NeonHorizon: I wrote Gray Area. Here's the sequel. I'm actually going to try to not reference Grayscale's personal stuff with the League of Villains too much because this isn't about them. This is about her recovering. With help from heroes. Mostly Aizawa, but Hawks is there too, I guess. This is a story about healing so there will be happy, sweet feels along with some dark and sad moments. Trigger warning for mentions of self-harm. I'm going to try to keep it kind of lighthearted though. With funny bits. Enjoy.
Raining... Yori pressed a hand against the window, her tails sweeping back and forth over the floor behind her. More accurately, the tarp on the floor beneath her. Black, slippery venom was oozing from her stingers, smearing over the tarp in bizarre patterns.
She leaned forward, resting her forehead against the chilled glass. The rain made her almost cry. It brought on memories from the past. Her days living on the street. Days when she would run errands for Shigaraki. It felt like a lifetime since she saw him, even though she had only been in "rehab" for about two weeks.
When Hawks had snatched her up out of that alley, she feared for her life. She still kind of did. After all, he was a hero. He claimed to want to help her rehabilitate, but she had no idea what his motives were and he kind of unnerved her sometimes.
Leaning back, she adjusted her glasses and curled her hands into fists. She had tried so hard not to think about the past, but looking at the rain ruined everything. She had been heavily involved with the League of Villains. She had been the one closest to Shigaraki. The one that offered everyone undying support. It took a toll on her, though. Emotionally, mentally, physically.
The rain's making my tails hurt worse, she realized. Sighing, she rested a hand on the cast Hawks had made for the girl's twin tails. It itched. The healing bones ached. However, it was better than letting them heal crookedly. At least then she would be able to live without a constant reminder of the horrific treatment she had suffered when she was captured by Overhaul.
Yori lifted a hand and, with just her index finger, began scratching at an itch on her neck. Watching the rain continue to fall. Marveling at the view from Hawks' apartment. The sunlight was filtering down through the storm clouds, casting the city in a soft gray light. Her scratching ceased as she tilted her head.
Seconds later, the door opened behind her across the room. There was a rustling sound before her "rehabilitator" spoke. "I'm home! Hm? What're you doing, Grayscale?"
Her tails lifted a few inches and thumped against the floor with a quiet splatter of venom. Looking over her shoulder at the blond hero, she frowned and pushed up her glasses. "You're late."
He grinned. "What? Did you start getting lonely?" he teased, closing and locking the door behind him. Even though he called this "rehab", even though she had agreed to let him try to help her, he still kept her locked in. As if his trust in her was weak. As if he thought she might rush out to rejoin the League of Villains.
Yori lowered her gaze to the venom trails on the tarp beneath her and grimaced. "I don't get lonely," she stated as she pushed herself to stand. Flicking her tails, she managed to shake the excess venom from her stingers before she went to approach Hawks.
Despite being there for two weeks, she had no idea what his real name was. He had introduced himself as "Hawks" and never gave her any other name to call him. Additionally, he never called her by her preferred name. He referred to her only as "Grayscale". Whether he was just a quirky guy or trying to maintain some distance between them, it was hard to tell. He was difficult to read.
She spotted the shopping bags in his hands and raised an eyebrow. Before she could ask about them, she had to raise her arms to shield herself from flying droplets of water. The hero had raised his wings to ruffle them in an effort to dry them. His hair and clothes were wet so she had to wonder if he had tried to fly through the rain and how well it actually would have worked.
"So what are those bags about?" Yori finally asked, taking off her glasses to clean them.
"I got you some stuff." Hawks was already beaming, holding up the bags as his messy blond hair continued to drip rain water on the floor. "I thought I'd be done before the storm started," he offered in explanation. "Here."
Yori put her glasses back on and accepted the bags. Immediately, he started slipping off his jacket so she turned away to examine what he had brought her. Paper? It looks kind of weird though. Pens? Ink? And this one has-? Her sharp, amber eyes widened and she felt her heart skip a beat. Clothes!
When Hawks grabbed her from the alley, she had only the clothes on her back, her cellphone, and a special syringe. No weapons. No money. None of her other belongings. She had started wearing his clothes, but they were a little too tight in the chest and hips. It was awkward.
He kept his back turned to her as he heard the rustling of cloth. The hero half-grinned, running his gloved fingers through his hair as his "guest" put on some new clothes. "I thought you'd be more excited about the paper and pens," he admitted. "And I didn't know what you like so I just picked out whatever I thought would be comfy."
Now in a slightly oversized black sweater and a dark purple skirt, Yori bowed her head and grinned. "I…like it," she confessed. She jolted as a hand planted on her shoulder and his face came into view beside hers.
"Great! So now we can get started!"
"Get started on what?" Yori let him take the bag of art supplies from her and watched him walk over to the couch. She followed, but with hesitation. As a recovering villain, she knew that he could change his mind about her at any moment and take her to Tartarus. She had been pretty careful up to this point; trying not to do anything to make him upset. It was exhausting.
"Therapy."
She narrowed her eyes as she approached the side of the couch. Hawks had seated himself and now he was dumping the contents of the bag onto the coffee table. His wings lifted, tucking behind the back of the couch as he sorted through the items. Yori lingered where she stood, simply watching him for a moment. He looked kind of excited. Like a kid that just opened a box of new crayons.
Are there crayons? She looked around, but saw only the paper, pens, and ink. "Therapy?" she finally repeated, voice dripping with skepticism. In her time there, he had yet to attempt any sort of rehab stuff. If anything, it kind of seemed more like he had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing and was just treating her as a roommate.
