(Sin)namon Rolls

Chapter 7: It Sucks to Be Me

A/N: decided to switch it up and make this chapter from todoroki's perspective lmao
•••
12:23 P.M.
"There's a hero conference today in Yokohama. It began at noon. It ends at four. 50C is in attendance. Going off of the assumption that the meeting will end on time, we have roughly four hours allotted for preparation. The brunt of the time-consuming work falls to us. Uraraka is filling Deku in on his role in the mission as we speak. She, along with myself and Toga, will be stationed at HQ. Shoto and Tsu will be on stakeout at the premises. The two of you will drive to 50C's residence and park in close proximity to the building. Tsu, you are tasked with driving the vehicle. Shoto, your job is to capture a photo of Deku with 50C. You will later receive information regarding which specific area of the house to watch. Deku will be instructed to face away from the given window so as not to show his face, but nonetheless you must ensure he is not photographed from the front should any complications arise. Toga, Uraraka, and I are entrusted with leaking the photo out to the public on different social media platforms and news outlets."
Iida paused to scan our faces.
"Does everyone understand their individual assignments?" he asked.
"How exactly will I be photographing 50C and Deku?" I asked.
"With a cell phone."
"No, I understand that. I mean... you said, 'a photo of Deku with 50C.' What does that entail?"
"Well, given the conversation you had with him on the phone this morning, it can be reasonably inferred that Deku has begun P6-C4."
"So, I'm taking a picture of the two of them... together?"
"In some capacity, yes."
I inhaled deeply.
"Okay," I said.
•••
1:37 P.M.
I was on my way out of the training room when my phone started to vibrate. I stopped in front of the door and reached into the pocket of my shorts. I recognized the number on the screen as Deku's. I swiped to accept the call and held the device to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Shoto?"
"Yeah?"
"You're gonna be the one taking the picture, correct?"
"Correct."
"Okay. Park in front of the house. There's a horizontal section of the exterior's right corner made of glass. Keep watch of that area."
"Understood."
"And Shoto?"
"Yes?"
"I can't promise that what you're going to see tonight will be, um, child friendly... if you catch my drift."
I chewed the inside of my cheek.
"I figured as much. Iida told us you've begun P6-C4, so..."
"Yeah." Deku chuckled. "This isn't gonna make things weird between us, right?"
"Why would it make things weird?"
"Well, you're probably gonna see me get fucked against a window."
I bit my tongue so hard I was sure it started bleeding.
"It's work, Deku. We have a job to do. That's all."
"Right. I just... I don't know, I'd feel weird if I had to take pictures of my friend having sex."
"We're not friends."
"Oh. Okay. Yeah. Sorry."
"What was that?"
"I said okay."
"I thought so. Unless there's something else you have to tell me, I should go."
"No, that was all I had to say."
"Okay. I'll contact you when Tsu and I leave HQ."
"Bye, Shoto."
I ended the call.
•••
4:16 P.M.
"How ya feelin', Sho?" Tsu asked as we walked out of headquarters.
"Fine."
I'd been given a short brown wig and a single contact lens of the same color to make me look less conspicuous. The scar on my face had been covered with makeup. Tsu hadn't needed quite as thorough of a disguise. She wore fake glasses and her hair was pulled back into a bun, but otherwise not much was changed. We were dressed in semi-formal business attire to further help us blend in as everyday civilians.
We lost access to the wide selection of cars the League owned when our previous HQ was discovered. Our best plan of action was to burn the place down and leave before the authorities arrived. We only had the vehicles we individually owned as modes of transportation now. Tsu's black and unremarkable car was the best option in this situation. Stealth was our top priority on this particular mission, not speed.
I opened the passenger side door and got in. After buckling my seat belt, I reached into my pants pocket for my personal cell phone. The separate burner I'd be using for the pictures was in a bag at my feet.
Tsu pulled away from the curb and started to drive. I dialed Deku's number.
"Hey," he said.
"We're heading over."
"Mm."
I frowned at the windshield.
"Deku?"
"Uh huh?"
"You sound distracted."
"Just gearing up for my debut in the porn industry."
"You know that's not what this is."
"It kind of is, though."
"It isn't. Don't get in your head. Now isn't the time to have second thoughts."
"Who said anything about second thoughts? Maybe I want to be a pornstar. You don't know."
"I do know. You're a very transparent person."
"That's not very nice."
"Suck it up. Moving forward with C4 was your choice. If you don't think you can go through with it anymore, I can call Uraraka and—"
"No. I can do this."
"Then do it."
"I will."
"Good. We'll be there shortly. ETA 5 o'clock. 50C should arrive just before we do. For purposes of risk aversion we won't contact you from this point out."
"Okay."
"Don't let us down, Deku."
"I won't."
Deku hung up. I put my phone back in my pocket.
