Flicking the tv on, Nico started getting ready for her day, Nagisa had ordered her to go help one of the larger hero agencies with an operation they were going to be partaking in. "With the capture of the villain Overheat by the heroes Uravity, Red Riot, Chargebolt, and Ground Zero, the whole country can breathe a sigh of relief." the reporter smiled as they showed a video of the capture.
"Damn, I was waiting for the bounty to come through on that one." she swept up her now short hair into a small tail. "But it's good to see them working together." It had been a while since she had seen any of the friends she had made from UA on the news, but seeing Bakugo made her heart ache a little. "It's going to be a long day as it is, I could have done without seeing him today."
"Who are you talking about Kit?" Nick asked as he let himself into the house. "Oh looks like Overheat got himself caught." he caught a glimpse of the broadcast before the topic changed to the weather.
"Yeah it sucks, but I guess it's better than having him on the loose." she offered him a mug, "Just made coffee so it's still hot." Nico turned her attention back to the tv.
"Did they say who caught him?" Nick dropped into a chair, "I hope it wasn't any of this year's rookies."
"Not rookies." she answered, not wanting to think about the people she was forced to leave behind.
"Ok then, well are you excited to see your new work space?" he could tell that it was a sore spot already. "You're going to be gone a while, you going to miss me at all?"
"Not a hope in hell." Nico turned to look at her uncle, "I know you'll come and check up on me in a few days once you get lonely."
"Come on now, do you really think so little of me that you assume I would be lonely without you or Nina around." he managed to get a small smile from her, "Plus you're going to be extra busy, so I'll stay out of your hair until you call me."
"So when you come scratching at my door because you're bored, I can turn you away? I like the sound of that." she went back to watching the news, "You're too used to having me and auntie around to entertain you."
"Well I seem to remember a little girl who always wanted me to keep her company." Nick tried to get a reaction out of her. "If I remember correctly, some of the heroes you're going to be working with were your classmates once, maybe while you're away from the family you can have a little fun with them."
"I have my orders from Nagisa, I am only there to aid with their tech." Nico pulled into herself, "I'm not there to make nice with the people I once called friends."
Nick missed the happy fun loving Nico, she had become exactly what Nami hadn't wanted. Five years had passed since she had come back home and over that time most of her happiness had been suppressed leaving a little cold and harsh at times.
"I know you've been excited to see your old friends." he put the mug down, "I'll go get the car ready then, you should get ready to head out."
"I just need to change and I'm ready, could you take my bag to the car? I left it by the door." she didn't look away from the screen as the huge man got to his feet.
"Sure thing, just don't take too much longer." he lingered a little longer before taking her duffle bags out to his car. "I really hope that boy knows what he's doing, there's a lot on the line. I hope they don't screw it up." he said to himself, what he hadn't told Nico was that it was one of her old friends that had called him with the job offer.
Bakugo joined up with the rest of the staff from the building to meet the specialist that had been requested from an outside source. There had been whispers that they were some big time family, while others said they came from a large tech company.
"Hey Bakugo," Kirishima waved him down, "So who do you think we're getting?"
He shook his head, "I just got here so I haven't seen anyone new yet." they heard their commander clear his throat making a hush fall over everyone.
"Alright listen up." the commander called for the crowd's attention, "Our partners from the Gatta family have sent their finest tech specialist to help us for the next little while." Kirishima and Bakugo looked at each other as they heard the clacking of heels come from the left side of the room. "I'd like to introduce the Scarlet Panther, she'll be here to make necessary upgrades for anyone who wants them." Nico walked over and silently stood with the commander, hands crossed behind her back.
Bakugo couldn't believe how much Nico had changed, she was so much taller now but she had cropped her hair down to her jaw line. He also noticed that she was wearing a blank expression, a complete opposite of the smile that had been burned into his memory.
"Shit, that's Nico. Look at her now, damn I bet you wish you hadn't broken up back then." Kirishima nudged the stunned Bakugo. "I bet she'd be more than happy to work on your gear."
