The first time Camie stepped inside the Ground Zero agency, her world started to spin.

At first it felt like a vacation, a trip away from her own workplace to explore new, unprecedented landscapes. Fallacy replaced her belief when she too soon realized Inasa was coming along with her, suddenly being surrounded by questions from the sidekicks of the Explosion Hero's agency. She only ever caught one or two being shot at her like bullets. The rest were drowned out like white noise.

Somehow Inasa got the situation sorted through his method of shouting at the top of his lungs. The exact introduction Camie silently feared. It didn't help one bit that he looked like a mountain compared to her, following him like an ugly duckling. Aren't Fridays usually more laid-back than this?

The desk-lady's nice, Camie thought. Her fire-red hair and flaming tips constantly clouded her lungs with smoke, but when she tried hard enough, Camie tricked herself into believing this lady won't be the successor to that arsonist's intentions. Even if it were to be on accident. She directs the two to a certain floor, mouthing good luck accompanied with a roll of the eyes.

Camie has to constantly remind herself that she's only coming here to confirm a partnership. It's just a partnership. She's only coming here to settle an unfinished discussion. The past few nights have become a ritual of rereading her text messages like broken records. It was clockwork, fussing over what she should and should not have said, and with each step she takes towards the elevator is a step closer to Bakugou. Inasa told her she'll be fine, let him do the talking, he's had a couple alliances in the past, he knows what to do. He told her all of that, and still, her brain can't get the idea of literally taking her feelings into the workplace.

She wants to talk to him alone.

Is that okay, Inasa?

"Is what okay?"

…

...Again?

She had spoken aloud, she realizes, turning to Inasa and his contorted expression. Camie's not a hotheaded person, but she could genuinely use a punch to the face right now.

Caught red-handed, she has no choice but to admit her words. "Is it aight if I, like, y'know, talk to him alone?"

"Who? Bakugou?"

"Yea."

Together they ride the elevator heading to the third floor. Inasa looks to the ceiling in thought. "Uhh, I mean, sure, if you're up for it. I won't get in your way, but you have to remember this was your idea, Camie, so make sure you're talking about the partnership."

"Whaddya think I'm gonna talk about?" she accuses.

The wind hero grins widely, musing a suggestive look, and suddenly the woman hopes that punch is going to be shared evenly.

This day can't get any worse.

"So? What are you going to do about it? Pull a fucking grenade out of your ass?"

Bakugou has to literally recoil just so the breath of the man doesn't roast his face off. He doesn't recall any emotions that rack his head as soon as his body flips on autopilot — one moment he is standing parallel, chest pressed against chest with Tatakai, his oldest known sidekick that stood alongside him since the beginning. The next he is clocking said 'sidekick' square in the nose. Tatakai grunts as he's taken aback in shock, heavy streams of crimson oozing from his nostrils, nose staining black and blue. A lady gasps in the background, and it's the sound that snaps Bakugou out of his blinding rage.

"You…" Tatakai says, disbelief rendering him speechless. Several emotions traverse his face alone, staring Bakugou down with a look of murder. They are like mirrors, reflecting each other's faces back and forth.

"Don't you ever, ever, speak to me like that again."

The calmest voice he can manage. Tatakai and his fucking smartass stunts. How does it feel to stare down the barrel? Bakugou heaves, blood coiling through his skin and tinting his face the same pigment as Tatakai's leaking nose. "You think you're so fucking smart. How would you like it if you weren't saved because some piece of shit 'hero' decides he wants to be a goddamn showboat?"

"That's not what I fucking said," Tatakai deflects.

"It's what I said."

"Well aren't you a—"

"And because I am your boss," Bakugou overpowers Tatakai's voice, an earthquake compared to his, "what I say, you have to follow, because they are YOUR RULES."

Tatakai has to crane his neck to look at his boss in the face. Blood drips onto the carpet, staining it, and he isn't sure who, but there are definitely people staring at him. Staring into his back, old friends, new friends, coworkers he still hasn't learned the names of, the people he used to go drinking with, everybody he used to smile at, everybody who used to smile at him…

They're all looking at him now.

Bakugou joins their silenced shock. Tatakai's boss is staring at him with crimson eyes of pure, undaunted rage.

"Since you can't fucking listen to what you're told to do,"

Tatakai was going whiter and whiter.

"you're fucking fired."

…

The silence that follows is like drowning in the sea. Alone.

