The next week went by in the blink of an eye, between training and studying for the exam that was now less than two month away, Takuma could say he rarely had a so much to do in a day. He'd been on his own timetable for so long being anchored to something outside of his control made him feel queezy. Midoriya was now back to his muscle training, the beach cleaning was progressing well and would be done a month before the U.A entrance exam at this rate. All Might came and went, delivering the scrap and trash to the nearby scrapyard or landfiill, he was still awkward around him and suffered from a severe case of not knowing what to do to engage with him. Which suited Takuma just fine since The Symbol Of Peace irritated him to no end. Gran Torino came by to put the bean through his usual non-sensical thought exercise, those time he made sure not to reveal more than was necessary, always building-up on Midoriya thought rather than give an answer that could make the older Pro want to take a look at his past more than he already had. He hadn't been arrested yet, so it meant his over the top dramatic act had worked, for the time being anyway.
Mei period came and went leaving her an overwhelmed mess for the first part of the week, he had done his best to help her, but this week had been particularly difficult on both of them. She had to take painkiller for the pain for the first three day, then the next two had been spent recovering from the sleepless night. Takuma had her stay home on Thursday and Friday due to how pale she was, even taking two day off cleaning the beach himself to stay with her.
When the school called and a noisy cunt of a teacher came snooping as to why she did not come to school he'd been truthfull. Somehow being in so much pain she could barely walk was not a good enough reason for them, which lead him to tell the teacher to well and truly fuck off.
Mei had cried when she learned which teacher had called, Mr Testunaya was on his shit list for that alone.
When exhaustion finaly took her, then came the time to find all the information he could about said teacher, since the teacher house was isolated from any other building, burned it down. He even got to sing the arson song, which wasn't something he could claim to have done in a while. Good time.
He was glad to have something nice to do for his girlfriend for once, he was still a bit mad not to have found the man to beat him up, but the destruction of everything he owned would do, unless he decided to fuck around again, then Takuma would be more than happy to help him found out.
By the end of Friday the pain lessened enough without painkiller for her to start living again, with a doctor appointement coming next week to take a look at her unexpectedly painfull period they were both set with a nice week-end of rest. Right up until Asuna called to inform them they were both invited on Sunday, with Nova and Missy to dine to her new house. As much as he wanted to see them, Takuma was half a mind to turn down the offer for another time, until Mei demanded to go, for his sake. She earned herself month worth of cuddle for that alone, not that she didn't deserve those in the first place anyway.
So they were now in front of the now larger house of Asuna, ready for her to meet his bestfriend and her wife.
"We can still turn back now." he told her just to make sure.
"I am not dead Takuma." she told him for the hundredth time as she squeezed his arm."I'm not made of glass, stop treating me like I'm going to shatter if I do more than sneeze." she added with some irritation.
She was growing frustrated with him, and to be fair, he couldn't blame her. He might have overdone it a tad, out of fright of feeling her in so much pain.
"Sorry, I'll try to stop doing it as much." he sighed with a kiss in her hair.
They were both dressed well enough for the night, for once he had dropped his sweat-pants and hoodie combo for a nice and soft purple jacket with silver seams, he hadn't dared to wear it until now due to how costly it was and he probably wouldn't have still if Mei hadn't used a comical amount of puppy eye to crush his resolve. Even the pants was nicer than what he was used to wear, it wouldn't last long in a fight which his why he didn't want to wear anything nice in general.
Mei had opted for a longer pleated purple skirt and white and pink top taken right from the nice part of her wardrobe. He realised his girlfriend was still nursing Asuna comment on her choice of cloth when they met, she was anxious about a redo and went out of her way to make sure it wouldn't happen again. He didn't brush the subject, it wouldn't do her much good and even if he knew Asuna didn't mean anything with her comment a few weeks ago his anxious gremlin wouldn't listen. No she would, but it still wouldn't help with her anxiety, so he made sure she knew she looked beautifull every step of the way. It helped enough she wasn't dreading the meeting as much as she once had.
They walked the last few meters to Asuna house as the last ray of sunshing disapeared over the horizon. The surrounding area were sparsly populated, he wasn't under much strain from his Quirk which was a nice discovery, the rather well placed house was right next to an area who was starting to develop and even if he could see high rise being built around her place he supposed they woudn't start to be a problem before a few years. If he hadn't managed to get himself killed by then, then he would probably have to only come see the mother and daughter duo when the coast was clear.
