"The ratings results are in," Nato announced, his voice monotone, lacking any sign of excitement over the prospect.

That was weird.

Sure, it's been hell trying to navigate the League-Chargebolt crisis, but this was the perfect opportunity to get that shitty situation out of the spotlight.

"The number one hero title continues to be held by Endeavor," Nato announced, looking at the file in his hands as he rocked slightly back in his chair, forcing the recline into a steeper angle.

"That's no surprise," was the general consensus among the agents, but Takaga was oddly silent about the whole thing, not even bothering to offer instigating quips about the obvious and unnecessary statements that were wastes of precious air coming from the 'useless seat warmers' of the room. He had gotten meaner and meaner, but the agents still had not learned to shut the hell up.

"Second is Best Jeanist," Nato said.

"That's no surprise," was the general consensus again, considering that Hawks was dead. He was dead, right? That feather in the League's TikTok couldn't be—could it? No. It had to have been just a needlessly cruel jab at yet another failure of the Commission to secure one of their own. Hell, in the live TikTok performance, they basically confirmed that Shigaraki and Dabi (who was reportedly Hawks's soulmate, but to be fair, they never had the chance to get proof of that) were romantically involved.

"Third is Mirko," Nato said.

There was a collective inhale.

"Third?!" was the general consensus. "She was predicted to move down! Not continue to rise! How did this happen?!"

She wasn't one that was easily controlled. She was brash and outspoken and a woman and had a mutant quirk that made her into a fucking rabbit for fucks' sake. This was a problem. She was a powerful, sexy, confident woman who knew that she was powerful and sexy. Maybe they could get her to sign on with them. They could assign her a handler and begin some training to condition her to—

"We will do no such thing," Nato sneered. "She's fine right where she is. She's perfect as she's doing now. The public love her, and she gets the job done with little damage to property, civilians, and even the villains who are brought in. We will not interfere."

There was emotion in his voice, now, and he was pissed. Not good. His voice left no room for argument, and there was the rest of the list to get through anyway. The agents could always band together to take the idea to the higher-ups later. It wouldn't look good to go over Nato's head, but he just couldn't see a good idea if it punched him in the face.

"Fourth is Edgeshot." Expected.

"Fifth is Kamui Woods." An appreciative hum. He'd been steadily climbing in the ranks ever since he debuted, and started climbing even faster after he helped infiltrate the League a few years prior. Almost killed Shigaraki, too. Claimed it was an accident, and seemed genuine, but the agents were hopeful he was just a really good actor and wouldn't mess up again should another opportunity arise.

"Sixth is Ryuko." There was a grumble. It wasn't unexpected for Ryuko to climb so high, but it was unpleasant all the same. After her help in the take down of the Yakuza sect and the rescue of Eri, it couldn't be helped.

"Seventh is Wash." Expected.

"Eighth is Crust." Expected.

"Tenth is Mount Lady." Outrage.

What?! Are you kidding? How did someone like her make it to the top ten? Sure, she's been climbing steadily, but there are more capable, less air-headed heroes that are more deserving—wait!

"You skipped number nine," the agent with the annoying-ass nails complained, rolling her eyes.

Nato nodded, unphased by the agents thinking he made a mistake. He trailed his finger over the name next to number nine on the sheet of paper in front of him, taking some deep breaths to prepare himself for the insanity that the room was about to give him under the guise of "ideas" on how to handle this disaster.

Oh, he would enjoy this.

Nato looked up, frisbeed the file folder across the table, scattering the numbers and graphs of the collected data for any to review if they so found necessary, and announced, "ninth is Chargebolt."

-.-.-

Chizato handed Neito and Hitoshi their belongings before buzzing them out of the door, Maediri waving erratically from the other side of the desk, promising to hunt them down to get Chargebolt's autograph once she's released so she can have the full set.

"Get in line," Hitoshi quipped. "The Hero Commission has been trying, I'm sure."

"I bet I could do it!" Maediri insisted, throwing her arms across the high desk and groaning in restless agitation as she rested her cheek against the cool surface. "Just gotta get out of here first."

"Maybe we should warn the League, just in case she actually does go after Denki," Neito suggested quietly as they waited for their ride to come take them back to their apartment.

Hitoshi thought about Maediri's demeanor and quirk. He shuddered. "That would probably be for the best." He hummed then, a smile growing on his face. "I could see them all getting along well once they get past her in-your-face personality."

"I mean, they get along with me well enough, don't they?" Neito joked.

