"It's not your typical mafia base," Todoroki said, stepping out of his car. Iida followed shortly behind. Todoroki looked up at the rundown apartment building. It was a shady part of town but you wouldn't expect LOV to live somewhere like here. A few more cars pulled up around the building, blocking any other cars from leaving. "Team A, you stay here and make sure no one goes in or out of this building. Team B will follow Todoroki and me into the building." Iida motioned for them to follow as Todoroki barreled into the building.

"Mr. Todoroki!" Iida whispered. "You need to be quieter. They could be in earshot." Todoroki took slow steps into the building. "You guys split yourselves into teams and search each floor. Iida and I are going to the roof." He took off after that. Iida sighed and wished everyone good luck. Iida was surely faster than him so it didn't take a lot for him to catch up.

"Todoroki, this is ridiculous. You can't just order something like that. And what if we get surrounded?" "Iida, you're worrying too much." "I feel like I'm not worrying enough. Everyone down there could die." "Then so be it!" Iida didn't say anything after that. But why would Todoroki care? They are all pawns to him. This is how he's always treated his workers. They were workers. Not his friends. The only friends he's ever had are now dead. The only people he's ever cared about. But now, he has someone else in his life.

Katsuki.

His love. Katsuki will always love him. He will only love him. That's why he's going to sacrifice everything he has just to get him back. And Katsuki will surely fall for him then. He will have him to himself. Like it would have been if he didn't tell his friends about him. If he didn't tell them about Katsuki would any of this have happened? If he kept him a secret would it have turned out like this? Would Kirishima and Midoriya be alive?

Bang!

Todoroki barely had enough time to block the door from hitting him as a girl with a mask and brown hair bolted out of the room. Iida shot at the girl but she dodged. "Iida, let's go!" He yelled running after her. She slammed open the roof doors and looked back at the two guys catching up to her. "Stop! There is nowhere else to run. Where is Dabi?" Todoroki said, raising his gun to her. Iida followed hesitantly.

The girl raised her hands taking small steps towards the edge of the building. "Step away from the edge." She stopped and looked over the edge. "We are 10 stories high. You won't survive if you jump down." The girl laughed. It surprised both of them. Then she jumped. The two of them raced to the other side. She was on the other building. She had jumped to the fire escape and was pulled in by another person wearing a mask. "Wrong building, Dickhead!" They could hear more voices in the room they went into.

Todoroki was seething. They just made a fool of him. He backed up from the edge and looked at Iida. He had a confused look written on his face. "Todoroki. Y-you're not thinking about..." "Iida. Either you follow me or you go and tell everyone this is the wrong building." He took a breath before running towards the edge. He was either going to get him with or without his right hand by his side.

"Todoroki!"

That was the last thing he heard as he pushed himself from the building. Todoroki couldn't hear anything besides the beating of his heart. Then the smashing of glass.

His head was pounding. He couldn't believe he just did that. He pushed himself up on his hands and looked around the room. There were...flowers? The room walls were laced with dark red flowers. He could recognize some of them. He wanted to impress Katsuki with some knowledge of flowers so learned a bit. Carnations, Magnolias, Tulips, Amaryllis, Pansies, and...and...what were those? "Those are red zinnias." He turned his head to see the blond he was looking for. "It's one of my favorite flowers. When I told him that all the flowers in my shop died, he bought me new flowers and even seeds for some of them. He knows how much I love to watch them grow every day." "Katsuki?" The blond looked over to him for the first time.

"Shoto, it's been a couple of days since I've seen you. I used to not go a day without seeing you." The red and white-haired boy pulled the blond into a hug. The blond wrapped his arms around his neck pulling him closer. "Why weren't you there for me?" Before Todoroki could pull back he felt something being pushed into his neck. He was so distracted seeing Katsuki he forgot that other people could be there. He felt himself fall to his knees. Then the person in his arms was gone.

------

Momo watched as their team ran into the apartment. She sighed. Todoroki was just being chaotic now. She looked around as everyone was on their toes. Rightfully so, they haven't been giving any information on anything. She felt a hand lay on her shoulder and she jumped. "Momo, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." She sighed. "Ojiro. You can't just sneak up on people like that." He nervously laughed. "Any information? Everyone in medical is getting worried." "Nope. All we got is to stay put and wait for something to happen."

Ojiro nodded. He made his way back to his wife leaving Momo to her thoughts. They decided to keep the doctors in the cars while everyone stayed outside. He sighed as he opened the door. "Nope. Nothing...y-yet." He was met with a barrel. His wife and the other doctors were tied up. "Don't say a word and sit back down. I don't want to hurt you but I will if you don't cooperate." He nodded and sat next to his wife.

He watched as the person took off their mask. The man's eyes were black and always looking out the window as if he was looking for someone. Another person snuck up from behind a building. God was everyone so scared and worried that no one decided to check around the place? "It seems like our target is about to go past the intersection point. It won't take long now." The girl said, bringing her mask up. The man nodded and smiled at her. He pointed towards the crowd. "I think your target is standing over there."