"And we are at the right address, doeth the gremlinth wisheth to knock...eth ?" he asked with a tone as close to Fred'Ricks he could manage, the small grin was well worth his girlfriend rolling his eyes at him in good humor.
"I can manage that much." she told him as she knocked three time.
He was already aware they were the last two to arrive. Nova and Missy were entertaining Mousey as Asuna put the final touch to dinner. They hadn't brought their son he noted. Soon Asuna came-by and opened the door, dressed in a long-flowing black and red dress with a plunging neckline that immediatly made Mei feel inadequate.
"Takuma, Mei. Please enter and make yourself at home." she greeted with a genuine smile as she moved to the side to allow them to enter.
"Asuna, you still never miss an opportunity to show off I see." he chuckled good naturedly as he squeeze Mei gently three time.
"Good evening, where's the little Mouse ?!" Mei asked, as she remembered to greet the older woman after his reminder.
They had devised a little plan after the dinner they had at the Midoriya. Three squeeze if she missed a social cue. Only bother if it was an obvious one.
"She's with Missy and Nova, they are in the room on the left, you can join them until I am done with the last touch to our meal." she told them while point to right room."Mousey had been waiting to see you two again, she barely slept a wink last night."
"Eh, hopefully she wasn't too difficult."
"She never is." Asuna sighed with a sad frown.
"Yes, old habit die hard." he commented with an understanding nod.
Being on the street had a way to teach you how to act, listening to the pack and to not make a fuss unless there was danger. Like himself it took a lot to even ask for basic things.
He walked with Mei trailing behind into the room where Nova with Mousey.
"-and so I broke his nose and made him cry !" she told the little girl who beamed at her friend.
"Dear, you shouldn't speak like that around Mousey." Missy said to her wife in a sever tone.
The short woman with dark-blue shoulder length hair was someone he had met only once in the past, that one time when he felt her mind when he was looking around her place of work didn't count for much, and still he hadn't shared more than two sentence with her. He knew Nova was happy with her and that was enough for him.
"Eh, don't worry. She heard us say far worse shi-eTakuma !" Nova nearly shouted as her hair took a more powerful glow for a split second."You're here, could have said something you son of a cunt."
"Eat shit and die to you too Nova." he replied from force of habit."Missy, pleasure to meet you again. Both of you, let me present to you Hatsume Mei."
"Hello." his girlfriend said with an awkward wave of her hand as she half hid behind him.
"Mei !" Mousey shouted as she jumped from Nova lap and rushed to her side.
"Little Mouse, how are-oof-you?" his pink girlfriend asked, cut by the sudden shock of the little girl slamming into her.
"Fuck, I've been replaced." his bestfriend commented with a desolated sigh as her wife rub her back.
"To be fair, you never were anyone favorite." Takuma let out as he walk closer to the duo.
"Oh you dick, glad you could make it." she told him while they shared half a hug."Your boo got killer tits by the way, wouldn't mind suckling on-Ow you cunts!"
She was cut by Missy slap behind the head as he spiked her ribs with two finger.
"Good evening, Takuma. I hope you are well," the disciplinarian told him with a pleasant smile. "Sorry for her, she can be difficult."
He shook his head. "Understatement of the century," he chuckled good-naturedly. "But do try to go easy on her; she had a rough week," he added with more seriousness.
"Wha—but I wanted her to tell me every detail of how you filled her up and broke her tight little puss—ow." Takuma jabbed her side again with three fingers, right where he had struck her once before for good measure. "You bitch—alright, alright, I won't push! Fuck, what's gotten into you?"
"As I said, Mei had a rough week. Don't make it worse," he told her again with a glare.
Nova wasn't the kind of person you needed to warn only once, and to be fair, neither was Takuma.
"I'll make sure she behaves," Missy said as she hugged her wife from the side.
"My point still stands, where in the seven hells did you find a looker like that?" Nova asked as she massaged her bruised side. "Cute face, nice hair, and killer bod. I would have loved slobbering all over that if I hadn't met Missy."
"Mei isn't much of a people person, and she spends most of her day in her workshop. And may I remind you, she was the one who picked me up after the mutant fiasco," he reminded his friend as he looked behind him to see Mousey proudly presenting a small toy made of wire and plastic to his girlfriend.
