numbertwohero | Prismatica Inbox

Yeah! Plus... between my dad on drums and my mom on lead and vocals, it felt natural to play the bass, you know?
Like, it felt like there was something missing, so it made sense for me to fill that.

[That's followed by a short pause, and she reaches up to rub the back of her hair a bit.]

Not that that matters much, anyway. I mean, mom can play bass, too, and they record all the tracks separate from each other...

I think it matters. It's something you wanted to do with your parents. And they wouldn't have taught you if they didn't want you to be part of the thing they love.

[It's his turn to pause, and to look the tiniest bit awkward.]

I mean...it's something you can do as a family, and I think that matters. But I don't really know much about it, so...

[So maybe he's projecting a little bit. Sue him, it sounds nice. It'll never be the kind of thing he has, but it's nice to see other kids with families that are like that. It means they aren't all as bad as his.]

[... Yeah, that might've surprised her a little. Just a little. Talking about how it's things to do with your family, and how they just want her to be part of what they love...
Only to follow all that up with "I don't really know much about it". Boy...

She takes a second, quiet as she is, to shuffle in his arm a bit - and ends up reaching across him to settle her arm around his middle. It's a lot more of a hug, now, and not even fully intentional.
But there it is.]

Hey, uh...
What's the deal with your family anyway? You always sound a little... not jealous, but like you want that kinda thing, too.

[He's not mean about it or anything, and sounds pretty happy she's got what she does, but at the same time...
There's some pretty noticeable worry in her voice, asking this. It's a little out of place with her, but can you really blame her for worrying in the first place?]

[Oh. Well, that's fine, too. As long as she's comfortable. It's not like it's uncomfortable for him; there's the nice, pleasant buzz of moonlacing that seems to be amplified by more contact, and the weight of an arm across his body as he breathes in is actually kind of nice, too. Settling, in a way. Between that and the warmth under the blanket, it's enough to almost make him feel kind of dozy, although her question definitely brings him back into the moment.]

I'm not jealous. It's nice hearing about other people's families. Just...that's not how mine was. Or is.

[She sounds...worried. That's unusual enough, and he's at least self-aware enough that he knows explaining to her the way he explained to Midoriya that day at the sports festival isn't going to make her worry any less. But she deserves some kind of answer. After all, she'd explained to him about the place she was in before, and all the things they'd had to do. It just...takes him a moment to find the right words.]

You know about quirk marriages, right? That was my parents. My dad's always been obsessed with strengthening his bloodline. He doesn't even really look at his kids as his kids. We're just...things he's made. My older siblings all have really minor quirks, and one of them is even quirkless, so he barely even bothered with them. Then I was born, and...

[He shrugs, a small gesture that's still careful not to disturb her, and he lifts his other hand to brush his fingertips along one of her arm fins, tracing the spines, not quite conscious of the motion.]

There wasn't any question about what I was going to be. Before my quirk manifested for the first time, I spent most of my time with my mom. I saw my first All Might video--you know the one--when I was three, and I knew I wanted to be that kind of hero. Not like my dad, but like him.

My dad's never been happy being the number two hero. He always wanted to be number one, but All Might was always there, ahead of him. That's why he made my mom have me. I was supposed to surpass All Might. To do what my dad couldn't. He started training me when I was five, right after my quirk showed up for the first time. Mom tried to keep me safe, but...my dad's my dad.

[That should say enough, right there.]

When I was six, there was...an accident. I got burned. And my dad had my mom hospitalized. It wasn't really her fault, he made her do it, but...

After that, it was just me and him, until I started at UA.

[Shoto shakes his head, still looking down at that fin and his finger running over it. Shaking off the past, maybe.]

I mean, it's fine. I used to be really angry about it, and I guess I still am sometimes. That's why I refused to use the fire half of my quirk for a really long time--I didn't want to be anything at all like him. I hated the half of me that was him. But I'm not him, and my mom doesn't blame me, and I'm getting to know my siblings again, so it's not all bad. It's just--nice, to hear about families that aren't like that. Like yours, and Midoriya and his mom. Iida and his brothers. It's good.

[Just in that first sentence, just the words "quirk marriages", that's enough to get her stomach to start to sink. She had a feeling it was gonna be bad, that she was probably poking at something she maybe shouldn't... but she just had that morbid kind of curiosity about the whole ordeal. She wanted to know.
And she certainly doesn't regret knowing, but...
She still ends up staring down at her jacks, in lieu of her occupied hands, for a solid moment or two.
Finds her mind wandering to the weird, reverse parallels between her family and his, like her family is what his should have been; two people married with a common goal, delighting in their kid getting one of their Quirks so perfectly.
Of course, she only got one of their Quirks, and it's a perfect copy even down to the legal registration - but that's beside the point.

