Surveillance [BNHA]

Chapter Ten

 Cora woke with a start as she heard raised voices from the living room of the safe house. She'd been sleeping off and on all day in and out of fever dreams. She climbed out of bed and slowly inched her way to the living room. Her body felt stiff. It was probably time for another dose of painkillers.

"I'm not leaving her alone." Dabi hissed.

"What part of 'you owe me' and 'I'm collecting tomorrow', did you not understand yesterday?" Giran asked, annoyed.

"You didn't say whatever it was required me leaving her alone." Dabi snapped.

"What the hell did you think it was?!" Giran was losing his patience.

"I don't know a kidney or something." Dabi shrugged. He wasn't budging.

"I don't deal in black-market organs!" Giran yelled.

"Never?" Dabi smirked.

"Once! It was messy and very not worth it." Giran sighed and lit a cigarette; it appeared to be his fifth one in a very short amount of time based on the discarded butts around him.

"What's with the shouting?" Cora asked groggily as she inched her way into the living room keeping her hand against the wall to keep herself upright.

Dabi moved to her side and draped her free arm over his shoulder to keep her steady. "Don't worry about it, you should be resting."

"What were you two fighting about?" She asked curiously.

"We weren't fighting." Giran attempted to reassure her. He liked the girl, she was a sweet kid and she deserved a break from all the curveballs life kept throwing her way.

"Don't lie to her." Dabi growled.

Cora lightly poked him in the side, "you should be nicer to Giran, he was nice enough to let us stay with him and he got me medicine-." Her words fell away and she doubled over in pain as the drugs began to wear off.

"Damn." Dabi lifted her off her feet before she could collapse and threw a sharp look at Giran, "painkillers, now."

Giran sighed and rushed to get the painkillers, despite Dabi's rudeness he wasn't about to let Cora suffer. He scooped up the painkillers and grabbed a glass of water before racing after Dabi back to the bedroom Cora had been resting in. He handed off the pills and extended the water to Cora.

They sat in silence for a long moment as Cora crumpled up in pain. Dabi gently rubbed her back with one hand as his other captured one of her hands so she had something to squeeze. She desperately clung to his hand trying to block out the pain.

After about ten minutes she started to feel the effects of the painkillers. Some of her pain was easing away and she was able to breathe again. Dabi threw a final glare at Giran.

"I'm not leaving her here." He grumbled.

Giran sighed. He didn't want to leave her alone either but it wouldn't be for very long.

"I could go with you." Cora piped up softly.

"No." Dabi replied bluntly.

"Absolutely not." Giran added.

Cora frowned. "Why?"

"You're injured, and all the running around from yesterday has made it worse." Dabi felt sick with guilt. He'd just wanted to give her some peace of mind. He thought it would cheer her up to see Daijiro, and it certainly did, but now her fever was back and it was taking a higher dosage of painkillers to keep her comfortable.

"Also, it's a rough place. Dabi can handle a fight, but I don't really want to put you in any danger." Giran added.

Cora frowned, "I'll stay out of the way."