Double update ! I'm procrastinating a big chapter by editing. Boo me.
Mei was back to her usual self by the following morning, he woke up about the same time she did and while he was busy making breakfast she was working at her usual spot. Today was Sunday, meaning that it was another day of living with the quirky girl that picked him up from the street.
Taking his time to stretch and check on his recovery he noticed a net amelioration of his injury, he could move his shoulder without needing to scream and he could actually feel his finger now which was a relief, he finally reached the stage where he could move less like a cheap doll and more like an actual human being. Stretching in the morning would become a necessity until he was fully recovered it seems.
Yesterday dinner had been filling so he made a light breakfast for the both of them, he knew she hadn't taken her meds this morning so he brought a glass of water and a pill with the hot chocolate he'd made for her and brought it to the hangar. She was bobbing her head up down to a beat only she could hear as she brought material out of a large steel box, hauling fabric and a few pieces of metal to her workstation.
He leaned into the reinforced desk were her blueprint and what seemed to be a close-to-finished version of a pair of reinforced gauntlet laid on the paper. The design incorporated a set of knuckle-duster which he thought was a pretty good idea, reinforcement were placed in strategic location around the joint and thumb, if someone were to slash at his hand while he was wearing those gauntlet it wouldn't leave more than a scratch or a shallow cut at worst. Her design was good, now she only needed to be able to make them, and judging by what he'd been exposed to so far, that wouldn't be a problem.
He watched her for a few more minute before her zoomies brought her back to her workstation with both arm full. He grabbed the fabric on top of the pile she held, allowing her to see him. Being short had some disadvantage.
"Good morning." he greeted her, taking his time to lay the black and steel-gray cloth next to the warm cup.
"Hello !" she replied with her manic grin turned up to eleven."I'm starting your costume today !"
"In that case I hope it's not too much of a boring job." he said as she manoeuvered her load to a seat her chair.
"Making babies is never boring !" she stated with a glare that dared him to disagree."Costume are a supporter best advertisement and greatest pride, the gauntlet are just the first piece of a complex set of gear that will stand between the hero and everything that will try to hurt him. It is a sacred trust."
Her voice had taken a near fanatical tone near the end, reminding Takuma of the fact that he barely knew her."Hot chocolate and meds." he informed her while pointing at the cup.
He was pretty sure he saw her pupil dilate like a cat when she noticed the cup. She took the pill before dipping her lips in the hot coco and letting out a content hum."This is good !"
"It's what you had in your cupboard." he reminded her.
"You have no idea how many time I make myself a cup just to forgot about it and drink it cold a few hour later." she told him between sip.
"Why don't you just reheat it then ?"
"Eh, I'm usually tired when I leave the workshop so I just shotgun it and go to bed"
Too tired to care, he could get behind the idea."Well then, drink up while it's hot, I'll make something warm at launch."
"You like cooking ?" she wondered as she took a seat and grabbed a pen to add a few modification to her work.
"Not really, my Quirk is kinda hard to deal with and having a task to focus on, even a boring one help a lot. And what I do can barely be called cooking, I just read what's on a can or the palstic and try not to mess it up too much."
"I don't like cooking." she hummed as she grabbed an eraser and wiped away a few miscplaced line of her pen."I always get lost between step three and ten, it's just boring."
And again she was saying the word 'boring' like it was a slight against her very existence."Well, I'm glad to help."
A sudden surge of guilt snapped through her thought and he nearly jumped at the suddeness of it.
"Thanks, how's the shoulder going ?" she asked looking over his covered shoulder and arm.
'She forgot.' Takuma deadpanned to himself.
"Better, I'm beginning to regain some movement and the pain is starting to be manageable without painkiller every four hour." he told her while rolling his bruised shoulder."I still look like a modern art piece under the shirt but I'm getting better."
"I'm happy to hear it." she told him with a small smile."I can't wait to be able to see you fight."
The last comment through him off a little bit."You want to see me fight ?"
Was she thinking of making him her attack dog ? At least it was something he could do without to much hurt on either side, but depending on the target he would probably run at the first opportunity. There was some target no amount of comfort or money would make him go after.
"Yes, I need to see how you move before I start to make your costume, the video of your fight helped a bit but it wouldn't be the same like watching you go through some movement in front of me. I can gather a lot of relevant data that way" she explained while vibrating on her seat while sharing her idea.
'I might have gone a bit far with that one.' he admitted to himself, he was still in the dark at what she really wanted from him and that was slowly getting to his nerves.