"Oh, this is great. I remember when I made my first automatic pencil sharpener," Mei recalled with a smile filled with glee. "Wait, you hooked it up to a simple battery, mine—no, it's better. I hooked mine up to a car battery and the blade went through two walls. Good job, Mousey!"
"Oh, you've got it bad," Nova snickered as he turned back to look at her, still smiling.
"You're goddamn right I've got it bad," he declared proudly. "She's mine, and gods have mercy on the poor soul that goes after her because I sure as hell won't have any."
"Let me guess, you already sent someone to the hospital for looking at her the wrong way," she stated more than asked.
"No, of course not," he denied. He hadn't actually beaten up anyone after they crossed her. "But the area will be smokey for a while, I think."
Nova let out a vicious giggle. "Man, I miss burning shit," she said with a nostalgic smile.
"And you better not get up to your old habits without a good reason," Missy sighed, for what felt like the hundredth time in the short amount of time since they had met. "I understand you both had a rough... everything, but please refrain from breaking the law without a good reason to do so."
"You know the second I get out, I'll stay on the straight and narrow," Nova told her wife as she squeezed her arm affectionately.
"So you have an out?" Takuma asked with genuine surprise.
He had gotten out of many gangs, but he never dared try to get into the more well-established ones.
"Not yet, but a certain someone owes me a favor, and that someone owes someone else a favor. Repeat that a dozen times, and I have a good shot at earning an out, though the price might be steep," she told him with a hint of something behind her thought.
He could already tell she would ask him for help. There weren't many people she could ask for this kind of favor.
"As long as you keep in mind there's someone else to consider when asking for my help in the future," he told her while tilting his head toward Mei. "Then when that time comes, I'll see what I can do."
"Speaking of—"
"Later," he cut her off harshly, to her surprise.
Nova's demeanor changed drastically, suddenly alert as she looked him up from top to bottom. "Later then."
Missy looked between both of them, lost as she noticed the now heavy atmosphere.
"Takuma, look!" Mousey called from behind as he now turned his attention toward her.
She was proudly showing him the little gadget she had made. He kneeled in front of her and held it carefully in his hand. It was basic enough for him to understand how it worked. He pressed the button, and the sharp piece of metal started rotating around an axis, perfect to cut a pen to size—or a finger.
'We might need a safety meeting later.'
"This is great! Did you make it entirely by yourself?" he asked, looking it over.
"Mei told Mousey how to make it; Mousey had to find the parts!" she said proudly as she grabbed the flimsy gadget from his hand with great care. "Mousey couldn't find the pieces, so Momsey brought her to the electronics shop, and she found everything there."
He looked over at his girlfriend, who was smiling like a loon at the little girl. "I sent her to Tinker. She won't lack materials for anything she needs, and he loves teaching too."
"I'm sure we can expect some more teasing next time we see him," Takuma chuckled.
"That we do," she agreed as she walked in closer and wrapped an arm around his side.
"And so this is your little girlfriend. Is our resident boy toy treating you well?" Nova asked as she joined them with Missy in tow.
Mei's mood made a one-eighty as she was now glaring at his best friend. "He does."
His best friend took her clipped answer in stride. "Good, not that it was ever in question. Little Tak was always a gentleman when he cared enough to be," Nova said with a teasing glint.
He rolled his eyes at the old nickname.
"Bold words from the Fiery Carpet," he teased back without missing a beat.
She gasped in mock outrage as Mei held him closer.
"I'll have you know the carpet does match the drapes—just ask her," the girl with volcanic-looking hair stated with a challenging glare.
Missy blinked, suddenly the center of attention. "It doesn't," she revealed with a blush.
"Dammit, you're supposed to back me up, love," her wife giggled with a kiss as her hair wrapped around the slightly shorter woman.
The heat coming from the strands was at a comfortable level, not the skin-sloughing and bone-searing level his friend used when fighting.
"Alright, children, the food is ready if you would like to grab a seat," Asuna informed them all as she brought the plates.
"No, you're not going to stay up the entire night," Nova told him with a shit-eating grin as he was thinking of doing just that. "Spiteful little shit."
"You know me too well," he drawled as he led Mei to her chair so that Mousey could sit right next to her.
Nova sat on the other side of the little girl.
'This can't possibly go wrong.'
