It seemed that as the days passed, my love for my boss, Overhaul, would grow stronger and stronger.

I couldn't help it, or understand why I adored him.

Whenever his golden eyes settled on me, I always felt like a mouse trapped under a watchful cat's gaze. That yellow gaze was also the gaze that I would catch myself getting lost in, the swirling golden depths seemingly endless. My heart would flutter whenever I met my gaze to his.

I knew that this desire - this strange infatuation - would never be mirrored back.

The reason was simple: I had a quirk, the thing that Overhaul despised the most. When I had first joined the Shie Hassaikai as Chrono's assistant, Overhaul had declared that quirks were a disease, one that had possibly originated from rats.

"Rats, can you believe it? All of the heroes are parading around and showing off something that had begun from something as lowly as a rat!"

Overhaul had spat out back then, his eyes full of repulsion. I had been shocked to hear that at first, since didn't Overhaul himself have a quirk? Did he consider himself diseased then? After the introduction, I had bombarded Chrono with questions, and he answered them warily.

"Listen, Y/N. Overhaul, he - he believes that his quirk can get him to his goal of the perfect future. I've known him since childhood, and I can just tell you; if you question his doings, bad things will happen, so just..."

Chrono's voice had trailed off, and from the way the male's eyebrows had furrowed, I knew that he was trying to choose his words carefully. The male with the arrow-head shaped hair didn't want to scare me away.

"Just behave and keep your head down. I haven't known you for long, but I can tell you have potential, especially with that quirk of yours. Overhaul will definitely find a good use for it."

My quirk is called "Knockout." It allows me to emit a clear, odor-less gas from my mouth that can knock out people at will. Unfortunately, if I use it on more than five people, I blackout. It's extremely useful to Overhaul, because if he ends up encountering difficult business partners, he can just get me to knock them out instead of killing them.

Since my quirk was all about gas, the mask Overhaul had assigned to me was a gas mask - a mask that set me apart from the rest of the Shie Hassaikai. It made me feel a bit special, even though this meant that my boss only saw me like the rest of the group - a disposable underling.

Speaking of masks; I couldn't understand the male's obsession with the face pieces. They were unnecessary in my opinion, a hindrance even. Sometimes, I'd wonder about what Overhaul looked like under his heavy plague mask.

Did he have a scar that he felt self-conscious about under there? Or perhaps he just had some sort of beauty mark he hated. In the back of my mind, I knew that all of these questions were silly - after all, Overhaul could just simply use his quirk to reconstruct his facial features. I'd seen his quirk in action, and I did not doubt that he could do so.

Well, my days of pondering were over today. I had been called to Chrono's office by Mimic, the small plush seething with silent anger as he led me to the male's office, muttering about respect under his breath.

When I opened the door, my jaw fell wide open when my eyes were met with the sight of Overhaul without his mask on, the male sitting on the edge of Chrono's desk. The yellow-eyed male seemed to be frustrated about something - I could tell that from the way he was sighing as he talked, his posture tense and rigid. Overhaul seemed to not have noticed me, but Chrono most certainly did, his eyes wide with horror.

"Ah- Mimic! I told you to bring Y/N over after I was done with my meeting with Overhaul...!"

Chrono said, his pale face flushing up in his panic. Behind me, I could hear Mimic already walking away, his voice fading away as he continued to grumble. I swallowed hard and was about to back out of the room quickly when Overhaul suddenly turned around.

"What're you rambling about, Ha-"

He froze when he saw me, and I gaped at his face. All of his features were in view and...I hated to say it, but when I caught that one glimpse of his face, I fell in love with him even more.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry, is this a bad time right now?"

I choked out, about to close the door when suddenly, Overhaul got up from his spot, and said to me, head tilting to the side. His expression was unreadable.

"No, you may come in, Y/N."

I obeyed his words, hesitantly walking into the room. I felt my face flood with color when Overhaul scrutinized my form, his golden eyes lidded and neutral. I had thought he'd be furious, but he wasn't.

"Chrono, if you could."

Overhaul then said, motioning at the door with a gloved hand while looking at Chrono, surprising me and most likely Chrono as well. I watched with wide eyes as the white-haired male dipped his head respectfully, the soft patter of Chrono's shoes against the white tile floor being the only thing that I could hear in the silent room. The door then opened, and then Chrono was gone.

My mind swirled with thoughts as I stood there, sweat starting to collect at my brow. My hands were clenched into fists at my sides.

What was Overhaul going to do to me? Was he going to punish me?

"So..."

The deep tones of Overhaul's cool voice sliced through my anxious thoughts like a knife, and I blinked, eyes nervously sliding up to meet his cool golden gaze.

"You've seen my face. Uncovered. That's a privilege I don't let many of my members indulge in, you know..."

Overhaul continued, a stoic expression still set on his face, and I bit my lip, chewing on the flesh nervously.

"I-I am sorry sir, I didn't mean to-"

I force out shakily, and I shut my eyes, ready for the punishment I was going to receive - being blown to bits by his quirk. I was ready to die. But to my surprise, I heard Overhaul chuckle lowly as if amused by my fright.

"Oh, Y/N, why are you so scared? I won't use my quirk on you, if that's what you're scared of. Your quirk, although a disease, is very useful. If I blew you up, how would I make my deals, hm?"

I opened my eyes, and nearly screamed when I saw him standing *very* close to me, his golden eyes alight with amusement.  A gloved hand then came up to ghost the side of my neck, fingers almost making contact with my skin. I looked away, feeling overwhelmed.

"Run along now, Y/N. I have some business to discuss with Chrono, and then perhaps we could talk. Wouldn't you like that?"

Overhaul then moves on to say, a thumb and index finger coming up to grip my chin, his gloved hand moving my gas mask up a bit from its position on my face. I'm suddenly forced to look at him in the eyes, and I feel my mouth go dry as I attempted to say,

"O-Okay..."

He smiles pleasantly down at me, and then the grip on my chin is gone, his hand swiftly fitting my mask back in place. I quickly bowed to him, longing to get out of the room as soon as possible. I turned around and immediately rushed out of the room, trying to ignore the feeling of Overhaul's eyes on my back.