Three loud gunshots were heard from the building making everyone jump. The girl brought down her mask before taking out a walkie-talkie. "They are coming up your way, charge bolt. Make sure you're ready by the window." There was silence before a voice was heard. "CHSUUH! Roger that! Over. CHSUUH!" The girl face palmed as the guy laughed. "You're an Idiot. Tell boss we're moving in now." "You're no fun." She sighed as he gave a thumbs up to the guy and left back to where she came from.

Suddenly, a bunch of people holding big guns came out of the alley and started surrounding behind the cars. People who were standing guard there were knocked out before the one before them even hit the floor. But none of them moved on past that point. It was strange. Normally when they had the chance to do a surprise attack they would just go for it. So why did they stop? "You look so deep in thought." Ojiro jumped at the sudden voice in his ear. The guy laughed. "Sorry, just wanted to scare you a little. What's on your mind?" "Why aren't they moving in?" Ojiro turned towards his wife. He guessed she was thinking the same thing.

"Moving in? Oh, we haven't gotten the signal yet." "Signal? What si-?"

Slam!

Their heads turned towards the front entrance to the building. The doors were shut and boards were placed in front of the door. Half of everyone was running towards the door. Trying to break them down. Which gave them the perfect opening. The ones hiding behind the cars came and grabbed the ones that were still standing by the cars and in the opening. "Put down your weapons!" They turned towards the ones wearing masks and froze. The ones that weren't holding any hostages went around and collected their guns.

"That would have been the signal. We needed to make sure that if we did come in there wouldn't be anyone in the building coming out and seeing what we were doing. We had to make sure everyone in there was sedated before we even started here." More yelling could be heard from outside of the car. "Why did you tell us all of that? What are you planning to do with us?" The man laughed. "I don't plan on doing anything. We just got to wait for boss to make an announcement."

A tap was heard on the door before it opened. "Momo?" "Hagakure." The girl from before motioned for her to jump in. "Iida is still in the building. I'll wait for him out here before staying here." The man nodded before the girl left again. "Momo. Would you like to make this easier and tell them before the announcement?" She slowly nodded before looking at Hagakure. Momo and Hagakure have been friends ever since the two got there. For Momo, she was the closest thing to having "girlfriends" in her life. She treasured her friendship with her. And the same way went for Hagakure. So was something like this going to break up their friendship?

"I've been in contact with LOV for a few days now." The car was silent. She didn't dare look up and see the look on Hagakure's face. "Why? How much have you known?" "Bakugou told me about it. He said they could help. I trusted him. I told Iida about it because he overheard me on a call. He trusts me. They said that they would ensure this would go well and that we wouldn't have to worry about dying and being under their thumb anymore." Momo wiped loose tears from her eyes as they fell onto her hands.

"Really? We...won't have to worry about this anymore?" Ojiro squeezed Hagakure's hand at the thought of going back to how things used to be. They could try again and not have to worry about the safety of their child. "Yep. Our boss is keen on that stuff. Everyone working here is doing it of their own choice. Every single one of us the boss had saved. We owe him our lives. Some of us wouldn't be able to work or function in society because most of us are slaves." "That doesn't sound like Dabi at all." "That's the same thing I said." Momo laughed along with Hagakure.

"People like to paint him in a bad light. So that's how he acts in public. But behind closed doors, he's a big puppy." "Oh if he heard you say that." The guy jumped. "Jiro! Don't do that." The girl, supposable 'Jiro', laughed. "You should be paying attention to your surroundings." She pushed him over and sat down next to Momo. The door was shut by Iida as he sat next to the still-unnamed guy. "It's good to finally meet you in person, Sero." "I-it's good to finally meet you, too." He watched as Iida smiled towards him.

"Before you die from all the blood rushing toward your face." Jiro pulled out her walkie-talkie and turned the volume up.

"Well hurry up and wake him up!" "Don't you think I'm trying! Just go get some water."

Seems like it's just getting started.

------

Todoroki felt his head pounding. He could barely open his eyes. He just laid his head on the...wet? He was wet? He felt water hit his face again and flinched. "Oh, he's up." It was the voice that called him a dickhead before. He forced his eyes open and looked around. The room was silent. There were four other people in the room other than him. "Oh look he's so confused." "This is going to be so fun." "Shoto, wake up."

There were so many voices. Who's was who's? It made his head spin. "Shoto? Are you okay?" He felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He looked up at the person. Katsuki. "Shoto, you need to wake up." Todoroki noticed that he wasn't wearing what he wore when he last saw him. Back when Midoriya was alive. But he felt like he's seen him so recently. He just...doesn't remember.

"Shoto! You're finally awake. Why don't you give the rest of us attention too!" Katsuki helped him sit up against the wall. He looked up and watched as the three others surrounded them. "Oh to be in your shoes. You let all of your men be captured, there could have been some unnecessary deaths today." Todoroki didn't reply. How the hell did everyone get captured? Were they so incompetent? "Oh Shoto, Enji must be rolling in his grave right now. With you dead, all of the work they've put in would be for not." "I couldn't care less."

"He speaks!" The yellow-haired one said. His mask still on his face. For some reason, he seemed familiar. "Shoto, I'm pretty sure you know what I want. And I..." Dabi grabbed hold of Katsuki and pulled him towards his chest. "...know what you want. All I'm asking for is a trade." He smiled.

