Luciana sat on Enji's bed and held his hand as she glared at the man who claimed to be her boyfriend's best friend. "What do you want?" Her voice was thick with sleep. She had fallen asleep beside Enji again and he had come in. His mere presence woke her up.
"I simply came to see how he was doing," Izo Sakai said.
"Izo-san, I would appreciate it if you'd come back later." Luciana began to stretch her back. Sleeping sitting up in the uncomfortable chairs wasn't the most pleasant.
"I won't have time later, so I came to see him now. I hope you don't mind." His eyes lingered on her stretching body rather than on his friend.
"I see. I suppose you'll be here for a while."
"No, I only have a little bit."
"By all means, please ignore me and spend time with him." She gestured to the unconscious hero with her free hand. The other was -as was normal when she was there- holding his left hand.
"I will." He finally turned from her towards the bed. "Hey, Enji. I just wanted to drop in and say hi. Work has been going well lately and the hero agency is functioning decently, but we need you back. Please get better. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go. I miss you, bye." The gray-skinned man turned and left. The atmosphere of his words felt forced.
The door shut and she heard the mutter, "...shouldn't have done that…" followed by his footsteps.
"I'm sorry I can't get along with your friend," she apologized. "I know that would really upset you, but he looks at me like a piece of meat. He's even married and he keeps ogling me. I hate it. And he just rubs me the wrong way." She sleepily listed for him. He had been in a coma for a month and the burns were healed and his bones were healing nicely. She just wished he'd wake up.
"I miss you…" She said quietly as she fell back asleep.
After a day of fitful sleep interrupted by nurses, Luciana was tired and grumpy. The worst part had been sitting with Izo in the same room while waiting for a quick exam on Enji to be finished.
"Come on! You don't need to stay here all the time." Ichigo whined. He was off and trying to get her to go drinking with him.
"I want to stay here. I can't stay with Enji and I have work later." Luciana argued. Ichigo was trying to pry her off her couch and failing.
"Call out!"
"No!"
"Ren, help me!"
"This is your fight."
"Please?"
"Help and I will kill you slowly."
"I'm not helping."
"I'll give you a special treat?"
"Ew! Quit this."
"Stop fighting!" Matt bellowed from his room. He was playing video games.
"Sorry," Ichigo shouted back. "Come help me get your sister off the couch."
"No, she can stay. She hiss at me." He called back quieter.
As if to prove his point, Luciana hissed at her friend as he spoke. The couch had moved more than a foot from Ichigo's efforts to remove the blunette. Ren was standing by the door watching.
"If you drink with me, I'll help you get into the hospital." The pinkette offered.
"Really?" She looked extremely happy. The only way she had to get in at night was really illegal.
"Yup, I can get them to let you back in." The woman jumped off the couch and dashed into her room. Several things clunked to the floor before she reappeared.
"Let's go. You're footing the bill." She began dragging him outside. She barely got to sit with Enji. When she did, it was generally accidentally asleep in a chair.
"Yay." Her friend cheered and allowed himself to be dragged.
"Where are we going?"
"To the new place. That club… uh… Diaval's Kiss?"
"Devil's Kitchen."
"Yeah. That."
"Ok."
Several hours and a lot more drinks later, Luciana was ready to go home. "One more round!" Ichigo slurred the demand. He and Ren were absolutely shitfaced.
"Yaaaaaay…" Ren hiccuped and cuddled with his boyfriend's torso.
"No more drinks. We're going." She countered. She had a slight buzz and was fed up with this. She grabbed the two men stole Ichigo's wallet, paid, and dragged the men out after her. She called a taxi.
After paying with Ichigo's money, she dragged the two of them into the elevator. They had been making out the entire time and it was getting to an extremely uncomfortable point. When she finally shoved them into their apartment and stepped into hers, her resolve broke.
She collapsed, crying. "This was why I didn't want to drink, stupid prick." She hiccuped and sniffled, her breathing erratic. "Now I can't keep it controlled." She could barely say one word without stuttering. All the fear and uncertainty of the past months was breaking out as tears. "I still have to work."
No matter how hard she tried, the tears wouldn't stop flowing as she cried in front of her door. Enji wouldn't wake up, Matt was so close to being a hero, her hero friends were busy, and she was still on the wrong side of the law.
Eventually, Luciana stumbled to her room and curled up with her plush. Of course, after her tears dried, she went to work like normal. Tomorrow wouldn't be a good day for her though.
"Why do you do this?" Matt asked himself. Lucy had overworked herself again and was exhausted. At least she was asleep in her bed this time. He still had school and Ichigo was hungover. Enji was in the hospital in a coma. Ren was hungover. Pake-sensei and Mishi-sensei were both at school.
"Do I leave? Stay?" he asked aloud. He began to argue with himself out loud as he prepared his breakfast and bento. His sister did these things way better than him. It was a mess.
"I go." He decided. He set aside some food for his sister and left, making sure to grab his backpack. The walk to school was long and boring, especially alone.
"Matt, focus!" His teachers all had to tell him.
For the first time in a long time, he messed up in combat class. He had a nice shiner for worrying about his sister.
After school, Mishi pulled him aside to ask what was going on.
"I learn to focus even when worried. Onee-chan overworked again. She sleep poorly. Nightmares." He explained.
"Luciana overworked herself and is now sleeping off the exhaustion and you've been worrying about her all day." He translated.
"Yes. 'Go forced her drink and maybe upset her. She gets tired from upsets." Matt shouldered his bag. "I need to go. Work time."
"All right. Have a good day, kid." Mishi dismissed and returned to the teacher's lounge.
"Lucy-nee-san need stop doing this." Matt talked to himself as he walked. The walk home was easier since he was happy to take care of his sister. She had done so much for him since Thom died. He vaguely remembered him, but he definitely remembered their parents. He remembered their love and warmth towards him and their hatred towards Lucy. He had seen her being beaten several times. Now that he was bigger, he knew that she had lost control of her quirk and killed them while they were beating her. He also knew her activities that were less than legal. He even knew about the debts she paid for on top of his expenses.
"Lucy-nee-san! I home." He called softly as he walked in late in the evening. She was probably still asleep, but it never hurt to say it. Humming quietly, he began to cook dinner and clean up any messes left around. He enjoyed doing this, especially for his sister. "Loves you Nee-san!"