He made a quick run to the kitchen to help Asuna as much as the ever-proud woman allowed before going back to the table where everyone but their host was seated.
"So, could you... I don't know, put a switchblade in a dildo?"
'What a terrible day to have ears,' he deadpanned internally.
"It can't be too hard," Mei replied lamely with a shrug, still staring a hole into Nova.
"Damn, I knew a girl with a regeneration Quirk who would love one of those. She's kind of a masochist, an extreme one if you get my meaning."
"I'm booked," his girlfriend replied in a clipped tone again as she started fiddling with her chopsticks.
Nova raised an eyebrow at him. 'Later,' he mimed with his mouth as he grabbed Mei's hand and brought it to his lips to give it a kiss.
"What are you going to help Mousey make next?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.
She hummed, as she sometimes did when she needed to think on the spot. "She learned how to wire a circuit board, that's the basics. Now she's going to need to get used to working with her fingers on something small, maybe a few puzzles. They wouldn't take long to make."
"What kind of puzzles?" Missy asked with a glint of interest in her eye.
"Small toys, like a cube that can split into many more parts and can be kept together with magnets. Maybe a fidget spinner if she likes to play with those," she began listing aimlessly. "Tell you what, give me a list of what you like to play with, and I'll design some things you can make around them. Sounds good, Mousey?"
"Yes!" the little girl said with a firm nod and a bright smile.
This simple sight warmed his heart in a way he couldn't describe.
"It's a very pedagogic way to teach," Missy commented, making Mei smile gratefully at the compliment.
Asuna walked back into the room with a plate of roasted beef on a bed of rice and other meats.
"And here's the meal, please dig in!" she told them as she finally sat and joined them at the table.
Bowls and plates were passed around as everyone grabbed something to eat. Takuma made sure everyone had something on their plate before grabbing food for himself.
"So, just to check—how much does your lady love know about... us?" Nova asked with the grace of a bull ramming into a shop.
Mei turned to look at him with a confused frown.
"She knows some bits and pieces. Refrain from naming anyone, and we should be good," he replied.
"Alright then, good news, you whiny bitch. More than half the gangs that had you on their shit list just removed their bounty on you!" his best friend informed him with a bright, shit-eating grin.
"Already?!" he let out in sheer shock.
"Wait, that's a good thing, right?" Mei felt the need to clarify.
"Yes, it very much is," he answered with the beginning of a smile. "Which one? No names."
"Well, the Quirkists seem dead set on getting their hands on you, but the mutant and human supremacists decided you weren't worth the trouble," she revealed with feigned indifference, though as always, her hair started to change. The glow of her volcanic-looking hair dimmed and grew more intense for a short second.
Which meant she was excited and happy—something his Quirk barely picked up on, as Nova had spent so long with him that she now knew how to hide her true feelings.
"Ooh, I forgot about your bounty," Mei groaned, facepalming. "Are the Quirkists... going to be a problem?"
"Eh, with those guys, you never know," Nova replied with a shrug before noticing the glare he was sending her way. "Don't look at me like that. It's not like I can lie with Mousey right there," she huffed.
"How bad are they?" his girlfriend asked, her fury mounting.
"Definitely not the worst, but they have more reach than most normal gangs," he started to explain without giving her any names she might use or blurt out by mistake. "Think of them as the more politically inclined organization. They don't act overtly, preferring to dig themselves into the political landscape and enact laws against those with weak or villainous Quirks."
The Quirkists were one of the most die-hard groups. Many gangs, some terrorist organizations—they were a problem for anyone with a weak or unflashy Quirk. If they wanted him for his fight against the mutants, then it wouldn't be surprising for them to keep sniffing around for him. In itself, both supremacist groups stopping their search for him was surprising—not that they stopped, no. But that they did so at the same time.
Could someone be behind it? Was someone trying to help him? Who? Not All Might, and neither Gran Torino. They were out immediately because both of them would have tried to talk to him about his less-than-savory past already if they knew. No local thug would open their mouth around the Symbol of Peace for fear of being cut into bits as an example. Gran was more of a wild card in that case, but he doubted the old man had an in so deep in the underground. Why? Because Takuma was still a free man.
In his mind, there was only one real answer: Nedzu.
