"This is fine, just, give me a tissue and I'll be good to go," You calmly stated as you tried to tilt your head back, not wanting to ruin yet another one of your favorite sweaters. "Uhh, make that the whole box," Dabi tried to humor with the rare occurrence of a nervous smile, hand reaching over trying to feel where said container was. He found it in a cabinet that Layla hadn't closed, gripping on it and shakily giving it over to you with a laugh, "That is. . . starting to get really weird," You raise a brow and take a tissue, not thinking much of it as you placed it on one nostril. But you couldn't help but notice the way Taneo also looked concerned, meeting your gaze before looking off in search of something.

Finding it-being a hand-held, folding mirror-he hands it to you with an obvious sense of urgency. You wanted to look at Layla for help as well, to see if the two were just overreacting, but the girl had her back to you and looked a little too focused on her pursuit for proper knowledge on the white board. So you shrug it off, reaching over to receive the mirror with a thanks at the ready, but as you leaned forward, blood dripped onto the tiled floors. Frowning, you take the mirror and, to your horror, they were in fact not overreacting.

On your face was a literal crime scene, both of your nostrils quickly oozing with blood and down your mouth. It honestly looked like you had just enjoyed a nice glass of cranberry juice just a little too much, starting to taste the metal as you pulled back the tissue. The whole paper was stained with red, only the corners left to have remained white.

"Oh that's concerning," You mumble thoughtlessly, looking down to see the entire top of your scarf starting to go red as well, "Oh fuck that's concerning."

Layla turned around upon hearing that word twice in five seconds now, looking in awe at your bleeding form. "Woah shit what happened to you?"

"Aren't you the doctor. . ?!" The panic had started to settle now, grabbing tissues by the bulk and shoving them to your nose like that would somehow help without proper coordination. Luckily enough it seemed that the phoenix had managed to keep his cool-ironic, I know-helping you lay out the pieces properly to efficiently wipe off the blood without causing an even bigger mess. "Well then, next on the agenda is the search and creation of an antidote for Y/N, and-"

"I'm still bleeding, Layla. . !" You exclaimed with a tight forced smile, earning a sigh as the chemist pops open the cap of another marker, "Well without any other official notes on this thing I can't really decipher anything." She sighs, before looking at you, "Also right now in the early stages of that thing settling, everything in your body is getting heightened. That includes, but not limited to, your emotions, any bodily pains, and other functions. Like your nose drying because of this place's air conditioning and snow. Because everything is getting heightened, the effects of that are worsening what might just be a regular occurrence of your nose drying out. In short, you a crusty bitch because of this drug." She looks off, muttering something along the lines of 'did I really just say that?' before going back to writing on the board.

"That isn't helping, but thank you??" You tried to say with a tone of positivity, looking at the soaking pieces if it had shown any signs of slowing in the unreasonably short time of the last time you checked it. The answer was no of course.

"You're welcome. Now please translate these to Taneo please," You sighed a sound of agreement, plugging a rolled up bunch straight up your nose to not have to constantly hold it there. Oh well, at least it wasn't out of the ordinary for you, right? Sure that was bad news because that was a lot of blood, but at least it wasn't anything new. All you could do right now was just go along with Layla and hope for the best.

● ● ●

"Well wasn't she festive," Dabi had commented upon reaching the outside world, hand gripping onto yours as you two walked the sidewalks. The cold had doubled exponentially in the short time you two had stayed inside the building, his flirtatious ass smoothly grabbing hold of your hand and blaming it on the weather. It wouldn't be a time spent with Dabi without his dumb reasonings to flirt, but hey, you couldn't complain, he kept warming it with his weird powers and it helped calm your nerves.

What Layla had asked you to explain was mainly the plans for the journalist. The short of it was that the chemist offered to house him for a short while in any case he could remember anything else of the laboratory, and right after, he'd be on the first flight to Japan.

He accepted of course, his original main concern being the fact that he was a foreigner in an outside world without any money. So with that out of the way, it didn't really take much for him to say yes to such an offer.

"I'm sure she is." He chuckles softly, deciding not to comment on your choices to stay quieter than usual. After washing up the mess your nose made and the discarding of all the tissues, you two had left rather quickly. You, to get back to work, and the phoenix, to go back to enjoying his free time. That was the plan at least, before an annoying buzzing in his phone insisted otherwise.

Ignoring it the first few times was easy enough, but it kept going. So many messages, so many vibrations, that even you started to notice and raise a brow. "You should get that."

"Well now I fucking do," He grumbles to himself, a sour mood tainting him at the thought of knowing who this might be from. The past few days he's turned down more than a few jobs, each reasoning becoming more and more ridiculous than the last and he was sure that Shigaraki was on his last nerve. It was worth it, of course, to see the pissed-off look on his face and the man knowing he didn't have a choice because Dabi help up a reasonable argument; Momo paid them a lot to keep you safe, and it'd be against protocol for him to neglect that job, which made this a priority than all the others.

