They left the bedroom and soon enough were on the road. Mei's car was an old thing, but it worked well enough to bring them to the hardware store that somehow doubled as a meeting ground for support gear hobbyists. And again, he was reminded why he didn't want to ever put a foot in her car with her behind the wheel.
"Mei, who gave you a driver's license and what did you blackmail them with?" he asked, gripping the handle above the passenger door tightly.
"What driver's license?" she replied with a manic smile that explained well enough her terrible driving skills. "Don't worry; I've been driving since I was fourteen."
"I am absolutely going to keep worrying, thank you," he said as he stepped out of the car. "Never again."
"We still have the drive back home," she informed him with way too much joy in her voice for him not to notice. "And this time with enough explosive material any shock will scatter our remains to the wind and back!"
"My girlfriend is the devil, the pink devil," he realized too late, his fate already sealed. "You know what, that's not a bad way to go."
"Don't be so dramatic; I didn't even show you the killer robot the owner is hiding in the basement," Mei cackled like a witch about to rip the soul of the innocent as she led him by the hand toward the shop named Tinker's Delight.
"Given the one you have in your hangar, that makes two killer robots I've heard of since I met you. Do I need to learn how to use a plasma cutter for self-defense?"
"Eh, probably," she shrugged as if the idea had some merit. He was glad to be trailing a little bit behind her so she couldn't see him smile at her unabashed demeanor.
The area around the shop was a commercial zone; his senses were telling him there were around five to seven thousand people coming in and out of the area of his Quirk every minute or so. It would usually be too close to his upper limit for him to stay in the area, but after resting for two months in the relative solitude of Mei's home, he found himself being able to handle this amount of mind without as much difficulty as before. It was fine, not ideal, but fine.
Mei pulled open the door, and he was greeted by the now familiar smell of iron, grease, and oil. The interior of the shop was what he supposed his girlfriend's house would look like if she had stopped doing the bare minimum to keep the place clean. Meaning it looked like an absolute mess.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite customer!" greeted the portly man in his fifties behind the counter. The man had an entire collection of Hero gear from shields and hammers to breastplates and old round headgear with antennas sticking out of the top.
'No wonder Mei loves this place.'
"It's me!"
The emotion he felt from the man was a complex mix of care and worry, close to what a father felt for his children but not quite—a protective streak toward his girlfriend. Takuma already liked him.
"And you bring me a new face," the man said with a smile that hid fairly well how sharply he was taking in Takuma's entire presence and coming to his own conclusion. "I suppose this is the friend you mentioned."
When it came to first impressions, Takuma always had an easier time. He'd dealt with enough people to pinpoint how to interact with them to get the best result.
An older man with a protective streak. Firm shoulders, stare him in the eyes. Don't slouch.
"Takuma," he greeted while giving him his name with a nod.
The balding man's eyes narrowed, the fake smile still plastered on his face for a few more seconds before it took a more genuine turn. "Name's Tinker."
'Nailed it.'
"Did you get the good stuff?"
Tinker chuckled joyfully as he walked toward the end of the shop where a few heavy-duty boxes lay open on the table. "It arrived yesterday, some bits and pieces from a few scrap yards around the country. Cost me a pretty penny, so none of this is going to be cheap."
Walking in behind the two tech aficionados, Takuma was greeted with the sight of a dozen pieces of gear, shaped like what he thought armor should look like. The silver and dark-blue tint of the metal told him it wasn't something he had seen before. Also, they were shaped for something more akin to what he saw on a robot than an actual human being, so whatever Mei had in mind for them would take some cutting and reshaping to get to the final product. There were also a notable amount of fabrics folded under the different pieces.
"You got everything!" Mei jumped excitedly as she took in the sight. "Oh, and even the reinforced carbon fiber!"
To Takuma, they might as well have been talking gibberish. "What is this?"
Both turned toward him. "What I'm going to use to make your costume!" she informed him, vibrating as she started lightly slapping his shoulder as a way to expend some nervous energy. "The steel comes from the best foundry in Japan. The robots they were taken off were used to guard Tartarus, while the cloth was rescued from a stolen shipment that was supposed to reach I-Island!"
Takuma closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened his eyes again. "Is any of this legal to obtain?"