He was the only one with enough pull to have two major players back off. But then came the question of why he would do something like that for him... He had no proof and nothing to back up his gut feeling, but Takuma knew the rat had to be behind this. His well-earned paranoia was screaming at him that the rat was involved, and he wasn't stupid enough not to listen. He was still hot from the shitshow that was his investigation, and whatever happened to him that night... nothing that could grab Nedzu's attention happened, not that...
The kids. Two kids from U.A. he had 'rescued' from Satori. Could they be the ones who had set him on this track? No, they'd only heard his voice. Now was not the time to think about it.
"And he's back," Nova said as he turned his head to look in her direction. "He blinks from his right eye when he stops thinking deeply like that," she added.
Mei nodded sagely. "How long have you two known each other?"
"Eh, probably twelve years, maybe? Around that?" he asked, looking toward Nova, who nodded.
"I think so. I'm glad we moved on and you're not the insane kid eating live rats," she chuckled grimly as Mei's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Before I met her and the others," he explained. "And I'd rather you keep the grimier parts of our past to yourself, Nova—for now at least."
"Right, fuck, sorry, Tak," she groaned with a hiss.
"Why is it that every time I learn something new about your past, I feel the ever-growing need to punch someone in the dick?" Mei hissed with a feral tone as she leaned onto his shoulder, her hand holding his.
"Damn, she's a little hellion, that one," Nova commented approvingly.
"It wasn't always bad," he replied lamely, kissing Mei on the crown of her head.
"Mostly," his best friend shrugged.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry you both had to... go through this," Asuna sighed. "If I had found you sooner, maybe some of what happened could have been avoided."
"And how... did you meet?" Mei asked.
Asuna turned her face toward him, and he nodded.
"I was walking down the street where she lived. Her boyfriend was an absolute shitheel who thought himself tougher than he was. So—"
"We walked in and broke his fucking spine!" Nova added with sadistic glee. "He cried like a bitch after I stomped on his balls hard enough that one popped!"
Mei swallowed thickly, wincing at the description.
"After helping Asuna patch herself up, we called the cops and left," Takuma continued, wrapping an arm around Mei's shoulder as he kept eating with his left hand. "She offered us a place if we ever needed it, and we spent some nights at her place with the others. Never too long, only a day or two when someone needed to rest or get patched up."
"Later on, we found Mighty-mouse over here," Nova added as she ruffled Mousey's hair. "And we thought Asuna could do a good enough job."
"Momsey is best-sey!" Mousey declared with a proud smile toward her foster mom.
"Wait, aren't I best-sey?!" Nova asked with an audible gasp as the little girl viciously shook her head. "Hurt, truly I am!"
He could already tell Mei had a hard time digesting the casual way Nova dealt with violence.
"But couldn't you have just stayed with her?" she asked him, confused.
"It's not that simple. At that point, there were a lot of us," he told her. "We were a large group around that point, maybe twelve. It's the biggest our group ever was."
"And it's not like we could have told the younger kids to get stuffed and survive on their own," Nova sighed, backing him up.
"How old were you?" she questioned in a smaller voice. He could feel she didn't really want an answer to this question.
"At that point, maybe... ten, eleven?" he wondered aloud before looking toward his best friend.
"Probably around that," Nova confirmed with a shrug. "There were a lot of us... I even forgot they were there sometimes."
"They're still here, as long as we are," he sighed, leaning more onto Mei for warmth.
"Maybe switching the subject to a more pleasant experience from your past might help?" Asuna offered as she noticed the mood wasn't the best.
"Like maybe... your time in the U.S.?" Missy suggested before slapping a hand over her mouth.
For a good reason.
"Wait, you went overseas?!" Mei asked with genuine surprise and enough curiosity to fill an Olympic swimming pool. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Well... I genuinely forgot it was a thing honestly... we were a bit... busy to enjoy our time there."
"Why?"
"The bad man took Mousey," the little girl whispered, her fist now in a white-knuckled grip.
"And we went to get Mousey back," Nova said as she wrapped the little girl in a hug.
Mei turned to look at him, her eyes always so expressive, were still as she had a look on her face that told him everything he needed to know about her unasked question.
"He was dealt with, on a permanent basis," he told her. Her answer was a single nod as she relaxed, letting out a relieved sigh. He had never felt so much wrath coming from her; he didn't know if it was a good thing or not. "We got Mousey back and made sure none of that would ever happen again."
"Yep, we went to get the little mouse back and ended up stumbling on a lot of bullshit along the way," his friend contributed. "Danny got lost in Las Vegas."