"W-what?" his voice comes out small, pathetic, weak, like he can't actually believe what he has just heard. The process of the truth dawns on him gradually. Staticky. Words playing again and again like a scratched record player. In the corner of his vision he sees his wide-eyed friends, mouths forming perfect 'o's as the seconds tick by like a timebomb. His boss—no, Ground Zero takes one last heavy breath, delivering the final blow to his obliterable assault.

"So why don't you make use of yourself again and get the fuck outta here."

"Y-you can't," Tatakai retorts, speech shaking in unison with his frame. "You can't do that."

The taller man tilts his head with a sneering, "Oh, yes I can. I just did, Showboat."

"I-I've been here since, like… time immortal! You can't do this to me, man, I just… I made a mistake, okay? Listen—"

"Uh-huh, now you suddenly want me to listen to you! After all the times you fucking ignored me and my orders! Why the fuck not!"

Tatakai is starting to bear semblance to a ghost. Frantic breaths with shallow release.

With the way Bakugou's heart has his blood pumping, the high he's on isn't cooling down soon, and, fuck, he just remembered he has a meeting today, of course, why wouldn't he. Of all the days he gets into a fight, it's today, and with Tatakai's pansy ass too. He hasn't been this heated in a long, long time. He isn't even entirely sure about what he just said, and frankly, he really doesn't give a shit. He just wants this clown out of his face. Tatakai's been plummeting in his work performance ever since that mediocre job he completed in Hosu, all by himself. Like he was trying to place himself up on the podium. Make it look like he's better than anyone else. Putting himself above others.

The way Bakugou sees it, Tatakai has had this coming.

"Ground Zero," says someone else, a girl's voice. Bakugou doesn't turn to look at them.

"I'm busy," he snaps.

She pauses. "...But… you have visitors…"

…

…

It takes a moment for his inner dictionary to define the word, 'visitors'.

A person visiting a person or place, especially socially or as a tourist.

He blinks once, twice, hell, thrice to justify his coordination, and turns to who he now remembers to be Sparkler, aka Yagako, one of Tatakai's acquaintances. She looks like a deer caught in headlights at the situation she's walked in on. Beside her stands the aghast Wind Hero, Gale Force, and Illusion Hero, Maboromiecamie.

"They're here for a partnership discussion…?"

Sparkler must have realized that her secret power of poor timing has shined once again.

Bakugou was wrong.

Today only got worse.

Today's highlights are minimum, and it's only noon. Bakugou can't look at his guests in the eyes. Not after what they probably witnessed him do to Tatakai. Shortly after, the ex-sidekick made a beeline for the exit, uttering out threats and curses at Bakugou for what's coming next. It honestly made the migraine developing in his head much more excruciating. He hasn't even been able to pull any words out of himself since.

Fortunately, Camie decides to break the ice for him.

"So…" is all she says, rigid position tensing up further. "Like, um… how's it going?"

Bakugou rubs his temples with a curt, "Shitty." Might as well flog the horse while it's down.

She nods at that, eyes drifting awkwardly away to random areas in the room. The desk situated between them hides her fiddling thumbs. Inasa copies her, keeping uncharacteristically silent while the explosionist pretends to be reading a paper to ignore the elephant in the room.

So, without fear or hesitation, Inasa chooses to point it out.

"What happened?"

Bakugou leers, contemplating what to say. He would much rather stray from this topic as soon as possible, yet the high he had been riding earlier pumps adrenaline across his body. He sighs, long and heavy, a mess of exhaustion and stress let out in one fell swoop.

"That burning building," he starts, recalling the disaster a few days prior. "Tatakai—that guy—he was supposed to be backing us up. He went off on his own when I specifically told him not to. He's been doing this kind of shit for the longest time, and I tried to tell him to straighten the fuck up, but he just doesn't listen. Someone almost died because of him, and he kept saying shit about how he did it by himself, it all ended up fine anyway, but that doesn't fucking matter—he didn't listen to me! God, it just — it pissed me off so fucking much, I couldn't stop myself."

Camie and Inasa can't find any words to fit this situation.

Bakugou continues, "I fucking hit him and now he's probably going to sue —I don't know what to do. Fuck, I didn't think this would happen, shit."

His emotions are overflowing with guilt and embarrassment. Hiding his face isn't doing him much justice, but he's at least content with not looking at Camie at the moment. Remembering Tatakai and his contorted face, it makes him want to bring him back so he can punch it again. And again. And again. Until all the amount of hidden fury is expelled.

