.
.
.
XIII.
Suspension of arms
"You know you can't hide from this forever."
Accelerator tsk-ed, gulping down his usual can of coffee before chucking it into the trashcan nearby with just a little more force than necessary. In his mind, he regarded the girl with viper, calculating eyes, plans of ignoring her at all costs after last night slowly dissipating. A month in her presence and he still found her impossible to read, and despite the twitch at the pit of his stomach reminding him it was a potentially risky decision, his fingers twinged with anticipation.
"You saw what could be done," she told him, her tone prim and controlled like this was simply a business meeting. His mouth twitched. "The least we can do is give it a try."
Inwardly, Mikoto chided herself she didn't care, not quite anyways, but somewhere between knowing his past and witnessing everything he's sacrificed for the Sisters, the deep rooted hatred in her had slowly but surely moved to something else. She just wasn't certain what. She watched him with a calm gaze as he took a seat, resting his chin on the back of his knuckles.
"And you're offering to let me use your powers," he asked skeptically. "Why?"
"Purely selfish reasons," she shrugged, before the side of her mouth lifted a little. "If you have some more help to control of your emotional outburst, you might be a bit more pleasant."
"Not a fucking chance, brat," he scoffed. Not when she was still here, at least.
If the girl understood the implication, she didn't show any sign of it. He glared at her anyways, his eyes searching for a shred of contempt or ridicule in those familiar brown orbs. Her gaze directed at him has usually been murky: dim, wary, blustery, but what he saw then was a raw, candid desire that sent an unexplainable urge through his system.
Her gaze never wavered as she stared straight at his.
"It wouldn't hurt to try."
Accelerator rolled his eyes at her in favor of replying. She said that, but he's pretty sure they both knew as with most other things in their life, it probably would.
x
x
x
He has got to be shitting himself.
It was the only thought running through Accelerator's mind as he trudged down the rocky path towards a warehouse nearby. Only, it wasn't just any warehouse. It was the warehouse – the dammed place where he blasted a Sister dead, almost killed 10032, almost killed her. His nerves were a jumbling mess and he was sure there were flashes exploding behind the lids of his eyes, but the Railgun never said anything.
That's cool, he's not anywhere above reminding them of their sins whenever he got the chance to.
"I hope you realize how goddamn ironic this entire thing's looking like right now."
"Don't start it."
Mikoto simply murmured back, too exhausted to go on another round of verbal fight with the guy. Her headache was still throbbing and she's sure his injuries were barely healing too. They were treading on thin ice here, she's not certain how much was the extent her abilities could reach out from inside him like this and any wrong calculation might affect his nerves' system if she wasn't careful enough.
"The Sisters...don't have the wide range of options in manipulating their abilities like I do," she explained matter-of-factly. "It's the same type but not the same power and precision. But the nerve system in your brain is damaged so I don't know the appropriate power level I can draw out without affecting your busted frontal lobe."
"You're tooting your own horn. Cut to the chase."
He tch-ed, halting to a stop right at the edge of the city's river. It's a windy day, and the breeze blew past them, leaving his bangs flowing over dark, heavy eyes, the sunset casting a soft pastel orange blanket over them.
"I can't do this without you."
She whispered tiredly. For a moment Accelerator didn't reply, but when she looked up he was standing in front of her, and that was more than an answer enough.
x
x
x
Before he knew it, their hands were connected again.
It felt like a gunshot through the ribcage; an explosion straight from his palm, up through his chest and spilling into his gut like cold shock. If anyone had told him he'd be touching hands with the miserable, loud-mouthed wench with a personality on par with a wild cat by the end of the night, he would've scoffed, then laughed, then killed whomever dared to make such a shitty joke.
And yet, here they were.
Accelerator stubbornly kept his gaze to their palms that were facing each other. The Railgun's abilities were dangerous in a territory like this, so he's the one doing all the work here – drawing out her power with his own vector based on the result of their shared calculations. His choker wasn't turned on and distantly, at the back of his mind he numbly realized he didn't have to. With the Original running the numbers here the MISAKA Network might just be needed when he got to have a wider coverage after all.
