MIAB YT Channel - user/JBTheAWESOME
"Seriously what is this?" Geus asked, nervously laughing away the awkwardness of the conversation.
"It's my latest baby for my other baby of yours!" Hatsume excitedly pried off Geus's filters from his mask and grabbed the object in front of them.
A pair of hardened inch diameter tubes went into his now exposed ports. The stretched down to the floor into a curled up and obtuse hole shaped like a dragon's head.
"Blow my baby!"
"Please never say that again." Geus closed his eyes and slowly blew into the new device.
"You need to do it harder! Faster! More smoke for my baby!" Hatsume encouraged.
Geus held in his comments and raged on his quirk. Before only a small amount of puffs consumed the small gap inside the dragon's mouth. And seconds later the room flooded with the purple smoke. As soon as Geus opened his eyes his smoke cut off.
"You guys alright?" Geus freaked out on the inside. His eyes buldged open and pulled the twin tubes off."
"So did you like it? Did your number one equipment supporter build exactly what you're looking for?"
He began to shove his old filters back in place. "I still have no idea what this is for."
"Sorry we're late! Your class president furiously apologies!" Iida barged into the room, his head bowing up and down faster than a woodpecker. "Mina's dance lesson went on a bit longer today than yesterday."
"Don't have to aggressively apologize to me. Just tell me what this is for."
"Well since you have extra studies to attend do during the festival set up, we still wanted you to be part of it. And your quirk will easily do that."
Geus looked down in his fingers. "Makes since, I don't even have enough time to practice the bass since I got back a week ago." He looked back up at Iida and smirked under his mask. "So I'm a glorified smoke machine."
"Don't think of it as that. You're the opener, hyping up the crowd for the rest of us." Iida rubbed the back of his head. "You really didn't give us a lot to go off of that you'd want to do."
He slabbed Iida's arm and laughed. "I'm just giving you a hard time."
Hatsume slid between the two boys. Her arms perked beneath her chin and her cross hair eyes targeted into Geus's. "So do you love my baby or what?"
Geus eyed the contraption. "Just needs one more thing."
Geus walked out of the support room and crashed into another person. They both immediately started to apologize before they noticed who they were. A giant open slap the size of Geus's head clashed with his cheek.
The days went by so fast after that. Hours of the countless days consumed most of his life. And became more understandable on why he was so left out of the festival. Everyday his classmates went through their normal classes while he had no choice but to study more. There was no music to listen to or friends to talk to. Just that one audio file of Geus's own father spoke to him.
"Seriously?" Kendo shouted. Her face scrunched and eyes tightened to keep the tears in. "You were gone for how long and you never once said anything to me?"
"I died back there."
Geus was as serious as he could be. Even behind his dull eyes read out as contemplation. Kendo stopped, her eyes full of sorrow and face scared. She held the appropriate thing to do and that was silence.
"I saw nothing. Heard nothing back there. For one damn moment my life was full of bliss."
"Geus I'm sorry, I was just joking around no-"
"I also remember us." Tears roller out from the bottom of his sockets but quickly evaporated once exposed. "You were there for me. I remember you being there as a kid, popping me up, having my back, shit you were the only good thing back then." Geus cracked a smile under his mask. "It's my happiest God damn memory from then.
Geus's glance locked back in with Kendo. She cried, she held her voice and cracks and only let out those tears. Her arm weapishly lifted up and barely had any strength in it with her slap. That ginger hair pressed into his chest with her arms close between them.
"Tool you long enough."
Geus was hesitant as ge wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her heart pound and the shiver in her spine. This made him even more confused in his feelings. A numbskull like him knew this was a move for more than just friends. But didn't know if the feelings went back.
She must've felt Geus somehow and pushed slightly off his body. "Do your best for your part. I'm going to watch every moment you're on stage."
"Of course. And I know you'll look absolutely, uh, beautiful on yours."
"Oh?" Her face turned devious. Like she suddenly discovered the insecurity he hidden from her. "Dis you hear I was entering the modeling contest between us girls?"
Geus's cheeks turned red and hid himself behind a smile and laugh. "From the memories I do have of you I never imagined you being the girly girl."
Her fist grew twice the size just to punch his arm with extra force. "Just because you're my best friend doesn't mean you can call me a boy." Her hand turned to normal and gripped tightly around his sleeve. "Before your show tomorrow. Let's enjoy the festival together. Just you and me."
She didn't give enough time for the starstruck boy to respond to. All he could do was swift his body around in her direction, while he mumbled just below audible. His senses were blocked as he stumbled back into another student. The quiet 'eep' brought him right back into it.
"I'm so sorry!" He quickly turned around and skipped back a step. "I was just... dumb."
"Did you get enough sleep, young man?" She asked. Her voice soft as a cloud with her tilted head and shout eyes.
