Tags: bakugou x fem!reader, they don't get together at the end, angst, undercover
"Hero/n, Dynamight, your job is to infiltrate tonight's gathering as newlyweds find evidence of his crimes, and apprehend him swiftly."
Oh, no.
The door to the limousine opens.
You take one step in, see a flash of blond hair, crimson red eyes and a surprised scowl before you backtrack 5 steps away.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Bakugou scoffs, folding his arms. "Fucking nice to see you too, Shortie."
"Get in, Hero/n. Lives are at stake." Aizawa says glaring at you from the shotgun seat.
Grudgingly, you took your seat beside the blond, dipping your head gracefully as you slammed the door shut. "I thought you were in America this weekend." You mumble, fidgeting with your dress's helm. "For that Top 10 Hero gala thing."
"That's what everyone else thinks." He mutters, facing the window on his side. "Thought you'd be able to distinguish real from fake news, Y/n. Quit fucking around."
Your hands clench into fists as the car starts to move. "Couldn't help but hope." You reply through gritted teeth.
Bakugou and you had broken up nearly 3 years ago, and you'd never expected to see him like this. No, not when you were on an undercover mission to potentially die.
Being trapped with Bakugou in a single car is going to kill you much faster.
"Eraser, why is he here?" You hiss, glaring at the underground hero. "I thought you were gonna pick someone who was part of the agency. Not the flashiest, most wanted hero on this goddamn planet!"
Bakugou glares at you with those piercing eyes. "Look if I knew I'd be working with you for this assignment, I'd never have taken the job either, okay?"
Bakugou hasn't seen you in years. Yes, he knew that you were somewhere on the planet, kicking ass, but with his life-long goal of claiming the title of the Number 1 Hero, your hidden disappearance and the area you'd chosen to specialise in, it was almost too easy to let himself get buried in work to distract himself from you.
After being over several miles away from you, the both of you were now only inches apart.
"Shut up, both of you." Eraserhead snapped. "I assumed you've read the file, but I'll reiterate it for you as a reminder. The murderer, Kage Tanuki has escaped America's security and fled to Japan to flee his death sentence. His quirk, as you might be familiar with is called Truth. It allows anyone he comes into skin contact with to believe anything he tells them to. Your job is to infiltrate tonight's gathering as newlyweds-"
"-find evidence of his crimes, and apprehend him swiftly." Aizawa notices you staring at Bakugou unblinkingly and reads your mind.
"Hatsume has designed Bakugou a gadget that prevents anyone from recognising him as the Number 2 Hero, but it's tailored to only his body. That's why we still had you wear contacts and go in with a disguise."
Eye contacts. No wonder your eyes look weird. You still look great, beautiful like a rose, but he misses the old you under those layers of makeup.
A rose still has thorns, though.
Aizawa's strong stare from the rear-view mirror has the both of you sitting up straighter. "Hero/n, you are undeniably the best in the underground heroes' department. Dynamight, you have talent and skills that allow you to adapt quickly. I expect this mission to be conducted with nothing but utmost professionalism. Understood?"
There's a beat of silence before you utter words back to your teacher, "You still haven't told me why he's gone and replaced Monoma."
Bakugou does a double take, finally whipping his head to face you.
"I replaced Copying Bastard?"
You rolled your eyes, looking up to meet his. "Yeah. He was supposed to be my partner this evening if he hadn't gotten himself nearly killed in his last assignment."
Eraser sighs. "The both of you have had a prior relationship. Agency's said that they wanted it to look more natural. Not to mention Monoma's untimely injuries had us scrambling to find a suitable replacement. Thanks to Bakugou's swift response, we managed to change the documents in time before the fiasco got noticed."
"THAT'S PRECISELY WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE SOMEONE ELSE TAKE THE DAMN JOB," Bakugou booms, slumping down in his seat with a groan.
Aizawa raises a quizzical eyebrow, before his eyes narrow. "What did I say about professionalism?"
"Fine," You spit out, as the car pulls over into a beautiful mansion. "We'll do the damn job. But I want compensation for the lack of communication on my end."
Aizawa smiles cryptically, "Don't worry, I'm sure the agency will plan many compensations once they know how badly they fucked this up."
It's almost comical how awkward Bakugou feels about you. His arm is looped around your waist intimately, firmly pressed against your body as a sign of protection even though he knows you don't need it. Your body is relaxed, eyes soft and sparkling prettily at him with a warm smile he hasn't seen in years.
It's only when he touches your back that he can feel the rigid tension you keep hidden as you beam at the doorman, who identifies you two with a nod of his head. "Ah, yes! The newlyweds, correct?"
The party inside is loud and jarring, making Bakugou curse internally because he doesn't like the noise. He never did fancy parties. He lets you do the talking, the socialising, the mingling. It's almost too easy to fall back into this routine of your broken relationship.
The arm around your waist.
The glare he shoots people when they start to get too overbearing.