"Thakaatra started a cult if I remember correctly?" he remembered his now long-gone friend's antics.
"Shimana hacked an ATM and had bounty hunters on his ass for months after," Nova recalled as she started to pet Mousey's hair as she now calmed down.
"And you burned down a convenience store."
Nova rolled her eyes. "And you stole a bus," she shot back.
"You know how to drive?" Mei asked, surprised again.
"Twice as worse as you, but yes... if we can even call it that," he chuckled lightly. "Only in case of emergency."
Nova hummed before kissing Mousey's hair and letting go of the hug. "We could tell your lady love about our spat with you-know-who. Missy already knows."
"I do know what you are talking about, and I still have trouble believing you," Missy said with a look toward her wife.
Mei looked at him expectantly, and he hesitated for a second before coming out with the truth.
"You know about my side job as a cleaner?" he asked, making sure she hadn't forgotten his past fighting brainwashers of all sorts.
She nodded between bites of food.
"Well, when we went back to get Mousey, we met a flurry of unpleasant individuals," he told her, wording his answer in such ways he didn't risk leaking dangerous information. "Some of them had capabilities that were far more dangerous than anything I had encountered before."
"Super-Villain. Or he would have been if we hadn't jumped his ass," Nova added helpfully.
"By Super-Villain, you mean S-rank or higher, right?" Mei asked for clarification.
"Right on the money," Nova confirmed.
"He was strong, his Quirk, his followers, and he probably would have been a world-class threat if it wasn't for how much practice I had breaking people away from brainwashing Quirks," he explained as vaguely as he could.
"Yeah, just breaking the big girl from his grasp had you fucked up for a good month."
He nodded at his volcanic-haired friend's words. "We stumbled on him just as he started to act and caught the biggest fish of all."
Mei's confusion took a sharp turn as her eyes grew wide. "No, you don't mean!"
"Yep, bastard waited for one of Star And Stripe's promotional tours to bring her under his control," he revealed to his slack-jawed girlfriend. "It was a fuck-up of epic proportions for her security detail, but well, it's not like anyone could predict some fossil with a strong brainwashing Quirk would pop up from the woodwork."
"That old fart wasn't even a ranked Villain. Nobody ever heard of him before. And then one day he's just there and fucking our shit up," Nova spat with a growl. "If it wasn't for Tak, the world would be very different today."
Mei looked at him with a glint in her eyes. Her thoughts were a mix of confusion, disbelief, and... pride? The last one nearly brought a tear to his eyes.
"Maybe not to that extent, but things would have been way worse if I wasn't there," he agreed, not fully. "When we realized what was going on, I wielded my Quirk to protect us, and when I had the opportunity, I broke Star And Stripe from his control."
"You're skipping a lot there," Nova commented. "Like the entire minute we had to hold off Star And Stripe to let you break her out of his control. Longest minute of my life, I can fucking tell you."
"You fought Star And Stripe?!" Mei let out in absolute disbelief.
"A very weakened and heavily influenced Star And Stripe. I think the Air Force dropped more bombs on her in the minute we fought her than in the last fifteen years. If it wasn't for the Villain being unable to use the full power of her Quirk, then I don't think we would have made it out alive," Takuma corrected.
"We wouldn't," his friend agreed. "Her Quirk is bullshit, and I'm not even talking about what she can do when she's not a mindless zombie."
"Yeah, it was rough," he sighed.
"And that's all? You didn't interact with her after?"
"We did, a bit. She was pleasant if a bit nosy," he told his girlfriend.
"I think being nosy is the right call when a bunch of teenagers are the sole reason one of the greatest Heroines in the world isn't turned into a weapon of mass destruction," Missy commented. Takuma noticed she had been watching Mousey the entire time of their retelling, searching for a trigger of her truth-telling Quirk. Finding none, she decided they were telling the truth. Smart.
"You have a point. In the end, after we spent some time together, she helped us come back to Japan and then it was back to business as usual," he finished his retelling.
"Oh come on, you can't just skip an entire part of our trip in America like that!" Nova countered with a groan. "We spent like... months working with her, mostly you. But it's not like we just left. There aren't many people that can do what you do."
"I didn't find it relevant to mention the clean-up process of an entire town. It was mostly boring grunt work," he explained with a shrug.
