༉˚*ೃ 19. PREPARATIONS!
THE NEXT TWO weeks went by in a blur, of rainy days, sunny days, and something in between. It was all training for the Sports Festival, as the city of Musutafu recovered from the villain attack on U.A. High School. Tsubame saw her face in the news more than once, even if she was unconscious with a broken nose. It made her smile every time. No matter if she was stretching in front of her living room TV at home, beating up her punching bag with her Quirk, or long-distance running through muggy streets with her headphones in, a rush always came over her when she heard the name Akatsuki Tsubame be mentioned in a media source. I'm famous! Famous for being a beat-up wimp, but famous nonetheless. In those two weeks, Tsubame had never trained so hard in her life.
A few notable things happened.
One, Tsubame started going to the U.A. gym with her classmates on the regular—though who the gym group was changed each time and it was never the entirety of 1-A at once. Sometimes Jirou was her partner in boxing, and another time it was Hagakure. Considering it was out of school hours, it was just whoever felt like coming along. This later extended to outside of the gym. Wrecking the free-for-all forest used for training on U.A.'s grounds became a near-daily occurrence. 1-A carved out time to improve their Quirks and get stronger. Those two weeks saw Ochaco seeing how much weight her Quirk could turn zero gravity, or how high of a cliff Kirishima could jump off with his Hardening before he actually got hurt. Kicking over trees with Mina and Kirishima's help became standard, Tsubame's powerful legs and strong feet doing most of the work. Sometimes, she and Iida raced each other at break-neck speed across the grounds, though he beat her in stamina, most annoyingly, every time. One time, Tsuyu and Tsubame practiced their jumping together. Once again, Tsuyu easily trumped her in that. A shame... All it did was continue to spark her competitiveness.
That was the interesting thing. Even though they'd all be rivals, competitors, at the Sports Festival, 1-A helped each other train. From Mina and Aoyama shooting down Ochaco's floating rocks, to Sero swinging Tsubame around with his tape (Panda and Nobara style), to Yaoyorozu and Jirou having each other's back. It was rare to do anything alone—except for Bakugou, who refused to train with the 'extras'. Tsubame never once saw Todoroki at any of these self-dictated training sessions either. And she'd be lying if she said she hadn't looked for him.
Two, Tsubame started realising that her classmates apparently did seem to like her, even a little—and as someone who'd never really had any friends past primary school, it was hard to keep up with all of them. Just like everything that was beautiful in the world, they had their own mannerisms and laughs and things that made them them. They each had something else that made them tick. Midoriya always wanted to infodump about heroes—Tsubame would gladly listen. Bakugou seemed to love the whole 'I can do this shit myself and I need no one, fuck off extras' shtick. Kirishima idolised this old-timey Pro called the Crimson Riot. Aoyama liked attention. Tokoyami seemed to thrive in the dark.
And, so, Tsubame made a notebook. Her memory wasn't always the best, but she really wanted to make her time at U.A. work. She wanted to be a good friend for once. So Tsubamemochi's Friendship Notebook was formed. She had Midoriya to thank for the inspiration. It was an Eraser Head notebook that she scrounged on an obscure website for and paid for with her own money. She saved each person in her class a double spread—though she'd die before she showed anyone, how embarrassing—and wrote down things they mentioned that they liked, disliked, or would make them happy.
There weren't a lot of entries—it had only been two weeks since starting at U.A.—but she hoped that as got to know 1-A better, there'd be more. Ashido Mina's had about five notes, such as: 'Likes Perfume (the girl group, not the fragrance)' and 'Wants a DDR machine'. Kaminari's said: 'Hunting for a shiny Ampharos; his whole team is electric types; idiot'. Tsubame found out Sero knew a bunch of obscure facts about tape, and she wrote them all down later when she wracked her brain—in case he ever wanted to talk about it. Tsuyu liked to chat about animals, that was jotted onto the pages. 'Younger brother of the Turbo Hero: Ingenium', stated Tenya Iida's, because Tsubame had learnt that about the disciplined boy. Todoroki Shoto's page had a bunch of question marks on it. That was all. Bakugou's just said: 'Angry', which was appropriate. Apart from that, she didn't really know much to say about his character. She'd heard from Uraraka that he'd been Midoriya's bully back in junior high, which hadn't surprised her at all, but had made Tsubame kick Bakugou's chair a bit more often every time she passed him. He got pissed, she cackled, and the whole class froze in anticipation for a full-out war every time. God bless Iida and his ability to drag Tsubame away by the back of her unbuttoned collar or the 1-A homeroom would have had a lot more scorch marks.
