Keigo hums softly as he waves at the receptionist of the Commission's building. She smiles and waves back, nodding at him before returning to her paperwork for the day. He offers a few casual greetings to a few of the suits milling around, all smiles until they turn their backs to him.

Filthy winged beast.

Disgusting.

How is he so lazy so high up in the rankings?

Ridiculous.

It wasn't like he couldn't hear the cruel things they said about him. Hell some of them even hurt. But, so long as they're about him, they don't bother him too much. It's until someone says something about Reina or Leinei that he loses his cool. He can handle the slander to his name and to his quirk, even his personality and tastes, even if most of them were orchestrated by the President herself, the evil old crow.

Everything I do, I do so they can have a better life. I'll shoulder it all, as much as I can until I break, so they don't have to suffer anymore. Heh, it's all I'm good for. Giving everyone else a better life.

Hm..when was the last time I went out to lunch with them? I should get to know Katsuki better too, and Atsuhiro. They seem like they're gonna stick around in their lives for a while…hehe, maybe I should find a date too, that would be fun!

The idea made him chuckle as he stepped onto an elevator leading up to the highest floor where the President resided. He yawns as the elevator dings through each of the floors, stretching his arm behind his head to scratch the spot just below his neck. The fact he feels so exhausted reminds him he should have grabbed a coffee before coming here. Tsukuyomi is in class right now..I can probably catch a few hours of sleep before I have to actually do anything. I wonder how Lei Bay is doing with her work study…I heard she arrested a villain all by herself.

"Hawks, your floor?" one of the suits says, getting his attention. He smiles and waves his thanks as he walks past, letting the doors close behind him. He glances around the office, seeing the President at her desk with the windows closed behind her. Oh that's never a good sign.

"Ya called for me?" he asks, walking up to the desk. "Since you wanted me here before the new rankings are announced next month."

"I'm aware, Hawks," she replies, looking up from her paperwork. "So I've been made privy to the fact you haven't spoken to Empathia about her mission?"

The moment she chooses a hero name they like, that's all she is, huh..?

"Ah, not yet," he laughs, shaking his head as he rubs the back of his neck. "I meant to tell her while I was last at the school for that work study assembly, but she ran off before I could discuss anything with her. I did manage to talk Fatgum into taking her into his program, so that's a win!"

"Of course. He'll make sure she gets plenty of hands-on experience. Despite the fact we wanted her underneath Elementia, but I'm sure you had the Commission's best interests at heart, correct?"

"Just who do you take me for!" he continues, smiling and tilting his head. "I owe you guys everything. Why wouldn't I?"

"I was just making sure. Sometimes your motives…are questionable. We don't like questionable alliances here, Hawks. We don't have to worry about that with you, now do we?"

"Not at all! I'm the loyal messenger pigeon for you," he assures, the words twisting his stomach and making him feel nauseous. "It's just been hard as well, trying to find time to tell her. She does have friends at her school now. She's done amazing at UA so far."

"Oh yes, we've been made quite well aware of her situation. Katsuki Bakugo is his name, correct?"

Fuck me, that didn't take long.

"Well, she has more friends than just him," he remarks softly. "As far as I know, she's friendly or at least acquaintances with most-"

"Eijirou Kirishima, Denki Kaminari, Mina Ashido, Sero Hanta, as well as a few others, including Endeavor's youngest, and a male student from Ketsubutsu." She temples her fingers, tilting her head. "Am I missing any?"

She can't be threatening children, can she? Fuck.

"I dunno, they all have such long and confusing names," he tells her, shrugging and pulling the collar of his jacket over his mouth. She's not insane enough to do anything to kids, is she? Especially not at UA. "But I know Leinei, she wouldn't do anything that puts the Commission into jeopardy."

Naomasa, Eraserhead, Nezu, can you guys please hurry up with that emancipation crap? The sooner she's free from this the sooner I can tell them to fuck themselves.

"I hope not. It would be horrible if she were to be pulled from the school and lose all of her friends due to her mistake." The President smirks. "I know how much she struggles to make friends. Especially ones so willing to kiss her. I pray she isn't falling in her sister's footsteps either. A shame we had to fix that before it became an issue."