"You forgot the other Villain you caught," she countered again.
"Well, we caught more than one Villain, yes, but this was Star's work more than mine," he sighed, not enjoying talking so much about himself. "We caught a lot of Villains by working together, but all I did was point her in the right direction. Close to no one bothered hiding their intent from their own thoughts. It was like shooting fish in a barrel."
"She did offer you to be her sidekick."
"Nova," he snapped. "Please, let's stop talking about me."
"She offered you... to be her sidekick?" Mei whispered in disbelief before she looked at him in... awe, her mouth opening and closing mechanically as so many thoughts bounced inside her head. "I-I'm glad."
His breath hitched at her honest words. "W-What for?"
"I'm glad she saw in you the things I did," his girlfriend told him, a tilt to her head as she smiled at him.
Takuma's heart skipped. "Damn, I think I just fell in love again," he commented without a hint of shame.
Mei giggled and leaned onto him more as he kissed her cheek.
"You two are so sweet it's sickening. I need a smoke," Nova declared as she ate the last bit of food in her bowl and stood up.
"That sounds like a great idea. Mind giving me one?" Takuma asked with one last squeeze to Mei as he stood up.
"Sure thing."
"You smoke?" his girlfriend asked as she held him back for a second.
"I do, from time to time," he told her as he kissed her hand. "I'll be right back."
Mei didn't like being left alone with Asuna and Missy, but Mousey made it bearable as he walked to the balcony with Nova. The door closed behind both of them; the night was cold and his friend was quick to wrap her hair around the both of them and raise the temperature until they couldn't even feel it. She then grabbed two cigarettes from her pack before lighting them up from strands of her hair. Then she gave him one. He brought it to his lips and inhaled. It had been a long time since he last smoked, but the nice burn he felt in his lungs was freeing in a way only smoking could provide.
"The job didn't go well, did it?" Nova asked, the mask of affability now gone, revealing the serious expression and focus that she scantily bothered with. "How bad was it?" she then added, taking a drag of her own cigarette.
"Nearly got fucking murdered bad," he let out in a single long exhale. "This wasn't just some gang going at it for shits and giggles. Black Dragons, Carmine and Sundered Will, and finally the C.R.C weren't the only players in the area."
"Someone from the board?"
He nodded. "Ever heard of Nyx?"
Nova's eyes grew wide, a snarl blooming on her features before she let out a long hiss. "Fuck."
"Indeed," he sighed in turn. "Then there was also a boy from the Quirkless Liberation Front that nearly took my throat." He added, loosening his collar so she could see the scar. "And that's not even taking into account that I fucked up this entire operation in the first place. I don't know what was going on with me that night but... fuck. I shouldn't be alive right now."
"That explains why your boo looked like she wanted to rip my head off when I talked to her," Nova realized.
"Yeah, when I got back, I broke down in front of her," he told her, noting the warmer glow of her hair and the surprise on her features. "It was fucked, and I can't even begin to explain what the fuck I was thinking or what even happened to me. I got fucked over by the board making a play on the Hydra and had to put out fires the entire night." He explained as he took a long drag from the cigarette between his lips. "It's a miracle I made it out, and it's an even bigger one that I managed to catch the killer the same night. Even ended up saving a Heroine's life while I was at it."
"Fuc—I... I sent you there... I didn't know my own fucking boss would be sending the big gun in the area," his friend growled as she punched the railing in frustration. "Nyx is the worst of them all; if I had known she would be there, I would have never sent you."
"I believe you," he shrugged between pleasantly smoky breaths. "I don't think you hate me so much you'd try to get rid of me just yet," he added with a joking tone.
Still, Nova winced, deeply hurt by the idea she would ever do that to him, even as a joke. "Thank you."
"The wifey is safe; that's the only thing that matters."
"Damn, getting answers from you is still as hard as ever," Nova drawled with a roll of her eyes. "You should learn how to take compliments, you bitch."
"Choke on a dick and die," he retorted with a grin.
"Dick? Nah, I'd rather dive between Missy's legs and never come back up for air. Now, that would be a way to go," she told him with a wink.
"To die by thigh is the way of the warrior," he recalled his other friend's favorite sentence.
"Fucking Danny," Nova giggled. "Did you get news from him?"
"Still nothing. Haven't heard from him since the last time we saw each other."
"Damn... you don't think he's..."