The commander's voice brought Bakugo back to reality, "I'll send out a memo once she's all set up and you can go see about your upgrades." he dismissed them, turning to walk with Nico back to the work rooms.
Bakugo felt Kirishima give him a shove, "Go after her, I know you want to talk to her. I'll round up the others and meet you at the usual place."
He nodded, weaving through what was left of the crowd. "Oi, Nico." Bakugo called out, noticing one of her ears flick his way. "If you had planned on coming, you should have said something."
She turned a little to look back at him, "I'm sorry if I had known you worked with this organization, I would have had my uncle inform you." her voice held little emotion, but Bakugo noticed a small spark of something in her eyes. "If it is a problem I can arrange for a replacement." It was just her height that had changed, her eyes had become more cat-like and even her incisor teeth had become more fangs, giving her a more predatory look.
"No problems, it's just been a while and Kiri would've wanted to get everyone together." he looked to the commander, "I have to got to the tech department anyways, I can take her." he offered, he didn't have to go that way, but made the excuse so he could get the chance to talk with her a little.
"Thank you Bakugo, I appreciate it." he nodded to the pair, "You have all the contact information for my office if you need anything. Thank you again for coming." and he went to take care of other business that needed his attention.
"I don't need you to babysit me." Nico said as they continued to walk, she noticed that he was still wearing the cuff she had made. "I would have thought since I haven't heard from you in years that you wouldn't want to see me."
"I didn't think you wanted to hear from me." He admitted, "with the way you left and all."
"I didn't leave on good terms." Nico could feel her carefully crafted mask start to slip, all the emotion from her last night at the dorms started trickling back. "I never told you why I had to leave."
"You don't need to say anything, we just figured it had something to do with your family." Bakugo looked over as she stopped. "You had your reasons and you don't owe anyone an explanation."
"Good to know, now if you will excuse me I have to get my shop set up." she kept her head held high as she walked past, trying to not let him see the tears building up in her eyes. "I take it I'll be seeing you tomorrow, along with anyone else from our class."
"Yeah, tomorrow them." he said as Nico closed the door to her shop. There was so much he had wanted to say, that he wanted to know but couldn't bring himself to ask. Fuck, what the hell. She looked like she was going to cry.
"Hey Katsuki, you made it back in one piece." Kirishima greeted him as he joined Ochaco and Denki at a local restaurant. "So was it really her?"
"Yeah it was Nico, but she's changed since she left." he dropped into the seat across from Denki. "I wonder if she'll actually work on my gear."
"Why wouldn't she, I mean that's the real reason she was called in." Ochaco chimed in, "I would figure after all this time she would have let go of what happened."
"It would be easier to get over if I knew what happened, with the way she left and then wouldn't see or talk to anyone, so there's no way to know what actually is going." Bakugo couldn't help but feel a little defeated. "It's going to be impossible to get used to seeing her everyday."
His friends looked at each other, not really sure what they could say or do. "Hey bro, don't sweat it, just take it day by day." Kirishima tried to distract him, "You know that server that has been hitting on you is in today, maybe you can finally ask her for her number." he pointed her out across the room.
"I'm just going to head home, I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow." Bakugo grabbed his coat as he got up, "and don't get any ideas about getting that number, I can find my own dates jackass." he snapped at Kirishima as he left.
Instead of heading home like he said, Bakugo found himself standing outside of Nico's workshop again. Fucking hell, why the hell am I back here. He went to knock on the door, but hesitated. Fuck it, I'm going home.
He started to walk away when he heard someone else in the hall behind him. "You jackass," Nico shouted, throwing one of her shoes at his back. "It's been five years and that's all you got." she had changed from her suit into athletic gear and her other shoe in her hand ready to throw it. "I expected some big reaction, shouting or something. What kind of wimp move was that, leaving like that only to come back like an hour later and standing outside my door like a total creep."