Either way, after just a moment, her tail lifts up under the covers and clumsily wraps around his stomach from in front, kind of swaying all of her weight onto him as she pulls him closer. It's pretty clear it's gotten to her.
But what does she even say?
There's so little one could say to something like that.]

...

I'm glad you're learning to like both halves of yourself, after all that. I like the parts of you I've met, too.

[She's quiet for a long moment. So long he worries that he might have said too much. But she'd asked, and it was only fair to give her an honest answer. There was no point in lying, and after all, she'd shared a lot with him she didn't have to about the last place she'd been in. But he doesn't break the silence, or try to explain further. That wouldn't be fair.

And eventually, she responds--though it's not entirely what he's expecting, that tail suddenly coiling around him, knocking him a little off-balance, Jiro pulling him into an even tighter hug. And then there's what she says, the words making something light and warm and astonishingly soft bloom in his chest, shoving what feel like rather important organs out of the way.

It's good that she's basically buried against him, because his cheeks may or may not be slowly turning a very bright shade of pink.]

That's...thanks. I mean, I like you, too.

[That's--that's probably what you're supposed to say?? Right??? When receive compliment, give same compliment back? Help.]

[The coiling just gets a little tighter, too; maybe seeking out his warmth, maybe trying to hold him as close as possible, it's hard to say. It's not painfully tight or anything, but it's definitely... tight.
Which should be expected from a hug by a big snake, really.

What he says, though... actually gets her to laugh? It's more of a soft huff in his shirt where her face is buried, and she ends up pulling away enough to look up at him.]

You mean you like parts of me.

[If he's gonna echo her like a dork, he's gotta do it right!!]

[The tail coiling around him is pretty tight, but it's not really a bad feeling, either. Like being hugged by a boa, maybe. It's not all that strange--after all, one of their classmates has a tail, right?

In any case, he's too distracted by that little amused huff she gives to worry too much about that. Is she laughing? She definitely looks amused when she looks up at him, and instead of making him feel more self-conscious, it's unexpected enough that he relaxes, the tiniest of smiles on his face.]

Right, sorry. I got it wrong. I like parts of you. The new parts are pretty cool, too. You look like a mermaid.

[What? It's a compliment.]

[And just like that, her jacks raise up like little snakes as her face scrunches up - clearly disapproving of something he said.
She likes being called cool! It's her favorite thing! But...]

A -
A mermaid?

[All she's thinking of is how cutesy mermaids are, nowadays... with their shells and pearls and fish friends.
That is not what she wants. That is the OPPOSITE of what she wants.]

[Fortunately, he seems to miss both the expression and the very particular dubious tone her voice takes on, distracted by the interesting patterning of scales on her jacks, and instead delivers a completely straightforward and honest answer.]

Yeah, a mermaid. The traditional kind, the ones that lured sailors in and drowned them, not the soft Disney kind. The ones with teeth and claws. A real mermaid.

[What? Those are obviously much cooler.

It does not occur to him that 90% of girls his age probably would not want to be compared to a man-eating monster.]

Edited 2019-07-25 06:34 (UTC)

... Oh.

[She settles right back down with that explanation, her jacks lowering from where they were and everything.
In fact, she might be kind of staring at him a bit, eyes going wide and surprised.]

So... you think they're that cool? Really?
I don't really have claws, though, just the teeth...

[Though they're swung up in her head like the retractable fangs one expects from a venomous snake.

And, extra fortunately for him, she's the 10% of girls who absolutely would want to be compared to a man-eating monster.]

Well, yeah...is that weird?

[Listen, when you're homeschooled and aren't really allowed to have friends you do a lot of reading, and he'd always appreciated myths and legends. And also things he could imagine eating his dad. It's fine.]

I'm pretty sure you could make someone regret sailing near you anyway. I mean, I've seen you fight.

[He genuinely means it as a compliment, honestly.]

No, no - it's not weird. I just, I dunno...

... Midoriya said my scales were "pretty".

[There's a light pout on her face as she says that, though it doesn't color her tone; it just succeeds in making her look like she has no idea what to do with something like "pretty".
It's just one step off from cute, right??? Yeah. It's like the cute version of beautiful. So, therefore, it's Not Preferred.]

I'll totally take "cool man-eater", though. I mean, if you're calling me cool... that just means I'm a lot cooler than I thought.
I think.

I mean, they are. But you can be both.

[What? It's true. You can be pretty and also cool and also deadly. There's no rule against it.

He looks a little surprised by the way she phrases that last part, though.]

I mean, you are. But I don't know why it'd be any different just because it's coming from me.

[-- Well, she'd love to explain that to him, tell him he's been the coolest guy in 1-A this entire time and never knew it, but.
Uh.

Instead, she's staring at him a bit, her expression a mix of surprised and incredulous.]

Hold up - you think I'm pretty?

[He's not saying "your moonblessing can be both", he's saying she can be both.
That means he thinks she's pretty, doesn't it??]