Third, Tsubame was having difficulty staying awake. Tsubame had always had issues with fatigue, but it had never been quite this intense. She fell asleep in class, at the lunch table, on the train, and even, once, in the genkan. Even with coffee, sometimes, it was impossible to stay awake. She had been to Recovery Girl about it—who'd informed her that it was most likely from how far she'd exerted herself during the USJ incident. That she'd pushed herself far beyond her limit in her attempts to stay awake and was now paying the price. Either her body was still trying to recover from the intense exhaustion it had experienced, or it was malfunctioning and consuming a lot more energy than needed when using her Quirk—or even not using it. Since it was Quirk-related, there was no real way to tell if it was an issue that would resolve on its own with time, as of now. Tsubame had just taken to having more naps during lunch and consuming a lot of caffeine.
Fourth, Tsubame started listening to Present Mic's radio show daily on the way to school, placing it into her meticulous rhythmic morning schedule. It wasn't a massive difference in her life. She'd listened to it before, of course—it was one of the most popular talk shows in Japan—but it was different now that he was actually her teacher. More compelling. She got to hear the news on upcoming Pros and the climbing in ranks—Mic's voice always loud and energetic—, some of the gossip that Mina loved, and all the hype for the upcoming Sports Festival. And, it was his radio show that clued her in on the fact that 1-A was going to have a spotlight this year. Typically, attention was drawn to U.A.'s graduating classes. They were more advanced in every way, a more interesting watch. This time, after making national news with their fighting of the League of Villains in the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, all eyes would be on the first years. It made Tsubame excited. Got her even more thrilled to throw herself into her training. There was no way she was giving this opportunity up.
Fifth, Tsubame got more comfortable with her transit to school and started chatting to the upperclassman regulars at Dantō Ward's subway stop. There were just a couple of them—none Hero Course students—and they were nice. Some of them asked about the USJ attack, and she was happy to oblige them. Others gave recommendations on how to get through Ectoplasm's and Present Mic's classes. And, of course, she caught the train back each day with Sero. Saved a spot for him on carriage #4 each morning. Figured out that Jirou Kyouka also took the same south lilac line for a ward further along, and that Asui Tsuyu also did the same on her way to the Shinkansen for Aichi Prefecture. So, the four of them started sharing the train ride together. Standing, mostly. Sitting, whenever they could. Talking about whatever while clinging to the hanging handholds or pressed shoulder to shoulder. Jirou liked music a lot—she gushed over BABYMETAL with Tsubame, and then they had to introduce the band to Tsuyu and Sero. Tsuyu liked to talk about frogs, and otherwise said just whatever came to mind. Sero kind of slotted in between the three of them, filling the empty gaps. He and Tsubame talked a lot about video games. Gave each other their handles and talked about what new Pokémon—shinies, legendaries—they'd gotten recently in the brief moments between homework and Sports Festival training. It all became part of her daily ritual too.
Sixth, Tsubame's healing sessions with Recovery Girl came to a close, and in the end, she had her first scar: a small, pale nick just to the left of her nose, from where the speed Quirk villain had swiped her. He must have been wearing a ring, or gloves with metal detailing, or something along those lines. It was about the length of a pinkie fingernail, jagged and white-rimmed—a little cut inwards. All in all, it wasn't entirely noticeable unless someone were to get close to her face, or have a proper conversation with her, but Tsubame wore it with pride anyway. It was pretty cool, to have a mark loudly showing that she'd kicked some villain ass already in high school.
And, seventh, Mina's use of the nickname 'Tsubamemochi' seemed to have stuck, because Mina hadn't called her anything else since the infirmary. It was 'Tsubamemochi, hi!' this, and, 'Ooh, Tsubamemochi, have you seen the news?' that, and while Tsubame still got a jolt of surprise every time she heard it from her bubbly, pink friend, she was beginning to get used to it. It was the first time anyone outside of her family had ever called her that silly, childish nickname that Tomomi had made back when Tsubame's cheeks were chubbier and her sweet addiction had consisted almost entirely of daifuku. Now, hearing the 'mochi' suffix from Ashido Mina wasn't so shocking.
It was actually really, really nice.
༉*ೃ༄
IT WAS IN the U.A. gym one day, when Tsubame noticed it. Her ribs had mostly healed up, and her eye and nose too—though the small scar was left behind—so she was permitted to do somewhat intense stretches of exercise with the accompaniment of other people. On this particular evening, she found herself surrounded by Kirishima, Iida, Sero and Ochaco all on different sets of equipment. They'd worked up a sweat. Ochaco was boxing. Kirishima was benching weights. Iida and Sero were both engaging in Quirk-related exercises that involved a lot of running and gymnastic-like drills, respectively.
Tsubame, who'd also been doing weightlifting with Kirishima and spotting each other in turns, had her Quirk activated as far as it had been during the USJ attack. Striped fur all the way up to her shoulders, enhanced muscles, claws extended for maximum ferocity. Testing the limits of how far she could push herself. There was no time to be complacent.