The rest of the members didn't dare comment on the bullshit-ness of all that, deciding that getting themselves entangled in the two men's argument a far worse fate than death itself. They could handle a lot of missions on their own without the phoenix's help as much as he hated to admit it, so it pissed him to see a message that shot down all his attempts at weaseling out.

Get your ass back here
You can't say no to this one, Frankenstein
it's given a shit ton of money and you can't use your fucking excuses on me anymore

well dammit then

cant you get the other idiots to help you?

You don't think I've tried, asshat?
They specifically requested for someone more 'qualified'
Whatever that fucking means
And boss has asked for you

honored

but im not taking it

Nice try
I don't want you on this one either yet here we fucking are
Outside the apartment in ten
Be late and I'm shoving my foot down your throat

kinky

He didn't get more responses after that, sighing as the two of you stood a mere corner away from your boutique's street. "So?"

"I have to go," He sighs, hesitant to really let go of his grip when you did with a humored roll of your eyes. "Oh stop sulking, you big baby, I'll be fine." He rolls his eyes too, although this time with not so much humor, "I'm not worried about you, hot-stuff,"

"That's a new one."

"I just don't want to do this one," You shrugged, already adjusting the bag over your shoulder as you gave him a supportive pat, "Well too late, because from all your vague wording I'm gonna assume you're going to have to either way." He dared laugh, before sighing and leading the way once more with a quick grab of your hand, "Well whatever, I might as well get you back. I still got like ten minutes, come on." Without much complaint you followed him.

The moment ended a bit too quickly, and before he knew it he was already making his way back to the apartment he and his unruly group of ragtag misfits resided in. He took his time of course; purposefully taking the longer route there and lingering just a minute too long outside of your shop to flirt around. . . but it didn't change the fact that he was going to have to show up one way or another. On the way he had managed to figure out the average amount of times a New Yorker would hit someone on the streets below in an attempt to look for something to entertain him, snickering at the somewhat useless observations and talents he was capable of developing on boring and uneventful travels like his. But his journey was too soon to end, but he knew he didn't really have much of a say on it. So with a heavy sigh, he jumps the last building upon quickly approaching his.

From above the fire escape he could see Shigaraki's scowling face, no doubt having waited there in the past five plus minutes of the phoenix's tardiness. He, of course and once again takes his time, skipping a few steps every now and then but ultimately moving at the average speeds of a common sidewalk snail.

A grip on his shirt was a greeting he didn't expect, but wasn't surprised to have met, raising a brow at his sneering friend. "You really like fucking around, don't you?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," He eases coolly, earning a final growl before getting released. Without another word he storms off, the phoenix following his form with an amused and curious look. It took him a couple of more steps before he looks back, an angrier look on his face, "Well what exactly are you waiting for? A fucking kiss from your girlfriend?! Get moving!" He bit back a comment of 'I already had', deciding to just lay off the dude while he cools off enough for him to start acting like a dick again. Making fun of Shigaraki was fun when he wasn't trying to kill you, so he decided that a short break was in order.

"So? What's this so important job that you had to disturb me for it?" He asked, taking the time to be slow and observe whatever he could see with a bored look, "Don't exactly think that you're the type of person interested in a partner for no reason."

"Shut up, will you? Your voice is a fucking bother to live with," He easily ignores the comment, talking anyway. "And also, who are we chasing anyway? Is it a chase? Are we infiltrating a group or something? Because I don't think that the amount you said would be possible all for a single person," Shigaraki pulls the same cards and ignores him, looking around as they arrived at an abandoned garage-like shelter. "If it's a group don't you think we'd need more help? If this job is so important I'd expect you to bring along Kurogiri, he's great for crowd control."

Their leader-by-not-choice grumbles over something unrelated to his obvious attempts at riling him up, grabbing the bottom of the sliding bunch of metal that served as the door. With the noisy sounds of scraping it managed to slide up, revealing the dusty interior. Dabi side-whistled at the messy view, taking important note of the covered. . . thing in the middle of the cramped room. "Oh, is it a kidnapping?"

"Mostly," He-for some reason-answers, the phoenix making another important note to use that against him somewhere in the near future. He didn't even think of the vague answer, too distracted by his own giddiness he from just thinking about another chance to fuck around with his 'leader' that had far too little fucks to give and far too much anger issues to deal with.

Approaching it, he grabs the dirty old cloth on it and, giving it a few adjustments to make sure he had a good enough grip on it, yanks it straight off to reveal a black van.

It was black, for the most part of it, with the obvious sign of age and graffiti everywhere on it. Tires that looked two rolls away from flattening and the not-so-subtle smell of gasoline, Dabi wouldn't be surprised if he ever said they got this straight from a random junkyard. "Does it work?"