Not that he'd ever ask her for it, of course. He'd be rolling around in his grave the day he did.
It didn't take long for that blue spark to come back to life between their palms again, dim but steady. Mikoto remembered this feeling as clear as it was just yesterday - the sizzling, electrifying sensation coursing through her veins, but now to share it with someone else. She looked up to see his eyes - usually blood red but now an intense orbs of burgundy lit up from the blue spark, and felt her stomach sink with something she didn't dare to name.
"Try drawing it out." She murmured instead, leaning away a bit.
Accelerator regarded her with a brow raised, but followed nonetheless. He retracted his hand back and drew the flare with him, until it was completely in his palm instead of hers - a ball of lightning sizzling like chirping birds ripped through the darkness surrounding them.
And then it was gone.
Mikoto blinked, the wonder in her eyes turned into confusion as she shifted to look at the guy, before the words suddenly got caught in her throat.
Accelerator was staring down at his hand, pale brows furrowed tight in a frown.
He couldn't understand himself. The feeling was nothing like anything he's ever felt before. For the entirety of his life he's been so used to his vectors pushing everyone and everything away, to have something so bright and magnetizing in the palm of his hand was more maddening than he's expected. This wasn't right, it wasn't him, wasn't his, and at the corner of his eyes he spotted the girl pushing herself up to approach him, like she'd always do.
But he'd be damned to be caught off-guard again.
He snatched her half-raised wrist and tightened his grip at the bone, not enough to hurt but definitely enough to stop her and maybe enough to make her think twice.
There's a scowl on his lips and electricity in his eyes as he levied a stare that tore straight through that steely, impassive face, searching for whatever brought this on, for whatever all this meant.
"What the hell do you think you're reaching for?"
It wasn't a question or a demand, even though he intended for it to be both. He wanted an answer, at least, he figured he should want an answer, even though he didn't actually need one, because the thing, the goddamn thing was that:
He didn't dislike it.
They were tethering on dangerous territory here, and he badly hoped she could see it in his glaring eyes.
"It's okay."
Misaka Mikoto's eyes raked over him as she remained silent for what felt like the seconds of an eternity, the thin wrist he held between his fingers frozen in place along with her. When she finally did answer, the movement of her lips was small and delicate, as if she was telling him a secret.
"I feel it too."
x
x
x
Like many, many other things that happened, they never addressed it again.
The part where he gripped her wrist and her tiny little whispers between them, that is. He felt like they've unknowingly come to an agreement to never discuss any physical contact between each other out loud, and he was more than fucking happy to indulge it. There's also another agreement that's been made, and it embedded in the palm of his hand, still warm from the Railgun's electricity.
On the outside, Accelerator silently sighed, staring out at the expanse of cars zipping past in blurs and street lights pouring down above them.
There was still time before dinner, and technically he didn't have curfew but Yoshikawa sort of had this look whenever he came back late and Last Order whined so goddamn loud he'd try to make it home to eat with them anyways just to not deal with that. The coffee can's heavy in his grip, and he downed it slowly, in some poor attempt to keep his mind unoccupied of everything that's happened lately. Kakine, Last Order, Railgun, her crazy teleporting brat of a friend, the telepath Level 5 ch -
"Ano...Accelerator?"
Accelerator blinked, before turning around. Pale strands of hair whipping across his face as he came to face with the blond girl, clad in her usual white gloves and Tokiwadai uniform. Her face was grim as she gave him just the tiniest bow of her head, as he immediately noticed the remote in her hand.
"Nice to see you again. I was just looking for you."
(TBC)
Note: I got finals this and next week, but this should be back on track when winter break starts...eheh, hopefully. Thank u for all the notes about Worst, it's kinda hard to forget her when she's so entwined in Accel's life now, but oh welp.
Thanks a lot for all the kind support~