One of the most compelling aspects of the U.A. Sports Festival was that no one knew what the events were going to be until the day. However, combat against fellow students, in some form or the other, was always expected. Tsubame knew she was strong for an everyday Quirk-user. She'd taken out all those villains, hadn't she? (With Todoroki's help, mind you). But Tsubame wasn't going to underestimate her classmates for one second. They'd also taken out villains of their own. Dozens of them. They were all just as determined as her, possibly even more so, in their pure drive to become a hero. And some of them had devastating long-range abilities. Tokoyami... Midoriya... Bakugou... Iida... There were a number of threats she had yet to witness in a full-on fight, and, realistically, she didn't like her chances against a bunch of them.
Tsubame was going to make her mark on the hero world.
She was going to do it this year. Start ahead.
She'd make her family proud.
And that was why she'd been benching probably a little too much for her, muscled arms trembling and sweat running down her forehead—with Kirishima worrying—before she'd taken a bathroom break. She had to push herself as hard as possible. Go beyond. All eyes would be on the first years at the Sports Festival, Pro Heroes would be looking for trainees to scout and hire as sidekicks or interns at their agencies, and Tsubame wasn't going to throw that opportunity away.
Kirishima helped her get the weights back onto the rack as she sprung up onto her bare feet. How nice. If it weren't for school rules, she wouldn't wear shoes during class, either. "Thanks, Kirishima-kun," she panted out, rolling her shoulders. "I'll be back in a minute."
It got her a happy grin. "Yeah, no worries, Akatsuki-chan. I'm going to stretch again," was what Kirishima replied with, stretching out his arms. In turn, Tsubame stuck out her tongue, put her sneakers back on, and then headed towards the bathroom, passing several of her classmates on the way. It was after school hours, so they pretty much had the gym to themselves. Man... Her arms burned.
After going to the toilet, while meticulously washing her hands, Tsubame took the time to once-over herself in the mirror. Her sweaty hair was plastered to her forehead, and even in the week since starting to train for the Sports Festival, it was easy to notice the increase in her muscles. Her biceps were more toned. She'd probably be rivalling Kirishima soon. Heh. Absentmindedly, she flashed a toothy smile in the mirror and reached up to push her sweaty bangs away from her face.
A glint between her parted lips stopped her in her tracks.
Tsubame's fingers paused against her hair, and she blinked for a moment. Her lips pulled into a soft 'o'. Then she dropped her hands, furrowed her brows, leaning in towards the mirror, and opened her mouth wide. Tilting her head slightly to she could get a better look, Tsubame's lips drew back to reveal her bizarrely long upper canines that caught the overhead artificial light.
They were big.
Easily nearly the length of her pinkie finger, the already-larger-than-average-human teeth had, at some point, grown exponentially. They were curved just slightly—created to latch onto prey—and undeniably those of a tiger. By pulling her lower lip down, Tsubame could see that those canines weren't much better. Thought shorter than the top ones, they too were elongated and curved in a feline-like manner. Opening and closing her teeth proved that the lower canines slotted between the upper ones just as a tiger's would, though such a thing should have been impossible with her human face shape. Does that mean by jaw has also gotten stronger and wider to accommodate the change? This wasn't normal. Tsubame had been born with naturally bigger canines—and it was no secret that, like her claws appearing, they tended to get sharper when strong emotions rose to the surface—but they'd never been even close to as concerning as this. Not to mention, she wasn't even angry. There should have been nothing drawing these to the surface. Her hands were stuffed in her mouth.
"Hrngh?" Tsubame made a confused, muffled sound that came out garbled with her open mouth and fingers prodding at her big teeth. "What the hell...?" How strange... But there's not really a space between the canines and molars, unlike tigers. Or, wait, is that a gap...? Has it altered the entire positioning of my teeth? But surely that would take so much concentration for me to do...
Sneakers distantly squeaked on the floor down the hall towards the bathrooms, a noise so far away that she shouldn't have heard it at all. Her still-very-human ear twitched at the sound. Huh. My hearing is a little better too? She was still looking at her teeth in the mirror when Uraraka Ochaco walked into the bathroom. Tsubame's classmate had been in the middle of wiping the sweat away from her forehead with her arm, before she caught eye of Tsubame and paused in her tracks.
"Something wrong, Akatsuki-chan?" asked Ochaco, her own hair—that was pulled back in a small ponytail—layered with sweat. Her round cheeks were flushed from exercise. She'd been destroying the punching bag. She frowned at the way that Tsubame was inspecting herself in the mirror.