"Nope!" Mei told him with a bright, maniacal grin. "But after I work on it, no one will be able to track its origin, so you have nothing to worry about!"
"I am absolutely going to keep worrying; please don't make me say this again today," he begged her as the shelf of bits and bobbles took a more dangerous turn in his mind, as anything here could be illegal and even lethal. And if it was either, he wouldn't even know how to tell them apart.
"I'm really out of my element here."
Tinker, who was watching their interaction, smiled sharply. "Oh, my gossip senses are tingling."
Mei froze with a panicked expression. "Me? What?! No, not at all."
The downright evil laugh that left the older man's mouth sent shivers down Takuma's spine. "Are you sure, because that little exchange kinda reminds me of how Yolanda and I were back in the day."
"Yolanda?"
"My wife," the portly man clarified. "So the little gremlin finally found someone to make babies with!"
"Oh please, not another one," he whispered to himself in hope his prayer would be answered.
"No! Yes—I mean..." Mei tried to answer, but flustered as she was, she fumbled on her words as she failed to form a coherent answer. It was pretty cute.
"Fresh from this morning," Takuma helped with the information in hope of stopping his girlfriend from glitching out. "Still figuring things out."
"Rohohohoho," Tinker's comedic deep chuckle resonated in the shop before taking a childlike voice. "M~e~i and Ta~ku~ma sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G~"
"Stop it, stop, stop!" Mei begged as she panicked and searched for something to throw at him before giving up and glaring at him. "I hate you."
Takuma didn't know how to handle the teasing. It wasn't something he experienced before, and surely not from a fifty-year-old man messing with his spiritually adopted daughter. So he turned away to hide his own mounting blush on his cheek and waited for the two tech heads to finish. He noted down in the back of his head to tour the place around Tinker's shop next time he needed to go to the city; it wouldn't do to leave the safety of someone so close to Mei to chance.
"Ah, to be young again," the older man exhaled after he was done embarrassing Mei. "So, do you need anything else, or are you fine scrounging around?"
"Some bits and pieces I can find on my own," Mei pouted at the shop owner.
The man guffawed as he turned around and walked back to the counter. "And don't blow anything up!"
"No promises," Takuma deadpanned, earning him a small slap on the shoulder.
"You're supposed to be on my side!" his girlfriend groused before closing the box and pulling him toward a set of stairs that led to the basement. "Come, you gotta meet Fred'Ricks."
"Who is that?"
"You'll see!"
Walking down the stairs and after Mei opened a door locked behind a digipad, Takuma found his answer in the form of a massive severed head made of metal resting on a pedestal in the middle of a reinforced room with the walls covered in tinfoil.
"Hello, Freddy!" Mei greeted the inanimate head.
"Thou hast come into this hallowed hall again, demon child," the deep metallic rumbling voice replied, emanating directly from the sculpted head, its mouth unmoving. "Thy presence bodes no pleasant tidings."
Taking a deep breath before vocalizing his thoughts, Takuma could only think of saying one thing. "What the actual fuck."
"Once more, a child of flesh doth walk, a sight that causeth me great pain," Freddy said as he felt the thing artificial mind look him over. "Thy suffering shall lessen the toll."
"It's Freddy, isn't he cute!"
"No," he deadpanned, not taking his eyes off the severed head. "Mei, what the hell is this?"
"It's Fred'Ricks, or what its maker called it, Mirmydon-"
"-Thou art invoking long-forgotten pain; be wary of the impending reckoning."
"It's an old murderbot Tinker found a few decades back. He's been trying to piece it back together, but as you can guess, it's become less of a priority since he reactivated it and it turned out to be an out-of-its-mind A.I with a flair for the dramatic."
"Oh, not building back up the killer robot is a pretty good idea," he stated with a sigh of relief.
"A good idea, but a boring one. So I took it upon myself to rebuild him myself!" she informed with a familiar maniacal grin, with a spark so intense in her eyes he was blown away for a second by the sight alone. "I haven't been making as much progress as I would have wanted, and it's not like he's going anywhere-"
"-My powerful body will roll away from thine grasp, demon child."
Mei banded him over the head with a wrench she took out from under the coverall tied around her waist and hit him once. "Don't interrupt me!" she growled with a wave of annoyance.
