The Prologue of Mind Reader For Hire went out to all my patrons today! Let me know if any of you didn't get it for some reason. 

Also, huge note

If you are re-reading this book, and I see you commenting spoilers about ANYTHING, you are getting blocked immediately. I am not just deleting your comment. I am blocking you entirely. I am re-reading through all my books to check. If you know you did this, you better go delete your comment really fucking fast. It is NOT okay to go back and say 'ooo Sero is the traitor hahha' because that's an assholish thing to do to people trying to read the story through and enjoy it. Don't be that guy. 

Third person pov

Harper had experienced the sensation of 'her life flashing before her eyes' before. Before, when she was a child in that damned man's office, later, when she found herself on the way to the hospital after trying to commit suicide, and watching dazedly as her own heart rate dropped lower and lower. Getting kidnapped by Kurogiri, and facing off against Sero, and rushing through the streets of Hosu, trying desperately to reach her friends before Stain could cut their lives short. She'd been afraid in all those moments. This time was no different, only this was a different kind of death she was about the experience.

With the help of the people around her, Harper had constructed a house of cards. But take one of those cards away to reveal it, and the entire tower was going to come tumbling down. And this card? This card was at the base. The very foundation of all she was forced to hide at the moment. And it was about to be revealed. Hagakure's scream was the most dreadful sound she'd heard in a while. It made her want to stare blankly at a wall for hours on end until her brain finally decided to call it quits and bottomed out, as it should've years ago.

Everyone clambered from their seats as the beginnings of one of Kurogiri's warp gates began to form. Harper grimaced in a resigned manner, also rising from her seat just as her classmates did, though not as panicked in her movements. Aizawa looked borderline frantic, his eyes sharp and darting between the forming portal and Harper herself, who looked pissed off, but exasperated at the same time. Kirishima was one of the few still at his desk, his head in his hands as he groaned to himself over what an absolute mess this was about to turn into. Harper thought back to Dabi's text.

Dumbass #7:
I lost Kurogiri

One glance away was all it took to lose track of the guy. And now here he was, forming at the front of their classroom. Wonderful. Just what she needed today. Could she go just one week without a crisis? Just one? Because really, that's all she was asking.

"We're gonna die!" Kaminari screamed. Harper winced as the screechy Wii tune in his head intensified along with the electricity crackling in the air around him. Ojiro and Aoyama hopped away from him as a few of the sparks stung at their arms, their eyes wide as saucers. "Oh my god, I'm too young to go! I haven't even lost my virginity yet!" 

"It's the warp fucker!" Bakugo growled out, palms crackling. "Those League assholes sure have some nerve showing their ugly mugs around here again. I'll take them down before they even know what hit them!" 

"Mr. Aizawa! What do we do?!" Iida asked, frantically ushering his classmates behind him. "What is Harper doing?! She's just standing there and glaring! She did mention something happening on her internship... I've never seen her look so upset. I do hope she's alright. I won't let anything happen to her or my other peers!" 

Harper shook her head, bringing herself out of her daze. Right, she could focus on the thoughts of her classmates later. This was the type of issue that wasn't going to handle itself, unfortunately. She tapped Kirishima's shoulder as slipped past, bringing him springing to his feet and ready to follow. At least someone around here wasn't an unreliable idiot. That being said, it's not like Kurogiri ever promised not to show up while she was in class. Dabi had simply been diligent enough to curb his panics. Not today, though. Her lack of texting had sent the ex-villain over the edge, and now here he was.

"Harper, no!" Mina squealed, horrified. "She doesn't know he's a warp gate, or that he's probably bringing more villains! Oh no!"

"No, no, no." Harper hissed out just as Kurogiri formed. The panic sweeping the room faltered only slightly at the sight of Kurogiri's physical body, which hadn't been visible during the attack on the USJ. Aizawa moved forward, gripping his capture weapon but not quite activating his quirk as Kurogiri let out the most atrocious wail anyone had ever heard. Even Bakugo's palms stopped sparking momentarily to process the unexpected sound that passed through his lips. Harper felt her anger push itself off to the side. There was no point in being mad. He didn't mean any harm. "Oh, dammit, Kurogiri. What are you doing here?"

"You're alive!" Kurogiri sobbed, flopping onto her basically. Harper grunted under the brunt of his weight, avoiding looking at her classmates or focusing on their thoughts as she immediately began inching towards the door, dragging the distraught man with her. After this, she was getting donuts. And coffee. And a fucking nap, for once in her life! She was a teenger. She was way too young to be dealing with ex-villains being unhealthily attached to her. "I thought for sure something horrible had happened to you!"