"Mm," hummed Tsubame, lifting her lip to show Ochaco but not entirely turning away from the mirror. "My teeth are so much bigger. Like, bigger than they usually are." Brows pinching, Uraraka Ochaco stepped forward and peered at where Tsubame was indicating. Apparently, her quest to the toilet had been forgotten.
When Ochaco apparently saw the aforementioned issue, her eyes went big. "Oh, woah." So it was a significantly noticeable change to even Tsubame's classmate, then?
Tsubame dropped her fingers. Her expression was pinched in confusion. "But it doesn't make any sense. I'm only using my Quirk on my arms and legs. Not my teeth."
"Your eyes, too," Ochaco gasped, her brown gaze boring into Tsubame's own gaze. She was leaned forward just close enough to avoid touching Tsubame, inches away from her face.
"What?" Tsubame turned back to the mirror.
She'd always had slightly cat-like eyes, naturally narrower with pupils that dilated and slitted with every change in mood. What was new, however, was the shadowed irises and unusually curved eye shape with an upwards lilt at the outer corners. Dark lashes had lengthened, sweeping outwards a little more dramatically, at such an extent that it looked like the black that lined big cats' eyes. The tips faded out into a soft white and tawny brown. "What the fuck." Tsubame pulled at her lower eyelid, dragging it down dramatically. The strange tiger-like lashes pulled down with them.
"You've never noticed this before?" asked Ochaco tentatively. The short brunette hopped up onto the sink counter, so she could face Tsubame as she looked into the mirror. Her legs swung softly.
Tsubame shook her head. "The first time I pushed my Quirk this far up my arms was during the villain attack. Nothing like this has ever happened before." The longer she stared in the mirror, the more she noticed the way that it had even leeched into her eyebrows—the start of them had paled in tone, looking more similar to the white and fawn of a tiger than her own brows. They matched her lashes. The peppered shade ran into her arch until it mostly faded out into the usual black at the centre. A few of the brow hairs were notably longer. Don't tell me I'm growing superciliary whiskers...
"You look so cool," said Ochaco. Her fingers formed an encouraging fist. Tsubame stuck her tongue out eperimentally and pressed it against her canines, the points sharp. Holy shit... They weren't full big cat—weren't 8cm long like the teeth of a tiger were—but they were definitely big enough to be dangerous. "So scary."
The occurrence was bizarre. Sure, she had her Quirk pushed further than usual, and her surprisingly broad shoulders were coated by the short, coarse yet silky fur that displayed her power. But this had never happened before. Perhaps this is what Todoroki Shoto had been staring at in the face at the U.S.J., the only other time she'd pushed her Quirk so far. But he hadn't been scared of her then—with her elongated teeth, otherworldly eyes, lashes and brows. There'd been no aversion from him at all. Tsubame touched her eyebrow. Its beginning felt not unlike the smooth fur on her arms. Am I being unconsciously changed?
"Huh," Tsubame considered. "Maybe my Quirk affects me more than I originally thought."
༉*ೃ༄
1-A HELD NOTHING back in training, and Tsubame's group of friends worked particularly hard. They weren't particularly the 'underdogs', but considering their Quirks were rather plain in comparison to the likes of Tokoyami, Todoroki, Bakugou and even Aoyama and Midoriya, well... they had a lot to work on. It meant constant tip sharing and flashy attempts to improve their chances of standing out against their—notably exceptional—classmates.
None of them really spoke about what would happen if they were to come up against each other in the Sports Festival, now.
And after school on the Saturday of Week 3, Tsubame went with Sero, Mina, Kaminari and Kirishima to hone their Quirks in the U.A. grounds. They'd uprooted a few trees courtesy of their combined strengths, Mina and Tsubame had participated in a handspring competition—in both height and distance—and had ultimately pushed themselves to their limits. It'd be their last chance for intense training.
Above all, they'd worked together. When sparring boys against girls, Tsubame had done a particularly flashy move of throwing Mina over the other boys' heads—and it was only partly to show off how her strength had improved. (Mina and Tsubame's matching gymnastic ability, they found, worked well together). Tsubame and Sero could gain impressive heights when combining their talents to swing one another up and up. (It shouldn't have been possible in the laws of physics, really, but somehow Sero flinging them both up into the air, followed by Tsubame's strong arm swinging him around and launching him up higher, cue him catching her with his tape again, repeat, managed to get them up a surprising way, before they came down). Kirishima, they found out, was pretty damn resistant to Kaminari's Electrification in his hardened form. (Tsubame was not, and Kaminari's electricity hurt). So was Sero's tape—which made for a rather terrifying experience when he tied Kaminari up in tape and swung the blond boy around him in circles to make an electric Beyblade that chased Tsubame, Kirishima and Mina across the school grounds.
Working together with friends was fun.