Yeah and now she's still sleeping around without a concern for her wellbeing.

"I really doubt they've done more than hold hands," he remarks. "Besides they survived being kidnapped together, that's bound to create some lasting bonds. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Of course. You know Empathia the best. Now, circling back to her mission. You will be joining her, while also resuming your hero duties."

"Of course! Anything you need me to do."

Leinei groans as she falls face first into her pillow, her legs hanging off the bed. She's exhausted from figuring out how to balance school, a job, and her homework as well as barely getting to see Katsuki. Rolling over, she grabs Mr. Spokes and hugs him to her chest, staring at the ceiling.

He's been spending a lot of time training with Izu and All Might when he doesn't have remedial lessons…I hope everything's okay…

She sighs softly, pressing the plush to her face as she closes her eyes. There was supposed to be a special meeting tomorrow with other agencies, Keigo hasn't responded to any of her messages all day, Reina said something about the meeting tomorrow, and she just wants to scream.

Can I even handle this pressure?

"I should go see if Katsu is in his room," she mumbles, but doesn't get up. She's been to check his room almost every night after she gets home this week, but he's never there. He comes home for dinner with Izu, then dips out again, saying barely three words to her.

The distance is back…I don't like it…

But I can't do anything if he doesn't talk to me…maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just overthinking. Everything is fine. We're both just really busy, that's all it is. We're fine.

But why doesn't it feel fine…

Her phone buzzes from the spot it stays on her desk, prompting her to sit up and climb off her bed. She sits in her desk chair as she picks it up, her brow furrowing as she sees a message from an unknown number. Who the hell would be texting me?

Unknown Number: {Hey! How's everything going?}

Leinei: {I'm sorry, who is this? How do you have my number?}

Unknown Number: {Oh, it's Shindo! Sorry, I should have led with that, huh?}

Oh yeah, I did give him my number, didn't I? I completely forgot about that…

Leinei: {Yeah maybe lead with that next time, haha. Everything's good here. I started a work study under Fatgum in Esuha.}

Shindo(Ketsubutsu): {You guys are already doing work studies? Yeesh our school wouldn't even let us attempt that test until our second year and we're still working out our own work studies. You guys waste no time, lol}

Leinei: {Hah yeah. Special circumstances for our classes let us move our time table up. Glad we could impress you during the exam though. Heard you gave a good portion of my class a run for their money. Hanta still complains about the tremors you caused.}

Shindo(Ketsubutsu): {Eh, only one or two of you guys really impressed me. You being one of course. Is your hero costume always that revealing, or is that just because you were crawling through rubble?}

Shindo(Ketsubutsu): {I'm not trying to be rude or gross, and I know it sounds bad over text. It looks really good on you!}

Leinei: {It's that way because of my quirk. It lets me pick up on emotions better. And you shouldn't be speaking, Mister I didn't have a shirt! At least I was fully clothed.}

Shindo(Ketsubutsu): {I mean I have to show off these muscles somehow, don't I? I wasn't trying to be insulting or insinuating anything. It looks good on you. Maybe when we graduate and are full-fledged heroes, we could work together sometimes. I think we'd make a good team!}

Leinei: {I think that would be fun! I'd love to see how we work together. As long as you don't get smacked around by Gang Orca again, of course.}

Shindo(Ketsubutsu): {Now that's just rude! I was almost concussed, I'll have you know.}

Leinei: {Come back to me when you've been kidnapped.}

She waits for the instant reply like before, only for it to be left on read a few seconds later. A few bubbles pop up saying he's typing, but disappear just as fast. I shouldn't have sent that. I'm dumb. You don't make friends by bringing up trauma!

She starts to type out an apology, only for the screen to turn to an incoming call from Shindo. Her face flushes and she slumps in her chair as she slides the green button across the screen and holds her phone to her ear.

"You were kidnapped?" he says incredulously, obviously not able to comprehend the text she had sent. "What the fuck do you mean you were kidnapped? Are you okay-I mean obviously you're okay, if you're still here, but fuck!"