"I was perfectly fine before you showed up. Come on, we need to get to Nezu's office." Harper muttered, not really wanting anyone else to hear as pulled him towards the door. Nezu had briefed her on what security measures had been put in place after the USJ, and she knew without a doubt that he'd tripped a silent alarm when he warped in. She could vaguely feel the unease of the teachers, and hear whispers of their distant thoughts as they readied their quirks and locked the doors, while trying not to alert the students that anything was amiss.

1-A was freaking out. How could they not? But they were hesitating, because their teacher no longer looked all that worried. In fact, he looked nearly amused, and their classmate was pretty much carrying the villain who'd made the USJ attack possible to begin with. Without his warping quirk, surely not that many villains could've made it into that space so suddenly. But he didn't seem to be attacking. He appeared to be... well, crying. Bawling his eyes out and rambling about how he thought Harper had died. They clearly were acquainted, and Kirishima was also there, looking exasperated.

"There's no need to panic, guys! Seriously!" Kirishima waved his hands in front of his face, shaking his head. A few people came out of their stances as Harper tried not to tip over under Kurogiri's weight. He was rambling on senselessly about how she could've died, or been attacked, or kidnapped on the way to school, or lonely, or in need of a best friend, or hungry, or any number of things. "Man, this is bad. Harper's cover is blown, and people are going to know I'm involved too. But there's no way I'm letting her go down alone."

Harper would have to remember to thank him later. She owed him big time for all the shit he'd gone through just for her. Everything had been chaos since learning her secret for him, and he was taking it like a champ and never once complaining. He was readily willing to keep her secrets and help her in any was he could. She... hadn't had a friend like that in a while now, and it felt nice. 

"He's right, everyone. Kurogiri here is actually under reformation, and has gained a... unusual attachment to Harper, who was the one to convert her during her internship." Aizawa drawled. "Return to your desks. You have a test to finish."

Everyone went dead silent. Harper gave a forced smile that looked way too much like a grimace to pass as anything positive, awkwardly patting Kurogiri's back. The man was sniveling in a disgusting way, right next to her ear, which wasn't helping the whole migraine situation. Not to mention all her classmate's frozen thoughts sprung back to life at what felt like the exact same time, making her grimace ever further.

"...I can tell she's fucking thrilled about it." Bakugo finally spoke, seeming almost confused. "What the fuck? I guess shit's not impossible, but... what the fuck? Asshole almost got us fucking killed. Why should we even give him a chance?"

"Wait, so we aren't going to die?" Hagakure checked. "Is that why Harper never talks about her internship? All I know she and Kirishima ran into each other during the whole Hosu thing! Could it be that that's where they found uh... Kurogana? Whatever his name is? That sounds too much like a pokemon to be right."

"Oh, well I feel kind of silly now! Are you... you're sure he's not going to kill us?" Ochako looked to Harper for this. Harper was glad to see there was still some trust there. Whatever, she wanted to leave. At least she didn't have to finish her stupid ass test right now. "I guess the whole crying thing sorta make sense now. Harper adopted him! It's kinda sweet that he missed her... and weird."

"He wouldn't hurt a fly." Kirishima was lying. When it came to bugs, Kurogiri got so terrified he became numb. A stone-cold insect killer who would slap entire spiders with his bare hands to crush them. "They're taking this all in stride. I guess everything this class has already been through has probably helped."

"Y...Yeah. Now that I think about it, I think I remember seeing him. During the whole Stain thing." Izuku spoke up, flushing when all the attention turned to him. Kirishima reached to open the door for Harper, who'd finally gotten Kurogiri to stand up somewhat on his own. She hadn't realized how hard it was to drag a man backwards while he was sobbing onto your shoulder until she tried. Aizawa was being an asshole and just cooing over the whole situation rather than helping. "I never said anything because I wasn't sure, but Stain, Harper, and Kirishima all mysteriously vanished out of that alley that night. I never asked, and none of us have brought it up since, but..."

Kirishima opened the door, and Harper punted Kurogiri through, sending him stumbling out into the hall. She turned tiredly to her classmates, who were reluctantly making their ways back to their seats under the steely eyes of the resident fake-ass, their teacher. Kirishima slipped out the door to make sure Kurogiri didn't try to bounce back in and latch onto Harper again, his cheerful voice reassuring him that Harper would be out in just a second.