And, well, they'd gotten to see Kaminari well and truly in his 'dumb mode' when he'd let loose a million or so volts and subsequently given the others a bold thumbs-up with a dopey expression. It meant the rest of them had sat around for an hour while Tsubame and Mina had giggled and bothered their brain-fried friend and Kirishima and Sero did rock paper scissors. After that—once he'd gotten lots of water and painkillers for his headache—the group of five headed out. A nice Saturday evening all for them, just over a day away from Saturday's Sports Festival.
They'd brought their backpacks of casual clothes along with them and got changed once they were done—Tsubame into some cool, secretly-thrifted street fashion, and Mina into hot pink and cheetah print. Mina even had sunglasses and bracelets, where Tsubame's shoes almost had holes in the soles. (They weren't even that old, she blamed it on her Quirk). It was just a small photoshoot in the girls' changerooms before Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero banged on the doors and told them they'd all be late if they didn't hurry up. Mina gave them a peace sign and a tongue out as she hopped out of the doors, and Tsubame punched Kirishima's shoulder. Then the group of them headed towards the U.A. gates together, loud and laughing despite the air growing cold. They were pretty much the only ones left on the grounds.
Kaminari, as it turned out, had a skateboard, which he brought out with his backpack. It was black and covered in different stickers. Were all of Tsubame's friends secretly cooler than her? The wheels were slightly askew and it was clearly well-loved, but each of them couldn't help taking turns balancing on top of the board. Sero was more successful than the other three—who fell on their back, fell on their face, and flew head-first into a bush when they realised they didn't know how to stop, in the order of Kirishima, Tsubame, and Mina.
Both Kaminari and Sero posted videos of those ordeals on Instagram. Tsubame then had her first tagged post on the social media platform since old classmates years ago at a middle school excursion. She proudly shared it to her story. Midoriya even replied. Wow.
When they left the school grounds, they headed towards the closest block of restaurants in Musutafu City. None minded going on foot down the roads as long as they got to chat. It meant Kaminari could show off his skateboarding skills, while Sero showed Tsubame and Mina things on his phone and Kirishima kicked a rock down the street. The sun set with grace. Tsubame had precariously sat on the back of Kaminari's board for a few minutes before they hit a curb because of her additional weight. Mina had giggled when the two nearly went head-over-heels: Tsubame's face mashing into the back of Kaminari's knees as she clutched the sides of the board, and him pitching forward onto the sidewalk with his hands catching him.
They walked—Kaminari skateboarded—to Hakata Ippūdō, because all five were starving and Tsubame could have eaten the entire restaurant. Ramen. The group pushed through the door with laughter. It was nice and warm inside, they picked seats at the central counter, and pushed their backpacks under their feet as they sat and chatted jovially. Kaminari, Kirishima and Tsubame obviously ordered tonkotsu ramen, because Ippudo did it best, while Mina got the tori shoyu and Sero got the ippudo karaka. They ordered a karaage to share.
Tsubame's first time out at a restaurant with friends—actually, out anywhere with friends, probably—was spent sharing noodles and sipping Ramune and taking stupid Snapchats. 'Sports Festival training!' was the caption Sero had posted on the picture of Kaminari eating the biggest spoonful of chilli flakes any of them had ever seen in their lives—while in the background of the snap, Kirishima, Mina and Tsubame had been sporting the largest open-mouthed expressions of horror. It was... Tsubame wasn't sure if saying it was perfect would jinx it, this lovely relaxed bubble the five of them had while Kaminari chugged water and Rel by THE ORAL CIGARETTES played overhead, but it was what it was anyway. Perfect. It's perfect.
"Woah, you really want to get your ears pierced?" asked Tsubame, pointing excitedly between Sero and Kaminari, who'd just been discussing what kind of earrings they wanted. Kirishima slurped on his noodles loudly as he looked up from his bowl curiously. Mina stopped tapping on her Juicy Couture Sidekick cell phone (because she was honestly too cool for the rest of them) to glance over. Excitedly, Tsubame pointed a finger at her left ear. "I want my helix done. We should go get them together!"
"Oh, man, really?!" Kaminari looked excited now.
"Kaminari will cry," supplied Sero with a shit-eating grin.
Loudly, Kaminari complained, "No I won't!" His bowl of ramen lay finished, and his five or so glasses of water that the other had been frantically pouring for him when he'd been an idiot—and Sero had been laughing—were also empty. Sero, who, like Tsubame, was kind of the shit-stirrer of the group, just chuckled.
Mina waved her hands softly in front of her. "I was thinking of getting seconds. We should all go then."
Kirishima winced. "I don't know if I want mine done..."
"What do you mean?!" exclaimed Mina, much too loud for the environment of Hakata Ippūdō. "You'd look great with them!"