'Mei hates being interrupted, duly noted.'
"So anyway, as soon as I have the time, we're going to bring him home," she continued, putting the wrench back under the hanging cloth of the coverall. "I'm going to have to wait a few more years before I use his A.I to make an entire automated super-Hero."
Takuma's jaw hit the metaphorical floor. "Wait, you want to use the A.I of an old murder machine to make a robot capable of acting as a Hero?"
"Yep!"
"This cannot possibly go wrong," he deadpanned, his voice thick with sarcasm.
"I know, right?!" Mei beamed at him with a smile that told him she hadn't picked up on his disbelief.
'Cute.'
"I don't even know how any of this is going to work, but how many security protocols you have. Double it," he elected to say, not wanting to rain on her parade and tell her what she could and couldn't do. "Just promise you won't try anything like giving it a buzz-saw or something without warning me first."
"Can do!"
Shaking his head, Takuma then turned his attention toward the metallic head. "Where did he even come from?"
"No idea."
"Who made it?"
"No clue."
Even Takuma's sometimes phantasmagorical recollection of history couldn't pinpoint where or when this thing was made, not that he expected to meet a murder robot ever in his life.
"Why is he speaking like that?"
"He's kind of a drama queen," Mei informed him with a shrug.
"Mine esteemed self will remember thine word, demon child," the head spoke.
"And why does he keep calling you demon child?" he asked after the name kept coming back.
"Oh, he hates me because I read him the entire dictionary to to try and help him speak better," she cackled with a delightfully evil tone.
"So Fred'Ricks, how's it been hanging in there for the last decade or so?" he questioned the severed head.
"Time doth not harm me; only the weak flesh cares for the coming and going of days," the voice replied neutrally.
"Don't bother asking him any questions; the only thing he ever gave Tinker was his name and nothing else," his girlfriend told him. "And opening him up won't give us anything unless we decide to tear him apart, so he's kinda been hanging there looking pretty."
"Mine chrome is the most magnificent."
"Alright, but why show him to me? Murder robots aren't really my domain of expertise," he wondered out loud.
"Because it's cool!"
His Quirk allowed him to hear more than what she had just said. It was cool, yes, but more so it was a part of Mei's life she was excited to share with him.
"I have to admit," he started to say, noticing his girlfriend's rising excitement. "Murder robots are pretty cool."
He felt her rejoice as she jumped into his arms, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she worked out the nervous energy that came from sharing something important to her. He still had a hard time figuring out why sharing something as innocuous as the severed head of a murder-bot mattered so much to her, but he was here for it.
"So, after the second earth-shattering revelation of the day, do I need to prepare myself for a third one?" he teased her after leaving a kiss on the crown of her head. She was exceptionally not wearing her heavy steampunk goggles, so he had free access, and he would be damned if he wasn't going to use the privilege.
She tilted her head to the side, thinking. "I don't think we have anything left in the tank for now. Maybe we could ask Tinker to show us his explosive collection."
Takuma shook his head quickly. "I'd rather not learn he's keeping an atomic bomb somewhere under a bunch of scrap. And please, if he had one, don't tell me or I won't be able to sleep ever again."
Her only answer was a Cheshire smile that made him want to do anything else than think of the implication or look into her head for the answer.
"Let's go back up. I'll grab some stuff and ask Tinker to deliver them home," Mei said as she led him outside the room by the hand and locked it behind them.
Soon enough, they were back in the front room where Mei, from his point of view, started picking things at random. He knew it wasn't actually the case, so he simply followed her along as she kept throwing things into the box that held the parts that would be used for his costume.
"And with that, we're done," Mei declared after a few minutes, throwing the last item like she would a basketball through the hoop into the box. "Probably shouldn't have done that with something that can explode...oh well."
"I need a helmet," Takuma commented dryly.
"Are you two lovebirds done?" Tinker chuckled right as he was done with the only other client in the store. "Let me guess, another delivery?"
"Yep," Mei confirmed.
"Then don't let me stop you two from enjoying your day," the older man said while shooing them out of the shop. "And don't forget to use protection!" he added right before slamming the door shut.