"I was reading some stuff about rehab. They say you're supposed to find something that makes you feel happy and helps pass time. Like a hobby. The police report from the Kamino hideout raid listed all the stuff they found in your room. You had a huuuuuge collection of manga! They called it a fire hazard." Hawks laughed for a moment, shaking his head. "So we're going to learn how to make manga. Can you grab the bags near the door?"
We're making manga? Seriously? It sounded more frustrating than relaxing, but Yori went to get the other bags without complaining about the activity he had planned. It was better than nothing. Better than the usual afternoon routine of sitting and listening to him talk about his day, talk about Endeavor at least three times, and wait until he finally broke out the food for their dinner.
What's with his obsession with Endeavor anyway? He's a trash hero. Returning with the bags, she saw that he had opened the art supplies and was already drawing the current number one hero. Yori sat on the opposite end of the couch and rummaged through the new bags.
Books on how to draw, books on how to get a manga published, and apparently the last bag contained either his sick idea of a joke or what he intended for them to eat for dinner. A container filled with chicken skewers and a container with skewered scorpions in it, glazed with some sort of sauce.
She had seen him eat chicken before. It seemed to be his favorite food, actually. Yori never ceased to be confused by it. Somehow, the idea of eating something you resemble just seemed creepy. "And this is…?"
"Dinner. I got you honey-glazed scorpion skewers."
You're demented. The ex-villain reached up, lightly scratching an itch on her neck as she looked from him to the scorpions. She set the containers of food on the coffee table and saw him abandon his Endeavor fan art in favor of prying open the scorpion box to help himself to the food.
Yori began flipping through one of the books about drawing manga, frowning to herself. She had always really liked shoujo manga; it was her guilty pleasure as a villain. I like reading manga. That doesn't mean I want to make manga. And does he seriously think we could get it published? No publisher would want to sell something written by an ex-villain. No one would even buy it. And I can't draw.
She winced, hearing him crunching on a glazed and roasted scorpion. The girl was almost afraid to look up. Her stingers were shaped like a scorpion's so Hawks frequently made little jokes about it. Seeing him eat a scorpion would feel too much like being threatened. "So am I still your dirty little secret?" She tried to sound like she was taunting him, but she was genuinely curious.
"Yep." Hawks stretched his wings out to the sides a bit and then flapped them a little as he started eating the next scorpion on the skewer. "I'm not telling anyone about my project."
"Your rehab project."
"Right." He waited for her to look his way before flashing a grin and licking honey glaze off of his lips. "I don't want anyone to spoil my fun! If they know where you are, they'll want to take you to prison."
So what's going to happen to me? Even if I'm rehabilitated, I'll still be me. I'd still be held responsible for all the people I've hurt and killed. Yori winced again, hearing the scorpion crunch between his teeth. Her eyes were averted again, a hand lifting to absently scratch at the side of her neck with her index fingernail.
"Is anyone still looking for me?" Her voice was soft; barely above a whisper. The idea of being stuck there forever filled her with dread. Being alone all day while he was out, locked in this apartment. Alone with her thoughts, her memories, her traumas. Having only Hawks to interact with and only after hours of him being gone. It was enough to make anyone start to go insane.
Hawks tilted his head, teeth closed on the tail of the scorpion as he was about to take another bite. His eyes narrowed slightly for a moment before he drew the skewer away from his mouth and grinned. "Yeah."
"Who?" She tried not to sound too hopeful. After all, the one hero that she really did want to apologize to probably wanted nothing to do with her anymore. What she had done to him was unforgivable. Aizawa. They had been so close when she tried to be a hero. She had tried so hard, but each time, she ended up back with the League of Villains. Back with Shigaraki. Not again, she promised herself.
"Eraserhead. I heard he's been making rounds at night, looking for you around where I found you," Hawks answered. He tilted his head to the other side, examining her expression. She looked relieved and it made his grin spread. "You two were a thing for a while, right? I remember hearing that you saved him once."
Pale hair fell forward around her face as she bowed her head. "Yeah. So what? It's not like I care. I doubt he'd want anything to do with me anyway. Look at me. I'm a mess."
"Yeah. You're trying to get better though, right?" He waited for her to look over and maintained the most unsettling eye contact as he bit into the skewered scorpion. Hawks chewed, still staring her in the eyes, and finally swallowed. Licking his lips, he saw her begin to scratch her neck. Tilting his head once more, he raised an eyebrow. "Right? Grayscale? You want to get better?"
She turned her head to the side, heart hammering in anxiety. "I-I do. Yeah."
"You know, that tsundere thing was actually kind of cute," he teased.
Yori bit the inside of her cheek, amber eyes narrowing. She grabbed one of the chicken skewers and tore into it viciously with her teeth. As she chewed, her tails smacked against the couch cushions in frustration. "A-anyway. Just because I like reading manga, doesn't mean I want to make my own."
"Why not? It'll be fun. Come on; let's think of a story, at least. We can just start and if we get bored, we can just quit."
You're supposed to be rehabilitating a villain and that's how you view things? Is that how you see me? Am I going to prison as soon as you get bored with me? Deciding not to think about it, Yori opted to smirk instead of frown. "Let's make a shoujo manga," she stated.
"Huh?" Hawks rubbed the back of his neck, tossing the now empty skewer aside with his other hand. "Does it have to be shoujo?"
"Yeah." Yori moved closer on the couch and reached for another chicken skewer. "I want to make…a lovey-dovey shoujo manga. That would make me happy." Her smirk grew. I'll teach you not to mess with me, "hero".
He gave her a grin. "Oh! Sure! If it'll make you happy. Just like real rehab."