"You're easy," Hitoshi dismissed, keeping his voice light, but the look in his eyes held something much heavier as he turned to look at Neito head-on. He reached out and brushed a strand of platinum blond hair off of Neito's forehead, relishing in the way Neito leaned forward, chasing the warmth of Hitoshi's hand.

"Only for those who've earned it," Neito said. "And even then…"

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Hitoshi said like it was a simple fact of life, like he was stating that the sky was blue. "You never have. Good thing you have Denki and I to constantly drill it into your mind—"

"Hi!" Tsukauchi greeted, rolling down the window. "Someone ordered a ride?"

Hitoshi snorted, moving forward to open the door as Neito rounded to the other side.

"If it was any other detective… At least you aren't shoving us in the back of a police van. I might have to question your motives," Hitoshi said as he flopped into the back seat, wincing before forcing himself to relax against the curve of the cushioning.

"What? They beat you in there or something?" Tsukauchi asked lightly, but the look in his eyes as he side-eyed the building was calculating.

"No! Nothing like that. Well, not from the staff. The kids on the other hand…"

Neito laughed. "I did warn you, though, Toshi. The energy in the Children's Unit never changes."

"They attacked us, Nei. Like little villains in training or some shit."

Neito laughed. "Yeah," he said fondly, a huge smile adorning his face.

"And some of the things they said, Tsukauchi! I didn't even know what those things meant until I was a teenager, and here's this five-year-old using every curse in existence! Correctly! They were bouncing off the walls! Literally, because of said five-year-old's quirk that turned everyone into rubber!" Hitoshi ranted, eyes sparkling as he recalled the day prior.

"We finally got them to simmer down by challenging them," Neito said. "Otherwise, we would have gotten them all wound up just to leave them like that with the poor technicians."

"How did you get them to do anything? A rambunctious group like that—?" Tsukauchi asked as he drove, not taking his eyes off of the road like the perfect driver he was.

Neito laughed. "We said that the other units did really well with a hero training challenge, but it was fine if they couldn't do it because they were small, and weak, and just not up to it. They fell right into our trap so easily!" Neito cackled.

"We made sure to tire them out," Hitoshi said. "We tired ourselves out, too, though." He yawned, running a hand through dry, purple locks. "I just want to get a shower with decent soap and shampoo and go to bed."

"Yeah, about that…" Tsukauchi hedged, making the heroes sit up straight, watching his face intently through the rearview mirror as he continued to drive. "So, Chargebolt is still with the League of Villains," Tsukauchi started, keeping his tone even and calm. "There has been some concerning media, and I want to extend the offer of a safe house to you."

"A safe house?" Hitoshi asked incredulously. "What happened while we were in there?"

"Chargebolt made a TikTok with the League that explains that he has been gaming with them online since before he was kidnapped back in high school. It alludes to the fact that the League and him have kept in contact and the League supports him in some way. The HPSC are convinced that he's a defector, but the general public aren't so sure. There was a live feed where Chargebolt proved to everyone that he was himself and a willing participant in response to comments expressing doubt that he was the real Chargebolt in light of some of the quirks the League have at their disposal. During the live, Chargebolt asked a HPSC agent where you two were, and they said you were at a safe house. He said okay and ended the feed. And then he just started spiraling from there. Someone who was discharged from Fields right after you arrived must have given away that you two were there. I don't know how he found out otherwise."

"Spiraling?" Neito repeated in question as Tsukauchi parked along the street next to their apartment building.

The detective pulled up his phone, bringing up TikTok, and passed the phone backwards to the two soulmates. He looked up at the apartment building, wondering if the apartment has already been compromised, wondering what they would be walking into if they didn't agree to go straight to a safe house.

Neito and Hitoshi watched as an unhinged looking Denki sat in the familiar bar of the League's base. Hitoshi turned the sound up to full volume, and Tsukauchi tried to school his face and not react, having watched the video multiple times in abject horror.

"What we do is innocent. Just for fun and nothin' meant," Denki mouthed along with the song, looking entirely too virtuous with wide eyes and his head tilted against his fist as he sat there with a knife clutched in said fist just as naturally as Toga might.

The soulmates watched, transfixed, as Denki sat up straighter, looking right through the screen, right at them. "If you don't like the company, let's just do it you and me." He looked off-screen and extended an inviting hand. Neito was about to fly into an internal rage about whoever was chosen to work out this stunt with Denki when he saw himself, smiling and joining Denki center screen, walking into his open arm, no concern or regard for the knife he was wielding.

Okay, accurate.