One of Tsubame's fingers pointed in Sero and Kaminari's direction. "You guys should get dangly ones like Howl from Howl's Moving Castle."
Kaminari almost choked, "That's a brilliant idea! All the girls love Howl!"
Snidely, Mina added, "As if you don't love Howl."
"He is very manly," nodded Kirishima.
Going back to pushing Kirishima's shoulder—the poor boy was trapped between both girls—Mina whined in complaint, "Come on, Kirishima-kun! Get your ears pierced with us!"
"It'll look cool!" Tsubame joined in, prodding him. She had also drained her ramen, had eaten most of the karaage chicken, and was still starving from all her Quirk usage. "You could get a ring or something!"
Kirishima's hands flew up to protect his ears as he cringed. "I like my ears!"
Sero shuffled around in his backpack. When he returned with his hands lifting, he held a safety pin between his fingers. "I can do it for you now if you want!" he offered. Tsubame cackled. Shit-stirrer...
"Are you crazy, Sero-kun?!" yelped Kirishima.
Now it was Kaminari's turn to clasp both hands over his ear. He protected them from any harm. "Oi! Don't you dare!" He karate chopped in Sero's direction, not safe from the boy sitting directly at his left.
While the boys argued, Tsubame bounced off of her stool and hopped around to Mina on Kirishima's side, her pigtails flying. "Hey, do you have much ramen left?" She peered over Mina's shoulder, leaning her chin on her. Tsubame stared shamelessly at the remaining tori shoyu in the bowl and licked her lips.
Instantly Mina placed her phone onto the table and turned around with raised eyebrows. "You may not," which was not the question asked, but apparently she knew Tsubame's ulterior motives anyway. Tsubame had always been terrible at keeping herself a closed book.
Mina was probably just teasing, but Tsubame pouted. She could practically taste the chicken broth and pork from here. "Mina-channn," dragged out Tsubame, tilting her chin ever so slightly so she could look better up at the girl. She offered Mina a smile that wasn't as innocent as she tried to pretend. "I'm so hungry. Are you gonna just let me starve?" The boys' bickering about whether or not Sero was qualified to poke holes in Kaminari's ears continued beside them.
One of Mina's hands came to rest atop Tsubame's hair. However, it was only for a moment before she used that leverage to try to playfully pry Tsubame off of her. At some point, Tsubame's arms had latched onto Mina's shoulders. "You didn't pay for it! We're struggling high school students, you know. If you want free food, ask Yaoyorozu!" It was spoken with a giggle as Tsubame hung on tight—she was a determined individual—and Tsubame gave her a puppy-dog eyes expression.
"Are you even going to eat it?"
"I'm a slow eater!" Mina defended herself, which was indeed true, because she never stopped talking, but it didn't excuse that that delicious bowl of ramen was sitting there half-full and tempting Tsubame's bottomless stomach. She pressed her palm into Tsubame's face. Tsubame didn't budge. It would be clear to anyone within the group of five that Mina was just joking around.
Tsubame made the move of trying to clamber over Mina's chair to get an arm's length advantage. The stool was rickety and both girls almost fell. Tsubame bargained, "I'll give you any item of clothing in my closet for it!"
"How much pink do you have in your closet?" Mina accused. She managed to push away the bowl of ramen with her fingers, so it was further out of Tsubame's reach. Unfortunate that the both of them were almost breathless with giggles.
"I have a pair of pink socks!"
"No deal!"
"Earrings!"
"Maybe I'll hear you out."
"Nope! Deal now, figure out the negotiations later!" Tsubame exclaimed, before lunging fully over Mina's shoulder and clasping the bowl in both of her hands. It was definitely cold at this point, but Tsubame was so hungry. She couldn't be blamed for what she did when she was hungry! "I'll pay you back with the money." She tried to make an escape along the counter before Mina grabbed her arm, and then the edge of the bowl. Damn!
It was tug of war.
"Stop that!" Mina giggled.
Tsubame pulled at the bowl harder. "I really will pay you back!"
Mina wrestled her back for the tori shoyu with a loud laugh, "Tsubamemochi! Don't be so difficult!"
And something changed.
All over, Tsubame's body stiffened. From her legs to her spine to her arms. Because, oh, what was she doing?
Here she was, wrestling with Mina like she was Tomomi. Inserting herself into conversations. Being so forward with people who probably only just tolerated her presence because she was a classmate. Stupid, stupid, Tsubamemochi. You're always misunderstanding everything. Always being difficult! How many times do I have to be told? Of course. They weren't even really her friends.