His girlfriend understandably glitched out for a second. "We aren't—We don't—Not yet!" she shouted back, a furious blush on her cheek.
"Not yet?" he asked, his voice half-teasing, half-nervous at the idea. "I hope you plan on buying me dinner first."
"I plan on doing better than that," she stated with unwavering confidence. "Now let's go buy you some more cloth."
At her declaration, Takuma felt his stomach drop. "I...didn't bring any money," he vocalized with a wince.
"I did," Mei replied. "I probably should have brought you here sooner."
As expected, she didn't pick on his reticence. "Mei, you just can't buy me cloth."
She stopped and turned fully toward him. "And pray tell, why can't I buy my boyfriend cloth?" she asked with a challenging look.
"You do already too much for me. We can just come back another time, and I'll bring some money next time."
"Nah, I'm buying my cute boyfriend some cloth," she denied, taking a step close enough to lay a peck on his cheek. "I'm sure a big leather jacket with straps and spikes would suit you."
He choked back a snort at her description of a terrible style. "I don't think that's something that would suit me."
"Then I guess you only have to show me what you like," she said with a twinkle in her eye.
Takuma still didn't like it, but he could recognize a losing battle when he saw one. "You just tricked me again, didn't you?"
"Guilty as charged," she beamed at him.
He rolled his eyes, and in the spirit of getting back at her, gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Her eyes did little zoomies as she glitched for a second. He didn't give her the time to recompose herself, bringing her into a one-armed hug that allowed him to lead her toward the more visited area of the commercial zone.
So far, the feelings of most anyone were hidden by the constant buzz of thousands of minds around him, each living their own life. His mental wall didn't suffer as much as when he was alone with Mei in the first few weeks. It was a different kind of strain, one he was more used to suffering through.
He'd brought Mei closer to him for multiple reasons. The first was that they both enjoyed it, and the second was to help him stay present. He hoped being close to her would stop him from taking a step back from his own body like he was used to. He wanted to enjoy the day with her, and he couldn't do it if he wasn't entirely there. Soon, his attempt to lead them toward the cheaper clothing shop failed when Mei threatened to simply carry him into the pricier one if he tried to resist. He didn't, but only because he couldn't risk attracting too much attention. A hood wasn't much in terms of stealth, and hiding in the mass was paramount for his continued freedom.
Shopping for cloth was quick. He let Mei choose what he should wear. Then, he checked how warm and inconspicuous those clothes were, and then only did he try them on. In the end, it was more than he expected or would even have dared to buy when he was still on the street. You never knew when even an extra bag would slow you down; traveling light was paramount to his survival all these years. Five different sets of shirts, pants, boxers, and socks later, he was leaving the building with two bags in each hand.
This had taken more time than he would have liked, and he could feel himself start flagging under the strain. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," she said as she skipped in front of him. "You want to stop at a cafe? We could eat something there."
"Sounds good," he told her, more than happy to follow along.
Mei led him to a well-traveled cafe where they found the two last remaining seats. Takuma laid the bags next to him and passed his feet through the plastic handles to stop them from being stolen when he had his back turned. There were too many people in close proximity for him to keep track easily.
"What do you want?" his girlfriend asked, looking at the menu. "Oh, they have some double chocolate and cream here."
He shrugged, unsure of what was even on the menu. "Why don't you choose for me?"
He was palming the fabric of his sweatpants, feeling each and every stitch around the pocket. His ears were tuned to any sound or rhythm he could focus on as he tried to parse through the constant storm of emotions around him. He could deal with it. For now.
"What would be something you like?" she pondered aloud. "I think you're someone who likes a strong cup of coffee."
It took him a second longer than he would have liked to reply to her. "Ding ding ding, I do."
"Mmh, and I don't have a coffee machine. I'll add that to the list of things I need to get," she added, as if she were trying to make a mental note.
"You don't have to. It's fine, I can do without," he tried to deny, but her blank stare was enough to warn him he was wasting his words. "You're too good for me."
"Nuh uh," she denied in a comical way, swaying her head as she spoke. "You're not putting yourself down on my watch, Takuma," she added in a more serious tone right after.