Bakugo turned to face her, "You want to talk about wimp moves, what the hell is with the tears? You left us, without so much as a word in the middle of the night and now you look like you're going to start bawling." he took a breath to steady himself, "You left me and didn't say why."
"What happened to not needing to explain myself?" she snapped, "I thought I didn't need to tell you why I left like I did?"
"I thought you would have explained anyways, it was a dick move picking up like that and running away with your tail between your legs." he shot back at her.
"Fine, you want to know what happened, someone had told my grandfather about us." She had her hands balled up on her pant legs, fighting back her tears and failing. "He said that he would punish my aunt and uncle if I didn't leave school. I … I wanted to stay… I wanted to be there with you." she started to tear up, all the emotion she had been holding back the whole time came rushing down on her. "I didn't want to leave, but if I had stayed I couldn't have been with you."
The truth in her eyes made Bakugo freeze in place, it wasn't what he was expecting. Every argument he had been coming up with in his head all died on the spot. "I wanted to be selfish and I wanted it all, but I ended up with nothing. God how could I be so stupid, I should have just said something. Katsuki I…" she was cut off by him pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her.
"Dumbass, why'd you try to do everything on your own?" Bakugo whispered as Nico broke down crying, grabbing on to the back of his shirt and clung to him. "Now look at you, do you only know how to ugly cry?"
Nico managed a small laugh, reaching into her pocket for a tissue. "Just how many of our classmates work here? I'm starting to think Nick suggested me for this job not because of my skills." She retreated deeper into Bakugo's arms.
"Let's see there's us and Deku, Kirishima, Ochaco, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari." Bakugo listed off, trying to think of anyone he had missed.
"I have a lot of apologizing to do. But there's one problem now, I'm not going to be able to go back now, I just hope that Nagisa doesn't care that I'm running back to where I belong." Nico looked up at Bakugo.
"Screw him, if he doesn't like it then I'll just blast him into next year." Bakugo wrapped his arms around her tighter. "Let me walk you home and tomorrow we can see about talking more about what happened."
"Then we don't have far to go," she pointed to the workshop. "I didn't plan on renting anything for the month I was going to be here. So I have a small cot set up so I can work until I crash."
"That'll do for tonight, but tomorrow we'll see about getting you a real place." Bakugo thought of something, "Have you eaten yet?" When she shook her head he pulled away a little, "Get a coat, I just thought a good place to eat that I'll know you like."
Blinking at him a couple time Nico took a second to process what he was saying. "You want to go out to eat with me?" she was really confused now, "Are you sure about that?"
"Just go get your coat." he let her go and went to get her other shoe, "You'll see why once we get there." Turning around he saw her pulling on a hoodie that was easily meant for someone twice her size.
"What?" she asked when he started laughing, "It was the only thing I could find, you got a problem with that?" she snatched her shoe from him and put it back on.
"I just remembered the first day we met, you were hiding under a hoodie and a baggy pair of jeans." he draped an arm over her shoulders. "I guess old habits are hard to kill."
"Yeah I guess it's more of a security thing now than ever." she kept her hands in the pockets of the sweater. While it was obvious that he forgave her, she could forgive herself for putting him through everything, "I've missed you, Katsuki. More than I wanted to admit to myself and I'm so sorry for pushing you away, I was being stupid and trying to protect you." she could feel a new wave of tears starting to form.
"Don't start with the tears again, save that for when you see Ochaco." he pulled her close, "I know once she sees you you'll both be crying in seconds."
"I don't think I deserve to be forgiven." she hung her head a little, "I just picked up in the middle of the night and I didn't even say goodbye."
"Don't worry about it, I told them that you were needed at home. I bent the truth a little once I had some idea of what happened." he tried to make her feel a little better.
"Thank you for that, but I still have to apologize. It must have caused an uproar with me leaving like that."
"Yeah it did," he admitted, "but I think you'll before forgiven regardless. But come on, I have a surprise that you'll want to see." he urged her along a little faster.