In the midst of turmoil, Camie's voice reaches his ears.

"It'll be okay."

Genuine. Sincere. Bakugou can't stand being talked to in such a way right now.

"Don't give me that."

"It will," she assures. "Seriously. Time heals."

When he moves his hand, her fawn locks and eyes follow to meet his own. Inasa simply smiles and strays further from them, silence befalling his person.

"Plus," Camie says. There's an odd twinge in her voice as she reaches out to him. "If you're going to conquer things, like, missions and stuff, I'll totally help you out."

Her words register and Bakugou feels a prick in his chest. He stares at her hand, wordlessly glancing up from it and her face. His mouth runs dry like the desert.

"Even if Tatakai sues, I'll be right there beside you."

There are ways to detect lies in someone's body language. Whether it be their eyes, speech, or movements, certain tricks can be used to pick up deceit. Bakugou tries, tries so hard to the best of his ability to see if anything that Camie is telling him is a huge scam, a cruel joke, or a prank. He's seen it before. Alliances with empty promises and unrealistic goals. He's turned down each and every one of them. He's used the exact strategy with them all, and they're all unreliable.

Over the years, Bakugou has been lied to countless times. But now…

Camie isn't displaying anything that could pull a fast one on even a regular person. Unless her trembling limbs mean anything besides her being nervous, Bakugou can't find anything to use against her.

She's... speaking from her heart. She really means what she says.

...

...Bakugou… isn't sure how to describe this... feeling. He... really appreciates her.

Yeah…

Her words mean a lot. The warm sensation blooming in his chest kind of hurts, but... if he were to explain it, it's a type of... good kind of hurt. The ambiguity of it is new to Bakugou.

Bakugou decides he likes this feeling, as he takes Camie's hand and shakes it.

"You're hired."

She's abruptly taken aback, the decision falling on her like an anvil.

"Wait, really?!"

Oh yeah. Inasa's here, too. He and Camie are like twins, their eyes wide as saucers. Bakugou simply stands after making the agreement, crouching below his desk to look through a drawer of papers while he's bombarded with questions he doesn't care to answer. He pulls up a tan folder and tosses it across to them.

"There are the missions scheduled for this month. If you don't think you can handle them, don't bother coming along."

"We don't have to answer any questions?" Camie inquires. She shifts through the list.

"No."

"Wait, so," Inasa's too flabbergasted to get his words out right, "you're accepting us as your partners?"

"Did I fucking stutter?"

"...No, it's just so sudden, and—WHOA, there's a gang war going on?!" Inasa buries his nose in the descriptions of the missions.

The explosionist rolls his eyes. "There's nothing scheduled during the weekend of the Summer Festival, so unless you forget anything, don't bother coming."

"Gotcha," Camie grins. "You'll be there, right?"

Bakugou can't tear his eyes off of her. His voice struggles to make noise, and once he grits it out it's like scraping his throat against sandpaper. "Yeah."

"Heh. Cool. Um, thanks for like, accepting us, btw. I'll help you through this Tatakai crap."

Oh, god.

Bakugou can't remember feeling this fussy over a single person. The way she's talking, it's like she's bashing a hammer against his heart again and again. The sweat forming on his hands sends shivers coursing through his blood. Good shivers.

He'll never admit it aloud…

…But, Bakugou decides he… enjoys Camie.

He… appreciates her. More than he appreciates his… what are they again? Friends?

…Oh! He just remembered!

"Whatever. And, hey, uh—"

Her eyes are like a cat's, blinking curiously. Bakugou strikes while the iron is hot.

"—you don't like candy apples, right?"

There's nothing wrong with asking her, he's only wondering because of the event that they just so happen to be attending together. It's not like he wants to know what the hell she likes to eat.

"You kidding?" Camie muses. "Bro, I love candy apples!"

"You do."

"Yeah! Totes! We should like, get some at the festival! They have this kickass stand there, I stg, you'll die for what they have there. Their takoyaki is top tier."

Listening to her is like candy to the ears.

Bakugou finds himself looking forward to the festival this year for once. He has a feeling he won't regret accepting Camie's alliance offer. Without warning, his thoughts are unexpectedly clouded with different candy apple recipes.

Bakugou was right.

Today only got better.

"So!" Inasa interjects from his seat, a sly grin across his features. "If you guys are done making out, I would like to discuss the upcoming case!"

Yet despite the visible color in their faces, neither Bakugou nor Camie cared to correct him.