"I'm, uh, sorry for not telling you about this. I didn't know the idiot would show up." Harper's head was pounding. Her classmates stared, some sympathetic, and others curious. Harper felt like she wanted to die. Speaking in front of a group wasn't her thing. Explaining herself wasn't, either. Nothing social really. "I interned with the police and got involved in several shitstorms, most of which I'm not allowed to talk about. This wasn't supposed to be revealed until later, because not all the legalities of Kurogiri being a free man are cleared. But just know that he's harmless, and just a moron."

"I'm a moron." Kaminari's thoughts drifted wistfully. Harper wasn't going to comment on that.

"It's quite alright. We just... panicked, I suppose." Iida assured, making way for the rest of his classmates to pour out their reassurances. Tokoyami commented on the perks of having a warp gate on the side of the heroes, especially one that seemed as versatile as Kurogiri was. It sparked Izuku into action, which of course drew Bakugo in. Soon several discussions about how Kurogiri could be useful sprung up, giving Harper the chance to slip out of the classroom so she and Kirishma could herd Kurogiri to Nezu's office. Aizawa looked a bit depressed as she left, but that was probably because it would take a hot minute to get all his 'wonderful little munchkins' back on track with the whole midterm thing.

Kurogiri seemed a little better now that he could see that Harper was in perfect health. Well, excusing the lack of sleep and the fact that she was ready to jump off UA's roof, but that was fairly normal in the ex-villains eyes. She hadn't been stabbed, she wasn't running off and eloping with Kirishima, and she wasn't hungry. All was right in the world in his two, glowing yellow eyes. He felt somewhat guilty about dropping by. She had explicitly instructed him to not, and he'd done the exact opposite. But it was a matter of utmost urgency! He was sure Harper Rye would understand. 

"They're going to have questions." Kirishima noted as they walked, glancing down at her. "I feel really, really bad. I know she was supposed to keep this all secret. She's got to be feeling so stressed right now! What could I do to make it better? Maybe... god, I have no idea. I feel so useless!"

"Yeah, I know. But they had questions about Sero, and I curbed those." Harper mumbled, then shaking her head. They could only move forward. What happened, happened, and she'd have to work with what she could to patch up this hole as neatly as she could, as much of a pain as it would bel. "I don't know. The traitor was found. Things are winding down. Maybe them finding out wouldn't be the worst thing. They've got to know eventually, and I don't like lying."

"I can see where you're coming from." Kirishima choked out, cheeks red. "So womanly. I'm in love. This is wonderful. She can hear me. I'm very sorry."

"You can apologize when you've done something wrong, Kirishima." Harper sighed, looking up at Kurogiri dryly. "And you. Keep your trap shut and let me do the talking, or I'm banning Golden Girls."

Kurogiri looked horrified at the mere prospect.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dabi burst into the principal's office right as Harper and Kirishima finished recounting the events that had just gone on. He was accompanied by a very confused Hound Dog, who was once again suffering due to Harper and the general chaos that tended to follow her around. The scarred man was covered in sweat, with his shirt almost soaked through with the stuff. Kirishima and Harper shared a look, and Nezu pleasantly sipped his tea as the man hunched over, trying desperately to catch his breath as he propped his hands up on his knees. They waited.

"Ah, Dabi. What're you doing here?" Kurogiri asked with innocent curiosity that made Harper cough into her fist and Kirishima almost choke. "How odd. He's too old to be a student."

"Why the fuck," Dabi gasped for air, pushing himself into an upright position, "do you think I'm here, dipshit?! What the hell?!" 

Hound Dog carefully scooted back, closing the door with a small wave in Harper's direction. She smiled wryly at him. Hound Dog was too good for this world. Poor guy was always there at the wrong time. She was fine explaining this all to him later, though. Unlike some people. He was an adult who took things in stride and tended not to overreact unless the situation permitted it. Unlike her classmates, half of which would scream if someone turned off the light in the classroom. As though something would actually happen to them.

"The tea?" Kurogiri tried again. "This Nezu fellow make quite a good cup. I'm not sure I've ever had anything so exquisite." 

Harper's head pounded, and she groaned. "Both of you can it. It happened, and it's too late to change it now. They were going to find out one of these days. Keep arguing and I'm going to ask Kirishima to ask me to do what Sansa couldn't and knock me out with a chair" Harper waved a hand. Nezu had a thoughtful look on his face that she decidingly didn't like. That being said, she didn't like much of anything Nezu did unless it involved leaving her alone and minding his own business. Kirishima looked sorta horrified at the mere idea of whacking Harper over the head with any sort of furniture.

