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Eli was whooping Bakugo's ass at Dance, Dance Revolution in the middle of the arcade inside the mall as Mezo and Hitoshi laughed at the whole situation behind them.
"C'mon man, you can fight but you can't dance that's pitiful," Eli chided, further angering Bakugo.
Usually, Bakugo didn't care for dancing, but Eli seemed to know just how to provoke him, saying he didn't want to play because he knew he'd lose. He was so angry that he didn't even realize he'd spent a good amount of money just to try to win against Eli.
Eli was exceptionally good at dancing. A semester on the cheer team and another being a TA for the drill team, plus 3 or 4 of Louis's family quinceanera's did her a lot of justice. Not to mention her mom always loved dancing, so music was played around the house frequently, which in turn led to dancing.
Bakugo let out a frustrated sound as he urged his legs to move faster. He was hitting at least some of the beats, but he found it hard to pay attention to that, the actual music playing, and Eli's snide comments.
"YOU WIN!" announced the game.
Eli cheered to herself before she chuckled at seething Bakugo. Mezo had invited she and Hitoshi to hang out and then they found Bakugo roaming around the mall they were hanging out. In truth, he was on his way to the bookstore to pick up the new volume of the romance manga he was reading, and browse some romance novels while he was at it.
Even though he wasn't particularly interested in romance in his own life, he did enjoy reading about it.
Not that he'd admit it because he had an image to keep up.
Mezo wasn't sure how Eli convinced him to hang out with them, but whatever she said worked, even though he was still an angry piece of shit.
"Let's go again, I swear I'll beat you this time," Bakugo said, another coin already in between in fingers and ready to be inserted in order for a new game to start.
"As much as I like taking all your money, I'm good man," Eli said as she stepped off, making eye contact with Hitoshi which made them both laugh.
"What?! No, I have to beat you!" Bakugo urged, waving the coin in his hand wildly, borderline baring his teeth at Eli, the only one who should be baring her teeth.
She huffed, rolling her eyes before shaking her head.
"You hungry man, I'll buy," she offered with a shrug. In all honesty, his little outbursts were becoming a lot more normal to her. So much so, that they hadn't had any more accidents regarding their Quirks.
And this was saying something considering the young blonde boy was around them a lot more than he used to be.
After bringing up the situation in which Bakugo literally exploded to her bio mother, Himari explained to her that the reason it happened was because of their bloodline. Since the Dark Fae Quirk wasn't just a Quirk and could even be categorized as 'alive', Bakugo's outburst wasn't odd at all.
Even though Bakugo didn't have the same Quirk, the blood they shared still had an effect on him, no matter how diluted it was.
Apparently, being around kin could in fact make your Quirk stronger, with or without intent, and this can be caused by intense emotions. In this particular case of Bakugo and Eli, this mainly relied on her ability to keep her feelings in check because she was the one with the Dark Fae Quirk.
That's why Himari ended up in 1995 in the first place, feeling intense emotions, and being around her cousin. Though unfortunately, just because it's stronger, doesn't mean you can still control it, which was why his explosion went off so suddenly in the classroom and why Himari was stuck so long ago.
Plus, even though Eli knew that Bakugo was serious about his threats, SHE didn't take him serious enough to even consider him a threat. She was sure the boy was strong and all, but a threat to her? That she refused to believe.
Bakugo scowled, folding his arms before angrily marching off the small podium and joining them, annoyed I might add, as they laughed.
Mezo pointed over to a small food court which was right outside the arcade.
"I'm sure we can find something everybody likes over there," Mezo said, smiling through his mask.
They walked over to the food court, and stood in a small group, looking around at the places to eat. All except Eli really, she didn't know any of the food places around, so she figured she'd let them do the deciding, besides, she was pretty sure she could stomach a little bit of everything.
'Well maybe not everything, Dad force-fed me like 3 croissants because I wasn't really hungry this morning,' she thought mindlessly.
Sooner or later, her wrist was grabbed and she was being pulled to some kind of food joint that Bakugo had his eye on. Hitoshi had been the one to grab her, seeing the recognizable 'out of it' look that she had in her eye.
Eli didn't pay much attention to the others as she pressed the button on the machine, choosing to get some kind of spicy tuna sushi roll before she paid and grabbed her ticket. She then did the thing again, keeping her promise to buy Bakugo's lunch, Mezo's, and Hitoshi's as well.