She let go of Mina almost instantly and stepped away from the stool without a single word. Still giggling, Mina hugged the bowl up to her chest. Then she blinked up at Tsubame. "No, but in all seriousness—I was just joking around. You can have it if you want. I filled up on Ramune anyway." She offered out the cold bowl of tori shoyu with a bright smile that pushed at the edges of her eyes. The tips of Tsubame's fingers felt numb as she stared for a moment.
So difficult.
Stop being so difficult.
"Ah, no," was what Tsubame replied with, even as her stomach ached in protest. "I was joking too. It's yours, you have it." She conjured a smile and gave Mina a thumbs up. Why did everything hurt? For a second, Mina's head cocked. Her lips pursed a little. Shit. If Tsubame didn't make her retreat now, Mina would recognise something was wrong. Can't have my classmates needing to deal with me being sad too. Ugh. Stop being dramatic.
"You sure?" Mina asked, blinking. "I'm serious, take it if you want. You don't have to pay me back or anything."
Tsubame's stupid heart tugged when she said, "I'm sure! Don't worry about it." So difficult. You've only known them for three weeks. Don't be difficult.
Sticking out her tongue at Mina in an attempt to feign that her insides weren't churning, and her chest wasn't burning, Tsubame sat back in her own chair. Sucks, she thought to herself, as she combed her fingers through her hair and tried to get some stimulation from that. It wasn't enough so she chewed on the inside of her cheek and tapped her hands underneath the counter. Sucks. Sucks. This sucks. Tsubame had been a bit of a disaster since she was born. It was her personality, combined with her Quirk's wild instinctual tendencies and a few neurodivergencies under her belt. There was always something going on with her. Despite it all, she'd always thought to herself that she wasn't so bad.
But there were some moments in your life when you just came to a realisation that changed your life forever, and that had come for her when she was six years old. Akatsuki Tsubame was too much. Too much. Too loud, too affectionate, too excitable, too competitive, too talkative. It was no wonder that only three people had bothered to stick around for her.
1-A didn't entirely know that yet. They knew she was all of those things, but they didn't know how too much she was yet, because she'd known them for just nearly three weeks and that wasn't long enough to discover every inch of a person. Not even close. Tsubame had a new slate here. They didn't exactly know yet, how exhausting she was to be around, how accidentally clingy, how... much she was as a person. Not like how all the other people in her life—except for her father, Tomomi, and Miki—had come to realise she was. She had a chance here to not ruin it with her new classmates right off the bat. A second chance. They'd get tired of her eventually anyway, but all Tsubame could do was try to stretch that out as long as she could. Too much. Too difficult. She couldn't let herself fuck this time up.
As Tsubame stared vacantly at her empty ramen bowl, Kaminari said, "Do you think we'll ace the Sports Festival on Monday?" Tsubame didn't register the way he looked up at them hopefully. Instead, she sipped at her glass of water.
"For sure!" Kirishima pumped his clenched fist in front of him. "We beat a bunch of villains! How hard can a Sports Festival be?"
Akatsuki Tsubame hung out with their group for the rest of the Saturday, but she lingered back, and made sure to not be difficult.
༉*ೃ༄
tsubame's own brain giving her whiplash so true
what if i said,,, internal angst,,,,
:)
i do so much animal research from this fic. i literally have a google chrome bookmarks folder with over 100 different websites of animal facts and terminology that i need to come back to whenever tsubame uses her quirk byeee
in case any of you guys were wondering what tiger eyes / the surrounding fur is like ???