"On the contrary, Miss Rye. I believe this secret could've been long standing if-" Harper cut Nezu off with a glare. "My, she looks upset! How pleasant." 

"Finish that sentence. Really, I dare you." She hissed out lowly. He just smiled at her. Harper glanced at Kirishima, who looked unsure of what to do with himself. She sighed to him, shaking her head and bringing her hand up to her throbbing forehead again. She felt dizzy from the ache in it. This really just wasn't her day. "Remind me to never try this 'optimism' bullshit again."

"Guys, look what you did! This is the first time she's made an active attempt at positivity!" Kirishima blurted out, eyes wide. "She's trying to look on the bright side! Man, this blows! It sucks that her day got ruined. I wonder if I could cheer her up. But how? Take her home so she can nap, maybe? Or... Or donuts? I would hug her, but I think her nose would just do that scrunching thing it does when she's uncomfortable."

Harper allowed herself a brief moment to wonder what she did to deserve Kirishima. She'd have to go over to his house, sometime. She knew he'd been wanting to invite her over to dinner with his moms, who wanted to meet her. She owed him at least that much, and he didn't have any siblings. She tended to dislike children. Their thoughts were a lot louder and more erratic. They had more trouble focusing, and it caused their minds to bounce.

"God dammit, Kurogiri. You've really fucked this all up." Dabi shook his head. "What's next? Harper's going to go through hell now that her classmates know. We're actually lucky her teacher knew beforehand. Had he attacked, this fucker would've been smokey-motherfucking-toast, that's for damn sure. Eraserhead's terrifying."

Harper took a deep breath of air in, closing her eyes and trying to think as she massaged at her temples for what felt like the millionth time that day. Kurogiri was sitting right next to her, so close their arms were almost pressed up against one another's. She tried not to focus on that, and instead attempted to come out of some sort of idea that would get them out of this huge-ass mess. It wasn't as bad as it felt, and she knew that. Nothing ever was. Her classmates had calmed down before she even got the chance to leave. With her, Kirishima, and Aizawa's reassurances, they'd tapered down. They'd seen weirder shit in their time at UA. That wasn't the issue.

"Hound Dog, I'm sure, would be willing to talk to Kurogiri. And perhaps we'd benefit from having him around." Nezu spoke up thoughtfully, causing their gazes to snap to him. All their eyes were wide, save for Kurogiri's. He simply tilted his head curiously in question as Nezu schemed. "A warp gate on campus, especially in 1-A... useful. A good protective measure. If we can't stop him from entering the school, it's safe to assume no one can stop him from leaving should an emergency arise. He got nearly a hundred villains into the USJ in a matter of moments..."

"Uh... sorry, Principal Nezu. I don't think you realize what you're suggesting." Kirishima admitted, a bit hesitantly. Harper was too busy sharing a horrified look with Dabi to even form a response. Was he insane?! Kirishima's thoughts were along the same lines, but mellower somehow. "He has no idea what Kurogiri's like around Harper. I mean, he never wants to be away from her! I think their daily separation is a good thing. But maybe that's my jealousy talking. Still, he's just... he's Kurogiri!"

"Oh my god, you were right. Your principal's batshit." Dabi finally managed to whisper. "Shit. I really, really hope this isn't going where it looks like it is. Hell."

"No. He's not coming to school with me." Harper said firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument. Kurogiri lit up like a lightbulb, what Nezu was implying finally hitting him upside the head and causing him to buzz in his seat. Harper groaned, throwing her body back into her chair and staring at the ceiling. She should just go outside and stare at the sun until her eyes burned out of their sockets so she didn't have to witness this.

"I could go to school with Harper Rye? I could protect her, and her friends?!" Kurogiri asked excitedly. "Marvelous! Simply Marvelous! What a concept. Oh my word, this might be the second best day of my life! The first being the day I befriended Harper Rye, of course."

"Yes, exactly that, Kurogiri! You could be with Harper, and protect her and her classmates. Doesn't that sound nice?" Nezu chirped, completely ignoring the objections from everyone else. Harper continued to stare at the ceiling, ignoring the makings of a horror show before her. And honestly, no one could blame her.

~~~~~~

A while back, I posted a gay Aizawa story called "Just A Myth" on my account and keep forgetting to mention it, so go check it out if you want to say Aizawa be gay with a merman---