a/n: sorry for the super late update! thank you all so much for the 600+ votes! <3
-
The rest of the day continued normally — Valui spent most of her time either lying in bed or wandering aimlessly around her room; she eventually got so bored she started brushing her teeth multiple times in a row, telling herself it was to make up for the five days she was missing and not that it was just something for her to do to curb her boredom; also disregarding that she had done so earlier that afternoon as well. At some point, a nurse came in and told her that she was given discharge orders for the next day, simply because it was getting late. She was also told that she was allowed to venture beyond her room — that she was allowed to go down the wing she was in, or to the gift shop, or even to the food court and get something to eat of actual substance; she just couldn't leave the building entirely, as she was a minor and needed her parents with her.
The prospect of food that was more than jello, yogurts, and puddings was enough to instill a desire to leave the room in Valui's stomach. She pulled on her jacket, which had been hanging on the back of a chair since she had woken up in the hospital, and went to the door. She never opened it, though, as right as she went to grab the handle, the door was swung open from the outside.
Hitoshi was standing over the threshold of the door, looking suspiciously like he had run all the way from UA to the hospital. His face lit up when he saw her, but the excitement in his eyes was far too much for just being happy to see her.
"I'm— Sorry I'm late, I—" He was out of breath, and also talking a lot faster than normal. "I had something important, and I—" His face broke out into a wider smile than Valui had ever seen on him. The sheer amount of joy rivaled the sun itself. Hitoshi flung his arms around the small girl and pulled her into a tight hug; Valui was now able to feel just how hard his heart was beating. "I got— I got in. Into the— Into the Hero Course. I really— I really got in!"
Now, Valui was sure her expression matched his.
Her arms wrapped around his middle, hugging him back just as tightly. "See!" she exclaimed happily, a joyful giggle escaping her lips. "I told you you could get in!" Though she had to wonder: had they told him it was because she had asked? Not that it would make a difference; all Valui cared about was that he was happy. She lifted her head up from his chest to gaze up at him. "Did they say why they did? Like, from the sports festival, or...?"
Hitoshi returned her gaze, loosening his grip on her so they weren't so tightly pressed together, and subsequently hurting their necks just to look at each other. "They said because I was the one who saved you, but I don't really know how they'd figure that out unless..."
His voice trailed off as Valui's smile changed from happiness to hold an expression of smugness.
He realized, almost immediately — how had he not figured it out before? Hitoshi's eyes narrowed, albeit playfully; there wasn't even an ounce of malice on his face. "You told them, didn't you?"
Valui gave a small shrug, her eyes glinting with soft mischief. "Maybe~" She drew out the word, sticking her tongue out at him.
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow, his own expression shifting to match hers; though his held something different, more sly. "Well, maybe—" He drew out the word just as she had, even copying the way she had made her pitch change and when. "—I was going to kiss you for it, but if you didn't do it, then I guess I won't."
He made a move as if he were going to break the hug, but he didn't go through with it.
Valui pouted, her cheeks puffing out. She was hurt, if only a little; he was definitely kidding, right? He wouldn't be that mean to her, would he? "H-hey, that's not fa—"
Yet she was cut off by a kiss nonetheless.
It didn't last very long, and Valui had been too surprised to really react. She hadn't shut her eyes, so when Hitoshi pulled back, she saw that his expression had softened. His forehead rested gently against hers, his smile dying down from overwhelming joy to gratitude. "Thank you, though. Really." The volume of his voice had dropped as well, as if he wanted her to be the only one hearing what he was saying. "I... I don't know how to thank you."
Did he really think he needed to thank her? Valui smiled, hoping the look on her face made up for the head shake she couldn't perform. "You don't need to. Your happiness is enough for me."
When the cheesiness of that line hit her, Valui's face turned red.
Hitoshi's face also grew red, but he smile didn't falter. "You're adorable." It was mumbled; she almost didn't hear it. Letting out a faint sigh, he shut his eyes contently. When he opened them again, something like realization flashed through his eyes. Hitoshi broke the hug and took a small step back from her. "Oh, wait. I do have something for you, though."