"Unlikely," he replied with a smoky sigh. "He's too much of a little shit to get caught, and if he does, he would have found a way to contact us by now. You know he's never far from us, even from the other side of the globe."
"Fuck..."
He nodded in agreement.
"There's only the three of us left," Nova said with a hint of mist in her eyes. "I don't want to lose anyone else. I-a-am—"
"Stop it," he cut her off as he threw his cigarette away and slowly embraced her, awkwardly.
They may have known each other for years, but the number of times they actually hugged in any way could be counted on the fingers of a single hand.
"Fuck!" she shouted into his chest as she returned the hug. "I used to be tougher than that."
"I've been telling myself the same thing ever since I met Mei," he confessed. "I used to get slammed into fucking walls by Villains and walk away from it without a problem. Now a single bad night makes me break down."
"Damn, we're both a fucking mess," she chuckled sadly as she wrapped her hair around both of them tighter.
"That we are, Nova," he agreed, not quite sure how he could word out what he wanted. "When you get out, and you don't have to deal with all the bullshit the gang throws at you... could we try and be real friends? Not this weird fucked-up pile of trauma that somehow grew legs and, even weirder, is still breathing?"
He felt the shock in her thoughts as she hadn't quite expected this of him, and to be honest, neither did he. "Where did that come from?"
"I guess getting a girlfriend made me realize how much I was missing out by keeping everyone at arm's length. I don't want to do that anymore, not with the people I love at least."
"It's a bit late for a confession, and I sure as hell am not sucking your dick."
"And I'm expecting you to, you hopeless virgin," he shot back with a grin. "Stop deflecting and be straight with me. Do you... want me to stay in your life?"
She took a long breath, finishing her cigarette as she did. "I—When I get out, I don't want to risk ever going back. As long as you promise not to bring Villains like we used to do. Then... yes, I'd like to be friends with you, for real this time."
"I'm glad to hear it. Turns out hugs are pretty nice," he let out with a grin.
"It beats cuddling for warmth," she agreed easily as she still let go. "Damn, I don't know what that girl did to you, but I need to give her a gift card. Look at you being all cuddly and shit, that's not something I'd ever expected to see you do."
"Yeah, I'd never expected to meet someone like her. If all I needed to do to find someone to love me was to get my ass beat, I would have done so a long time ago," he joked as Nova shook her head.
"We've got our asses beat enough times already; try not to expand that list, would you?" she grinned back at him before her smile died down a little bit. "Did we make it?"
He blinked as he gathered his thoughts. "Soon, maybe. We might make it; we only need to hold on just a little bit longer," he replied honestly because this was what it felt like to him. "I'm still aiming for the U.A. Hero course; it would suck massive amounts of sweaty balls to have to arrest you."
"As if you could," she shot back with a challenging tone. "You're the mind fucker, but I'm the big gun in this relationship, little Tak."
"Yes, yes, don't toot your horn so much you might break it," he chuckled lightly. "Now that we've cleared the air, is Missy going to be fine for now?"
"Yeah, her school was reinforced and they now have a local Hero. Some freshly graduated sidekick—you can taste the naivety—but hopefully he will do the area some good," Nova revealed with a pleased sigh.
"In that case, we only need to wait and see."
"Hopefully no other bullshit will happen before we fully get out of the street."
"I wouldn't hope too much. You know how these things can get," he reminded her with a sigh. "But yeah, for the first time in a while, I'm hopeful."
Nova deadpanned and stared at him. "I'm still not sucking your dick," she stated with her eyes narrowed.
"Getting head from a lesbian isn't my definition of fun," he said, sticking his tongue out at her. "Pass me another cigarette before we go back to the others. Man, I missed those things."
"Damn free-loader," his friend joked as she shook her head.
He shrugged. "You know me soooo well."
The rest of the night went by without a hitch. Nova and he had smoked an entire pack before they came back to Mei showing the little girl how to make a simple grenade with sugar and baking soda. This did not go well with Asuna and Missy, who tried and failed to stop them, much to Mousey's delight. They went back home after saying their goodbyes and grabbing Missy and Nova's phone numbers, just in case. Then they jumped into bed to sleep the rest of the night off.
In all, it was a good night.
I'm not satisfied with this chapter. It does its job, but even a month after writing it, I'm failing at really pushing the character interactions in an interesting way. I might rewrite the ending later.