"It was a few months ago. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"A few months! What the fuck you do you mean 'a few months'. Why are you so saying that so fucking casually?!"

"M'sorry, I shouldn't have tried to joke like that. It was in poor taste-"

"Wait a minute, a few months-holy shit you were in that bar before All Might retired! Holy fuck!"

"Yep. Unfortunately."

"And that other guy, Bakugo, he was with you there, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. We were grabbed at the Wild Wild Pussycats' summer camp."

"Fuck, you probably don't want to talk about it like that. Shit, um, change of subject! How does a vampire start a letter?"

That's weird but okay.

"I dunno. How do they?"

"Tomb it may concern."

He laughs while she physically grimaces, a small strained chuckle escaping her lips as she slumps further down in her chair. She still can't help but smile, closing her eyes as she tilts her head over the back of her chair and lets out a soft breath. It takes a few seconds before Shindo can talk again, still giggling at his own crappy joke.

"Okay, that was pretty bad, huh?"

"Only a little," she assures, her eyes still closed. "But the subject changed, so thank you. I shouldn't-"

"If you ever need someone to talk about it to, I'm here," he tells her softly. "I mean, I haven't gone through the same crap like your boyfriend, but I can at least listen. If you don't want to, that's fine too. I don't want to force you into anything you're uncomfortable with."

He's…he's honestly really sweet. It's nice. Nowhere as nice as Katsu, but a new friend is never a bad thing.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you, Shindo," she tells him, sitting up as her door opens and Katsuki pokes his head in, an eyebrow perked seeing her on the phone. She gives him a small wave, relieved to see him for the first time this week as he walks in and closes the door. "You seem like a good friend."

"Who are you on the phone with?" her boyfriend asks, tilting his head.

"Who's that in the background?" Shindo asks.

"It's Shindo, Katsu," she replies to Katsuki first, who bristles at the name.

"Oh your boyfriend? Hey, Bakugo! Heard ya failed!" Shindo says, raising his voice to get the ashen blond's attention. A vein pricks in his forehead as he reaches forward and grabs her phone from her hand.

"Katsu-!"

"Sorry, my girlfriend is preoccupied and can't entertain your dumbass anymore," he growls before hanging up and setting her phone on the desk. "Since when are you and that extra on a phone call basis?" he demands, his voice growing louder with every other word.

"We aren't," she retorts, standing up so fast her chair slides back. "He called because I cracked a stupid joke and wanted clarification. The call logs and the text messages are right there! Why are you getting mad at me for having a conversation?"

Why am I getting so defensive? Are we arguing? I don't want to argue, not with him. Arguing leads to broken relationships, and I don't want that-not with him.

"I'm not getting mad at you!" he yells at her, groaning as he rubs his hands over his face. She goes to sit back down in her chair, missing it and falling on her ass as she starts to tremble. "No, no, I'm sorry, please-fuck!"

He gets on his knees in front of her, hugging her tightly to his chest. She grips his shirt and buries her face in his neck, inhaling the familiar scent of sweat and burnt syrup. I don't want him to be upset with me…I don't want to lose him like this…

"I shouldn't have gotten mad like that," he says after she's had a chance to calm down, burying his face in her shoulder as her trembling slows. "Fuck me, you reassure me constantly, and I still feel so fucking stupid."

"I won't talk to him anymore, if you don't want me to," she offers softly, easing slowly away from him. "I don't want to argue over something like this-"

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you can't talk to someone," he says quickly, a little defensively. "You can talk to whoever you want. I just…no phone calls? Can we do that? Is that okay?"

She nods slowly, relaxing and taking a breath. After he takes a breath, he falls forward with his head against her shoulder. She chuckles and gently threads her fingers through his hair, running his nails against his scalp. He makes a contented noise and scoots closer to her, one of his knees between hers.

"How's training with Izu and All Might going?" she asks, leaning her head on his. "We haven't gotten to talk much lately."

"It's going…how's your work study? Deku said you guys have that weird meeting tomorrow between a bunch of different agencies?"

