, pulling them closer to you as the crown buzzes closer and closer to your huddle. "He's very strong. He'll be ok. I know it," you say, putting all the conviction you have left into your words. "He's-"
You feel the vibration of your phone in your pocket, the ringtone inaudible among the noise of the growing mass of people.
You manage to squeeze your hand into your pocket and pull it out. 'Aunt Kiko' flashes across the screen, the phone still buzzing in your hand.
You swipe the green circle to answer the call and press the screen close to your ear.
Straight away you can tell something's not right. The line crackles, cuts out every two seconds.
"Hello?" You call loudly into the speaker, trying to be heard above the voices of countless others. "Hello?"
"Are- ...there? Where-...you? ...you safe? ...please-!" Your aunt's voice sounds panicked and far away.
"Hello? I can't hear you!" You almost shout back. "Can you hear me? We're inside the mall by the park! We're safe!"
"..you there? What's hap-... Where are-...??"
"You're breaking up really bad!" You press your other ear closed with your fingers, hoping that this will somehow magically make you hear all those missing words. "Are you at home? Are you safe? What's happening there? We're ok right now!"
"We're ok! There's not much happening out here," your Aunt finally manages to get through a whole sentence and she sounds the most frightened you've ever heard. It's so out of character for this feisty, confident woman that you forget you own fear for a moment. "You-" and then the line cuts off completely.
You quickly redial but are unable to connect the call. You stare at your screen in frustration. At least you charged your phone just before you left and it's still sitting on 88%. You go to try to redial when a new call comes in, the contact name announcing 'Dad'.
Your eyes grow wide and you almost drop your phone in your hurry to answer. You press the screen to your ear again and manage to hear the words "Where are y-" before the call cuts off completely. And his voice, this warm, protective voice that has always been full of nothing but proud affection for you sounds so terrified, so stricken that you start to feel the soft prickle of tears.
"Dad!" You yell into the phone, into the lonely hang up tone. "Dad!!" But it's no use.
Ryo looks up at you, and you can see the fear suddenly starting to catch up to him.
"It's ok!" You hurry to reassure him. "It's-!"
A loud crash, a shudder through the concrete of the building interrupts you and you all duck down instinctively. But the building stands, holds up.
Tsukiko holds out her own phone to you, having managed to catch a live news stream which keeps cutting in and out, pixelated and distorted but the situation is clear even so. You see monsters, all different shapes and sizes overrunning the city, the streets just outside these walls, and heroes, so many heroes, more than you've ever seen doing their best to take them down. It appears they're concentrating on the city centre, the suburban neighbourhoods having been mostly spared.
Strike fast, strike hard seems to have been their plan, their modus operandi.
But why? Why now?
There had always been monsters. Occasional ones. Freakish one-offs quickly dealt with by the Hero Association but this is something unprecedented. Entirely new and frightening.
Another loud boom outside. The walls shake again. Someone screams. You huddle on the floor, the kids between you and Tsukiko. There is nothing to do except wait. And hope. Hope for what? For the heroes to deal with the situation. For this to be over as quickly as possible. For Garou to come back. And more importantly, come back in a form that you recognise.
The alternative, your worst nightmare.