"Huh?" Valui tilted her head in confusion. He had something for her? She watched as Hitoshi fished something out of his pocket, then holding it out to her. Valui's eyes focused on the small objects as she took them gently from his hand, turning them over and looking at them.
Hairpins.
They were hairpins — four of them, like she usually wore in her hair to keep her bangs back. They were completely average hairpins, up until the design that had been put on them. It was what told her these hadn't come from any store. The UA logo was on them made out of silver metal.
Valui lifted her head up from the accessories and looked up at Hitoshi, confusion written all over her face. "How come you're giving me these?"
The look on Hitoshi's face made Valui feel like the answer should have been obvious. "You lost your other ones," he said simply. "A girl in my class made a bunch of those and was selling them. I figured you'd like those more than some from the store."
But won't people think I go to UA if I wear them?
The thought was fleeting, because in the next moment, Valui decided it didn't matter. She smiled up at him. "I do like them. Thank you!" She slid the hairpins into her bangs with ease, clipping her bangs back as if the action was as easy as tying her shoes. To Valui, it was; she'd been doing this since she was little.
Hitoshi gave a small nod to let her know he heard her thanks. When she was done fixing her hair, he tilted his head quizzically at her. "Where were you going when I got here?"
"To the food court." At his vaguely confused expression, she continued. "The nurses said I can eat whatever I want now. As long as I don't overdo it."
All of the soft foods she had been eating were getting old. So was the taste of toothpaste from her hygiene kick earlier — couldn't she have found anything better to do? When Hitoshi gave a soft hum as a reply, Valui grabbed his hand and smiled up at him. "Wanna go with me?"
He smiled back at her and nodded. "Yeah, of course." Their fingers laced together as Hitoshi led her out of the room and down the hallway — it was better that way; Valui had no idea what the layout of the hospital was outside of her room.
After a moment of walking in comfortable silence, Hitoshi spoke up again. "So..." he started, trailing off. Valui looked up at him, though soon had to look ahead of her again as she nearly ran into a nurse with a food tray. Hitoshi muttered something under his breath, then, "Remember when I asked if you wanted to go out somewhere? After the sports festival?"
In all of the chaos Valui had been shoved into, the memory had slipped her mind. Being told about it brought it back to the forefront of her memory. She felt a small pang of guilt — they had agreed to go somewhere and she, in a way that was by no means her fault, stood him up. "Yeah, I remember."
"Do you...still want to do that?"
The guilt dissipated, and Valui was left with only a happy feeling. She smiled brightly up at him.
"Of course!"
After a few hours of being together — of which a majority of that was spent in the food court with Valui having to eat a hamburger far slower than she would have liked to ensure she didn't hurt herself — Hitoshi had to leave. The girl was escorted back to her hospital room, and the two fell into what Valui could only describe as their new habit: a kiss, an "I love you," and a goodbye.
Valui sat on the edge of the hospital bed, looking down at her dangling legs. She didn't want to go to sleep yet. Something about the previous night still rubbed her the wrong way and had her partially scared to. She was getting sleepy, though — she'd been up earlier than normal and hadn't taken a single nap the whole day.
No I... If I sleep, he'll... Someone will be there...
But that wasn't logical, was it? She was safe inside the building, even if she didn't very much like being there. For every fear that wormed its way into her brain, two or three logical thoughts diffused them; though Valui didn't believe them very much. With a reluctant reminder to herself that she would be fine through the duration of the night, Valui kicked off her shoes and curled up under the covers.
Her sleep was plagued by nightmares, though.
She had to relive it — being kidnapped; being utterly alone, too frozen in fear to do anything worthwhile; she had to meet them again; her wrist was snapped again, hand hanging limply at a grotesque angle that only added more pain the more she acknowledged it.
