This Time

Chapter 40

I stared at myself in the mirror, biting my lip as I looked at the unfamiliar reflection. Turning this way and that I examined the new suit, feeling very different in this than I'd felt in any of my previous costumes. "This is so bizarre," I murmured to myself hesitantly. It wasn't that I didn't like it or that it looked bad but...

But I looked like a hero.

For one, there was a lot more color and light in this skin-tight jumpsuit. Gone was the black and dark purple, replaced now with white, iridescent silver, lavender and only retaining the darker color in places as an accent. I'd reverted back to having long sleeves on this one (I'd learned my lesson about exposed skin with my temporary student costume), but I tried to shy away from the vague, almost military-esque style of my previous outfits as well. Besides the combat boots, anyway; I wasn't getting rid of those.

The cape was new too, and I finally cracked a smile as I remembered how I'd come to the decision of adding a mantle in the first place.

I'd been standing in front of this same mirror a couple weeks back, feeling very foolish indeed as I twirled a bit, furrowing my brow as I looked at the royal blue fabric that was definitely way too long for me.

The image staring back at me then had looked like a kid playing dress-up - and I felt like one too. I mean, come on, how silly was it that I had put on All Might's Silver Age suit just to try and figure out if I liked the idea of a cape or not?

First of all, the suit was way too big for me (obviously), and with the red, white and blue material hanging off of me like it did, it made it even harder to figure out if a cape was my thing or not. So, as a work-around I tried to hold the fabric back behind me with one hand, and let the cape fall over my shoulder in a way that almost didn't look ridiculous.

Almost.

"Ugh, this isn't going to work," I muttered, deciding I should probably take the suit back off before Toshinori got home and saw me playing dress-up. However, even as the thought crossed my mind I heard the front door, and I swore. Despite its simple-seeming structure, the suit was actually a pain and a half to get on and off, and frantically I started working at the clasp that held the cape on my shoulders. All I ended up accomplishing was entangling myself in the loose fabric further.

Dammit, dammit, dammit! I screamed internally in mortification, hearing him put his stuff down in the other room and his footsteps as he walked through the apartment.

"Hey, love, I'm home. You know, I was thinking about -" I heard his voice as he approached the bedroom, and when he pushed the door open and saw me standing in the middle of the floor, tangled in his hero suit and cheeks burning with embarrassment, he stopped. For a moment it was quiet, and after a few seconds of him staring at me with wide eyes and jaw dropped in surprise, he suddenly burst out laughing. Glowering at him had zero effect as the man doubled over, clutching his side with one hand and shielding his mouth with his other as he laughed so hard he had to lean against the doorframe for support. "Wha- what are you doing?" he wheezed, bouncing back and forth between coughing up a lung and laughing his ass off.

Well, he wasn't mad that I was messing with his stuff at least, but his abundant amusement didn't help my mortification any either. "I- I can explain!" I stuttered out, and Toshinori laughed harder.

Strange how I'd gotten to a place where it wasn't so alarming anymore to see the blood trickling down the retired hero's chin when he lowered his hand. Still grinning, he wiped away the moisture that had accumulated at the corners of his eyes from his mirth before grabbing a handful of tissues off the dresser and cleaning his face next. "Wow, that was not what I expected to come home to," he chuckled, eyes light. "But I must say, you look fantastic in my colors," he added smoothly, and somehow that made me blush even harder.