Wrong place, right time?

Chapter 23

No one's POV:

It wasn't obvious to most patrons of the bar, but after Cho had returned after the whole kidnapping fiasco, something changed in both the bar and Kurogiri. The league noticed it very quickly though, especially the young master and he was unsure how he felt about it. Or if he was meant to inform master of this behaviour. Somehow the faceless misty figure had become more precise, better at his job, and somehow faster at some points. All of it due to a small girl who acted like a child, someone who brought out a paternal instinct a nomu should not have.

However it intrigued Shigaraki. He wanted to watch and see more, see how this would play out, how she would affect his programming further. If she could affect him more than he could imagine and change what has been programmed into a corpse years before she was likely even born. And with that Shigaraki stopped staring at the misty figure at the bar and turned around to go to his room to think (100%) play online.

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"When did ya get a kid misty bar dude?" a drunken patron asked, pointing a clawed scaly hand towards Cho who was in a baby wrap, curled up against his back and very much dead to the world at the moment. Softly snoring away with her thumb in her mouth without a worry in the world now that she's back home.

"..She has been in my care for awhile sir" Kurogiri answers, moving away just enough for his baby to be out of reach from the drunken mans clawed hands. "She doesn't like alcohol or drunk people however she doesn't like being without her guardian" The misty figure adds on, narrowing his yellow eyes at the man who quickly retracted his hand and shrugged.

"She uh.. got educational kids books and stuff?" he says awkwardly trying to change subject, whilst also trying not to be killed by the skilled barman. Kurogiri stopped pouring whatever drink he had made and thought for a moment, "hmm.. no she has colouring equipment...but no colouring books or educational material.. What an oversight on my end" he sighs, rubbing his misty face with his hands.

"bar dude don't stress!" another patron chimes in whilst laughing, "trust me when it comes to the first kid there's always something your forget or mess up on! But you learn haha" the woman laughs, leaning her arm on the other drunk patron who nods in agreement. "same with quirk training! God I nearly forgot to sign my kid up for it since his quirk was so simple but wow did I regret that when it went awhol on his seventh birthday!" the other patron adds on.

The two of them ended up laughing up a storm in their own little drunken world about their kids and things they did or didn't do as they grew up whilst kurogiri just stood there surprised. He didn't quite realise how many of his patrons at this bar, who were villains, had families or kids or didn't have anyone. Most of the time they all kept to themselves or in their own groups. But it did open his eyes and he did listen as the two drunken villains blabbered on about all kinds of things, mostly listening out for anything related to childcare however he was learning to be curious and listen to others out of his own interest.

The night died down quite nicely after all of that, group by group and one by one the patrons left for the night after paying their tabs and Kurogiri locked up, ensuring only league members remained in the bar and that they all had some food or water before he went to his room. Unwrapping Cho and carefully putting her down onto the bed without her even reacting. He looks down at his sleeping baby with a soft gaze for a moment before deciding to change out of his bar attire and into something more comfortable for the night since there were no planned events for that night.

The resident misty dad decided a set of simple, loose grey, pyjamas would suffice. He was just buttoning up his shirt when Cho woke up and started make sounds to let him know she was hungry and would not wait about. "I hear you" he chuckles as he turns around, finishing buttoning his shirt before picking her up and bouncing her softly on his hip to settle her.

'I dreamt the mean man took me away again and gave me back to..to..my father. I don't want to go back.' Cho signed frantically. Kurogiri was starstruck at her, that was the most coherent sentence she had ever signed to him before and the contents upset him. "Oh my baby...no.. I would never let that man take you away again and give you back to that horrible man. Never" He says firmly, pushing her face to the crook of his neck so she could calm down a bit. "i..myself and the league will never let that happen again okay?" he hushes softly as he slowly walked around his room.

"come now baby, I know you're hungry. What would you like to eat? Let's have something warm in that belly and talk some more once you've woken up a bit more and calmed down... or we can just talk about something else?" he suggests, glancing down at Cho who nods into his shoulder, gripping his shirt like it was her lifeline.

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It took a few minutes but eventually he coaxed out what she wanted to eat and they went into the kitchen, past the drunken/passed out members of the league, to make some food. As kurogiri sat Cho down into a custom highchair he got to work making her mac n cheese with a few dino nuggets to go with it. Was the meal half frozen and half from a 5-minute pasta? Yes. Did cho care? No. did kurogiri care? Yes. He wanted her to eat healthier but they were limited in what they had and what she would eat.

He sighs softly as he turns down the heat, letting the mac n cheese bubble away, before turning to face cho who was suckling on her fingers. "Baby...would you be okay with a few more jobs in the league? The masters will enforce it eventually but I would rather you decide if you wish to do this or not...i...I could try and leave..try and change my programming but..baby I'm-" He struggled to find his words as he tried to open up about what they had planned for her and what he was. But in a way he was ashamed. If he did have a child this was not the life he would want them to live, therefore this is not the life he wants Cho to live. However his options right now were limited.

Cho smacked her hands against the top of the highchair table and huffs before signing. 'I do a few jobs. Help. But no hurting people. Don't like hurt.' her gaze was firm but her words felt soft and caring. "baby-" 'we can go. Go find new nice place.' His yellow eyes widened and he cursed softly as he quickly turned around to stir the pasta which had began to stick to the pan. "I-We-...I would love to but- I am not my own person- baby I belong to the masters" he stammers as he saves her meal and quickly takes out the nuggets from the oven and plates up her food into a plate with separations on it for the different parts of the meal.

"i..we figure..it out" Cho whispers softly, putting her small hand on Kurogiri's as he puts her food down on the table, gripping his sleeve softly and looking up at him with such earnest eyes. "Yeah...we'll figure it all out" Kurogiri say softly, a ghost of a smile appearing on his non-existent face. He knew she was in a bigger headspace but she didn't push him away and accepted all his affections. "Enjoy your food Cho. Don't you worry about a thing."

A/n: fr the curse of an author is real and low key kinda scary/fun at times. Had flu for the first time at 18 during my week off from uni and uhh wow. Had to fight my laptop to work with OneNote because that's what I write on and I was feeling motivated. Somehow made it work wrote this chapter, planned the next two and started reading my other unpublished stuff. Real productive ✌🏼

Word count: 1458