"I want everything you have, your clients, your connections, every worker you have, everything. And I'll give you this cutie." He looked over to Katsuki and smiled. His Katsuki. Todoroki put an arm in front of the blond and frowned. If I give it all to you. You'll let him go?"

"Shoto?" He glanced at Katsuki's surprised face. "You can't do that. What about Momo and Iida?" "Katsuki, stop you can't change my mind on this." "Then at least answer my question." Todoroki sighed. "They didn't care about getting you back. They have been holding me back the entire time. I couldn't care less what happens to them." Katsuki didn't say anything after that. But that doesn't matter. He told the truth. He doesn't care what happens to them. They could all die and he won't bat an eye. All he needs is his Katsuki. He can rebuild. He can make more connections. He can restart. With Katsuki by his side, he can live again.

------

Momo and Iida didn't move. Of course, they knew they were expendable. Of course, they knew that. But hearing it from him is a lot. He was just going to throw them away just like that? Iida felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over and saw that Sero was giving him a reassuring smile. "That's the difference between Todoroki and Dabi. Dabi wouldn't just drop everyone because of one person. He's built everything he has on trust and loyalty. Todoroki treats Kats as if he's a delicate flower and that he needs protecting. Dabi knows Kats can handle things on his own. Dabi trusts him."

"So you've already made your decision?" "Yes." Todoroki instantly replied. "Do you hear that? Your boss would drop you just for one person. He doesn't need you. He doesn't care about you. Everyone is a pawn piece to him. He won't even care if I gave the command for my people to shoot every one of you. Isn't that right?" There was a pause. "What? Didn't know that I made sure that your people could hear you?" Another pause.

------

Dabi sighed. He wasn't having fun anymore. It's boring if he thinks he's going to win. "This is getting boring. Let's move to the roof." Kaminari and Uraraka nodded before grabbing Todoroki. "The roof? Why are we going to the roof?" They pulled him out of the room, only leaving Katsuki and himself. He smiled as he ran his hand through Katsuki's hair. "We're so close." He felt him nodding in his hands. "I love you, Katsuki."

"I love you too, Dabi."

Dabi pulled him in and kissed him. Katsuki brought his hands up to Dabi's hair pulling slightly. "You're playing a dangerous game, baby." "Come on you big puppy." Katsuki grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up the two flights of stairs. "Where the hell is Katsuki? What is he doing with him?" They could hear Todoroki yelling from the other side of the steel door. Dabi smiled as he heard his kitten giggle. They opened the door to see Kaminari pinning Todoroki to the floor.

Dabi looked over the edge of the building. The sun was just now coming over the farther buildings. It wasn't the best sunrise but it was nice. He looked at all the people that sat on the ground in the parking lot. Just waiting. "Tell them to bring team B out here as well." Uraraka nodded. He watched as the people poured from the building. He waited for them all to sit down with Team A. He motioned for Uraraka to hand him the walkie-talkie.

"I'm going to get straight to the point. I want you all to join me." A few gasps were heard amongst the crowd. Of course, they weren't going to just jump at the opportunity to join Dabi. Leader of LOV. "I know most of you come from the market. I know most of you were put here because of debt that a parent had passed onto you. I know this because I went through the same thing."

Everyone was quiet. Someone as powerful as Dabi? "I'm not going to go into detail about how I got to where I am today but I'll say I got a lot of help from the people who work with me. All I'm doing is extending that hand to you. To the people who have nowhere else to go. To the people who don't know how to do anything else. I'm giving you the option, you can work with me or you can go back to the lives you lived before because the Todoroki's, Midoriya's, and or Kirishima's no longer have any say in your lives." He turned to Todoroki and smiled. "All because your Boss loves someone that has no interest in him."

He turned off the walkie-talkie and laughed at Todoroki's shocked face. "K-katsuki?" Katsuki looked over at Todoroki and smiled. He walked over to him and crouched down. "K-katsuki, he's lying right?" He gave Katsuki a hopeful smile.

"When did I ever show any signs of liking you?" Todoroki's face dropped. "W-what?" "I've never shown any signs of actually liking you." "B-but you show it all the t-time. You smiled all the time and laughed." "Wow, you really have it bad for me. I smile at everyone. You should know this. It's not like you haven't been watching me for two months before any of this actually happened." Todoroki's eyes widened. "Did you really not think I would realize a black expensive car was parked outside my shop for hours at a day?"

Dabi laughed again at Todoroki's pitiful face. "Shoto. You really are dense." "Why would I even think about liking the people that ruined my life? You really aren't the smartest, Shoto." Katsuki cupped his face and kissed his forehead. "I despise every minute I was with you guys." He stood up and linked arms with Uraraka. "Dabi, finish quickly so we can go home." "Just go home without me, you need some sort of sleep." Katsuki glared at Dabi. He nervously laughed. "Of course I will, angel. Just wait for me in the car." He smiled and pulled Uraraka along. "Have fun boss, but you don't wanna keep him waiting." Kaminari smiled and waved as he closed the door.

Dabi smiled.

@/Ome_meH

3464 Words