SOMEWHERE, IN AN APARTMENT IN THE CITY.

The man gripped his hair and groaned in frustration, looking at the back of his closet door. It was covered in pictures and articles, red string and tacks connecting everything together in an elaborate system only he understood.

Along the top were pictures of five different people, three of whom were now crossed out. The man mumbled under his breath in utter rage as he crossed out another with a red chisel tip marker.

He looked down at one particular picture cut out of a newspaper that was dated two years ago of a woman leaning over a podium giving a press conference. Her eyes had x's drawn over them, retraced many times giving the paper depth.

"It's almost laughable how you think you're in control," he said, lifting his finger to touch the picture, feeling the divots of the pen over her eyes. "Little do you know you're just a pawn."

He read over the headline for the nth time, growling at it slightly from under his breath.

DETECTIVE (L/N) INSTALLS MANDATORY CERFEW FOR THE CITY.

"Just a pawn that knows too much."

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I sat, legs crossed and hands folded in my chair. Wetting my lips to prepare to speak, I stared down the grey haired man in front of me.

"What did you do?" I asked slowly, annunciating each word carefully, though it sounded harsh and mean. I might have meant for them to sound that way, but he didn't need to know that.

"Nothing!" He said, a little too fast.

"What. Did. You. Do." I said again, louder this time.

"Really, boss, nothing!" Daichi exclaimed back, his eyes finally making contact with mine.

"Oh really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the man.

"Really!"

I reached for my phone, Daichi's eyes latched onto my hand as he gulped in fear.

"Then why did Creati text me, quote, 'So sorry for not answering your call, I was out on patrol and forgot my phone. I'll call you back after my shift?'" I asked, looking back up at Daichi from my screen.

He stuttered not able to find a response.

"Tell me or I root through your memories."

"Ok, ok!" He exclaimed, making me find my smirk. I knew he hated it when I went into his headspace, so that was a method I used that always got him talking. "I placed my bet on Creati, Lord Explo and Deku right?"

"Right," I responded flatly.

"Well, I was sitting all alone in my office with nothing to do, so I decided why not..." he trailed off, mumbling the rest.

"Daichi." I warned.

He mumbled again, slightly louder but still quiet enough so that I couldn't hear.

Daichi had always been observant, especially when it came to me. When he first heard about my quirk he was fucking astounded. He was worse than Izuku with all his questions, and they were all about my "system." How I functioned while in a headspace and all that stuff. His entire life was computers and now, his boss practically was a computer.

To say he was excited was an understatement.

He had been observing me for so long he knew exactly how quietly to speak to where I could hear him but not make out what he was saying. Daichi knew how it got on my nerves.

That's probably why he did it so much.

"Daichi!" I said, raising my voice.

"I took your phone and called her!" He exclaimed before slapping a hand over his mouth and sending me a guilty look.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"And what did you plan to do when she answered?" I asked, already regretting my decision.

"I used a voice software to recreate your voice electronically so I could make you say whatever I wanted." He explained, looking down at his hands.

"And?"

"And I was gonna have you ask her to dinner." He let out a sigh before crossing his arms. "You guys were gonna go on a cute dinner date."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no Daichi, you do not get to feel upset about this situation, I do! You were gonna impersonate me!"

"For your own good!" He yelled back, standing from his chair.

"For my own good? What the hell does that mean?!" I yelled back, also standing.

"It means that you need to get out more!"

"I do get out!"

"Yeah, recently! You need to make up for lost time!" He went quiet and stared me down, both of us panting from yelling so hard.

Suddenly, Daichi's lip started twitching and a noise came from his throat. He stopped trying to it back and burst out into laughter.

Daichi's laugh was one that made your chest warm because of how joyful it was, but also made you laugh because he sounded like a dying animal.

Soon, we were both laughing, folded over and holding our stomachs, eyes filling with tears as we slowly lost our voices.

"So- so you—" I couldn't finish my sentence as a stated laughing again, my throat sore and body hot. "So you— oh god— do you were gonna ask a girl out for me?"

Daichi wheezed, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"Yeah!"

We eventually got back into our chairs, sniffling and laughing as we wiped our eyes and rubbed our sore abdomens.

"Oh my god Daichi." I said, letting out a pitiful laugh.

"I know! You're so lucky to have such a caring friend as me!" We burst out laughing again at his words and as we were calming down, I looked back up and made eye contact with the man in front of me.

"Get the fuck out of my office." I said calmly, punctuating my demand with a laugh.

"Yeah okay," he nodded, squeezing his eyes shut and wheezing some more as he stood and left the room.

I laughed pitifully and put my face in my hands.

"Dear god, what am I going to do with them?"

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"You did not!" Chiharu yelled, clearly offended.

Daichi beat the counter with his palm as he laughed, dropping into a squat as his knees got weak with laughter.

"I did!"

"You cheater!" She exclaimed, leaning over the desk to look down at the mess of grey hair below her.

"It was so worth it." He said, letting his voice drop at the 'so' before bursting into laughter again.

"I hate you you know." Chiharu said matter of factly, leaning over the desk more, her feet picking up off the ground.

Daichi stood up slowly, making Chiharu lean back and stand again, laughing and beating the counter some more. He pointed to himself and mouthed 'I know,' not able to speak in his laughing frenzy.

"You know Daichi, you may be a liar and a cheat," Chiharu spat each word out like a watermelon seed, leaning closer so that her and Daichi's noses were almost touching.

"But I can play dirty too."

Listen. My best friend may be an asshole, but he's the best asshole I've ever met ok—

Fun Fact: One of Daichi's high school teachers tried to make a move on him so he leaked his search history anonymously.

I thought about making a Discord server for my account and my readers but then I was like: what would even happen there 😭😭

Reminder: Hey! You! Shut the fuck up with that self degrading bull shit! You're beautiful, you're smart, and you're lovable okay? I love you 😤💞💞 (someone's feeling aggressive today geez-)

Over and out.