"Seriously Eli-chan, you didn't have to pay for my lunch," Mezo said with a frantic wave of his many hands. She smiled and shook her head as she scooped boba into her cup from the nearby boba place she had her eye on.
"You want to pay me back? Do me a favor and hold my ticket, because I will most definitely lose it," Eli offered slyly, handing the boy her ticket.
Mezo could only sigh and take it from her, but he couldn't help chuckling as he smiled.
Usually, Eli wasn't one to spend all the money she earned so recklessly (if you can count this as reckless), but for once in her life, she actually could. There was no phone bill to pay, no health insurance, no rent, no school tuition, no textbooks to rent, gas to buy, and the list went on and on.
But the thing was, she didn't actually have anything she wanted-- EXCEPT
"Roller skates," she pondered out loud, not hesitating to get her phone out and write it down somewhere so she wouldn't forget.
"Huh? Speak up will ya?" Bakugo said, still wearing a salty look in his eye as he rested his cheek on the palm of his hand.
"Roller skates! I just remembered I wanted a pair," Eli thought.
'Do roller skates still exist? If they don't, that is actually so lame,' Eli thought.
Louis always loved to skateboard, and for a while, it was also Eli's preferred method of transportation as opposed to the bus or even asking anyone to take her(mostly because the answer was usually no). Well that was until she saved up enough to get herself a car.
"Skates? There's a board shop in this mall, I'm sure they have roller skates there too," Hitoshi spoke up, sipping from the iced coffee she'd bought for him earlier.
It was actually really funny to him, how easily Eli was to spend money on him when she was the one objecting to their Dad's spending any money on her. He couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.
"Really?!" she asked, watching as the boy grinned a bit and nodded his head.
"Can we go there after we eat?" Eli asked them all, Mezo immediately smiling through his mask as he nodded.
"Sure, why not, that's what the mall is for," Mezo said as he looked down at them all.
'Wow, he really is a big guy,' Eli thought admirably.
Not that she could actually say anything. They had to sit at a small(ish) booth thanks to Mezo's height and Eli's wingspan. She admired Mezo and honestly Mirio a lot, especially because of their bulk. Back when she'd religiously work out, her goal was to get big, but that goal quickly faded once she realized she was just putting more expectations on herself.
Soon after their food was ready and the four of them were eating silently... well aside from the slurping from the ramen Mezo and Bakugo were eating. And after eating, Eli did indeed find herself in a board shop looking at roller skates.
"No Bakugo, I can not rollerblade," Eli said as she looked at a pair of baby pink roller skates.
"Haaa? What are you, a child?" Bakugo chided with a snarky smirk.
"Says the child," she replied with a roll of her eyes before she turned to Mezo who stood behind them with Hitoshi.
"So what are we thinking huh, pink or cheetah print?" Eli held them out for both of them to see.
Mezo peered down at Eli's shoes, which were a pair of tye die crocs, some dark loose jeans with cuts in the knees and thighs, and a cropped rusty orange muscle shirt. He was trying to see which would suit her more, but he honestly couldn't really decide.
"Pink, it brings out the blood lust in your eyes," Hitoshi jabbed with an annoying grin.
Glaring, Eli's upper lip curled just slightly, her feathers ruffling in irritation as one of her wings sprang up, smacking the tired boy upside the head.
"Smartass," she muttered, but nevertheless went with the pink after all.
She didn't buy any safety gear or anything like that, which was probably not the greatest idea, and after the fact, the four of them began to say their goodbyes.
Bakugo didn't stay long to do so, instead just walking off with a wave of his hand, probably off home or back to the bookstore's romance manga section. Mezo was off as well, wrapping all 6 of his arms around Eli before he left, stating just how much fun he had and how he wished to do it again.
Eli eagerly agreed and Hitoshi shrugged as he wore an aloof smile, nodding along with her.
"I'm telling you, it was like hugging a fresh bagel, just perfect," Eli stated as she adjusted the bag in her hand.
She'd only bought the roller skates today since apparently, Hizashi had an array of different hairdryers and he was happy to give one to her for her wings.
"No, it was more like a being at the center of a warm croissant," Hitoshi pondered. He too had gotten a hug from Mezo, despite him being a little asshole, he did like Mezo.