When she would wake up out of fear, breathing heavy and wrist aching dully, she'd see those eyes again. And then they'd disappear. She'd restlessly fall back asleep, only for the dream to loop itself over until she woke up again. When it wasn't the eyes she saw, she was hearing laughter; the same laughter she heard when her wrist was broken.
It was hell, through and through.
By the time her father came to pick her up that morning before he went to work, Valui looked like an absolute mess. Her hair was messy and unkempt — the only thing straight about it was her bangs, and that was only because she spent time undoing and redoing her hairpins to occupy her shaking hands. She had the makings of dark circles under her sleepy, dull-looking eyes. A headache was forming, but she wasn't sure if that was from the lack of sleep, the hunger beginning to gnaw at her stomach, or knowing that she would have to sit with her father during the entire car ride home.
Valui climbed into the passenger side of her father's car, sinking back into the leather seat after she had buckled up. She kept her gaze focused out the window as he got in — both because she didn't want him seeing her new hairpins and because she was still mad at him from the other day.
Oh wait, Hitoshi doesn't know.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket, then noticing all of the missed calls and text messages she had gotten over the past week or so. It was on its last leg of battery, so the battery saver had kicked in, effectively muting all notifications to save its life. Not that it particularly mattered, as Valui remembered checking once while Stain was gone and finding no signal. Her eyes scanned down the list of people who had recently tried to contact her. Her parents, Yumi, Amavi...
Hitoshi.
Smiling faintly, she tapped his name and, while ignoring the frantic texts he had sent her, messaged him.
[to Hitoshi:] hey, i just got out of the hospital so if you stop by, i won't be there
She paused, then sent another one right after.
[to Hitoshi:] i'll try to see you later today, though! <3
When Valui was satisfied, she turned her phone off and put it back in her pocket. The sound of a throat being cleared next to her got her attention, making her turn her head towards her father.
"Where did you get those hairpins?" The question was simple in itself; there were no harsh or accusing tones in it... But Valui knew better. It had always been like this — a simple, easy enough question where the wrong answer resulted in her getting yelled at.
"My...friend...gave them to me." She answered slowly, hesitantly, fearfully.
"The one from the hospital?"
Valui could lie — she could very easily lie. She could lie and say that no, it had been her other friends. Her Quirkless friends from her Quirkless school. Yes, she could lie, but it wouldn't get her very far. Her father could hear well; and Valui was certain he could also hear when someone was lying, but she'd never asked the finer details of how his Quirk worked. All she knew was that every time she tried to lie, he could tell before she even finished saying it.
"It...was..."
Silence, and then—
"Valui, what did I tell you?!"
Eruption.
She didn't even have a response — why should she? She shouldn't be expected to defend herself for making friends. Any parents whose child was as lonely and borderline hermit as she was should be happy their child made a friend, regardless of who it was. Valui didn't answer, instead sinking further back against the seat and stare out the window as tears filled her eyes while her father yelled at her.
"—you're just going to get used and—"
She wasn't listening.
"—he's dangerous, can't you see that?!"
She was trying not to listen.
"You need to be protected, Valui!"
Valui shut her eyes tight and then—
Her whole world was spinning. Blue eyes opened; she assumed the spinning was because of her own dizziness from lack of sleep and food, but that ended up not being the case. The car was spinning, though by what force, she couldn't tell. Her father was gripping the wheel, trying to force the car back into driving a straight line, string after string of explicit words tumbling from his mouth.
Valui felt oddly calm, though.
She was jolted out of her serenity when the front of the car crashed into a lamp post. Smoke pooled out from under the hood; Valui was ushered quickly out of the car by her little-more-than-shaken-up father. She coughed up what little smoke she had inhaled, eyes watering.
"Valui, are you—"
Valui had frozen stock still. From somewhere behind her, a hand was gripping her previously broken wrist, her arm being wrenched painfully behind her back. A second hand placed itself over her neck, fingers squeezing just enough in just the right places to make her start feeling lightheaded.
"So we meet again, little girl~"