"Oh yeah. Kiri and I did get invited to that," she chuckles, nodding. "Only because we're with Fatgum. I think it has something to do with the bullets we found the other day."

"Yeah…" He leans his head back and looks at her, his eyes tired. She hadn't noticed the dark circles under his eyes until now, and the smallest quiver of his bottom lip, the way his nose twitched. Her small smile falls slightly as she cups his cheeks, running her thumbs under both eyes. "What?"

"Nightmares again?" she asks softly, tilting her head. "I thought they-"

"M'fine. Just tired from the training and extra lessons. I don't know how you did it," he remarks, shaking his head.

"I was very tired all the time," she assures, forcing her smile again. "You need to sleep more. Or learn how to pace yourself-"

"No," he growls out, pulling his head away and glaring at her. "I'm already fucking behind everyone! I can't-I just need to get stronger. I just need to keep training and figure out where I'm constantly fucking up so much that even Deku is ahead of me. Why do you keep needing to save me! None of it fucking makes sense!"

She flinches, taken a little aback by his outburst. His face is red and he's breathing heavily, his shoulders tensed as he looks at the floor between them. After a few seconds of silence, he punches the floor and gets up, running his hands over his face.

"I need to shower or go on a run, or something," he mutters. "I'll talk to you later."

"...I'll be here, if you need anything."

"Yeah."

He leaves without another word, her shoulders slumping as the door clicks shut. She swallows the lump in her throat, slowly getting to her feet and grabbing her phone. Sending Eijirou a text to keep an eye on Katsuki, she changes into a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt, trying to find a hair tie to keep her hair out of her face.

Maybe I can see if Shinso is up for a spar or four. Or I could just go to sleep.

As she debates what she should do, her phone starts vibrating. Sighing softly, she sits in her desk chair again and is surprised to see the incoming call from Keigo, relieved he's okay after not hearing from him all day. She swipes the green button across the screen.

"Hey!" she greets, leaning back in the chair with one arm under her chest. "I was starting to think you were hurt or something. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine," he replies, although his usual demeanor seems a bit strained. "Are you alone right now?"

"Katsuki just left so yeah," she tells him, adding a slight nod even though he can't see it. "Why? What's up?"

"..." He lets out a heavy sigh, and her stomach sinks to the floor. Something's wrong. He's never this quiet when we talk. "How would you feel about being out of school for an extended period of time?"

"Keigo."

"Yeah, I knew that was coming. Um…so, the President knows about your little…excursions with Dabi. And they want to use that connection you two have."

"Okay…so what do I have to do? Lure him into some cafe so like five of you can jump him and take him into custody? Or…?"

"...it's a little harder than that, now it is anyway," he says softly. "They haven't really given me a time frame, but…they want you to leave UA for an indefinite amount of time. And no one can really know why. I mean, obviously Eraserhead knows, and your principal, but that's hush hush and no one's supposed to know I told-"

"Why?"

"...they want to exploit the connection between you two. It's easier if you're constantly with them. They're hoping with you there, he'll let information slip easier than if I were to just prod at him alone."

"...wait, you're already-?"

"I made contact with him today. It's why I've been busy. Lei Bay, they…You know you can't say no to this, right..?"

"I know," she murmurs, closing her eyes as she feels her stomach tighten. "And you said they have no clue when I have to go?"

"As soon as I find a good enough entry point, you'll have to go," he says. "I don't know when that'll be. It could be next week, it could be next month. Hell you could have to leave next year. But I'll be with you almost every step of the way. I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know, Kei. I know. I..I can't even tell Katsu, can I?"

"No one beyond who already knows," he affirms. "I only told Eraser and Nezu because they needed to know."

"I'll figure it out." She swallows and looks over her shoulder at her bed, feeling tears prick at her eyes as the reality of her situation starts sinking in. "I…I have that meeting with Fatgum and the other agencies tomorrow. I have to be there early. I-"

"Yeah, go get some sleep," he assures her. "I know this was a lot to find out. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I love you, Bay."

"I love you too. See you later."

"Sweet dreams."

I'm nothing more than a pawn…this still hasn't become my own story…I'm still just someone else's background character…