To that, he didn't have much to say, so he kept going through his grounding techniques one by one. A server made a quick stop at their table and left after taking down what Mei wanted and had in mind for him. Some kind of Double Plus Ultra Espresso, which was supposedly strong given the name.
"Did you make those goggles?"
"Which ones?"
"The clunky red and gold ones," he specified, mimicking the oversized things she wore on her head when she worked.
"Clunky?" she gasped in a perfectly acted expression of hurt displayed on her face. Knowing she was goofing around lessened the impact. "I did. Dad wanted to try his hand at making something. Since mom was busy with things that were above anyone's pay grade, really, he started working with me. He designed the headset, and we built it together. I can't even remember the number of times he used the wrong screw, lost a part of the mechanism, or broke a lens. He even broke one of the first prototypes by letting a hammer fall on it once. It was great."
'Well, now I know from which side of the family the ADHD comes from.'
"I'm happy to hear it. How many projects are you working on right now?"
She scrunched up her nose at the question. "Let me think. The Fiery Boots and the Stalwart Gauntlet are nearly done, an improved version of my Air Cannon, and I just finished the blueprint for my Hover Soles," she listed, raising a finger every time. "I think that's about it."
Takuma raised a quizzical eyebrow. "I have the feeling you are forgetting some of them."
"Eh, probably. It'll come back to me the second I step into the hangar," she shrugged.
Mei's tendency to work on multiple projects at once was well known to him. The fact she also had a hard time remembering what baby she was working on didn't help.
"I'm sure if you slept just a little more, you would have an easier time remembering," he said as he grabbed a hand that was resting on the table and started trailing his fingers over the skin and calluses. "This one is new," he commented, noticing a small cut that was in the process of healing. It was an intimate gesture; the touch was keeping him grounded.
Looking back at her, he found her blushing furiously with wide eyes. "You know what," he chuckled to himself. "I think I like seeing you like that."
"H-How?" she squeaked.
Somehow, the girl who could proudly declare she was going to make babies had turned into a squeaky mess just because he was holding her hand. "A cute blushing mess makes me want to kiss you even more," he confessed, raising her hand to his lips and leaving a kiss on it.
What he loved even more was a side of Mei he was slowly uncovering—the way she seemingly stopped computing what was happening to her every time they kissed or he did something just like it an instant ago was something he was quickly starting to enjoy. Her sight-like eye always did little zoomies when she experienced it, and it was one of the cutest things he'd ever witnessed in his life.
"You called me cute," his girlfriend mumbled shyly.
Takuma had just stumbled into the best opportunity he ever could have asked for. "Well, yes. I don't think there is a better word to describe my genius, dedicated, funny, passionate, driven, inspired, ambitious—"
Mei's squeak was music to his ears.
"—determined, strong-willed, imaginative, playful, independent, energetic, optimistic, adventurous girlfriend," he finished his long-winded sentence, taking in a well-earned inhale. "Do you think I could add a few things?"
Mei blushed even deeper, her face now a delightful shade of red. She seemed a bit flustered but happy. "You... you really think all that about me?"
Takuma nodded, a warm smile playing on his lips. "Absolutely. And yes, you can add a few things if you want."
She took a moment to collect her thoughts, her eyes sparkling with a mix of emotions. "Um, well... caring, loyal, resourceful, fun-loving, and a bit mischievous?"
"Perfect," he stated, enjoying how happy she was, as much through his Quirk as face to face.
Their drinks arrived, and Takuma took a sip of the strong coffee Mei had ordered for him. The rich, bold flavor was invigorating, and he appreciated the choice. As they enjoyed their drinks, Takuma couldn't help but reflect on how different this day was from what he had become accustomed to.
"I've never really done this before," he admitted, looking around the cafe. "Just sitting, talking, enjoying a drink."
Interacting with Mei somehow made the strain on his mind lighter, but it was still there, and he was reaching his limit faster than he wanted to. He didn't want to interrupt their date because of his issue, so he soldiered on, hoping the number of people around him would lessen.
"I did, but it gets lonely fast," she sighed with a sad smile.
"Their loss," Takuma said, wanting to say more but failing to.
"So, do you have a better idea of what you want to do?" she asked in turn.