Neito couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from his throat, rushing to cover his mouth to muffle it. Tsukauchi glanced in the rearview mirror before averting his gaze again, trying to give the two as much privacy as possible, thinking that Neito was horrified. But Neito was relieved that Denki wasn't replacing him, even though he knew that would go against all soulmate instincts, but still relieved, nonetheless. And also elated that Denki was so damn sassy and bitey all while looking so damn angelic, still. He loved him so much.

"You and me. Or three." Denki extended his arm again, and the soulmates watched as Hitoshi joined in, completing the trio. "Or four." They weren't sure what to expect. Maybe a member of the League of Villains. They sure didn't expect another Denki, but that's exactly what they got gliding across the screen to join the group.

"On the floor. One, two, three. Not only you and me. Got one eighty degrees. And I'm caught in between. Countin' one, two, three—" The screen flooded with platinum blond, honey blond, and purple as countless Denkis, Neitos, and Hitoshis entered from the sidelines. Then, Denki started slashing until he was alone again, covered in muddy remains that was left behind after the use of Twice's quirk.

The caption read: 'clones just aren't cutting it. This crazy enough for you to admit me, too, HPSC?'

Laughter bubbled from Neito's throat again, his hand doing little to disguise what it truly was as tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. Hitoshi wasn't far behind him. Hitoshi and Neito howled with laughter in the back of Tsukauchi's car, leaning on each other for support. When they started to calm down, Hitoshi imagined Toga teaching Denki how to stab someone and how that must have gone, and the laughter started up all over again. When the heroes were taking deep breaths, they made the mistake of looking up in the rearview mirror, catching Tsukauchi's eye and seeing the expression on his face that looked like he was contemplating turning them right around and checking them right back into Fields Mental Hospital, and they started up laughing again.

"I can't breathe, I can't breathe," Hitoshi complained, wheezing. "My face hurts from laughing! I was already sore from the Children's Unit—"

"That's a no on the safe house," Neito said, small giggles still escaping as he reached for the handle to let himself out. "We'll be just fine. Just like we've always been."

Tsukauchi opened his mouth.

"Don't ask questions that you don't want to know the answers to," Hitoshi warned, sobering quickly as he exited the car.

Tsukauchi snapped his mouth shut.

"Do you want me to come up with you and sweep the apartment?" Tsukauchi asked.

"You can if you want," Hitoshi said. "Or if you're ordered to. We won't stop you from completing orders, but it's really not necessary. You won't find anything unless it's something the HPSC placed while we were out."

Tsukauchi hummed. And he did find a few bugs. They were all from the Hero Public Safety Commission. He confiscated them all for 'evidence,' promising to describe the looks on their faces when he brought their own spyware technology back like he found evidence that Denki had been tampering with the apartment.

"Whoops," his partner would say for him, deadpan with dead eyes.

Everyone would know that it was done on purpose because Tsukauchi would refuse to comment on it himself. And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

He didn't understand what was going on with Hitoshi, Neito, and Denki, but that was probably for the best. He did trust that they could handle themselves, and was actually a little more relieved and less stressed about Denki's predicament after seeing Hitoshi and Neito react in such an unexpectedly relaxed and cheerful way. There had to be something he was missing, and it was better if he didn't connect the missing pieces as far as he was concerned.

"I can't believe you went to Fields without me!" Denki whined from behind Neito and Hitoshi after they had gotten showered and changed and were lounging on their own couch, thankful to be back at home.

Neito and Hitoshi wasted no time and vaulted themselves over the back of the couch to get to Denki, Hitoshi's bruising grip grasping at Denki's jaw so there was no escape from his biting kiss (as if Denki would ever try to pull away from something as wonderful as that), and Neito's hands wrapping tightly around Denki from behind, arms snaking up his torso and tangling in his hair as he (im)patiently waited his turn to kiss his soulmate stupid.

"No bugs," Hitoshi informed in between kisses, "but we're still being watched."

"Got that covered," Denki answered.

Clones of Neito and Hitoshi came in to take their prior places on the couch as the real ones joined Denki in stepping through the portal.

"I have so much to tell you guys."

A/N: Song used in this chapter:

3- Britney Spears

OCs in this chapter:

Nato Hachisho – PR manager for HPSC

Takaga Mayori – HPSC agent

Chizato – Quirk not revealed, technician at Fields who worked there when the trio were 12 and who still works there! Hitoshi and Denki were amazed that Neito had such an easygoing relationship with an adult who showed respect back to him instead of respect being a one-way street from child to adult without being able to expect respect in return.

Kobaru Maediri – Quirk not revealed (though it's been hinted at and has been named in a previous chapter, just not connected with her name, yet), patient on the Adult Unit at Fields