He was a sweet boy and he was really nice to Eli. Once Hitoshi was sure the boy wasn't just tolerating him for the sake of Eli, he had no problem openly calling the 6 armed teddy bear his friend. Although he couldn't be sure if he'd be calling Bakugo the same anytime soon.
"We're the butter and he's the croissant," she stated with a nod of agreement, Hitoshi chuckling as they continued to walk.
Shouta had offered to pick them up, but it was a nice day so walking wasn't bad. It was a little on the windy side, but Eli loved the feeling of it.
Hitoshi ended up getting some stickers and some new wheels for his skateboard that he planned on applying them tonight. They were completely white with some 70s hippie flowers painted in black. Maybe he and Eli could even go to the skate park one day.
As they walked, they passed by a wide alley. It smelled, badly, which had to be from the dumpster that belonged to restaurant in front of it. There was trash lining the walls and pretty grafitti painted on the brick walls.
But that wasn't all that resided in that alley...
She probably wouldn't have noticed it by herself. It was the winds that made her pause. Suddenly her hair was being pushed towards the direction of the alley, her feathers ruffled, and her eyesight shifted.
Hitoshi noticed the change in wind too. After being around her for a while, it was becoming easy for Hitoshi to better pick up on her habits. This was something he did with most people. For instance, every time his Dad woke up on the wrong side of the bed, he heard his bathroom door slam a little bit harder in the mornings.
And everytime his Papa had a harder day at work than usual, he wouldn't sing in the car on his way home.
Eli's, he had to admit, were a lot easier to read, especially given her Quirk's nature. Her feathers always sort of fluffed up and she gets kind of startled by the apparent change in her eyesight as well. Not to mention the sudden wind.
"What?" she muttered in confusion as she stared down the alleyway.
The winds whispered in her ears ever so subtly. She couldn't make out what any of them were saying, and she felt the confusion around her.
"Baby," she heard the winds mutter.
The winds suddenly hushed as Hitoshi took his own initiative by taking a step towards the alleyway. Eli's eyes widened as she instinctually reached out to grab his arm. She'd seen enough movies AND had enough life experience to know that dark alleys were not it at all.
"Did you see that?" Hitoshi said, leaning downwards.
Sniffing the air lightly, Eli's nose scrunched up from the smell of piss and garbage coating the alley. The metallic smell of blood was tiny, and Eli was surprised to be even able to smell it in the first place.
The only difference in the bloods was that some of it smelled fresh.
Hitoshi continued forward without a care, probably hoping he'd be up another cat by the time they continued on their way home. Eli huffed silently before stepping in line behind him. She felt the air around her go still with caution as she walked forward and her wings spread out just a bit to be closer to Hitoshi.
The boy stepped carefully, stepping over broken glass to get to the dumpster, which is where he assumed the noise was coming from. He could feel Eli close behind him, and peering backwards, he saw her eyes dart around the alley like a hawk like she was making sure that whatever was in this alley wouldn't hurt them.
Hitoshi heard sniffles as he got closer and upon hearing such, Eli stepped even closer out of curiosity. The two of them sneaked closer, trying not scare whatever it was, before peaking their heads behind the dumpster.
Dirty blue hair and a hospital dress.
It was a child, a small child curled up into a ball behind a dumpster, inside a large but slightly crushed cardboard box. They were surrounded by food wrappers with blue and black spots splotches on them, the food no doubts being from the very dumpster they were behind.
They were soaked, no doubt from the spontaneous rain they'd been getting, and their arms and legs were wrapped in bandages caked in old blood and dirt that were begging to be changed. Then, the little girl peaked up to look at them both, and that was when the two of them saw a giant set of red eyes, sweet red eyes that gleamed with tears and frustration.
And that's when the realization hit.
There's a child behind this dumpster.
"Oh, shit,"
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2578 words
hi hi
i'm sorry for the delay, as i said in my book family, i'm doing lgbt shit and another thing... many gets seasonal depression during the colder months and i just so happen to get them during the warmer months.
ik ik, i'm a shameful CA native, but i still hate it
anyway, luckily, my antidepressants are finally working so maybe my updates will become more frequent and lets hope the quality doesn't do down because of that lmaoooooo
anyway make sure you guys eat and drink something if you haven't, and remember productivity isn't always the priority, sometimes the only priority is you
i love you guys
and ik nobody wants to talk about it, but school is coming back so i wish you all the best
may your financial aid cover your tuition and your classes come easily :))))