"S-Sure, what do you have in mind ?"
"Just some basic movement, I have a killer robot you can hammer to you heart content." she told him as if it was the most normal things in the world.
"You have a killer robot." he questionned in the most neutral tone he could manage.
She nodded energiticly."Yeah, it was supposed to be a prototype to help me carry things around, but the guy I bought the running code from must have mixed his data, it started breaking everything in the workshop and nearly broke my spine when I tried to turn it off. I had to build my plasma cutter baby to tear it down. I can rebuild it in a day if necessary though."
"Oh." he commented uselessly."That's definetly something."
'When did my life become so weird.' he thought with a sigh.'About the time I woke-up in a shattered house covered in blood I think.'
"Mei, my fighting style is based on reading my opponent thought and feeling, robot lack both of those things." he reminded her while shaking his head."This isn't gonna work unless yout want me to get slapped around by that thing."
"That might be a problem." she agreed."Oh well, I'll just swing my wrench around and see how you do myself then."
"Mei, do you know how to fight ?" he was compelled to ask.
"Nope, but I got those babies and a wrench, what else would I need." she beamed at him while flexing her biceps in front of him.
He could admit she had some nice definition on her arm, how could she not when she was hauling boxes of material all day long. Takuma didn't doubt she could hit like a truck, but he hadn't survived so long on the street if he couldn't deal with muscle brain that assumed being big and strong would be all they need to win in a fight.
"A fight is more complex than just swinging a stick Mei, it's a complex series of movement, reaction and mind game that lead to either parties getting their head caved in." he chided her gently."You are more likely to hurt yourself than me if you just start swinging a wrench around."
She shrugged."My expertise is in baby making, not fighting."
'Phrasing.' he complained internaly.
"And it's going to be a spar at best, your already hurt enough for both of us." she added with a look to his shoulder again.
"I can't agree more." he nodded, remembering to take a sip form his own cup of hot chocolate before it goes cold."If you need anything you know where I'll be."
"Tearing down the death pile !" she cheered using the named he had given to now four meter tall pile of junk he had been working on for close to a week now."If you find anything interesting don't hesitate to call me !"
"Will do." he waved in her direction before leaving her to her work.
Takuma had two good hour in front of him before he had to make launch and he was looking forward to making them count. He stretched again just to be safe before starting his work. Today he tried to put some strain on his left arm, just to see how much it could take before he was stuck with a single working arm again.
As it turned out he could now use it for balance more than to carry weight, the joint that linked his shoulder to his arm was the weak link that messed with his recovery the most, any weight passed a certain point turned into a searing pain that would last until he let go of the scraps or gear he had in his hand. He wasn't about to risk reinjuring himself further but he would have to find an opportunity to get his shoulder joint checked by a fixer if it kept slowing him down.
He did more work in those two hour than he did the entire first day he started working on the pile, he was recovering nicely and he could work out a nice sweat while rebuilding his strength. The benefice of eating three meal a day was also something he was feeling since he had started to put some weight again, his ribs were showing less than they were before and his stamina wasn't as shot as he remembered it to be.
Wiping the sweat away with a towel he took a few minute to rest before going to make launch, he was tired but not overly so for once, it was nice to not need multiple nap in the middle of the day to stay active. His thought were interrupted when a subtle feeling of interest he couldn't specificaly pinpoint made it's way through his mental wall, the strange part was that he was the target of said feeling. Turning his head toward the only other person in range he met the eyes of Mei who was definetly staring at him. He felt a wave of embarassement and shame from her before she suddenly turned her head back toward her desk and tried to make it seems like she was working, but it was impossible since he couldn't entirely stop her thought from spilling into his head.
'Stupid, stupid, don't be weird,' she bemoaned to herself quite harshly, and he was again surprised at how hard she was on herself.
He had a rule to never judge a person on a stray thought, being caught staring wasn't the end of the world and he could remember himself doing the exact same things a few days ago. He turned and stood before making his way to the door."Launch will be ready in half-an-hour !" he informed her with a half-shout.
"Sounds good !" she called back after he gave her a second to gather herself up and respond.
That simple act stopped her spiraling into further recrimination and he felt her let out a sigh of relief when he closed the door behind him as she started to slowly refocus on her work.
He was reminded of a jingle he sometime heard from a shop that sold old tv's and used to play the cartoon channel all day long for the local children.
"A good deed a day keep the villain away." he recalled the word played on some stupid tune that would stay stuck in his head for hours."If only life was so simple."