IT'S HARD TO DESCRIBE IN THE TEXT but i imagine it looks a combination of very pretty and scary at the same time. like it looks STRANGE, the white and fawn and tawny brown colours seeping into her eyelashes and brows, but it's super ethereal and otherworldly. it's cool. and for the record, in case ppl were confused, she DOESN'T have it permanently! it's only when she's using her quirk to that extent where it passes her shoulders and knees. in any other situation, she doesn't have the extra big teeth, nor the funky eyes and eyebrows <3
also i need to make the point!! i know i said "and a few neurodivergencies under her belt" when i mentioned that tsubame's a disaster. i have to clarify that being neurodivergent does NOT make you a disaster and is NOT a bad thing! at all!! i literally have autism and adhd. but even though this fic is written in third person it's still narrated through tsubame's thoughts and eyes. being neurodivergent has clearly been a struggle with her making friends in the past and that's what she's referring to here. she sees it as a contributing factor to why she's flawed in being a friend. THIS IS HER INTERNAL NARRATION. BEING NEURODIVERGENT IS NOT A BAD THING and that's literally the whole point of this fic SO i just needed to clarify that line so ppl didn't mistake it as me being ableist or a fact about neurodivergence <3
ik juicy couture sidekick II's are expensive af but i am so sure that mina would have one (decorated with sparkly gems) and would have saved for it for literally FOREVER (she's very proud of it). let's not ask how she uses social media (it's on her laptop) bc mina just loves it <3 I SAID I WAS PROJECTING MY HEADCANONS ONTO THIS FIC AND THIS INCLUDES THE CHARACTERS' STYLES OKAYYYY MINA IS A Y2K REVIVAL GIRL
PEOPLE FORGET WHAT A LITTLE SHIT SERO ACTUALLY IS AND IT MAKES ME SAD, this is the boy who dissed bakugou on like their second day and called bakugou 'side-part boy' when he got his haircut (he called him 'pretty boy' in the dub PLSS) i CANNOTT (i stg sero's life goal is to piss off bakugou it's so funny). that time when kiri was like ":( i'm not strong bc my quirk is not long-range like the rest of u :(" and sero drinking his juice box was just like ",, yeah" LIKE HE'S SO UNDERRATED AND SNARKY BUT ALSO STILL NICE FOR WHAT!! like he'd be the kind of guy that everyone goes to for therapeutic sessions bc he's a good listener and he'll dish out good advice, but he TELLS IT LIKE IT IS — like he's not mean but he's canonically so snarky i feel like ppl forget that 😭 SAME WITH TORODOKI HE'S LOWKEY CANONICALLY SO RUDE BUT PPL FORGET THAT,, todoroki called that police officer a mutt to his face and he doesn't say thank you before he eats and he never calls anyone by their honorifics like THAT'S CANON, HE'S KIND OF AN ASSHOLE and i love them both smmmmmm. omg little rant over but i feel like ppl forget that todoroki especially is not just a soft boy like he'll say whatever comes to mind and he has 0 manners 😭 AND I LOVE THAT ABOUT HIM BYEEE (ik it's bc he's been home schooled and doesn't know social interactions but it's so funnnyyyyy ALSO WHEN HE STARTED ROASTING HIS DAD TO HIS FACE IN FRONT OF ALL OF TODOROKI'S FRIENDS AND HIS DAD'S EMPLOYEES 💀💀 ik burnin was just standing there like 👀🍵)
todoroki and sero lowkey casual assholes supremacy
(they're not mean they're just honest and snarky 💀)
headcanon for the future can sero get a job at a pizza place in like season 4 and just brings the gang pizzas in the dorm, like every 1-A movie night he's the one meant to be supplying and he's like 🙄🙄 but he does it anyway bc they're his besties and kaminari and jirou always have competitions to order the craziest shit and one day they just get like none pizza with left beef like that iconic tumblr relic,, yea <3 1-A pranks sero by ordering 7 family-sized pineapple pizzas to endeavor's house (endeavor is allergic to pineapple) while sero is working and endeavor is like ?? how did u get my home address are u working for the LOV? and sero is like what the fuck. and then 1-A gets in trouble from aizawa for endeavor's attempted murder by pineapple allergy and todoroki is like 😎 NOT ME DUMPING MY CRACK HEADCANONS ON YOU ALL BYEEE I'VE BEEN ON A BREAK FOR TOO LONG MY HEAD IS TOO FULL OF THESE, I MISSED 1-A SM (maybe i'll write this so don't steal it 🙄☝️)
(i already know i'm going to do some bonus chapters of the fantasy AU so would anyone be interested in bonus chapters later on of just 1-A up to bullshit bc that'll already be included a lot but i have so many 'oneshots' ig with tsume and 1-A fucking around that won't fit in the plot and hmmmm 😳)
one of the things i love the most about writing a story is creating a,, vibe,,,, and like that's what i hope i achieved with the last scene (actually most of this chapter), just a group of five new friends sitting in rickety chairs in ippudo together sharing ramen and posting dumb snapchat stories and doing dumb shit like eating chili for fun,,, mina with her juicy sidekick phone and kaminari with his battered skateboard and they probably all have different coloured band-aids spattered over them from training,,,, wearing beaten up shoes and kicking each other under the counter. ISN'T IT JUST A VIBE YOU WANT TO BE APART OF??? I LOVE CREATING MOODS (IS THAT THE RIGHT TERM??) IN STORIES LIKE IDK IF Y'ALL CAN PICTURE IT CLEARLY BUT I CAN,, I WISH I COULD ANIMATE. they'd be listening to KANA-BOON and THE ORAL CIGARETTES and RADWIMPS (no help bc why are all the japanese bands i'm listing have capitalised names uh) and just VIBEEE. idk it feels like it would be a scene from the credits (jjk ending 2 vibes??) AH now i want it animated <3 DO YOU GET ME???
but now
tsubame has my symptoms of adhd so enjoy seeing the shitty sides that no one ever talks abt
>:)
i'm in a 1-A brainrot mood and this panel is so cute
word count: 6,123
21.08.2021.