[Probably for the best she doesn't, since she'd probably get the completely serious question of if that's supposed to be some kind of joke about his quirk. Instead, he just looks back down at her, blinking and...completely oblivious.]

Yes?

[Obviously he's not just going to call her ugly, especially when she's not. She is pretty, and so is Momo, and Uraraka, and Midoriya, though he's not sure pretty is entirely the right word for that. So are plenty of people at UA. It's just an objective fact that she's one of them.]

...

Oh.

[She's not sure what she expected, but it wasn't that. He said it so earnestly, as if he means it 100%...
Her face ends up starting to flush beneath her scales, and she looks down at where her arm's wrapped around his stomach just to get her eyes off his face.]

Uh -
Th... thanks. I think.

Yeah...

[Did he do this wrong? She's looking kind of uncomfortable all of a sudden. Maybe he wasn't supposed to say that? He really has no idea what he's doing.

But she's been pretty good about asking her own questions outright, and they've talked about being pretty direct, so...]

...Are you okay? I can move if this isn't comfortable enough. Is it too warm now?

[She does look a little flushed. Maybe it's the temperature regulation.]

- N-no, it's okay. I just, uh...

[She lets herself trail off for a moment, thinking about how to word things, before just... well.
Honestly, nah, she doesn't need to get into that. Sure, it's weird to hear "pretty" for herself - she's way used to being called "cool" and "rough" and "unladylike" (unfortunately), but she should probably just accept the compliment as it is. ... Right?]

... I'm still a little cold, actually. Maybe we could sit a little differently?

[Yes, she absolutely should. Mostly because he's really not sure what else he should say, and the more they talk about things like that the more likely he is to shove both feet entirely in his mouth.

So instead he waits for her to figure out where she's going, and when she finally just shakes off wherever she was going and instead asks to shift, he just nods.]

That's fine.

[He'll take her lead. After all, she's the one who's cold, and the tail and fins have to be a little uncomfortable to maneuver around.]

[They can be a hassle, it's true. She still isn't used to moving with them just yet, with her tail already arguing with her - staying put around Todoroki's stomach as she tries to pull it back, only ending up tugging on him for a moment or so before finally letting go.]

My thought is, like... maybe it'd help if I've got both your arms, you know?
So you could sit up against the arm of the sofa.
That wouldn't be too awkward for you, right?

[It sounds like it'd work!

... And like it'd be a lot, lot closer but it'd work!]

[The tail tugging at his waist is an odd sensation, and he looks a little bemused as he lowers a hand to it, to theoretically help, before it finally lets go. The bemusement doesn't fade when it's gone, though; especially not at what she's suggesting. It's...okay, maybe it would help her, but that would also put the two of them...]

...I guess not. We could try it, anyway, and I'll just...tell you if it's uncomfortable.

[After all, it's the least he can do. She'd listened to all of that, and she's obviously still cold and just as uncomfortable, so--he pulls his arm back, and shifts around with her on the couch, until she manages to get them both into a position that seems to work. A tail really does make things kind of awkward, doesn't it?]

[It would put the two of them, it's true. They'll be very put.
That is to say -

She's quick to start moving once he gives her the okay, shifting until he's got his back against the arm of the sofa with her tucked up right in front of him more-or-less in his lap.
With that offending tail stretched out the length of the couch behind her, of course.]

There. That's not too bad, right?

[Said while looking up at him from his chest, which she does not seem to mind in the least. Of course.]

[They are, in fact, very put. He's never really been this close with another person before, and with her looking up at him like that from where she's curled against his chest, he's very, very intensely aware of that fact. But--she seems comfortable, and not at all bothered, and so he tentatively wraps both arms around her in return, the warmth that comes from moonlacing a strong contrast to her cool skin.]

No, it's not.

[It's not bad at all, it's just...unusual. Strange. Not a bad strange, just...different. After a moment of silence, he does feel just the smallest bit awkward, though, and so:]

...Would you play me some of your favorite songs? I'd like to hear more.

[There's probably some part of Jiro that wishes she could say this felt strange and new and different - but honestly, after everything she's gone through, it's more comfortably familiar than anything else. Not with him, specifically, but the situation on its own.
Sitting all wrapped up like this, just kinda enjoying how warm he is... her tail's even starting to flick again.

But he does manage to pull her out of it with his request and she blinks a bit - before giving him one, short nod.]

Yeah, sure. I've got a couple of bands I like, but if you really wanna hear my favorites, then I know just what to show you.
They're just as loud as my mom's stuff, though... hope you don't mind.

[... Of course, instead of moving or anything to look over at her birdbox, she's just gonna hook it with a jack again and bring it up by her face - asking it to play a few different songs by the same band so the silence will stay filled for a while.
(Perhaps unsurprisingly, they're songs by Deep Dope. He DID ask for her favorites after all.)]

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