"You're handling this better than I expected. Ribbit."
"Don't go there, Tsu."
"Why not?"
"Just don't."
"It's a long car ride. What else are we gonna talk about?"
"I don't know. Maybe let's just not talk?"
I hadn't intended for that to sound as bitter as it did.
"I think you wanna talk about it. Ribbit."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"What, is it because you're embarrassed? It's not that big of a deal. I don't even care. I just want you to talk about it for your own sake."
"No, you don't."
"Yeah, duh. Y'know, sometimes it shocks me how dense you are."
"I'm not pressuring you to talk about the thing you don't want to talk about. Why can't you do the same?"
"Because yours is relevant right now."
"They had that whole house to themselves for three hours. I'd say that makes your thing relevant too."
"They wouldn't have done something like that. Not when they could get caught so easily."
"Are we talking about the same people right now? Of course they would have."
"Ochaco would never put the success of an operation in danger. Maybe Deku would, but she wouldn't."
"She'd do something if he did it."
"Not if it were that stupid."
"I guess we're talking about it now."
"I guess we are. Ribbit."
"I'm not worried about this mission. I don't know why you think I am."
"Um, because you have to watch the guy you've been drooling over for four years get dicked down by Ground Zero?"
"It's an act. It's not like he wants to do it."
"There were a lot of options to choose from and he picked the only one that requires him to make out with his childhood bestie."
"It also requires him to kill him. And they weren't besties."
"Yeah, yeah. He bullied him, and they were enemies, and it was awful, and blah, blah, blah. You and I know the real story. Poor Kacchan's been waiting all these years for his sweet Deku to return. Just when he was about to give up on the hope that he'd ever see him again, boom! Guess who's back? Bakugo's making up for lost time. Not just the last four years, but the fifteen he spent taking Deku for granted. I know thinking isn't your strong suit, so I'll do the math for you. When you add four and fifteen together you get a whole lot of hot, sweaty sex."
"You read too many romance novels."
"Bold of you to assume I read. Ribbit."
"Yeah, that's a good point."
"And, look, y'know, guys aren't my thing. Personally, they're just not for me. But even I can admit that Katsuki Bakugo is a fine piece of ass. Again, I'm a hardcore lesbian. Women? Yes. Love 'em. So great. I'm just saying, if I had to pick a guy - if someone held a gun to my head and said, 'either pick a dude to bang or perish', in this scenario - which is hypothetical; it's a hypothetical scenario - I'd pick him. Hypothetically. Ribbit. It'd be a different story If he was ugly. But he's not ugly, he's Katsuki Bakugo. You can't compete with him. Not to mention, he's loaded. I'm starting to think we may have overlooked the possibility of Deku ditching the League and moving in with this guy for real."
"I know what you're trying to do and it's not working."
"I'm not messing with you. The only thing I'm trying to do here is convince myself I'm not heterosexual."
"He's not that great."
Tsu burst out laughing.
"You're jealous!" she shouted.
"That's ridiculous."
"Oh, my god, you totally are! You're jealous!"
"I am not jealous. Unlike you, I have a rational outlook on my situation, and I have no reason to envy some hero."
"I don't know, Sho. You sound pretty jealous. Ribbit."
"I'm not jealous."
"Oh, c'mon. Just admit that you're a little jealous."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you—"
"Okay, yeah, I'm jealous! Would you just leave me alone already?!"
Tsu stopped prying after that, but it took a couple minutes for her smile to go away.
•••
5:12 P.M
We arrived at the house at 5:04. I had expected to wait at least thirty minutes before anything happened.
It took eight.
If traffic had been the slightest bit worse, the whole mission could have been laid to waste.
I'd taken the burner phone out of the bag when Tsu parked the car. If I had known I would have had to use it so soon, I would have had it in my hands and held up to the car window instead of resting on my knee.
I was so taken aback by what I was seeing that all thoughts of the task I'd been assigned vanished.
Everything Tsu said was true.
Even from far away, I could see the look in that man's eyes. I understood why the plan Deku was on track for culminated in Bakugo's elimination.
There was no possible way he'd willingly let Deku go.
From yards away, I could see the desperation... the possessiveness.
Deku's back was to the window. I tried not to imagine the expression on his face. It wasn't like I needed to. The way he was clinging to Bakugo told me plenty on its own.
What may have started out as an act had become something very real.
All I could do was stare.
"For fuck's sake. Give it to me."
Tsu snatched the phone out of my lap. She swiped her finger across the screen a few times, then leaned over me to hold it to the window. She stayed there for a few moments, taking the pictures I was supposed to capture. I cast my gaze to the floor. Tsu set the phone on my leg and sat back down in her seat.
"You're better than this, Todoroki," she said.
Neither of us said a single word during the forty minute drive back to headquarters.