RENEGADE [Izuku Midoriya x OC]

Chapter 23 - Charm

"So... the red toothbrush?"

"He said it was the only thing I could leave there," Noriko sighed tiredly, curled up in the tiniest ball imaginable in her reading chair, watching as Keigo paced her living room. She was exhausted down to her core. Unfortunately, the conversation was necessary and inevitable, so she forced herself to stay awake. "It's been there since... October?"

A wry laugh choked from his mouth, harsh and unfeeling. "That's the same fucking line he fed me. Goddammit... What a tool."

They were piecing together the Dabi situation, one detail at a time.

So far, they knew that Dabi had charmed them both into intimate relationships in an attempt to get more information about the hero world - despite them both thinking they'd initiated the manipulative relationship - and now... they'd just found out that Keigo and Noriko had been tricked into sharing a toothbrush for the last two months.

Gross.

"That's an indeterminate amount of secondhand kisses... and a handful of secondhand fucks with my brother figure," Noriko groaned, leaning her head back against the faux velvet of her chair, "I feel so gross. Is there a way to peel off all of your skin and have it sanitized? Or maybe, like, there's a way for me to rewind the last, I dunno, four and something years? Erase his dick from my memory and my vagina? Jesus fuck..."

Neither of them said anything for a long time, while Noriko stared at the crack in her ceiling, stars peeking and winking through, while Keigo continued pacing. "Did... did you tell him anything?" Keigo finally asked, slowing near her kitchen counter to sip from his cooled tea.

"No," Noriko said automatically, letting her eyes drift shut, "I always deflect. He's so obvious when he's fishing for information that it's funny. If he's super persistent, I either lie or I say I don't know." She lolled her head to the side, watching as Keigo stuck his tea in the microwave to reheat it. "Did you?"

He was silent for a bit, watching his mug rotate inside.

"No," he finally answered.

Noriko wasn't convinced.

"It's okay if you did, you know. You've been under longer than me, blondie. Dabi's a twisted, conniving, smart son of a bitch, and I wouldn't blame you-"

Keigo slammed his hands down on Noriko's countertop, startling both of them, his shoulders bunched up near his ears and his wings trembling. Obviously upset. "You literally just said he's obvious when he's fishing for information, Red," he hissed, "And now you're lying to me about whether or not it's my fault for giving him information? You can't have it both ways! Either it's my fault or it isn't! You can tell me I fucked up the mission, you know! I can handle it! I ALREADY KNOW IT'S TRUE!" His tone crescendoed from a whisper to a scream, his shouting rattling the things in her cupboards and stuff on her walls as his wings fluttered and beat in time with his emphasized syllables.

In their five years of working together, Noriko had never seen Keigo this agitated. She stood and cautiously tiptoed toward him, realizing her error in her words. "Keigo, listen to me: Dabi is smart. He could have used different tactics on each of us. Right? Maybe he was overt with me because he was... getting information from me in a different way? I don't know.... And maybe he was more covert with you because you're better at keeping secrets. And even if he did use the same tactics, that doesn't mean you're dumb. He manipulated us both, kept us both in his snare for years, Keigo. He was purposely trying to get us to lower our guards by sleeping with us. Which means, he's only done us a favor by giving this all away, right?" She put a shaky hand on Keigo's fist, and imitated him with his love of sound effects, "Now we can fwip, put our guards right back up. Huh? Easy peasy lemon squeezy?"