. . .

"Well it wouldn't be fucking parked here if it didn't, now would it, Franken-fuck?" He sarcastically spits back, giving one of the tires a good kick before moving to the driver's side. Dabi wasn't sure why he did that, but he did, and now he was forced to go inside it anyway.

"Where the hell are we even going?" He asks, settling into the leather seats that had more than a few rips in many of the places. It was peeling and the foam was starting to spill out, but he didn't have much of a choice and he didn't really care for the look of the damn thing. Motherfucker didn't even own a car, so who was he to complain about it?

"New York," Shigaraki nonchalantly responds, sticking the keys in and giving it a good few turns. Dabi rolls his eyes, "And I'm somehow the annoying one. Be more specific, crusty."

"Well it ain't here," He once again eye-rolled like it was the most obvious thing in the world, earning a scoff as he manages to get the engine rolling. It coughs and sputters for a few moments, but a smoother rumble made the two boys stare in their own versions of bewilderment and surprise. "New York's too fucking vague, dude. Where are we going?"

"Somewhere still in it, apparently." Figuring he was never going to get a proper answer, he gives up and settles with leaning back, deciding that he might as well get himself comfortable on the ride to wherever they were going. Who knows, Shigaraki might snap and finally push him off a bridge. But a man could only dream as he sighed and stares out the window in boredom. It wouldn't take that long, right?

. . .was a question for the naïve, because it took a nap for the phoenix to realize they were going anywhere near the borough.

"Wake up, stitch-face," Shigaraki rudely calls out with an accompanying slap to the arm, startling his eyes open as they weave through various close knit buildings. Not much of a change from other parts of the city, but the difference was that there were far too many cars and. . . Chinese writing on banners?

"What the hell are we doing downtown?" He asks, groggily pushing himself up and trying to blink away the sleep that was so suddenly taken away from him. "On an adventure, duh," His driver calls out like it was so blatantly obvious, pressing on the horn as the old girl let out a wheezing honk, "Get off the fucking road!" He was honestly surprised they made it this far without the car breaking down, Dabi humming in amusement as a long-lived yawn escapes his lips.

He shuffles around his pockets to grab his phone, feeling the old thing nestled deep into his unnecessarily large pant pockets. He-awkwardly-slides it up, seeing the notifications of a short message from you telling him to eat dinner. He quietly scoffed out a smile, typing something short in response. God, seven pm already?

"You're smiling at your phone like a damn dork," Shigaraki shudders, managing to get the car out of the main part of the commotion and onto the quieter streets. One with a clear view of the Brooklyn Bridge, to which they were apparently headed. "At least I have a girlfriend."

"Please, I'd be more surprised if you didn't pay the bitch." He rolls his eyes, but growls in anger as he manages to duck quickly out of the way before Dabi could land a swing on him. "Okay now that I passed out and we're heading dangerously near deep waters, mind telling me what exactly it is we're doing?" He pockets his phone as he looks out the window, twinkling-artificial-lights greeting him from wherever he looked. "Throwing you off."

"I'm gonna throw myself off if you don't take me seriously."

"We're just getting someone, geez," He keeps one hand on the steering wheel as another pats around the back, eyes kept focus on the road the whole time. He curses, before eventually grabbing onto something and handing it over to the more-than-eager phoenix. Eager to learn what he was going to do, and not the act of doing it itself. "Apparently this fuck-o managed to sneak past a lab that they signed by contract to never leave unless they got their nerd experiments done. But he broke free and his boss is willing to pay more than enough to either get the bitch back or kill him."

"That sentence still could've worked without as much cursing, 'ya extra," Dabi calls out casually, now his turn to avoid a hit to the face as he reads the small file. Inside was an ID picture enlarged to fit the size of a small sized folder, your typical green-eyed, black-haired white man in a lab coat staring at the camera looking like he was held at gunpoint. A small note attached to it was written in, no doubt Kurogiri's handwriting, because the phoenix refused to believe that the man beside him was literate.

Last known sighting ; Little Italy headed further downtown

Note ; Either take him back alive, or not at all. If he has any known associates, take them as well. The client made it a point to emphasize that not a single soul can know of the projects inside their laboratory. I should know, they refused to tell even me.

His thoughts drifted off to you talking about the lab you were chasing rainbows for, and the explanation given by the man earlier in the brunette's office. He knew that the possibilities of these events being in relations to one another was low, but he couldn't help but click his tongue. Man, for a lab that somehow had this amount of secrecy and privacy he was surprised that two people managed to leave. And one of them's a test subject of theirs! Either they had horrible security or they just sucked their dick a little too hard for them to be giving themselves this much credit.

Either way he tosses the folder back, huffing as he shakes his head. What kind of mess was he dragged into this time?