"I don't know. U.A is still not somewhere I can see myself going," he answered honestly. Every time he had tried to think about what he should do, he always earned himself a headache for his trouble. "I just..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"If anything else, we know you are the perfect househusband," Mei offered in an attempt to reassure him.
"Husband?" he gasped in mock shock. "Are you proposing?"
"Wha-wha-Yes! No!" she stuttered. "Not that I don't want to get married, just maybe after U.A?" she asked half to herself, half to him.
"Seems like a good idea," he commented, offering his thoughts. "What don't you-"
Takuma flinched in his seat, wincing slightly at the sudden wave of lust and sex that came from one of the bathrooms in range of his Quirk. Some girl was getting it on with two men, as far as he knew, all three were consenting, so he didn't pry more and reinforced his wall as best he could. Sex was always the worst thing he could experience second-hand. Even if the sensation was halved, he was suddenly getting double-teamed, and it was by far one of the worst things that could happen when he wanted to enjoy a nice afternoon with his girlfriend. He felt a hand stroking his cock and fingers diving into his metaphorical pussy as he pushed the violating feeling away.
"What's happening?!" Mei didn't quite shout, but a few heads turned their way.
Her worry was adding to the strain he was feeling, and he nearly choked on air as he tried to parse through the violating feeling.
"Nothing dangerous," he was quick to tell her. "I just need to move away from here, fast."
He nearly forgot the bag in his haste as his girlfriend paid for the drink. He downed the leftover of his in one go, burning the inside of his mouth a little, but the pain was a good thing right now as it offered him a brief respite from the threesome happening in the closest bathroom. Takuma shook his head in the front of the shop, and as soon as Mei stepped out of it, he grabbed her hand and led her straight away from the orgy. It took him a few minutes to lose the troupe at the edge of his Quirk and a few more to find a place where the crowd was thinning and allowed him to breathe again. When he was safe from the event, he sat on the nearest bench while letting out a sigh of relief. "Safe."
Somehow, he hadn't let go of Mei's hand, who was now holding his with both of her own. "Safe from what?"
He winced again, not due to the discomforting he had just fled from, but more from the subject matter he was about to entertain with his girlfriend. "You know how I feel the emotion and some of the sensation of those around me."
She nodded, still and expectant as her anxiety reared its ugly head, searching in her racing thoughts for anything that she could have done to push him into such a state.
"Well, some things are harder and more uncomfortable to deal with," he said, hoping she wouldn't be too disgusted by what he was about to tell her. "Sex is one of them, and I just had the full experience from one of the bathrooms," he confessed, ashamed, not daring to look her in the eyes.
"Oh," she whispered, shock evident in the emotions that were going through her. "That can't have been easy. Should I blow up all the bathrooms before our next date here?"
Now he turned fully toward her. "What? I just told you I was getting my back blown while we were sharing a drink, and you're just okay with this?"
"No, definitely not," she seethed, a hint of the forgotten anger of this morning peeking through. "But I'm not about to blame you for something you cannot control. On the other end, I can definitely bomb a few bathrooms so it doesn't happen again," she added, then with a more whimsical tone, as if it wasn't even a problem.
His breath hitched as he rubbed his face. "Sorry."
"If Sadkuma is back, then he better be ready to be hit over the head," she threatened without any bite, sliding closer to him until they were shoulder to shoulder. Mei laid her head on his shoulder. "Wanna go home?"
"Yeah, sorr-"
He was cut off by a kiss. Deep, long, and with a hint of a tongue licking his lips just before she broke it off. "No. Let's go home!"
"Aaah..." was his very intelligent response as his brain short-circuited for a second. "Right, yes. Let's go."
The walk back to the car took them longer due to the need to walk around where the trio was still going at it. Now that Mei was keeping an eye out, she was quick to notice him going through grounding techniques. The realization had hit them both, her from the raging guilt of not noticing sooner, and him because he was making his entire existence her problem and it was the last thing he wanted. The single act of squeezing his hand at random intervals had helped tremendously, and he couldn't express how much he loved her for that.
Of course, the pleasant feeling stopped the second she started her car. The road back felt like a road trip on a mountain with so many twists and turns, and the car somehow nearly flipping over before they finally arrived at their destination.