'Young man?' He thought. The small girl was definitely younger than him. The gray hair kept up inside a bow with quilting needles and old eyes meant nothing to her skin. "Being behind all my school work definitely hasn't helped with the full eight hours bu-"
The memory stabbed itself into the front of Geus's mind. Nobody in this school would recognize her past the UA uniform. She didn't even carry a full education under her teenage years. A quick question or two could easily pass off a bubbly and spaced mind.
But he knew her, knew her since his first release months ago. And now was not the time to act like he remembered. He had no idea how the others would react if he was solely responsible for the festival shutdown. Or how Kendo would feel.
"Are you the boy who disappeared from the school a bit ago? I'm only in the General Studies class but I'm taking an elective for criminal investigation. We learned about you in class today."
She forcefully snapped on Geus's sleeve and pulled up. "Hmm, I read the inhumane torture you went through. But no scars on your wrists." She looked up with that innocent smile. It reminded him of his grandmother on his father's side. He couldn't remember her voice or her hobbies. That smile caused him to only allow that thought to surface. "Do I have you confused?"
"My skin has adapted to my quirk since the rebirth." His eyes didn't follow the same page his mind did. He felt them pulsate and without a doubt they showed it. "Acidic base burns are able to regenerate above a abnormal rate."
"I have a report due for the organization I work under that could have you fit the bill. Can I steal you for a time and use you for my case study?" She patted his chest. "You don't have to answer now. I know I ambushed you and probably have you flustered. Find me during the festival."
He waited for the imposter to leave the ends of his vision, and the hallway. His legs gave away and tripped him into the wall. His heart raced to the point of a heart attack, it ached and tightened his chest.
"Forty-eight hours. Just until its over, I can do this."
Geus didn't sleep at all that night. Even if it was just a warning or a threat it didn't matter. He was completely defenseless against that woman. She was an example of a wolf in sheep's clothing. A baby wolf if anything but still had the upper hand.
His room became a cell for the mentally unstable by the am's. It reminded him too much of the past and became unbearable.
He left his room and the coincidences started again. Aizawa walked the his hall and directly to him. Geus wondered if this guy ever slept with how his eyes looked, and in regular clothing he somehow looked worse.
"You should get some sleep before the festival." He warned, obviously stating he knew something.
"I just need some air." Geus lied. His body was tired and begged for sleep. Along with the ragged voice his head barely held up. "Everything... has me."
"You need Beka? I can bring her over here in the morning."
"Nah." His head waved back and arched up. "I'm just having kid problems. I'm still weeks behind everyone else."
"Just don't stay up to late."
Geus nodded and made his way down to the lower levels. He looked around the massive living area for anyone else. Satisfied nobody was here he dropped his body on the couch and clicked the TV on. The low volume and array of bright colors was just enough to distract him. It didn't hide the impending situation, yet it kept it out of thought. Geus laughed at himself before a great big sigh. "I forgot it's alot harder to stay away for a day."
He rolled on his back and stared at the ceiling. The collapsing of his eyes wasn't a threat. But the urge to do it was. His favorite way to escape his problems was to sleep.
"Guess Dark Shadow did have something to worry about."
Geus sat up from the couch. His eyes wide and bloodshot from the sudden rush. "Oh. It's just you." Gues groaned and fell back to the couch.
Fumikage walked to the back of the couch and leaned over. He placed his forearms on the couch and allowed his alter ego to come out behind him.
"You should see this as a compliment. Dark Shadow doesn't normally worry about the others."
"Don't you have to play tomorrow? You should worry about sleeping more than me."
"I'm not the one you returned to school after being kidnapped. I knew your forced isolation would eventually take its toll."
"No shit right?" He smirked. A single moment of peace was given and taken. "My problems aren't worth it."
"Then let me put it like this. I don't want to see my friends deal with their demons in isolation."
Geus rubbed his face before he moved to his eyes and covered them. "You ever feel like being a hero is the reason why there are so many villains? The League of Villains, Chisaki, the ones that aim to burn down cities, All For One. They all fought us because of us being heros."
"And if we weren't here then they would go unanswered. They'd easily take it all for themselves."
"Then they can't fight themselves. Before quirks all history had a different evil take over. Kings and queens to emperors, emperors to dictators, dictators to democracy, democracy to communism. What if the whole idea of quirks being humanity's evolution was true. But it was for extinction. Not progression."
"Quite the deep thinking for yourself. Is that truly whats on your mind? Or a distraction. I'll talk to you all day about philosophies. But tonight you're tormented by something else."
"When Iroh escaped prison time he didn't do it himself. When the police discovered his body in Chisaki's hideout they made a connection. He held me until Chisaki needed until things went south. And the kids escaping was a distraction for the clean get away. Iroh set them free to kill me."
Fumikage walked around the couch and sat in one of the nearby lazy boys. "And now you don't want to tell anyone this. You don't want to deny the freedom this festival is going to give everyone."
"Until its over. If she's the only one that found me then I can hold her off. The others might be a problem if they're connected." Geus held out his fist to friend. "You trust me right?"
Fumikage met his fist with Geus's. "If anything happens we get the others. You're not alone anymore."
"I'm not a hero. I'm a walking catastrophe."