"I might need to head to the toilet soon," You sigh, smiling up at him as you place a delicate hand on his bicep. Bakugou knows you too well to know what that actually means.
We should slip away soon.
"Of course, love," He responded, affirming your decision. That sleazy murderer had barely given you two a glance. It would be easier anyway to raid his house for evidence-
"Ah, the Bakugous," A voice interrupts his thoughts, and immediately he feels you straighten up to greet whoever strikes up a conversation with you. "Tanuki!" You greet, "Thank you so much for inviting us here."
"It's wonderful to see the both of you here tonight." He has the nerve to grin, a borderline deranged smile of a serial killer in disguise. Tanuki trains his beady eyes on the blond, "Your wife is absolutely stunning, I must say. You've picked a good one."
If that line hadn't ruffled your feathers, it sure got Bakugou to hate this guy even more. "Yeah? Well, this one's mine." He replies reflexively, tightening his arm around you. "Mind showing us the way to the washrooms? I'd like to freshen up in time for your closing speech."
He feels a surprised grip from your arm as he hides his smug smile. Yeah, fuck you and your pretty dress and makeup, he read the damn file. Just cause he doesn't do undercover missions doesn't mean he can't act.
He's the best at everything.
Tanuki nods his head, mindlessly waving his glass in a vague direction. "Of course. Just go up the stairs and open the 3rd door on your left. Don't be long now!"
You thank him again (while Bakugou does not) as the both of you walk in the direction he pointed you to. "Laying it on thick, huh," You say under your breath as you walk up the stairs together. "Thanks for getting us out of there."
Instantly, heat floods his cheeks as he replays what he had said earlier. Oh, God. The minute you reach the second floor and ensure nobody was there, you finally unlatch yourself from Bakugou's arm, eyes averted and cheeks pinked.
Oh, right. This is just pretend.
Bakugou swallows thickly, averting his eyes. He already misses the fact that you aren't by his side. "Let's find his office."
You find his workroom with ease thanks to the blueprint that was provided by your agency. Unfortunately for you though, it's locked by a card reader. "Let me have a go, I'll blast it open," Bakugou grunts, but one raised eyebrow from you has him backtracking his steps. "What?" He gruffs.
"Your quirk could set something on fire." You explained. "Just imagine what would happen if you end up blowing this entire place up. There're people downstairs too."
"Well then what do you suppose?" he bites back.
You roll your eyes, the soft, accommodating skin you wore downstairs already shredded and discarded. "By using this," you reach into a secret pocket in your dress, pulling out a slim keycard with a sly grin.
Bakugou almost gaps at you. "You shrewd pickpocketer,"
"Sticky fingers," You hum, swiping it across the keypad and swinging the door open with ease.
You're both greeted with the sight of files scattered across the mahogany table, warm, luxurious curtains, and a bookshelf stuffed full of documents. "Jackpot," Bakugou whispers. Stepping into the room, you take one of the files and scan it with widened eyes. "He's forging these files to make his victims' deaths look like an accident."
Bakugou's eyes narrow as he peers over your shoulder. You point at the dates and other parts of a paragraph. "He's making sure nobody knows that there's a connection between him and these esteemed people, that's why there hasn't been enough evidence of him so far!"
"Well, then we have what we need, then!" Bakugou says, gathering the files on the table and holding them close to his chest. "Let's get the hell out of here before anyone finds us-"
As quick as the wind, you lunge at Bakugou and pull him down to hide under the table. Scowling, Bakugou's confusion starts to dissipate in anger, "Oi, what are you-"
Your hearing must be better than his, because it's only now that he can hear footsteps clambering towards the room.
"Shit," A voice says, slicing through the silence.
"Someone's been in my office."
The both of you glance at each other, reaching the same realisation at the same time. He looks at you, and you look at him.
Bakugou knows what that smirk means.
Shooting to his feet, he held his hands in front of his face with an unhinged grin plastered over his face. "Surprise, Tanuki."
The fight doesn't take long, even though his Quirk was one that was annoying to get around. Then again, the both of you are in sync, the fighting almost looking as if you were dancing around your opponent without even uttering a word. You apprehended him in under 10 minutes.
"We've arrested the murderer." You say, voice strong and authoritative. "We're coming to the meeting spot."
And just like that, it's all over.
Part of him wishes that you could have just kept on going, playing along with the charade and believe that he still has you. But he doesn't.
This is real life and when he goes home that day, he remembers to catalogue every fucking memory in his mind because that was probably going to be the last time he would get to hold you like that.
What he doesn't know is that you too are thinking about everything too, kicking yourself over and over at the feelings that had resurfaced for him. The sensation of just having him hold you tight and feel protected is a feeling you'd buried under layers of suppression.
Sure, Monoma has pretended to be your boyfriend multiple times before, but it's never felt like this. No, when Bakugou did it, there was a spark of warmth that blossomed inside your heart, as if everything was authentic.
If only the night had gone longer, if only you could have talked to him properly.
If only you could just keep...