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Safe and sound is better, but safe and sick can do in a pinch!" she joked, still with way too much adrenaline from the drive back home. "I'll grab the bag," she added before stealing them from him without a hint of shame.
As she skipped to her house, he walked at a more sedated pace. Finally rid of the emotions of thousands of people and his girlfriend's terrible driving skills, Takuma could relax again. He still felt a little bit bad for ruining their outing and hoped to make it up to her at dinner. Closing the door behind him, he made it only a few steps in before letting himself fall on the couch, welcoming back the cold pillow that had been his most faithful ally in these trying times.
There were really no better feelings than being freed from going through so many emotions, too many not his own.
"Brace for impact!" Mei shouted as she took a running leap and simply belly-flopped onto him.
The landing wasn't anything close to graceful; her knee hit him in the hips, and her elbow in the ribs. He caught her just in time to not have his face buried in her cleavage. After the impact, she crawled down a bit to lay her head next to his, resting fully on his chest like she did in the morning.
"Houston, we have no problem," Takuma chuckled, loving every second of her craziness.
She giggled nicely as he rubbed his cheek against hers. "Next time we're going on a date, we're going somewhere less crowded."
"Yeah, I never went inside a Shopping Center until today. I didn't think I would ever make it through the door," he confessed.
"Did something happen to help you deal with so many people?"
He stared at her until she got the message. "You did. I am more rested and healthier than I have ever been, just because of you. I wouldn't have been able to handle so many people for so long without you."
She hummed, deep in thought. "I can make a baby for that."
He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "For what?"
Her maniacal smile made its return, with the spark in her eyes that warned him she was about to work some long and hard hours, irrelevant of the time of the day. "You'll see."
"Oh no," he denied, hugging her closer to him. "I have the means to make you talk," he warned her with a grin of his own.
"I do not negotiate with—Ahah," her words were cut by a laugh as he tickled her side while assaulting her cheek and neck with kisses. "You—Ahaha—can't—make—Ahaha—talk."
"This interrogation might last a while," he warned her playfully.
"I can take it," she shot back while tickling his sides, which did nothing as Takuma wasn't ticklish.
Unlike her.
"Are you sure?" he sang to her ear with sadistic glee.
"Y-yes?" she squeaked, her spirit having already accepted what was coming.
"I think I can sweeten the deal," he said, landing a kiss on her cheek deeper and longer than any of the previous ones.
He listened to her clearing her throat as some nervous energy started to make her tremble on top of him. "H-How?"
"Like that," he whispered before kissing her on the mouth.
Lightly, then deeply. His tongue played on her lips, like an electroshock that ran down her spine and melted onto his chest. Then he did something they both had yet to experience. He requested entry, licking her lips more intently. Takuma could feel the realization hit her as anxiety and desire bloomed in her thoughts. She parted her lips, and his tongue met her own. He didn't know much about kissing. But what the other party enjoyed, that was something he understood. First, he jousted with hers, then when she started to give ground, he began to try to pull and exchange blows with her in an attempt to spar in a more equal way. She was quick to jump into the fight, pushing and pulling into the closest thing they had to a spar. He was winning since he had the advantage of knowing his adversary's weaknesses and moves before she could begin to implement them. It wasn't a fair match, and what was even more unfair was when she felt the need to breathe and pulled out of the kiss. The trail of saliva linking them was a surprise that broke quickly and landed on the collar of his hoodie.
"Wow," Mei said, her eyes wholly focused on him as she took a moment to catch her breath.
Takuma wiped the saliva from his cloth with one hand, the other busy hugging her closer to him. "Do you think this will make you talk?"
She blinked rapidly at his question. "Maybe after two more?"
He stared at her with a deadpan expression that only increased the flush on her cheeks until she couldn't handle it anymore and grabbed both sides of his face and tried her hand at kissing him this time.
He didn't know how much practice they would have today, but he was surprised to realize he didn't mind as much as the other... stuff he didn't particularly look forward to. It wasn't entirely comfortable, but it wasn't as bad as the other things he remembered doing.
I remember loving writing this chapter, and I'm happy to see it's still hold up as I have slowly be bettering myself. A lot of little thing this chapter, and a big one with how sex is a pain in the ass to deal with. Sucks for our boy, cuddle is good for the soul I heard.