Sorry for not uploading sooner. I just get kind of super anxious whenever I upload my stories before I finish them, so I held things off until I did finish them, and then I upload everything. It's less stressful that way.
Anyways, enjoy~
EDIT: I don't think anything's more mortifying than accidentally uploading the wrong chapter.
I shall never recover from this humiliation.
My family shall disown me.
And I shall walk away with shame.
Feugo wheezed and cackled and groaned. He thanked the people who sat him up despite the pain that erupted with his every movement.
"What a bitch."
"Should we call an ambulance for you?"
"How many fingers am I holding up."
He waved them all off, tried to stand up only to fall on his ass.
"Whoa, easy there."
"That's it. I'm calling the police."
"No!" His voice sounded like that of a dying deer. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "No, please. I don't want to get her in trouble."
"Well, that's complete bollocks!"
"Yeah! That lady should pay for what she did to you!"
He tried once more and brought one leg up. And the other. And pushed himself off. His body ached, but it was his chest that suffered the most pain. To draw each breath was to run one marathon. And Feugo did not like to run marathons.
He looked at the people around him and nodded in thanks. "Just don't involve the cops in this. Please."
Hesitantly, they nodded. It was all he needed to confirm before he tried to run after Neo.
"Fuck-" A pant. "Shit-" Another pant. "Fuckidy shit-" A trip, followed with a cough and a grunt, and a short-term disorientation. "Flippidy shittidy shit."
Coordination had never come easy to Feugo. Not to say he was so clumsy that he could barely walk without looking like a drunk idiot. Now, though, he had to run, in pain, in the busy streets, to find a girl that could change her appearance, without gaining unwanted attention.
And with flip flops!
Feugo stopped and rested his hands on his knees. He took deep breaths and looked around with squinted eyes. He was at the market.
Where is she? She couldn't have gotten that far in such a short time!
But the logic of his world might not apply to her.
He tried to jog, but even that wasn't enough. He had to take a breather. Just for a short while.
His phone buzzed again. He thought it was a message from Clementine, so he opened it, only to find that it was from his co-worker, who warned him that he was late for work and he would suffer serious consequences and even deadlier ones if he didn't come at all.
He tried to persuade them to cover for him, but their hands were tied, and he was all on his own.
Either come to work and not get fired, or find Neo and… what? Hope she didn't send him flying across the street? Tell her he was going to fix everything even though he had no idea what was going on?
Was she really worth losing his job?
Her?
A stranger and a thief and a possible murderer?
Feugo sighed, took one last breath of defeat, conjured the last he saw of her, and how devastated she looked, and took off.
Feugo stopped, and not because he'd run out of air, but because he'd found her.
Neo stood, swordbrella drawn, surrounded by cops with opened arms who said, "We just want to see your ID."
Oh, boy.
Feugo ran and placed himself in front of Neo before he really realized it. "Hey, what's up, officer?"
He cringed and felt everyone around him did so. I sound like a total American. Gross.
"Sir, do you know this child?"
Her heated glare caused him to shiver. He needed not to look behind him to know she was unpleased to be called a child.
"Yeah, yeah." He clicked his tongue and glanced back and- yep, she's super pissed. "Also, she doesn't want to be called a child."
"Oh, so she's not a child." There was a glimmer in one of the cop's eyes that brought a sense of unease to Feugo. "In that case, she needs to give her ID or else she's coming with us."
"Trust me, girl," another officer said, his voice gruffer and his body broader than the last as he looked down on Neo's miniscule body. "It'll be safer for you if you just come with us."
What a bold-faced lie.
Either way, Neo would come out of this confrontation with nothing but a drop of sweat. She had Aura and Semblance and skill and training - not to mention that wicked swordbrella.
All they had were sticks.
But Feugo didn't want anyone to get hurt. "Yeah. She has her ID." He looked at her, his voice all-too-desperate to sound calm. "Don't you, Neo?"
She signed something along the lines of what the fuck do you think you're doing?!
He brought his hand to his chest and signed please.
It didn't matter that she had no ID. Not one that stated she was from this city, or country, or even world. He'd very much prefer it if everyone were to come out of this alive and with no broken bones.
"Alright. Let's get this over with."
One of the officers approached them. The one that looked the scariest, in his eyes. Feugo stepped back and shielded himself in Neo. He didn't feel an ounce of shame. If anyone could take on a couple of officers on a whim, he certainly couldn't do it.
Neo looked back at him. He gulped and offered her no words.
"Ma'am. Give me your ID. Now."
Neo pulled out a card from one of her pockets and showed it to the officer. He stared at it for a while and his eyes narrowed. He glanced at Neo and, to his horror, at him.
Oh, boy, I'm going to jail. I am so going to jail. Fuck. My life's ruined.
The officer tipped his hat. "Have a good day, Misses Fox."
Huh?
Feugo stared in awe as the officer disbanded themselves and left them with nothing but the concerned and nosey citizens.
He shuffled and shrunk into himself. He never liked the attention. Neo broadly glowered at each and every one of them until they all went back on their business.
Feugo sighed before he realized-
"Wait, how'd you do that?"
Neo, with a smug look on her face, showed him the card again. He balked at what he saw. It was an ID. With her name on it. And her face.
Neapolitan Fox, the ID said.
And a pink light surrounded the card, and her face was no longer her face.
It was his.
The name Feugo replaced Neapolitan.
"Oh. Right." He'd forgotten that she could change not only her appearance, but objects as well. How else was she able to change her outfit? "Wait a minute, did you-" He patted his pocket jeans only to find that it was empty, save for his phone. "Did you steal my wallet?!"
She stared at him with an expression that said, "Well, duh."
"You can't just do that!"
Why not? she signed with a smile, as though it was a challenge.
"You- you just can't!" His phone rang again. He opened it to find that it was an email from his boss. It basically said that due to him skipping today, he would no longer be working at retail. "Fudgeballs."
Neo poked his shoulder. "Huh?"
She started to sign, hesitated, and plucked his phone away. "Not my phone!"
But she didn't run off with his phone. She stood where she was and typed.
You skipped work to run after me?
He laughed after he read it. "Well, yeah. Of course I did. I couldn't just leave you alone."
She stared at him in shock. He awkwardly used the chance to steal his phone back and pocketed it.
Neo signed a simple why?
At first, Feugo didn't understand.
It soon registered. And he let out a simple "oh" sound.
His eyes darted everywhere but her. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts, and a longer moment to turn his jumbled mess of thoughts into coherent - or at least understandable - words.
"Well, I couldn't just leave you out here alone to fend for yourself. Even if you're more than capable, that just isn't right." Feugo coughed. That was too sappy, damn it! Say something more casual! Something cool! "So, yeah. It's not like I enjoy work anyway. I'd rather be with you."
Goodness fuck! That was even sappier! But he couldn't backpedaled. So he coughed again and hoped Neo wouldn't think he caught an illness.
And Feugo saw a sight he could never forget. A sight he never wanted to forget. A sight burned into his memory. The deepest of his memories.
A smile.
The nicest smile he'd ever seen.
And somehow, despite all of the chaos and craziness, he knew everything was okay.