First Aid/Crybaby

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Why are you wearing a mask?" Vallea looked up at the male who had picked her up from Mina's, whose place she practically sprinted to only ten minutes ago to get there before Aizawa did. A white medical mask was firmly placed over her face, covering up her fangs she had yet to get rid of, the whole morning she spent debating her very existence and peeling her nail beds off with a knife until they were back to normal. Her rain boots gently scraped against the concrete as she walked circles around the tired male, arms outstretched as she twirled around in the street much to his dismay.

"Uh? Oh because I'm feeling a little ill, sore throat and all that, I thought it would be good to not spread it, ya know common human decency." She answers smoothly, coming up with the excuse an hour ago.

"Good you better not get me sick, I don't have the energy to deal with that." He grumbled hand snapping out and catching the girl by her collar as she almost tripped in a pothole, but his sweet-ish actions were shadowed by him inadvertently choking her with her shirt collar.

"Can't breath!" She croaked out, swatting his hand until he released her grumbling out an apology as she rubbed her neck. When she recovered from the sudden choking she asked, "So what are we doing today?"

His black eyes flickered towards her as he rubbed a hand through his unruly locks, "We aren't doing anything, I have work, Yamada will be watching you so behave." She exhaled in relief knowing that she had some time to figure out her fang issue before anyone would get suspicious, or she hoped so, hopefully Yamada wouldn't bug her too much with questions before she could get rid of the teeth.

"Right, when don't you have work. You're just like Hawks." The comment was breathy as she re-adjusted her pink bag, not even really thinking about the words she said or even why she said them but they gained the adult's attention.

"I'm a hero, of course I'm going to be busy, don't have unrealistic expectations Vallea." He grunted as she froze, hands squeezing the life out of the backpack straps as his words rung through her ears. Something about them rubbed her the wrong way, twisted at her heart unpleasantly until it was just a mangled mass of muscle and arteries. Pink lips curved upwards into a croaked smile beneath her mask, anger bristling and simmering beneath her flesh.

"Expectations." She repeated, peach eyes flashing upwards, a bitter laugh bubbling from her throat. "I would never be silly enough to have expectations, trust me I know how busy adults are. I mean my own parents are too busy to even pick up the phone, so don't worry I get it." Hostility laced her tone, she glanced back at the male, irked at his casual jibe that he tried to portray as advice. A pit of dejection formed in her chest, it tugged and pulled at her lungs until breathing fully became a challenge, the weight suffocating and agonizing. She swiftly walked away from him, not wanting to be in his presence any longer for fear of crying or snapping at him some more.

"Wait. I didn't mean it like that-" He sighed when he realized she wasn't stopping or even listening. "Damnit." He cursed not understanding why he just couldn't be more like Yamada with Vallea, why did he always upset the girl whenever he opened his mouth? He didn't want to, that wasn't his desire when he decided to become her guardian, but it didn't seem to matter what he wanted. Maybe she would be better off with Hawks or Yamada, he didn't think he was the best fit for the girl. He didn't know what to do with her or himself anymore, this is why he had cats instead of kids.

"VALLEA! I NEED TO PEE!!!!" Vallea winced at Yamada's deafening shouts that the bathroom door did little to muffle.

"I'm busy!" She shouted back, a metal nail file in her hand, body perched on top of the bathroom counter so she could get a better view of the fangs she was currently trying to file down in front of the mirror. White locks tied back into a ponytail so they wouldn't get in the way as she brought the metal file to her mouth and began filing the sharp canine teeth down. She grimaced at the feeling, free hand grasping onto the counter as unpleasant vibrations pulsed through her teeth, metal file grating and grinding down the bone like fangs. To say it was an awful sensation was an understatement, her eyes were pinched together as she cringed and recoiled, drool pooling out from her mouth, cloudy with the fine dust of teeth shavings.